All In One...Singapore

Singapura punya segalanya untuk setiap orang, baik wisatawan yang mencari surga belanja maupun wisatawan yang hanya mencari pengalaman ke negeri orang.

Dari restoran mahal dengan pelayanan istimewa hingga restoran pinggir jalan dengan rasa yang tak kalah lezat. Restoran-restoran menyajikan tidak hanya makanan Asia yang memang lebih mudah dijumpai di food court mall, tetapi juga berbagai variasi makanan India, Eropa, dan Melayu. Makanan-makanan Eropa dengan harga di bawah 10sgd bahkan dapat ditemukan di beberapa mall di daerah ramai wisatawan, seperti Orchad dan Sommerset. Sementara bagi penggemar makanan India, daerah Little India tentunya dapat menjadi tempat mencari yang tepat. Dengan berbagai nama dan tempat, restoran India tersebut menyajikan santapan India dengan rasa otentik dan harga terjangkau. Wisatawan juga dapat menikmati sarapan lengkap khas Singapura seharga 2sgd yang biasanya berisi roti panggang, telur, dan kopi / teh tarik di pusat-pusat kopi tiam yang tersebar di berbagai tempat di Singapura.

Dari pusat-pusat belanja besar dengan harga yang menguras kantung hingga pusat-pusat belanja rakyat dengan ragam barang yang tidak kalah lengkap. Mall-mal besar tentunya tidak asing lagi di Singapura. Salah satunya adalah Marina Bay Sands yang menjual barang-barang mewah dan berkualitas nomor satu dari berbagai perancang dan produksi. Beberapa merk yang dijual adalah merk-merk dunia yang tidak dijumpai di Indonesia. Tapi menengok ke daerah pinggiran seperti Bugis dan Little India, maka Anda akan menemukan surga belanja lain bagi kita yang bepergian dengan budget terbatas. Pusat perbelanjaan bernama Mustafa di Little India menyediakan hampir setiap barang kebutuhan dan produk yang mungkin terpikirkan, mulai dari produk elektronik berbagai merk, produk perawatan, dan obat-obatan hingga produk-produk makanan, seperti sayur, coklat, biskuit, permen, dll yang dapat menjadikan pusat perbelanjaan ini tempat yang tepat untuk berburu oleh-oleh makanan. Tidak berhenti disitu, satu lantai pusat perbelanjaan ini berisi produk-produk parfum dan kebutuhan-kebutuhan lainnya. Beralih ke daerah Bugis yang juga menyediakan sepanjang jalan padat berisi penjual pakaian dan pernak pernik lainnya bagi yang mencari souvenir yang tidak terlalu menguras kantung. Kualitas barang-barang tersebut mungkin tidak sebaik produk nomor satu buatan perancang, tapi tentunya dapat juga memuaskan jiwa belanja wisatawan dengan budget terbatas.  

Dari hotel-hotel mewah berbintang lima hingga hotel-hotel bintang tiga dengan fasilitas ruangan dan kebersihan yang tetap memenuhi standar. Tidak perlu ditinjau lagi apakah tersedia hotel-hotel mewah di Singapura. Di daerah-daerah mewah dan padat, hotel-hotel berbintang lima berdiri dengan gedung layaknya istana yang dilengkapi lampu-lampu dan arsitektur cemerlang. Namun jika menengok daerah-daerah lainnya, tersedia juga hotel-hotel berharga tidak terlalu mahal. Walaupun hanya dinaungi gedung kecil dengan cahaya secukupnya, fasilitas kamar hotel ini cukup untuk menyediakan tidur nyenyak dan nyaman. Ruangan yang disediakan memang lebih kecil dan fasilitas yang disediakan tentu tidak selengkap hotel-hotel berbintang lima bak istana, tapi bagi pengunjung yang menikmati berjalan-jalan dan menggunaka kamar hotel hanya untuk istirahat tampaknya ruangan super luas tidak akan terlalu berbeda selama disediakan ranjang cukup nyaman untuk membaringkan badan yang lelah. Hotel-hotel ini juga ditempatkan di daerah-daerah yang dapat terjangkau dengan berjalan kaki dari stasiun MRT terdekat, beberapa bahkan dekat dengan mall-mall dan pusat makanan.

