Someone once told me that I should consider Jakarta my second home since I come here so often...yes I am in Jakarta now...again...and yes it does feel like coming home...
I have many good friends here and I am comfortable walking the streets of Jakarta...you can get wonderful wonderful things here if you want to the streets...cheap street food, cheap hair wash that comes with wonderful head and back massage for only RM10...I mean where can you get that in Malaysia?
People are everywhere and they do everything...you can see kids play a flute next to your car window...or that old man who sells the daily newspaper at the traffic lights or that young man who has trained his monkeys perform a song and dance...also if you are stuck in traffic, you will never go hungry as there is always someone selling something...
Jakarta with all her charms have never bored me...you can always find something new to do here though I am somewhat a traditionalist and stick to things I enjoy like that head massage and eat the lovely meatball noodles...a native of Indonesia...and when you want to cross the road, don't bother with a zebra crossing, just stop traffic and cross...BE BOLD though!
I cannot say that everything is wonderful here, poverty walks the streets too...traffic is bad...when you have gone through Jakarta traffic, you will think twice before complaining about KL traffic again...
Jakarta will draw me back over and over again....with her lovely old charm which is hidden behind the big buildings in this lovely town...and everytime I come here I will always find something new to do...even though I am a traditionalist...well I guess that's life!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
New Reads
I wrote 3 years ago that I would try to read more and make more effort in this area of my life...I guess, the best results happen when we really don't try...
This year without any conscious effort, I manage to get more reading done than recent years. For some reason, my readings this year has been more Asian writers amd one Brazilian guy (no prize for guessing who)...but the point is sometimes it is things that we try the least that turns out the best..well I guess that's life....
This year without any conscious effort, I manage to get more reading done than recent years. For some reason, my readings this year has been more Asian writers amd one Brazilian guy (no prize for guessing who)...but the point is sometimes it is things that we try the least that turns out the best..well I guess that's life....
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Mary Had A Little Man
After a durian feast recently, maybe being high on durian or something, Aiden starts singing in the car...
Mary had a little man, little man, little man..and his fleece was white as snow..
I know for a fact he did not mean it that way and was just his pronunciation that gone wrong...or maybe he did mean Man...
But consider, what the nursery rhyme people were thinking when they wrote , Jack & Jill, went up the hill...then falling down and breaking his crown...
And what about Humpty Dumpty...the poor egg fell, and could not be put back together...how tragic..
And then that old lady that lived in a shoe with so many children, who lives in a shoe??
And that poor London bridge...which kept falling down...must not use that contractor!
I could go on but the list is never ending!
But I guess that is life...tragic nursery rhymes...to teach our young 'uns that life ain't easy..
Mary had a little man, little man, little man..and his fleece was white as snow..
I know for a fact he did not mean it that way and was just his pronunciation that gone wrong...or maybe he did mean Man...
But consider, what the nursery rhyme people were thinking when they wrote , Jack & Jill, went up the hill...then falling down and breaking his crown...
And what about Humpty Dumpty...the poor egg fell, and could not be put back together...how tragic..
And then that old lady that lived in a shoe with so many children, who lives in a shoe??
And that poor London bridge...which kept falling down...must not use that contractor!
I could go on but the list is never ending!
But I guess that is life...tragic nursery rhymes...to teach our young 'uns that life ain't easy..
Monday, January 26, 2009
New Year
Today is Chinese New Year and I have been away from the blogging world for a long time so I thought I would start blogging again...
In fact the only reason I stopped bloggong was because my last piece entitled M&M did not come through completely and as a new blogger I got frustrated with the technology but I guess I will be more patient and try again...hopefully this piece comes true.
Technology can be a bane some say but hey that's life!
In fact the only reason I stopped bloggong was because my last piece entitled M&M did not come through completely and as a new blogger I got frustrated with the technology but I guess I will be more patient and try again...hopefully this piece comes true.
Technology can be a bane some say but hey that's life!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Reading
Every year I decide that I want to increase my reading...I love reading but am a very slow reader. I read every line in a book and cannot just skip over pages. I love the words that jump out of the book...
