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The last part of Walking Bliss series this week and we’ll see about next week. I’m yearning so much for getting back to graphic journaling but who knows I’ll be able to combine it :-)

Blogging is an exciting challenge as I’m not an English native speaker and it’s a great way to practice writing in English…if done regularly, hehe.

Walking home from work yesterday, a little bit earlier, so it wasn’t dark yet. I was walking through an open field, to the shortcut that leads to the big street. The tall buildings seen here are located on the big street, not in the business district where I took the picture from and, can you spot the street food stalls in the middle?



A closer look of the food stalls



A noodle seller (thus ‘Mr Noodle’ – because I don’t know his real name) pushing his cart pass the shortcut toward the big street. I call this narrow lane ‘banana trees street’ – can you see why? :-))




After work reading, let me wander in books, and dream a little bit... (and looking forward to a Sunday brunch)

Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights






Jamie at Home

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Yesterday when I walked home in the evening, I took some pictures and on-the-spot realised that my camera didn’t really work when it’s dark. I tried the flash, I tried the night-mode. Failed. So I took pictures anyway and thanked Photoshop later :-)





Took a new shortcut and was ‘caught’ in the traffic jam. Such a narrow street, lots of big cars, and I couldn’t even get a space for walking. I got hungry as it was dinner time I happened to be stuck not far from a street food stall, selling chicken porridge. Looked yummy though. So decided to duck under the tent which was hooked on to the cart, which looked like an ‘emergency eating place’, and ordered a bowl of porridge. Surprise surprise, it was really good! Watching the traffic jam, I chatted with Mr Porridge (that’s how we call the seller of street food when we don’t know his name… Mr Porridge, Mr Fried Rice, Mr Noodle, and so on), about how he made the porridge. He was quite nice. I told them I happened to walk this street because the usual shortcut was closed for some repair. And he was like “ah, so that’s why you didn’t know that this street can be this crowded in the evening” Fifteen minutes later, happy for having had a good meal, I headed to the big street, and Mr Porridge showed me another shortcut, passing by the kampung (residential area with lots of houses, people around, children playing and narrow streets) across the street from the stall. I told him I was hunting for pictures and he seemed quite okay and didn’t mind when I took some pictures of his stall. He stations there every evening so I’ll pass by when the picture is printed.

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I took a break from Walking-Bliss during the weekend. I got a visit. My mom. Oh, she almost made it to inspect the house where I live but my aunt managed to take her for a walk somewhere else :-)) Hehe, I wasn’t ready for mom’s inspection whatsoever. The house was not exactly a mess but recalling mom’s background as an interior design major combined with her strong Javanese philosophy about almost everything, my decorating-with-whatever-you-have interior would not be everywhere near her standard, I was pretty sure of it! :-))

But now today a new Monday has come and this morning I happily walked again through the market, and…



This fruit stall was located on the corner, at the very start of the market if you walk from where I live. I like to see the green bananas, the pink dragon fruit, the golden kelengkeng (kind of lychee, I think), the papayas and yellow-pink apples. Green, pink, yellow must be the theme of this stall :-) These exotic fruits are mostly sweet. The green banana seemed to be the kind for cooking. Fried banana, for example, is a very popular snack here.


And two side-by-side chicken stalls.



This chicken seller was actually watching me taking pictures of the fruit stall and she asked me whether I was also interested in taking picture of her stall! Oh yes, of course, with pleasure Mam… and thank you!



And then the other stall also wanted to be in my pictures as well :-) Lovely ladies!

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Thank you Barbara for your kind notes! You're right, it's not quite easy to take pictures when walking to work through the market. There are always lots of people and I tend to be a little bit in a hurry, I just noticed that today ;-)

Anyway, the geese were out today in the open field!



And this is how Gatot Subroto Street looked like this morning, view from the bridge, and happened to be no traffic jam :-))



Tomorrow Saturday - probably it would be fun to go enjoy taking pictures in the market, no work, no hurry! Have a nice weekend everyone!

{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!

{weekend wandering: Batavia 09.05.30}

I'm all about Victoria's sfgirlbybay Sunday in the City series at the moment...so if I am inspired to create 'weekend wandering' series in my blog now, I think the credit should go to her. Huge thanks, Victoria!

So here's my own story: I live in Jakarta since 1992, I love it, it's a vibrant city with lots of possibilities, but except you are really into modern buildings and shopping malls (which often have fantastic decorations, somehow, great work!) I find it quite challenging to find interesting spots in the city, ones which have natural, authentic feel. A girl with a lust for history I am, I often found my refuge in historical parts of the city. The old town, at the first glance, may look ugly with lots of unmaintained buildings. But it has a magnetic character that I'm unable to explain. It's striving. And I'm only one of thousands who have a special fondness to this place. There's a community who's all into the history of Jakarta, and there's a special council whose grand task is to revitalize this once in the old days the lovely city of Batavia.

