no title...
been a while since hte last time I updated my blog...didn't know what to put, or perhaps I just couldn't be bothered anymore...
i hate this place more and more each day...
every morning I have to strugle to get off the bed...
every day i had to literally drag myself to the car that takes me to the office...
every new day is harder than the previous...
how can this be possible? i really don't know...
but i do know one thing for sure...that I HATE THIS PLACE WITH A PASSION!!!
i hate everything about this place...EVERY SINGLE THING!!!
i tried hard (believe me, i really tried) to find something nice about this place...but no avail...
i can't help to think, what have i done to deserve this...
i kknow i've made mistakes, but i don't think they're that serious to deserve being based here...
my main concern now? i am really really really affraid that i'm turning into a racist...coz i think i already am a racist (in denial state) and this is not a good feeling at all...
the only thing tha kept me here is the money...i don't care about anything else...
i don't care about my job. i don't care about the people in the office. and i don't care about the client. all i care about now, is the money. i'll just sit in my office, browsing the net while acting busy doing work, and check my bank statement once a month...i don't care about nothing else...
i really hate this place...
i really hate this place...i really hate this place...
i really hate this place...i really hate this place...i really hate this place...
i really hate this place...i really hate this place...i really hate this place...i really hate this place...
i really hate this place...i really hate this place...i really hate this place...
i really hate this place...i really hate this place...
i really hate this place...
I HATE THIS FUCKING PLACE!!! AND I HATE EVERYTHING THAT HAS GOT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS FUCKING PLACE...!!!
just an ordinary day...
I went to Goa (a small, perhaps even the smallest state in India) last month.
Wonderful place...
Fresh air...Great views...Fresh air...Delicious food...Fresh air...Cheap booze...Friendly people...Fresh air..................O, and did I mentioned fresh air? Come and stay in Mumbai for a while and you'll soon realize why I almost reached point of ecstacy when I could inhaled the fresh air in Goa.
The picture above was taken right in front of the hotel where I stayed...The Taj Fort Aguada Beach Resort. Marvelous hotel it was. Build closely to an old 17th century Portuguese fort named...you guessed it, Fort Aguada.
It's Portuguese for "watering"...as that was the primary function of the fort. A place where ships bound for Europe made quick pit stop to fill their fresh water hold before sailing.
The redish coloured wall at the background is a part of the fort. Those local fishermen were preparing their traditional boat and fishing gears...and the catch would go directly to the hotel's kitchen; at least that's what one of the hotel staff told me. Whether that was the truth or not, I don't know. And you know what, I don't care. All I know, is that the hotel will serve marvelously fresh seafood for dinner, cooked in Goan style (traditional Indian way with a dash of Portuguese touches here and there).
There I was, staying in what perhaps one of the best beach resort in India, waking up to a warm sun and cool gentle breeze...and who says money's not important!!!
the real taj mahal...
been a while since I posted any new pics...been quite busy lately...
oh well, c'est la vie, no?
just got back from New Delhi - the capital of India. I went there to attend my GFE control, which I passed by the way...
me and two other guys stayed an extra day there for we were planning to visit some clients. due to the Ganesh festival, they were not open for business that thay. and since we had 8 hours to kill before our flight, we asked our driver to took us to tourist spots. he took us to the parliament house, Indira Ghandi memorial (yup, the place where Indira was shot), Mahatma Ghandi tomb, and last but not least...the great emperor Humayun tomb...
it is a magnificent building...
build several hundred years ago by Humayun's widow - the tomb shows what great architect the mughals were. Humayun was the second mughal emperor, son of Babur, who ruled northern part of india sometimes in the 16th century. don't ask me to give you more details...I Are Engineer, remember!!! go to wikipedia or better yet, watch the nat-geo channel if you wanna know more...
hundreds or even thousands of persian craftsmen were brought in to build the tomb, using local materials and their great artistic sense, they brought this monument to life. The main building is located in the center of a garden, several hundred meters from the main gate. It wasn't a long walk, but boy it was a hot day...I was sweating like a pig!!!
inside the main building, located right in the center, there lies the great emperor in his final resting place. surrounding him are his two wives and other relatives...
his tomb - a model of the so called "paradise garden" - is one of the greatest monument of india - and was the "draft" of the ever so popular Taj Mahal (have to go there someday...)
this trip was unplanned, so I didn't pack my SLR. one being it's too heavy. second, thanks to the tighter security check in the airport, I didn't want to carry too many electronics.
so - forgive me if the pic quality is not that great. I took it using my Nokia N70 camera. not bad for a cell phone cam...but can't say it's great either...
next time...definitely I'll come more prepared...especially now that Canon just launched their 70-200 f/4L IS lens...got to get me one of that!!!
auto-rickshaw...NOT bajaj...
the auto-rickshaw - one of the most popular means of transportation in Mumbai (and perhaps the whole India, but since I haven't been to any other places outside of Mumbai then I wouldn't know).
also quite popular in Jakarta - but we call it bajaj (pronounce ba-jai) over there...maybe because the ones that we got in Jakarta were made by Bajaj originally (Bajaj is a company that makes these sorts of things, although recently they grew and started to do all kinds of business)...
riding one of this auto (that's the nickname for them in India) in the busy streets of Mumbai is one helluva adventure indeed...
