I found the character ※ usually for “Notes”, “Example”, etc, emphazised text. It’s a kind of bullet/asterisk that being used in the Japanese and Korean text. These 2 cultures are indeed alike in certain things. But I don’t want to open the old wound between the 2 countries just like Trot and Enka music, so I leave the origin of this symbol unburied. Thanks to my teacher for introducing Trot.

They are used for the same purpose in these 2 countries. Called komejirushi (こめじるし/米印) in Japan, means ‘(uncooked) rice symbol’ (米 means rice); and called chomgopyo (참고표) in Korean, which simply means ‘Reference Mark’.

The same symbol, in Japan, can be found in the rice shops’ door. While in Korean, the symbol can be found in the billiard room, as it is also sometimes called danggujangpyo (당구장표), or ‘billiard-table mark’, represents 2 cues and the 4 balls. A japanese blog describing about Korean billiard have picture of this.

A good reference of this can be found at this site.

Anywhere I goes.. Body Shop, Faceshop, Missha, Skin Food, and you name it Korean beauty and fancy products, they are mostly have Eucalyptus smell. And a bit worse (at least for me), either only that one, or the others are quite similar, like Pine, Peppermint, Rosemary. All have that kind of smell. I just knew that, this is how the aromateraphy market works here. Maybe this can be our export commodities to Korea, we have lot of Eucalyptus products from Indonesia.

Well, my problem is, I don’t really like that smell, because we use it a lot for body, especially for warming the body, thus also used when you are sick. Therefore, I prefer sweet and fresh like Jasmine or Fruits smell. Thankfully I find 2 stores, I pick the one with cheaper price, only 3000 won. I pick Tea Tree, I love tea smell, but no tester here.. It’s ok I guess, we know how’s tea smell.

Unfortunateliii…. the tea smell turns out to be similar like that Eucalyptus!! Shoottt! Booof, there could be only 2 reasons: the manufacturer is dumb and never smell the fragrance of tea, or i should be more careful, because the tea smell here is not from the leaves, but from the branch, that’s why.. it’s a tea tree!! Stupid!!

Navigating Korean site using non-IE browser will always a trouble. Many Korean services employ a lot of Flash, and in the advanced version.. ActiveX. For you don’t know, ActiveX is a technology from Microsoft which one of the feature will enable rich application working under a browser (thus Microsoft Internet Explorer). So, it’s not possible to use your favorite browser to access sites such as digital map, including bus route as I attached there (Well, you’re lucky if it’s IE). If you insist to use one, you better still have IE readied on your hand. Mac user? forget it.

One of the localized product is the word processor application. A lot of documents are using .hwp extension. This is quite troublesome if you don’t have the software, Hangul Word Processor (HWP). I do also have the same problem. After some googling with many dead links and obsolete tips, the most reliable is from the HWP wikipedia link, which leads to the up-to-date Hangul Viewer at this time: Hangul Viewer 2007 (click the floppy disk icon for download). Enough for viewing, though cannot edit or save (as).

Edit: It’s a little bit shitty however, as a closed and free application, it’s not allowed us to do Copy (Ctrl+C)!! Some tricks will do however, but still shitty.

Gudang Gambar - Antasari, South Jakarta.

In case you miss the other studios, check the more complete list here. My favorite would still Jakarta Do Yoga (JDY) or Anahata, as they are offering quite a full schedule in a week, so I could drop by almost at anytime in the evening (or morning), and just join any yoga class. Notably JDY, consistently has classes at early in the morning and twice in the evening. Well, of course also mostly I’m around Sudirman-Thamrin too :P

Katy Appleton - appleyoga.com

Well, not all yogis love this kind of yoga. Some people are more physical and tend to avoid those kind of yoga, including such as Kundalini Yoga, a yoga practice concern with opening the kundalini energy.

In the end, there are so many yoga practices. Different teachers which infusing mix of styles will result in a new way of yoga. You could find branches like Yoga For Men (which in India most of them are men), Shaolin Yoga, or like Anusara Yoga which combined Vinyasa and Iyengar.

For me, I just enjoy flowing with the movement, and build up more strength and flexibility to be able to do more yoga pose challenges. For sure as yoga practitioners, we will find a great variety of yoga practices. So I will just try and try, experience, and will attend the kind of Katy Appleton’s yoga practice :) It is fun.. because it’s different, and opening a new mind :) Especially great with a great teachers such as Katy :)

Which are yours?

