Surfnux’s Weblog

Been wondering where else I can go for free hotspots in this town (Pekanbaru). KimTeng no longer has free hotspot access, and now it is locked with the need to purchase a prepaid card. Its called i-VAS, which is provided by Telkom.

So, being sick of surfing at Ciputra Mall, with the only free hotspot left at Gloria Jeans Coffee, but not reliable, I then shifted to SKA Mall. With that, I was hoping that I could surf the net from J.CO Donuts & Coffee, but nooooo… after ordering a cup of Americano with a complimentary Glazzy Donuts, I then ask the cashier. It was so sad that there are no free hotspots available there.

The only one available in SKA Mall is at KimTeng Cafe and Excelso Cafe. So, I then try to browse through each Wifi signal available, and found that each of them is also using a prepaid method. Sadly, no i-Vas ticket is available, cos all were sold out. So, I tried to purchase i-Vas through my handphone provider. Got the username and password, connect, and logged in.

To purchase via your Kartu Halo or Flexi phone, send sms to 4827, with this message: ivas (10000 or 25000 or 50000). The amount will be deducted from your phone credit, or billed to you at the end of the month on your handphone bill. After successful, you will be sent SMS with the username and password in it.

The Login screen. Click for clearer view

Sadly, the connection really SUCKSSS!! It got disconnected from time to time, that can be every 1-2 minutes. There are still some problem, either with the hotspot system, the Wifi Connection, or the settings. Most probably is with the hotspot system, because my Wireless connection stays at full all the time. Or, it could be the wireless router/access point’s firmware problem that experience packets being dropped every 2 minutes. Yeah, it is consistently dropping packets every 2 minutes, for 5-10 seconds. Sigh…
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written by surfnux

One of my most favorite food when I came to Pekanbaru, is the Nasi Uduk by the road side. There are plenty of Nasi Uduk’s stalls you can choose, but only some are really great and might suit your taste.

Nasi uduk is similar to nasi lemak, that it is cooked in fragrant coconut milk and other herbs. It is really nice taste, and has a great smell.

When talking about nasi uduk, you have it with fried chicken or fried catfish with the nice sambal, vegetables, bean curd and tempe (fermented soy bean).

First, let me show you the typical road side hawker look-a-like. Its common here, and they are not only nice, but they are cheap too. That is if you put aside the hygienic of everything.
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written by surfnux

Being bored and feeling super slow browsing the net through my “still at GPRS speed” of Telkomsel Flash, I decided to go to the Mall again, that is Ciputra Mall. It is always the nearest to my uncle’s home. So, for the past few times, I have been always using KimTeng Cafe’s hotspot.

Apart from its fast connection and affordable food and drinks, KimTeng is filled with smokers and exhaust fan is just not enough to handle all of them. So, its been really unhealthy sitting too long there. For the past few times, I could have utilized more than 2 GB bandwidth only while in KimTeng Cafe.

For some of you who are still wondering what is KimTeng Cafe, it is the newly opened branch of the local coffee shop in Pekanbaru, which has been in operation for very long. Previously it was just a normal coffee shop at the market. Now they are using Cafe’s concept and open it around malls in Pekanbaru.

Okay, back to Gloria Jeans. So, being considerate and not wanting to keep high profile at KimTeng Cafe, I decided to try out Gloria Jean’s free hotspot this time. With a cup of Camomile tea (SGD 2.5 / Rp. 15000), I am seated nicely in this sofa, browsing away to the internet world.

After browsing smoothly for a little while, things started to get weird. Imageshack.us is showing Tours and Travel website, and Google.com is showing that “this domain services has been discontinued”. And slowly after, no sites can be accessed. What the hell is happening here. So, I try try and try, and I gave up finally. Its time to move back to KimTeng. Back to KimTeng, I still can’t surf at all. Its either they have activated the prepaid account for the hotspot, or my Macbook has some error in the system. So, I tried my Telkomsel Flash again, it got connected, but still can’t surf at all.

It got me worry a lot and takes up very long hours figuring what can be wrong. After cleaning up caches, cookies, and everything, still the same. And then I look for terminal code to flush DNS. And I did that. After that, things are better, at least now I can surf again. Wondering what is wrong here. Could it be a spyware? Malware? Does Mac OS X.5 prone to it?

Its still a mistery and I shall find out more.

No more KimTeng, no more Gloria Jeans free hotspot. Next, if I really need one, I shall go to J.CO already. It sux when you have own internet but very slow, and you rely a lot at these free hotspots. I am going to subscribe to Telkom Speedy soon. Damn.

written by surfnux

As most of Singaporeans have already familiar with this Western food restaurant called Cafe Cartel, which is always packed during weekend especially.

I can say I have not been there a lot, and can be still counted with fingers. On the 26th of March 2008, it was my farewell party with my colleagues. Thanks guys for arranging it. I really appreciate it, although I have not been in the company for long. (Well, if you guys happen to stalk on this post :P)

We had lunch at Cafe Cartel which is located at Siglap Road. It was housed in a dedicated building and in a row with other restaurants and bank nearby. Number of people turned out was more than 20 and actually the whole office that turned out, except the big big boss.

Should have took some pictures with the group, but didn’t manage to. At least I got a picture with my team members.

Anyway, took some pictures of the food that we had, mostly are big portion.

Lets start with the free flow bread which is part of the set meal.

Follow by the soup of the day…. Continue reading »

written by surfnux

Teng Teng is a name used to represent Fruit Rojaks. As usual, your choices of fruits will be cut into small pieces and served with a side dish of the rojak paste.

The Rojak’s paste with a mix of ground peanuts

The favorite fruit that we choose here is Ciku / Sawo / Sapodilla fruit. Its really sweet and watery fruit.

The only fruit…

Apart from Ciku, there are many other fruits that you can choose though, like pineapple, apple, guava and many more.

How it looked like after you mixed with the rojak paste? Continue reading »

written by surfnux