Gerakan Bawah Tanah - Mr. GBT

A couple weeks ago, friends came to Bandung and asked me what's new in Bandung. They were looking for something to eat. My answer was ... "Mafia Fried Rice" (Nasi Goreng Mafia). Where can you get it? Krang Kring cafe is one of them. To be frankly, I haven't had a chance to test it myself. I heard it is spicy. Well, my stomach is very sensitive to spicy food. Ugh. So there is a chance that I may not be able to taste it. I know some people, including my nice, who always ask for "nasi goreng mafia" if we ask them what to bring home. Next time, I'll find it and take a picture :)

Bandung is a food barometer in Indonesia. Well, not just food, but also fashion. This post is the food side. Next time, I'll post the fashion side. I am so glad that I live in this city. The new food buzz in Bandung is Bon Chon. This is a Korean-franchised fast food. It's the Korean KFC, sort of. Their favorite menu is the honey-glazed chicken. It's sweet and a little better compared to KFC, in my opinion of course. The rest is similar to KFC. The place is always packed with people. It's just a wave. Let see how long this will last. In the mean time, let me enjoy these drumsticks.

Just got back from Singapore. We flew from Singapore to Jakarta and went back to Bandung using train. The Argo Parahyangan train was okay. Lots of tourists were on the train. Arrived in Bandung, we decided to take taxi to our home. It has been a while since I took taxi from this train station. I didn't know what to do. So, when we were just off the gate, we were swarmed by unofficial taxi drivers. I knew I shouldn't say something and just straight to metered taxi, which I remembered there were plenty of them on the street outside the train station. But, I responded. Boy, I was so wrong. The taxi drivers offered me their service. I asked them how much. They asked where to and I said the area where we live. They offered Rp. 150,000,- (one hundred fifty thousands rupiah). I knew this is too much. I remembered taking taxi from Bandung airport to our home is just Rp. 70,000. So I told them that. They grunted and started to walk away, except for one guy. He relented that we shoul...

Took photos this morning. Just around our house. The weather just perfect; bright, cool, breezy. I just love Bandung. Good morning folks. The view from our house is now blocked by this structure :(  Oh well. Perhaps it is a structure to search for ETI? Or maybe this is part of NSA's interception post? ha ha ha.

Culture is so fascinating. It is also important if you want to market a product (or service) to the people in that culture. To understand the culture, you have to be there - sort of speak. It baffles me that many IT-related companies are not in Indonesia to understand our culture :) This morning, I found this survey site that surveys the best football clubs according to their fans. (Here football means soccer in the North American term :)) The result is ... Persib is number one. Persib even beats Barca. ha ha ha. I guess most people - outside Indonesians - will find that strange. I don't. What/who is Persib? It's our city's (Bandung) football club. Indonesian football fans are maniacs. Just like UK's hooligans. The number of internet users in Indonesia is around 60 millions (according to Association of Indonesian ISPs). The number of cellphone users is easily doubles that. (The number of prepaid cell numbers already more than 200 millions.) You just add both of the...

Sunday, 27 March 2011, I gave a presentation at TEDx Bandung . If you don't know what TED is, check this out. My topic is " Digital Entertainment in Indonesia: the future of ". In essence, there are research and bussiness opportunities in Indonesia. Our culture is so much different, in that entertainment is our lives. It was a great event, with interesting speakers. I was told that the video will be available and uploaded. Will see... I am going to upload my presentation material this weekend.

The meeting that I had yesterday (I can say yesterday because now it is 2 AM and technically it's already another day :) ) got me excited. It brings back the energy and spirit in me. It reminds me why I went back to Indonesia (instead of staying abroad). And when I got to this zone, I want to write. Thus, I blog. Even though I now I should be sleeping right now. There are many things that I want to write, but first I have to show to the world that I believe in our technical abilities. Do I really believe it? He**, yes! I met many tech savvy persons. Some of them were my students. My biggest problem is to keep them in Bandung. They go abroad and become the asset of those countries :( But what can I do? I don't have the money (and toys) to keep them in Bandung. I wish Google would open their research lab in Bandung. [Head spinning. Too many ideas and things to write ... and that's a good thing!]

I've just finished having an informal discussion with Steven Koltai, a Senior Advisor for the US State Department in charge of Global Entrepreneurship program. We talked about many things, but manily I talked about Bandung - or why Bandung is the tech center of Indonesia. There are so many things that I wanted to talk but could not because of time. He had to go back to Jakarta. Then it dawned on me that I should write things in smaller bits, so that they are more digestable. I could use this blog to do that. It would be useful not just for Steven, but for others who are interested in learning about tech-related situations in Indonesia. Wish me luck (so that I have time and energy to do it).

[taken a couple hours ago around the house. bandung, 5 december 2010] Good morning ...

It rains everyday in Bandung. Usually it rains afternoon for a couple hours. Sometimes it stops and starts again in the evening :( It causes flooding in certain part of Bandung. To be frankly, I don't know whether this is rainy or dry season. There's no pattern. I blame it on global warming. [taken on a "clear" morning - br, october 2010]