Medan Kota

Medan Polonia Airport, the one airport, a definite one that you just want to scream each time you stepped off the plane… it’s like the beginning of a nightmare once I am back in Medan… for someone like me living in this town…

First, we still need to walk down the stairs to get off plane… it’s particularly difficult for old people and especially for parents with young kids…

Second, the immigration, being a foreigner, they tend to ask silly questions… anyway, for newbies, make sure you have the completed immigration card and a copy of the return tickets so that the process will be smoother..

Third, the trolleys, it will probably be taken up and none left for use by the time we are waiting for our bags, … so help the society and the people in need by using the porter service…

Forth, you just pray hard that there is no ‘white chalk cross out‘ shown on the bags… if so, you will be asked to open the bag for inspection.. I still don’t quite get what exactly they are looking for though, I know that they saw something from the x-ray machine but am still curious with it till today… some said that it’s the weights of the bag, but I don’t think so.. coz I am one person who uses big bag and being heavy and yet I am still ok… then some said it’s the books… and again, no, coz I dragged back 20 kg of books and still ok…

But I saw something at the inspection counter once that made me laughed each time I landed at the Medan Polonia Airport ….

A chinese girl, may be like 17 years old… she looked like she was coming back to Medan from studying in Singapore… she had one huge luggage, a reasonable size push bag and an extra plastic bags full of stuff… her big bag got crossed out and was told to stop and have it opened for inspection… I was standing nearby waiting for the porter to get my bags, so I was seeing this quite clearly…

The inspector was an old male guard, the girl being young and a teenager was of course not looking pleased… but she obliged and didn’t slip in any small money (like many typical Medanese would do), she opened her luggage, with her face looking emotionless, …. and in there lay a big old grandma underwear !!!!  Its not those size 10 or 12 that belongs to her, but one that is like XXXL, old and worn out, with fade colour, neatly placed right on top of the stuff….  my head was like …. hahhaah, laughed, shocked, surprised but curious at the same time… remembering we are in a Muslim world…

The old guard gave her a look, and she, gave him the shrugged shoulders, 2 palms opened and on her face, with her tongue sticked out signaling like I don’t know, my mum packed the bag for me.. …and having that pretend innocent look…  my god,.. I have to turn myself away in another direction to laugh it all off…

And yes, NO word was exchanged, the old guard didn’t touch a single stuff and let her close her bag off and walked away…

Not sure if it’s a trick that some of you may want to take note of….

Popularity: 9% [?]

The heading of this post speaks for itself…  my 2 days seminar with the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad was something truly unexpected…  it’s supposed to be a 3 days course.. with the first 2 days having the author and his team as the speakers and some other various speakers on the last day …. my hubby and me ended attending only the first 2 days, and spent our 3rd day meeting with bankers to sort of get stuff done straight away…

the seminar, well…. its was really tiring.. from 9am to 7.30 pm straight.. and involving 4000 audiences from around the world…  after just 2 days, let’s just say, it made me and mr hubby realized those things that we have been wondering if its right or wrong…   and that we have since make plans and confidently dare say that we are on the right path to total freedom in life…

with me having paid S$800 each for the tickets, many Indonesians, known for being extravagant, bought seat in the front VIP row, with tickets going like $3000 each…

in fact, I have so so so much to share, to tell, to explain, that I don’t even know how to begin..  my fingers were inching to blog since the end of my first day seminar.. but my brain and body just went blank the moment I got back to the hotel…

Let me just summarized some of the stuff and if I have the chance, I will talk more of it later, else, it’s gonna be a never ending blog reading..

PhD = Poor health and Desperate

‘HOPE’ is for the Hopeless People

Property producing positive cash flow = ASSET (giving you money)
Property or house that we live in = LIABILITY (taking money out of your pocket)
NOW, ask yourself this…. ‘is your SPOUSE an asset or a liability?’ Hehheheh..

Knowledge is the new Money

Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme

Going to school is stupid…
Thinking a house is an asset is ridiculous…
Working for money is absurd…
I so love the quote when i heard it

The Rich SELL
The Poor Buy

SALES = INCOME

Thoughts become words, ….words become actions, ….actions become behavior, …..behavior become value, ……and value become YOU
Therefore, Want to change Life, Change the thoughts

Capital gain = Gambling

MUTUAL Fund = market control the future = Capital Gain = Gambling

‘Go to school, and get good grade so that you can get a good job‘ = EMPLOYEE

4 main types of Transplantation

Heart Transplant Patients = people with negative emotions, i.e constantly having fear, anger, searching for love

Liver Transplant Patients = people with difficulty facing problems which leads to alcohol, drugs addict i.e running away from problems.

