Thursday, March 27, 2014

Milik Siapa Kalau Bukan Milik Kita? Dijaga Siapa Kalau Bukan Oleh Kita?

Milik Siapa Kalau Bukan Milik Kita? Dijaga Siapa Kalau Bukan Oleh Kita?

Judul diatas bukan sedang membicarakan laki-laki atau perempuan ya. Yang saya maksudkan diatas adalah bumi kita, alam kita, lingkungan kita, habitat kita. Kenapa judul blog ini demikian? Hal ini berangkat dari pengalaman saya selama bekerja 2 tahun pada lembaga kerjasama dari 2 Kementrian Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia dan Korea yang didirikan sejak Desember 2011. Sy sendiri bergabung di bulan Juli 2012. Bisa dibilang karyawan perintis, karena saat itu lembaga tersebut masih relatif baru.  Lembaga tersebut bertujuan mengembalikan dan merestorasi 13 sungai di Indonesia dan diawali dengan Sungai Ciliwung.

Awal saya bekerja di sana, pada saat interview saya ditanya oleh atasan saya. Beliau adalah orang korea yang telah berganti kewarganegaraan saking cintanya pada bumi Indonesia. Dia tidak menanyakan IPK maupun pengalaman kerja saya sebelumnya. Yang ditanyakannya adalah "Apa yang sudah kamu perbuat untuk bumimu? ujarnya dalam bahasa Indonesia yang berlogat Korea. Saya termenung dan memikirkan jawaban saya. Saya ingin terdengar pintar, tapi saya malu karena memang saya merasa belum melakukan apa-apa. Akhirnya saya memutuskan untuk jujur. Beliau bilang tak masalah asal ada niat. Kamu kalau ke sini untuk selamatkan bumimu, saya mau terima. Tapi kalau alasannya uang, banyak perusahaan lain yang bisa kasih kamu uang. Saya sanggupi ucapan beliau. Saya yakinkan beliau bahwa saya ingin membantu. Beliau menceritakan pengalamannya mengunjungi perkampungan di tepian sungai Ciliwung. Awalnya suaranya kencang tapi kemudian dengan suara lirih beliau berkata bahwa sudah terlalu banyak bumi ini disakiti. Saya cinta bumi ini walau saya tak lahir di sini. Bumi ini sudah banyak memberi saya kisah indah dan pengalaman yang menyenangkan. Saya ingin jaga bumi ini, katanya. Saya sedih melihat betapa anak-anak tepian sungai Ciliwung menderita gatal-gatal dan alregi fatal karena kotornya air sungai. Saya sedih melihat hamparan sampah yang menutupi tepian dan permukaan sungai. Saya tertegun malu mendengarnya. Saya yang orang Indonesia saja tidak memperhatikan hal tersebut. Saya naik busway melewati daerah tepian sungai Ciliwung dan mencium betapa apeknya bau sungai tapi saya kerap mengacuhkan hal tersebut.

2 tahun saya bekerja di situ. Mengusahakan agar sungai Ciliwung dapat dikembalikan ke situasi semula. Bekerja di situ mengharuskan saya bersentuhan langsung dengan warga tepian sungai dan bahkan melakukan tinjauan untuk memilih lokasi proyek pembersihan secara langsung. Banyak hal yang mengenaskan yang saya lihat sepanjang perjalan saya di sungai Ciliwung; dari mulai anak-anak yang mandi dan berkeliaran di sungai, orang mencuci di sungai, dan ada orang yang terang-terangan buang air besar ke sungai tanpa penutup. Iya tanpa penutup, jadi mau tak mau saya menutup mata. Masa iya saya terus-terusan menatap pantatnya.

 Lihat lah betapa banyaknya sampah bertebaran di pinggiran-pinggiran sungai. Sampah rumah tangga yang menjadi senjata pembunuh sungai kita.

 Saya kaget melihat ada orang yang tinggal di bawah jembatan.



Berandalan-berandalan kecil yang melambaikan tangannya menyambut kami dengan senyuman

Rumah yang dibuat tinggi untuk menghindari banjir.
Satu rumah saja sampahnya sudah menumpuk begitu. 
 Bocah-bocah ini dengan riangnya berenang dengan mengikuti perahu karet kami. Tak tahukah mereka betapa berbahayanya perairan kotor bagi pertumbuhan mereka dan kesehatan kulit mereka.