Recently I noticed that my daughter has taken to reading as well...in her own language, she will pretend to read...but at her age I think it is great to see her enjoy the books that we got her. She is still at the stage of enjoying pictures and sometimes tearing up the books but when she decides that she is going to read, she will actually hold on to a book for some time.
I guess she also observes my husband and I and how we are constantly reading something...a magazine or the newspaper or even a book. I hope our love for reading will flow in her veins as well and as they say...the coconut fall very near the tree..and so we hope to cultivate such habits in our daughter...I guess that's life and we always hope for the best...
Recently I noticed that my daughter has taken to reading as well...in her own language, she will pretend to read...but at her age I think it is great to see her enjoy the books that we got her. She is still at the stage of enjoying pictures and sometimes tearing up the books but when she decides that she is going to read, she will actually hold on to a book for some time.
I guess she also observes my husband and I and how we are constantly reading something...a magazine or the newspaper or even a book. I hope our love for reading will flow in her veins as well and as they say...the coconut fall very near the tree..and so we hope to cultivate such habits in our daughter...I guess that's life and we always hope for the best...
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Walk Ways...
On a recent to Perth and Singapore with my family, I realized how easy it was to push my daughter around in her stroller in these two countries. I could easily take her in the trains and buses, park her stroller , then get down and continue pushing the stroller on the wide walk ways and pedestrian side walk.
I did not have to worry about steps as there are ready ramps and slopes that were easy to manage. We went everywhere with her and she enjoyed the sights and sound as much as we did.
When we reached a Zebra Crossing, cars would stop for us, but we being Malaysians and very cautious, we made sure the cars had stopped before we crossed.
Our country has come a long way, celebrating 50 years of independance and we do have a lot of land unlike Singapore, but our town planning is very family and tourist unfriendly. I am not able to push my daughter in her stroller here as our walk ways have a lot of obstructions...there are a lot of bumps and ramps are not available everywhere..
Even taking the train would be a challenge as there are some train stations that do not come with lifts. This a sad state of affairs, considering that we once had the tallest building in the world..why are we proud of all these when we cannot even get simple things right?
We have to get our priorities right and at the rate we are going, sometimes I wonder...well I guess that's life...
I did not have to worry about steps as there are ready ramps and slopes that were easy to manage. We went everywhere with her and she enjoyed the sights and sound as much as we did.
When we reached a Zebra Crossing, cars would stop for us, but we being Malaysians and very cautious, we made sure the cars had stopped before we crossed.
Our country has come a long way, celebrating 50 years of independance and we do have a lot of land unlike Singapore, but our town planning is very family and tourist unfriendly. I am not able to push my daughter in her stroller here as our walk ways have a lot of obstructions...there are a lot of bumps and ramps are not available everywhere..
Even taking the train would be a challenge as there are some train stations that do not come with lifts. This a sad state of affairs, considering that we once had the tallest building in the world..why are we proud of all these when we cannot even get simple things right?
We have to get our priorities right and at the rate we are going, sometimes I wonder...well I guess that's life...
Friday, December 15, 2006
Civic Mindedness
This morning the trains were delayed. I arrived on the platform at 8 am and was surprised to see that the platform was full. Thinking that this may be a temporary glitch, I decided to get into the line. Trains came but was full to the brim at the door and at long intervals so we waited. I think everytime a train came only one or two person could get in at each door thus making the wait a chore...
What made things even worse was that everyone in the train was concentration at the door instead of making their way into the train. From where I stood, I could see that there was still space inside the train, after a few trains passed by without me geting nearer to the door, I decided to ask people to move in further but all they did was give me a stone face.
All of us need to get to work and the least we can do is help each other out but I guess it is to each his own! This is the state of our people...
Usually it take me a mere 20 minutes from platform to platform but today it took me more than an hour...it could have been less if only people thought more of others and less of themselves...but I guess that's life!
What made things even worse was that everyone in the train was concentration at the door instead of making their way into the train. From where I stood, I could see that there was still space inside the train, after a few trains passed by without me geting nearer to the door, I decided to ask people to move in further but all they did was give me a stone face.
All of us need to get to work and the least we can do is help each other out but I guess it is to each his own! This is the state of our people...
Usually it take me a mere 20 minutes from platform to platform but today it took me more than an hour...it could have been less if only people thought more of others and less of themselves...but I guess that's life!
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