It is finally here!  HAPPY CHINESE NEW HORSE YEAR everyone!!  KIONG HEE KIONG HEE!!

It is officially a new year, which only means one thing… FEASTING is a must.  It is impossible to celebrate a Chinese New Year without at least one episode of a food coma.  An abundance of mouth watering dishes will be on display for family members and guests to dig in and show off their true nature.  That we all are pigs.  Sometimes, some families would even do an open house, sharing their wealth of food supply to those who would like to join in on the celebration.

Just so that no one would feel left out in the know-how on what to eat and how to eat like a true chinese, here is a food guide that a friend kindly shared with me…

It is imperative to always remember that there are many more delicacies than just what mentioned above.  Savory dishes are awesome, BUT DO NOT forget that there are also plenty of sweet treats to sample, including the towers of mandarin and tangerine oranges to be on display at every table.

Now that we already covered the business of eating, I would like to wish everyone a jolly good day, preferably one filled with endless amount of laughter and games of mahjong.  And so, let the ANG-PAO (red envelope) counting begins!

What’s the best way to take advantage of the non-stop pour in this wretched rain season?  RAFTING.

We were determined to have fun.  No amount of murky water able to deter us.  With the rain kept pouring down, the rivers by the mountain side gushed with strength, begging adventurers to join in on the adrenaline fun of water rafting.

And so we took off early in the morning.  Left the city by 5AM to take a four-hour bus ride to Sukabumi area, the west region of Java island.  All geared in shorts and sandals, we sat in anticipation and excitement, though dozed off in the first hour or two.  We were content, knowing a serious fun was about to put a big smile on our sleepy faces.  We would be divided into three separate rafts later, each accompanied by a professional guide.  Most of us have done this before, with only a few first timers.

The bus was large enough to accommodate 30 people, but there were only about 15 of us.  Leaving ample space to stretch and place our belongings.  Many of us carried extra snacks.  Bags of them.  Yeah, we are a greedy bunch.  The long ride was forgivable.  Seats were comfortable.  The air conditioner was cooling.  The large glass windows enabled us to see the green side of this island that we rarely get to see living in the big city of Jakarta.  A different region, a different landscape, a different way of life.

When we got there, nobody took his or her time in exiting the bus.  We got out, headed straight to the reception area, registered, got changed, applied some sun-tan lotion (mine SPF50, as I get burned easily), and was briefed by the head-guide, before we all walked down the large cobble-stoned steps leading to the riverside to our designated raft.

The entire three-hour raft ride was filled with a serious fun.  The water level and strength of current were perfect.  Our chatty bunch was constantly laughing and screaming (not me.  I don’t scream.  I swear).  We got all wet.  But we loved it.  We almost got thrown out of our raft numerous times.  But we loved it.  One of our friends on a different raft got thrown out, carried away by the current for a good five minutes, hurt his leg, and got rescued.  But he still loved it.  We were all in a very good mood.

We did get a 15-minute break in between.  At the appointed resting location, the rafting management team waited there to provide complimentary whole coconuts for us to quench our thirst.  That’s when we took out the many snacks we brought with us, which include Kueh Lapis Legit (local layered butter cake), cheese and chocolate cookies, fried snacks, and steamed bananas.  We gulped everything down like nobody’s business.  Something about playing in water and getting wet that always got us all craving for food.  And then we were ready to get wet again.

At the end of our three-hour fun, we got a buffet lunch.  It’s part of the rafting package we paid for.  Simple local fix that included soup, rice, meat, veggies, condiments, and beverages.  Then the rafting management team showed us on a computer slide show the photo shots taken at various locations during our three-hour rafting session.  A cd of the digital photos cost a little extra, but it was worth it.  We wanted to have fun and we got it and were satisfied with what we got.  No complaint.

Here are a few shots of me and my crazy friends in action.

By the time we were ready to leave, rain started to pour.  Hard.  We were lucky it didn’t rain the entire three hours of our rafting fun.  Not that it would make any difference, as we got all wet anyway.  But the sky was perfectly clear and the sun was out.  Only after we were ready to leave that the sky turned dark and the storm came.  We left at around 2PM but we didn’t get back to the city until after 7.30PM.  The traffic was bad and the rain made it worse.  But we didn’t care.  Most of us were sound asleep almost the entire ride back.  It had been a very tiring yet pleasant Saturday.  We were glad we did it and swore we would be back.

The event is called Manufacturing Indonesia 2013.  It is an international event for manufacturing-industry related companies from all over, to exhibit their products and/or services for potential customers.  This past December 2013 we (company) took part in the exhibition.  This is an annual event.  One that we had previously participated in four years ago.  And this is a huge one.  Unrivaled from a much smaller one we did back in 2012.  This time our booth needed to be much bigger.