Dari pertunjukkan-pertunjukkan akrobat dengan harga cukup tinggi hingga pertunjukkan tanpa biaya berkualitas tidak kalah menakjubkan. Pertunjukkan akrobat Rusia seperti Voyage de Lavie dan pertunjukkan laser seperti Song of The Sea di Sentosa Resort World dapat disaingi dengan pertunjukkan laser dan koser gratis. Pertunjukkan laser berlokasi di depan mall Marina Sands yang bergengsi, pertunjukkan gratis ini merupakan paduan antara laser, air, asap, dan api yang dibuat sedemikian rupa sehingga menciptakan kesan layar yang menampilkan film dengan cerita. Keunikan pertunjukkan ini sangat disayangkan jika sampai terlewatkan, apalagi lokasinya berjarak dekat dari patung Merlion yang menjadi ikon Singapura. Sementara konser tersebut dapat ditemui di sekitar Esplanade Mall setiap akhir pekan. Konser yang dapat dinikmati tanpa biaya ini bukanlah konser pinggir jalan, tapi konser sungguhan dengan kursi bagi penonton, penyanyi berkualitas, dan alat-alat musik yang memang disediakan khusus. Tiap malam daerah sekitar Esplanade dan Marina Sands ini ramai dikunjungi baik wisatawan maupun warga setempat yang ingin mencari hiburan dari kepenatan sehari-hari.

Dari transportasi taxi hingga MRT dan bis yang tidak kalah nyaman dan ramah wisatawan. Bepergian ke Singapura tidaklah perlu khawatir dengan transportasi dan mobil sewaan yang akan memakan biaya. Hampir tiap daerah memiliki stasiun MRT tersendiri. Kereta berkelajuan cepat ini tersedia setiap beberapa meni dengan kenyamanan seperti pendingin ruangan, peta, dan penunjuk daerah yang ramah wisatawan. Halte-halte bis juga dapat ditemui di banyak tempat di pinggir jalan. Bis-bis dengan nomor tertentu ini memiliki rute tersendiri yang mungkin lebih membigungkan dari rute MRT, tapi informasi jelas rute ini dapat ditemukan di terminal penggantian bis. Belum lagi fakta bahwa Singapura terkenal dengan keamanan dan kenyamanannya bagi wisatawan, tidaklah perlu khawatir berkendara dengan kendaraan umum berkeliling negeri singa duyung ini.

Sebagai satu-satunya negara maju di kawasan Asia Tenggara, mungkin membuat Singapura tahu kebutuhan semua kalangan masyarakat. Keramahan dan kelengkapan yang disediakannya telah membuat Singapura menjadi salah satu tujuan wisata popular.

Berpetualang di Night Safari Singapore

Berkendaralah sedikit ke daerah wisata alam SIngapura dan Anda akan menemukan pengalaman tak terlupakan di Safari Night Singapore. Wisata yang dapat dinikmati sejak pukul enam sore hingga tengah malam ini memberi kesempatan bagi para pecinta satwa untuk lebih dekat pada kehidupan satwa di malam hari. Dengan tiket masuk seharga 32sgd, waktu enam jam di Night Safari Singapore dapat dinikmati secara penuh dan bebas.

