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Wednesday 30 August 2017

My Magical Journey



Hampir satu tahun ketika pertama kali saya melakukan suatu kewajiban yang seharusnya sudah saya lakukan sejak lama. Sesuatu yang sebenarnya bukan merupakan pilihan namun adalah keharusan. Kewajiban yang selama ini saya anggap seperti angin lalu. 

Beribu ajakan dari orang-orang terdekat, dari mulai sindiran sampai jelas-jelas seperti menyudutkan. Namun hanya saya tanggapi dengan senyuman, bahkan dengan enteng tertawa, " nanti saja." Seakan saya akan abadi di dunia.

Ada satu peristiwa ketika keponakan saya bertanya pada ibunya, " Ma, tante Didi itu agamanya apa? Kok tidak berjilbab?" Saya hanya tanggapi dengan tertawa. Saya bahkan pro dengan pendapat orang kebanyakan, yang penting hatinya dulu yang berhijab. Benar, saya ikut-ikutan. Kemudian ketika saya mendapat rezeki berangkat umrah sekeluarga. Hati ini mulai tidak tenang. Ada pesan-pesan mengiringi, " Nanti pulang jilbabnya jangan dilepas yah?" Lagi-lagi saya menanggapi dengan senyuman, " Nanti saja kalau pulang haji baru saya berhijab."

Padahal dalam hati masih ada keraguan, kalau saya sudah berhijab bagaimana saya ke kantor? Pakai baju apa kalau saya pergi ke Bali ? Apakah saya masih bisa yoga ? Berarti saya sudah tidak bisa pakai baju ini baju itu lagi. Subhanallah, saya benar-benar dibutakan. 

Sampai akhirnya di tahun yang sama, saya mendapatkan rezeki lagi, saya bisa berangkat haji. Hati saya mulai menciut mengingat janji saya, pulang dari sana harus sudah pasti berhijab. Mulai bimbang memandang lemari pakaian, berarti saya tidak bisa pakai ini itu lagi. Lalu nanti saya pakai apa? Baru sadar kalau koleksi pakaian saya jauh dari syariah.

Sampai sebelum berangkat, saya mendapat kesempatan menjemput anak ke sekolah. Dengan percaya diri saya masuk ke lingkungan sekolah berharap sang anak akan menyambut saya dengan gembira. Apa yang terjadi, anak saya memandang saya dengan muka marah hampir menangis. Waktu saya tanya kenapa, jawabannya adalah," Kok mami ke sekolah tidak pakai kerudung.." 
Dia malu, ibunya datang tanpa kerudung. Rasanya ingin menangis mendengarnya, hati ini mendadak hancur. Saya merasa bersalah. Saya mulai berpikir dan menetapkan hati, ternyata hidayah itu disampaikan melalui si bungsu. 

Ketika bersiap ke Airport dan mengenakan hijab saya, saya menetapkan hati kalau merupakan hari pertama saya memulai hidup baru, Insya Allah saya tidak akan melepaskannya lagi. Dan Alhamdulillah sudah setahun saya melaluinya. Ternyata saya salah selama ini, bukan hati kita dulu yang harus berhijab. Tapi justru dengan berhijab,  hati dan tingkah laku kita akan lebih terjaga.

Sebelum melakukan sesuatu, saya selalu berpikir dulu pantaskah saya melakukan itu. Sebelum berkata saya akan berpikir dulu khawatir yang saya katakan ini akan menyakiti orang lain. Ketakutan semu akan penerimaan di lingkungan kerja selama ini pun menjadi tidak beralasan. Alhamdulillah saya bekerja di lingkungan yang sangat mentoleransi perbedaan, bahkan dari waktu ke waktu saya seperti dimudahkan dan diberikan jalan dalam melakukan pekerjaan. Saya bahkan ditawari posisi baru yang tidak mengharuskan saya untuk bertemu customer setiap saat. 

Ketakutan menjadi tidak modis apabila sudah berhijab ternyata juga tidak beralasan,  ada yang bilang saya justru jauh lebih berwarna sekarang. Saya bahkan bisa memadu-padankan berbagai gaya dan berbagai warna.  Meskipun minggu-minggu pertama tetap terasa berat karena saya menghabiskan tiga puluh menit untuk memandang lemari saya dengan putus asa sebelum berangkat ke kantor, tapi Allah maha baik, saya dikelilingi oleh keluarga dan sahabat-sahabat yang baik yang menghadiahi saya dengan berbagai macam pashmina dan kerudung bahkan peniti dan jarum pentul sebagai penyemangat keputusan saya ini.  Jazakkallah khairan, pemberian itu tidak akan pernah saya lupakan. 

Saya akui cara berpakaian saya masih jauh dari sempurna, hijab saya belum menjuntai dan kaki saya masih terbuka. Tapi saya akan berusaha untuk menjadi lebih baik. Saya juga belum punya keberanian untuk mengajak teman-teman terdekat saya, karena saya masih malu apabila mengingat bagaimana saya dulu juga keras kepala. Ilmu agama saya pun masih sangat dangkal, tapi saya akan selalu berusaha untuk menyampaikan walau hanya satu ayat. 
Perkataan seseorang yang akan selalu saya ingat adalah apabila hidayah itu datang cepatlah ditangkap. Karena waktu adalah suatu kerugian bagi manusia.

