post #337
Darkness is falling...
Here I am, sitting, waiting for the sky to get a bit clearer. It's very dark outside, lightnings are striking, yet rain hasn't poured down....darkness is approaching, slowly, inevitably...
That's why I decided to sit down and write an entry after my getaway in Paris Van Java. It's surely better than taking a chance then caught up in the heavy rain along the way. Okay, let's start, shall we?
This year office outing destination was Paris Van Java, aka Bandung (again :D). I wasn't really excited when I signed myself to come. The thing that interested me was the hotel (a new, five star hotel). It turned to be very enriching experience. I really enjoyed every moment of it.
Day 1
We gathered up at the office on Friday morning from 6.30 AM. I went there by cab, then the bus lead checked us all. There were five buses used to take us there. We started our journey at 8 AM, I managed to eat a quick breakfast. There were games along the way. First was tongue tumbler and the second was name the person. My group, or should I say column, won the first game. The trip didn't feel so long though we made a toilet stop. Arrived in Bandung at around 11 AM. We ate lunch at Sindang Reret resto. The food was a bit below expectation, just so so.
After lunch we went to Saung Angklung Udjo. It was raining hard when we were leaving the restaurant, but when we got to SAU, the rain stopped. Then we sat down at some kind of hall. We were grouped by project and I got group #4 (and bus #4 as well :D). Not so long after that, the show was begun. Few people played angklung (bamboo handcrafted instrument) and some other musical instruments. After the opening, two MCs came and hosted the show. One of them was a guy, which I didn't pay much attention to. The other one was a breathtakingly beautiful girl (in Sundanese, geulis teuing euyyyy). She wore red dress which was contrast with the brown long batik skirt. Her long hair made her looked more exquisite. Along with her fair skin, she looked like a goddess descended to earth. Then the show was continued with some kids performance. A kind of dance which was done when a boy was circumsized. At the end of the show, the kids took our hands, the audience to dance together with them (along with the MCs too).
After the show, the MC girl taught us a bit about angklung and how to play it. Then we were given angklung per person and assigned to practice a song which we would perform in group on gala dinner. We got the hardest song, Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You. The difficulties were because the song itself had fast tempo, plus it reached more than one octave while we only had eight tones angklung. Well we practiced our song till the time was up, around 3.30 PM. We then went to the hotel to check in. I never knew that playing angklung could be so fun. The trip began to impress me.
The journey to the hotel was quite fast, we arrived at the hotel at around 4.30 PM. Checked in, got the room key and unpacked my stuffs. The room was great. Soft bed and pillows, nice furniture and good shower. I got the same roommate with the one I had on my trip to Garut few months ago. I took a bath then wandered around. The hotel design was very beautiful. It's like a castle, very impressive. Took some pics then I went back to my room and got ready for the gala dinner.
The gala dinner was started with NJP. The food was standard, but better than the lunch. After the NJP, there were some office updates and a program which was introduced by two expats, one from London and the other from Netherland. After that, angklung performance was the next. There was this incident during sound check. I brought two angklungs and I mistakenly took the wrong one on stage. When we had sound check, I confidently played my angklung which had different tone with the one I should be playing. I stood in the front, played it loud and wrong....the audience burst into laughter the moment I mis-played my angklung. I walked down the stage and got the right one right away.
After the angklung performance, we were entertained by the pros. There were singers from Saung Udjo, complete with the angklung set and other musical instruments. The girl singer was beautiful. She wore this black dress and long skirt. Her shoulders were exposed and she sang well. Wowww....another 'geulis' girl. There were some people who went up to stage and sang, one of them was AG. He also won a folding bike as a doorprize. Lucky bastard ;p. There was few funny moments. When AG was singing, a girl came up to the stage and gave him a flower...the crowd laughed. Then there was this guy also came up to the stage and gave flower to the girl singer. The dinner itself ended earlier than scheduled. Hmmm....nice remembering it usually went the other way.
That beautiful, first day in Bandung ended with a good night sleep on a comfy bed.
