Everyday Spa in Bandung + Hotel California

Compared to the last time we went to visit Bandung, there are now SO many new spa/massage places there. My brother took us to a new spa place once that his friends had recommended and hubby and I had a 1,5 hour massage. The place was clean, but nothing fancy. The massage was good, though we didn't know what my brother had booked, so turned out in the beginning the masseuse stood up and hold onto the railing and used her feet to massage us. That was quite surprising because I hadn't expected that. It cost about 160,000 IDR for 1,5 hour. 

The only bad thing was that the one who took care of hubby didn't speak much English, so sometimes when she had to leave the booth to wash her hands, she didn't tell hubby anything, so hubby was a bit confused at times. So she didn't ask hubby if he wanted to shower or not, whereas I just went and have a shower.

The next time around I went back to Everyday Spa, the spa where my mom and I went to years back. This time I went to the main branch in Jalan Aceh and because we went there on a workday, I hadn't booked beforehand as I was sure they would have some spots for us. They did have some spots for us right away, but the couple room was unfortunately occupied. The cost was 190,000 IDR for 1,5 hour. 

They had separate sections for men and female and they also asked if hubby wanted a masseur or a masseuse. We only had to wait about 15 minutes for them to prepare everything. They washed our feet first, then gave us slippers and guided us to our own booth. The place was better than the other spa and this time hubby's masseuse spoke English very well, so he felt that it was more satisfactory to have the massage there. 

So after two satisfactory experiences, I'd highly recommend Everyday Spa for people who want to enjoy a nice massage in Bandung. And I think the price isn't that bad, either. So next time we're in Bandung again, I'll definitely go back there.

Here's the spa site: Everyday Spa

Here's a photo of the view from our room in Hotel California from the sixth floor: 

I also had a massage at the hotel we stayed in at that time, Hotel California. Actually the original plan was to go back to Everyday Spa, but hubby wasn't feeling well, so I booked an hour massage there and the masseuse came to our room. The massage was good, but I felt that it's still better to go to a spa place to have a massage rather than your own hotel room because the ambience is just totally different. 

Speaking of hotels, we stayed in two different hotels in Bandung. The first one was D'Best Hotel and the second one was Hotel California. In the beginning we weren't actually planning to stay at D'Best Hotel, but hubby and I had trouble sleeping in my parents' place because of the heat.

We had good experiences with both hotels, though for D'Best Hotel I forgot to ask for a non-smoking room, so the room we had kinda smelled like cigarette smoke. In Hotel California, all the rooms are thankfully non-smoking ones, so no more smell. 

Both hotels provide breakfast, though Hotel California provides many more breakfast choices (well, of course, the hotel room is more expensive than D'Best Hotel). They even have waffles and bubur ketan hitam/bubur sumsum (different for different days) and one day I could even eat Kupat Tahu there, so I was really happy eating there ha ha ha ha...At D'Best Hotel, what I like is the fact that they have gorengan at breakfast he he he he he...

The last night in Bandung, we didn't feel like going out anymore, so we had dinner at Hotel California's restaurant and the food was brilliant. Even hubby complimented his chicken steak (and the sauce). The price was a bit more expensive than in normal restaurants, but it was worth it because the taste was great and it was convenient. 

Here are two photos of our last dinner in Bandung:

Theory of Relativity

When I lived in Bandung, due to the traffic jam and the fact that a kind of public transit (that I used frequently 'coz I can't drive a car nor motorcycle and it's not safe to ride a bike in the streets) called "angkot" could stop anywhere for a long period of time whenever the driver wanted to get more passengers, it usually took a long time to get from one place to another, even though Bandung is far smaller than Jakarta. Especially over the past few years ever since they built a highway from Jakarta to Bandung, many people who work and live in Jakarta come to Bandung to relax during the weekend - thus causing more traffic problem.

So, when I still lived in Bandung, it was pretty normal to travel by "angkot" for 30-60 minutes just to reach one destination (even if this travel time should be only half or one third or one fourth of the actual travel time were the roads clear of traffic and if the "angkot" didn't stop too often along the way).

