Pampering in Jakarta

Its been a long time since I have updated this blog... for some reason, since trekking to Everest Base Camp in Nepal, its been most difficult to write anything meaningful, all manner of describing the trip seems pale in comparison to the actual event, so F*** it, I just decided to stay low. Until now, the writing bug seems to have crept up overnight and I am just bursting to write about anything at all, not that I have so many readers anyway hahahahah....

Since last December, I took a looooonnnng break, partly because I feel like I needed it to get some perspective on my priorities in life and also partly because I was at a cross road in my career. Anyway, as fate would have it, the bug to write coincided with the time of me getting back into the workforce in the next few days rather than started at the beginning of my break... so too bad for me hehehe

I started off the break by visiting a friend in Jakarta. That was a most interesting trip to just unwind from working. It was just getting to know the lifestyle that my friend was leading as an expat in the city and it gave me insight as to why a single lady would prefer to live an expat life in Jakarta. It was a tremendously fun and indulging trip for a group of ladies. As all ladies only trip goes, it will not be super economical, but since when pampering is truly economical??? Of course it was not bank account crippling either, on the whole, Jakarta seems to cater to pampering slightly more cheaply than KL.

Things to look out for:

1) The Cream Bath. The most heavenly hair wash you can ever get... 1 hour of head massage leaving your hair super soft and of course after that you get to have the compulsory big hair do (blown dry) which makes you feel like a rich Datin. With the hair do, you can confidently go window shopping and eat out in the poshest place in Jakarta and fit right in :)

2) The shopping. There are fabulous shopping to be done within the city, can't remember which place I went to, but it is filled to the brim with the latest fashions from Korea at a reasonable price. I had a good time in Carrefour surprisingly as the clothes and the shoes (especially the shoes since I am a shoe freak) are pretty and very reasonably priced as well. I bought a pair of flat heeled ballerina slippers which some of my friends say looks like kuih lapis for less than RM20.

3) Sop Buntut. Sounds gross but tastes heavenly. It beef though, you have to be warned. I think I had my first taste of it in Secret Recipe in Jakarta and subsequently, you will know how to order it every where else you go hahahaha

4) The Manadonese food. Yummy yummy and super hot and spicy!!! I had it at a restaurant named Beautika, seems like it used to be a beauty parlour but became famous for its food instead.

That is about all I did in Jakarta, of course catching up with friends was the most important agenda of the visit.

Fried Chicken Wings and Some Things Don't Change

17 years ago when I was 16 and experienced my first disappointment in my boyfriend, my father somehow sensed something was bothering his usually noisy and never leave him in peace daughter. It was a sunday and I was at the coffee shop where my father was working then and was sitting around mulling in silence over how pissed off I was with my boyfriend (whose existence my father never knew of).At a time like that I would usually be bugging my dad to buy me a bottle of coke when he was having his routine tea time coffee. Seeing his daughter in an unusually pensive mood, he decided to order a bottle of coke for her without having to be pestered into buying one to cheer her up. I remember thinking on that day,how despite having a boyfriend, it is still my dad who cared enough to lift my spirits up.

Fast forward to 17 years later on this night, when again despite being with my current boyfriend for years (and this time with my father's full knowledge and blessings) I was again fuming mad because of my boyfriend's not caring attitude (he is probably thinking his girlfriend is stark raving mad and is a selfish bitch to boot) My father called me to tell me that he has fried some chicken wings for me and left it covered on the coffee table before his one hour drive back to Sepang. He called because he wanted to let me know that he fried the chicken wings for me, his way of making it up to me for not being able to fry them yesterday when I came home hungry and looking forward to some fried chicken wings.

As I ate a chicken wing (even though I have had dinner and a coffee and am trying to slim down) I thought of how some things never change. When I was young and looking for someone who cares, I found it right where it always was: with my dad. When I am grown up and looking for someone who cares again, I found it right where it has always been: with my dad. This realisation is somewhat painful and at the same time comforting. Painful because it seems like no boyfriend will ever be able to know how to comfort me in my time of need regardless of whether they are some fresh 16 year old boy or a supposedly more polished 33 year old man (which means the rest of my life could suck big time). Comforting because as long as dad is here, things will always be ok because there will be a drink of coke and of course some fried chicken wings dished out at the right time by the loving thoughts of a father to his daughter.

Delicious Local Ice Cream

There is a famous local ice cream parlour in Bentong. All ice cream is home made and they have about 5 to 10 different types of flavour including famous local flavours like Pandan. My personal favourite is the Chocolate flavour as it is as thick and chocolaty as any italian gelatos. Price per scoop of ice cream is RM2 (as of 28 Dec 08)

Corn and Chocolate Ice Cream

I ordered Vanilla as per the label at the ice cream counter just in case you start to get the wrong idea that I like Corn ice - cream, but it turned out to be corn... I guess they can't really label properly in this place, so pick your ice - cream carefully!

Their service struck me as a bit weird. The people working there are nice enough, polite and friendly but they are just not very good at taking orders and serving the food to customers, that's all. But the chocolate ice -cream is worth the effort!!!