Pertunjukkan utama wisata ini adalah trem keliling yang membawa kita melewati satwa-satwa yang tinggal di habitat buatan secara dekat dan langsung. Trem ini dilengkapi dengan pemandu yang akan menceritakan sedikit fakta dan cerita tentang setiap satwa yang dilewati, mulai dari herbivora seperti rusa dan kijang, hewan buas seperti singa dan harimau, hewan besar seperti gajah dan kuda nil, hingga hewan yang biasa hanya kita lihat di layar kaca seperti bison, hyena, dan tapir. Sebagian satwa ditempatkan cukup dekat di sisi jalan hingga sangat mungkin untuk menjalin kontak, tapi sebagian lainnya yang dikategorikan satwa-satwa berbahaya seperti singa, harimau, hyena, gajah, kuda nil, dan bison ditempatkan pada jarak pandang yang cukup jauh, dipisahkan oleh sungai kecil dan terkadang jurang dari jalan yang dilalui trem. Namun hal ini tidak menghalangi Anda untuk melihat betapa besar dan menakjubkan hewan-hewan ini jika dibandingkan dengan dilihat dari layar televisi. Dan karena sebagian hewan yang ditempatkan disini adalah hewan malam, Anda tidak perlu khawatir hanya mendapat tontonan hewan tidur selama berkendara dengan trem tersebut. Perjalanan trem melewati hutan ini berlangsung sekitar tiga puluh menit dengan beberapa peraturan seperti tidak diperbolehkan turun dari trem dan mengambil foto dengan lampu flash. Walaupun hanya sebatas hutan buatan, pihak pengembang melakukan usaha cukup baik dalam menciptakan suasana hutan sesungguhnya dengan banyaknya tumbuhan di kiri dan kanan jalan serta suasana gelap yang hanya diterangi cahaya bulan di beberapa tempat. Perjalanan berkeliling hutan di malam hari akan terasa sangat berbeda dengan siang hari. Salah satunya dapat membawa Anda berpikir perjalanan trem keliling dalam film Jurassic Park. Satwa-satwa yang ditampilkan mungkin tidak semenakjubkan dinosaurus, tapi perasaan menjadi petualang dan lepas dari kehidupan perkotaan sehari-hari dapat terasa melalui perjalanan ini.

Bagi Anda yang lebih berjiwa petualang dan penjelajah, tentunya ada tantangan lebih besar di wisata Night Safari Singapore. Selain trem keliling, disediakan juga jalan setapak yang dapat dilalui pengunjung dengan berjalan kaki saat melihat-lihat satwa. Jalan setapak ini dibagi-bagi menjadi beberapa daerah, yaitu Fishing Cat Trail, Leopard Trail, Forest Giant Trail, dan East Lodge Trail. Setiap trail dilengkapi dengan satwa-satwa tersendiri yang dapat dijumpai dengan lebih dekat. Di East Lodge Trail dan Leopard Trail, satwa-satwa liar seperti harimau dan beberapa jenis macan tutul dapat dilihat dengan lebih dekat, walau tentunya tetap dibatasi dengan kaca sebagai pengaman. Beberapa peraturan seperti tidak diperbolehkan mengetuk kaca dan mengambil foto dengan lampu flash juga tetap diikutsertakan untuk menjaga pengalaman ini tidak membahayakan. Sementara satwa-satwa liar lain seperti kijang, berang-berang, dan binturong dapat dilihat secara langsung dari tepi jalan tanpa batasan kaca. Di Forest Giant Trail, disediakan tempat unik berupa gua buatan yang dilengkapi kolam dan stalagtit di dalamnya. Suasana seperti gua bawah laut ini dilengkapi dengan kelelawar beterbangan dan satwa-satwa seperti ular, kalajengking, tikus, dsb yang dapat dilihat dari kotak kaca. Di beberapa bagian trail ini dapat juga dijumpai kandang besar untuk beberapa satwa unik seperti Giant Flying Squirrel. Kemampuan satwa ini terbang menempatkan mereka di sejenis kandang burung besar yang dapat dinikmati pengunjung seperti berjalan di kandang pterodactyl  dalam film Jurassic Park. Sayangnya ukuran tupai ini yang kecil dan suasana yang gelap menyebabkan mereka terkadang sulit dilihat. Menelusuri walking trail, Anda akan mendapat pengalaman seperti menelusuri hutan rimba dengan tanaman lebat di kiri kanan, suara-suara alam, aroma tumbuhan dan hewan, dan suasana malam yang hanya diterangi cahaya bulan. Sebagian tempat memang tampak jelas sebagai buatan tangan manusia dengan pemandu di setiap akhir trail dan papan petunjuk jalan di beberapa persimpangan jalan, tapi sebagian lainnya tentunya bukanlah tempat terbaik bagi para fobia gelap. Disana sini Anda tentunya akan berpapasan dengan pengunjung lain yang juga menelusuri trail, tapi di beberapa hanya akan ada Anda dan alam di sekitar Anda.