The preparation started since late August 2013.  From working with a booth design company, to working with a printing vendor to print out catalogs and other promotional items, to ordering new uniform jackets for our staff, to booking lunches for the four-day event, to scheduling the pick-up arrangements for our Japanese guests.  The month of November was definitely the most hectic one, as the event was held in early December.  There were many confirmations needed to be made.  We needed to be prepared, to look good, and to be professional.

A day prior to the first day of the exhibition we all went to the location to check out the progress on our booth construction.  To our surprise, it was only half finished.  The promises made based on the agreed design were not fulfilled.  We actually had to intervene and corrected their work.  We stayed all day to make sure they were doing their job.  The environment was hot & humid, noisy, and dusty.  Our blood boiled.  Our patience ran thin.  But we stuck it out.  We didn’t leave until around 9PM.  And still it wasn’t done 100%.  They promised to get everything done the next morning before the event starts.  And so we had no choice but to leave it as it was.

These are the BEFORE pics, on the day before first day of the event.

This is what the booth looks like by the end of that same evening.

These are the AFTER pics, taken on the first day of the event.

As predicted, things don’t always turn out the way we planned them.  We learned to be flexible.  Learned to let go.  To think quickly on what can be done to rectify a mistake.  To find an acceptable middle ground.  And focused on the bigger picture.

Glad to say that our exhibition effort turned out great.  We had a successful run for the four-day event and had a positive feedback on our booth.  Our Japanese suppliers were also happy with what we had done for their product display, as well as for the facilities and services we provided for them.

The participation of this event took a tremendous amount of effort and planning on our part.  Not to mention a lot of money.  We certainly are glad it is over and done.  One that we don’t intend to participate in on a regular basis.  Maybe not until another four years time.

It’s been a genuinely busy last few months.  It has always been this way comes December and January.  This past December we (company) partook in a massive annual international industrial exhibition, held here in Jakarta, which we had not participated in since four years prior.  This got all of us in a hectic schedule trying to get everything done by November.  Then there was the preparation for company’s annual bonus, to go with the December salary distribution, by the end of the same month.  And then the holiday came.

I took off right on the first day of our office closed for the holiday season.  I went to Hong Kong for few days to meet up with a bunch of mates for our second international gathering, trying to relive the excitement we had exactly a year prior.  This year I only got to spend an evening with them, unfortunately.  The whole group stayed in Hong Kong for the New Year’s celebration.  I flew back on New Year’s Eve, as work to resume on January 2^nd.  I figured that I could squeeze in a day of rest.  I arrived late, yet my exhaustion wasn’t enough to allow me to rest peacefully due to the constant noise of firecrackers in my neighborhood all night long until around 3AM.  Sigh…

When I thought I could sleep all day on January 1^st, I was then reminded that I had promised relatives of mine to spend time with them.  One family from out of town, Surabaya, and another family came back from Paris, France, for the holiday.  Both supposed to fly back the next day on the 2^nd.  The fact that it was their last day, it beckoned me to kick away my blanky, got up, showered, and readied my tummy for another food-coma day.  And so we went all the way out; spicy South Indian late lunch, late afternoon dessert-wine at a lounge, Japanese soba noodle dinner, and then icy Taiwanese boba dessert elsewhere.  I think they went home satisfied.

That was a decent day.  But the month of January didn’t exactly start off friendly.  We have tons of work ahead of us at the office.  What with the ongoing renovation project at our branch office which supposed to be done by December, AND a seminar event for our customers to be held later this week, AND 2014 new salary calculation to be effective as of this month.  My brain is in a constant pressure.  Not to mention the shareholders’ meeting come February.  There are many issues to be examined and debated internally prior to the meeting with the bosses.  As if the month is not short enough, Chinese New Year is coming up, in less than two weeks time.

When I thought it couldn’t get worse, last week the rain fell.  And it poured HARD.  For days.  Relentlessly.  The city is now officially flooded.  Bangkok had its whole city paralyzed last year.  Now it is our turn.  Many homes are now submerged in waist-high murky water.  Last week was the worse, especially this past weekend.  The only good thing came out of it is that it allowed me to stay in and sleep all day on Sunday.  Not that I could go out at all.  Today the flooding condition is much more bearable.  But I worry the rain will continue to fall and delaying our whole schedule for everything.  Not to mention the chance of ruining our upcoming important seminar day.

Oh yeah, I’m stressed out.  A bit.  This coming Chinese New Year better be good.  If I won’t be in a food-coma AND get lots of red envelopes, then you guys just have to deal with me complaining again.

There.  Me ranting.  Get use to it.