Jakarta VI - 16 to 20 Dec 2009

Did a count, this is my 6th trip to Jakarta. It gets better each time. Bro finds better and better food each time. Compared to the first trip, there are more non-halal nice food places this time.


STAY



My brother's new place - Setia Budi Apartment. Bigger bedrooms for all, but smaller kitchen and only one toilet+bathroom




Greg is shy to see me? Yet to warm up and show us his true (terror) self


This was a leisure trip, we ate alot, thankfully we managed to squeeze in some time to exercise.



Top left to right: Good facilities at the condo. Nice infinity pool , but the water is forever numbingly cold. Well-equipped gym

Bottom row left to right: Baby pool and jacuzzi (too hot).
They have very extreme pools. I dipped in the hot tub, then swam in the icy pool, felt my system going haywire... cold and hot swirling in me.



PLAY



Golf followed by nice bakmi and fried swee kieow





Some pet shop we came across. Compared to Singapore's pet shop, this is like a zoo.. they have small cute puppies, big fierce dogs, endangered tortoises, python ..





Greg having fun at the arcade and in the fitting room of a dept stall





Pool and play room at The Peak



SHOP



Bought casual wear. Greg had new shoes and tops. He couldnt wait to try on the new shoes.



EAT



Ala carte buffet at Ming Garden. Fantastic food, value for money buffet





Greg enjoying his fried mantou





Fried crispy duck. Nice balinese ambience. Good indo food.





Lovely gingerbread latte and ice lemon tea





Grilled beef, kimchi claypot, croquette
This place serves yummy charcoal grilled stuff





Dim Sum with the usual suspects (Bro's regular kakis) at May Star Restaurant. Delicious, especially the coconut pudding.





Sunday brunch at Poste. High standards of cooking and at 50% discount. I hate to sound like a bird (cheep cheep cheep...)





How good can soup and sandwich be? This was way beyond my expectation. Crispy bread, juicy meats, creamy soup, blasting coffee.




The finale meal at the usual place - King Palace. Scallops, fish, tofu.. we din order too much this time.

Greg's picking words and concept really fast. As my brother drove us to the airport, he learned a new word 'air-pok' and that there are 'air-ping' at airpok. His pronounciation is very amusing. Unfortunately, he fell asleep on the ride and missed seeing us off.

Back in Singapore, I was worried he would missed us and get upset. THankfully he wasnt.

Hubby:
gregory got ask for gu gu

SIL:
nope

Hubby:
keke

SIL:
james told him u guys fly off on e airplane after he woke up
he kindda understand le
can even tell me gu gu uncle fly airplane

Hubby:
oic so clever alr
wa

SIL:
haaaa

Shopping Spree

It's year end! I rewarded myself with a 2-hour shopping spree last Saturday. It was a fruitful and productive trip to Suntec City/City link mall. And most importantly, that sense of satisfaction from getting good bargains is priceless.



All prices are after discount
Pink kitty heels from URS - $11 (including smart $ rebate)
Gold-black flats from SCHU - $25
LeSportsac bag - $112
Titus watch - $139

Cruise, Zoo, Birthday, Funeral

My life was filled with activities over the past 2 weeks. Mostly happy ones, but somehow, the sad memory lingered. Maybe that was due to its recency, since it was the last incident that happened in the period.

My bro and his family came back for two weeks over the Hari Raya long weekend.



We had a steamboat dinner at my parents place. My nephew is trying on hubby's new pair of shoes .





A family vacation on Star Virgo , 4d3n cruise to Penang and Phuket.
Nothing much for us adults to do onboard except eat and gamble.




On the first night, my nephew was quite hyper. 2 beds and 2 mattresses were equivalent to a playground for him to run up and down, jump up and down, having his own fun. I am amazed with his energy.




The ship docked at Penang on the second day. It was connected to the pier and was very convenient. Penang was as I remembered it to be – hot, dusty and filled with unscrupulous taxi drivers who try to rip you off. Went to a nice big mall (Gurney Plaza) and stayed there for a while. Nothing much.




On the third day we docked at Phuket. I miss Thailand! There was a short transfer on a smaller boat to reach Patong Beach. Too bad I din have enough time for shopping, else I would go crazy buying cheap toiletries and skincare (especially Boots brand).



As we had a big group of 10 adults, (my family, my aunt and uncle, and my uncles's nephew and family) we rented a mini bus to bring us around. First stop was to the elephant farm in Baan Chang, where we had a 30 min elephant ride (plus free suntanning thrown in). 500 baht per person. Free for children.




Lunch was at Baan Rim Pa, a restaurant highly recommended by my brother. It boosts an open air, two-storey Thai restaurant with magnificent, panoramic views of Patong and Kalim Bays.