Now that I've lived in Sodankylä for a little over 3 years and we have always lived near downtown changes everything. Now a 30-60 minute ride by car seems like such a hassle, 'coz over here there's no traffic at all and I'm used to getting to a place in a short amount of time.

So when we went to Crete, we were in a very lazy mode. We could have visited many more places by bus, but we just didn't feel like "wasting" so much time on a bus. And I've just realized one more phenomenon...in Crete there are so many mountains all around the place, whereas Sodankylä is far more flatter. Yesterday when we drove back home from my in-laws' place, I felt something that I felt when I first moved here: the VAST stretch of the sky (esp. when we passed by two HUGE fields on both sides of the road) - it almost feels like a blanket surrounds us. Funny how our perspective changes once we've been to different places.

Anyway, to cap this post, let me show you how much snow there's still left around my in-laws' place.




The ground in some parts are still SO wet:


Just posing he he he...the temp. was around 6-10'C yesterday and the sun was shining, but it was SO windy and the wind was cold.

Everyday Spa in Bandung

When I visited Bandung again last month, I knew that my Mom wouldn't be able to accompany me too often, 'coz now she's in charge in taking care of Ken along with my brother's helper. Mom and I did have a spa experience together, though. We picked a day when my brother and his wife would be home so that Ken would have many people around him he he...

I booked the time and packages already and my brother took us there. The spa is called Everyday Spa located in Karangsari Street in Bandung. I consider the prices to be fairly cheap compared to three other spa experiences I had had beforehand (once in Bali, once in Singapore, once in Rhodes). 'Coz I had never tried any body scrub before, I picked this spa experience package: body massage + body scrub + face massage (120 minutes). The price was 199,000 rupiahs per person. So I paid 398,000 rupiahs for both of us (around 28-29 Euros).

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I had never visited the place before, but my Mom had visited the place once to get the brochure and she said it looked nice. When we arrived there, we could choose the oil and also the scrub we wanted to use. Then our therapists came to welcome us.

We had to take off our sandals first and then dipped our feet into these huge "bowls" that they filled with warm water and salt. They washed our feet and then we were escorted to this room that consisted of 2 adjacent beds. The room was cosy enough and the area was quiet enough to make us feel as though we were somewhere else. There was light, soothing instrumental music that made us feel relaxed. After the preparation, our message therapists were ready to give us the massage.

Totally WONDERFUL!!! They massaged our bodies both from the back and the front - when we were lying down on our backs, they put some cover on our eyes and it made us feel even more relaxed and sleepy hi hi hi...Then after the massage was done, the massage therapists went out to prepare our scrub. They scrubbed our entire bodies and then gave us a very relaxing face massage. After that we went to the shower and we came out feeling like new women with smoother skin (and sleepy faces 'coz we both almost fell asleep) HA HA HA HA HA HA...Oh yeah, almost forgot...after we were done, we got a small cup of hot ginger tea he he...

So I TOTALLY recommend this spa if you ever want to enjoy the spa in Bandung. Granted the showers are pretty small, but all in all for that price, I find everything VERY satisfactory (everything was clean, the massage was great, the room was cosy).

However, if I only compare the massage (without considering the place or the price), my best spa experience would still be either the one in Bali or Singapore (even though the woman in Singapore asked R2 if he wanted "triple price").

I was pleased to see that Mom enjoyed it thoroughly 'coz it was her first spa experience. When I visit Bandung again, I'll make sure to go to the spa again with Mom HE HE HE HE HE...

P.S. I was going to write about Ken and put the link to my photobucket album so that you can see his videos, but I think photobucket is down 'coz I can't even log in.

Doing The Trip Alone

As you probably know, my Indo trip was the first time I had ever been separated for a long time with hubby after I moved to Finland on March 2007. A part of me didn't want to go, yet another part of me was SO excited to go back to Indo.

