Its an International World

No more heavy substantial topic. This time only for fun.

Here is some of the “international world” evidence.

Design in California, made in China

 I bought the iPad in Germany, and the iPhone in Jakarta.

 

Coffee bean from Brazil, manufactured in Taiwan, sold in Melbourne.

 

This product is more way confusing, consist of imported coffee bean, roasted and packed in Germany and then imported by a company from Victoria, Australia.

FYI, blue mountain is one of the famous coffee beans originated from Jamaica, click here.

Its an international world.

Australian Grand Prix 2012

This is my experience when hearing (you’re right, hearing, not watching) the Australian Grand Prix 2012 in Albert Park, Melbourne.

Yeah, due to the global crisis I can’t afford any kind of tickets stated in this link this link, so I prefer to hear the qualifying and follow real time qualifying tweet from @F1grid. So put my ears and eyes on! The F1 cars are there, behind those fences.

There are many spectators from rooftops from surrounding building. One information said that the F1 committee gave surrounding citizens/offices/local bureaucrats compensation ticket for the noise that was made during the event. The F1 committee also book certain rooftops in one of the surrounding building for regular people to see the F1, also for compensation.

I wish to have one T______T 

Luckily it is sunny, rather than rainy in the Friday practice. When I was walking on the Queens Road (see map here, I can see people gathered in the Lome Street intersection, I don’t know why but seems it is the best spot to “hear” the F1 cars, because we are between turn 12 and 13. (See the circuit diagram here).

The qualifying also presented a jet fighter, flying around Albert Park and gave its soundwave :p

When the qualifying session began, the loudness is awesome! It reached maximum 102 db measured using Decibel 10 app from my iPhone and I’m standing 20 metres from the track!

Most of the listeners only hear for 10-15 minutes, but me? Haha, I’m waiting until the qualifying session ended.  

While I’m listening, I saw some nasty viewers trying to climb the fence; at first it’s quite comfortable,

untill suddenly police car came! At first the police only warn those violators. The illegal spectators are leaving, the police left but a few stay...

And he met a friend.

No more police, lets watched it again....

But...,  the police car came again! A person got busted! And one is having a loong conversation and the police officer hands out some papers to write. I dont know what actually happened, this image was taken candid.

And the qualifying was done! Hamilton, Button and Grosjean are the top three drivers.

Its a great experience to see the qualifying (from twitter) and heard the voice, live :)

Trip to Pangkal Pinang

Most tourists will visit Tanjung Tinggi beach, where famous movie “Laskar Pelangi” took a scene there, a fabulous white sand beach with gigantic stone. And me? Not!

I’ll give a quick trip through the city, only the city.

Where to visit?

From the airport, it took around 15 minutes to the city center. What can we see from the city? When I was there, I had a round trip, watching old houses, old PT Timah employee houses, the company that once has a great success there.

Its quite hard to found what is interesting there (my personal opinion).

What to eat?

Most island near Sumatra has great durian, stinky thorny big fruit. If you want to try, just do the bargain and let the salesperson select the fruit. If he/she give raw durian, ask for exchange.

The problem is, this word “bargain” is very problematic for me. Its hard to judge this durian costs appropriate with its size and taste.

One of the local food here name “Bakmi Koba”, a noodle soup with fish stock. Noodles is good, the stock taste delicious and lil sweet. Be careful with the chilly, because its very very hot!

What to buy?

Hmmm... Pangkal Pinang is famous by its marine crackers from fish, shrimp, sea cucumber and dried shark fin. Its one of the exclusive food ingredients, the bird nest.

It said that shark fin for 50 grams cost US$39, and for the bird nest below is US$94,8 per 50 grams.

There is two types of fish cracker, true fish cracker without sauce, and the Amplang, fish cracker with sauce.

For coffee addict, you can found a great coffee (that I was underestimated). Taste like Sumatran Coffee that I was bought from Starbucks. The salesperson said that this coffee was originated from around Pangkal Pinang. Altough this coffee has already grinded, its not sour, taste great.
A recommended thing to buy.