Day 2
Woke up at 6 AM the next morning, went downstair to eat breakfast. Had a chitty chat and catch up with an old colleague. Went back to my room to take a shower and get ready for the games. I got group #10 for the games. The game was called LOL (Lembang On Land-Rover). It sounded interesting, and it turned out to be very exciting. We started the game at hotel parking lot. We were the second fastest team who got the game map. Our first destination was Tangkuban Perahu mountain. We need to take three pictures with all of the group members on the spots that were specified in the task. I forgot when was the last time I went to Tangkuban Perahu, but it sure felt nice to come again. We managed to finish the task in no time, then we went to the next destination. There we had to tell folklore about Sangkuriang, not only tell, but also made a short play while a person narrated the story.
After that, we went to the third destination. We competed side by side with group #12. The next task was picking strawberries which were labeled red, green, or yellow. Three of the team members had to pick strawberries with the instructed color label. We managed to get the highest score (which later on was surpassed by another team), 45 strawberries in one minute time. After picking strawberries, we had to make a strawberry juice, without blender. The ingredients given were strawberries, bananas, tomato, milk and lime. The judge was a professional cook. We managed to score a perfect 100 for taste and presentation.
We took a lunch break after that. We ate together, per group. After eating we went to our final destination. It was the last game, we had to move a bucket of water from a side to fill five syrup bottles on a table across. We managed to did it in four minutes time (again, another 4). The second part of the game was feeding cows. We had to feed the cows with the provided grass in 5 minutes time. We had to feed the cows with our bare hands, hand to mouth. We could have extra points if we can take a picture of a team member head to head with a cow. We managed to fed the cows and got the extra points.
After the game finished, we all gather at Cikole camping ground for our Go Green activity (which none other than plant a tree). There was a tent set up for us. There were also some activist that would help us in planting the trees. It was nearing 3 PM and the activist coordinator told us that it usually rain at around 3 PM. After his speech, a woman, more senior than he was came. She was the founder of Garuda Nusantara foundation whose members were volunteers committing in the preservation of trees and jungles. She then sang few songs. Just when she was about to sang her last song, rain came down, hard. She didn't stop and kept on singing. I admired her spirit and determination. Rain was pouring down hard. The coordinator told us that due to circumstances, it's okay if we didn't want to go on with planting the trees. But I think most of us were already excited and willing to go all out. The woman was really good in motivating people.
So we carried on. Group by group, we were guided to spots where we could plant the trees (one tree each person). The pouring rain made the soil wet and very slippery. I brought an umbrella but it didn't help much. Not to mention I shared it with a colleague. We didn't care about the rain anymore. We plant our trees, shoved the soil under the rain. Soaked shirts and pants didn't concern us. I asked one of the activist who guide us and I found out that I planted an avocado tree. It would grow in 6-7 years. Hmmm...I will go back to see the tree I planted. It's a promise.
The planting-tree-under-the-pouring-rain ended the scheduled activity for day two. We went back to the hotel. I took a shower and quick nap. My roommate went back home earlier so I got the room all by myself. Very convenient. Woke up at around 6 PM, we gathered up at the hotel lobby and went into the buses to go the a restaurant for dinner. We ate at Sari Sunda restaurant. The food was getting better, but the chili wasn't hot at all.
After that, we took the bus to go to PVJ. We got separated there and I ended up go to Inul Vizta with only three colleagues since we only got a small room. The others were hanging out at The Pear (if I write it correctly). We sang for two hours and gathered back at the bus shelter. The buses then took us back to hotel. I went to sleep at around 11.30 PM.
It was another amazing day.
Day 3
Woke up at 6.30 AM. Took a shower then went downstairs to eat breakfast. At 7.30 one of the five bus took us the the church. It's Palm Sunday, I wouldn't miss the mass. We went to Karmel to attend the morning mass there. It was beautiful. The chapel itself wasn't too big. We didn't get seat inside and had to sit outside under the sunlight. After the mass we wandered around the chapel and it was very beautiful. It felt different with the churches in Jakarta which usually had plain terrain. We went back to hotel then checked out. I missed the group photo session, but nevermind. Then we went to Arum Manis restaurant to eat lunch and had outing closing. The food was great there, plus the chili was very hot hot hottt...yummy. I ate a lotttttt.