Bagi pengunjung yang lebih memilih wisata yang tidak membutuhkan terlalu banyak energi, selain berkeliling dengan trem, dapat menikmati pertunjukan-pertunjukan yang diadakan di dalam area Night Safari Singapore pada waktu-waktu tertentu. Satu adalah pertunjukkan budaya yang menampilkan tarian tradisional suku yang dinamakan Thumbuakar Performance. Lokasi pertunjukkan dekat dengan pintu masuk dan diadakan setiap satu jam dari pukul tujuh hingga pukul sembilan malam setiap harinya. Satu lagi adalah pertunjukkan yang lebih melibatkan hewan, yang disebut Creature of The Night Show, diadakan di Amphitheater setiap satu jam mulai pukul 07.30 – 09.30 PM. Dengan sedikit tambahan biaya sebesar 10sgd, Anda juga dapat berfoto dengan satwa-satwa liar seperti burung hantu yang diambil oleh fotografer professional.

Area wisata ini juga dilengkapi dengan toko-toko suvenir dan restoran sehingga tidak perlu khawatir kehabisan energi saat menikmati pengalaman lebih dekat dengan satwa-satwa luar biasa di sekitar kita. Salah satunya adalah laksa yang disajikan dalam mangkuk besar dengan harga terjangkau. Tidak hanya lengkap dengan udang dan porsi yang besar, rasa laksa ini tidak perlu diragukan lagi.            

Berpetualang walaupun hanya dalam hutan buatan dikelilingi satwa yang dijaga aman dapat menjadi salah satu cara menghabiskan hari dengan menyenangkan bersama keluarga dan teman. Selain mendapat wisata memuaskan, dapat juga mencoba merasakan menjadi petualang dengan kehidupan penuh tantangan dan jauh dari kehidupan perkotaan.

Getting What We Expect

For some of us commuting with MRT or other public transportation can be called a daily routine. We go to work, go to meeting place, even go to school by some of these public transportation. During our way, we surely meet a lot of different people whose names we don’t even know. We might meet them every day as the result of our daily travels, but it doesn’t guarantee that we’ll get close or even get to know each of them. We do have our reasons. We are afraid that those might be bad guys, we try to be careful, we worry that we won’t get an expected result from friendly gesture we make. It’s understandable to think that way. However, as natural and understandable as it seems, it’s also a form of bad habit that we all have been developing. We’re easy to get suspicious and think negatively toward everything, both people and situation. It does drive us toward being careful and watchful in our daily lives, but it also drives us toward judging a person or a situation in a wrong way. Once we do that, we’ll act in complete different way toward the person or the situation.

To a person, we turn into an annoying, selfish, and arrogant kind of person. This then makes the other person replies with the same reaction, being another annoying, selfish, and arrogant kind of person, which kind of confirms our suspicion, unfortunately in wrong way. This other person might at the first place a nice and normal person, just like we are. But since we play an annoying, selfish, and arrogant kind of person, that person jumps in into the game we created at the first place, being another annoying, selfish, and arrogant kind of person. We could have played the nice person and the other person could have jumped into the same game as well. So here, we create the “dangerous and full of strangers place” environment as the result of our own suspicion. It doesn’t mean that we should act too friendly or let our guard down in those public transportation or other public places so that we can be easy prey for thieves, but we can act and think more open minded toward people around us. Everyone is basically good, it’s our action toward them that determines their reactions toward us. We live in a society that starts to live with individualism, it can be a good thing and also a bad thing. As ourselves, people don’t like us getting to close to them, but it’s not something wrong to at least smile toward strangers we usually meet in our daily travels. Who knows it might turn out to be a friendship and the next thing we know our travel to work or to school won’t be that boring and that dangerous since now we have someone we know as our accidental travel partner daily.   

