HKCEC & Konser Musik Indonesia (Indonesian version)

This writing is intentionally made in Bahasa Indonesia, the English version will follow soon - but it also may not (HKCEC & Indonesian Music Concert).

Lautan manusia yang keluar MTR Wan Chai Exit A5 arah HKCEC padat sekali… Kedengaranlah Bahasa Indonesia dengan berbagai aksen. Pasti pada mau ke HKCEC…

HKCEC (convention & exhibition center) #2 terbesar di HK setelah AsiaWorld Arena di Tung Chung dekat Airport. Pasti pernah ke Jakarta Convention Center di Senayan kan? Mirip tapi jauh lebih besar.  Biasa dipakai untuk pameran, convention, rapat, acara2 lain, ngak cuma untuk kalangan HK tapi tingkat dunia. 

Asli, lokasi HKCEC di Wan Chai di sisi HK Island ini strategis. Gampang banget kesana naik MTR/bis/tram. Coba lihat HKCEC dari seberang Kowloon. Romantis deh… Karena gedung ini posisinya dipinggir dermaga Wan Chai dan kalau malam lampu2nya “bling bling”. 

 

HKCEC view from Kowloon

 

Gedungnya sendiri keliatan unik. Kubahnya bikin gedung ini beda dengan gedung-gedung pencakar langit disekitarnya. Mirip dikit style-nya sama Sydney Opera House=J

 

The Hall

 

So, this afternoon - Sunday, 19 May - di hari Minggu yang sangat panas karena lembabnya udara di Hong Kong, ada rombongan band dan penyanyi Indonesia sengaja datang demi acara “Sahabat – Music Award Concert 2013”-nya Sahabat Setia Smartone. 

The crowd

Welcome to Hong Kong untuk The Titans Band, Nirwana Band, Dimas Beck dan Aliza!!

Sebetulnya sih gue tahu kabar ini udah beberapa waktu lalu. Terima sms dari Sahabat Setia Smartone yang jadi sponsor utama acara ini. Tapi belum pengen banget nonton karena ngak ada lawan! Jujur.com - kenal lagu-lagu mereka tapi pas-pas-an -J

 

 

Sampai tiga hari sebelum acara, "ting tong, ting tong", bunyi whatsapp...  

"Mau nonton? Ada tiket nih, ketemu langsung di HKCEC hari Minggu sebelum konser ya?"

Asik! Cihuy! Alhamdulillah, beginilah nasib orang baik, rejeki lancar aja gitu... 

Sempet "wondering" juga kenapa empat group/penyanyi yang aliran musiknya beda2 ini datengnya barengan. Oooh ternyata mereka satu label Nagaswara yang datang untuk menerima penghargaan dari Smartone Hong Kong.

 

Nirwana Band

 

Acara dimulai on time dan dibuka oleh Nirwana Band, apa ya aliran musik mereka? Ternyata aliran musik melayu. Congrats for your achievement as the Best Melayu Band Award! 

Nirwana Band with their award. Congrats!

 

Asli tadinya gue kira Aliza itu penyanyi dangdut! Maap ya sis, karena lagunya itu lho; “Cinta Satu Malam” aslinya kan dangdut abis... Anyway, seru juga dinyanyiin dengan gaya Aliza.

Aliza dgn awardnya "Best New Female Artist"

Congrats for your “Best New Female Artist”! Ok, Aliza, mari lanjutkan acara di HK dengan shopping...

Congrats Aliza!

I like ur dress, Aliza!

Dimas Beck? Ooo ternyata dia yg dulu personil BBB asuhan Melly Goeslaw. Imut sekali...

Dimas Beck

Lagu yang pernah dinyanyiin sama Ari Lasso (Dewa) yg dinyanyiin ulang sama Dimas seru juga…

“Kamulah satu-satunya, yang ternyata mengerti aku, maafkan aku selama ini, yang sedikit melupakanmu…”

Wokeh deh Dimas, selamat ya sudah terpilih sebagai “The Best New Male Artist”. 

Congrats the Titans!

The Titans! Tahu mereka ya karena Andika dan Indra ex personil Peterpan alias Noah lah yaa.. Mmm... Karena mau nonton konsernya, langsung gue browsing lagu2 mereka...

Riski, vokalis the Titans (kiri)

"Rasa Itu" seru juga... Biar pernah ganti vokalis, tetep aja ini band eksis.

Indra (tengah) dan Imot (sebelahnya)

Well done guys, congrats for the “Outstanding Band Award”. It is a sign that you have a place in the heart of the Indonesian community here… "Dengarkanlah... dengarkanlah, lagu ini hanya untukmu..."

Andika.....!!

