Taman Balekambang: Refreshing Park in Solo

Today, I went to send my customer's orders. After send the goods, I actually want to get some cold drinks, but however, I stranded in Taman Balekambang together with my husband.

In Taman Balekambang, you just need $0.1 for two people to pay the entrance ticket. I was surprised because it is cheaper than I thought.

Taman Balekambang is park located on Jl. Ahmad Yani, Solo (or Surakarta). Formerly it was named Pertinah Bosch and founded by Mangkunegara relatives. Then named Bale Kambang, because in that park there are fishpond and swimming pool in the center of it, and a comfortable rest house, surrounded by beautiful flower garden. This place there are also Bale Kambang Traditional Ketoprak Building and cafe managed by young artists of Surakarta. It is combination of traditional and modern art in one location which make them an unique one. - wisatasolo.com

After paying for the ticket, both of us park our vehicle in the parking lot and then start to walk around the park. There are so many trees there, and surprisingly, there are wild animals, too!

Me with a deer

The animals there are free walking around the park. Not only deers, but there are also ducks, birds, etc. err..don't expect a lion there ;p

This place is suitable for people who wants to refresh their mind and body from daily activity. The air is fresh and it will make your lungs free from city's pollution. You can walk around the park or just sit on the benches there. You can buy drinks and snacks on the mini shop there if you want to.

Here are some pictures and videos when I was on Taman Balekambang.

Taman Balekambang

Me and my husband

My husband with painting in Balekambang

some visitors are feeding the deer in Taman Balekambang

Getting Approved by Adsense in a Jiffy

Today, I've found a great articles for those who are begging for being approved by Google Adsense. Actually, now I'm one of them, begging my Adsense account approved by Google. But, don't be sad, everyone must face the trouble, so for you that "begging-for-approved-by-Adsense", here an article for you :)

Getting Approved by Adsense in a Jiffy
by: Anik Singal

 

I don’t understand why everyone makes Adsense out to sound like some kind of devil. So far, I have a 100% approval rate for my consulting clients. You would think that we spend months developing the site to submit for approval – but to be honest; I spend less than a day (if that!)

What we found is that Google is not nearly as picky as they make themselves sound to be. The trick is to make your site in such a way that you are just providing content; we have found that the less selling you do on your approval site, the better.

Don’t worry, once you’re approved you can use that code wherever you want – so put it on other sites that sell later. But for the purposes of getting approved, try to limit to just content, content and more content!

Now, for the disclaimer before we start talking about how to get your site approved for Google Adsense. I am not a member of Google at all, everything I am about to say is all speculation and experience. I have helped over 50 clients get approved for Google Adsense without having even 1 of them not get approved – we have 100% approval rate on FIRST try.

All I am going to teach you is exactly what I do for them.

There are three main elements that I focus on when getting a client approved:

1.Site look and feel – Not that Google wants a $10,000 professionally designed website, but they also don’t want some piece of junk. Make sure to at LEAST have a presentable website – even if it is just a few tables and a solid background color. Avoid using tacky backgrounds or unprofessional color contrasts.

2.Content – The most important – Google believes in content. If you try to get a website with just a few pages approved, I don’t think you will have any luck. You need to have at least 15-20 pages, preferably, 15-20 pages of articles/resources, a.k.a. content.

3.Traffic – Many “experts” say that Google looks to see what kind of traffic you have and that they do not approve new sites with no traffic. My experience says that these experts are FULL of it. BUT, just to be safe, before you submit your site for approval – try to get your site some traffic.

Here are useful tips you need to make the entire approval process easier and quicker:

>> Get content from article directories like www.goarticles.com – just put those articles in your site, getting 15-20 is easy.

>> Before you submit your site for approval, post at some forums with your website’s link in the signature file – this will help you get some immediate traffic.

>> Make a very simple website with 15-20 articles, a contact us page, a privacy policy and the typical disclaimer.

That’s it – you’re ready to get approved for Google Adsense. I know I made it sound too easy, but honestly, we have a track record that proves it. And remember, if you do not get approved, you can always fix things and try again.

So, stop waiting – apply now – Google Adsense is a great source of income.

