365 of wonderful days.

…and more to come.

In less than *pause* 22hours or so, its gonna be a whole new year again and 2007 will be a sweet nostalgia.

It has been an awesome year for me, with a lovely beginning and a great wrap up. Starting off with good times with friends at the concert, letting go off my past, scored a good job, got a decent place to crash in every night, got a new ride, a few nice trips, a lovely raya, a great birthday party….Alhamdullilah everything was super smooth.

Everything that I had planned went nearly perfectly well.

And I met a lot of new interesting individuals who quickly became my friends. I absolutely love the fascinating characteristics in them. I treasure the genuine; stimulating connection I had with a few of them who stay with me as good friends till today.

My underwater experiment with Han Ghazi and my Jakarta trip with Elyna had been a wonderful way to end my 2007. The reason why was because it has been an eye opener for me. Little that I know I am actually stronger than I always think of. I now firmly believe that to overcome a fear, I need to be over it in order to be the one in control.

I’ve pushed myself forward with the underwater shoots. Being below the surface for a frikkin two hours and a half was something beyond belief. Why? Coz I can’t swim, I’m afraid of the underwater, I cant float, I’m afraid of the freezing cold water and have I mentioned that I cannot swim? But that day by the swimming pool, I thought ‘hey ib, you’ve managed to push yourself this far.’ And right now I can’t think of anything else that I could not do.

Jakarta trip was awesome. Bless Elyna for grabbing me along. The place and the people are indeed inspiring. We hit lots of cool café, food place, club and pub, which were bound to be a hub-bub of wonderfulness given that it was Christmas day where festive feeling is in the air. If you ever go to Jl. Senopati in Kebayoran Baru, please do head down to a coffee place called Anomali. Owned by my new found friend, Agam, the overall look of this place is very New York-ish and I totally love the laid-back feeling. Even during Christmas, this place is never quiet with young folks coming over for free wi-fi and coffee. Tasted freshly brewed Java coffee (specially recommended by Agam) for the first time, I love the sweet tight after-taste it left on my tongue. Great coffee, great ambience, great conversations with Ajeng, Agam, Tiqa and Elyna added up to the homey feeling even more. Who needs Starbucks? I’ll definitely come back here if I ever make it to Jakarta again.

On the second day, woke up feeling like a total foreigner in a strange place. So, this is how a (lost) traveler would feel. Without taking our bath, Elyna and I walked around the Kemang area in our pajamas and light backpack in search of a good place to have breakfast. The town was full of adventure and I was feeling more adventurous than ever. The Kemang area was a bit crampy and hectic. We, once too many times, nearly been ran over by cars/motorcyclist/van/bajaj and Elyna almost fell down a hole on the walkway. Lesson learnt, over here you need to always look down and not up or the next thing you know you’ll be down in a stinky drain. So KL-ites, be grateful we have proper pedestrian and zebra crossing. (trust me, if not for a friend who stopped me half way, I could have go and hug the traffic lamp pole near KL Sentral yesterday). Made a quick stop at QB World – a place for books/coffee/music/art lovers situated just next door to our hotel in Jalan Kemang Raya. I fancy the effort in promoting rousing local artistes. Cant get enough of Indonesian talented photographer; Indra Leonardi who produced a coffee-table book called Indonesian Portraits.

Later in the afternoon, went to work looking like a travel photographer (or so I thought). My dear friend Nazyra said ‘Oh you make me wanna go to KL! You so look like KL-ites!’ My hoop ear-ring and white shirt over striking blue bikini might explain her statement. The shoots at Anomali went well despite my fear of rain pouring down and taking away my sunlight. Afterwards, the group had grown larger from just the three of us to a bigger number of…I lost count. More and more friends joined the jolly good crowd. The next thing I knew, I felt totally adrift with my backpack and smelly jacket in a newly opened pub called Tabac surrounded by pretty interesting souls dancing the night away. Before Tabac, had a great great time with the rest of the bunch at Casa, another interesting place to hang out. This place is a café by day and lounge by night. Again, found myself in awe talking to all the smart remarkable people. I could sense the individual characteristics in every each of them. How very interesting.