The weird thing was that, during my trip back and forth, SLEEPYHEAD ME couldn't sleep on the planes. That's something I wasn't expecting. Even last year when R2 and I went to Indo, I could still sleep on the planes, but this time I couldn't. Dunno why. I was SO frustrated 'coz my eyes were SO tired and heavy and I could feel something pounding behind my eyes after a long while. I threw up twice on the way to Indo. Good thing was that I didn't get sick on the way back - I think it had something to do with the fact that I spent a night at Marriott Hotel nearby Hong Kong airport so that I got at least a 7-hour decent sleep despite the long journey.

I had a terrible jet lag when I arrived in Indo (had a HARD time sleeping for a few days at least - this didn't happen last year) and R2 also had trouble sleeping (he woke up almost every night and had a hard time going back to sleep). So my heart was torn in two - 'coz R2 suffered as well.

Thankfully my brother has bought a laptop and subscribed to a better inet connection, so R2 and I could chat a few times a week and we could also use our webcams to see each other. The bad thing was that my bro's inet connection wasn't strong enough to stream two webcams at the same time (Yahoo Messenger kept on shutting itself down), so we had to take turns in seeing each other ha ha ha ha...but all in all it helped a lot. R2 also called me using Skype a few times. THANK GOD for technology!!!

The first week in Bandung was TERRIBLY hot (around 30-32'C), but then it started raining almost daily, so the temperature got down. One morning I found out that it was only 22.5'C he he he...nicely cool!!! Mind you that when I left Finland, it was -5'C.

After being in Bandung for about 2.5 weeks, I felt like wanting to go back to Finland again. This time I didn't have too many things to do, so it felt like I was doing nothing much except eat, sleep, talk with my family and friends, go to the mall, etc. I did enjoy my time there, but I THINK the longer I stay in Sodankylä, the more I'll feel that Bandung is TOO chaotic, crowded, and noisy.

I have to admit that it feels like my elbow room is WAY too restricted (I almost felt like wanting to scream to the people there: "Move away from me!" - crazy, eh?). I feel that there are too many people, too many vehicles, too many street sellers (some of them put their stalls almost in the middle of the street!), too many wild drivers in Bandung. It's pretty logical why I feel this way...let's look at this info from Wikipedia:

The population in Sodankylä in 2009: 0.76/km²
The population in Bandung in 2004: 14,976/km²

Anyway, I did eat a lot of different kinds of food he he he...to make my posts not too long, let me just share a pic of a tropical fruit called "manggis" in Indo (for some reason I don't remember the English name) that I managed to find in Bandung that I can never find here in Sodankylä:


Notice the 7 "petals" at the bottom of the fruit...they represent the number of "pieces" of manggis there are inside. When I was a kid, whenever manggis was in season, we used to play this guessing game...we'd cover up the bottom part and ask our friend to guess how many manggis pieces there were inside he he he...


The inside of the fruit...you can eat the white parts (there are seeds inside the big ones, but you can swallow them too). See? There are exactly 7 pieces he he...If I remember correctly, there are usually around 4-7 pieces (no more, no less).


I've taken plenty of videos of Ken, as well, so I'll share them later along with other stories and pics. I still have plenty of things to do now...such as blog-hop ha ha ha...Btw, THANK YOU for all the birthday wishes! :-))) My birthday was spent in my in-laws' where we had moose and potatoes and also a chocolate cake he he he he...;-D (And I don't feel a year older WA HA HA HA HA HA...)

Bandung, Singapore, Sodankylä

Having lived in Sodankylä for around 1,5 years and THEN go back to the big cities, I find myself feeling new emotions.

Let me share some statistics first so that you get a better idea, OK?

Sodankylä - population density: 0.8 inhabitants per km².

Bandung - population density (2004): 14,976 inhabitants per km².

Singapore - population density (2008): 6,489 inhabitants per km².

In 2000, I went to visit Singapore for 6 days. Back then I still lived in Bandung. When I was in Singapore back then, all I felt was AWE since the country was SOOOOOO clean and everybody was SO swift and efficient.

Last October, when I went to Singapore, at first I still felt the awe about the cleanliness and the efficiency, but after some time, I felt that they were all SO rushed! After 2 days, I wanted to yell, "Calm down, everybody! Why are you all in such a hurry? Why don't you stop and smell the roses?"