in a place where the nobody follow the lines, couldn't care less of the traffic lights, and road signs serve no purpose other than decorative...a place where people could drive on both side of the traffic, to any directions as they please...a place where vehicles are (literally) less than an inch apart on all 8 directions of the wind...and to make matter even worse, cows are roaming on the street...
wait a minute...cows??? yup...right...cows. they are holy animals here, so they could do whatever they please and nobody will stop them (hmm, I think I have a picture of cows on the street. that'll be a topic for another day) - believe me, when a big bus or truck driver is being faced with two options: swerve right, hit the cow, get mauled by the crowd...OR...swerve left, hit the auto with that Indonesian inside, nobody cares - I don't think you have to be a psychic to tell which way the driver will swerve...
auto is a cheap and convenient way to go places - offcourse they are noisy and they vibrates like hell. and offcourse it is kinda scary sometimes (well OK, most of the times) when the driver snaking his way through tight spaces between (significantly) bigger cars, buses, and trucks...
but hey, you only live once, right?
I took this pic using my cell-phone. though image quality is not top notch, it's decent enough...
that guy in blue, he's my colleague from the same office. the other guy still sitting inside is also a colleague from work...
give us this day our daily bread...
a friend of mine sent me this picture (OK, so I was planning to post only my pics before, but this one is just too good for not to be shared - and NO, I have not ran out of ideas just yet!!!).
I don't know where it was taken, or when (though I got some ideas). but the background is quite familiar. there's no mistake. it is a place that I have visited too much within the last 5 years. a place where I spent most of my (now) lost youth (I've spent many easter, x-mas, new year, b'day, valentine's, lunar new year, the eid there). a place of many sleepless nights, lousy food, and funny tasting water. a place that for many people seems to be like an extension of hell...it's the floor of a drilling rig!!!
yet - no matter how often you've been to that place, there's almost always something new to see and learn...
take what happened in this pic for example...maybe the pipe was stuck, maybe the ROP was low, or maybe they're doing it just for the sake of doing it...I really don't know...and perhaps I don't even wanna know ;)
rice factory
I had a friend that thought that rice, due to the relatively uniform colour and size of the grains, were manufactured in factories...you know, like corn flakes etc :))
took this pic in Cipanas, West Java - Indonesia...and decided to name it "rice factory"...
colourful treats...
a friend of mine was celebrating his birthday. so, he took a bunch of guys (all Indians with the exception of myself) for a lunch - an authentic north Indian all vegetarian food.
the notion that it was pure vegetarian food was kinda misleading...
I mean, I grew up in a society where vegan food are tasteless and healthty...it sure wasn't the case here.
as starters, we had masala papad (nickname: Indian pizza) - lentil based cracker with a generous topping of chopped onion, tomato, and coriander leaves.
second starters: paneer tandoori - some sort of cheese on skewer with onion and salad, grilled to perfection.
main course - butter rothi and butter naan, and boy there were lots of dripping melted butter on top of the rothi and naan. that plus butter dhal, butter eggplant curry, butter fried okra, butter curry paneer. they were heavy, thick, and greasy. I mean, I got high from all the fat after only 10 minutes of eating. and believe me, I was eating slowly. butter everywhere!!! a healthfood-freak nightmare!!! man, my cardiologist ain't gonna be to happy with those food. but they taste so good!!!
dessert - buttered sweet lassi. it's like any normal lassi (yoghurt-shake) but topped with butter!!! can't help to think that the chef must be a sadist!!!
after the heavy food - time for the final dessert...PAN (or PAAN)...
as you can see from the picture - it is a compilation of sweets, spices, herbs - wrapped in leave...very colourful indeed...and smells horrible!!!
my friends told me that they are good for you digestive systems especially after a heavy meal...think I'll just take their words for that...
reality bites
the very first time I went to an offshore field, I was onboard the "Big Orange". it's a ship that carries a snubbing unit all over the field. It was not big, and certainly not orange. for the people onboard - it was their home away from home during their hitch...myself included.
I shared room with 3 other guys...in a room no bigger than 2.5m x 2.5m x 2.5m
during the hithc, that room served as our bedroom, changing room, recreation room, and last but not least...our office.
this is a picture of the room, taken with a (35mm equivalent) 38mm camera. the small field of view gives you the idea of just how cramped the room was. I was already standing at the corner with my back pressed againts the bulkhead (it was afterall a ship, and walls are not called walls on ships, they're bulkhead).
the lower bunk was my bed...if you look closely, at the lower right corner, you should be able to spot a black baseball cap with RMIT logo (that's my university). I don't think this picture would ever make it to their brochures.
RMIT has this slogan "your future starts here". imagine having this picture posted just underneath the slogan plus some writtings "and this is you future" or something like that :))
pretty in pink
I took this snap in Gunung Mas tea plantation (Puncak, West Java, Indonesia). the pic was dull, a pathetic attempt of macro-photography.
yet, during a rainy Sunday afternoon, with nothing better to do, I played around with the image...adding some effects and boosted the colour saturation. I am a big fan of Monet, and this is my attempt to immitate his style...electronically that is :)
boathouse
Amsterdam...so far, the coolest place that I have ever been to. nice and clean, compact yet not cramped, friendly people, good food and beer, cozy "coffee" shops. one of the unique thing about this place, other than the windmill that is, are the boathouses...and quite a lot of them. some even got turned into hotels. took this with a cheap point&shoot that only has a full-auto mode. surprisingly...the result turned out to be quite ok...don't you think?
