Thursday, May 22, 2008

Jakarta

My first picture taken in Jakarta

Nicholas Teo is seriously making a name for himself on the international arena. Malaysia Boleh!





My trip there was mostly spent window shopping in malls. However, the surprising thing is I never once took a photo in any of the malls. So no pictures. Such a pity..even for myself..

My niece ordered this after we went to watch Ironman in premiere class at Senayan City. This was at Urban Kitchen. The concept of the place is similar to Food Loft in Gurney. This is marshmellow..You barbeque it and then you dip it in the choc







This the cinema ticket for the premiere class for Ironman.






I bought Krispy Kreme to be eaten while watching Ironman. Ermm..I could hardly differentiate it from J.Co though. For me both are too sweet for my taste bud. I like the sugar glazed ones better. Not too rich, just right.





I went to The Duck King in Pondok Indah Mall. I had to wait a freaking hour just to have a taste of the duck. How was the duck? It was ok, I think. I don't really have a liking towards duck. If I'm not mistaken, this is a franchise from Hong Kong. I went to another restaurant that is famous for it's duck as well. The place is called Bebek Bengil, translated in english as Dirty Duck. This is a franchise from Bali. The restaurant is really famous in Bali. Apparently, in Bali, there are live ducks running around the restaurant making the appearance look dirty. Herein, the name. But the one in Jakarta does not serve up to expectations.



These are the 2 major public transportation in Jakarta. But you can hardly see any chinese using them. For them, it is rather unsafe.





For the record, the 3 long weeks that I've been in Jakarta there have been demonstrations every other day. Maybe it was coincidence as these past weeks happened to be the 10th anniversary of 5 students gunned down at a university, then the government decided to raise oil prices as much as 30% So, poor will suffer even more. Only the rich can keep up with the price hike. In Jakarta, you'll see alot of young children on streets begging for money by going up to cars during traffic jam. Alot of street peddlars as well, selling snacks, cigarettes. We always LOCK the car door right after getting on the car. Teenagers and young adults mostly earn money by directing traffic, eg: pay them and they will risk their lives to block traffic from other directions that are hindering you from getting on your desired path. This mostly happens at crossroads/junctions or u-turns.


This is a place for you to fix flat tyres.






There are a lot of these kind of stalls in Jakarta mostly selling Bakmi or Bakso or Nasi Goreng or Soto. These carts are pulled by humans






Specially for female drivers. How come we don't have that in Penang?







I had Din Tai Fung as well. FINALLY after failed attempts in Taiwan and Singapore. It was a birthday celebration as well.








I went Bandung as well. It is another shopping heaven

This is Kangkung Hotplate, specialty of Bandung. Bet you can't get them here in Penang.







This is Fu Yong Hai. So different from what we have here.








This is a frog dish. I don't know the name though.








This was taken during my niece's
1 year old birthday party at a hotel.


This is her birthday cake.






One of the latest attractions in Jakarta. Waterbom. It is a water theme park. The slides and stuff are cool but you need to climb up practically 3-4 floors of stair before sliding down all the time carrying your own float. Freaking tiring just after 2 rounds.


To let you guys get a grip of just exactly how rich the rich really are, this is one of the houses in one the most elite housing estates. This place is called Pantai Mutiara. The sea is just a stone's throw away. Some have their own yatch behind their houses. The trend now is to build roman inspired designs.



Welcome to Your Own Private Resort. This island is privately owned and I had the privilege tag along. I LOVE the yatch! there are 2 rooms in it. A master bed room and another small room that fits 2 people. The is one hell of a big plasma tv in the living room. Couldn't take too much pictures or else I'll be considered rude.

They are all staring at the baby sharks and the turtles in the enclosure. They even have their own sharks. WTH





This is how the island looks like, from afar.








Don't you think this is paradise? Your very own beach








Kids that never have to do anything except for maybe playing Nintendo DS. With maids at their expenses, they don't even have to lift a finger. Just call.."Embaaaaakkk...!!!" and everything is done for you.


Phewww.. This is one verrrryyy lllooooonngggg post.





Saturday, May 03, 2008

Jakarta

Current location : Jakarta

Life in Jakarta is so far so good. I have been out most of the days. Mind you though, I did not go on a spending spree..couldn't afford it even if I wanted to. To set the record straight, things aren't exactly cheap here.

There are so many shopping malls here. Yet, there seems to be more new ones built everytime I come. Nearby my aunt's place used to have only one mall which is called Megamall. Now there is Pluit Junction and one more on the way..don't know the name though. Megamall is under renovation as well. Getting bigger and prettier. I went to a new mall yesterday, it is called Pondok Indah Mall. It seems that only the rich and famous shop and dine here. I went to a place called Duck King. We waited for an hour just to get a place. Some celebrity dined there as well. But I don't know who she was(some Indonesian actress). According to my cousin, those that live in Pondok Indah are filthy rich. Houses as big as castles. People, I tell you, the houses here are freaking big. Now the trend is to build western influence housed..therefore you see a lot of big pillars, statues at the front of the house, town houses. Most of these houses are empty. Sometimes the servants amount to more than their owners. Ok, coming back to the main point, if the housing areas nearby where I live isn't big enough, I'm just wondering how big the houses in Pondok Indah are. If I have the chance to take pictures, I'll post it up in my blog later.

There's one thing that I don't really like though. The traffic is seriously horrendous here. Especially on weekdays, a normal journeys that takes only 30 minutes at the maximum can go up till an hour or more. Alot of time is wasted on the road. Everybody drives here. Nada public transportation, too dangerous. Maybe it is just in Jakarta as it is really difficult making a living especially if you are the low wage earner. Rich are filthy rich and poor are darn poor. The gap is just too big.

will try to update as often as i can but the connection here is slow. and what with me going out everyday, there is not much time left for me to go online.