Lunching with friends

These are photos taken from a recent lunch gathering with my friends. Along with me, there were my sister, Elby and Mani. We missed Nita and Ufi this time, one was busy in school, learning to be a beautician, the latter was busy babysitting the toddler of our beautician to be haha. Oh well, i hope they will turn up on our next gathering ;)

I was wondering why Mani insisted to proceed with the luncheon on that particular day, or i should say date, even though she knows two of the six ladies in our group weren't able to make it. It turned out that it was the first  anniversary of Mani's dad passing. May his soul rest in peace.

That was why she needed us on that day. I am glad that we laughed a lot in that aftenoon, and hopefully our presence lifted up her spirit, somehow. 

Anyway, we went to Ananda Bhavan vegetarian restaurant at Tekka Market. The food was awesome! We had mini briyanni meal, a full briyanni meal, a garlic butter naan meal and mini poori meal.To be honest...I was very full by three quarter of the meal time...but there was still food on the table! I exceeded my lentils quota on that day...i ended up having very 'windy' tummy for the rest of the day...if you know what i mean :P

So much food went into my tummy!
I felt like a gluttony (facepalm).
Promised myself to go easy with dinner
But the guilt linger
Haha
No regret, after all
This...was for a good cause :P

Post lunch, we ventured Tekka Market. If you havent been to this market yet, then you should go now! You have been missing all good fresh vegetables...of all kinds. The market is located right in the heart of Little India. It is a very comprehensive market, where most people go if they want to find: tapioca leaves, petai (Parkia speciosa), jengkol (Archidendron pauciflorum), leunca (Solanum nigrum), all are Indonesian favourites! You can even buy brotowali (Tinospora crispa) which is known for its medicinal benefit, as well as its bitter taste haha! Oh btw...the second floor of this tekka market is dedicated for the apa and ama selling sarees, punjab dress, and all of its accessories! The experience of going to Tekka Market will last forever, the sight, the smell, they will definitely stick to your memory!

Elby wanted to get kemangi leaves. Kemangi is Indonesian version of basil leaves. This very aromatic leaves are usually added to various dishes, such as pepes ikan (steamed fish in banana leaves), or eaten raw as salad with very spicy sambal. Yum. She bought one bunch of the leaves and gave half of that to me, thank you Elby. So...I ended up buying banana leaves, for no apparent reason haha.

We then make a route to a shop selling Indian sweet desserts such as jalebi and barfi for my mum. Last stop of the day was a provision shop selling all kind of things from pooja flowers to shampoo. We were there because Mani wanted to buy a special shampoo which is actually somekind of haena. She claimed that the shampoo dye her hair black nicely. And since it is made of all natural ingredients, it is safe to use. Of course I bought one box of this shampoo for my hubby. He desperately needs it, been trying all sort of ways to make himself look 'younger' (read: no grey hair) haha. Sounds very vain eh? I don't know...well, to me he looks better with silvery hair though but lets make the man happy, okay? Hope this treatment works.

 

Okay...I will be coming back to little India, with a different friend, in two days time. Will bring her to this vegetarian restaurant. I hope she likes the food, keep my fingers crossed.

What's on at Jendela

It is the first day of school holiday. We went to Jendela gallery at the Esplanade to enjoy the exhibition.

It is called The Stage: Alive in Motion, by three Yogyakarta-based Indonesian artists: Octo Cornelius, Iwan Efendi and Doni Maulistya.


The installation is made up of various everyday materials, bamboo, woods, pipes, some gambang (gamelan) bars, violin bows and strings and a tabla :)

The artists invite audience to come forward and try to create sound or music out of their arts. It is a very hands-on installation, and audience, especially kids will definitely enjoy manipulating them :)



Unfortunately, some exhibits are quite delicate and not so sturdy, resulting malfunction on some of them. A pity.





The exhibition is on till 31 March 2013, if you are interested to check it out :) admission free.

- Posted from my iPhone

SEKILAS MUSEUM di SINGAPURA

Singapura negara kecil, tapi ada cukup banyak museum menarik yang bisa dikunjungi di sini. Dan...ketika sedang browsing video buatan di youtube, saya menemukan video pendek dan penuh info produksi the National Heritage Board Singapore. Cocok bangi para penggemar museum untuk mempersiapkan diri sebelum mengunjungi tempat-tempat menarik ini :-)

Selamat menonton! 