I just felt agitated by the fact that everybody was such in a hurry to go here and there, especially around the MRT area. Boy oh boyyyy...

You should understand that here in Sodankylä, the LONGEST queue at the supermarkets here is probably ONLY SIX people at one go. Usually when I go to any supermarket, there are only 2-3 people in front of me...and the supermarkets aren't even big!!!

So it seems that I'm getting used to living in a small village, since even when we went to Rovaniemi last Saturday, I felt slightly frustrated already when we tried to find out where we could park the car and for how long we could park it there. It reminds me of the time when we went to Pori last July and R2 and I went downtown on our own. We had to turn round and round and round and round just to find a parking space that fit our schedule.

It seems to me that in big cities, it's SO easy to lose time since there're more and more people, less space, more traffic jams, so it DOES make sense that people are more in a hurry in big cities...it's really getting to my nerves after some time. I felt SUCH a relief when we got back to good old Sodankylä.

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What's the point of this post? Nothing. Just to share my experience he he he he...R2's second brother went to Tallinn in Estonia the other week and he said to us, "There were SOOOO many people there and I felt choked. I felt as if I wanted to shoo those people away since I had so little space!!!"

I understood his words completely. We're too used to having so much space here in Sodankylä that the big city overwhelms us if we stay there too long. In each place we stay, there are good and bad sides. But it's funny to know that I used to think I wouldn't survive in such a small village since I was used to the city life filled with malls and plenty of theatres and factory outlets...I'm GLAD I can really fit in here, not just for my sake, but also for R2's sake...since if I'm unhappy here, it'll make him unhappy, too. :-))))

Photos with Blogger Friends

As per Trinity's request, here are my pics with my blogger friends: Trinity and Blur Ting. Trinity and I met in Bandung. She picked me up and then we went to a mall to have lunch together with Cliff, her youngest son. She tried to take a picture of us, but Cliff wouldn't let her have the digital camera ha ha ha ha ha...and then the battery died, so here are the only two pictures of us.

THANK YOU for treating us in the resto, Trin!!! It was a pleasure to meet you and Cliff! ;-D




A funny thing happened when we were supposed to meet Blur Ting. She was coming to pick us up at our hotel (Metropolitan YMCA). I didn't realize that there was another YMCA hotel near Orchard Road, so when she rang me and told me that she was in front of the lobby already, we got out and looked around the small parking lot and found no one hi hi hi...Then when I told her the address, she said she had gone to another YMCA hotel. Silly me! I should have told her the address of our hotel!!!

But anyway, she found us just fine and she took us to her lovely apartment. I LOVE how she decorated her apartment and her bedroom is HUGE compared to ours he he he he he...Rusty was there, too, so we got to meet him. He's SO cute!!! ;-D Just look at him! That was Arttu's hand, by the way hi hi...


This first picture wasn't so successful since the guys, CH and Arttu, were looking elsewhere ha ha ha ha ha...but I want to show this picture since Rusty's in it he he...




Anyway, Blur Ting cooked us different types of dishes: Tom Yum soup, chicken curry, fried tofu filled with meat along with slices of fish, and shrimps. She even gave me some clothes and body lotion!!!

THANK YOU again for everything, BT and CH!!! Would love to meet you again someday. CH even spent time to browse for some local shops online since Arttu wanted to buy some computer games and the address that he gave Arttu was really useful for us. ;-D

When I mentioned to Arttu that next time we could go back to Singapore, he said that we should probably just fly to Singapore first before arriving in Indo (or the other way around) so that we don't have to go back and forth from Bandung to Jakarta to catch the flight he he he...

OK, time for me to start my exercise regime again before I blog-hop. :-))) Taebo, here I comeeee!!!

Trip to Indo: The Beginning

It's hard to know which story I should tell you first, so let me just choose randomly, okay? While flying to Indo, I was gripped with intense anxiety. I was afraid that I'd be shocked about the heat and the traffic jams and everything would overwhelm me. Due to the long plane journey, my anxiety dissipated bit by bit.

