Run Forrest Run

Bubba Gump Shrimp's Word of The Day

everyone who watched Tom Hanks' most famous movie "Forrest Gump" knows indeed what those

with my friend, Vincent

words refer to. in the movie, Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue and Forrest Gump had an idea to manage a company, named "Bubba Gump Shrimp Co" after the end of their service in the Army, but Bubba died in the line of duty in Vietnam, which left Forrest Gump to be the only member of the company. this Forrest Gump movie inspired Viacom Consumer Products on 1996 to initiate what happened on the movie. and after almost 20 years in business, Bubba Gump are all over the world. one of them is opened in Bali, Indonesia, and becoming the most visited restaurant in Bali. 

SeaFood Plater & Juice

Bubba Gump offers large choices of seafood, prawns, king prawns, shrimps, squids, fishes and other combinations which make you surely want to have all those things. the prawn is so juicy, the cocktail tastes great, what else though? 

the restaurant entrance was very animated with lots off funny signs & license plates like "Stop Forrest

the lucky birthday girl

Stop!", "Shop Forrest Shop!" and some cool stuffs they put on the window. a very clever idea to drag everybody in. with their camp environment, 1950's classic style and "Forrest Gump" movie quotes, you will surely feel, this place has no matches.

cheers in the place

the staffs were often yell happily to cheer & greet you. they will often force you to be in a fun game with the other visitors. when I came in, there was a lucky visitor who had a birthday, with no hesitate, the staffs danced and sang the Birthday song, sung by the whole people in the restaurants (what a birthday??!)

there's some quite unique rule in this place to order your meal. if you want to order and ask the staffs, you have to say it loud "Stop Forrest Stop" or you turn the sign on your table to "Stop Forrest Stop". and if you have done with your meal, you have to say it loud "Run Forrest Run". if you don't do it, they drag you into their games, and all people in this place will surely stare your red crabby face. :D

easy to find

this Bubba Gump is so easy to spot, it's just beside the Waterbom Bali or across Centro (you won't surely miss this place), if you can't find it, so.. Run Forrest Run!!!

Smörgås Café

A Swedish Touch

it was a hot summer day in Bali, I was heading to Sanur to visit one of my colleagues who handled a

Swedish Place with Swedish Flag

Tour Operator. was so unlucky, he left out of town for a group to Amed-Tulamben, on the north of this island. my stomach was so grumpy (was its feeding time) & I saw some blond girls crossed the street and entered a nice Restaurant. I decided to take a detour "seems a nice place to have a Brunch", suddenly I remembered haven't eat anything since woke up, those blonde girls really made me starving :))

the Restaurant was a Swedish ones. never had any idea what was inside, but hell worth to try though. Smörgås Café that's said on the wall. and for the Swedish, it's a call for their  Swedish bread. yupp!! Smörgås, an open sandwich actually, like a slice of fresh bread with different style

Don't Forget the Name

and type of spreads, butter, liver pâté, cheese spreads, cold cuts such as roast beef, turkey, ham, bacon, salami, beef tongue, cheese or sausages like beerwurst & vegetables like bell peppers, tomatoes, radish, or cucumber. this kind of food is consumed nearly all over Europe like Austria, Germany, Czech, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland as well as other parts of Europe & North America as a regular breakfast or appetizer.

the always smiling waitress brought me instantly my Smörgås, "here's your Smörgås Swedish Bread and your natural Swedish Juice". 

Smörgås Bread & Swedish Healthy Juice

 I picked my Swedish Bread (a slice open sandwich with cheese, bacon, mix veggie and stuffed mayonaise) and my natural Swedish Juice is quite like a vegetables juice (they mixed kale, green grapes, cucumber and apple, served cold). 