Wheel Pose (source: Dougal Waters - Getty Images)

I do really into Yoga for 2+ months now. This month I’m getting busier than before, so I’m taking a break from my monthly Yoga. Well, not entirely a break, few days ago I purchased 10 sessions of Yoga in one of the studio. It will last for 3 months, so it’s safe if I’m busy, and 50% price anyway, got the voucher.

In these 2 months I do explore some of the Yoga corners in Jakarta, maybe not into the tiniest studio, but at least got the overview of Yoga stuff in Jakarta and overall.

So, where to Yoga then?

Gym

Basically, people can found Yoga easily at the major gyms, like Celebrity Fitness, Fitness First (not called Yoga here, it’s called Flow: Gentle Flow, Dynamic Flow, etc), Golds Gym. They are everywhere, and have a growing interest on Yoga. They have more classes and facilities for Yoga on their newer gym. Even though yoga at the gyms considered basic, but they offer a very good introduction to Yoga, so many classes in a week, many variations to try, and cheaper! Even some of the instructors are actually good. Started from Rp. 300.000 until average maybe at Rp 500.000 per month, you already got them all, plus gym facilities and other classes as bonuses.

Studio!

For many Yoga enthusiasts, those gyms are not enough. They would prefer studios, a special place for practicing Yoga, with longer sessions, certified yoga instructors, more focus, more technique and variations, and get into the community. Some of the places are:

Those studios offer a session started from Rp.100.000 (maybe more now), with monthly averaged about Rp. 1 mio. They usually have package like certain number of sessions, weekly or monthly.

If you have more budget to learn Yoga, then go into these studios, you got better instructors for a better foundations. And the community helps you to love Yoga better.

I founded that Anahata and Jakarta Do Yoga quite effective for working people along Sudirman Thamrin. They have consistent classes until 7-8 pm. Some other places lack of night class. While I do also not finished exploring these studios just yet. Just give me your opinions about them :)

Workshop

For further level of Yoga, usually there are workshops being held in Jakarta about 10-20 times in a year. These workshops are inviting experienced teacher in many style of Yoga, foreign and certified local. Usually held by the studios mentioned above, or from Bali Yoga studios. The class is started from Rp. 300.000 to millions, depends on the session hour, package, and level. Some Teacher Trainings ranged from 2-3 mio until 6-7 mio rupiahs for a few days. Just check their websites or facebook groups, they usually post the announcement there.

JNICC (Indian Cultural Center)

Well, the first place to learn Yoga, when no other studio ever exist, was actually here. Unfortunately, the current yoga instructor is not good. Talking with a guy from JNICC, they tell me about diminishing members of the yoga class, few are able to complete the whole program, since the new instructor is coming.

I was there for several time. It’s cheap! Only Rp.450.000 for 3 months for beginner. The teaching style is soo slow. We spent about 3-4 weeks just for warming up! Maybe 2 weeks just for a half Sun Salutation (one of the main Yoga sequence)!! Compare to other places, you will do a full Sun Salutation in just the first 15 minutes of your Yoga exercise. I was trying to keep up, I do understand the concept behind, to strengthen the concept before doing the practice. For me, I used it to strengthen my theory and foundation. But I did give up after 2 months, in a way, I don’t like the teaching style, in other way, the class held at 5 pm, really hard to catch up the class. I gave up.

In my opinion, if you are a beginner, taste the yoga movement somewhere else. Too slow here, hardly taste the real yoga fun and challenge. If you want strengthen the theory, it’s not that bad, and cheap..

Further outside Jakarta

Further.. you should try Bali studios. They offer more variation, better instructors (as somehow many Yoga teachers flocking there, could be one of the Yoga center in the world), and cheaper! Yoga Barn in Ubud will have a session for only Rp 60.000, half of Jakarta price.

Bali held a few Yoga festivals in a year, it’s quite fun to get many workshops by world class Yoga teachers in Bali.

Or you could try exploring India, the source of Yoga.. Pune, Mysore, and many other places.

Others

And I know there are still few more studios around which I cannot know them all, smaller, amateurs, or professionals. In the hotels, privates, or in the offices.

Orrrr…. you could tell me, where to Yoga? Because anyway I just started 2+ months ago to be serious with Yoga. I would love to hear and try and practice together :) It’s a hellotsofun and great to meet Yoga people, practice and being teached :)

(dw).