It felt strange to be back in Bandung, since I felt as though I had never left it. I still remembered clearly the public transit routes (provided that they didn't change) and everything seemed familiar. Maybe it's because I only left the city for 1,5 years before I visited it back. Of course there were some changes about the city, but the most surprising thing was the HEAT. Prior to moving to Finland in March 2007, it wasn't at all THAT hot. Now Bandung has become FAR hotter than 1,5 years ago.

My Mom and her elder brother were waiting for us in one mall in Bandung when we arrived there. We took a bus from Cengkareng airport in Jakarta that dropped all the passengers in one of the malls I used to frequent while I still lived in Bandung, so my Mom didn't have to go all the way to Jakarta to pick me up. These days there are FAR more choices to go to Bandung from the airport. There are plenty of bus or car rental services every half an hour or so.

Anyway, Mom and my uncle hugged me when they saw me. :-D We went to a pizza resto first to buy pizza for Arttu, since he was hungry. I ate already on the way to Bandung. We talked about many things while waiting for the food. After that, my uncle took us to my parents' house and left right away. I hugged my smiling Dad when we got back home and talked with my brother and my SIL.

We unpacked right away since we had to get the souvenirs and chocolate out he he he...My Dad was happy to get the 2-in-1 chess station. Turns out that these days he often goes out for a walk in the morning to a nearby place and then he would play chess against some people there. Then he'd go back home at around 10 am to sleep. He sleeps a lot during the day and at around 2 am he'd wake up for a few hours before he goes back to sleep.

Arttu and I took a shower right away after that. My Mom wanted us to take a family picture at a photo studio, so one afternoon we went there together. Here are the pics:




This third picture is a picture of our family when we went to a mall with my Uncle (my parents have sold their car, so my Uncle helped me go around a bit with his car - BLESS HIM!!!). There we met his daughter and her family he he he...My Uncle is the one standing on the right behind my Mom.

OK, it's enough for now, I guess. I'm gonna watch movies with hubby now he he...To be continued tomorrow he he...

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!!!

Why am I happy? Let me count the ways and be thankful for each and every one of them.

1. Today I received my passport back. I sent it last Monday to the Indonesian Embassy in Helsinki to report myself. Why do I need to report myself? Well, one other reason other than the obvious is that once I've reported myself, my new address is now written at the back of my passport, so when I fly back to Finland, I don't have to pay 1 million rupiah tax at the airport HUE HE HE HE HE HE HE...Plus I'm RELIEVED that the passport has arrived safely HE HE HE HE HE...

2. Because of reason number 1, I can use the money to go to a SPA in Bandung in October HUA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...I'm gonna pamper myself in Bandung. *WIDE GRIN*

3. My new book's arrived (Jostein Gaarder's Maya). Hubby asked me if I wanted to buy a book since he wanted to order something online, so I picked one. I still have many other unread novels, but I just love stacking them up to read in the future ho ho ho ho ho ho...

4. My Brit friend and husband and teacher have told me that I may be able to teach Finnish to foreigners later in the future. It's something I'm considering seriously, since I think I'd love to do something like that. ;-D I know it'll take me years to be able to be as good in Finnish (compared to my English knowledge), but I'm in no hurry. ;-D

I'm THANKFUL for their encouragement and support.

5. Tonight we were supposed to go to the bars with hubby's brother and girlfriend, but they cancelled it. I don't mind that since it means I have plenty of spare time to relax (read comics or do whatever I want to do today) ho ho ho...

6. Seeing hubby's SATISFIED GRIN as I tucked him to sleep on the sofa just now.

7. Hubby bought pepper steak for us HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO...I LOVE pepper steak! ;-D

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8. A little while ago while hubby was doing something in front of his computer, I went over to smother him with kisses and I noticed that between the pages of his notebook, there was my Post-It Note from the day when he was sick and he had to stay home while I went to my Finnish course. I left him the note before I went to the course. I LOVE the fact that he keeps it safe, even though it's just a Post-It note. ;-D

9. Today's been wet again. It rained water for a while. I don't mind that since it means that the ice isn't slippery. That means that I'm SAFE from falling HO HO HO HO HO...

