Sate Daril

One of the Padang food that I miss most when I am away is sate Padang - a kind of beef satay in thick spicy sauce.
Note that Sate Padang have many different types, mostly differ on their sauces.
Not only the colour, even the same coloured one can taste abit different depends on the vendor.

There is one particular one that I love so much, it's sate Daril (Da = Uda, means brother in Minang language; Ril = the owner's name). It tastes SO GOOD...!!!
I think I had my first sate at his stall. He used sell right in front of the gate of SD Agnes, my late elementry school. I remembered that I used to order some kerupuk/cracker with the sauce ('cos cracker was the cheapest thing he sells), or only 1 stick of satay + 1 ketupat (rice cake)... The good old days when my pocket money was limited. Hahahha.
I guess all the SD Agnes graduates love his sate.
Many of them hire Daril to cater for their weddings too (guess they are all in marrying age by now).
My brother did too...  ^.^ Yum...

The satay stall is still there, now they are accross the street in front of the school, well, SD Agnes is no longer there.
But Sate Daril still exists in different form. Instead of the wooden cart pushed by man-power, now he uses a pick-up car for the stall.
Daril doesn't sit there to attend the stall now, he hires his relatives. Daril stays at home to prepare his secret recipe. Apparently he has more than 1 stall now. I think it's a beautiful successful story of one's determination and persistence.

29 05 12

I don’t know how to explain this.
No particular feeling, in fact I didn’t feel anything the first time I saw you …
Yet I couldn’t even explain how I could share so much to one that I barely know
Or, could it be we have crossed path many times before
I wish I could find out what happened in the past
But then, pasts are pasts, fading memories are not to be remembered
You, one who is in the right track
You, to jump out of this rat-wheel
You, to leave me soon
You, the free one
Tell me, what should I do now?
Where should I go?

The New Passport

Was about to write about my passport few weeks ago when I was renewing it. I guess I was pretty occupied since last month, dunno where all my time has vaporised to (wink wink!) Anyway, what happened is that I finished all the pages on my old passport before its expiry date. Yippieee!!!

To prepare for my upcoming trip, I renewed my passport here. Usually, to make a passport, most people will hire the service of “calo” (middle-man). Calo is supposed to take care all the documents and shitty stuffs for you, and usually means speedy-service. But I am not using of any of those illegal service. So, I do it in accordance to the proper procedure.

1. Fill up the request form, along with the copy of KTP, copy of KK, birth cert, recommendation letter from your work place.  Submit it to the officer, he’ll check if those requirement are sufficient, and he’ll give you a receipt – telling you when to come for photo-taking and interview (usually take less than 5 working days) The form costs about IDR 10,000 (which includes: a folder of a form and a passport sleeve). 
2. Get your queue number, and submit the receipt that you got previously. Then they’ll ask you to pay for the passport-making fee, which is IDR 255,000. Wait for a while, and they’ll call you for interview (usually to check the copied documents against the original ones, so ensure you bring them along), and photo-taking.  Then you’ll be asked to sign some paper. And you’ll get another receipt stating when you can pick your new passport up (takes less than 5 days)
3. Submit your pick-up letter. In no time, they’ll just give the new passport to you.  If you ever need to get your old passport (for future reference), they’ll ask you to write a request form, and handed them a copy of your old passport, all of its pages.

My advice are:

• Do not use calo. Those blood-suckers are pretty much useless now. The immigration department are now equipped with queue number system, even the calo can’t skip the line anymore, nothing they can do about it. Plus, if you are using calo’s service, it’ll cost you min.IDR600,000. That’s super costly, since all they do is just get you the form, photocopied your documents, READING your queue numbers, and yet you still have to wait just like the rest of the people.  If your calo is one of the officers, you are allowed to “wait” at his/her office, breathing the full-smoke from their office, and stare at nothing. Btw, the waiting room at Padang immigration offers entertainments too. I watched Rango and Ip-Man during my queue (bits and pieces of it, of course I didn’t wait that long there)

• When you are taking the picture. PLEASE demand to see the picture RIGHT AFTER they took your picture. Anything later than that will be too late. I learned it in the hard way, here’s a transcript of my conversation during the interview:  

M: is my picture already printed in that passport? (pointing at new passport)
    H: not yet. Why?
M: Can I see my picture? I think it wasn’t very nice
    H: Here (moving his computer screen for me to see)
M: That’s awful. Can I take another picture? I don’t want that one. Please.
    H: Too late. You should have requested it when they took your pic. It’s too late now. All your data are in the system now. Bear with it for another 5 years.
M: That’s why I wanted to retake my pic. I have to use that passport for next 5 years. Pleaseeeeeee…
    H: You know, it all depends on the object. If the object is not nice, the picture won’t be nice too.  Right? (looking at me)
M: (of course I was speechless, how to argue with someone who said you don’t look nice…. Arrrghhhhhh)

more Lotus seeds

Just received a beautiful little gift from BS.
I didn't expect it to be packed so nicely.
And I couldn't believe that BS managed to keep them still intact in the shell.
Amazing :)
Thank you so much...
I'll try to sprout it a.s.a.p, but it'll take a year before we can see its 1st bloom :)
Be patient, k ^.^

Virginia is Blooming

The first water lilies that bloomed since I bought them :)
I guess the name is Virginia (Nymphaea virginia), a kind of hardy day-blooming waterlilies.
They are so pretty, aren't they? The flower will bloom in day time for 4 days, before the stem just go weak and it'll just rest. They started to bloom at around 6am in the morning, stays blooming until 3-4pm, and closes down during the night.

On the 1st day of blooming, the flower didn't fully open its petals, but it'll show the nectar cup right in the center of the flower (see pic, bottom right) 

I tasted it, it's quite fragrant with a subtle sweet taste. 