Nice Place to be

the place was on the hook, so cozy & their concept is an outdoor restaurant, and it's a great idea. there's lots of menus for you to try here, this place also serves fusion menu (Asian, Western and Swedish). and if you're running out of idea to have a good Breakfast-Lunch, this place definitely a perfect choice. God dag och Hej då...

comfort couch :D

 worth to try though

                                                            

Once Been Stranded

small Port in Anggana by the Estuary of Mahakam River

transport with small Ferry

big ship passed the river

 Where the Tide meets the Stream

Tug boat delivered coal

back in the middle of 2009, I worked in a Food Plantation Unit in Borneo (a big island across Java). Borneo is the 3rd largest island in the world and the largest island of Asia and the home of the oldest rainforests in the world

coal mine

This island is divided among 3 countries: Brunei, Indonesia & Malaysia, and is divided by number of marvelous large rivers like Barito in the South, Kapuas in the West, Rajang in the North, and Mahakam in the East.

I stayed for around 10 months in East Borneo, around 2 cities (Balikpapan, Samarinda) and 1 district (Anggana in the region of Kutai Kartanegara), due to my job, I had to travel around those places every week (it was an exhausting journey I tell you what).

the company provided me some houses, 1 of them was in Anggana (from Samarinda, it lies further on the east) and the house was built on the river bank of Mahakam, 1 of the longest river on the island, 900 miles long from Long Apari to Makassar Strait.

along this river can be found hundred of coal mining, fish-prawn farm and drilling in purpose of Petroleum demand, and obviously it makes a lot of money.

with a great length period of exploitation, this river & soil have been suffering a great environmental damage. the soil lost its exuberance & its solidity. often the crops were ruined, unharvested, then land slides often been a headlines on TV & newspapers. the great river anguishes high pollutant by the mining & drilling. the water has been toxicated, shrimps, fishes, prawns, crocs and other species died haplessly. meanwhile the inhabitants often consume the water for their own kids & babies. it is truly a devastating effect. 

it was always a strange feeling that I've been stranded in the middle of nowhere. it was truly a different place to be. knowing you was just a little jigsaw puzzle in this mother earth. I will obviously never suggest you to visit my place here, but there will always some challenges for you to dare for. A life by the wild rain forest and great river will always tempting, o dear mate. so, would you dare to overcome this wilderness? I'll be waiting you on the place where the Tide meets the Stream...

Bali Safari & Marine Park

Barong Lobby of Bali Safari & Marine Park

Bali Safari & Marine Park

it was a great sunny day of 2012, me & my colleagues   

Bird Venue

visited Bali Safari & Marine Park at Gianyar (about 45km

from Kuta). it was an hour by car through By Pass Ngurah Rai, it was quite crowded day too.

Bali Safari is the 3rd animal theme Park which owned by this company, the 1st and the 2nd are on Java. we heard that this Bali Safari Park is fully supported by the authorized local government, by leasing vast wide of land in Gianyar to the company.

soon while we arrived, the zebra pattern bus brought us through deep into the jungle and suddenly we were at the main lobby, Barong Lobby. 

we directly went to the Bird venue where lied just after this place. we saw some parrots, the famous Macaws (but I'm afraid they weren't able to speak, like we'd likely see in the movie). they weren't caged, but their domain's marked by the wooden fences (were completely unharmed).

Elephant Venue

we continued to the next venue, the Elephant venue. you can feed them, while the staffs built Elephant nests around here. and there also Elephant Ride, riding Elephants through the jungle. I counted there were 5 adults Elephants and 8 babies. if you follow the sign to the Elephant Show, you can see a collaboration act by the staffs & the Elephants. it's about of a human-elephants history. it explained reason why Elephant often quite aggressive nowadays.

this Theme Park offers us lots of animal shows, the 1st was Elephant, the 2nd was animal groups (eagles, otters, mouse, cat, dog and parrots).

Marine Park Aquarium

actually there were another show but it was held inside the Bali Agung Theater. they held an hour and a half duration show, there were some animals involved too.

as usual the tour is riding the zebra bus and take a round way while seeing the animals. the animals are separated by their orientation, is it a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore.

after you get this round way ride, you can choose some spots as riding the elephants, feeding the tiger or having a dinner with the lions in the Tsavo Lion Restaurant.

Kid's Playground

there's also a playground inside for kids. there are also high slide and pools in it (should be fun though). I didn't know if there was an extra cost to get in, cause it's designated for the kids. 

if you just too tired to try all those stuffs, you can just relax at the Tsavo Lion Restaurant and enjoy the sightseeings.