10. Cleaning up hubby's ears with a special tool from Indo. I LOVE cleaning up his ears ha ha ha ha ha...Sounds gross, eh? ;-D

11. My class is going to visit the Gold Mine next Friday. I've never been there before, even though I've lived in Finland for a little over a year. And it's FOR FREE since the company who organizes the course is paying for that. YIIIIPPIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!! I'm gonna bring my digicam to take pics. ;-D

12. The other day when I walked home, I noticed something very cute: as the snow was melting and water was running fast to the drain all over the village, three birds were cleaning themselves up in the running water nearby my apartment building. What a sight!!! I even stopped to watch them. Mmmm...

13. Spring is comiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg!!! And lately here in Sodankylä, the day is longer than the night (17 hours versus 7 hours). YEEEESSSSS!!!

14. This conversation:

Me: Am I demanding?
Hubby: Sometimes. (smile)
Me: What? When?
Hubby: No comment.
Me: Okaaayyyy...does it bother you, then?
Hubby: No.
Me: GOOD! (BIG grin)

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Other than those, here are other things I'm thankful for:

1. My family, husband, husband's family, and friends. They're always so supportive, understanding, and kind to me.

2. My blogger friends. Without them, I wouldn't be the woman I am today. ;-D

3. Peace of mind.

4. Being able to sleep well at nights.

5. My health.

6. Enlightenment.

7. Wonderful food, tasty snack, and refreshing water.

8. People's thoughtfulness (strangers or non-strangers alike).

9. Open doors and closed doors.

10. Love, hope, and farts. *GRIN*



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In order to be able to achieve and maintain happiness we need to, actively, be able to do two things:

1. Complain and then let go (Dump the baggage, the roadblocks to happiness.)
2. Openly Express Gratitude (The open expression of gratitude promotes happiness.)

After all, everyone has something to be grateful for and/or something to complain about. If you would like to accept the challenge, please follow the appropriate link and do so: "Are You Grateful?", "Complain Complain Complain."