I heard a myth said, a sip of water-lilies nectar will rejuvenate for 7 years. I guess I'll have more sips when they bloom again. By then, I'll be immortal. Hahaha.

AME!!!

with the one and only Ven. K

Thank You

Was introduced this song. I think it's a very sweet evergreen love song.
Thank you for the song :)

I've been thinking lately
'bout the time you've spent with me
and I've been wondering
if you really knew
Everybody needs someone
To help them through the maze
Did you realize my someone's you
I've been down and out and you've been there
I've been less then kind sometimes I know
I don't have to see your face to know you care
And you've been a friend to me
Thank you, for being mine forever girl
For being by my side
You know I love you
And I need you too.. Thank you
Sometimes when its late at night
And everything is cold
I think about you and I feel warm inside
Maybe I've neglected you
And so it's time you told
You have helped me make it through my life
Let me say the words that you should hear
Let me say them 'till I made it clear
You're my lady
I believe that love is more than just a kiss
And you have shown me this

Loving Daddy - 爱心爸爸

In the search of touching stories,

I suddenly remembered the interview from "A Date with LuYu" on Phoenix TV a while ago: it was about a poor but generous high school Physical Education teacher, 柏检-Bai Jian that provides home and education for 24 unfortunate kids (and counting, I guess). I was teary when I watched the interview, hiks...

Here is the transcript from the interview (I just realised it wasn't the same interview on TV, but still worth reading) or if you can read Chinese, look here

I know the story is quite old, but still it's not much known. It would be beautiful to spread this around.

There are still some people with golden heart in this world. There's a hope, isnt it?

Fig and Olive

I’ve been to Turkey before, and the Istanbul itinerary was pretty much the same: Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Bosphorus Cruise, Topkapi Palace, DolmabahcePalace, Belly Dancing show  and of course some Bazaar. After the 3^rd time round in the last 3 years, I finally get bored – kinda predicted now.

So, I also have visited Egyptian Bazaar thrice (called so ‘cos it used to sell goods from Egypt during Ottoman Empire). But this time, the local tour-leader was quite persistent to lead us to his acquaintances’ shops. I was quite annoyed by that he did that. He led us to away from the Bazaar’s entrance and go from a side gate near New Mosque. I couldn’t separate from the group, the bazaar is huge, I just don’t want to go missing in the midst of spices and Turkish delight; the shops all looked the same to me. So, I followed the group walking towards New Mosque, to the left side of bazaar. And guess what?! It was a heaven place for me, we crossed a flowers’ market. So many plants and flowers there. I started to pay attention for the way, I thought “I need to come back to look at those plants and flowers”

Here is the emergency map, in case you want to visit this market. Pics are taken from here, here and here. 

I was too busy with the plants that I forgot to take any picture. Who cares about pictures when you are in plants haven?

L-R: New Mosque, Flower Market, Egyptian Bazaar

Luckily, to my surprise, one of my group members  is a green-freak too and he accompanied me to check out the plants there. The sellers were nice too; I guess not many tourist visits their stalls. So, we both fell in love with olives trees, so we decided to get one for each. And we saw some black fig tree, and we got a couple of it too. I was so happy!!!  (though, now I kinda regret not getting the famous Turkey pomegranate tree >.<)

They are doing fine now. Here are their pictures, taken today.

Olive

Fig

I also got some tulip bulbs. I shared it with Mr.ES and Ling. I hope they are doing well on their side; cos mine is definitely failing here. 

How I smuggle it, is my own secret. Won’t reveal it here. I am totally proud of my mischievous act!

Desert Dress Code

On my recent trip to UAE, a friend of mine complained about “why are those Arabic women dress up like that? Why are they so fanatic about their religion? Why are they willing to cover up?”

What she meant was “why are those women wear hijab?” (or in Indonesia we call it jilbab). Hijab is headscarf used by Moslem women to cover up their hair, in accordance to their religion.

Arabic women take a step further, they usually wear all-black loose dress plus a long headscarf to cover up their hair and neck; and for some, they even put a veil on their face.

Most people think they are fanatic. But personally, I have different opinion.

If you’ve been to the dessert, you’ll understand why they dress up that way. You would be so thankful to have such dress-code when a sandstorm is a regular occurrence.

I've only spent a few hours in the dessert, and trust me, hijab would be very useful. And I understand why they need to put veil on their face. Apart from saving you from the scorching sun;  the desert sands are so fine, as fine as dust, but still very annoying to have in on your hair, your eyes, folds of your shirts, inside your socks and shoes…  and guess what, sometimes they get into your mouth too. It’s horror!!!
Cos I saw some camel dump some dung and soon the sand blowed and transferred the feces-contaminated sands into your mouth (you can feel the grit in your mouth. Ugh!).  By that time, I would slip on the full-attire plus a burqa happily, seriously!

See??!! Now can you get the idea why they need to dress up that way? Even the Arabic guys wear loose clothing and cover up their hair too. (and guess what, the black rope on their head isn't just for decoration, in the past it was used to tied up their camel too)

As the religion spread, so does the fashion sense. Isn’t that what happening in the world naturally?

Dress code can look ridiculous sometimes; it depends on how you see it. Our fashion sense really depends and influenced by our culture and society.

Come to think of it…

• If Moslem was founded in Indonesia, they might have different costumes, maybe kebaya and beskap?
• Or if Buddha was born in Arabic country, monks nowadays would have different robes rather than the Indian-insipred wrap around?
• And if those  Pontifical Swiss Guard of Vatican City were in Indonesia, they’ll  be mocked for such an Joker costumes.

So, what’s so odd about one’s fashion sense? Absolutely nothing. Look from different point of view, then you’ll even understand why Superman need to wear his underwear outside.

PS: Though some people criticize, I always think I look good wearing a headscarf.