The Jakarta Game Show 2011

Game lovers, brace yourselves for the biggest game show in the country. The Jakarta Game Show 2011 will take place in Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) from November 2 to 6, featuring various local and international game publishers and developers who will be boasting about their latest innovations. The game publishers include Wave Game, Paveo, Prodigy, and IAH Game. Expect to see World Soccer Winning Eleven 2012, The Kings of Fighter XIII, Tekken Hybrid, Three Kingdoms and Heroes of Three Kingdoms. For more information visit www.ameshow.com So, who wants to join the fun?! :)

grand indonesia shopping town

I must admit that I used to be a shopaholic, but now I have changed (not fully changed, though). In Jakarta, the temptation to spend money is far greater than in Surabaya. It's so difficult for me to make savings here. The large number of shopping centers in Jakarta isn't helping either. Based on a survey in late 2010, Jakarta is the city with the world's largest amount of shopping malls, about 170 malls.

I've been to some of the biggest malls in Jakarta, such as Grand Indonesia, Senayan City, Central Park, and Pacific Place, and I have to say, Grand Indonesia's my favorite. Grand Indonesia Shopping Town is one of the largest upscale shopping centres in Southeast Asia with over 130,000 m² (1,400,000 sq ft) of high end retail space. It's located on the Hotel Indonesia Circle in Jakarta. It has 8 floors and divided into two, namely West Mall and East Mall. It's no joke if it's called one stop entertainment. An eleven screen cineplex, Blitzmegaplex opened in March 2007 while Seibu, a Japanese department store opened in May 2007 in the West Mall. Grand Indonesia Shopping Town also hosts Chanel and Prada boutiques in the East Mall. Harvey Nichols was located in the mall but was closed down September in 2010. Grand Indonesia has luxury stores such as: Chanel, Massimo Dutti, Burberry, Gucci, Raoul, etc. 

Grand Indonesia West Mall

Grand Indonesia interior

What I love about Grand Indonesia is that it has everything, I mean it has so many stores and a wide range of a selection of items. It also divided into some districts, which every district has it's own theme like medieval, modern, etc. What makes Grand Indonesia is different from other shopping center is that it has a beautiful dancing fountain. The dancing-fountain is not as spectacular as in Vegas, but it's still fun to watch. So if you gonna visit Jakarta, Grand Indonesia is the place to visit besides Monas. 

the dancing fountain

i'm not a pussy

On a crowded night somewhere in the middle of Jakarta, I and four of my buddies were having a really good time. We joked, we laughed, and we shared some stories together. One of my friends, whom I just met, offered me a cigarette and a lighter. "It's really good, you should try it", he said. "No, thanks, I'm good", I replied. I could see the look on his face that he was unhappy to hear my response, and blurted What the fuck! Since when did you become a sissy?! Is it now the time for you to work, eh?

Since junior high school, I can't remember how many times I was offered cigarettes and being ridiculed if I rejected the bids. Even a couple of my girlfriends said that I wasn't manly enough if I didn't smoke. Well, it didn't always happen, some of my friends could understand and respect my decision, but some others couldn't accept that. Is it wrong if I don't want to smoke?! The same treatment happened if I refused to drink (alcohol) or when I didn't want to do free sex. They always called me such a pussy, what a goody-goody boy or such a mama's boy. 

krakatoa and stung by a jellyfish

One of the most beautiful places I've been to is Mount Krakatoa Child. It's located in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. I went there with my fellow STAPALA mates and some participants for the event general mountain hiking that was held by STAPALA in July 2011. STAPALA held this event in order to earned more money for Mount Elbrus Expedition in Russia. 

There were 34 participants joined this event. We gathered some of the participants at STAN (my campus) and the other participants at Kampung Rambutan Terminal. The participants were from many universities, not only from STAN. Some of them were from Bandung and Bogor. After participants gathered in Kampung Rambutan, We took the last bus from Kampung Rambutan to Merak Port in Banten. From Merak Port we took a boat to Lampung. We were on the boat for approximately 3 hours. The view from the boat when we were about to arrive at Lampung was breath-taking! The islands were magnificent! We perpetuated the view by taking photos as many as possible. Everybody was very excited!

batak tribe couple

Yesterday my old friend, Athalia, chatted me on Facebook. She asked me about Batak indigenous. She told me that she had to broke up with his boyfriend because his mother told him to be with Batak tribe girl, although he was still in love with her. 

It's sad but true, most Batak parents want their children to have a pair of Batak tribe. There are many reasons why this is happening. As for myself, my parents do not force me to have a Batak partner. But as the oldest son and the oldest grandchildren in my big family, I feel I just have to find a Batak tribe girl.

I have to say the first reason why this is happening is that Batak parents still want to preserve the indigenous Batak to their offspring. Like the customary, the clothes, the language, and other things. It is known that the bonding among fellow Batak tribal is very strong. It can be seen from a Batak wedding. All the family from near to far, various Batak clans (marga) would come, even just to one Batak wedding. I think the parents want to keep that tradition. 

Other reason maybe because the parents are afraid if their children married to non-Batak, their big family might excommunicate the couple. The family wouldn't say it, but now it's a common knowledge. There's a way to prevent this excommunicate thing. If

learning english at wall street institute

We know that English is very important in today's era of globalization. Many ways that people use to learn English, whether from lessons at school, listening to the radio, watching western movies, or by following courses.

When I was living in Surabaya, I attended English language course at Kelt for approximately five years. Now, that I live in Jakarta, I feel the need to continue to learn English so I didn't forget what I had learned earlier. Finding a suitable place of learning was not easy. My friend suggested to try LIA. So I tried the placement test at LIA and it turned out I was on the third level from the top. I felt the lessons in LIA would not be too effective for my learning.

Less than a month later, when I was shopping with my friends at Pondok Indah Mall 2, a SPG came to me and offered me to join Wall Street Institute (WSI). At first I refused to respond to the girl, but then I was interested to find out more. She took me to what-they-called a consultant. The consultant whose name was Ditha, explained to me about WSI learning programs that I saw was different from other courses that I knew. I felt that this courses the right course for me. I tried the placement test the next day and I was on upper waystage 2, tenth level from the top. 

In short, I joined WSI. Though the programs they offered was quite confusing, I tried my best to follow. At the first lesson, the student wouldn't do any exercise yet but they had to listen to the tutor about the programs. Maximum of only three people could attend the first lesson at the same time. It was intended to make it easier for students to focus on listening what the tutor said.

So, this is how WSI programs work for students: The students will exercise their English skill at many steps.

maling kancut

I want to tell you why I called this blog 'maling kancut'. Well.. I named it after my nickname, Macut (Maling Kancut). Maling means thief and kancut means underpants in Indonesian. So, maling kancut means underpants thief. I got that name from my senior in my nature lovers community which is called STAPALA. In nature lovers community, it's a normal thing for seniors to give names to their juniors. The names are usually not pleasant to hear and the juniors could only accept with resignation. At first, when they called me "Macut", I didn't know that it referred to maling kancut. I knew the meaning after one of the seniors told me. That's how I named this blog 'maling kancut'.

the beginning

So I finally decided to make a blog! I’m still very new at this. I will try my best to write to you my story. I’ve always had a love for rafting but that passion really took off last year when I entered college. I plan to document my rafting experiences. I won’t always post about rafting, I’d like to write about some of my memorable events too. Right now life is good. Yours truly, Dan