Car accident...

It's been a long time since last time I wrote in my blogs. Well, this is because in the past few weeks there is an event that change my life direction towards this happening. What is that? You will find out in just a moment.

It happened on September 27th, 2008. That was the days when I (supposedly) began to enjoy a long holidays. I woke up very late in the daylight (well, every holiday always turn me to a lazybone, no wonder :P) and I realized that I had to go back to my hometown that day as promised to my mom. So then I prepared myself. Ate decent and proper meals and packed my bags with things and then hurriedly moved on to the train station.

I was in bad luck again. (Hey, have I told you that this year I had many bad lucks?) The tickets were all sold out. So I must make a decision fast, either to go to bus station and try my luck again there, or take an offer to ride unregistered car travel service easily found on train station. Because at that time, it was getting dark outside and moreover, I carried all my things - which were very heavy, then I conclude to one decision -> Take the unregistered car travel.

It will cost me 70 thousand rupiahs (~ 7 dollars) which is more expensive than to take bus or train, but for a long pleasantful holidays, I didn't think much about it ;). Before we go, the driver seemed like he ill prepare because we must wait for another passenger who he said taking a dinner first. It was an old man, who turned out to be a public transportation driver.

At first the ride seemed okay. The musics was loud, though it was not enjoyable to listen to because of cheap automotive speaker he used. And the air conditioner was very nice. We didn't feel hot at all although there are eight people in the car. At then at one point, the old man - the public transportation driver sat beside me - warned the driver that he felt something loose. He hinted about somethings in the car and urged the driver to check them out. So the driver stopped the car at nearest checkpoint for quick check. He only examined them very fast and said that everything were okay.

So the journey was continued but not for long. In the km 63 at Cipularang highway, suddenly I feel a shock. The car whose speed 70 km/hour was then out of control. It swayed to the right and left before the driver managed to stop it at road shoulder. Fortunately, the car was not turned upside down, so none of use had any serious wound. I noticed I only got bump on my back and some scratches in my legs. Nevermind about the wound, the one I was worry about was how we could continue the trip safely.

The one which I thought was tire explotion turned out to be tire loose. When I saw that incident with my bare eyes, my first comment was it very unfortunate for me not to bring any cameras at that time otherwise I could have shot and documented the accident for memory :P. I wanted to laugh, but just couldn't. Anyway, we'd trapped between Bandung and Jakarta. So in short, we all decided to take a bus afterwards. We encouraged ourselves to stop the bus and fortunately one of the bus was willing to stop and carried us.

It was very hectic in the bus, but noone minded that. Everyone was thinking howto be safe and able to be with their family as soon as possible because it had already near midnight at that time. I myself, was able to come home at midnight. Feeling very exhausted, I realize my back felt hurt. So in the next days to come, I spent time on bed, lying because it felt hurt to shake my back. I didn't go to the doctor instantly because at that time I didn't think that was necessary.

Three years ago, I had incident on basketball field which prevented me to walk normally for a month and gave me pain in my back for almost two years, but I managed to go through that without seeing any doctors. I think this time the incident was better that three years ago, because at least I can still walk even feeling hurt. So when the holiday was over, I went to work at my office as usual.

But soon I realize there was something wrong with my back. More serious than I felt after the accident happened in instant. I felt pain when I sat and walked. The only one position which relieved me from pain was lying down. Maybe that's why I didn't feel the pain mostly when I'm still in holiday, because at that time, I managed to spend almost entire days by lying in my bed. But going to office and enduring daily activities is a different story. The pain was growing stronger and stronger.

The peak was last Tuesday, when I could not wake up at all without using my hand 100%. It was really painful to change any position from lying down to sit ot stand up. After spending three days with that condition without significant improvement, then I decided to go back to my hometown for treatment. The trip was really painful but I managed to kill the pain by using koyo cabe.

The first place I go for my treatment was traditional massage as suggested by my mom. It was really short and successfully tighten my loose ankle (I had broken ankle several times in the past) but not cured my back pain 100%. But at least the pain I felt when walking was decreasing. So then I decided to go for physiciatrist. I went there two times and the doctor said I need to rest for a full weeks. So here I am, ended up lying in my bed again, hoping this will be recovered as soon as possible. The good side of this story is I have much times to write in my blogs again :)...

Mini passenger car with mini price : Chery

Have you heard about Chery?

Chery is the car brand from China which is popular there. In mainland China, Chery is no 2 of most car sold last year. Not disappointing for a brand which I've never heard before :P...

But Chery is not popular without any reason. The manufacturer claims that Chery is made from fine quality material. At least, we can say that the material is standard compliant. Chery also has EuroII certification. That means this car produces very low emission gas. This is very nice as we have to preserve our environment :)

In Indonesia, the cheapest Chery, Chery SX, is sold at Rp 75.150.000,- (or approx US$8000). With that amount of money, you will have :

• Air Conditioned
• Power steering
• Power window
• Auto close window
• Central lock
• Keyless entry
• Anti theft system
• Electric mirror
• Radio tape
• Fog lamp (front and rear)
• Rear wiper
• Velg standar
• Side skirt
• Rear spoiler
• High mount stop lamp
• 4 (four) safety belts
  

With its tiny cute looking, is Chery worth to be bought?
I won't give you any suggestion as I'm not gurus in automotive field ;).
Please decide yourself....

Avega, the most affordable sedan

If you live in Indonesia and you're tight on budget but have a dream of having your own sedan, then you may consider to buy Hyundai Avega as your private car. Recently, when I read newspaper, my eyes stopped at Avega's advertisement. It emphasizes on how valuable this car as its price starts from Rp 90.25 million (below US$10000).

For many Indonesian people, maybe this sedan is the cheapest one since Timor, a national car promoted by Soeharto's son in his era. But will it hit the market greatly? Indonesia is the country which has characteristic as price sensitive. This means that many Indonesian people often neglect the quality and choose the cheapest price in buying their needs. So because of its affordable price, this car has a great opportunity to be popular.

But if we take a look at the specification, is this car really worth it? I'm not an car technician nor an expert in reviewing a car, so I can only list the specification I got from the newspaper ;).

Here are what we will get from Avega :

1. 1500 cc - 4 cylinder engine
2. Compliant with Euro II standard (that means this sedan is environment friendly)
3. Power steering (for easy driving)
4. Multipoint Injection (MPI)
5. CD MP3 audio (for type GL and SG only)
6. Flexible seat arrangement
7. Air conditioner with heater

One thing that I can comment on is in Indonesia there is absolutely no need of heater since Indonesia is a tropical country. The weather here is very hot in the spring and warm in the summer ;). The rest, hmm, maybe it's better to visit hyundai showroom in your city so you will be able to inspect the car more thoroughly. Agree ?