Kidney Transplant Patients = People who don’t grow up, someone who still act like a children, need someone to tell them what to do, or expect people to do things for them.. i.e LACK of responsibility

Bone Marrow / Cancer = people who have experience sense of worthlessness. i.e these people may experience something from childhood like lack of love, being abused, and see the world as not worth living…

Hence, if your character is any of the above, it will most likely lead you to the type of transplant as mentioned…  when the doctor explained and told his stories, its was so funny to listen to..

3 causes of disease – Genetic, Environment and Ourselves.
If you have believed that ‘ourselves’ is the main cause, good on you…

Genetics – you have the prophecy to have the disease but you don’t have to make it happen

Health = being align with your body of how you feel

BRANDING

A great brand is when promise = experience

3 characteristics of Great Branding
1. Genuine
2. Meaningful
3. Different

Excitement = buzz = brand

2 kinds of communication – face to face and back to face

Lastly, only 1% or less of the seminar attendants will walk out and take actions…. so, don’t be the 99%

Popularity: 9% [?]

This is my 4th post of this newly opened JW Marriott Hotel in Medan.  Some of you must have thought I have been brainwashed by the PR department by now… I never knew that being part of a Media group can be this fun… I was at the grand opening, launching of Jade Chinese restaurant, tried their Quan Spa, and recently got myself in for the Prime Steakhouse as well as an experience at the Health Club..

I love eating out… and I intend to try out at the Prime Steakhouse anyway.. but been rather busy so.. never really got the chance, then the PR dept called in… so.. here I go again…

The place is definitely posh, glittering, chic, stylish, fabulous…  what’s more impressive is that the Grill is only one of the only 2 in the world…  there are smaller ones in other countries but for one that’s of the size, Medan’s JW Marriott indeed make sure it is grandly displayed for their guests to see…

Price wise, we had the business lunch… which is value for money – 3 course set menu at just Rp 168.000 ++ including 1 drink…  even though the Nett price will set us back at Rp 200.000, but taking into consideration of the place, service, and that BelMondo, Traders, Medan Club are pricing at least Rp 200.000 for their basic steak…  And to argue that the hotel is charging 10% + 11%, well, did you realized that a normal restaurant actually include  5% + 10% in the bills…

Food wise, the starter and the dessert is a must die for… the main course, the steak is served with lentil sauce …  which is not the typical pepper or mushroom sauce that cut into the meat taste… should you have not try the place out, do try out the Business Lunch promo, which guarantee you be back in office within 45 mins..

Popularity: 18% [?]

Drug misuse in Asia

I saw this article over at the straitstimes.com, thought that many of us living in Indonesia should be aware of this…

JAKARTA – RIA Pane took her 7-year-old daughter Kezia to a doctor in Jakarta to check on her fever and sore throat, and was prescribed seven drugs, including antibiotics and medicine to prevent febrile seizures.

Experts say it was another classic, but only too common, case of over-medication, or prescribing drugs patients do not need. Here, the antibiotic was unnecessary, as was the drug to prevent febrile seizures as the child had no history of such attacks, said several pharmacists and doctors who were asked by Reuters.

Experts warn that driven by profits from selling medicine, some doctors from Indonesia to Hong Kong are overprescribing medicines, a practise they say will be disastrous in the longer term.

The most recent example of growing resistance involves the drug oseltamivir, which researchers in the United States found was now ineffective against 98 percent of the H1N1 seasonal human influenza virus strains.

Oseltamivir is known by the brand Tamiflu and manufactured by Roche AG. Oseltamivir is also recommended as a first line of defence against the H5N1 bird flu virus in case it triggers a flu pandemic and experts are now questioning how well, and how long, the drug will stand up against the H5N1 virus.

Apart from eventually reducing the effectiveness of drugs, exposing bacteria and viruses to drugs unnecessarily also has other serious consequences. ‘They harm the patient. The more drugs, the worse the compliance, especially for old people. They fall easily because of drug interaction and side effects. They get dizzy, hypotension, it is something we don’t recommend,’ Chui said.