---
Update:

My Adsense has been APPROVED!! :D
---

Thanks a lot to the original writer. For readers, why don't you visit the author's site here. :)

"Festival Kampung Solo 2010": The Javenese Arts

Today, I just come home from Festival Kampung in my city, Solo. Festival Kampung is an outdoor festival that includes all regional in Solo to perform their own show. There are many kinds of show: canon songs, gamelan, jatilan, etc. Festival Kampung 2010 is held first time this year, and the city government plans to put this event on yearly agenda of city's events. The vision of this event is to give space for Solo citizen to express their potential and to increase people's awareness of art.

Festival Kampung Solo 2010

I come to Festival Kampung 2010 at about 08.30 p.m. Festival Kampung is held on Ngarsopuro, a place that traditional art market located. And a long the street of Ngarsopuro, there are 3 stages prepared for this festival. The 3 stages perform: Gamelan music, Tranditional Pop Songs, and Traditional Comedy Show. I watched the Traditional Comedy Show. When watching the show, I saw the City Mayor, Mr. Joko Widodo! wow, I can't believe it that the most important person in Solo watch the show together without any bodyguard around him. He just mingled with the other people and they enjoying the show together.

City Mayor: Joko Widodo watching the Festival Kampung Solo 2010 show

From the information that I got, Festival Kampung Solo 2010 is held for 3 days, from June 14-16. The first day, it performs opening ceremony, musical show, and theatrical show. The second day, it performs Dance, Music, and Ketoprak Pandapan, the Traditional Comedy Show. And the last day, it performs dance show, music show, theatrical show, and Ketoprak Pandapan.

I like this event very much and although it was a little bit raining, the people still stayed there to enjoy the show, including the City Mayor! This event must be held every year!

Arnandra

4 Days in Bali, Spend Only Less Than $300

Based on my previous article "Indonesia - Paradise for Us", I found an article that is related. 4 Days in Bali just for less than $300. This is interesting because I'm planning to go to Bali at the end of this year. Before I start to review the article (the article is in Indonesian), there are two things you should consider before going to Bali:

1. Order your ticket a couple month before your day to Bali, and don't go to Bali on high season.

2. Search for promotional airway ticket on the Internet or through travel agents.

Believe me, the result shall be shocking and unbelievable. (at least that is what the articles said ;p)

Well, let's start to the travel plan. There are 4 days you could spend in this plan, starting from your arrival to Bali until you're going home from Bali.

First Day

After you arrived at Bali, go to Kuta - Legian because there are a lot of affordable hotels at low price, but still they are clean and comfortable. From airport to Kuta needs [$8] by taxi. Search the hotel that is located on alley, there are a lot of hotels that are clean and comfortable "hidden" there. Take your time searching your hotel. After you got your hotel [$10], enjoy the sunset at Kuta Beach. Say [$10] is enough to buy you food and drinks. If you want, you can play body boarding that cost [$5].

Second Day

The cheapest transportation option is by motorcycle [$5], but if you won't have a motorcycle, there are also cheap rent-a-car dealers [$25 / 10 hrs, driver included]. It is much more cheaper than you go using taxi. Go to Bali Safari & Marine Park [$11] from morning till afternoon. After that, go to Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary [$1.5]. If you want to shop some souvenirs and handicraft, you can visit Sukowati Market.

Third Day

You can visit Tanah Lot, Bedugul, or any other place by using motorcycle [$5] or by rented car [$25]. Prepare some budget to pay parking fee and entrance tickets.

Fourth Day


Before going to the airport, walk along the Kuta Beach, take pictures, or sun-bathing for a moment then go to airport [$8].

For other fees like airport tax, shopping budget, etc. you can decide how much you willing to spend.

Enjoy your vacation!

Arnandra

Indonesia - Paradise for Us

As I live in Indonesia, I want to share about my opinion on living in Indonesia. First, I will tell you some information about Indonesia.

Indonesia is a republic that located in South East Asia and have more than 17,000 islands. Most of its population are Moslem. Its capital is Jakarta, where my husband are born. There are many beautiful location in Indonesia such as: Bali, Lombok, Mt. Bromo in Java Island, and many more.