Just below Casa is Ak’sa’ra; okay I can’t really find a good word to describe this place but coooool (with three extra Os added) perhaps could help to define. It’s an artsy tartsy design shop that sells artsy tartsy stuff. Okay, mind my bad description. From little funky paper clip to sleek smart furniture to hand-made bags and photo album; this place is a must visit for art&design lovers. Apart from the artsy-tartsy stuff, the book section is nice as well, so nice that I decided to hop around the place again on the last day of trip, hoping to get my hands on ‘Aku’ by Suman Djaya. Unfortunately, I was a day too late. The last copy had been snatched away by none other than Elyna.

On my last day, had lunch with Nazyra and Elyna at a place called Payon. You want some Indonesian feeling? This place got it. Mouth-watering food, accompanied by the lovely sound of keroncong and authentic Balinese ambience, I had to say this place tops it all. As soon as I step in, it’s hard to not fall in love. Tiqa and Ajeng joined us later on where we swapped so-called Christmas gifts. Funny fellas.

Jakarta is conveniently linked with other major cities and provinces of Indonesia by land, sea and air transportation. Traffic is probably the most moaned about problem here. Most people travel by motorcycle or car causing a bad-ass heavy traffic. Luckily for me though, it was Christmas during my trip so the traffic wasn’t that bad as most people were out of town for holiday. We went about town in licensed taxis; the bluebird or the silverbird as they are equipped with meters and far much safer than the unlicensed taxis that ply the streets. (tips from elyna hehe). Bajaj (pronounced bajai) the orange tricycles is a popular way to get around town but we didn’t quite managed to get on it as, we learnt this from one of the taxi drivers; they are far much expensive than the taxis. Also, bajaj aren’t allowed on some of the larger roads in Jakarta so our route may well be very limited. And I don’t think I would fancy to breathe in unhealthy exhaust fumes while wrestling through traffic even in a backpacker's manner.

I missed the chance to visit Kota Lama but mungkin kali lain ya?

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Tonight I’m going out for a quiet dinner with a few close friends where fun and laughter’s gonna be accompanied by a little nostalgia and reflective thinking.

2007 has been great great great despite minor little hiccups. I hold no regrets for anything only that I was a bit disappointed that I got distracted with unnecessary and unimportant thing that in the end didn’t really work out. Pointless and a waste of time. But I am not one to give up on anything without a fight and I got my lesson learnt.

I’m expecting more fun joyous occasion for the year 2008. My dreams are important right now, no matter how realistic/dreamy they may seem. I can see myself getting dreamier day by day, haha. I suppose my dreamy self and imagination are my driving force. Here’s a list of things I would like to try/do in 2008:

1-    learn how to swim well

2-    then go scuba diving.

3-    get rid of my fear of heights.

4-    pick up drawing again.

5-    learn salsa.

6-    go backpacking (no joking).

7-    go bungee jumping! but must get rid of fear first.

8-    go to Waikiki beach, wear my bikini and go surfing. (see, im getting dreamier)

9-    live in florida? Okay, I kid.

10- start my own travelogue.

Apart from wanting to see myself succeed in photography and design area, I would love to travel more, have been planning a few trips with my close friends. I desire a deeper connection with the people around me, appreciating them more in any way I could (and traveling is one of the way actually). I will try my best to juggle family, love (if there’s any haha) and work and maintain the balance as I have already got everything in perspective now. If all works well, by end of the year I should be ready to slow down and see myself in a secure position in terms of work and life.

Anything else?

I think that’s pretty much about what I want for next year, more of personal transformation than outer changes. The rest I will leave it to Him to lay his cards. Life is all about fun and love, spontaneity, improvement and making (good) choices so yea I believe 2008 is gonna be a great year :)

To each and everyone of you,

Thank you. May 2008 brings a bundle of joy and happiness to your lives. God bless. Be good.

Much love!

xoxo