Doctors in Indonesia often prescribe antibiotics to patients suffering a common cold when such drugs are only to be used for bacterial infections.

Experts say such a mentality has led not only to polypharmacy, but also the use of compounding medicine, known in Indonesia as ‘.‘puyer

Compounding medicine is the practise of crushing different drugs into a powder in a bowl and dividing it into small sachets. Sometimes it is mixed with syrups. It is carried out under strict guidelines in some countries. But in Indonesia, it has been used liberally for decades, particularly to treat health problems in children.

Experts warn this practise could result in errors as the drugs may not be evenly divided or pharmacists may not clean the bowl thoroughly, leaving residues from previous prescriptions. — REUTERS

This ‘puyer’ thing…. it is my first encounter here in medan… i never really quite understand.. coz, as a parent, its really a hassel to prepare for a young babies.. and its not easy to take for the kids as well…

Popularity: 21% [?]

Here are some of the more interesting stuff you can do in Thailand apart from the well known cheap shopping of Bangkok.. This is one of the two annual family trip to Thailand.. we were in luck that the International Airport opened in time before we flew out of Medan.

First stop was at the HuaHin Hyatt Regency Hotel, about 2.5 hrs drive from Bangkok.. it’s a small and quiet beach seaside resort where the Thai King reside at the moment…  The hotel was having a bargain promotion so, we took up the offer and spent a week there…

This is the view that we looked out to when we lied down on one of the swimming beach chair… My front view is the kid’s swimming pool and the back view is this gorgeous clear blue sea that just took your breath away…

The swimming pool of this hotel has the lagoon style.. big and long winding, while at the kids pool is surrounded by sand.. sort of like mini beach on the side of shallow kids pool… It’s very child friendly and its one of those pool where I just put on the right gear for the boys and they will just have fun on their own while the parents can relaxed the beautiful days…

but the main attractive and one of the main reason why we keep going back to this resort is for this wild water slide…  we all love it.. anyone.. and literally.. young and old… have a blast with this slide… Jadon got so used to it that he practically slided down in different styles.. head down, flat down, side up, etc .. and he often screamed … “to the infinity and .. beyond !!!“… everytime that he was up there…

The hotel also provide a wide range of other interesting activities that kids, adults or families can participate… above is the morning fish feeding time…

as Christmas was near.. we were among the few guests that participate in the Christmas tree light up… and what I like is that.. on the tree, the hotel organised for several of the underprivilege kids to write what they wish for Christmas on a card which were then being placed on the tree…. and us the guests can contribute… the wishes are of mostly school stuff… so my family fulfilled 2 wishes… giving a set of new school bag and Doraemon stationary…

Next… we then went up North to ChiangMei to celebrate the Old and New Celebration 08/09…

I took the kids for elephant trekking… this is their second time and they are still amused and excited with the whole experienced…  looking at the photos is not as exciting as the real experience… the ride was wobbly… we trekked up the mountain and across small rivers… going down hills was the scariest of all… my in-laws just loved it… and it just made me so happy to see all the family members have the glowing big smile on their face….

after about 45 mins of the trekking, we then watched the elephant shows… the highlight was to see these elephants draw and after which, they sell off the painting to support the elephant foundations… though I doubt about it…

wonder how these cute big elephants did it?, actually the caretaker hold on to the Tusk and guide the elephants with the painting… I was poking fun at my 2 boys since the elephants seem to have better drawing skills than both of them… both boys turned around to give me their small angry looking face….

next we then went on the bamboo rafting down a small river… its was a nice tone down of the body adreline before we finished the whole 4 hours tour …

what you see above is the paper lantern that the Thais light up on special occasion.. which in this case is to celebrate the New Year…  We stayed at one of the mountain resort and we asked the hotel to arrange for these… we lighted up about 50 of them (cost about 80 baht = Rp 30.000 each).. making hard wish for the coming New Year… It was very beautiful… my younger son Elson loved it so much… so much so that he ran to each one to hold and let go before they flew off into the beautiful night sky….

ChiangMei is best experienced in Nov / Dec / Jan.. when the temperature is nice and cooling.. so taking the elephant rides or doing any of the activities are not as tiring compared to other times of the year… The temperature drop down to about 18C while we were there… though not as cold as after we left which fell to about 12C…

Popularity: 26% [?]