Kuta Beach - Bali, Indonesia (picture taken from: rosit.wordpress.com/2008/02/)

There are a lot tourism spots in Indonesia. But, if you're planning on a vacation to Indonesia, I suggest you visit Bali first because Bali is the most beautiful place that I've ever visited. The people there are friendly, beautiful beaches, warm sun light, ahhh..it makes me want to visit Bali again.

Beside Bali, I want to tell about Solo, where my birth and home take place. Solo (or Surakarta) is a city of culture. You can buy batik, a traditional clothes that is cool and comfort to wear, especially in Indonesian climate. You can buy Batik on Pasar Klewer or Pusat Grosir Solo.

If you like spicy foods, Solo is a Food Paradise! There are Nasi Liwet (rice served with chicken and special seasoning), Gudeg, Timlo, and many more! You should write it down before you go to Solo. They are very very very delicious! :D

(source: soloculture.com)

In Solo, there are Kraton, too. Kraton is a palace of old time kingdom. There are two Kratons in Solo: Kasunanan Kraton and Mangkunegaran Kraton. But, unfortunately, if you like history, I suggest you to visit Kraton in Jogjakarta City. The Kraton in Jogjakarta is more organized for tourists.

That's all about Indonesia...

In my opinion, living in Indonesia is so wonderful. It is because we have so many exotic animal (I'm an animal fans! :D) like Comodo, Orang Utan, Sumatran Tiger, Undur - Undur and many more!

In financial point of view, it is good to live in Indonesia, because you just need little money compared to the other countries. In my household, it only cost $300 to pay everything: rent house, electricity, phone bill, cell phone bill, internet bill, eating cost, household needs, everything! If you're planning on a vacation in Indonesia, let's take example: Bali, you just need $500 for the whole week in Bali! Well, globally, it is cheap, but for Indonesian people on average, it is costly.

It is paradise for us to live in Indonesia! :)

Arnandra

Paid To Click - A New Journey Begins

Paid To Click is one of many ways to earn penny. But, if you're serious, you can make a lot of cash instead of penny...at least, that what I read on the forums and blogs ;p

So, I tried some of PTC to do in my spare time. Till today (12/06), I haven't got any payout yet. Hoping these PTCs fulfill their promises to pay me when I reach minimum payout ;p (at about $2)

How PTC work

It is simple, you just sign up, and push advertisements they provide to us everyday. The ads that we can click is limited (approx 4-6 ads) per day. But in the next day, you can click it again.

If you join, there are two option of status, as a member or an advertiser. For a member, your job is to click the ads and get paid. For an advertiser, you can post your ads for your own purpose: get traffic, get downline, etc. Of course you must pay if you want to post your advertisement.

The niche in PTC is when you able to get many of downlines because most of PTC Sites offer referral program. You refer someone, if your referee joined, you get percentage of income that your referee earn. But, to get this bonus income paid out, you must click ads everyday. FYI, I spend about 30 minutes everyday to do this PTC work.

PTC Site that I joined

1. Clicksia



2. Incentria



3. Cashium




4. OnBux


Well, if you want to join one of PTC that I joined, please click on the banner above. Additional information, if you want to get traffic, you can make it without paying anything. There are Traffic Exchange programs on some of PTC Site (Clicksia or Incentria). So, let us earn money together ;)

Arnandra

Training My Dog: Captain

I have a dog, his name is Captain, but me and my husband called him Ten - Ten :D

My uncle gave me this dog around 3 months a go, on March 2010. Captain is a Maltese dog. For a dog, he is actually smart, but sometimes he is peeing everywhere, making my husband become mad. My husband become mad because Captain loves to pee on his worksheet lol. How could? well, my husband usually put his worksheets on the floor because his desk already full of worksheets too.

In his spare time, my husband likes to train Captain some simple tricks, like "Sit" and "Up" (don't mislead by 'sit up', my dog can't do that! :D). My husband trains Captain by simple way, giving Captain dog food if he can do the tricks ordered by my husband :)

For the first time, it is difficult to train because Captain is pure non-trained dog, and luckily my husband didn't get bite since Captain has a good manner.

