The Buried Fortress

If not for the occasional appearance in international headlines whenever Indonesia executes the drug convicts in the infamous Nusakambangan Island, the town of Cilacap in Central Java may easily be forgotten. It does serve as the main harbor for the prison island and many people merely bypass the roads and go straight to the harbor. Indeed, the sleepy town boasts little else than some beaches, and the domestic visitors often complain about the scorching heat. But a visit to a local attraction of Benteng Pendem (lit. The Buried Fortress) will reveal just how important this town was in the Dutch era when it served as a coast observation post to the passing vessels.

Mighty Tree on Top

From the jungles of Siem Reap in the midst of the vast Angkor Wat complex, I present you Ta Prohm. People may instantly recognize the images from Angelina Jolie’s “The Tomb Raider” film. This temple is small compared to the main Angkor Wat Temple, but it is magnificent in its own right. The forest is slowly taking over the structures by sneaking in its roots among the stones and crawling its way to the top. Of course there are concerns over the preservation of the heritage and the visitors’ safety. However, some people argue that such invasion could actually strengthen the architecture.

The mighty trees of Ta Prohm sits like cherry on top of the temple and they provide some shelters and cool temperatures. Besides, the photographers and photographer-wannabes will not be short of inspiration.

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More takes on this week’s photo challenge can be found here.

Economic Overviews 2016

With the global crises still looming the regional business growth, Indonesia manages to survive the turbulence and remains confident that this year’s growth will be sustainable despite its moderate forecasts. More on this topic can be found in the following 2 articles (click the images to read):

Domain Mapping: Checked

After blogging for over 6 years and dealing with several hosters, I’ve finally made a decision to unsubscribe from all local hosting services and map this precious domain to WP.com using their seamless domain mapping service. I had actually been contemplating about this for over 6 months before making the switch yesterday, but there were some initial steps that needed to be completed before finally activating the new address. Those steps were pretty complicated as I had to backtrack all the way to the basics, such as applying for a new credit card. But now that I’ve got all of the things sorted out, I’m ready to embark on a new journey.

The URL of this blog remains unchanged and there is absolutely nothing you should do at your end as everything has been taken care of by the awesome Automattic team. As always, thank you very much for your support during all these years. I’ll be back soon with more updates.

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Syarat Mengurus SKCK 2016

Setelah kurang-lebih 20 tahun tidak mengurus SKCK (terakhir mengurusnya sewaktu lulus SMA dan waktu itu dokumen ini masih bernama SKKB), akhirnya saya kembali mengurus dokumen tersebut minggu lalu untuk keperluan melamar pekerjaan. Yang saya dengar, proses pengurusan SKCK sekarang relatif cepat dan hanya memakan waktu 15 menit per berkas (tidak termasuk masa tunggu antrian). Yang merepotkan justru bukan di kantor polisinya, melainkan dokumen pendukung yang harus disiapkan sebelumnya yakni Surat Pengantar dari Kelurahan, yang itu juga artinya saya harus menyambangi RT dan RW setempat untuk meminta surat dari mereka.

Namun harap diperhatikan: ternyata ada beberapa poin persyaratan yang berbeda dengan informasi yang tertera di situs resmi POLRI dan sepertinya bervariasi tergantung kantor polisi mana yang kita datangi. Berikut saya bagikan pengalaman mengurus SKCK di salah satu Polsek di Kota Bekasi.

Digital Banking? Ya Sinarmas lah!

Antri. Sesuatu yang saya benci sejak dulu. Terlebih lagi kalau ada orang yang seenaknya menyerobot antri, entah itu di minimarket, bank, stasiun, bandara, dsb. Bahkan ada yang sudah ditegur tapi merespon teguran tersebut dengan angkuh. Eh, tapi saya bukan mau curcol soal antrian, sih. Yang lebih saya perhatikan adalah waktu yang terbuang hanya untuk sekadar antri (misalnya) di bank, sementara waktu saya seharusnya bisa lebih dimanfaatkan untuk hal-hal lain. Tapi urusan antri di bank memang sulit dihindari karena memang transaksinya penting. Saya jadi berpikir, bisa gak sih perbankan kita berinovasi dalam layanan untuk memotong bahkan menghilangkan keharusan antri atau bahkan pergi ke bank?

Source: banksinarmas.com

#miladeBlogger7 Komunitas Blogger Depok

Tak terasa, hari ini Komunitas Blogger Depok (deBlogger) telah menginjak usia 7 tahun. Telah banyak hal yang dialami sejak berdirinya komunitas ini pada 31 Mei 2009 lalu di kota satelit Jakarta yang selalu macet namun ramai itu. Awalnya sederhana, sekelompok anak muda yang punya ikatan sosial dan emosional dengan Depok ingin membuka wadah bagi warga kota untuk bersuara melalui blog.