The same thing  goes with situation. Our misjudgment can make us feel bitter toward a certain situation. We think, once a situation emerged, it’ll mess our day or drive us crazy or even create a chaos that we should be the one cleaning. As soon as we think that way, we’ll act in such a bad mood toward that situation, we try to finish or do that half heartedly, we think it as an unsolvable thing and so on and so on.  Because of this, of course, the outcome will be exactly as we expect it to be, a messy, annoying, and chaotic thing. So this whole chaotic situation we’ve been afraid of is also the result of our suspicion and unreasonable hatred toward certain situation. On the other hand, we can try to be a positive thinker toward every situation that’s coming toward us. If we keep our mind blank toward those situation and just try to finish it the way we try to finish other situations, we might find it easier and less messy, less annoying, even less chaotic than what we expect it to be. We might see the solution of certain unsolvable situation as the result of us thinking clearly and working on that whole heartedly. Everything lies in the mind, mind is a very powerful tool. Once we set and think of the good outcome of every situation, it might turn out to be one. And even if it doesn’t, it won’t bring us down as much as when we’re a negative thinker. We can always find another solution, if not the best, it’ll serve to be good enough for every aspect. Instead of being a negative thinker and seeing everything as not good enough, we’ll try to find the good in every situation which will lead us into being happier and less stressful toward challenges that we must face daily.  

As we encounter more people and more situations in our lives, we can try to be more friendly in our judgments toward those people and those situations. There can always be mistakes of course, but mistakes always happen once in a while, even if we act the other way around. So now, why not try to act differently and see which one serves us better.

Combination of Oppositions

Malaysia is the land of opposition that combines smoothly that it creates a nice and warm environment everywhere you go. If we look close enough, opposition in Malaysia is quite obvious.

We can start with the people. There are lots of races combined yet live in perfect harmony in Malaysia. Asians and Indians, two different races, blend together without the tendency to fight and make enemies. The Indians, although not a native race of Malaysia, don’t seem to be underestimated.  They pretty much have the same opportunity in work as the Asians. Though not all Indians has a promising job, so does the Asians. They live in good relationship with each other.

Beside the people, the neighborhood and places also do show opposition. One neighborhood is located in Masjid India area. From the name, we can see that the majority living in that neighborhood is Indians. In day time, this neighborhood is a chaos, noisy, crowded, full of traffic place. Everywhere we walk or drive, there’re always shops, people, cars, and garbage. It’s true that it’s not one of the cleanest and healthiest neighborhood in Malaysia. But, in that chaos and noise, we can actually see the real and true culture and social life of the people around.  The people are friendly enough, even to tourist and non-Indians. In the alley, food seller sells Indian cuisine such as Briani rice, curry, and Prata bread while at the same tie also sells milk tea as the drink. As loud and crowded this neighborhood in day time, it shuts itself up when the sun sets. Everywhere is now quite, dark, and not crowded. The shops shuts themselves up and turn the light into darkness. Lights now comes only from 24 hour shops, hotels, and the moon. The people disappear leaving the street empty and without voice at all. Walking down in those alleys now feels like walking in dead city, a lonely place so quite from manmade voices. Adding to all those is the crows flying and filling the night sky with their black figure and cracking noise. It kind of feels unreal and magical in some way, knowing that there’s a place filled with crows in night time like in the fairy tales and horror stories we’ve been listening to.

While Masjid India lives in line with the sun, there’s another neighborhood that lives in line with the moon. Bukit Bintang is this exact place. When night comes, this place comes more and more live. The street food and restaurants filling the whole street open up at night. Though they all sell kind of the same Chinese cuisine, all of the restaurants still filled with people, having fun in the night life.  Maybe this is actually the interesting part of this area. Since every restaurant sells the same cuisine and there are lots of restaurants, everyone who comes there will definitely get their spots and their favorite food. But even with those lots of restaurants, sometimes we still have to wait for the table. The crowd in this place is almost the same as in Masjid India, the difference is that this crowd comes at night time not day time. Apart from the restaurants, this area is also filled with lots of shops offering massage. They put salesman and saleswoman on the street offering massage in the way salesman and saleswoman offering credit card at the mall.

It could be the embracement that makes Malaysia the land of combination. It embraces modernity while at the same time keeping the true culture and traditional way of living. In the morning, when everyone rushes for work, people selling nasi lemak, traditional breakfast of Malaysians, seem to roam the street alongside McDonald’s that is also full of people having breakfast. Transportation also shows in that way. There’s modern and new train such as the LRT and Kelana Jaya Line subway, but there’s also old train such as the KTM Komuter. This condition might result from the lack of development in the KTM Komuter train. But we can also see it as building a development while at the same time keeping the old one. Don’t get it wrong, the KTM Komuter is still in good condition and completely safe, just feels kind of old when we board it.      

