House Of Koenig » Indonesia

Dream Assignment

Matt — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:33:27 +0000

So I submitted a “Dream Assignment” idea for a contest called “Name Your Dream Assignment”. Basically it is a contest for photographers to find the most creative and inspiring photoshoot ideas out there. The winner gets $50K to make their dream shoot a reality. My dream assignment idea is to shoot the diminishing rainforests of Indonesia. Rainforests are being depleted at a rapid pace due to conversion to profitable palm plantations as well as illegal logging. But I don’t just want to photo document this situation, I’d like to expand the idea to a larger problem which are the impoverished people of the region who rely on the forests for the livelihood. Sure you can protect and save the forests but what about the people who live there? I believe that their story should be told as well and that would be the goal of my dream assignment idea. If you think it sounds like a good idea I could really use your vote. Click here to view more about my idea and cast your vote for me. Just click on the yellow “Pic It” button under the vote count tally. Thanks!

**Update*** I wanted to note that if you wanted to vote they require registration on the site. I guess that is to prevent vote rigging.

Bandung Longing

Matt — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:30:13 +0000

Recently I’ve really been missing Bandung. Last time I was there was 2005 so it’s been far too long. I miss the sights, the sounds and the smells. But what I really miss is the food. One of my favorite snacks is martabak, a sweet pancake like food with different toppings. My favorite is the martabak special with keju (cheese), pisang (banana), corn and drizzled with sweet condensed milk. This photo is of the place in Bandung my family and I always went when we got the craving for martabak (which was quite often). I’m not really sure of the location so if you live in Bandung and this place looks familiar drop me a line and let me know where it is so I can add update this post.

**UPDATE** Terima kasih to Eric Setiawan for letting me know that this martabak location is on Jalan Jenderal Sudirman in Pasar Andir area, near Gang Luna.

Es Kelapa

Matt — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:25:32 +0000

Taken around Bandung Indonesia, 2005. Young coconut ice drink.

International Calling Cards

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:55:13 +0000

We make a lot of calls to family back in Indonesia so having a good calling card is important. I remember the shock when I first started calling my wife in Indonesia and getting a phone bill for over $700. Thankfully my long distance company at the time put me into a global plan and put all my past calls at the lower global plan price. But now we find the cheaper method is calling cards. We’ve been buying a card called Continental from a company called Comfi. The rates are 7.5 cents per minute so for $20 we get about 4.5 hours of talking time. They offer other cards as well but many have maintenance fees that can add up quickly. Another card we have tried is called Jupiter, but we’ve had problems connecting to some cities in Indonesia. We’ve also used Skype for computer to computer calls and that has worked well and is free. But for calls to landline phones we’ve been sticking with the calling cards. I’d be interested to hear what others are using when calling Internationally.