Rustling Around...
Protest at the city centre. PLAYBOY!!
A night view from the 9th storey of the apt.
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I din quite realise how long I had been away from home till I talked to the driver, Antos today during dinner. 3 mths in jkt, 5 mths in bkk, now in jkt. I had missed a lot in SG, similarly, I had gained a lot in bkk and jkt.
Sri had abandon me and I am now all alone in jkt, kelapa gading. It’s a Chinese dominated town abt 30min drive from the city centre (w/o jam) and abt 30 min from
It is not that bad being alone. I’m quite used to it by now. Watching tv on JakTV, its some really really old American movie, doing laundry (socks only, in jkt, the best thing is that they go by weight vs per piece – around IND 25k per 5kg), snacking, reading, bogging (on MS Word 1st then upload in office – downside is that there is no internet access in the apt), watching soccer (there’s free EPL, Spanish League on weekends).
Let me recall the week… I touched down in jkt after a 3hr flight from bkk. As another colleague was departing to SG, so I had to wait at the Macs for Sri to pick me up. How the exchange rate had dropped. It was about
Not much had changed in Indo office except that there was a big flood a few weeks back the whole electrical system had gone haywire. The flood started from the roof and it seemed as if there was a waterfall inside the office! Now some of the rooms dun have lights and seems like there are more frequent trippings. Well, not to mention the unstable internet connection.
I am left alone this weekend in
My first meal that day was thankfully settled by going to Perkasi, a town on edges, to the north of jkt city). A colleague had decided to take me to another colleague’s house by bike ( abt 40 min by bike w/o jam, and >1 hr by car). It was my first time taking a bike in jkt. Although I had taken it umpteen times in bkk, the conditions are much different. 1st, the air STINKS here. 2nd the road is extremely bumpy. There was absolutely absence of any kind of maintenance. I was nearly flinked out of the bike twice when my colleague negotiated a dent in the roads. There was even a mini pond in the middle of the road that every vehicle just slowed down and drive beside it. Imagine the jam that it caused!! U cannot for 1 second let your mind wonder. Even as a pillion, you have to be paying attention!!!
Finally got to my colleague’s house. The place is abt 200 sqm, with a garden in front. The couple had taken up growing flowers (horticulture?) and plants. It’s a single storey house for a family of 5, with a porch where they like to sit outside and play music (much like our malay friends gathering at void decks – the Indonesians likes to gather to play music and chat, like at our offices and along the streets that we passed by), and a tv room. Din do much there, just had dinner, played carom, watched soccer and it was another long ride home.
Remember to ask for the rules when playing carom in IND. The rules are VERY DIFFERRENT. 1st, the strike is much smaller, and the seeds are much lighter (equipment may vary at where u go). To start the game, you are not allow to directly hit at the seeds until u confirm. That means that to confirm, you will have to hit the seed in indirectly, else it will be -1. I started my game with -3. During the game, you are allowed to hit your seeds directly, but u can only indirectly hit your opponents seeds, else its another demerit point. To end the game, the red seed will have to be pocketed indirectly too. And the last seed has to be pocketed indirectly, else it’s a penalty. I ended the game with 1 seed. But my colleague pang jang a bit, he had abt 7 fouls in all, and in all he pocketed abt 5 seeds more than I did…
Comes Sunday. A day when I am really alone. Woke up late at 1pm, washed up and decided to look for food. I rem there was a nasi
Monday. Had to jalan to office with my backpack. Haha.. luckily I had changed my Acer bag to this new laptop backpack. Nothing much in office today as most of the engineers had went to site. Dinner was the highlight of the day.
Had dinner with our company driver today. Its madness trying to drive here. U must be very skilful. Unfortunately, I am not. The bumpy roads. 2 lanes become 3 lanes of traffic. Motorbikes cutting lanes. Big trucks refusing to give way. Road partitions in the middle of nowhere, traffic rules that only the polisi understood. Anyways I got quite bored with food courts, malls, Chinese restaurants,
He brought me to a roadside shed. I was a little apprehensive. But at least the place looked clean and there was no stench. Ayam goreng + es the manis (ice tea sugar). Similar to
No stomachache so far… =)
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