Last weekend I went to Tanjung Pinang in Bintan Island to visit my cousin. She’s been staying there since 2003 but this will be my first time to visit her (sigh.. what a great cousin I am :-(). She’s staying there with her husband which is working in the Airbase in that town.

The ferry from Singapore to Tanjung Pinang departs Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (take MRT to Bedok, and then take SBS Bus No. 35. The bus’s final stop is the ferry terminal). But since I was in hurry, I took a cab. To my dismay, I must waited for 1.5 hours before the ferry arrives. Unlike Singapore to Batam, the ferry frequency for Singapore to Tanjung Pinang is much less. I hope this schedule can help you to plan your travel better (unlike mine :-))

UPDATE 2013-02-16: You might want to check my latest and complete ferry schedule from Singapore to Batam/Bintan/Karimun

Monday To Friday

Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday

Hotlines

• Berlian/Wave Master Tel: +65-65468830
• Indo Falcon Tel: +65-62706778 | +65-62757393
• Sindo Ferry Tel: +65-65427105

Disclaimer: This schedule is valid for the time of this posting posted.

So I met her with her family. They have a very cute daughter (which makes her the cutest niece I have). She is 1.5 years old and tantrum-ridden toddler 😛 Need sometime before I could get along with her. But I think she had recognize me as her uncle 😛 She did cry when I waved goodbye and left for Singapore (which I don’t know whether she cried because her father or me, since my brother-in-law accompanied me going to the harbor)

I received collection of Banyolan Suroboyoan (Humor ala Surabaya) from my little brother. If you happen to be have a good command of Surabaya’s dialect of Javanese, these files might help you to put a smile or giggle in your face.

1. humor-suroboyoan-jilid-1.pdf
2. humor-suroboyoan-jilid-2.pdf
3. humor-suroboyoan-jilid-3.pdf

But if you don’t understand Javanese, these are for you:

I know this is not ‘news’ anymore, its soooo yesterday …. 😀 But I still have the itch to write why is it Hady Mirza won the first (considering this unexpected result, the last ? :P) Asian Idol. An itch must be scratched, and this is my scratches.

I watched the final showdown of Asian Idol at home accompanied by most of my flatmates. As expected, most of us were rooting to Mike Mohede (the Indonesian Idol). A minority (one person :P) was rooting for Vietnam’s Phuong Vy (sexyness was very likely was the most driving factor :D). But all of us was wow-ed by Malaysia’s Jaclyn Victor, she sang really, really good. We all agreed that the top three would be Mike Mohede, Jaclyn Victor and Philippine’s Mau Marcelo. Although we, as Indonesian, have a certain degree of animosity towards Malaysia (Malingsia? :P), we would still be happy should Jaclyn won the contest as she is a really good singer with amazing voice.

But life is unfair and Hady won the contest :P. So how did Hady Mirza managed to beat the better singers? Allow me to propose a few scenarios:

1. The rule of valid vote was to select two Finalists. But it is very likely most people didn’t vote for the best and 2nd best. Instead, they will vote for their best singer and other finalist which is not in the top three (Phuong, Hady and Abhijeet). For example, although I rooted for Mike, I will not vote for Mike and Jaclyn, but I will vote for Mike and Hady. So imagine if the Indonesians voted for Mike and Hady. The Philippines voted for Mau and Hady. The Vietnamese voted for Phuong and Hady, etc. In the end, Hady will have the biggest total of votes.
2. Most voters are female. And they want to have an Idol who is good-looking (read- not fat), and not married. Only Hady Mirza satisfy these two requirements 😛 (I know have a karma burn for this.. but there you go)
3. Hady is the only Muslim in the competition. There is a chance that he was voted for that particular reason. Maybe yes, maybe no, I just don’t know 😀

I have other theories, ehm.. I mean conspiracy-theories but I don’t think they worth mentioning here and considering you need to wear some sort of hat, a tinfoil one, before you can understand the theory (something to do with intercepting the SMSes and manipulate the content of SMSes).

So those are my theories (theory no. 3 is credit to my Flatmates). Which one do you think the most possible to happen? Or do you have your own theory?