Yay! I think I should divide the story now for my future weekend wandering posts :-) Anyway during these past few years, I've been involved in some amazing projects which, at first, 'forced' me to go deeper into the history of Jakarta, and who knew that it now becomes somekind of obsession :-)

Now to the first snaps...(I use Kodak Z650 to have fun with, and all the pictures are intended only for my own heart's content :-)) Hope you enjoy them too.

{welcome 2009}

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I've been thinking and thinking what would be the best for my first entry to this blog in 2009. I was re-arranging my graphic site too this morning, so I came to see this quote by Cate Blanchett that I put on the 'about me' page. I like this saying, it rings really true to me. I like it I like it, so much. So why don't I gather some dreams for 2009, and a little bit of re-introduction perhaps?



First when I made this blog, I wanted to use this to post updates on my graphic site, Amreta's Graphics. But then I use it to post just about anything that I had in mind. I'm a dreamer and love to get inspired by what I see and meet on travels (and often it means 'armchair travel' through books, magazines and the internet), which I think is necessary as I live in a hectic, crowded big city like Jakarta, with a schedule that goes from full time job, to practicing the violin, playing with the amateur chamber music ensemble, drawing graphics, crafting, hunting for second hand magazines, fabrics and papers, to attending cultural activities, family gatherings, going to book stores, etc etc...so much to do, so little time! But I heard loving all that you're doing is a sign of an exciting life so I have no complain :o)



There are times I got so lucky that I have the chance to travel (real travel) and it is my favorite time to get inspired. Back to Cate Blanchett's words: my first trip was at age 9 to Bali, joining my dad's art class in a study tour, discovering the work and life of Balinese artists. My first time abroad was as an exchange student for a year in France, living with a french family, 'forced' to speak french, went to high school, simply lived like the french. Those first experiences really set my idea about travels. And somehow the next thing I know, similar 'arrangements' just fall into place with the other trips. I love it. There has been a big number of synchronicities playing around. In 2009 I wish that it will continue :o)



My dream? Traveling to Bhutan. It's intriguing. I heard about their Gross National Happiness concept. I saw articles about traveling to Bhutan, with focus on the art and design such as in Elle and Vogue, on the culture in National Geographic, and on the well-being in Yoga Journal and Yoga Plus.



Oh yes, they are some of my favorite magazines. Let me tell you about my another 'hobby' when it comes to magazine. Imported magazines are quite expensive in Jakarta, so I opt for buying second hand magazines. Old magazines, sometimes only a few months old, but recently I found Elle Decor that dates back in 1996! And much to my surprise it doesn't look old at all. And for some new ones, I subscribe to digital magazine through Zinio. It's worth it, good price and I can 'bring' the magazine everywhere in my laptop, very practical especially when traveling.



And though I live in a big city, I love the countryside and country style. Country Living has been my favorite magazine ever since I knew about it. My host families in France and Sweden all live either in a very small town or in the countryside, in their lovely homes surrounded by beautiful nature. And during my stays with these families I learned for the first time about decorating and entertaining 'the country style'.



And you know what? I love decorating 'the country style', though in practice what I do is 'decorating with what you have'. But I think, that's also what country style or junk-market style is all about. Currently I attempt to reorganize and redecorate my 3x3m2 bedroom cum work room. It was a necessity so I decided to blog about it, to be able to track the progress - and to motivate myself. I found the internet and my collection of decorating magazines to be very useful. Inspiration is everywhere!



When it comes to photography, I'm mad about taking pictures of flowers. I'm not a pro and am only armed with my 6.1 MP Kodak digital camera, but I have had so much fun with it.



The violin has been my passion since I was 13 year old, when I saw on TV Maestro Henryk Szerying play the Beethoven violin concerto, and then locked myself in the bathroom until my parents agreed to buy me a (cheap) violin and to send me to a violin teacher :o) I've been listening to classical music since far longer than I can remember, but am also really drawn into folk music recently. So don't be surprised if there are some posts about music as well.



I'm also a fan of flea markets and traditional markets. And hey, I'm an Indonesian and still deeply impressed by my Javanese childhood. When I have the chance I would also like to post entries about folksy things from Indonesia. Folksy things make me feel at home somehow. And it reminds me of the cultural richness of the world we live in.



So, basically, this blog is about my artwork, hobbies and things that inspire me. I love getting inspired. I hope you, too. Thank you for visiting and reading my blog, I've been enjoying putting together my thoughts in my entries and I appreciate all your comments and support. Let's hope for the better in 2009 :o)

{daisies and the cat}

Still about the wild flowers which grow everywhere in the garden of my host family's home in Mullhyttan, but I thought it's worth an entry of its own. The cat, Svea, gladly posed for my camera shoots, as always (if you missed my previous entry about it, it's here)