Pic fm the restaurant website



We were famished after the elephant ride. We ordered a set menu with 10 dishes, plus a beef kway teow (my father's must-order dish wherever he goes). Turned out to be alot of food. The bill was about 8500baht, almost $60sgd per pax. Rather expensive place.




After lunch, we grabbed time for a trip to some honey place so that the elderly can buy organic honey (about 40sgd for one kg). Followed by a rushed exploration of Phuket's famous temple - Wat Chalong. Then it was back to the pier to catch the boat back. Before that, we had a quick short walk on the beach (what's a phuket trip without stepping onto the beach at all?) and a long hunt for chai tea. The Phuket excursion was way more fulfilling than Penang.





The different poo-ing positions of Greg.

I was told that my nephew has a funny way of poo-ing. Witnessed it during the cruise. First he went to hide quietly and squat in some corner to poo. Then he walked around, changed poo-ing positions, and sometimes even come over to call me and smile sweetly at me before finding the next poo place. Meanwhile, I am not supposed to laugh at him, and had to put up with the smell of crap and the thought of shit in his diaper. Was so scared he would come over to hug me or ask me to carry him in between his poo-ing.





Back home after the cruise, we brought him to the Singapore Zoo the next day. Din do much there, except to show him the big / common animals that he would recognise. Was disappointed with our Zoo, feels like nothing much there, the animals they house were nothing impressive.



Came back to office on Friday. Post-holiday blues! TGIF! Found an excuse to cheer up - Jess bd approaching, so we had a nice dinner at Queen & Mangosteen that night. We liked the place so much we went back less than a month after our first visit. This time, we tried the fried chicken wings and crabcakes we were eyeing previously. Both were fabulous, though quite expensive for the small portions. Also shared an Archipelago Travellor Wheat Beer - very light. Good.




Saturday - brought my nephew to East Coast Park. Din do much, had to rush off as my grandfather was critically ill.




My paternal grandfather passed away peacefully on 5 Dec 2009. Though I wasn't close to him, and he was not known to be a nice person, I still felt sad. And I dun understand why i felt more sad over his demise, compared to my other grandparents who were way nicer.

The little one at the funeral. Mostly he was happy to run around and explore the chapel. Still, he was uncomfortable to see the coffin and very wisely kept quiet + kept still during the 'sendoff' at Mandai.

Queen & Mangosteen, Ambush, Tam Kah Sharksfin

Oops, looks like I have been eating out alot. Though we usually order just one main course each or share a few appetizers. Commented to hubby that we must have the lowest bill whichever restaurant we patronise. Cos all the other customers either ordered more food (drinks/soup/salad etc) or ordered more expensive stuff.

Queen and Mangosteen
12 Nov 09



I have been wanting to try this place since it opened at Vivo. Finally one weekday , we managed to find a time for dinner with Jess. The food and ambience were great. We ordered a jug of their signature cocktail - Pimm’s & Lemonade. Very refreshing and easy to drink. Before I knew it, my brain was numbed, and I was feeling happy and smiling. I felt chatty, wanting to talk rubbish, but thankfully i restraint myself, though I still talked abit more. The alcohol made me feel relaxed without the usual side effects of nausea / sleepyness etc. Good.. good...

Food arrived. Fish & Chips tasted normal. The curry mayo was alright, but a refill cost $1.50. Hmm… so stingy.. The mini burgers were the nicest I ever tried. Simply juicy. Three of us shared the two appetizers and filled up with the fries. We also shared the Cambridge burnt cream, not bad. Overall, it was a great dinner and we will be back to try other stuff.



Ambush
21 Nov 09



My half-hearted attempts to go JB failed. We ended up at Jurong Point. Haven been there for a few years. Not bad, alot of shops, managed to buy some stuff. Passed by this restaurant and was attracted by their menu and reasonable prices.

Mussel and Fries (small,12 pcs, $12.60) - The mussels were cooked in white wine, with garlic, onion and bacon bits. The soupy sauce was fantastic, not difficult to go wrong with such a combi. The mussels were so-so though. Kinda tasteless, maybe overcooked and the essence all went into the soup?

The veal steak ($16.50) came in 3 thin slices. Ok portions. Very tender. Again, the sauce was fabulous. But the meat was tasteless. Hmmm..

A couple about our age came in and took the table next to us. The guy commented everything looks good on the menu (I agree) and the gal also ordered the mussel and fries, obviously after seeing our food. I wished I had been friendlier and ‘warned’ them not to get the mussels. Still, they also found the mussel dish soup very good, but did not comment on the mussels. The guy’s order of paella with grilled king prawn looks alright, also no comments from him though. (Forgot to mention, our tables were quite close together, hence we could hear their conversation).