Contributors to "Are You Grateful?" & "Complain Complain Complain" are: 1-Attitude, the Ultimate Power 2-Max 3-DianaCA's Metamorphoses 4-Mental Poo 5-My Thoughts 6-Baba Doodlius 7-Wake Up America 8-Life is a Roller Coaster 9-Life and Me 10-pinay mommy's love blog 11-My Happiness Haven 12-And Life Goes On for a Filipino Mom 13-Blessed Sanctuary 14-Expressions And Thoughts 15-Memories by Jenn 16-Reminiscence of My Adventures 17-In the Life of Mne 18-Juliana's Lair 19-Pinay Wahm 20-Lucid Creativity 21-Winged Words 22-Irresistible Fascinations 23-A Little Time 24-See Me For What You Will 25-Greatest Reviews 26-ETC ATBP 27-Gandacious 28-We Are Family 29-Journey to this thing called LIFE 30-www.rajeshrana.net 31-www.rajeshrana.com 32-BaReFooTeD Me 33-Uncomplicated 34-Points of View 35-Pride & Prejudice 36-Colorful World 37-Nora's Notes 38-A Daily Walk With Bill & Gina 39-Strange but True 40-Everything Under The Sun ( Beth Rebokon ) 41-Kaleidoscope 42-Fil-Oz Blog 43-By Osc@r Luiz 44-Comedy Plus 45-Blogging by Sandee 46-Soul Meets World 47-Mae's Memoirs 48-Beyond the Rave Reality 49-Amori, poesie, arte, chat by Hanna 50-Attached at the Hip 51-Carver's Sight or is that Site? 52-Empress Reviews 53-Simple Pleasures In My Heart 54-Lourdes' mia 55-A Grateful Heart 56-Majorsleepyhead 57-Scrappy n Happy in Ohio 58-CHOC MINT GIRL 59-Extraordinary Things 60-ZOOROPAZOO 61-BeNolSatuEm 62-As The World Turns 63-Your Caring Angels 64-Life Is Wonderful To Know Everyday 65-Sugar Magnolias 66-Little Peanut 67-Creative In Me 68-Me and Mine 69-Pea in a Pod 70-the diary of the Pink & Brown Wedding 71-good thoughts, good trades, good life 72-My Blog - all things me 73-Rainbows 74-Little Corner of Mine 75-Me, Myself and I 76-My Planet Purple 77-Amel's Realm 78-A Handful of Surprises 79-A Detour 80-Something Purple 81-Vanity Kit 82-Are You Grateful? 83-A Simple Life 84-BlogTips.Com 85-Balitang Kalye 86-Mariuca 87- Emila Yusof 88-A Total Blog 89-My Life in this Wonderful World 90-MommyAllehs 91-Things That Suck 92-A Mother's Stuff 93-Princess Vien 94-My Inner Thoughts Revealed 95-Roxiticus Desperate Housewives 96-Apples Of The Eyes 97-Nita's Random Thoughts 98-Nita's Corner 99-Thomas Digital Services 100-A Mother's Thoughts101-Meltwater. Torrents. Meanderings. Delta 102-My Perfect Escape 103-Vanidosa. Marie 104-Confessions of a Supermodel Wannabe 105-Lynda's Loft 106-Listening..Learning..Living 107-LadyJava's Lounge 108-The Painted Veil 109-Poeartica 110-Maryannaville 112-CARPE DIEM 113-Turn-u-Off 114-asian mutt international 115-Petty Ramblings of a Petty Queen 116-LIFE IS A ROLLER COASTER 117-AZZY'S BLOG-A-ROONIE! 118-glad to be here 119-WilStop 120-Dare to Blog 121-WebGeek Journal 122-Foster Me Up 123-This is My Life 124-124-DaveylynneDR 125-Life Realities 126-aNgRiAniWorld Dot Com 127-All That Matters 128-My Inspiration Sharing Land 129-Hidup Biar Sedap 130-Mutiara Hati 131-EM Muhammad 132-I Digress 133-Mapped Memories 134-Working It 135-Startin' A New Life too, 136-Little Secret 137-FEEL FREE to Express Yourself 138-iAM-Mai 139-SOLOFLIGHT 140-BLACKNICKEL 141-NEUROPATCH 142-EMJEI SAYS 143-Big Money List 144-daily information 145-TRCoach 146-LOVE YOUR LIFE! 147- INSTANT MESSAGES 148-MEME ME 149-mEldita's untamed world 150-mEldita's uncensored life 151-i.MEL.dific 152-SNAPSHOT 153-DAILY STOCK PICKS 155-Pet's Garden Blog 156-Ketuk_angel Weblog 157-Laketrees 158-WannaSmile 159-YOU

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Home and Car Insurance

I think other than health or life insurance, two other importance types of insurance are home insurance and car insurance. That is, of course, if you have your own car and house. If not, then you don't have to worry about both!

Having lived in a small alley in Bandung made my Dad insure our house for fire or natural disasters. If a fire started in one house, it would spread pretty quickly to the other houses. And since the fire truck wouldn't be able to pass by the small alley, it would take a while before the firemen could put it off. Dad always says, "It's much better to pay some money per year to make sure that if something bad happens, we're not going to lose everything. We'll get something in return for the loss." That's his way of taking care of my family.

And since car theft is also a big issue in Indonesia, when Dad still owned a car, even though it was an old car, he insured it. Of course he had to compare car insurance programs first to make sure he got the best deal. However, now that he's sold the car, he doesn't have to worry anymore about getting his car stolen! All he has to do now is keep on insuring the house.

7 Priceless Experiences Meme

Angela May tagged me to do this meme. Since I've lived in Bandung and now I'm living in Sodankylä, I guess I'll write 7 things about both places.



Seven Priceless Things About Bandung:

1. Lots of varieties of FRESH food and spices everywhere. Fresh veggies, fresh meat, fresh fruit, fresh seafood. And if you go to a traditional market, you can bargain!!! Lots of malls and factory outletssssss!!! And lots of resto and food sellers!!! Oh, and the beautiful part is that malls and factory outlets are open even on Sundays. On Saturdays and Sundays malls are open from 10 am till 10 pm. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!