Selamat Idul Adha 1438H

Cheers, Dhidie

Saturday 26 August 2017

Bogor Botanical Garden





Back to Bogor.
First stop: Bogor Permai for breakfast. The old bakery located on Bogor main street. I used to go there in my childhood and the breads are still good. Hold myself not to buy too many breads and I'm failed :)
Second stop: The Bogor Botanical Garden. It's been years not to visit this beautiful garden. We should be proud to have this garden with range of plants collections in Indonesia. From the wikipedia I know that this garden is the oldest botanical garden in South East Asia. 
Suddenly I remember the urban legend that says, don't ever go to this place with your boyfriend, otherwise you'll break-up. And I never go there with my boyfriend. Not because I believe in that rumour, but because it's too far away from Jakarta.. Haha.
The botanical garden turns out to be a wonderful place nowadays. It's well maintained and I'm very happy to be there. We had a tour in an open car accompanied by a professional guide who give very interesting information about this place. And I really had a good time. 
Now this place has some thematic garden and one of them is Mexican garden where we took a lot of pictures. By a lot I really mean a lot.
We ended our tour to have lunch at Bogor Grand Garden restaurant where our president Jokowi having the former USA president Obama when he visited Indonesia. And I sat on those chairs pretending to be president :) 
The garden view from the restaurant is awesome. And I let myself to take a zillion pictures of the garden.

It's been a great day in Bogor. I'm thinking of bringing family there someday.


Cheers, Dhidie




the entrance of the garden

We're so ready for a ride
Fancy some pre wedding shoot?

Hello, Mr President?
The Orchid house


inside the orchid house


The Lovers Tree alias pohon jodoh
Red Bridge
The Mexican Garden

Grand Garden restaurant

Beautiful Scenery




Dear Lumpia, you always be missed.


I love you, Tree...

Tuesday 11 July 2017

One Fine Day : Kota Tua


Museum Bank Indonesia

This was a spontaneous trip. I really want to go to this place since like from long time ago but it's too far away from where I live and the vision of hard traffic that usually happen in weekdays make me more reluctant to go there. 

But since I had nothing to do last week and I was too boring to finish my never ending laundry things, I decided  that I had to make this trip happen. My previous plan was only to go to Monas since I got accompany by my son who being so nice to go with me.
I'm sorry to take one day off from your playstation console, buddy!

However after we visited Monas, we found this City Tour Bus at the exit of Monas parking. And I felt so excited and I didn't think twice to jump into the bus. The bus was big and nice and new. And it's a double decker bus, so if you miss London you can take this bus :) 
And of course I sat upstairs.
The city tour bus has two routes, one to Kota Tua and the other one is to Kali Jodo. And I took the one who went to Kota Tua. 
 From Monas we stopped by the Museum Gajah and another stop was Museum Arsip. So if you planned to have a museum hopping, you can ride this bus. 

The traffic was so easy since it's still Lebaran Holiday. It only took 15 minutes Museum Bank Indonesia that's located just across the street of Stasiun Kota. We decided to  follow the crowd and here we were at Kota Tua. 

Kota tua or old town Jakarta was representing the original downtown Jakarta. It's also known as Oud Batavia/Old Batavia, this was the first walled settlement of the Dutch in Jakarta Area. As I walked into the area I felt like I jumped to the past and I can feel how important of this area in the past. 

I'm very glad to see the restoration and well maintenance of this place that turned this place into an attractive destination for tourists. I'm proud of it. 
 There were also some cafes (they even has this kopitiam here) and museums (museum wayang and museum fatahillah) in this area so you can really spend the day and enjoying the old Jakarta. 

And since I had this weird addiction to old buildings I felt like a kid who went to amusement park and so excited to explore and took pictures of this beautiful site. 
I promised myself that I'll go back another time to explore the museums and enjoying my afternoon tea while waiting the sunset here in Kota Tua. 

Enjoy Jakarta.

Cheers, Dhidie


the city tour bus


It's not Covent Garden London, It's Kota Tua Jakarta 

One of the museum


The Fatahillah Square
I'm the girl from the past
Love the sight of the windows

Saturday 8 July 2017

Monas? Why Not?



 That day I decided to go to Monas. I was born in Jakarta and spent almost all my life here in Jakarta (except my uni years of course). However, can you believe that I've never been go to Monas?? I never make myself to go to the top of Monas. I've been there once, but I never go up to the top since the top was closed for I forgot the reason that day. So at that time I had to be satisfied only by enjoying  the diorama museum at basement.

 We went from home in the morning,  took the trans jakarta to the Monas Stop. Then we walked until we reached the monument. The crowd wasn't really packed by people, maybe because it's still long holiday season after Idul Fitri. And lucky us that we still got the ticket to visit the top of the monument. 