Punggol Promenade

Punggol memang di ulu, tapi seru. 
Estate terbaru di Singapura ini masih memiliki banyak tanah kosong (walau mungkin sebentar lagi akan jadi pemandangan langka), masih banyak proyek sedang dibangun.




Park Connector Network-nya adalah surga bagi para peminat olahraga lari dan bersepeda. Park Connector ini menghubungkan Estate Hougang, Sengkang dan Punggol. Sepanjang Park Connector tentu ada tempat beristirahat, tempat berolahraga (fitness corner), tempat berpiknik atau berteduh jika matahari sedang terik. Yang tidak banyak adalah tukang jualan makanan asongan hehehe!



Di Park Connector ini ada tiga taman pengikat, yaitu Punggol Promenade, Punggol Waterway dan Punggol Point. Dari Punggol Promenade kita bisa menyeberang jembatan (jalan kaki) ke Lorong Halus Wetland (lihat gambar di bawah). Dari Punggol Point kita bisa melihat kapal laut yang lalu lalang di pantai timur laut Singapura. 

Di Punggol Jetty / Punggol POint

Jembatan merah di kejauhan membawa kita ke Lorong Halus Wetland

Yang mau sekadar jalan-jalan sore menanti matahari tenggelam pun...bisa turut menikmati taman ini.






Park Connector ini panjang ya, kurang lebih 5 kilometer. Jika anda mau mencoba track ini, jangan lupa membawa bekal minum, dan makanan kecil mungkin? Terutama jika ada anak kecil. :-) Di Punggol Promenade ada beberapa restoran tapi restoran-restoran ini baru buka mulai sore hari. 

Ohya hampir lupa, di sini ada tempat penyewaan sepeda juga, per jam 10 dolar (minimum 2 jam). Info selebihnya bisa cek ini. 



Penggemar fotografi senang jalan-jalan ke sini. Masih banyak burung dan hijau-hijau yang bisa dijadikan obyek foto menarik.

Jadi tunggu apa lagi? Hayok kita ke sini dan jalan-jalan menikmati alam yang masih hijau. Murah, meriah dan senang :-)

Ini peta lokasinya.

Istirahat dulu ...(Punggol Promenade)

Splash! (Punggol Jetty)

Pemandangan di Punggol Jetty

Foto-foto di atas diedit dan diupload di Flickr dan Instagram. Klik linknya jika ingin lihat foto-foto lain ya. 

Untuk yang ingin dapat info paling lengkap tentang Park Connector di daerah Timur Laut, klik link ini ya. 

Terakhir, ini ada video pendek (dari youtube) tentang Punggol Jetty atau Punggol Point Park. Selamat menikmati :-)  

Life is (not) bed of roses - 1

One afternoon at City Square Mall.
It was pouring outside and we were dead tired after shopping for my son's school needs. Looking at my fragile mom who was shivering because of cold and torturing AirCon of the mall and to my son who had started to chant his mantra "I want taxi...i want taxi...." I finally gave up. I decided to follow the mantra, to take a cab home. The boy of course was all smile immediately. 

Went to the taxi stand, the on-duty taxi attendant helped us get a taxi quite fast, which was surprising because usually it is always difficult to get a cab on rainy days.

Anyways...the auntie taxi driver actually was on her way to shift-changing point but she was kind enough to transport us first before making her way to her final destination of that day.

So...we were inside the taxi. Being a curious me, i started asking questions about this auntie driver.

Ms Jane is 48 years old, married with two teenage children. Husband is working, but not as a taxi driver. Sorry forgot to ask about him. Jane and her family live in Yishun.

She works half shift daily, about 11-12 hour starting from 5am and then handover the taxi to her partner to work the other half shift, usually at around 5pm. Prior to handing over the taxi, she must wash and clean the taxi first, thats what she said. 

She said she has got no official day-offs, well indeed it is up to her to manage her time but she tried to spend time with family on Saturdays.

Jane and her partner rent their taxi from a taxi company for $105/day. 
From later check i found out that rental of taxi is between $64/day (Honda) - $116/day (for a Mercedes taxi). Hers is a Hyundai.

Daily cost according to her:
Petrol is around $38/ day
Rental (split half-half with her partner) $52
So she needs to get at least $100/ day to cover the cost of rental and petrol.