2. You can find pretty cheap beauty salons with AMAZING offers: creambath (1.5 hour full head, neck, arm, and back massage), facials, haircuts, hair coloring, highlights, etc. Price ranging from €3-50 (hair coloring may be expensive if you have VERY long hair).

3. The tropical weather (summer all year round). You don't need any winter clothes. You can get out of the house and wear tank tops and capri pants all year round. The mean temperature in Bandung is around 25-33'C.

4. "Wonderful" traffic where you can find assortments of death-defying drivers, jaywalkers, rickshaws, and street vendors. And traffic jams everywhere!!! Plus you'll find mounds of garbage in some places (Bandung's recently having garbage problem). Plus you'll find lots of garbage here and there: people don't throw garbage in the garbage cans, so the city is dirty.

To see pics of street vendors, go here: Street Vendors. (in the middle of the page)

Below is a photo of rickshaw (becak) in Bandung, taken here: http://wina108.multiply.com/photos/photo/33/16



5. When it's near Lebaran Day (Muslims' Biggest Holiday - the "victory days" after the fasting month), you'll find yourself not wanting to go out at all as everywhere people flock around and traffic jams get worse and worse and worsseeee. Yet on Lebaran Days (usually two days), the city suddenly becomes SO empty. All those people go back home to their villages to gather with their families and relatives.

6. The sound of adzan (Muslim's call of prayer) is heard everywhere as there are many mosques all around the city. You'll hear this sound a few times a day. If you live very near to a mosque, then you'd better be able to sleep like a dead man during the nights.

7. During fasting month, you'll hear lots of noises outside the streets and alleys when the Muslims make rounds to wake one another up to have early breakfast (usually at around 4 am) before they start a LONG fasting day (no food, no drink until around 6 pm). You'd better get used to the noise! ;-D

Click here to see pics of Bandung (there are some traffic pics and traditional market pics, too): Life in Bandung and Bandung City Homepage.

*** According to Wikipedia, the population density in Bandung in 2004 was 14,976/km² (5,782/sq mi)



Seven Priceless Things About Sodankylä:

*** According to Wikipedia, the population density in Sodankylä in 2003 was 0.8/km².

1. NO TRAFFIC JAMS!!! I've been here 5.5 months and I've NEVER seen any traffic jams and I've NEVER even heard any car horn. YIIIPPPPPPIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!

2. Berries, berries, berries everywhere! I eat A LOT of berries here. I LOVE berries!!! And you can go berry hunting too in the forest!

3. Temperature is the opposite of Bandung. The worst temperature in this village was -53'C (gladly it doesn't happen every year!!!). This year the worst temperature was -35.5'C back in February and the hottest temperature was around 26'C sometime last month.

4. SAUNA!!! You can't come to Finland without experiencing sauna. It's one of the greatest inventions for a cold country like this.

5. Beer, beer, beer! People here party like crazy and they party TO get drunk. It's insane, actually.

6. Women rule. I've heard lots of people saying that Finnish women are very independent women and there are also SO many women working in the parliament. There're so many female ministers and hey, Finnish current president is a WOMAN!!!

7. Snow and Santa. Naturally you can find lots of snow here. You can find lots of winter activities being offered by travel agents. And in Rovaniemi, you can meet Santa all year round. That's his official house!!! Click here for further info: Santa Claus' Village.

Oh, and one more thing I forgot about Sodankylä. MIDNIGHT SUN in summer!!! Come here in summer and you'll never see the sun set below the horizon!!!!! ;-D

I'd love to tag Frasypoo. Would LOVE to hear about India!!! ;-D

Bandung, My Hometown

Hey, I found this video clip at youtube about Bandung, my hometown.



This other video clip is taken from the parking lot above the most famous traditional market in Bandung. See how crowded the city is? And now I live in such a little village he he he...Anyway, the traditional market is where my Mom works to sell food. ;-D



This third one is view of Bandung taken from the tower of the most famous mosque there.