I AM BACK

Hmm... been quite long time, absent at this blog. This is the first time i connect to internet. I spent 16 days travelling and the other 3 days relax at my flat. No acsess to the internet, first because i did not find it and second, i did not want to.

This trip was, by far, the best vacation I've ever experienced. The haj travel, visiting macca and madina. I would love to write the journey, or some of the special occasions I've witnessed.

Insya Allah...

Stranger like Alien

In term of public transportation, living in Bahrain is similar with living in Bali. I mean, the public transportation here, in Bahrain, is not better than Bali, or even worse at some places.

Just like what happened one night (8/11/07). I was taking a sample of no objection letter from my Haj Travel Agent. I need it to reprint on our official head letter then ask my boss to sign it. I need this letter to issue my Haj visa, to enter the holy city Mecca.

I had just finished with the agent and when I looked at my watch, My God…! It was 10 minutes to go..! I was running like idiot, chasing the hotel’s bus. It starts 10.30pm from Novotel and should be passing the bridge where the driver dropped me earlier at 10.34pm.

I was running and sometimes walking fast. I was carrying my laptop bag with full of documents and of course the laptop, its cables, and my stationeries, it was quite heavy to me. Ok, I thought it might be good for me, just like, you know…, exercise, been long time never done it. I was sweat, rush, no time….!

And finally I reached the bridge, and I found a bloody huge dense traffic in front of my eyes. It was a perfect situation to yell…

I looked around I did not see any single bus moving across the road, but I found lots of fancy cars stuck in a traffic jam, right my sight. It was long queuing, and I thought the bus wouldn’t reach this road within 15 minutes.

It just like crazy, waiting for a bus at one of corners of a city park, in Manama city, capital of Bahrain. I was waiting and waiting, it already took 20 minutes.

I finally saw the bus, far away, crawling like a cocoon of moth, very slow. My 20 minutes turned to a bloody 45 waste minutes. I was yelling to myself, realizing how stupid I was and just wondered why a rich country like Bahrain does not have a good public transportation services.

I thought it was kind of ridiculous. People can imagine, how come, a small Kingdom that has everything, but does not care about it’s public service. Show me an affordable fare transportation. This is a rich country, in fact. Why they don’t just build road, setup the system, and so on… rather then let this traffic problem go on..

What is the measurement to value a good country? Its public service? Its modern lifestyle? Its people behavior? Its GDP? I don’t care…! I don’t want a fancy car, I just want a taxi, or a bus or whatever so that i can move safely to my flat…!

I know, most of Bahrainis or locals are rich people. Thay can have two or three cars at their garage. They have oil, tourism, trading, and prostitution, so that no wonder, there are lots of cars on the road…
Walk? No way… they don’t want to, they have nice cars. Car is cheaper here, particularly if you compare with Indonesia, car is such an expensive thing for us. But here, you don’t need to pay the tax, if you do, I don’t think it makes you headache, the government tax is nothing.

I am not good at automotive, but I know which one is expensive and which one is luxury vehicle, and damn… I saw lots of extremely expensive cars in this Kingdom.

Private vehicle is everywhere, poor transportation system, no train, lots of Saudi tourists travel with their own cars, petrol is cheap and what more…? Yeah… one more… people don’t want to walk….and they don’t care about global warming, eventhough the country has extremely high temperature during summer… as the result: TRAFFIC JAM.

..and I am here, a stranger, a little alien in the gulf.

Welcome back my winter

Yeah... just wanna note. Today is really cold. The winter is coming back. It's really freezing out there. Today, 28th November 2007, the real winter gets started. It's colder then my flat's AC, perhaps 16 or 18 celcius. I dont know, maybe less.

Plus, the wind blows pretty hard. It has been couple weeks ago, the weather here pampered me. I like going out, walking under the warm sun, breathing the fresh air, which is not really fresh i, think. How can you say it's fresh if you are surrounded by noisy and lots of dense traffics round you. Damn...!

Like this afternoon, I ran here, ran there, doing busy with some of my bloody routines. Those hotel's jobs made me crazy, suck my time. I tried combining two month jobs into a 28 days working hours with some overtime almost every nite. Yeah, i have to do it, no choice, i gotta finalize everything before my leave. But i was not sweat, its kind of surprising me...

Well, welcome back my winter. I believe, upcoming months would be chilling days... and i had better get prepared, before my bones stuck.

Xmas & New Year’s Feasts at the Resort

The festive season is coming and Novotel Al Dana Resort is preparing to celebrate the Christmas and New Year’s festivities with passionate style in their relaxed surroundings. All dining outlets will promote special gourmet meals on Christmas Eve. New Year’s Eve is going to be just as exciting as all of the resorts restaurants will be open for you to join in the exciting celebrations and countdown to the start a fresh year.

Mediterranean Delight
Zytoun Restaurant will host a special dinner buffet on December 24. Christmas carollers will visit the restaurant to serenade the evening and bring the festive spirit.

On Christmas day, Zytoun opens for a special brunch where families can enjoy a large selection of International cuisine. Novotel's Curves team will host a range of activities for children and offer lots of fun and games. Santa Claus will make a surprise visit and deliver gifts to the kids to make their experience all the most memorable.