Si bocah yang membantu ibunya mencuci baju di sungai.
Salah satu perahu karet yang ditumpangi tim kami.
Sedih? Sudah pasti. Bukan cuman saya saja yang sedih, seisi tim di atas perahu karet yang mengambang itu, tak satupun yang tertawa maupun mengucapkan canda. Kami menyuggingkan senyum ketika bocah-bocah badung itu berteriak kegirangan melihat kami di atas perahu karet. Sentilan yang cukup keras buat kami saat itu, melihat senyum-senyum di pipi tirus mereka. Betul ucapan atasan saya, apa yang sudah saya lakukan untuk bumi ini? Apa yang bisa saya/kami/kita/anda lakukan untuk menjaga senyum-senyum itu tetap terpatri di mulut-mulut kecil para penerus bangsa kita. Akankah kita biarkan ini terus berlanjut?

Tentu saja tidak!!! Pasti ada yang bisa kita lakukan. Sudah banyak artikel mengenai cara menjaga lingkungan dan menyelamatkannya. Saya tak akan menggurui anda di sini. Saya hanya ingin memanggil hati kecil anda agar tergerak dan mulai lebih 'aware' dengan kondisi bumi dan lingkungan kita.

Banyak website dan organisasi bergerak dibidang lingkungan yang dapat kalian kunjungi, untuk mendapatkan informasi mengenai cara melindungi dan menyelamatkan bumi. Salah satunya website yang cukup 'user friendly' dan mudah diakses yaitu; WWF Indonesia

Yuk dari sekarang jangan lagi kita sakiti bumi ini. Sungai kita, hutan kita, tanah kita, udara kita, Siapa yang jaga kalau bukan kita? Betul bukan? Jangan kalah sama mantan atasan saya yang masih berjuang menyelamatkan bumi di umurnya yang sudah tak lagi muda. Umur itu tidak masalah. Niat dan tindakan yang penting.

PS: Referensi photo diambil dari koleksi IKECC (lembaga yang dimaksud)

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Singapore Trip for a Shopaholic: Part 2 Little India, Candy Empire, Bugis Junction


Previous: first post on Singapore Trip, Here

Day 2 in Singapore:

My Plan would be:
1. Visiting Little India for South Indian Food
2. Visiting & Shopping in Mustofa Centre
3. Visiting & Shopping in Candy Empire for Candies, Ovomaltine Jam, and etc.

 I woke up around 9am and headed out at 10am. The nearest MRT is Kallang but it was located quite far. So we decided to take bus instead. Since our "Yours Singapore Card" could also be used for bus transportation. We walked for 5 minutes to the bus station.
3 Days Only Tourist Card

The price of each of this card is 35USD, but worry not, you will get your refund back for 15USD. You can use this card for 3 days and for any kind and any amount of transportation like MRT and Bus.






We took bus no 7 from Bef Geylang to Dhoby Ghaut. There were 14 stops on the way, but it wasn't a very long ride, only 15-20min. And I took MRT from there to Little India, only 1 stop.  Here is the link for bus route, just in case you need to use it someday, Bus Route.


I love the busy street of Little India. I can smell Indian food that I love so much. I dragged my boyfriend to a restaurant that I already knew as a good South Indian Food restaurant. The interior was still the same like last year (2013 August), but they used tab to order food now. How cool! The waiters were nice and the place were also clean. What I love the most, besides the foods, were the people there. They are so polite and nice, also very helpful.

The Foods look so yummy!!


Our lunch/late breakfast menu
 I forgot how much did we have to pay. I do remember we were not feeling sorry, either the foods were really good or the price is understandable. I think it was both. ^_^ One thing for sure, If I ever coming back again for vacation or work to Singapore, I will definitely visit this restaurant again. I could never find any place with better Prawn Masala than this one.

Here is the restaurant name card.
I found this in front of a Hindu Temple in Little India

I got Mahendi Tattoo. Yeaay!!

Our happy tummies require exercise now. So off we go to find Mustafa Centre. I went there last August for another shopping spree with my co-workers. I was planning to buy gifts for family and friends there. I found a building name Mustafa Centre, turned out it was a shoes store. So, make sure you go to the right Mustafa Centre. The real one was a bigger building of 3 floors.
Shoes Store Mustafa Centre

Real Mustafa Centre (sorry took it from the side)
I went crazy there. I spent a million rupiah and I think he spent slightly more than a million rupiah. These are the stuff that we found in Mustafa Centre. We don't have this Magnum Black and Mini Mint varian in Indonesia.




I am collecting Jelly Beans in the office.