It’s an amazing experience to see how different cultures can live in harmony in Malaysia, knowing that in other places, differences don’t always get along well.

Puncak, Tradisional atau Modern?

Puncak, daerah yang melingkupi beberapa kecamatan, seperti Ciawi, Cimacan, dan Cipanas, tidak lagi asing di telinga kita. Puncak telah lama menjadi salah satu tempat peristirahatan yang terkenal dengan udara sejuk dan kedekatannya dengan alam Jawa Barat. Walau seringkali didera oleh kemacetan berjam-jam, terutama pada hari-hari raya dan hari libur sekolah, tampaknya banyak masyarakat yang belum segan menikmati udara dan istirahat sejenak dari penatnya kota Jakarta di kawasan Puncak. Sepanjang perjalanan menuju Puncak yang memakan waktu sekitar dua sampai tiga jam, bergantung pada lalu lintas, pemandagan berupa pegunungan, pohon-pohon tinggi, perkebunan teh, dan pedesaan masih dapat dijumpai oleh mata kita. Tidak hanya pemandangan alam, kiri dan kanan dari jalan yang normalnya dapat dilewati dua mobil ini padat dengan berbagai penjual buah dan sayuran serta makanan kecil seperti kerupuk dan ubi cilembu, toko-toko bangunan, rumah makan, toko-toko barang antik, hotel, dan villa-villa sewaan. Rumah makan-rumah makan tersebut mayoritas adalah rumah makan yang menyajikan hidangan Sunda, Padang, satay ayam dan kambing, dan berbagai makanan rumahan lainnya. Rumah-rumah makan ini pun beragam, mulai dari yang berukuran cukup besar hingga yang seukuran warung pinggir jalan. Untuk penginapan, hotel-hotel yang tersebar di Puncak dapat dikatakan memadai dan nyaman, dilihat dari pembangungan berbagai hotel baru dan renovasi berbagai hotel lama. Tempa-tempat rekreasi setempat juga disediakan bagi kita, seperti wisata petik buah strawberry, taman buah, dan Taman Matahari.

Sebagai daerah pedesaan yang terletak di antara dua kota besar, Bandung dan Jakarta, perubahan dan pencampuran budaya dapat terlihat dimana-mana. Berbagai tanda modernisasi dapat dijumpai diantara kesan lokal dan pedesaan. Belum dapat dikatakan apakah hal ini adalah bentuk persaingan atau bukti bahwa dua budaya berbeda dapat hidup berdampingan dengan rukun. Rumah-rumah sederhana milik penduduk bersanding dengan berbagai gedung hotel, rumah makan, dan butik mewah.  Gaya hidup penduduk setempat juga telah dirasuki oleh berbagai budaya perkotaan. Iklan jaringan telepon dan penjual-penjual kartu telepon tersebar di pinggir jalan ditunjang dengan hampir tiap penduduk yang sepertinya telah menjadi pengguna telepon genggam. Berbagai baju yang dijual di toko-toko pinggir jalan juga telah mengadopsi model dan gaya baju perkotaan, walaupun sebagian besar penduduk masih berpakaian baju sederhana dan using.  Delman / andong yang beberapa tahun lalu mudah dijumpai di sekitar pasar kini mulai tergantikan oleh sepeda motor dan angkot yang semakin merajalela. Tidak dapat dipastikan apakah perubahan ini ditujukan untuk menciptakan kenyamanan lebih bagi pengunjung sehingga menarik lebih banyak wisatawan atau hanya sekadar bukti keserakahan pengusaha-pengusaha yang dapat menarik keuntungan dari perkembangan ini. Di satu sisi, perubahan ini tentunya juga dapat memberi dampak positif bagi warga setempat yang mungkin akan merasakan kehidupan yang lebih nyaman dengan semua fasilitas telepon genggam dan modernisasi lainnya. Di sisi lain, perubahan harus dibayar dengan hilangnya kekhasan dari daerah Puncak sebagai tempat peristirahatan yang tenang, damai, dan berudara sejuk dan bersih. Banyak yang mengatakan bahwa udara Puncak tidak lagi sesejuk beberapa tahun lalu. Hal ini dapat disebabkan karena semakin padatnya gedung-gedung tinggi dan bangunan di daerah Puncak. Udara yang bersih dan keadaan tenang di beberapa tempat sekarang dapat terganggu dengan asap kendaraan bermotor dan riuhnya suara lalu lintas yang ramai. Hal yang membuat Puncak digemari oleh sebagian besar orang dapat dengan mudah hilang dengan modernisasi dan perubahan untuk lebih maju.