During the lunch, the angklung performance winner was announced. To my surprise, my group won!!! WOW....that's was unbelievable. Yeahhhhh.... then my other group, LOL game group won second place. Yippieeee...too bad I didn't win any doorprize :D. Then the senior executive gave closing speech, and the outing committee played a song using angklung. The song was Heal The World. After that.....free time. We were dropped off at Jalan Riau. Some went shopping, some went buying some food. We gathered back at 3.30 AM and went back home. My bus, bus #5 (I switched bus on the last day) was the fastest to arrive in the city. We didn't make any toilet stop and I slept the first hour of the trip.
And that wrapped a beautiful weekend in Paris Van Java.
This for the lovely ladies....
Lauryn Hills - Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off of you
You'd be like heaven to touch
I wanna hold you so much
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I'm alive
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off of you
Pardon the way that I stare,
There's nothing else to compare,
The sight of you leaves me weak,
There are no words left to speak,
But if you feel like I feel,
Please let me know that it's real,
You're just too good to be true,
Can't take my eyes off of you,
(musical break)
I need you baby. if its quite alright,
I need you baby to warm my lonely nights,
I love you baby. Trust in me when I say okay,
Oh pretty baby, don't let me down I pray,
Oh pretty baby, now that I found you, stay,
And let me love you,
oh baby let me love you
(key change)
You're just too good to be true,
Can't take my eyes off of you,
You'd be like heaven to touch,
I wanna hold you so much,
At long last love has arrived,
And I thank God I'm alive,
You're just too good to be true,
Can't take my eyes off of you,
(musical break)
I need you baby, and if it's quite all right,
I need you baby to warm the lonely night,
I love you baby. Trust in me when I say it's okay
Oh pretty baby, don't let me down I pray,
Oh pretty baby, now that I found you, stay,
And let me love you, oh baby let me love you
I need you baby, if it's quite alright
I love you baby, you warm the lonely nights
I need you baby, trust in me when I say it's okay
(repeat and fades out)
Darkness is falling...
Here I am, sitting, waiting for the sky to get a bit clearer. It's very dark outside, lightnings are striking, yet rain hasn't poured down....darkness is approaching, slowly, inevitably...
That's why I decided to sit down and write an entry after my getaway in Paris Van Java. It's surely better than taking a chance then caught up in the heavy rain along the way. Okay, let's start, shall we?
This year office outing destination was Paris Van Java, aka Bandung (again :D). I wasn't really excited when I signed myself to come. The thing that interested me was the hotel (a new, five star hotel). It turned to be very enriching experience. I really enjoyed every moment of it.
Day 1
We gathered up at the office on Friday morning from 6.30 AM. I went there by cab, then the bus lead checked us all. There were five buses used to take us there. We started our journey at 8 AM, I managed to eat a quick breakfast. There were games along the way. First was tongue tumbler and the second was name the person. My group, or should I say column, won the first game. The trip didn't feel so long though we made a toilet stop. Arrived in Bandung at around 11 AM. We ate lunch at Sindang Reret resto. The food was a bit below expectation, just so so.
After lunch we went to Saung Angklung Udjo. It was raining hard when we were leaving the restaurant, but when we got to SAU, the rain stopped. Then we sat down at some kind of hall. We were grouped by project and I got group #4 (and bus #4 as well :D). Not so long after that, the show was begun. Few people played angklung (bamboo handcrafted instrument) and some other musical instruments. After the opening, two MCs came and hosted the show. One of them was a guy, which I didn't pay much attention to. The other one was a breathtakingly beautiful girl (in Sundanese, geulis teuing euyyyy). She wore red dress which was contrast with the brown long batik skirt. Her long hair made her looked more exquisite. Along with her fair skin, she looked like a goddess descended to earth. Then the show was continued with some kids performance. A kind of dance which was done when a boy was circumsized. At the end of the show, the kids took our hands, the audience to dance together with them (along with the MCs too).
