I’m currently in Indonesia.

I’d love to say that I’m blogging live from some holiday island like Bali, or Bandung the shopping paradise, but I can’t.

This is my current location.

 

I’m across the Straits of Malacca, on Sumatera Island, about 20 km northeast of Pekan Baru.

 

The city of Perawang is so small that it doesn’t even appear on radar. Even the line that’s the road leading to Perawang looks more like a small river than a road.

 

I’m here with @egooi to settle some equipment issues with a pulp and paper mill. Even then, it’s not Kleenex or pretty branded tissues we’re talking about here. It’s a company called Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper Mill. I can see the ‘huh’ looks on your faces now….hahahaa..wait, there’s more!

So..Why is living in a factory in Indonesia so fun?

 

#5  Indonesian style room

When we got here, most of the nicer, Western styled rooms were full up. Already we didn’t know how the better dorms were like, and when we were brought to our room..

It ain’t so bad, to be honest. But things that people normally take for granted i.e. clean bedsheets, towels, hot water and a jamban that works weren’t there. And oh, the smell..Oh yeah.

 

#4  Bed bugs..Phobia

The last time I stayed at a budget hotel in Melaka, this happened.

 

If you’ve had bed bugs attack before, you’ll know what I mean. And if you’ve not, it’s pretty terrifying. Not traumatizing, but imagine waking up to hundreds of these bites when you wake up. These guys bite so lightly that you will sleep right through it…and the next morning…jeng jeng jeng..

I hardly slept through last night. Every tickle on my body was a possible bed bug, and I ended up slapping and scratching myself for 6 hours, even if it was just my own BULU. Sighs.

 

#3  Steady data connection!

Before I set off from home, I happily decided that I would go for the RM36 / day unlimited roaming on Indonesia’s Indosat telco. I imagined reasonable speeds of at least EDGE, that I would settle for less than 3G, and that I would be able to surf and not be isolated from the outside.

Sure enough, I got full reception.

…of GPRS connection. All the way. Good thing or not, you tell me *facepalm*

Okay lah, at least there is connection..fine. But it took me god-knows-how-long to upload this blog post via tethered connection.

#2  Tissue dust orgy

Being a tissue and pulp factory, you can imagine the atmosphere in the factory. It’s.totally.choking.with thin fibre. It’s absolutely everywhere, and you can see it stuck on all the machinery.

 

It kinda looks like a scene from Santa Claus’s factory, except that it’s pulp instead of snow. And as if it’s not bad enough, the original factory in China’s much worse. No wonder the average China man has such low life expectancy. *cough*

 

#1  Indomie

We all LOVE Indomie, don’t we?

When we reached the food court, we couldn’t wait to gorge into a plate of steaming hot plate of Indomie for dinner. And gorge, we did.

Day # 1: Dinner.

Honestly, we expected better from the birthplace of Indomie. Still, maybe I was used to home taste.

 

Next morning, we came to the food court hoping to get some toast and coffee. Instead, there was nothing available, except for…

Day #2 breakfast : Indomie # 2

 

We couldn’t help it. There was nowhere else to eat within walking distance, and the nearest town is 2 hours by car.

And so, after a hard day’s work today, we came back to the same place, same stall, same lady, and ordered…

Day #2 Dinner : Indomie #3

 

All I can say about Indons is that they really, Really love their noodles.

You can probably guess by now what I will have for breakfast tomorrow before my flight. Yes, you’re almost there, no, it’s not toast or nasi lemak, but yeah I think you’ll know…hahaha.

If I’m posted here for 1 year, I swear I will ban every strand of Indomie in my kitchen when I come back home LOL.

 

So there you have it, 5 reasons why living in a factory in Indonesia is so fun.

Cheers!
EVo

I just opened my Starbucks goodie bag from the Xmas Menu review (almost 2 weeks ago) and look what I found.

A dummy Cold Drink cup, a Starbucks keychain and a wristband-cum-thumbdrive. I randomly wondered if these items are on sale at Starbucks store, cos I ain’t seen any before.

I also found it rather curious that they designed a USB thumbdrive to be…embedded in a wristband. Does anyone need to have portable storage on their wrists? What happened to good ol’ watches?

Still, I liked that these items were quirky, and uniquely Starbucks Makes good deco items in my future house..hehe.

I will be in Indonesia tomorrow!

…and it’s gonna be purely for work (unlike my Japan trip T_T) I will work, eat, live in a steel mill….for 3 days. Could’ve been worse.. so I’m not complaining

So take care y’all!

Cheers!
EVo

Here are some pics taken during TedxYouth@KL at Plug & Play Technology Gardens last Saturday.

Our @Nikicheong talking about the importance of not just education but also the Lack of it, in his ‘Confessions of a 1A Student’.

It’s an inspiring story of all things that happen when one scores not 9,8,6…but just 1A in one’s exams..Niki did just that. Contrary to the common belief that students like him end up as failures, he ended up excelling in journalism, and is now a writer for The Star. He did what he believed he wanted to do, then put his everything into it.

 

It’s a typical example that again demonstrates how our education system and culture fails to raise a much needed generation of thinkers instead of doers; that we put too much emphasis on grades; and that we all focus too much on the destination, when what mattered the most was the journey.

TedxYouth@KL (Malaysia version lah) was not as glamorous as what the Americans get:

http://www.ted.com/talks/gero_miesenboeck.html

But like every other community event, it was great to share experiences, inspire each other and to network. Besides, it cost me only RM20 to enter, compared to RM x00 that I have to fork out at TED US.

 

Johan Farid Khairuddin, or whom we know as JFK who used to deejay at Hitz, used to have it all.

The high life, spotlight, bank busting salaries. Then one day came when he decided to drop EVERYTHING, go low profile, and return to school to fulfil his dream since he was 3 years old : to be a pilot.

I know..being a pilot’s not exactly low profile either..maybe I should say ‘go lowER profile’ hehe. But it really goes to show that it all starts with a dream, then that obnoxious drive to do that one single thing in your life that you really love. And one that will bring you happiness.

I would be happy too, knowing that I’m constantly surrounded by sexeh Airasia air-stewardesses.

Other speakers for the day include John-Son Oei, Navin Muruga, Sabrie Salleh, Alia Nadhirah and Aanantha, of whom all had interesting stories to share (original site at http://www.tedxyouthkl.com/programmes/ and http://www.tedxyouthkl.com/counsellors/ for more info).

There’s a somewhat negative stigma about young Malaysian achievers; Many think them overrated. I can’t resist the temptation to agree sometimes, but think about this:

How many of us can do what they have done?

How many of us have the pluck, courage, drive, and most of all, dare to fail or embarrass ourselves?

Each speaker on that day experienced different levels of success in their lives, and I admit that I found myself saying ‘What am I doing watching this fella speak?’ during a couple of the talks. But one thing was common between them: They didn’t believe in being normal.

If you look in the mirror and ask yourself ‘Do I wana be normal?’, and find the answer to be ‘no’, maybe it’s a good time to step out of the box and re-strategize.

Think about what you’re doing right now, then about what you’d rather be doing. If you find the gap between these two to be too wide, then perhaps it’s time to move out of that comfort zone…and into the battle zone.

Oh, inspired I am And I hate it that most of these kids are younger than I am…hahaha.

Kudos to the guys at Plug & Play, Entrepreneurs.my, Youthasia and speakers for the great effort.

Cheers!
EVo