iCreativeLabs

iCreativeLabs, one among few WordPress theme developers in Indonesia, was invited to WordCamp Indonesia 2010 held in Jakarta. Since we are kick-ass WordPress ninjas, sure, we’d love to come.

iCreativelabs’ ninjas, however, do not live in Jakarta. And frankly, it was quite a long, dangerous journey we had to take.

The CSS ninja Zam left his Malang home on Thursday afternoon. By 16-hour of train ride he finally got himself into the biggest city in Indonesia for the first time ever.

To avoid getting lost in Jakarta, Zam stayed in Istiqlal grand mosque. iCreativelabs’ long-time bestfriend, Deon, picked him up at 4 p.m. and took him to Anggi Krisna’s parents’ home in Bintaro, Tangerang. It was our emergency basecamp, set up specially for WordCamp Indonesia 2010.

The content writing ninja Dian Ara, due to a tiny miss communication, had not admitted herself to WordCamp 2010 till the last minute. Thank God she could be there.

With the rest of ninjas: Anggi Krisna, Ibnu Triyono, Sulaeman and Budi, she took a car ride from Bandung on Friday 6 p.m. It was raining so hard that Anggi, behind the wheel, had to drive steadily at 60 km/h for the 160 km journey, and we arrived at Jakarta almost 3 hours later.

Too bad the web design ninja Momo could not make it. She had another event going on in her Solo home.

Meanwhile Setyagus Sucipto, the Project Management ninja who delivered a presentation at WordCamp Indonesia 2010, went to Jakarta in a separate way. His 4-year-old son asked to play with him that very Friday evening, and he surely could not refuse it.

At midnight Agus called the 24-hour Bandung-Jakarta travel agency X-Trans but no seat was available. Too exhausted after being a good dad, he woke up at 6 a.m. and missed the 5 a.m. ticket. He finally got a seat at 7 a.m (thanks, City Trans!).

Back to the car-riding ninjas, finding the venue itself turned out to be harder than designing a WordPress theme. We spent an hour driving 15 km (Bintaro – Depok) and almost missed the last turn–we did wish there were some guidance banners. Add another hour for the back home driving; we were stuck in a traffic jam as Jakmania–Jakarta’s Persija supporters–were convoying on main roads.

But our journey was not in vain. We met great WordPress warriors in WordCamp Indonesia 2010, including Beau Lebens from Automattic. We have learnt so much things about WordPress. It was such a golden, unforgettable moment in our life. Can’t wait to see you guys again next year!

*Even while this article was being written, Zam was taking his way back home by bus. No train seat was available, and he almost lose the bus ticket he had previously booked as the bus drivers were on a strike. *faint* A long 565 km journey to Malang, with thunderous rain and a collapsed huge tree forcing his train to stop a few hours, we could only pray that he’d get home safe and sound.