How

My husband give Captain food without order Captain do any tricks. After that, my husband make Captain's pose to sit with his hand and said "Sit!" at the same time.

It takes some times about 2 -3 days. If Captain can do the 'sit pose', my husband gave him dog food. Sometime, my husband buy special dog food (dog food that seems very very delicious for Captain with flying-high-price) to give Captain treat if he can do the tricks quickly.

It is funny when I saw Captain jumping around my husband trying to catch the dog food while my husband said "Sit! Sit! Siiiitttt...!". What a scene :D

After about 2 weeks, Captain understand the command "Sit". He quickly do the 'sit pose' when me or my husband say "Sit!". Then, my husband try to teach him new trick, "Up".

Command "Up" making Captain to do standing position with his 2 back legs. This trick training needs only a half day because Captain already used to trained "Sit" before.

There are several things to remember if you want to train your dog. First, don't ever yell to your dog, because if your dog got scared, he will never follow your order. Next is never hurt your dog, teach him patiently. The last one, always give your dog treat, because he will love it, and love you too ;)

Arnandra

About Online Shop in Indonesia

In Indonesia, there are a lot of online shop right now. Most of them use facebook and website to sell their products. I also use facebook and website to sell my products. Well, if you want to know or interested you can visit www.chiby-shop.com for example. It is one of my online shop and sells Popits, Cawaii Hair Extension, S Cawaii, etc. Ahem...let me stop promoting my product ;p

Products

There are some products that most of Indonesian online shop sells:

- Fashion: woman clothing, distro clothing, shoes and apparel.
- Watch: Authentic Branded Watch, Casual Watch.
- E-Book: Most of them are making money e-book
- Bags: Branded Bags, Casual Bags, Tote Bags
- Electronics and Gadgets: Mobile Phone, iPad, iPod, iPhone, etc.
- and many more...

How To Buy and Transaction Process

There are many ways to shop online on Indonesian online shops. Some of them using automatic system in their website, some using manual transaction. Online shops that using manual transaction usually place their shop in forums such as: kaskus.us, facebook, etc.

For automatic system, we already know how they work like in amazon.com, ebay.com, etc. In manual transaction, they have rules that they specified in 'how to order' section of their thread (forum) and websites.

I will write down for rules that most of Indonesian online shop use. Imagine that you are one of their buyer:

- You have to write down your full name, address, mobile phone number, and products you want to order and send it to their email or mobile phone number.

- After they receive your form (name, address, etc.), they will send you a message to your email or mobile phone: confirmation of products that you order, total cost (including product price and shipping cost), and their bank account where you have to pay.

- After paying the total cost, you have to confirm your payment to them.

- After they confirmed your payment, they will send your item and tell you the shipping receipt number to your email address or mobile phone.

- In 1-5 days, the products you bought will arrived at your address, depending on your location

Benefits

By shopping online, you will get some benefit such as:

- You can shop wearing your pjamas, uhh..I mean you don't have to go outside to the mall or offline shops ;p

- You don't have to pay for parking fee.

- You will not waste your time and energy.

- Yeah, you can guess the rest of the benefits.

What I want to tell you is that there still many Indonesian online shop doing fraud. Actually, as a online seller, I feel so sad because the sellers that doing fraud makes my country looks bad. But, now I don't care, because the buyers are getting smarter to distinguish cheating online shops from the real ones :)

How to distinguish cheating online shops from the real ones

- Real Indonesian online shops usually have encrypted pages if their shops are in website form. Since encrypted pages are still expensive for Indonesian people. Shame on me, my site don't have one :(

- Real Indonesian online shops usually put shipping receipt picture along with their shop name. Well, I do this one :)

- There are some Indonesian online shop communities that control which online shops are real or fakes. Sometimes, the community do 'test buy' to their members to check whether they are cheating or not. ex: komunitasonlineshop.com

- Real Indonesian online shops will post their products picture in form of real products photographs along with their shop name's watermark.

Last but not least, be careful when you're shopping online. Make sure that the online shop you visit is the real one and not the fake one :)

Arnandra