midnight in Jogja (1)
I was hurry to catch up a flight to Jogja, after receiving a call to meet a person that I wanted to meet. A person whom I want to learn on his business strategy in running on bookstore. A business that our institution wanted to run in this year. He, whose name won't disclose in this blog, is running a number of successful bookstores in several cities and planning to broaden his business in Jakarta and Bandung in this year. His bookstores are now apparently competitor for two leading 'mainstream' bookstores in the country, at least in central and eastern Java, to my knowledge.
It was a gambling to have a ticket from Jakarta to Jogja at the weekend which is a peak season. But, I was quite sure I could have it since many maatschappij is growing nowadays. And in turns give consumers many choices with a competitive price. My feeling was right, as I had the lowest price after a little effort, of course. It was Garuda Airways, a good one, still, for me.
Well, I could have taken a breath with ticket in my hand, so I needed a little smoke. I took a glance around to see a place for smoking. I should have been wary, since the Sutiyoso's administration of Greater Jakarta banned smoking in public spaces with Rp50 million fine. But it seems it goes to the air, as people here smoke as usual, except at the inside part, so I joined with a group of smokers -men and women. hehe...
Having smoked one cigarrete, I came into the desk for check in. Then I spent a little time, as I usually do at every airport, to check good books out with bargain prices. Nothing of my interest, so I went to go aboard. My seat was at the second row from behind and alone in this Boeing 737 500.
Garuda is dealing a tight competition in domestic flight, with Lion, Wings and Air Asia just to name. But the service is still better than others. We still have a small meal even in a short-distance flight and good service. Even, I heard that Garuda was presented as the best international airways service to the Netherlands, besides KLM. AirAsia's ticket, with its motto 'now everyone can fly', is quite affordable as compared with other companies. Even, with that of train, which takes longer in time in en route Java's land. Of course, client always wanted a lowest price, as a result the operational costs, including meal **makan itu perlu** and even safety procedures, are sometimes put aside. This' obviously seen with several accidents took place recently. **I dunno exactly the cause is**
Stewardess started giving meal and fresh orange juice, I preferred. **Hmm... quite fancier than that of only Aqua**. I starred a glance at 'em. Quite old *I mean not so freshy like a college studnt, you know what I meant** for a stewardess. With growing airways companies nowadays, it seems this job is not such an exclusive job anymore, as compared to the time when I was a teenager. I remember that few of my old-school friends who have good-looking faces wanted to be stewardess, but none succees, as far as I remember ;-)
An hour passed when I landed at Jogja at ca 6p. I took a taxi to Gramedia, bookstore always my fave meeting point, where my friends waited there. There, Hartono and his teteh Witha, Panji and two journalist of the Jakarta Post waited. After a little chit chat, we moved to Toga Mas by Xenia. This bookstore made me interest. With a minimalis style architecture, it was fully. Well, it is saturday night. It is a discount bookstore. Rows of motorcycles and few cars come in and out on its parking lot. Minimalist, only wooden and bared bricks construct this two-floor building. First floor is bookstore and upstair is a cafe and multi function space. This space is free to be used for multievents. Sunday noon, dozens of Aneka teen-models would show off at this spot, I was informed.
Having looked around the first floor, we sat together at cafe. Hotdog, french fries, capuccino, chocolate and juice were served. While a chit chat, a group of people came in. It turns out, they were managers of TM branches which have scheduled to hold a meeting with the person whom I would meet. Thanks to Mas Tarko, I arranged to meet their boss that night. Previously, I was scheduled to meet him tomorrow morning. Gotcha! A call came through. We invited to have a dinner at Gajah Wong, only a block from there.
Jogja is a unique place that still long strong hold its culture. Two sultanates still exists: Sultanate Hamengku Buwono and Susuhunan that separated during VOC time, when VOC and Mataram princess signed in Treaty of Gayanti/Gianti in 1755.
Gajah Wong has an old fashion style with a Dutch building style at the outside and Joglo inside. Dozen of westerners enjoyed their dinner, while jazz music playing. We chose Joglo room with gamelan music playing. It's an example of a blend of oldies and contemporary atmosphere. And it's nice.