Dari semua personil the Titans, ayo tebak siapa yang paling banyak fans-nya? Andika! Cewek-cewek yang berdiri dibelakang gue teriak-teriak terus manggil nama Andika! Andika bergaya “cool” dong…

Yang ngak kalah serunya juga, Andika dan Indra nyanyi sepotong syair lagu.... "tak bisakah kau menungguku... " - wow, the crowd went crazy!

Gaya "cool"-nya Indra

Konser musik Indonesia di HK selalu diadakan hari Minggu, karena hari liburnya Buruh Migran Indonesia (BMI).

 

Kabarnya jumlah BMI di HK sekitar 150,000 orang, wow... banyak juga ya...

 

 

 

 

Dari jumlah itu, sepertinya hampir 8000 orang numplek di HKCEC tadi siang pada nonton konser! Hehehe…

 

 

As a wrap; thanks to Fina & Mas Toyo who have invited to come to this concert! Also to the young lady Kayla, thanks udah motretin -J

 

Yg diatas panggung malah motret penonton?

 

Karena tak kenal maka tak sayang, makanya gue kenalan ama band-band dan penyanyi-penyanyi negeri sendiri yg jauh-jauh dateng. Hidup musik Indonesia!

 

Best pic of Rizki, the Titans

 

Masih terngiang-ngiang konser tadi siang, "Mana suaranya....?" Ayo ngaku.., terngiang-ngiang suara, tampang atau gaya?

 

Catatan dari Sebuah Reuni

This posting is more fun to be written in Bahasa Indonesia, even though the last few closing paragraphs are in English.

Reuni Akbar - Sekaligus Workshop Sehari "Being the Smart & Ultimate U"



45 tahun? Lulusan angkatan pertama dihasilkan tahun 1968, lulusan terakhir ya lulus tahun lalu. Kalau dijumlahkan semuanya pasti ribuan.

Susahnya ngumpulin teman2 sekelas untuk reuni. Reuni teman sekelas aja susah, apalagi ngumpulin satu angkatan yang jumlahnya 12 kelas (kalo ngak salah). Satu kelasnya sekitar 45 mahasiswi. Apa jadinya reuni seluruh angkatan ya?!  

Ssttt... Iya, kampus gue isinya mahasiswi semua!

Ex Mahasiswi2 Peserta Reuni Akbar

 

Untung gue ngak tinggal di Jakarta, jadi gak ikutan sibuk2 persiapan reuni. Jadi Vivi aja dari angkatan kami yang ikutan jadi panitia reuni. Segebok tugas2 dia, selain tugas kantor sehari2nya, sehingga ngumpulin foto seangkatanpun ribet.

Bermodalkan FB, gue kontak semua teman yg ada di daftar FB untuk foto bareng. Waktu yang tersisa hanya tiga hari sebelum “deadline submission” ke Panitia karena mereka juga dikejar deadline untuk mencetak Buku Alumni...  Mana sempat ngumpulin warga yang tinggalnya berserakan di seantero nusantara dan dunia dalam tiga hari.

Tanggapan teman2 waktu diminta kumpulin foto:

• Iya, tapi gue mau keluar kota dulu...
• Hah? Kumpulin foto? Maluuu, sekarang gue gendut...
• Waduh... Foto?

Untungnya Anyes yang tinggal di Melbourne bersedia kerja ekstra untuk "photo-shop" foto teman2... Daripada ngumpulin warga, lebih baik memanfaatkan teknologi.

"Nyes, jadi kita kumpulin foto diri? Foto kita mesti ngapain? Berdiri, duduk?"

"Terserah mau berdiri, duduk atau nungging. Yang penting di foto itu ada elu, dan lebih baik latar belakangnya jangan terlalu rame jadi lebih gampang buat gue."

Wakakak…

Key Note Speaker oleh Ibu Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar
Menteri Pemberdayaan Perempuan & Perlindungan Anak

Dalam waktu singkat terkumpul foto 13 personil yang sebagian besar foto teman sekelas, tapi senang juga ada beberapa teman yang ngak sekelas ikutan ngumpulin, jadi bisa dibilang itu foto mewakili angkatan dong...

Voila... Foto hari photoshop Anyes siap, kita submit ke panitia, kelar tugas... 

Tanggapan teman2 melihat hasil photo-shop:

• Wow, fotonya bagus. Makasih Anyes!
• Yaaa, gue baru tau, masih bisa kirim gak?

Tempat reuni pastinya di Jakarta, jadi gue harus book dan issue tiket ke Jakarta dong... Kurang lebih 2 minggu sebelum jadwal Reuni Akbar tsb di bulan Februari, terdengar kabar Reuni diundur sampai tanggal 20 April! Supaya deketan ama Hari Kartini pastinya.

