3rd ASEAN Cultural Forum Came back on the 17th from Indonesia after attending a Forum... OMG!!! got to learn sooo many things there!!! other ppl's culture... their language... their ppl... and oso how stuck-up some ppl can be... haha... 10 July 2005 arrived in JogJa... picked up by UGM's rep... who was going to be out Liaison Officer for the whole event... ADHI!! who's also a student in UGM.... went straight to the hotel... nice place to stay in... thank God there's aircon!!! haha... went to Nino's uncle's restaurant <> to eat and practise... ate their seafood basket... OMG!! it's damn super delicious!!! soft and QQ... after that went back to hotel for orientation briefing cum dinner and then rest... went for supper and had ROTI BAKAR!!! omg!!! it's damn good!!! haha... 11 July 2005 started our workshops and lectures... got to learn abt the Gamelan... which is traditional Indonesian "Orchestra"... the sounds tat the Gamelan produces is damn nice.. the Gamelan comprises of many instruments... some of them are the Gendang... Saron... Kendir... Gong (small, medium and large) etc etc... went for welcome dinner... had to wear national costume... so i wore indian wear.... quite comfy... and everyone had to wear shoes... but i can wear slippers.. haha... 12 July 2005 woke up early in the morning to go meet the Sultan of JogJa... haha... old guy... but was amazed that he actually just took out his cigarette and smoked in the middle of the dialogue in the room... haha... went back for lunch and had workshops on dances.... had to do collaboration of all participants... so all of us divded into 2 equal groups and we had to come up with collaborated pieces in like a few hrs... like we are some kind of genius... in the end... we sort of re-did the story of Ramayana in the Jungle episode in the modern world... with songs like "In the Jungle" and playing the saron to that tune... went back for dinner after that and we continued practise in Claire's room... 13 July 2005 woke up super early to go Kotagede... aiyo!!! sooooo super warm manz!!! scorching sun... Kotagede is actually the old kingdom of Java... famous for silver as well... went back to hotel to prepare to go get ready for our performance in the niight... performed alright... 14 July 2005 had closing ceremony in the morning... after that... went to Borobudur temple.. the biggest temple in the world... gosh... soo many ppl there! and the sun was sooo hot! haha... but i had fun climbing up and down there... after lunch... we went shopping!!! Marlioboro!!! haha... shop shop shop... had farewell dinner and performance in the evening... after that... rushed off and stayed overnight at a lodge tat belonged to Nino's uncle... nice place... especially in the morning... the air very fresh and cooling.... 15 July 2005 long day ahead of us... nino brought us to eat nice breakfast... nasi soto... den we went back malioboro to do shopping again!! haha... den we went to see the twin volcanoes... but was tooo foggy... so din see anything... went to a convent later in the evening.. gosh.. that place is where a convent shud be... peaceful... serene... no sign of city life to irritate u.. no temptation... cooling.... wow!!! went down to semarang after that... met dewi there and we had dinner together... so fun... went to nino's house after that and we had a good night's sleep... 16 July 2005 had breakfast at nino's place... nasi ayam... den nino brought us to Cheng Ho temple... den went searching for nice food and dessert... ate lunpia and chendol.. shiok shiok... after that went shopping at shopping complex... den to his dad's stationary shop for shopping again... den went for dinner at his place... wow!!! his maids are good cooks!!! the satay is nice! haha.. had a sort of sing-a-long session after tat by his piano... such a nice feeling... 17 July 2005 went for breakfast at a local chinese restaurant.. had dimsum and porridge... after that... went to shoppping center and shopped again!!! haha... after that... went to his place to collect baggage and back to singapore we were... boohooo... anyway... i want to thank NINO!!! my BELLBOY!!! thanx for being our bellboy/chauffeur/interpreter/bargainer and everything else!!! our trip in indo cudden be better without you!!! tc&gb!!!