Random questions:
Me: So do you get more passengers during festive season like Christmas and New Year?
J: Nope, not on the day itself. In fact, New Year day is the worst day to drive a taxi if you drive in morning shift as most people will still be zzzzz-ing after partying late the night before.

Note to myself: True.
  
Me: Do you ever get lost? (The taxi has got no GPS system)
J: No, not really. I trained myself to always observe landmarks, point of reference etc 

Note to myself: Ehm...yeah, obviously. Something i dont do well when i drive, too dependant on the GPS system.

Me: Is it tiring to work as taxi driver?
J: yes, sometimes. I am married with kids, so at home I still have to do my house chores. That is what usually makes me tired :-)  

Note to myself: Eh...we have some similarities in this area :P

Before we knew it...we had reached our place. The interesting conversation had to end. We exchanged goodbyes. Thank you for the ride and the sharing. Although it was a light and merry conversation, I know you live a tough life. I was glad that my little boy was there to listen to our chat. I do hope he learned a thing or two about the life of a taxi driver in Singapore.

Take care Jane, may you be blessed with good health  and hopefully...we will meet again in the future :-)

For:
 +mita a.rachman +kingaqila@gmail.com  +dyah peni tunjung sari 

When you have time....

to go jalan-jalan...i would suggest you to go to Little India.
Dont forget to bring your camera...or cameraphone, like me :-)

My favourite place to shoot street photography...is Little India. There is always so much things to explore and find and capture!

I've been going to Little India for as long as I can remember, for the food, for the fresh produce, for the cultural happenings (I joined the Thaipusam procession couple of years ago) and...for the abundance subjects to shoot with my camera errr...phone. 

Klick the word Little India above, it will bring you to the map of the area. From Little India MRT, just go along Serangoon Road, go into Norris Rd, Upper Dickson Rd, Dunlop Rd, Veerasamy Rd, Chitty Rd, Kampong Kapor Rd...well, basically every lanes and road in this area. 

You will find this beautiful church Kampong Kapoor Church around Kampong Kapoor and Chitty Road. The parish Rev. Wong invited me to see the inside of the church, including their piped organ. It is beautiful! Will upload the pictures on separate post :-)

You will also find this beautiful Abdul Gaffoor mosque in Dunlop Street. It is hidden among rows of shophouses, so you will only see it when you are already very near to the mosque. Do visit this gem...it is beautifully preserved! 

My sister, aunt, mom and I finally found this gem!

Back Alley. Do you notice the designated parking lot for motorcycle here? :-)

Laundry day today :-)

Something has never changed

Back alley...from the otherside.

Hello Granny :-)

"Hello...this is me"

Happy Deepavali

Besok Hari Libur resmi di Singapura, umat Hindu merayakan Hari Raya Deepavali, festival cahaya.
Festival yang bertujuan merayakan kemenangan kebaikan melawan keburukan, terang melawan gelap.

Pada hari ini umat Hindu berkumpul bersama keluarga setelah selesai bersembahyang di kuil, merayakan hari baik ini dengan makan bersama.

Di rumah lilin dinyalakan dan rangoli, hiasan lukisan di lantai yang dibuat dari bubuk warna warni  menghiasi rumah-rumah umat Hindu, cantik sekali.

Anak-anak menyalakan kembang api karena kembang api dipercaya bisa mengusir roh jahat :-) berisik mungkin?

Desak-desakan di Little India, orang-orang sibuk berbelanja keperluan Deepavali.

Salah satu hiasan gantung untuk di rumah yang dijual di Little India

Tahun ini saya diundang merayakan Deepavali di rumah salah seorang teman. Karena tidak sempat membeli dessert khas India yang manis dan lezat rasanya, akhirnya saya membawa coklat saja. Waahaha....tidak level ya? Yah...tidak apa-apalah, lebih baik membawa sesuatu daripada tidak samasekali.

Lilin warna-warni...siapa mau beli?

Tidak ada pembuatan rangoli pada perayaan di rumah teman saya, hanya ada lilin di mana-mana. Tapi.... ada banyak makanan lezat menanti (lho...tidak ada hubungannya ya :-) Chapatti, sayur labu kuning, sayur terong, ayam bumbu, nasi briyanni ....hmmmm!



Happy Deepavali to my Indian friends who are celebrating the Holiday!