After the show, the MC girl taught us a bit about angklung and how to play it. Then we were given angklung per person and assigned to practice a song which we would perform in group on gala dinner. We got the hardest song, Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You. The difficulties were because the song itself had fast tempo, plus it reached more than one octave while we only had eight tones angklung. Well we practiced our song till the time was up, around 3.30 PM. We then went to the hotel to check in. I never knew that playing angklung could be so fun. The trip began to impress me.
The journey to the hotel was quite fast, we arrived at the hotel at around 4.30 PM. Checked in, got the room key and unpacked my stuffs. The room was great. Soft bed and pillows, nice furniture and good shower. I got the same roommate with the one I had on my trip to Garut few months ago. I took a bath then wandered around. The hotel design was very beautiful. It's like a castle, very impressive. Took some pics then I went back to my room and got ready for the gala dinner.
The gala dinner was started with NJP. The food was standard, but better than the lunch. After the NJP, there were some office updates and a program which was introduced by two expats, one from London and the other from Netherland. After that, angklung performance was the next. There was this incident during sound check. I brought two angklungs and I mistakenly took the wrong one on stage. When we had sound check, I confidently played my angklung which had different tone with the one I should be playing. I stood in the front, played it loud and wrong....the audience burst into laughter the moment I mis-played my angklung. I walked down the stage and got the right one right away.
After the angklung performance, we were entertained by the pros. There were singers from Saung Udjo, complete with the angklung set and other musical instruments. The girl singer was beautiful. She wore this black dress and long skirt. Her shoulders were exposed and she sang well. Wowww....another 'geulis' girl. There were some people who went up to stage and sang, one of them was AG. He also won a folding bike as a doorprize. Lucky bastard ;p. There was few funny moments. When AG was singing, a girl came up to the stage and gave him a flower...the crowd laughed. Then there was this guy also came up to the stage and gave flower to the girl singer. The dinner itself ended earlier than scheduled. Hmmm....nice remembering it usually went the other way.
That beautiful, first day in Bandung ended with a good night sleep on a comfy bed.
Day 2
Woke up at 6 AM the next morning, went downstair to eat breakfast. Had a chitty chat and catch up with an old colleague. Went back to my room to take a shower and get ready for the games. I got group #10 for the games. The game was called LOL (Lembang On Land-Rover). It sounded interesting, and it turned out to be very exciting. We started the game at hotel parking lot. We were the second fastest team who got the game map. Our first destination was Tangkuban Perahu mountain. We need to take three pictures with all of the group members on the spots that were specified in the task. I forgot when was the last time I went to Tangkuban Perahu, but it sure felt nice to come again. We managed to finish the task in no time, then we went to the next destination. There we had to tell folklore about Sangkuriang, not only tell, but also made a short play while a person narrated the story.
After that, we went to the third destination. We competed side by side with group #12. The next task was picking strawberries which were labeled red, green, or yellow. Three of the team members had to pick strawberries with the instructed color label. We managed to get the highest score (which later on was surpassed by another team), 45 strawberries in one minute time. After picking strawberries, we had to make a strawberry juice, without blender. The ingredients given were strawberries, bananas, tomato, milk and lime. The judge was a professional cook. We managed to score a perfect 100 for taste and presentation.
We took a lunch break after that. We ate together, per group. After eating we went to our final destination. It was the last game, we had to move a bucket of water from a side to fill five syrup bottles on a table across. We managed to did it in four minutes time (again, another 4). The second part of the game was feeding cows. We had to feed the cows with the provided grass in 5 minutes time. We had to feed the cows with our bare hands, hand to mouth. We could have extra points if we can take a picture of a team member head to head with a cow. We managed to fed the cows and got the extra points.
After the game finished, we all gather at Cikole camping ground for our Go Green activity (which none other than plant a tree). There was a tent set up for us. There were also some activist that would help us in planting the trees. It was nearing 3 PM and the activist coordinator told us that it usually rain at around 3 PM. After his speech, a woman, more senior than he was came. She was the founder of Garuda Nusantara foundation whose members were volunteers committing in the preservation of trees and jungles. She then sang few songs. Just when she was about to sang her last song, rain came down, hard. She didn't stop and kept on singing. I admired her spirit and determination. Rain was pouring down hard. The coordinator told us that due to circumstances, it's okay if we didn't want to go on with planting the trees. But I think most of us were already excited and willing to go all out. The woman was really good in motivating people.