If you are a batik maniac, you can find batik, unfortunately I found this in the duty free shop at the airport, not in the local market

I expect somebody will explore the island broader than I did, to let the world that theres something there, not just the “Laskar Pelangi” beach.

TOEFL versus IELTS

TOEFL versus IELTS

Actually previous I've written such thema, but I dont know, it went away, disappear without trace.

Yeah, just write it again. Here we go!

Listening section.

TOEFL use headphone, and IELTS use tape player. So it means that TOEFL is more individual, you take exam inside a booth each for one participant. IELTS usually held on class so it seems like ordinary test.

TOEFL and IELTS both has same method of filling, filled out while the recording is playing. But if you are lucky to found IELTS test type in listening section that explain a map, I hope you can manage about that. When I did my test, I didnt met it anyway. I think that part is hard because you need to have a higher visual-imagination skill.

Tips for facing listening section, try to listen to english audio/song/movie without looking on translation/text to train your  hearing organ :p

Dont worry, on the test you can make small note to help you remember important name/word.

Reading section.

Both TOEFL and IELTS have same method, there's paragraphs and questions that need to be answered. (you dont say??)

Just keep cautious about the question "it", "inferred", "implied" and "what is the main idea of paragraph X?"

Usually questions has sequence, so first question 90% wont asking about the last paragraph.

Here, the test assumes that all participant has same level of education, if you are rocket scientist and the text is about rocket science, DONT play smart person here! Even you know that there are more correct answer or there isnt, the answer lies within the paragraph or inferred from paragraph!

Speaking section.

Same method, participant speak! There are two type of answering, spontaneous and prepared answer.

But, the huge difference lies here. 

In TOEFL your spoken answers is recorded into a recording device through microphone, so if you are nervous it may influence your voice intonation and clarity. Be careful about this! 

In IELTS you'll be speaking to a native speaker, a person, a human, directly. So I think that IELTS is better than TOEFL because if you are nervous, at least he/she might still heard what I've said better than through recorded audio.

Writing section.

Both test provide two type of question, but different in term. In TOEFL you'll get pick-a-side writing and free writing while in IELTS you'll faced chart/diagram description and pick-a-side writing. 

Pick-a-side writing requires participants to pick-a-side, pro or contra in an argument. There is no right or wrong side as an answer in this question, but the score much weigh on how is your writing composition, clarity of idea, systematic explanation and less grammar error. This requirement is also valid for free writing question. 

Chart/diagram description is relative easy because we've already given chart/diagram to describe the content, compare contrast between data inside. Remember that here we ONLY describe the chart, compare highest and lowest bla bla bla without giving reason why this number/chart's increase or decrease!! Remember!

DONT play as smart person because the examiner is smarter than us!

My strategy in writing section was doing the hardest part first then get into the easy part.

Well, thats all my explanation between TOEFL and IELTS. The choice and budget is yours. Remember to bring extra pen or pencil and eraser :) 

Cheers mate!

trip to Samarinda

From Jakarta I flew to Balikpapan, because in Samarinda there is no big airport and for that I should took a trip by car for 3 hours.

Between travel I took a rest in a rest area-like with culinary specialty, sumedang tofu! Yup, a sumedang tofu, but I was not in West Java anyway.

They fried the Tofu's and sell it here, but made it somewhere else.

After taking a break, stretching old bones we continue further deep into Bukit Soeharto National Park.
Im very curious about many mining projects in East Kalimantan, because here is famous about its coal mining. unfortunetely I saw no mining landscapes, only some forest, prairies, villages and palm oil plantation. Most of the mining areas are located in Berau, Kutai Kartanegara and many remote areas up in the north.
And finally I arrived in Samarinda, the capitol of East Kalimantan.
Samarinda is located near Mahakam river, a big river that became the tagline of the city, "Samarinda kota tepian" (Samarinda, city of bay).

What to see and what to buy:
Unfortunetely I had a short time there, first I went to the "pasar budaya" (cultural market). There I saw ethnical souvenirs from samarinda/dayak tribe.
There are wooden shields, batik, bead bags, mat, t-shirts and many kind of souvenirs. Make sure you bargain, some price here can be bargained up to 50%.

