I Am Gifted program of Adam Khoo Learning Technology

Holding her medal (>_<)

Hello everyone. I am writing this post on my hotel’ bed (ehm…so comfy) in Bandung while the girls are having their swimming outside. I had this urge to write about the camp that my eldest just went thru and completed last night. It is I Am Gifted (IAG) program, one of the most distinguished and well-seek program from Adam Khoo Learning Technology – or AKLT in short (please google it if you wanna know more about AKLT or IAG or you can PM me). Again – I better make a disclaimer first – that I have no business nor working relationship with AKLT and I am not paid to write about this. This post is purely my personal review of the program, which I sincerely wish could provide an insight to all of you.

Breaking her fears' board

In brief, IAG program is a 4-day program run twice a year (in June and Dec) for children from 9 to 19years old (9 – 13years old for junior camp while 14 – 19years old for the senior one). The program will empower the participant with school mastery (study techniques on how to speed reading, super memory, whole brain notes making, and many more), personal mastery (the positive and empowering mindset) as well as relationship mastery (which focuses on better communication skill with the parents, peers, and others). The one my girl joined was started June 19^th until yesterday, June 22^nd, in Grand Pasundan – Bandung.

The crowd on graduation night

Initially, I was very skeptical. Well, my girl was very shy and introvert, and this would be her first time spending 4days alone (ok – not basically alone but without us, her family). Since I normally assist and nag her all the time, so I was pretty worry (I guessed – parents were entitled to be worry at this point of time). So I spent a night before, telling her what she should do and what’s not. Then we dropped her off on last Thursday at AKLT Jakarta office (they went to Bandung by bus). Every hour, we (me and my hubby) stared at our mobile, either to check the live update of the camp from twitter or to check any messages from her.

So it was a bit surprised to get her first message at 11.30pm on the first night after the day session was completed. We barely exchanged few sentences since it was quite late and I thought she was tired too. She replied our message at 12am on the second night and 1.30am on the third night phewww! And yesterday we went to Bandung to pick her up after the camp. Before the graduation, we had roughly 2hours session with Adam Khoo, sharing to all of us what they have went thru in the camp and what should be changed to keep the positive attitude going.

So…all of you probably have been guessing…did my girl change? When we picked her up, the first thing that I noticed was she kept her backpack and tote bag to herself – and it was quite heavy (for the last 7 years, she used to give me her bags every time I pick her up either from school or from her tution classes). Then she told me that she wanted to go to the toilet. I just moved 2 steps (coz I knew she normally wanted me to accompany her) when she suddenly told me, “It’s ok mam. I know the place. I can go by myself”. Again I was left jaw-dropping there before retreating to my husband side and told him about this (while grinning ear to ear LOL). During our drive from the camp’ hotel to our hotel, she told us about how she and her roommates discuss together about the turns to take the small unfavorable extra bed. She also told us about her activity, the reason why she woke up at 6am every morning (she said that there was a consequence to come late – consequence was the least expected word that I expected to hear from her wkwkwkw). She also tidied up her dirty clothes by herself last night before I had a chance to nag and push her to do it. Not to mention, she now do her study and chores without so much complaining…wow…speechless   (>.<)

I know…some of you might say that it’s just post-camp-effect or that it was just small changes. But many said that small changes lead to big changes. And I realized that our role as parents is getting more vital now. We have to provide empowering environment at home that nurture her-continuous-change. Jia you for all of us

Cilacap, from the old fortress to virgin white beach

Teluk Penyu beach

Hi everyone...how are you doing? Are you having fun? School holiday is started and for some of you who is still wondering what to do to fill the holiday, then why don’t you drive around like us? We just completed our 12days roadtrip around Java (yay…checked one of our bucket list). We visited roughly 12 tourist attractions, 4 awesome beaches, and of course lotsa FUN. Totally awesome  :-)  Actually the roadtrip this time was a challenge, an answer to questions from some of my friends and family. Most of them asked me for any recommendation for family fun holiday within certain budget. Well, our total expense for this roadtrip was only 20-25% from our normal overseas holiday budget…so it is surely affordable. And the most important of all, we enjoyed it. Whether playing all day at amusement parks, strolling on virgin beach, spending a lazy day around the hotel, or simply gotten lost in the middle of nowhere…yet we had fun, excitement and I bet…you wished you were there with us too ha ha ha.

Lobby of Hotel Dafam

Let me recall our roadtrip, which was started at Dusun Bambu – Lembang (have you read this one?). Next on our destination was Cilacap. My husband said that he never been there at all and I couldn’t name a single thing about Cilacap. Geez…I even couldn’t point the city on blind map (but now if you challenge me, I can ha ha ha bring it on). So I was totally fine when my husband decided to explore Cilacap on our route to Purwokerto from Tasikmalaya. Again, our roadtrip had no fixed plan and we practically chose our next destination a day before or even in the morning of the same day. On some day, we even bought our hotel voucher on last minutes (10am buying for 2pm check in wkwkwk…lucky we have never gotten rejected or had problem during check in). Then we quickly browsed the hotels around Cilacap, which was very limited ha ha ha. We had tough time choosing the one from very few and at the end, we bought Hotel Dafam.