So we carried on. Group by group, we were guided to spots where we could plant the trees (one tree each person). The pouring rain made the soil wet and very slippery. I brought an umbrella but it didn't help much. Not to mention I shared it with a colleague. We didn't care about the rain anymore. We plant our trees, shoved the soil under the rain. Soaked shirts and pants didn't concern us. I asked one of the activist who guide us and I found out that I planted an avocado tree. It would grow in 6-7 years. Hmmm...I will go back to see the tree I planted. It's a promise.
The planting-tree-under-the-pouring-rain ended the scheduled activity for day two. We went back to the hotel. I took a shower and quick nap. My roommate went back home earlier so I got the room all by myself. Very convenient. Woke up at around 6 PM, we gathered up at the hotel lobby and went into the buses to go the a restaurant for dinner. We ate at Sari Sunda restaurant. The food was getting better, but the chili wasn't hot at all.
After that, we took the bus to go to PVJ. We got separated there and I ended up go to Inul Vizta with only three colleagues since we only got a small room. The others were hanging out at The Pear (if I write it correctly). We sang for two hours and gathered back at the bus shelter. The buses then took us back to hotel. I went to sleep at around 11.30 PM.
It was another amazing day.
Day 3
Woke up at 6.30 AM. Took a shower then went downstairs to eat breakfast. At 7.30 one of the five bus took us the the church. It's Palm Sunday, I wouldn't miss the mass. We went to Karmel to attend the morning mass there. It was beautiful. The chapel itself wasn't too big. We didn't get seat inside and had to sit outside under the sunlight. After the mass we wandered around the chapel and it was very beautiful. It felt different with the churches in Jakarta which usually had plain terrain. We went back to hotel then checked out. I missed the group photo session, but nevermind. Then we went to Arum Manis restaurant to eat lunch and had outing closing. The food was great there, plus the chili was very hot hot hottt...yummy. I ate a lotttttt.
During the lunch, the angklung performance winner was announced. To my surprise, my group won!!! WOW....that's was unbelievable. Yeahhhhh.... then my other group, LOL game group won second place. Yippieeee...too bad I didn't win any doorprize :D. Then the senior executive gave closing speech, and the outing committee played a song using angklung. The song was Heal The World. After that.....free time. We were dropped off at Jalan Riau. Some went shopping, some went buying some food. We gathered back at 3.30 AM and went back home. My bus, bus #5 (I switched bus on the last day) was the fastest to arrive in the city. We didn't make any toilet stop and I slept the first hour of the trip.
And that wrapped a beautiful weekend in Paris Van Java.
This for the lovely ladies....
Lauryn Hills - Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off of you
You'd be like heaven to touch
I wanna hold you so much
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I'm alive
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off of you
Pardon the way that I stare,
There's nothing else to compare,
The sight of you leaves me weak,
There are no words left to speak,
But if you feel like I feel,
Please let me know that it's real,
You're just too good to be true,
Can't take my eyes off of you,
(musical break)
I need you baby. if its quite alright,
I need you baby to warm my lonely nights,
I love you baby. Trust in me when I say okay,
Oh pretty baby, don't let me down I pray,
Oh pretty baby, now that I found you, stay,
And let me love you,
oh baby let me love you
(key change)
You're just too good to be true,
Can't take my eyes off of you,
You'd be like heaven to touch,
I wanna hold you so much,
At long last love has arrived,
And I thank God I'm alive,
You're just too good to be true,
Can't take my eyes off of you,
(musical break)
I need you baby, and if it's quite all right,
I need you baby to warm the lonely night,
I love you baby. Trust in me when I say it's okay
Oh pretty baby, don't let me down I pray,
Oh pretty baby, now that I found you, stay,
And let me love you, oh baby let me love you
I need you baby, if it's quite alright
I love you baby, you warm the lonely nights
I need you baby, trust in me when I say it's okay
(repeat and fades out)
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