The Acne Prone Wife

Weekend lalu saya dan keluarga diundang ke pernikahan sepupu di Malang, dan diinapkan di Peye Guest House. Karena cukup terkesan dengan Guest House ini, maka saya menulis review. Semoga bisa jadi referensi buat teman-teman yang mencari Guest House di Malang ya. Peye Guest House ini terletak di Jl. Simpang Dieng no. 1, Malang. Cukup mudah dicari sih, dia ada di dekat Plaza Dieng. Google Maps juga sangat jelas menunjukkan jalan ini. Demikian penampakan depan Guest House-nya: Peye Guest House tampak depan. Ada yang bisa baca tulisan hanacaraka di atas itu? Kami semua yang menginap sudah lupa pelajaran Bahasa Jawa. Lalu saat masuk kami disambut pengumuman ini: Coba perhatikan logo Peye Guest House ini. Sudah diperhatikan logonya? Nah, logo ini memicu perdebatan di antara kami sekeluarga. Apakah "Peye" dibaca seperti "peyek," temennya pecel itu loh, atau dibaca "peye," seperti huruf p dan y normal, ataukah dibaca "piyik," seperti ...

The weirdest feeling came to me that evening when I was downtown last weekend. Sitting on a motorcycle (my husband rode it), having nothing much to do, I looked around and felt utterly strange. How can I put it? It was like being sucked into a weird oldie movie. And a slow motion one. A motorcycle passed by and the rider sported a pair of knee-length boots. Boots in Surabaya are a rare sights, even in malls. And here was a guy with stylish boots in a shabby motorcycle. Following him was a lady in a motorcycle with very wide boot cut jeans. It was an amusing sight, as she could be a shadow from the past. As she passed by, the stores along the street started to catch my attention. Stalls selling dusty cheapo firework. Ancient stores with fading signs and interior full of dust. Grandpas with hooded eyes stood behind their displays, trying so hard to keep awake. Short time hotels with tacky old-fashioned lamp signs. It was as if the whole sleepy street tried so hard to keep awake, tr...

So the husband got quite a long weekend a couple of weeks ago because of a national holiday, so we decided we were going somewhere out of town. We googled and found out that Oman is a neighboring country that can be reached with land transportation. And what a pleasant surprise it was when a friend invited to go with his family after called him to ask about visa to Oman. So the somewhat winding journey began :) The view when we were near the border We left from Dubai to Oman border at 8 am, and reached Dubai-Oman border at 10 am. The process at the Dubai immigration was fast although somewhat confusing. There were no signs of which counter to go first. Things got worse when we hit Oman immigration. There were NO building to queue to get our passports stamped. We were to queue under the dessert sun. Unbelievable. See? And the immigration officer worked quite slow. It took us three hours to clear the immigration, from 10 am until 1 pm! Luckily the gentlemen of our group sacrificed themse...

I don't know if this rule is worldwide or only in Indonesia, but to travel abroad you have to have return ticket. I believe it is to avoid people to work illegally abroad and not coming back to their home country. No country would want this to happen. Image is from here . Anyway, when I wanted to leave for Dubai, UAE to be with the husband who's working there, I called several travel agents to purchase a one-way ticket because I needed not a return ticket (and of course to save some money :D). But those travel agents insisted that they could not sell a one-way ticket. It's against the rule, they said, although I had tried to explain that I would have some kind of a visa. So the husband decided to make a residence visa sponsored by the husband (not by the company) and here is the process: Prepare a copy of the marriage certificate (translated into English by a certified and sworn translator, legalized by Kementerian Hukum dan HAM RI, Kementerian Luar Negeri RI, and Embassy o...

Between my flight from Surabaya to Dubai, I had an eleven-hour-layover in Bandar Sri Begawan, Brunei. It wasn't a lot of time but I managed to snap these few random things (click for bigger pictures): How streets and building look in Bandar Sri Begawan A traditional market by the river. We can ride on the boat, but the smell of the river was too much. The hotel where I stayed for a couple of hours. I like the logo. For lunch I went to a shabby food court next to the hotel. The sign made me pay attention to where I stepped. If you're not an Indonesian, you might not find this picture amusing. Indome - ayam - telur Indome - cornbeef Indome - mata lembu Indome - skramble Bandar Sri Begawan airport. Everyone in Gate 5 wanted to go to London. It seemed that I'm the only one heading to Dubai. Interesting things I found about Brunei: The cars are very polite. They always stop when people want to cross the street. (Unlike in Surabaya/Indone...

Today I feel like writing in Indonesian. So, here it is. Akhirnya saya menyusul suami juga setelah enam bulan menjalani long-distance-marriage, setelah setahun lebih sebelumnya menjalani long-distance-pacaran. Jujur, saya merasa seperti Siti Nurbaya yang dikawinkan melalui perjodohan (untungnya tanpa paksa). Semacam akan menemui orang baru yang cuma saya kenal lewat chatting. Tapi semoga ini bisa bikin banyak sparks seperti orang baru pacaran yang lagi hot-hot nya gitu ya. Anyway , ini bukan kali pertama saya ke luar negeri, tapi jujur dodolnya mirip orang yang belum pernah naik pesawat. Sepertinya ini dikarenakan setiap kali bepergian saya tidak pernah sendiri. Dan itu membuat saya "seperti kerbau dicocok hidung," ngikut aja tanpa ngerti. Dimulai dari kelebihan beban, membongkar koper di hadapan petugas demi mengeluarkan 3kg dan gawatnya lingerie macan (haummm) pemberian teman kok paling atas *plak*. Lalu salah jalan ke sana sini (ini sih biasa buat saya). Yan...