Manado Getaway #1: Bunaken

Hello! I just came back from a weekend getaway last week to Manado, North Sulawesi and I had some really great time exploring the beauties inside of it. The vacation is for 2 days and 3 nights, spending a day for exploring some beautiful islands such as Bunaken, and spending the next day exploring the city and some other regions such as Tomohon and Minahasa. This post will talk about the first day I had in Bunaken, that is well known worldwide for its beautiful diving site.

I bought myself an action camera (some kind of Go Pro camera) especially for this Manado trip (and hopefully will use it for other trips in the future). The camera worked perfectly fine and the result is quite legit, especially for the underwater shots.

I made a video using the camera and I hope this will look pleasing to you.

My mom took this photo while on a ship to the island. Isn't this beautiful?

Chilling around at Bunaken's nearest island, Siladen.

Our breakfast, Manadonese Nasi Kuning.

Meet the crew: Dad - Me - Mom - My brother, Duff.

Around Bunaken Island. It's an incredibly nice place for a weekend getaway.

Before snorkeling. I should do a bun for my hair.

Some underwater shots.

Bunaken is really beautiful. It took me around a half of hour from Manado to get there with a small ship. The island's providing us some things needed for snorkeling such as flippers, goggles, and swimsuits. The diving site is a steep, underwater cliff with thousands of corals and reefs attached to it. It was a really great experience I had there, but don't forget to be careful to not touching or grabbing the corals. I got some cuts while diving (I was so afraid a shark would come near us because of my blood! Hahaha) on my arms and legs. 

I really wish to dive here, but doing so requires diving certifications and some training. 

Of course, I'll be back to Bunaken... After I got my diving license. Hehehe.

Events: FGD Expo & Popcon Asia 2015

Calling all graphic designers and pop culture enthusiasts! Last weekend my friend (Valerie and Jessica) and I went to Jakarta Convention Center to attend FGD Expo 2015 and Popcon 2015. It took approximately 1 and a half hour from Tangerang to Senayan (there's a massive traffic jam across the highway, but luckily my friend Val knew the alternative way to get there).

We went to FGD Expo first. We filled a form in order to enter the building and in return we got a nametag with a barcode on it so we can come back inside every time we came out without paying again. Pretty neat, huh? So, after we managed to do the above things, we finally got into the expo and basically, it was a really good expo. There are lots of printing booths and they mostly sell printer, papers, and other gizmos. I did learn about them in uni, but it was a nice moment to learn them much more in an event like that. A gold indigo printer? Amazing. An old pressing machine? So much more amazing.

We visited some interesting booths. First, we headed to ADGI booth and saw a lot of wonderful showcases such as books, posters, and packagings. They sold some pretty interesting merchandises too. For this booth, I laid my eyes upon a funny book titled: Desain Grafis, Deadline, Doa by . It's a prayer compilation that mostly about graphic designer's problem when it's time to face the clients. I just... Really want to shove that book hardly to some annoying clients so they can understand us... A bit more. Hehehe.

The next booth we went to is DGI, and this time they opened their first graphic design museum in Indonesia. They displayed some precious artworks made by some graphic design pioneers in Indonesia. And... We decided to take a picture in front of one of many displays and uploaded it in instagram, as a part of an instagram competition (we didn't win tho).

Introducing the crews: Valerie Wirjaatmadja - Claudia Novreica - Jessica Melita in front of the late Pak Yongky Safanayong.

Next, we headed to the Japan Foundation booth, where they displayed some works from ASPAC, a packaging competition which were held last year (I participated with my friend Reta, but didn't make it to the final, hehehe). Here are some snaps that Val took:

Introducing one of the Indonesia's top 10 chocolate packaging design by a fellow, Evan.

This one's by one of our crew today, Jessica! And her partner Gaby!

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After spending some times at FGD Expo, we decided to go ahead to Popcon 2015, which was located next two doors from FGD Expo. The entrance was epic, like a portal that lead us to the outer space and then we feel that we arrived to the planet that displayed A-Z related to the pop culture. The event itself was smaller than FGD Expo, but we still felt the hype and excitement came from every corner of the room. Here are some snaps that we took at the event:

An amazing booth by Fabula, an illustration agency. It displayed works from renowned Indonesian illustrators such as Diela Maharanie, Renata Owen, Resatio, Emte, and many more!

There are LOTS of Studio Ghibli fanarts dedicated to this amazing animation studio in Popcon 2015. This was one of them and it was sold as a sketchbook.

Look at this preciouses! I always loved genuine leather goods, especially handmade one. This is a booth from a leather brand from Yogyakarta (Yogya is leather heaven!) that sold sketchbooks, wallets, and bracelets. 

Finally had the chance to meet two of my favorite illustrators, Renata Owen and Elfandiary! I managed to purchase their artworks also. See my haul section below!

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Alright, it's time to show up my haul for Popcon 2015! A little bit "kalap" because of purchasing too much stuffs, but it's okay anyway. They are nice and I loved it so much!

Some artbooks that I purchased: A Studio Ghibli fanart by Loco Creative, Elfandiary's artbook, and artbook by David Adhinarya Lojaya and Stephen Putra. 

                       

A closer look to Studio Ghibli's Art Tribute by Loco Creative, featuring my favorite two.

A closer look to Elfandiary's artbook. I love on how he interpreted some famous animes and gave it his own touch. Beautiful.

A closer look for Stephen Putra and David Lojaya's artbook.

Bought this Renata Owen's sketchbook. I really love on how she use Indonesia's culture and art in most of her artworks.

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Well, that was a quite long post, huh? I hope you enjoy reading this just like I enjoy writing it. Until next time, and maybe next events? Hehehe. See ya!