Postcards from Jakarta 100826

{from: intheworldwithfriends.blogspot.com}



I got myself a new pair of walking shoes last night, last minute shopping (a few minutes before shops closing at 22:00) - and my feet must be very happy now. I found myself walking and jumping happily this morning for I felt that my feet were perfectly adorned and protected by the light-weight and super duper comfy new silver grey Skechers. I love it!

And Mr Apollo the Sun must have been very happy too this morning. A very warm morning and it seemed like the happy sunshine put big smiles on people's faces all along the streets. That was nice.

Somehow I noticed that the equatorial sunshine was a bit yellowish if not highly saturated (I don’t know the real term but that’s what Photoshop has to say in the picture-adjustment). Now with Photoshop I would just reduce the saturation. I love pictures with cool effect :-)

Postcards from Jakarta 100824

{from: intheworldwithfriends.blogspot.com}

I noticed that on the open field where I walk through every morning, the wild flowers changed from time to time. They have their own seasons. This time, the purple-pink-round and the cotton-flag-like flowers are everywhere. Plus the white little flowers which seem to be there all the time.

And the geese were out today! They blocked the walking path and luckily I already passed that!

In the meantime... postcards from Jakarta

{from: intheworldwithfriends.blogspot.com}

In the meantime,

I will be writing from the house where I currently live, the very same house that I used to share with Fina and the girls, that was flooded up to 2 meters in 2007. The house is at the moment undergone a renovation, so it's a complete mess here.



While writing this, I was amused by my own thoughts that - if you have watched the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun" - I might imagine living like Frances, the main character in the movie, the scenes where her house in Tuscany was being renovated. The people working here are so nice. My landlord has an assistant and these guys are her relatives. They start working very early in the morning and stop at sunset. Every morning I walk pass the traditional market in the neighbourhood and there are the very nice couple who sell green coconut drinks, the old man who always sits by the veggie seller, the traditional cakes seller who already knows that I would ask for "onde-onde", my favorite yummies (fried sticky rice balls rolled on sesame, with sweet mung bean paste inside) - and the thoughtful couple who runs the rice stall just across the street: they know that rice with fish is my favorite, and a big spoonful of stir-fried tempeh would add the taste. When I go home from work in the evening, I often found their kids Wisnu 8, and Nadine 3, chatting and playing with the guys who work in the house, and the guy who sells fish cake and stations his stall just in front of my house would normally join the conversation or watch tv in the terrace when not serving customers.

Haha, it's nice. I also love passing by the other street where the couple who runs a small grocery store in the corner always greet and wish me a good day or 'take care' - as so the lady who owns the co-housing next door. It's the "trick" of living in this kind of neighbourhood, where most people would sit and chat with one another in front of their houses mostly in the morning. You can't avoid passing by them and even if you don't know their names, a cheerful "good morning" is always returned along with a genuine smile. It's a good energy. Now you understand why I always arrive at work energized and happy :-)


More 'postcards'

Walking journal 1
Walking journal 2
Walking journal 3
Walking journal 4
Walking journal 5
Walking journal 6

[.moving.and.in.the.meantime....]

Friends, hate to say this but I've got trouble accessing my own site so far, so I decided to move it to a blog. I will get the domain name intact, however, so there is no change when it comes to linking to amretasgraphics.com. It stays the same :-)

It will take sometime to complete this, because I have a fulltime job and I can only work on it slooooowly after working hours :-)) Thanks in advance for bearing with me. And in the meantime, I have some pictures from our walk at the Botanical Garden in Bogor, West Java, a week ago. Enjoy a great week!



Victoria Amazonica, the giant lotus. I so love them! The leaves are up to 1 m wide, fascinating!





We were 4 days late for this giant flower's blooming time. Amorphophallus Titanum only blooms once every two years, so it was actually a special time to visit the Botanical Garden. In its full bloom, it's about 2 meters tall.




These trees wear hula-hula skirts! :-))




I love giant trees, look at the up-ground roots.




Love the colour of this purple banana




A happy bunch of bamboo trees




This Japanese tree has a lovely texture




Another giant tree




The fruit of Meranti tree has wings on it! It flew down from the tree like a helicopter and 'landed' right in front of me, like a present! So I brought it home :-D




Lovely orchids, a mix of pink and tiger orchids, it seems to me..




These 'shy' flowers were also at the orchidarium. I forgot to take note where exactly it was located, or the name of it.




Certainly the white orchids!




This is what we call "carnivore flowers" - see the 'bag'? It attracts and traps insects then 'eat' them! Wow..




The giant orchids were in blooms, we were so lucky! Look at this picture above - the middle of the flower looks like a doll :-))



Calla Lily




I am somehow very fond of those bottled plants at the Herbarium...





Our guide said this African fruit could make hippopotamus drunk! Oyayay, I wonder how it looks, a drunk hippo!










Somewhere in this blog I mentioned that I fell in love with pink flowers with extravagant petals like roses and peonies. Now it includes Lotus. I just love them, the pink ones of course! :-)

{weekend wandering: Batavia 09.06.06}

Greetings from Batavia! Well, Batavia means the Jakarta old town, located in the northern part of the city, by the harbor. This time teaming up with my good friend Fina, I walked along the canal to the Jakarta History Museum (used to be the City Hall) then to the bus station.



We walked pass a junction where the "ojek" drivers parked their bikes. "Ojek" is motor or bicyle taxi, it's very practical for short distance rides, in an area where the streets are narrow. In Batavia, bike taxi is a popular transport. Using old style bikes, it really has a 'Batavia feel'.



The area around the Jakarta History Museum is the liveliest, most popular place in theh old town for hanging out on Saturday afternoon.



And I can tell you, whenever we're here we never failed to buy something to eat or to drink from the traditional street food sellers who stationed all along the pedestrian street and around the main square.

The green cart pictured above is a 'Cendol' seller. Cendol (pronounced chen-doll) is a traditional dessert made of sago and rice flour, cooked until thick with water and 'suji leaves' to give a natural green colour. It is served with boiled palm sugar, coconut milk and ice cubes. Yummy!

If you want to try the recipe, go here.

Until the next weekend wandering, and have a lovely weekend!

{rosy notes: rosy welcome}

Isn't this happiness, the moment you come home, a fragrant, extravagant bunch of rosy beauties greets you at the entrance?


Let me tell you a tale. Once upon a time there was a girl who had a weakness for pink roses. Any kind of roses, any kind of pink. One lovely summer she made a long trip and stayed at a lovely cottage in a lovely little village in the middle of Sweden. Next to the cottage there was a chicken house, not an ordinary chicken house, because a beautiful bush of pink roses adorned its wall. The girl found herself in love with the cottage, but she also loved going to the chicken house, she felt a delicate happiness just by walking pass the bloom of roses.

Then the girl continued her trip in Sweden. She arrived in a cute little town by the Baltic Sea and her wandering led her to a streetful of cute houses and, 'oh my god' the girl sighed 'pink roses everywhere!' Strange might it seem, but the girl took her time to stop at every door of houses with pink roses on the wall, and those moments she felt warmly, cheerfully welcome. 'Oh boy' the girl looked around her. It was far prettier than her years of dreams. The girl was overwhelmed. By the beauty. And the happiness. Love. The girl didn't mind to be overwhelmed like that!

That day, the girl learned one of many ways that made her oh so happy when coming home: pink roses at the entrance. A rosy welcome.