The small room

It was about 2hours drive from Tasikmalaya, with fine smooth road. We arrived and checked in at Hotel Dafam, which was an older version physically than the one we saw on the pics wkwkwk. The location was strategic, about 5mins walking distance from hypermarket and 5mins drive from the beach. This 2storey hotel was big but the room was much smaller than the standard size that we normally use. We were practically bumped into each other inside the room and I scratched myself a lot (most of its furniture has sharp edges hufff). From the interior, I guessed it wasn’t new hotel, some of the wood furniture were chipped off and most corner of the room was dusty and dirty. The amenities was very basic, no hairdrier nor fridge found inside...we even didn’t have closet to put our clothes. Though basic and small, they have swimming pool, free fast wifi (yay…lets download monster high movies for the girls), karaoke on the next adjacent building, and several pool tables for those who wish to play a game or two.

The resto for breakfast

Although the city was not as famous as other big cities, Cilacap which was located on the southern part of west Java offered some interesting attractions. Most of the attractions were centralized on the Teluk Penyu beach. To enter the beach area, we needed to pay IDR 5k per pax. This famous beach has long beachline with strong wave. I love its charcoal soft sand that sinks your feet whenever you step on it. It felt so soft and warm (especially if you visit it in the afternoon). Although we can’t catch the sunset here but spending a lazy noon afternoon with seaside breeze here was truly enjoyable. Its beachline was dotted with small fisherman boats either docking or floating around, visitors who were busy taking some selfie pic, while the locals were either selling stuff or playing ball. Some fishermen were seen hauling their nets and boat motor machine home. If you are hungry, you can always have your meal either at the beach shacks or seafood stalls along the beach.

Docking fisherman boat

Satisfied yourself with the beach, head across of the beach toward Benteng Pendem. A historical place which was used as fortress during the independence war. The entrance ticket was IDR 5k per pax. Inside, we can see the ruins of the fortress walls, the prison, clinic, ammunition area as well as the barracks. Some of the ruins can be entered while the others were blocked due to safety reason. It was pretty spooky with its damp musty air (especially inside the tunnels), moss covered wall and blocked sunlight. I was a bit scared taking pics there...though it was a lovely place but I couldn’t shake off the creepy feeling of it.

Inside Benteng Pendem

Then on the next day, after the routine swimming sessions for my girls, we again headed out to Teluk Penyu beach. But this time, we planned to visit Nusa Kambangan island. After browsing and asking several persons, we found out that there were 2 ways to visit the Indonesia' infamous Alcatraz. The first was using the fisherman boat however we could only visit the eastern part of the island. The fare can be bargained with the owner of the boat, from IDR 15k to IDR 30k (depending on your bargaining skill and the number of people going - 1 boat can fit about 10people). It took around 5mins to go across when the sea is calm. The second way was obtaining the special permit from the goverment (they need to keep track of people visiting the island) and we can bring our own car too. The time needed was a bit longer since they are using a big ferryboat. Though the permit was quite expensive, but we can visit the restricted area which was used as the prison clusters. Since we didn’t have time to procure the permit, we used the small boat with IDR 20k per pax. The boat ride at first was a bit bumpy but after passing the wavy shoreline, the sea trip was enjoyable (though the sun was scorching - we didn’t get the seats with tent hiks). 

The barrack tunnels

We were dropped off at a very humble port (if u could call it a port). The view was absolutely stunning...greyish sand with seashells scattered around (my girls quickly filled her pocket up with those small shells - ignoring the wave that wet her short pants). Guarding the beach was rocky cliffs and dense forest at the back. It was on par with Phi phi island…truly! After taking some pics, we entered the island with another extra fee of IDR 5k per pax. You could explore the island (only the eastern part) by walking or using 'odong-odong', a modified vehicle at IDR 10k per pax for return trip. The trip using odong2 was like a roller coaster ride, you gotta hold on tight since the road wasn’t asphalt, it was merely a forest trail. The trip was short, we were alighted in front of the main gate of Portuguese-built fort.

Our 'cruise'

The fort itself was almost in ruin, with cracked wall covered with moss, plants, graffiti and other dirt that couldn’t be explained (and I didn’t wanna know too wkwkwk). Our guide showed us the trails into the pitch dark tunnel (lucky my powerbank has flashlight feature). It was totally dark (we moved cautiously thru the damaged flight of stairs) and I was too scared to touch the walls (oh please…it was eeuuwww).  The guide explained how the tunnels connecting with each other and its function and I didn’t hear any of them. I was too focus – on nothing (especially when the guide started to tell us story about the ghost – OMG…I put my mind on beautiful white beach…white sands…serenity LOL).

In front of the Portuguese' fort

Afterward, he led us to the perfect white beach thru a quite steep forest trail. But when you reached there, you just forgot about the spooky damp fortress or the effort exercised to follow the trail. The azure sea washed cold our feet…felt like it washed away our exhaustion. Small shells and coral flakes were cracking under our feet. Rocky cliff was on our right (mind your step coz some of it were pretty sharp) with beachline that stretched to the forest on the left. Few humble shacks were erected hastily with very basic menus (instant noodles, tempe mendoan and some cold drinks). Few broken mats were placed on the shaded part for the buyers. All those things just reminded me how virgin this place was. Just let me kindly remind you, the toilet (if I could call it toilet) was very basic too (trust me – basic was a very nice word for it). It was built using bamboo slats and tarpaulin, with height of 150cm (even I – the petite one couldn’t stand straight inside) and an area less than 1m square. You should bring your own water from outside (just pay IDR2k for the attendant to help you). The door was latched using rubber band (meaning: somebody can open the door when you are doing your business there) and another 2 extra holes right in front of you when you crouched down. Perfect wasn’t it LOL. Don’t tell me that I didn’t warned you ha ha ha.

The lighted tunnel

A glimpse of the beach from the fort

Yes...you should be here   :-)