Then There I was, looking down to Jakarta from the top of this tower. The tower that symbolised my beloved city. Don't compare this tower from Eiffel or other famous tower in the world. Maybe I felt like this is a mini Eiffel, since it's not as big as I imagined. And maybe because there are many taller buildings nowadays in Jakarta. But I'm proud that Jakarta has this tower. The monument as landmark of Jakarta, tower that topped by a flame covered with gold foil. The monument was built at 1961 in former president Soekarno era and opened for public in 1975, and now it's been one of attraction for tourist who visit Jakarta. 

Monas is consist of three parts, the national history museum which located in the basement was full of diorama the history of Indonesia from the prehistoric eras to the colonial era until the after independence day of Indonesia. Then in the middle part is the goblet part that has the hall of independence that keep the original text of Indonesia Independence proclamation. And we can access the elevator to the observation deck also from this floor.  I enjoyed the view of Jakarta also from deck of this goblet part. Then the latest floor is the main observation deck where we can see Jakarta from 115 metres above. The elevator is so small and only carry maximum eleven people so you have to be patient in waiting for your turn. 

I called the day as my own achievement especially to conquer my laziness and finally can be here at the top of this monumental tower of Jakarta.

Have you go to Monas?

Cheers, Dhidie


the empty street

finally here

the goblet deck
observation deck


enjoying the view from the top

where's our house?

the reliefs outside the building

the museum


my favourite diorama, KAA 1951


his favourite one

my happy face


Monday 26 June 2017

UBUD : The City of Art



Bali is always about beaches but  that was the time when I started fall in love with Ubud. Ubud is a town in Bali and located among paddy fields and well known as an art and cultures centre.  I've been there before, but I never had opportunity to explore the city until that year I joined the UWRF. My lovely husband accompanied me. It feels like an unplanned honeymoon. I chose the hotel where we'll stay and planned some itinerary that we can do in between my sessions. 

I chose this lovely hotel on Forest Monkey Street named Barong Spa and Resort. Actually it's an accident cause we didn't have many choices cause all hotels were full and this trip was practically a spontaneous trip. After I read some reviews on trip advisor, I made my the decision. And lucky me cause this hotel was awesome. It won severals rewards and I chose the cottage that had a private pool with an affordable price. Cool, huh?

The location was also in the middle of monkey forest so it's only walking distance from everywhere. There were also many cafe, coffee shops and stores nearby. And fortunately the UWRF also provided a free ride to the venue and back to hotel.

The room I've been living for two days was located at the back of the hotel. It's a big room with private pool and lovely restroom where I wanted to take a bath forever. In the morning, birds were coming down around the pool and we can enjoyed our breakfast over the pool. The water was cold but I didn't mind, cause I was too happy that I chose this hotel. The most important part was it has a mini library and I wish someday they'll have my book on the rack. 

For quick itinerary we went to enjoy the barong and kris dance at Sukawati. It's a lovely performance and we enjoyed it very much. After the shows we looked for lunch nearby and the driver told us the tried this restaurant named Warung Nyoman. It's nice place with a lot of paintings on the wall and we had our lunch in front of a paddy fields. What an unforgettable experience.

On the our last night, we took a walk around monkey forest street and had dinner at " Bebek Bengil Restaurant" and took many pictures on the street. Actually that was me who took many pictures, thanks to my husband.

And I never got bored of Ubud the city of art.

Cheers, Dhidie




an intimate letter to welcome the guest

Heaven!!

the writer's life
 a mini library in our room

morning coffee


my morning view
breakfast, anyone?
a little Italian bistro near the hotel called "Pesto"

Barong and Kris Dance
Warung Nyoman

our lunch view

The authentic dirty duck :) Me and My happy face


yummy duck dishes

Visiting Bruce Lee City

Friday 23 June 2017

Suwe Ora Jamu : Like a Grandma's House


That day, I joined a writing class at Indosat lead by my favourite editor and writer Windy Ariestanty. And It was awesome. She's a very inspiring woman. I learned a lot and I had the opportunity to hand her my novel. Hope she'll find sometime to read it.
Actually her class encouraged me to lead my own writing class. 
Thank's a lot, teacher !!

Then story not only ended there. On my way home I stopped by a little cafe named Suwe Ora Jamu. It's located at jalan Petogogan. I planned to go there since long time ago and it's finally came true. 
As I walked in I felt like I was transported back to my childhood when I entered my grandma's kitchen.
The decoration was superb. The place was not too full because I came in unusual hour. 
So I had my time for myself to enjoy the place only for myself.
Everything was so authentic and I took a lot pictures. You should go there by yourself so you'll know what I felt that day.
The menu also very unique, they served a long list of jamu and other traditional bites.
I felt like a kid found a new playground. A playground for a writer. 


I'll never forget that day when I met my idol and found my new playground

Cheers, Dhidie.

starstruck alert!!

felt like grandma's kitchen



thinking about having quotes written on my wall someday



fried cassava and jams