A month or so ago I was contacted via this blog by Peeta Planet, a Social Travel TV Show, hosted by two brothers Mohamed Parham Al Al Awadhi and Peyman Parham Al Awadhi from UAE. I was asked to give some suggestions of people they should interview, places to hang out, where to have good coffee, sandwiches, etc as the guys were going to be arriving in Jakarta for filming on 8 April. I gave my personal suggestions and also asked for input from friends via Facebook, and it turns out they selected many of my fav places to include in their Jakarta series, so I am so happy that I could help them out and that they will be sharing things I love about Jakarta on their show.
Today we were invited to meet Mohamed and Peyman and some of their crew at a blogger/media get together at the InterContinental Midplaza Jakarta Hotel on Jl. Jendral Sudirman. What a beautiful hotel this is! I have never been in there before but it was rather grand and huge and it has a new outdoor Jimbaran Garden area which looks perfect for spending lazy days in. Our gathering was meant to take place in the garden area but due to some rain before the event, it was moved inside to the Ballroom. I met some lovely fellow Jakarta bloggers at the event and the crew from Peeta Planet were so friendly and lovely and they seem to be falling under the Jakartan spell already (or maybe they are just tired from spending the past 80+ days touring so many differeny countries! ha!).
It was great to hear from Mohamed and Peyman on their background of owning a kebab shop in UAE which grew in popularity through social media 9 years ago, and then they decided to take a 3 day holiday and asked their social media followers where they should go. It turns out some of their followers suggested they should visit Sri Lanka and then told them all the places they should visit that you cannot find in tourist guides.. and thus began the adventures of the Peeta Planet series. They have so far ventured to over twenty countries filming, and all their itineraries have been suggestions made by locals in each country via social media to places that are off the tourist trail. I may not be a local in Jakarta, but I am glad that I was able to offer some of my own ideas and people to them. I can’t wait to see the Jakarta episode when it finally airs! I did watch their series shot in Melbourne and it made me feel incredibly homesick!
Putra was also invited so he came along and so did Samudra so it was a nice couple of hours meeting new people and snacking on some delicious food thanks to the InterContinental Hotel. I especially loved the cheesecake with strawberries and cream and a white chocolate stick swirl.. I could have happily demolished them all.
Samudra was a little tired and wasn’t too sure about being held by Mohamed and Peyman and had a bit of a cry when I tried to take his photo with them, but the guys were good sports and really lovely and held him even through the tears. It would have been fun to actually have a chance to chat to them properly about all their adventures but there were lots of people that wanted to chat to them so I will just wait to watch more of their shows instead. Check out Peeta Planet on youtube.. a great concept on a new way to travel the globe… makes me want to go on more adventures!
As the event finished at 5.00pm and that is the worst possible time to try and get anywhere in the traffic, we decided to take a taxi the short distance to Grand Indonesia to wait for a more decent hour to get back home. We ended up at Cinema XXI to watch The Raid 2, and as it turns out, although it was shown at Cannes, this time it had no subtitles! This meant that I was subjected to way too much blood and violence without understanding the storyline at all.. so once Samudra woke in the cinema and the scenes and sounds were really not appropriate for a young baby, I got up and left and we waited outside in the lobby for Putra. The movie ended up going for just over 2 hours, so we had plenty of time to waste, and ran into some friends of mine I haven’t seen in a long time, as well as making new aquaintances. As It was also the Premiere of Jalanan at XXI we also saw people we met at Epicentrum who have been involved in the film and they asked if I was there to watch it again.. I wish.. but I am going to be patient and wait to see it again with Treen, hopefully soon.
I was starving and tired by the time Putra finally came out of the theatre so we made a quick stop on Level 3a beside the dancing fountain at Marche. YUM. I had forgotten how fresh and fantastic their food is as it has been years since Treen and I used to frequent their restaurant at Senayan City. So with a belly full of spaghetti and mushroom bread, it was off into a taxi and back home again with Samudra quickly falling asleep in my arms and me not far behind him.
I hope you had a beautiful day too wherever in the world you are.
Day 72: Bloggers and Peeta Planet crew. Happiness.
Day 72: Group shot! Happiness.
Day 72: The guys with some fellow bloggers/media. Happiness.
Day 72: Samudra’s not too sure… Happiness.
Day 72: … that’s better. Happiness.
Day 72: Meeting a new friend, Yenny, from www.yennyw.wordpress.com. Happiness.
Day 72: OMG!!! This creamy cheesecake was to die for! Happiness.
Day 72: How cool are these seating areas in the garden? Happiness.
Day 72: Berries! Happiness.
Day 72: Dinner at Marche. Happiness.
Good memory for us mewa! Ha! Hahahaa :p
Yes mewwwwwwwwwwa 🙂 wkwkwkwkwkwk
those cheesecake and berries look so yumm! :9 gonna try it this saturday at the jimbaran midplaza 🙂
Oh I hope you enjoyed it Lindry! I need to get back there, it’s been so long!