Saat ini, melewati jalanan Puncak, kita masih dapat merasakan kekhasan Puncak melalui penjual tradisional, keramahan masyarakat yang belum terpengaruh individualisme perkotaaan, penjual asongan di sekitar mobil yang terkena kemacetan, dan udara yang sejuk. Namun, siapa tahu, dalam beberapa dekade ke depan hal-hal ini akan digantikan oleh toko-toko yang lebih modern, penduduk yang semakin terpaku pada telepon genggam masing-masing, dan gedung-gedung modern bertingkat yang menutupi pemandangan pegunungan dan pepohonan.  

Should Long Nails in School Be A Problem?

School rules has always been criticized by students. These students seem to have their own arguments and justification to defy the school rules. One that we should think of is the rule saying that students shouldn’t have long nails. This rule has been so common and been there for as long as school has been around that we barely think of the fundamental reason for applying this rule or whether it should be applied or not after all.

School is a place for students to study, not only the knowledge and science, but also social life and how to fit living in our society today. According to the second function of school, school must pretty much show and mirror what it is like in the society today. This concept of living is taught to students not only through theory such as in religious education lesson, but through school rules which must be obeyed by students. On another word, school rules also have to showed the rules / concept living that are applied in the society in order to give students concept of living which will be important when they enter the society. By doing this, students who have to do these rules daily, without excuse,  will finally be accustomed to do these, even when they finally enter the society. By the time they enter the society, they won’t have any problem regarding the obedience of rules which are applied in the society because they have been doing those also in their daily school. Having a short nail is not exactly the concept of living in the society, neither it is the rules that should be obeyed by good citizens. In fact, we can see that lots of people do have long nails. Not to mention the manicure and pedicure service that is offered in the society to keep one’s nail beautiful, and it is not necessarily short. In the big society, having long or short nail is a free option. We can choose freely without getting a major result that will harm us. We’re not going to be fired from job or hated by people because of having long nails, right? These condition in our society implies that long nails isn’t bad at all and against the concept of living in society, which means that school shouldn’t have this rule after all. This rule doesn’t show the real concept of living in the society, it’s even an opposite of the society rules. School has completely no basic judgment to apply these rules, because after all it is against the school’s function itself which is to show the condition of society living itself. These appliance of rule of course won’t give any major harm such as the changing of the student’s perception toward people with long nails, because as these students join the society, they will also learn to adapt with their surroundings. They are not going to hate people with long nails in the society because it is against their school rules. But the problem in here is that the rule of not having long nails have no base at all. And if so, this rule violate the student’s right to have long nails. Students do have rights, just like every of us in the society who has the right to choose to have either long  or short nails. It is actually a human basic right to decide what to do about ourselves. As long as it doesn’t give harm toward our surroundings and ourselves, we’re actually free to whatever it is they want about our nails, our hair, our body, etc. And having either long or short nails doesn’t give any harm toward society or ourselves. This is supposed to be applied in school as well, because after all, there’s no point in the rule of not having long nails. It doesn’t teach students anything in the society. On the other hand, it violates the student’s rights.

If the school worries about personal hygiene or safety and violence in school, it is actually a little bit absurd. High school students, who’s been mentioned as young adults, is believed to have been able to take care about their personal hygiene and safety everyday. They have been able to clean their nails or even cut it short when necessary. How many case of getting harm because of dirty nails and broken nails that we get in school every year anyway? So little, and mostly are just accidents with the ratio of one in a lot. If school wants to do something, it can teach students to take care of the hygiene and safety of nails, not by forcing and harming student’s right to have long nails. In the case of younger students, they do have parents to take care of their nail’s hygiene, or in some case parents just cut their children’s nail short, but that’s all right since these younger students are too young to choose. About the crime, it is actually the school’s job to teach the students not to fight between each other. It’s not the problem of having long nails as weapon since these students can also use other tools as weapon for fighting. It is actually the problem of having fight between one another, and the school should be able to teach them not to do that since it’s of course not the concept of living in society. If the students are taught well and accustomed not to fight with one another, having long nails won’t be problems. No fighting, no using long nails as weapon.         