Tam Kah House of Sharksfin
22 Nov 09

Dinner with my parents. Brought them here before, and they ‘approved’ it. So when we couldn’t think of where to go, I mention this place and the response was positive. Hence we are back.

This time, the waitress was more pushy, trying to upsell us to get a bigger portion of the dishes we ordered or recommending that we take the set menu for four instead. We still chose to go for ala-carte orders because the set menu ($98) was pricier. Of cos, the set menu also came with the more expensive seafood stuff like sharksfin. Our ala-carte orders seemed like it might not be sufficient for 4 pax – one pax portion of seafood pot, one tofu etc. But we mustn’t forget that this place is value for money. The portions are reasonably sized. Even if they say its only one pax portion, it’s still adequate for 2-3 pax. True indeed, we had more than enough food, and again, our bill seemed like the lowest, with other tables ordering expensive fish / abalone/sharksfin. Total bill $66. We skipped the tea and towels.




My father chose the dishes.. and its mostly unhealthy fried stuff : Fried prawns – very big ($18), Fried tofu – quite special ($3.80), three-wine-chicken – big portions of drumstick meat ($10), exotic seafood pencai – love the braised abalone even though its only a small piece ($18) - for real size, spot it on the stonepot

A Fun Production

Sometimes my work can be more ‘interesting’ than my life. Hmm..this sounds like my life is boring and pathetic. Recently, colleague D and I were like the producers of the 10mins annual corporate video – getting funding, arranging filming sites, presenters, finding calefares etc. My boss did more of the script. Prior to the filming, we were stressed out. Last minute nominations for presenters, arranging for room setup, and praying that students will be informed by their teachers and turn up on time for filming, praying that the weather will be good because we have quite a number of outdoor scenes. Our tightly packed filming schedule allow for no delays or bad weather conditions. Because of the number of staff and students to be featured and the number of 'crowd' scenes (calefares needed), I inwardly 'cursed' the video director for our logistical nightmare. This video filming seemed like a mini-mediacorp production!

Day 1 started on the wrong note with 2-3 hours delay due to filming overrun. Thank goodness no tempers flared, and no students went missing in action. In between all these stress, we had our bit of fun too. The funny bits were only known to us 'behind the scenes' - basically the students / staff could be uttering rubbish while looking happy, smiling and showing some form of 'discussions' for the non-speaking shots. Also, we got really good at choosing presentable calefares (takes a trained eye to spot and decide quickly) and arranging them strategically on screen. The staff were very ‘co-operative’, understanding that we needed to feature more presentable looking students and also to have a mix of race and gender. One staff said ‘Come, there’s another class there for you to shop’… we had fun ‘shopping’ for people, and the students were a fun lot. I admire their energy. Despite numerous retakes, they continue to seem energetic. And every time we needed to film a class of students, a crowd of people etc, we see good looking ‘happening’ guys. Too bad I din take their pics. But dun worry, they’ll be featured on the video. Look out for the ‘eye candy’.


Us and the "boomz" production crew
Souvenir pic after the final shot wrapped up.
After 3 days of filming, our dressing was as 'lok' as theirs, we blended in very well with them.



Filming while it rained. Somehow, the ingenius director found a way to circumvent the bad weather



Us standing around while they film a scene on the running track



Dead tired on the last day

What's Cooking

A fren msg me on msn when I was about to logout, so I din get to answer his qn, but it inspired this entry.


One fine day my father bought 5 crabs at one go and invited us over to eat. He brought the crabs to the coffeeshop zi char near his place and got them to cook it for $15.



Another fine day, we passed by Eu Yan Sang and saw their birdsnest on sale. So we bought a box and just nice my mum gave me some American ginseng. Ah i have progressed in my cooking, I can cook birdsnest.. (actually not difficult, just soak and double boil it).

J-pot at Vivocity

Had lunch there last Saturday. Two of us shared a single hotpot set ($9.80) and ordered other stuff. Total bill was $30.85 . Relatively cheap for good quality food. I love their condiments. So many types for us to make our own dip. I made mine with lots of spring onion, chinese parsley and fried garlic. Yummm

Z-party

Belated Entry.

17 Oct, small gathering of us at Somerset Grand Cairnhill Service Apartments. Nice place with good facilities.

The guys played basketball, while Zhen and I went to the gym. Dinner was a spread of food, jap curry pasta, roast chicken and ribs, white wine, brownie..and potato chips..

Had a fun time playing mahjong on the coffee table, using a towel to shuffle the tiles.