This is one of the unique batik pattern, from Dayak indigenous tribe who inhabits Kalimantan.

Samarinda is famous of the amplang kuku macan crackers. A cracker which made from fish and flour. We can buy it in almost every souvenir shop. It cost $3-$5 per packing.
Taste yummy 😊

After that I visited durians seller near Mahakam river.
If you to Samarinda, its not be complete before you taste the durian, the king of fruit.
For the small one, it cost IDR 100.000 for 4 pieces. But for those big one, hanging on the strings, thats durian mentega. It cost more for buy it, up to IDR 125.000 for one fruit. Costly, but the price won lie.
The fruit inside is gigantic, compare to mineral water cup, the seed is small and the flesh inside is thick. 😊

Near the river theres a majestic islamic center, with towers and dome. It also functioned as a mosque. Some story said that it cost billions of rupiah to build it. Because it located near the river and it should has a good foundation structure, to avoid it from sinking.

What to eat here? Unfortunately I only have a chance to eat a beef stew. Like any other beef stew, it taste sweet and creamy. But with this portion, no one will seek a snack after ate it.

Trip to Kupang

This is a dairy of my trip to Kupang,
one of the most southern city in Indonesia.

(actually I wanted to use Clibe App to publish it, but the App is busted so I go back to my netbook)

And after total 4 hours of travel from Jakarta, finally i’m arrived in El Tari Airport, Kupang.
The landscape is dominated with hills and dried grass caused by dry season at that time.
There’s not so much trees grows, most is Lontar (Asian Palmyra Palm/Toddy Palm; Borassus flabellifer) and others like Tamarind, Acacia, Teakwood and the famous and expensive wood producer tree, Cendana or in international name Sandalwood.
Unfortunately in my trip, I saw no Sandalwood.

Drove to the city, gives a clear view on the landscape. Hills composed of reef stone.

It took around 10 minutes from airport to city.
As I approach Kupang, I see the pulse of it.

From the airport, people can use taxi without taximeter to take a trip.
Usually it depends on the route, closer trips costs Rp. 60.000 ($7-$8) or paid it hundreds rupiah for a day rent.
There’s also public transport like buses and angkot, costs Rp. 2000 ($ 20c) one trip.
The car is unique with modifications and various cutting stickers.

With unique horn and loud music, people called it "diskotek berjalan" (mobile discotheque).
They did it because loud music and funky modified cars attract school kids more to use them, one of the major users.

What to eat in Kupang? I took seafood, a delicious Grouper and it looks lovely in the picture :)

What to buy here?
Some handicraft from Kupang like fabric, purse, bags, cellphone pouch are the most sold items here.
And the fabric is unique, its thick, dominated with dark color but it structure like wool, has a hollow gap between it. Maybe it designed so that it wont be hot under the sun, and its not too cold in the night.

One thing that tourist must see or may buy (if you bring a lot of money) is to go to local jewelry store, see jewelries like earrings, bracelet made of ivory.
First strange thing is, where are the elephants?
I dont see any elephants running or grazing, so maybe they have extinct hundred years a go.
The second strange thing is, is there a whole ivory?
Centuries ago, we'll might see a whole ivory, but along with the inflation, the tiny ivory will cost US$300 a piece!

Third question is for what these ivory rings purpose? The purpose is as a dowry. So, its gonna be a very very expensive wedding celebration, havent mention about guests, invitation, catering and exotic honeymoon :p

What to visit and where?
hmmm thats quite easy to choose places to visit, natural recreation area like beaches! Yup, because Kupang has many beaches, but most are surrounded by reef. So pick one, like Lasiana Beach that has beautiful combination color of sand, shore and sky.

And look! There's a happy family jumpin'  on the sand :)

And one of the natural attraction around Kupang is waterfall. Yup, they have it inside the island, it took 30 minutes to go there, through villages and hills.

This is the picture of the entrance gate, as you see there's no entrance ticket (when I was there). going to the waterfall, you must follow the concrete path, down through the stair.

Just follow the sound of water rumbling.

There you are.
A nice shady view in dry arid of Kupang :)