It is true, that in particular condition, people are advised to have short nails, for example when they have a young baby to take care of. Still, it is an advice and a particular condition, and these students are not in those particular condition which means they don’t have to follow the advice or moreover being forced to do that.

Having short nails doesn’t have to be a rule. It’s enough that students know that short nails are necessary in particular condition and that long nails need to be taken care. But that’s all, let the students to decide the rest, whether they’re about to have long or short nails.   

The Rosetti Letter

History and romance are what we’re going to get in The Rosetti Letter. This dual story novel of past and present days from Christi Phillips can be considered a major success and a good friend for history lovers. The past days part tells story about the 17^th century Venice, especially events surrounding the Spanish Conspiracy toward Republic of Venice. Phillips did add some fictional character to this part, the main character of the past days part, named Alessandra Rosetti, a famous prostitute of the days. The story, beside entertaining us with the build up of the conspiracy itself, actually majors in the life of Alessandra Rosetti as a woman who was left with no choice but to become a prostitute. Little that she knew at first that her choice was going to take into passionate love, hardship, pain and finally miraculous change to a happy ending. While the present days part tells a story of Claire Donovan, a historian in pursuit of her Ph. D degree who was once heartbroken by her divorce. Connecting these past and present days is Claire’s dissertation material which was all about the Spanish Conspiracy from the point of Rosetti Letter, a letter believed to be sent to the government by Alessandra Rosetti regarding the Spanish Conspiracy. By chance, Claire got an opportunity to go to Venice for her further research. Also little that she knew that at the end of this journey to Venice, she would find not only answers for her dissertation but also a way back to civilized life and love in life.

Judging from the similarity of the two characters of the past and present days, we get the story of two women who had to struggle and went to certain hardship before finally landed on happiness. What differentiate this story from other common romance stories is that the happy ending in here wasn’t all about getting together with their partners but having what each character had desired and wanted in life and changing of life that each character actually needed and that was undone before because of the circumstances.

The story was majorly set in Venice which by Phillips’s description gives us a glimpse of this beautiful floating city with its bridges, canals, festivals and also views in certain time of the day. The buildings, the roads and the places was described really well and certain that we can actually feel we’re being on a gondola trip through Venice canals. For some of us, beside being addicted to Christi Phillips’s work, reading The Rosetti Letter can instantly get us online to find tickets to Venice.            

The way Phillips tells the story in dual mode is kind of keep the boredom away from us, as we might hate reading history or romance for again and again. The dual mode also makes the romance not too much and not too common as romance novel usually tells about the cliche plot of the love, the break up, the pain and the getting back together. While the history part of this is certainly not a boring history book at 20 cm thick because the history part itself is actually made into fictional, only some character, the background history, and some aspects or attributes of it isn’t fictional. Also the way the story switches between past and present days when one part is being so interesting makes us want to keep reading throughout the book until we come across the interesting part again. Also the events and plot of the story is quite unpredictable which keeps us out of boredom as well as making a good companion for the day. The way Phillips writes her words can be considered suitable for young and old readers since it has some humor as well as quotes or expression, little thinking and other adult materials. All of them are brought together smoothly into a story.    

Not only that it’s entertaining in its whole 521 pages, The Rosetti Letter also teaches some good lessons from both main characters which was expressed beautifully by Phillips. We see in this book how life which has been crushed down can be built up again and formed into a better one, following it, is how a person should never give up the world and the love no matter how bad the situation has been because it brings us to a sweet destiny of ours at the end. Also we can draw a little conclusion of how choices in our lives are never actually wrong as long as we take them because of following our desire. Not to mention that it might bring us to some adventure of lives as in lives of Alessandra Rosetti and Claire Donovan.

So, don’t wait any longer to indulge ourselves in the story of life and love in Venice, both in present days and in 17^th century.