Lin Dee and July in Jakarta

Written by Lin Dee

July and me at the Soekarno Hatta airport.

It was in early January 2011 when July ( Jun, my little brother) and I traipsed off to Jakarta. Nope, it wasn't a holiday. I was there to see my principal over a business venture we had been working on. So off the both of us went. It was  July's first overseas trip (besides Singapore) and his first time onboard a plane. I didn't know that, so I was rather 'mortified' at his reaction when the plane took off.

July recoiled into survivor position!

Dear God, he was chattering with fear and clutched my hand ever so tightly. The drama repeated itself when we landed and it sure was funny. Well upon reaching, my Jakarta friend Emilly was waiting for us. She had been nice enough to take time off from work to pick us up and check us in to our grand hotel - Crowne Plaza.

 

Breaky at Crowne Plaza



We rose early the next morning and July took full advantage of the extensive buffet. I never realized what an enormous appetite he had until Jakarta. 8 to 10 rounds around the buffet table? Good golly Miss Molly! Well Pak Bagio my principal, along with his beautiful wife Ibu Ilana and our Japanese agent, Shono-san met us at the lobby where we piled into Pak Bagio's SUV and took off to Bandung.

July and Lin Dee - happy campers

Bandung was a trip marked by food, shopping and plenty of "Waho!" and "Wow!" by July. Everyone was  taken by his inquisitive nature and his blithe so often lost after early youth. Well, Jun ain't a sickening boy like common, typical boys. That's why he's my little brother :) Love you Jun.

Pak Bagio and Ibu Ilana had an interview to conduct so as they worked, we shopped. I can't remember the name of the mall, but it had a whole Dutch vibe to it. Reminded me of a mall I visited in Macao with part of the Entourage.

Shono-san, July, Lin Dee, Ibu Ilana and Emilly.

July fascinating over an aimerfeel catalogue.

We were just tasting the beginning of cosmopolitan life.

When the work was done, we proceeded to Kampung Daun Pandan where a sumptuous food affair awaited. Now, I do love Indonesian food for its intense, somewhat more emotional flavours. Tempeh, sayur asem, thick unrefined coffee, oooh I so love em. July of course had an excellent time where food was concerned.

Hi I'm July.

Pleasure to meet you, Lin Dee.

Pic's little blur from my iPhone. Where we stuffed our faces.

Now, July was scheduled to go to Russia in Sept this year. Well sadly, it is September that I am writing this backdated post. And he is in Russia as I peck away. But we wanted him to be closer to KL, so one of the places I suggested he detour off to was Universitas Padjajaran as an option. So in Bandung, to that University we headed.

Pak Bagio was nice enough to indulge our whim to see Universitas Padjajaran.

July doing photo research. How it helps, I ain't sure :P

After that educational excursion, we jaunted off to a famous shop which sold lovely pastries and biscuits. It was a popular place for people to buy ole-ole ( souovenirs) back. Well, I ain't much of a buying-biscuits-for-other-people-kind-of-girl. Errrr, very domesticated. I bought Rocky for myself heehee. And Ibu Ilana generously paid for all the stuff we picked. The hospitality bestowed was truly marvelous :)

Here we are at the famous cookie shop.

And here we are posing outside. I do realise I'm not a very illustrative photo-taker heehee.

After all that, we packed into the car and zoomed another 2 hours back to Jakarta. Me and July were knocked out. I was especially. That night as we crawled into bed, it truly felt good to be sitting amid comfy sheets and a day ahead with nothing planned. We sat on our beds eating Rocky and watching tv. Unsurprisingly, July had an encounter with spirits in the middle of the night. I thought he was sleep-talking. I heard him asking someone to leave in Mandarin. The next day I found out, he was disturbed. Eeeeekkkk! Well that was it, no funny marks and further incidences. And somehow, funny things happen around July.

Here's our boy before his close encounter. He does look good eh?

Free and easy the next morn. July was an endless supply of energy. I on the other hand was a little sluggish but I had to keep up appearances and since it was July's first time in Jakarta, I felt an obligation to show him around besides just enjoying my luxurious hotel room. So we went shopping - something we both love. July bought 1 green V-neck ( which was lost a few months later) and I painted my nails bright pink, did my hair and bought chiffon blouses. They looked so chic!

In Plaza Semanggi.

Trying something which he won't buy as usual.

I had steamboat, can't remember what July had. But the meal wasn't too memorable.

That night, we went out to the city centre where we had dinner in Restoran Tiga Nyonya, a charming place which serves Chinese food the Indonesian way. After that, we proceeded to a cafe where July and me enjoyed the wifi. It was also in this place that July ordered a tomato juice and suffered the consequences the next day. A HORRIBLE case of diarrhea.

How romantic in Restoran Tiga Nyonya. I think I paid.

Little did July know how he would be feeling in a few hours post-tomato juice.

Well when we got back to the hotel, we dangled ourselves in the hotel lobby taking pictures before noticing that an art exhibition was taking place. So of course we poked around and of course, the Law of Attraction that surrounded me had to bring me in acquaintance to the featured artist's son. We met Yogha Syahbana who was the son of the iconic artist Cak Kandar in Indonesia. We are friends today and I came down to Jakarta a few months later to do a story on Cak. They are wonderful people.

Anyhow since it was also a business trip, me and July paid Shono-san a visit in his boudoir where we discussed some matters. I coudn't come all the way merely for a holiday now, could I?

At the lobby of Crowne Plaza.

An art exhibition was being set up.

Our new friend Yogha Syahbana, son of Cak Kandar.

Sleep should have been buoyed with dreams of sheep but it wasn't for poor July. Well I shan't go into details, but in the wee hours of the morn, July had to visit the bathroom many, many times. He sat in the bathroom for a long time and the next morning, as his innards were still misbehaving, I bought him diarhhea medicine. I hadn't realise he was having a problem, as I probably slept like a log, and he didn't complain. He actually attempted to sleep with the pain. Gosh! In all that pain, Jun forgot about decency and I got a good glimpse of July sitting on the toilet bowl and all that came out hahahaha. Sorry July. It was funny at that time.

Breakfast therefore was decidedly more mild. He was better after that thankfully and I slipped into a pensive mood, as I wanted to go home.

My breaky. I still remember my emotions as I ate these.

Our view at the breaky table.

Poor sick July still had an appetite. He was wearing my jacket for warmth.

Well after breaky, we packed our stuff and Emilly came over to the hotel to see us off.

Bye bye Emilly.See you again.

All through the journey back, I was a little weary and July, worried that I was annoyed at him, kept asking me if I was okay. He probably asked me 20 times. Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating, but it was somewhere around there. And of course, the drama of July going into survivor-mode and clutching my hand frightfully repeated itself on the flight back. Hahahaha Jun. You're really something.

Bye Bye Jakarta

Hello back KL! I was happy to be home!

Jakarta with July was sure an experience. I'm so happy my little brother came with me and I'm so happy Jun came into my life :)