To celebrate the beginning of the New Year, Zytoun's chefs are going to be serving up a selection of special culinary feasts. Coupled with live entertainment to ensure the festive atmosphere.

La Perle
La Perle Seafood Restaurant will be open on Christmas Eve and will be offering a fresh selection of gulf seafood. The décor and atmosphere will be designed to transport into a magical night of Christmas by the beach.

The mood will be complemented by a group of carollers that will deliver traditional Christmas carols. How could they forget New Year’s Eve? Why not invite your loved ones for an enjoyable meal of at the most agreeable seafood restaurant in the Kingdom?

Moroccan Merriment
Kingdom’s ultimate Moroccan restaurant, Al Yacout, will celebrate a lively Christmas Eve in all of its glory. A romantic and blissful Christmas themed night has been prepared and an array of entertainment has been put together to convey the Christmas spirit.

On New Year’s Eve, an exotic and exquisite dining experience will be recreated, bringing you the best Moroccan food on the island, alongside the most vibrant performances of a Gnawa musician and belly dancer.

Lounging Around
The party must go on, as the panoramic lounge bar, La Bellevue, continues to turn Christmas Eve into a really buzzed party.

As for New Year’s Eve why not celebrate with the great selection of food and wine that Novotel has to offer combined with a great performance from the live entertainment?

White Beach Party

NOVOTEL’s private beach was scheduled to host the White Beach Party, following its successful of the initial event. The party beat the resort’s beach on 8th November 2007, and again, after his stunning performance on August 2007, Mountana continued to show his skills on the deck!

The white sandy beach was set to accommodate nightlife goers and was decorated with white-glowing fabrics, combined with a spectacular sound and lighting system, submerging the entire audience in an unforgettable experience.

All decors and ambiences were designed in white colors, and guests were encouraged to wear their favorite white outfits. As a result, the evening was tailored to entertain clubbers and transport crowd into an endless exhilarating party, an event that must be seen to experience it - everyone should.

The music comprised of electro house music’s, programmed and seamlessly constructed by Mountana, who returns to spin clubbers with his latest mixes. His uniquely distinguished arrangements, rhythm, melody, and hits were combined to splash the Novotel beach and to offer an agreeable coastal atmosphere where music fans could dance by the sea.

Mountana is a young talented DJ and has 22 years experiences in nightlife and entertainment. He was a resident DJ for many world’s exclusive nightlife spots, such as the Pacha, the Theatro, the Niki Beach and more.

Indo-Italian Chef

I am happy to know there is an award-winning Indonesian chef, Twedi Martatna, who is recently appointed as an executive chef at Cafe Italia, one of the best dining venues in Bahrain.

He is an Indonesian, how can he become an executive chef for italian cuisine at Italian restaurant? He must be very hardworker...

Just visit http://www.gulfweeklyworldwide.com/article.asp?Sn=4923&Article=17295

Congratulation..!

I did not ask, they gave it

Hm... praise to the God, who created the universe...

The boss phoned me, I said, can i see you? "Come, please," he replied.

I went to his office, as usual bringging some documents. This time I showed him some pictures I took. Images of Alesia, my colleague at the sport & leisure department. She is the only superviser there. I showed him four pictures of her "action", doing exercise with some dumbells, and othe fitness stuffs. Hmm... reminded me when I enjoyed my gym last time in Bali. Another picture was a banana boat, an image I took last year, where there was a huge crowd in the resort during Eid al Fitr 2006, around october last year.

He chose one and of course he aggreed the Banana boat one. After some short conversation, i asked permission to leave. But suddently, he asked, "well, how much your salary currently?"

Dare, how come, he couldn't remember my salary? I just wondered in my heart. I replied spontaneously the amount. "Ok, it will be increased this month," he said.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you very much." Not lots of conversation we had, the next question was he asked whether i had a friend from Bali who probably wanted to find a job at this property.

I said, i had to search my friend. "As long as from Bali, like you, like Suka, Marcya and.... the other one, I dont remember...."

"Agung, Sir." I mentioned the last balinese name in the resort.

"Who is she?"

"Agung, the balinese waitress."

"Um, yeah, yeah.. Agung." He try recalling a figure.

"Look, i dont want from Jakarta, coz, there are mostly... um.., you know... different. Why?" He questioned me rhetoric.

"Well, Sir... we have different culture, different place." I answered.

"From Bali is good, but not Jakarta," he added.

"Maybe because Bali is a tourist destination and people from Bali know well how to deal with tourism and hotel jobs. While Jakarta is a Capital, it's a big city and you know, like New Yorker, the will behave different, maybe little bit snob, something like this," I answered.

"I see.."

* * *

Anyway, that was my conversation with the Boss. There were two things contrast I found. First he increases my salary. It means I am happy, but the other matter, he does not like Jakartan. That makes me sad.

I know Jakartan are mostly arrogant, and they are more superior when they come to region, like Bali or other regencies. They controll everything, teaching us, people from island. But not all of them, I think. Some of them are good, some of them are bad.

I hope, my boss will meet a good Jakartan. Wallahu a'lam.