Super happy with the bags..cheap and cute.

Fake Magnum 

Should have buy a lot more of this one because it was really yummy!

 Those were some of the stuffs that we bought. We didn't take pictures of most of them.

On the way to Little India, I saw that Bugis Junction were having Pre-Renovation Sale up to 80%. I told him that we had to go back to Bugis Junction after Mustofa. He said okay. But we decided to visit Candy Empire store first, located in 9 Raffles Boulevard. It was inside a mall (I forgot what mall) level 1. I found it and it wasn't as big as I expect it would be. I mean it says "empire" I thought it was gonna be huge. Turned out it was just a size of small studio apartment. But they do have a lot of collection of sweets from all over the world. Having a sweet tooth myself, I had to spoiled myself there. Hehehe...

Oooh Heaven on Earth.
Ovomaltine series...Yeay!!!
                   

 Our last stop was Bugis Junction, before we go back to Hotel. We were lucky because Bugis Junction was on the path of bus 7 route. Easier for us to go back to our hotel.

I bought mostly underwear's and we had dinner there. I love their Basement Level. There were so much of food options. He had soup in Spoon Soup place and I got to try all the snacks and foods down there. These are what I got for dinner:
Egglet yummy!

Korean Chon Chicken
I tried Egglet and Korean Chon Chicken even before they became famous and crawl their way in to Indonesian food hawkers market. Tired and full, we decided to go home. While I was waiting for the bus, I saw this Bugis Street. It looks interesting. So, I keep that in mind to visit Bugis Street the next day.

 That is all my journey for day 2 in Singapore. Stay tune to find out why I did another shopping spree in Bugis Street, What I found in there and Why I was so happy yet feel sorry for making Bugis Street my last shopping destination. Thank you for reading this post. I hope you will have a good time in Singapore next time you visit the Lion Head Country. See ya!






Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Singapore Trip for a Shopaholic: Part 1, Sephora Shopping

Hi there,

I would like to share my experience going on a shopping trip to Singapore last month. I keep trying to write about it, but I got so lazy hehehe.

Pictures taken before, during, and after the flight to Singapore.


Me and Giant decided to go to Singapore to extent his Visa to be able to stay longer in Indonesia. I stayed in a hotel Hollywood 81 in Geylang Road. Hotel

It was cheap, around 70USD/night. The room was a bit too small, but it was clean and they have a nice and helpful staffs. It was a bit far from the MRT Station, so we decided to buy a 3 days "Your Singapore" ticket for 35USD with refund 15USD/card. This ticket will allow us to travel using MRT and bus too. The closes MRT to our hotel was a bit further away, so we prefer taking bus from Geylang Road. Usually bus no 7 because it covers route to the central of the city like Dholbi Gaut, Orchard, and Bugis Junction.

The first thing I did after arriving in Singapore was visiting my office (We have office branch in Singapore too) for a office related business. Then we took MRT to a closer location from the hotel. Turned out it was not close at all. We had to walk around 30min around noon. It was crazy hot and I started to be more cranky. I could not stand hot weather..well neither cold weather.

We went to hotel and went to Orchard road to find Sephora store. It was not easy to find it. We practically lost our way several times. We kept trying to find the store because I thought the store is not gonna be inside of a mall, we spent 2 hours walking around the Orchard Road. Then we decided to ask random woman on the street. I believed a woman might now Shepora store, since it is one of the biggest make up store in the world. And I  was right. Finally we found it inside a mall, ION Orchard. They should let us know which floor it is. So it will be easier to find. Sigh.




GlamGlow Mud for 92SGD or around Rp.900.000.
Woa this is crazy. I think the price in Jakarta is around Rp.750.000

Boyfriend not having a good time in make up store ;-p
I don't understand why people keep wanting to go back to this place. Most of the products price were actually more expensive than the one being sold in Indonesia. I bought GlamGlow (well bf bought it for me) for 35USD and it was 92SGD in Singapore. Too much when they are being sold for 75USD in Indonesia/Jakarta.

I only bought several things from Sephora, mostly because they are cute.



1. Sephora Cotton pads
2. 3 Shepora Mini Bubbles
3. Shepora Dry Shampoo
4. Benefit Mascara: They're Real


 In the next post I will write about our experience visiting, shopping, and eating in Little India, Bugis Junction, and Bugis Street. Not to miss, find out why I was crying and almost hyperventilating in Singapore Airport before coming back to Indonesia.


2nd Post here!!!