Holidays Jakarta

Very long weekends in Jakarta could mean one thing.. everyone’s packing out on vacation outside the capitol. For us, this is a very good time to enjoy Jakarta streets without traffic jam!

And so, yesterday we were strolling around Jakarta with Borju. Our first stop was Gramedia Matraman, so-called the largest bookstore in Southeast Asia.. no denying to that, since they’ve renovated the building, it looks like a book mall now. With one floor for stationery, toys and stuffs, the upper three stories are crammed with books of all kinds, I could not resist saying, “like a heaven for bookworms!!”

We spent more than 2 hours of fun there.. before we leave, Gabe was curious about a small restaurant he saw on the basement near the parking lot. Es Teler 77, Juara Indonesia. "What’s with the ice, pa? Is it putting us to drunk?"

He he.. "why don’t we go try and find out?"

Afterwards, we wondered around Cikini, Menteng, Thamrin roads until we stopped by Taman Suropati to take a short rest. And then went back home.

The sky is clear, the wind is serene, we certainly had fun in quiet Jakarta..

I hope you, too!

Illusion is The Ultimate Weapon

MASK was a television series made by DIC for Kenner, a toy company in US (now Hasbro). It was aired by RCTI(www.rcti.tv) around 1989-90. The series was one of my all time favorites. Well of course there were Silverhawks, Thundercats, Galaxy Rangers. Ah, yes, the good ol’ days.

But MASK was something else, I’d rather think it as a mix of Mission Impossible with Transformers. I remembered the first season being best of them, with great stories all the way, and animation that had been very well done, anime and western style boiled into one.

I was in Junior High when I collected some of the toy vehicles. By the time I was in High School, I’ve got Thunderhawk, Condor, Manta, Gator, Jackhammer, Vampire, Iguana and Wolfbeast. I couldn’t buy them all, so I had made other transformable vehicles from bits and pieces of old toys. I loved playing them with stories of my own version. I converted our room into a whole city to set the playground and mission objectives. What a wonderful time back then!

Twenty years or so have passed and I still keep the most of the toys still in very good shape. If not because of financial difficulties we’re facing in our household, I would never want to sell them away.

Yup, I’m letting them go to collectors or anyone interested in memorabilia toys. I invite you to visit my online garage sale and take a look at these MASK toys I have.

There’s also very good resources and info about MASK here:

• Wiki
• All About MASK