Anyway, gue udah beli tiket Reuni supaya dapet diskon dari Panitia -J

 

One of the Speakers: Bapak Adyaksa Dault, Mantan Menteri Pemuda & Olahraga (2004–2009)

The Day

Setibanya di Mall tempat berlangsungnya acara, gue mampir ke Starbucks for quick breakfast, alamak ada pasukan merah. Angkatan berapa ya? Sepertinya sih angkatan di atas gue. Mencuri2 pembicaraan, ternyata ada yang angkatan 78-79! Glekkkk...

Masuk ke gedung, mulai kelihatan pasukan ijo muda, ijo tua, turquoise, ungu, hitam, biru tua, biru muda, oranye untuk panitia, kotak2, leopard alias macan tutul pun ada... 

Untung udah beli tiket duluan, dapet diskon, jadi pendaftaran pun lebih mudah, antrian lebih pendek... 

 

Sr. Fransisca Dwina Arintowati

 

Akhirnya gue ketemu teman pas antri pendaftaran! Untung juga dulu waktu kuliah gue gaul, jadi ketemu teman yang tugas di bagian pendaftaran jadi name tag gue langsung dapet!

"Vivi... Gw hadir nih! Catet!" Kudu wajib lapor diri sama Vivi mantan ketua kelas dan ketua senat jaman dulu. Makasih ya Ma’am udah mewakili angkatan kita jadi panitia...

Mana pasukan biru muda? Pasukan warna ini ternyata untuk tiga angkatan: angkatan gue dan dua angkatan dibawah... Banyak juga yang hadir, total mungkin ada 40-50 orang... Tapi yang angkatan gue sendiri cuma lima orang termasuk Vivi yang panitia!

Total alumni yang hadir dari pagi sampai sore, walaupun tidak semua stay the whole day, sekitar 900 orang!

Kalo gue di Jakarta nih, gue koordinir warga angkatan gue supaya banyak yang hadir, dan pilih dress code sendiri; bunga2!  

Balada salah kostum terjadi di salah satu teman, dia gak ketemu kita2 teman2 seangkatan karena gak tau dress code. Ditambah datang telat pula... Kita2 biru muda dia pake merah! Mau duduk bareng angkatan senior?

 

Penyerahan Tanda Kasih kepada Dosen & Mantan Dosen adalah saat yg paling mengharukan -:(

Flashback memory

When you were 17 years old, did you know what do you want to be?

"Kalau kamu gak lulus UMPTN, kamu kuliah di Tarakanita, kuliah tiga tahun jadi sekretaris supaya bisa cepet kerja", ultimatum  nyokap. "Tapi kalo kamu diterima di UI, lain perkara, boleh kuliah disana.'

Berat banget sih syarat nyokap ini. Protes juga susah, lah wong UMPTN juga belum. Sepanjang kelas 3 SMA, setahun penuh gue ikut kelas tambahan di sekolah dan ikut kursus di Teknos. Semua demi lulus UMPTN!

Seperti layaknya UMPTN, semua peserta diperbolehkan memilih dua fakultas. Pilihan pertama UI fakultas Arsitektur, pilihan kedua UI fakultas Hukum.  Semasa SMA gue masuk A1, karena ngak suka ngapalin Biologi (A2) dan ngak suka apalan Sejarah dll (A3), kelas bahasa juga gak pinter2 amat (A4), sebetulnya juga gak jago Kimia, sementara Fisika dan Matematika standard aja lah.

The announcement day came - I passed!  Yeehaa!!  Yes, I was accepted in UI - Faculty of Law - my second choice.

To cut the story short, I didn't reach the agreement with mom, her complete ultimatum was "UI - Faculty of Architecture" or Secretarial Academy.

Three years passed quickly, I completed college and started career as secretary for the next significant years until I jumped to marketing role in a bank, and finally ended my career as client relationship mining contractor. Today, I am a happy traveler and blogger-:) 

Thanks to all teachers in Tarakanita, thanks to all my employers who were also mentors to me, thanks to colleagues and friends.

I am wondering what it would be if I did not obey mom’s order. Would my destiny be different?

 

Hikmah memang datangnya selalu belakangan...

 

Dining in the Air (2 of 2)

Wisata kuliner di pesawat? Culinary trip in the air? Why not...

A few times, I was given snack box of breads and mineral water during short haul flight. The bread was too dry. 

In a different situation, my mom went on Java train trip. When she was given snack box, she took and gave it to people who might appreciate better – train porter, shoes shine boys, or even taxi driver. After having heard her story, once I brought my snack box and gave it to taxi driver. I could see his happy face because of my oleh-oleh (souvenir).

 

KLM

Leaving la Cote d'Azur to Amsterdam by KLM, in ninety minute flight, sandwich was provided. It was cheesy Panini brown sandwich in cute packaging. Half bread sandwich is something like brown Panini with tasty cheese. The other half is white Panini with butter and something like ham or chicken ham. 

