Jakarta by Transjakarta

Last weekend I have decided to be adventurous. I tried to board the local buses in Jakarta with my colleagues who are kind enough to show me the bus way. The funny looking bus has a door that's 4 feet high from the ground. One must wonder how do we board the bus and why is it made so high? Well to board the bus, you need to walk to an elevated bus station. And why it's so high was because the ticketing control is done at the elevated bus station. Your entry and exit is done through this station, and there is no way you can get in or out unless u drag the door open wide and jumped out of the bus. The cost of the ride was 3500rupiah and you can take the bus around Jakarta as long as you stay within the bus and elevated bus station. You change buses through the elevated stations as well, just like your subway. Kind a interesting. However, be prepared to be in a very packed bus and traffic can be bad in certain sections. Otherwise, the bus has it's own dedicated route which is the best way to beat the traffic (macet!).

Overall experience was rather tiring but good way to see the local and traffics :P

My invention for city of Jakarta

I was caught in a traffic in Jakarta. Inside the car, my colleague was complaining how much time they spent on the road each day trapped in a traffic. They missed the meeting sometimes and have to use phone conference inside the car. Sometimes it takes up to 3-4 hours a day! And also, they need to make sure they are not caught during peak hours where each car must have 3 passengers else face summon.

After listening to their woes, immediately, I told them I thought of 2 inventions. First, I would like to invent a meeting box inside the car. The box, would have visual and audio which they can take their conference calls while driving. However, my colleague said it may be dangerous if they are driving fast. I replied by adding a mechanism to cut down the audio if they exceed 100km/hour. If they slowed down the quality of the conference will improved.

Second, I would invent inflatable human size doll when they need to travel alone. However, this doll would have moving arms, to make sure the traffic police will think the cars are full of human beings!

So now, if I am the inventor, who will be my producer?!

Japan disaster

Today the Japan's PM Kan declared Japan is facing the worst crisis since World War 2. Every hours, the crisis get escalated since last Saturday after a 8.9 quake hit Sendai. And immediately next day 2 nuclear plants were leaking radiation and could hit anyone who lives as far as 80km. Then just today a volcano near the quake hit area erupted. There were so many people died due to the tsunami and now they are preparing for the worst - radiation exposure. There is nothing I could do here but pray that this crisis will be over soon.

It's a small small world

I just finished lunch at a food court in a Sydney suburb, after that I went to a toilet nearby to wash my hand. On my way out, I saw another lady walking towards the toilet, and she yelled out my name! To my surprise it was a colleague from Malaysia. She has migrated to Sydney since 2004. We were so excited but found the world is so small. She lives in central cost which is very far from Sydney, and so happened she and the family came to this particular suburb for lunch. It was rather unbelievable to bump into somebody in a very unexpected place and location!

Anyway, we exchanged number and hopefully next time her family can come out together for yum cha (dim sum). It's good to see someone u knew for a long time, and yet you bumped into them again when u least expected.

The EGO

I am sitting at the Sydney office today, I overheard a lot of conversations. Somehow, I am convinced people around me love to talk and hear their own voice. For example, a man was complaining to a colleague over the phone. He sounded frustrated with somebody which could not get what he was trying to say earlier. He started to say things like, 'Hello dude, didn't you get it?' or 'So stupid, so stupid' over and over again. Wo dek sen (my god), he's a man and sounding so bitter. ( I wonder if I sensed this because I am one too.) According to my study in Applied Psychology, one of the ego defence mechanism, is to project your negatives to the others. In that case your ego will not be bruised. I guess the good thing is I am aware of that, and I try to understand my very own ego.

Who's Cheating?

I read on a newspaper today related to the evolution psychology. There were research done on cheating, and they found men with lower voice when confronted tends to cheat! Meanwhile, women with high pitch voice when confronted tends to cheat on their spouses.

This is interesting, I do feel some high possibilities as well. Usually won't want to talk about it it something bothering them, meanwhile, women tends to subside their guilt by talking fast and excited.

What do you think?! Try it at home hahaha

Personal touch

I was in Bangkok and about to check out from my hotel. When the lift opened on 30th floor, a Caucasian guy in suit held the door for me and asked if I like to go to lobby. Dressed in business suit, the hair was neatly combed and typically looked like your senior executive at work. Meanwhile, I was wearing my short and casual Tee, like what you usually see at Pasar Malam (Night Market!). I said thanks to him, and immediately he said 'So you are leaving us today'. Immediately I sensed he is one of the employee of this hotel chain, I replied, 'Yes, I am, I wish this is my permanent home address, but it's not'. He then asked 'How was your stay with us? I responded quoting how convenience the hotel is located and it's definitely much better than the other hotels I have stayed before. He was pleased with my reply and asked when will be my next trip. I said, 'Next quarter, hopefully'.

When the elevator door opened up, he offered to hold my luggage as I need to walk up to the reception to settle my bill. I was a bit reluctant in the beginning but he insisted. Eventually I gave in. He wished me a safe trip and handed me a business card. Printed on the card was his name with a position General Manager. He took my luggage and got the bell boy to hail a taxi for me. I was pretty impressed actually especially when a GM actually walk his talks (I believe he preach to his staffs about services). You just think you will come back to the same hotel next time!