When I returned to Hong Kong, it was 1993. Although Hong Kong was one of the earliest cities to provide Internet services, it began to be commonly used by the public in 1995. After I returned to Hong Kong, I only had the option of correspondence with friends in Indonesia, which sometimes took almost 1 month to arrive at a friend's house. The other way was interlocal, but at that time interlocal was very expensive at HK$10 per minute; especially with our financial situation at that time, so I only talked to them for no more than 3 minutes each time.

A phone card that I usually bought for interlocal friends in Indonesia in 1994-1996.

Dad bought me my first computer in 1995

Although our family's finances were not so good, my father bought me a computer in 1995. At that time, computers were very expensive items, and my father used HK$10,000 to buy it so that I could learn computers because he felt computer science was important for my future. Therefore, I began to like and continue to deepen computer science and eventually became the head of IT (Information Technology) at an American company in Hong Kong.

Perhaps I was one of the first groups to use the Internet in Hong Kong. Around the beginning of 1996, an internet service provider called ABC Net began operating in Hong Kong. At that time, they started issuing Internet packages on a prepaid basis; then I went to buy a modem that was connected to a telephone socket and ABC Net credit to learn how to use the internet. The internet speed at that time was only 28.8K, and it took about 30 minutes to download an MP3 song.

Learn to use email once you have internet access

Since 1995, I started trying to use email, but at that time none of the Indonesian friends I was still in contact with were using the internet, so I often tried to look at the personal websites of foreigners through Yahoo and then make friends with them via email. At that time, the internet was not popular, so it was very safe to make friends through the internet. There were even some foreign friends I knew at that time who are still good friends with me to this day.

Then in 1996, there began to be some Indonesian friends who used email, and we started to communicate often by email. At that time I also got acquainted with some new friends from Indonesia. Almost every day, I always wrote them an email.

The type of 28.8K modem I used in 1995 for internet access via telephone cables.

Trying the first phone software over the internet with Indonesian friends

In early 1996, an American company released the first software that could communicate by voice over the internet called Freetel, so I immediately installed it and also taught some friends in Indonesia how to use it. Although it was often disconnected and sometimes unclear, for that time we were very satisfied.

Since 1996, I have started to actively communicate with friends in Indonesia again, and this is the reason why until now my Indonesian is still fluent.

Since then, I have always tried to use the latest technology that is free or affordable to communicate with friends in Indonesia.

The software I used to communicate with Indonesian friends in 1996.

My family and I in 1995.

In the next article, I will tell you about when I used part of my salary to buy my first professional camera and started seriously studying photography.