I finally met him. A tall, friendly and always-smiling-face guy at his 40s. Having acquainted each other, we started talking my purpose and his experiences while eating. He was too open with his business strategy, I think, bearing in mind it's our first meeting. Well, nice person. Not so many people like him. He speaks softly and calm. I've been meeting people with an outspoken style to show off their capabilities. But, they usually not the case. Too much talks will kill you! Beware with your mouth!
...
It was a gambling to have a ticket from Jakarta to Jogja at the weekend which is a peak season. But, I was quite sure I could have it since many maatschappij is growing nowadays. And in turns give consumers many choices with a competitive price. My feeling was right, as I had the lowest price after a little effort, of course. It was Garuda Airways, a good one, still, for me.
Well, I could have taken a breath with ticket in my hand, so I needed a little smoke. I took a glance around to see a place for smoking. I should have been wary, since the Sutiyoso's administration of Greater Jakarta banned smoking in public spaces with Rp50 million fine. But it seems it goes to the air, as people here smoke as usual, except at the inside part, so I joined with a group of smokers -men and women. hehe...
Having smoked one cigarrete, I came into the desk for check in. Then I spent a little time, as I usually do at every airport, to check good books out with bargain prices. Nothing of my interest, so I went to go aboard. My seat was at the second row from behind and alone in this Boeing 737 500.
Garuda is dealing a tight competition in domestic flight, with Lion, Wings and Air Asia just to name. But the service is still better than others. We still have a small meal even in a short-distance flight and good service. Even, I heard that Garuda was presented as the best international airways service to the Netherlands, besides KLM. AirAsia's ticket, with its motto 'now everyone can fly', is quite affordable as compared with other companies. Even, with that of train, which takes longer in time in en route Java's land. Of course, client always wanted a lowest price, as a result the operational costs, including meal **makan itu perlu** and even safety procedures, are sometimes put aside. This' obviously seen with several accidents took place recently. **I dunno exactly the cause is**
Stewardess started giving meal and fresh orange juice, I preferred. **Hmm... quite fancier than that of only Aqua**. I starred a glance at 'em. Quite old *I mean not so freshy like a college studnt, you know what I meant** for a stewardess. With growing airways companies nowadays, it seems this job is not such an exclusive job anymore, as compared to the time when I was a teenager. I remember that few of my old-school friends who have good-looking faces wanted to be stewardess, but none succees, as far as I remember ;-)
An hour passed when I landed at Jogja at ca 6p. I took a taxi to Gramedia, bookstore always my fave meeting point, where my friends waited there. There, Hartono and his teteh Witha, Panji and two journalist of the Jakarta Post waited. After a little chit chat, we moved to Toga Mas by Xenia. This bookstore made me interest. With a minimalis style architecture, it was fully. Well, it is saturday night. It is a discount bookstore. Rows of motorcycles and few cars come in and out on its parking lot. Minimalist, only wooden and bared bricks construct this two-floor building. First floor is bookstore and upstair is a cafe and multi function space. This space is free to be used for multievents. Sunday noon, dozens of Aneka teen-models would show off at this spot, I was informed.
Having looked around the first floor, we sat together at cafe. Hotdog, french fries, capuccino, chocolate and juice were served. While a chit chat, a group of people came in. It turns out, they were managers of TM branches which have scheduled to hold a meeting with the person whom I would meet. Thanks to Mas Tarko, I arranged to meet their boss that night. Previously, I was scheduled to meet him tomorrow morning. Gotcha! A call came through. We invited to have a dinner at Gajah Wong, only a block from there.
Jogja is a unique place that still long strong hold its culture. Two sultanates still exists: Sultanate Hamengku Buwono and Susuhunan that separated during VOC time, when VOC and Mataram princess signed in Treaty of Gayanti/Gianti in 1755.
Gajah Wong has an old fashion style with a Dutch building style at the outside and Joglo inside. Dozen of westerners enjoyed their dinner, while jazz music playing. We chose Joglo room with gamelan music playing. It's an example of a blend of oldies and contemporary atmosphere. And it's nice.
I finally met him. A tall, friendly and always-smiling-face guy at his 40s. Having acquainted each other, we started talking my purpose and his experiences while eating. He was too open with his business strategy, I think, bearing in mind it's our first meeting. Well, nice person. Not so many people like him. He speaks softly and calm. I've been meeting people with an outspoken style to show off their capabilities. But, they usually not the case. Too much talks will kill you! Beware with your mouth!
...
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