 

KLM snacks

 

Before landing in Amsterdam, we got crispy biscuit with caramel filling; Stroopkoekje. Its taste is similar to ginger biscuit but this one has a layer of caramel sauce. Lekker... 

KLM dinner (Amsterdam - Saigon)

Somewhere between Amsterdam to Ho Chi Minh City, instead of Italian pasta, I chose a set of veggie rice with chicken curry. The light curry was good and chickpeas salad was fresh. I mixed both of them, just assuming salad as pickle. The wheat bun was good and served warm. Just spread the butter and cheese to make them perfect, by the way it was 5 month old Dutch cheese. Dessert was yummy; mango pudding with orange sauce and slices of chocolate on top of it.  

During 12 hour long haul trip, we were also served breakfast. It was Omelets with Zucchini and tomato sauce. The zucchini looks like ratatouille! The wheat bun was yummy; it was served warm so that the upper part of the bread was crunchy.

 

KLM breakfast (Amsterdam - Saigon)

 

The cake was so much similar to spices cake that I like - onbietjkoek! Except this cake has sugar on top of it. Waking up in the plane and sleepy, having cup of hot tea and onbietjkoek…

Singapore Airlines (SQ)

SQ is the second airline I know distributing a list of menu to all economy class passengers during international flights (at least for Jakarta – Singapore Kong route). The menu is printed like a few page brochure with standard breakfast/lunch/dinner menus for Hong Kong – Singapore destination. Other international airlines do it verbally; “Good morning Sir/Ma’am, would you like to have Omelet with Sausage or Nasi Lemak with Chicken?” 

 

SQ menu list (insert top left). Omelet for brunch (Jakarta - Singapore)

 

I had Omelet with Hash Brown for brunch between Hong Kong to Singapore - using metal cutlery with SQ logo -:) *Some airlines minimize the use of metal cutlery for security reason. 

The next connecting flight from Singapore to Jakarta, I skipped meal as I was still full.

 

SQ inflight meal (Singapore - Hong Kong)

 

Returning to Hong Kong via Singapore, I had fish with potato and veggie and I couldn’t resist the white wine to accompany the fish. I thought it is a default that fish is equal to white wine. That is why I was wondering why I was questioned if I would like to have either white or red wine for the fish.

Dessert is most often the best part of the meals; look at this cute chocolate ice cream!

 

SQ ice cream for dessert

  

Thai Airways (TG)

 

When I was somewhere between Hong Kong to Bangkok, between dim sum with noodle and egg with veal sausage, I chose the egg selection. 

TG brunch (Hong Kong - Bangkok)

As soon as the food tray was in my table, I could tell there's cinnamon smell somewhere... The egg was cooked and shaped like quiche, so soft, warm and tasty. I put a little bit of salt and pepper and my quiche egg became perfect.

As to company my egg, I torn a little bit of the bun that from outside it looks like wheat bread, but it's sweet! It’s apparently sweet bun with raisin and cinnamon. It became tastier after I put some butter and strawberry jam, plus it was served warm.  

My conclusion, whatever food as long as they are served properly, warmed, they would taste great. 

TG Shrimp Salad

The trip with TG continued from Bangkok to Yangon… I wasn't expecting anything in this short international flight; 45 minute flying. Surprisingly, we were offered a snack box of shrimp salad. The Thai shrimp salad in this lunch box has been definitely customized for the foreigners. It tastes decently good without any spicy flavor.  

The dessert was actually sticky rice with sweet coconut milk on top. It was decent, except the sticky rice seemed be tasteless like it had been put in the fridge too long. 

 

Vietnam Air (VN)

There was one menu between Siem Reap (Cambodia) to Ha Noi (Vietnam); cold green salad, pork slices, cold bun and sweet dessert.  

 

When I wish I had warm meals in the air, I normally put the cold bun on top of the warm aluminum. Microwave ala kadarnya. Aluminum can warm up cold bun J

The dessert was not too sweet which was acceptable to me. It was served neither warm nor cold. This Vietnamese sago pearl dessert consists of sago pearl (sagu mutiara), chickpeas, and coconut sauce.

Closing

When I was a kid, if I did not finish my meals especially the steamed rice, my mom always said to finish them otherwise the rice would cry. Oh yes, it took me a few years to believe it was not true… But I learned something from it; I am responsible for the food I order. I try to finish the meals on my plate, including the inflight meal.

Most often I found the inflight meal is flavor-less. There was time when I preferred to skip the airline meal because of this reason. I prefer to eat in the airport as the taste is at least standard. But since I am committed to do this fun review since two years ago, I am responsible for the food in my tray!