Besides the ice - creams, they have also created local versions of sundaes where they team up the ice cream with ABC and Cendol. A good place to drop by for an ice - cream break if you are travelling pass Bentong town.

This is where you can get the ice - cream "Kedai Kopi Kow Po" visible from the main road in Bentong town on your right if you are headed towards the heart of Bentong town ;and on your left if you are headed towards KL

My Christmas Dinner

Steak, Potatoes, Brocolli and Wine

For Christmas, Louis has very nicely decided to cook dinner for just the 2 of us.

Unfortunately, the Christmas songs that I spent a whole day downloading causing my netbook to go cuckoo was with my cousin (he din manage to give them back to me when he rescued my netbook) so the music playing on the background was a bit high strung, I mean what do you expect? it was the Celine Dion Christmas CD......

Cherating – Part 6

Cost of the trip

Disclaimer:
This is just a rough calculation based on my ageing memory…

Accommodation : RM60 for 2 nights
Toll : RM50 round trip
Petrol : RM75 Kancil full tank
Food : RM160 (inclusive of beer and Kenny Rogers Roasters meal at Mall
in Kuantan which cost RM47)
Total : RM345 for 2 person


P/S: Cost of Beer is RM 10 per can at Payung Café and the cost of cocktails are between RM18 to RM14. Food price is similar to KL prices.

Cherating – Part 5

What did we do there?

o Sports Illustrated photography

One of the pics

We dedicated one morning which was basically 2 hours at the beach to shoot some “Sports Illustrated” pics of my sis. I thought I was gonna get denggi from the amount of mosquito bites that I got that morning from staying stationery once in a while to just shoot the photos… it turned out that the mozzies were actually sand flies and now the back of my thighs look like a cheetah with pink spots….The consolation was that some of the pics turned out quite nice.

o Waves jumping
After breakfast, we went for a dip in the sea. Water is NOT crystal clear… reminds me of Tanjung Aru beach in KK. The beach was sandy and the waves were quite strong, currents were strong too. Lucky for us the tide was coming in. We had a marvelous time jumping the waves like we used to at Tanjung Aru.


The beach in the morning

o Exfoliating
As efficient as ever, my sis made sure that the sand was put to good use by rubbing it on our backs and feet. It was rough but the after effects were smooth skin that lasted for errr… 1 day?


Beach separated by a sand bank

o Sun tanning
The morning sun was strong for the 2 days we were there but by lunch time, it became cloudy and short showers were expected… we were tanning and by the beach and eating cheese flavored roller coasters at the same time… really fun activity. We probably were at it for about an hour the most before we decided to go get some lunch.


Pretty sandy pattern

o Jogging at the beach
Our room was a great place to nap after lunch and since it was raining, the nap was even sweeter. When the rain stopped we went to the beach for a 20 minutes jog. According to my sis, 20 minutes of increased heart rate per day is all we need and I would listen to her as she is a fitness freak since secondary school. We went jogging at the beach the next morning too for what else? 20 minutes of course. Will I incorporate this healthy activity into my existing lifestyle in KL? Let me be an irritating kiasu bitch and a half and ponder over the logistics of this incorporation like so many other activities that I do on a daily basis eg. do I shower before dinner or after dinner and what are the pros and cons of each argument…..

o Chilling
Now this part is the best… the loitering around on the balcony and lying about on the bed just chatting or having a beer or a cigarette (only my sis, I am still officially cigarette free since 27th Sep 2008 and will still be counting like the maniac that I am) Just catching up with each other and just enjoying each other’s company like we used to when we shared a room together growing up.

All in all, this 1st trip was awesome enough for us to decide to continue this new tradition – now we just need to think of the logistics of where, what, when and How for the next trip! Which is something that we will just leave until the last minute or until we absolutely have to… Of course us being who we are had to stop in Kuantan and traipse around the Mall there before coming back to KL.

Cherating – Part 4

The International Surfing Competition

Most of the local food/accommodation operators thought that we were joining in the surfing competition – must be the board shorts that we were in… but I thought judging by our complexions especially mine, they must have been thinking of snow surfing or something…

It was a bit strange though that this event din get the whole place packed with people as most of the guest houses have loads of rooms available, most restaurants and souvenir shops were not really open… it still had that chill factor like it is off season or something…


The competition environment and spectators

The exact amount of time that my sis and I spent at the competition was 1 hour the most. The waves were not as huge as the ones you see on TV where people surf in Hawaii or Australia or even animations like Surf’s Up. I guess unless you are really like into surfing you would probably think it is not such a big deal after all… the surfing looked pretty good and I got quite a few shots of the contestants surfing (don’t ask me which category)






The hubba factor was not sky rocketing…mostly pilak looking surfers (Van, so no winking from me) or little kids for that matter. Mat Sallehs looked like they have gone through A LOT of summers so it was not surprising that we din go for the party at 9 p.m. and preferred to chill in our balconies.

However, that was just my unprofessional opinion, for more reliable info on the competition; you can refer to these websites:

http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Number=1504185

http://all-about-malaysia-info.blogspot.com/2008/01/catching-surf-at-cherating.html