Die, die must try *

Don't you dare call yourself someone who like traveling if you don't know this term "die, die must try" from makansutra by K.F.Seetoh and his team in Singapore, especially this eating house: Sin Huat eating house. it is definitely 'die, die must try' food in singapore...;).
How do i know about this eating house...
oh well..
yes, I did finally visit Singapore last long weekend (for 5 days, not only transit at changi airport this time..:p)
yes, I did lie to some people about my visit to singapore (but of course not to my parents)
yes, I did not plan for that trip (this idea pop-up in a dinner at Lily's a month ago, actually she invited me ...
well...where should i start...(aah...to you who have visited singapore, this journal will be very boring for you...anyway i will document it here...maybe it inspires you to explore s'pore more than i did :D)

day 1: arrived at changi airport at 23.00 S'pore time by Emirate airline, queued for taxi and up to Tiang Bahru district where Lily's husband-Iwan- lives. at 00.00 entered his orange rented apartment and 'bang!' he fed me with 2 books: makansutra 2007 and insider's singapore and absolutely MRT and bus map of s'pore. fhewww...heavy homework :-). leaved them for the next morning agenda..zzzz...

day 2: The 2 really not 'morning person' ladies headed to Raffles Rd for lunch at a foodcourt near those office buildings (hehehe...forget the name of the place). guided by iwan, he explained almost each of the stall over there. at exactly noon, this big foodcourt was full of white collar eaters who put their tissue on their reserved seat (strange but effective :D). my first eating experience in S'pore...only chose 'mee kuah' at halal stall. Food are considered cheap in s'pore (compare to their income perhaps and compare to the foodcourt's prices in jakarta). After having lunch, Lily and i were heading to ...where else..Orchard Rd of course, where she showed me this big Ngee Ann City and Takasimaya dept store, wisma Atria, Lucky plaza, Tang's and Paragon. well...those were shopping malls, of course i got to get something otherwise it's useless (hehehe..it's only my definition of going to mall...got to buy something). Charles&Keith's bag looked nice and i've not seen this one in Indonesia so i grabbed one of them. oh well...the prices at C&K in s'pore is cheaper than in Indonesia anyway, it's worth to buy. Heard Indonesia speaking at this store. in the evening, still used the MRT (reminded me of europe-underground in london and metro in paris), we had dinner at newton Circus foodcourt, this one is also big..big foodcourt. Singaporean don't cook for themselves, they like eating out and enjoying their food and really appreciate food as mentioned on makansutra. This time, crab and gong-gong (stupid-stupid), baby kailan and (again) sugarcane with lime were our dining. eating gong-gong was also my new experience.
before going to bed, we 'studied and discussed' our dinner and the plan for the next day trip :D

day 3: these (still) not morning person ladies decided to go to (small) IKEA at alexandra. before heading to this swedish funiture store, we had our brunch at Tiang Bahru market. This time i chose to try 'fried carrot cake' and kopi museum which is coffee and milk. First, i didn't plan to buy anything but ended up more than s'pore $100 for cute stuffs and boxes for my CD...:-). bringing back home all those boxes and got teh tarik with indian martabak afterward, Lily spoiled me as a tourist with a journey to see the Merlion (the lion statue-s'pore's symbole) and we took some pictures of us (seems like our first picture together). we decided to have dinner at Chinatown where only couple of blocks from this area. While waiting for iwan from his office which is also only couple of blocks from where we sat and have a glass of beer for Lily and just a coke for me, we saw tourists taking traditional boat along the river to see the s'pore's view from its river. my two hosts were really patient with me, we walked to chinatown and once more time, they treated me for the dinner.

day 4: this day was also a holiday in s'pore and we went to vivo city. the intention was to try to cross until sentosa island by monorail but ...leave it in our dream because the queue was so long....it's holiday anyway. ah ya, we had brunch at People's Park first before leaving to this place where i picked chicken rice for my brunch. God, i found another charles&Keith store...and what a nice highheel sandal....hard to resist its charmed....got to get one..;). did we give up to this place only? absolutely not...'cos i said i need new mp3, the funan was the right place to visit for electronic, especially challenger with iwan's member card then we got member's price. I was so tired on this forth day, got a nap before having dinner which i prefer noodle this time and you know where they took me...yup, the famous "sin huat eating house" at Geylang. the taxi driver was quite amazed when he knew that we came far from Tiang Bahru to Geylang just for dinner. The food was great and worth to be waited for about 3 hours. Iwan also gave me this book-Anthony Bourdin, The nasty bits- and opened the section 'die, die must try' before coming to this place, and you know what i meant by having special treatment directly from the chef who took the order also cook them by himself, without any menu card on the table. we ordered gong-gong (this time the sauce was excellent), scallops-also with great sauce, baby kailan that were still cruncy and the most famous menu: kepiting bihun -crab bee houn. it is not a secret that the "secret recepies" is bunch of onion in every dine at this place. we also didn't need to say how many portion we need but just say what we want to eat and the chef Daniel will give the right portion depend on how many person in the table. Don't you ever think that the appearance of the place like at sin huat where it is located at the corner of Lor 35 Geylang close to red light district and with plastic seat could be the indication of how cheap it cost for the food. at this place with those menu, we (well this time was still on iwan actually....he kept saying you pay for dinner tomorrow,ana, which is never happened until i depart to jakarta) had to grab deeper to our (iwan's) pocket for those food...more than 200 s'pore $. then, we went back home with content on our faces...thanks a lot guys.

day 5: oh well...the small IKEA was not enough for us anyhow because there were some stuffs that lily and I could not find at the small one so we marched to the big IKEA. once again, the taxi driver was quite surprised that we came a long way from home just to visit this store. Did i get more stuffs? ....of course...:D. the evening agenda was visiting orchard but we only ended up at food republic since i could not decide what i wanted to eat this evening. but basically, to day we got some long rest.

day 6: (did i say 6?) yes, i should have not counted the day 1 as the starting day but i like the idea of writing it there and i still say that it was my 5 days trip to S'pore. okay...day 6, another experience: visiting hospital, since iwan had a problem with his eyes, we went to raffles hospital. before departing to changi, we still had time to visit orchard rd once more time. got a book - Angela Carter's Book of Fairy tale- at Kinokuniya....and yes, this is the biggest bookstore i've ever seen and i like this place...wish i could buy many..many books or could read them...as if....:p. next destination ....changi airport to go back to jakarta by emirate airline and at the business class...yippy...thanks to Lily, we got this class with cheap price almost the same as other airlines that offered economic class for that day. that was my first time experience of sitting and treated as business class person with its "priority baggage...50kg", business lounge...with its great food, big and large space in the plane.

what a trip....and thanks to lily for popping up the idea of spending holiday in s'pore otherwise i will just spending somewhere else and for other stuffs, and of course thanks for everything guys...hhmm...thinking of going back to s'pore, for IKEA or big kinokuniya or charles&keith?....

next unplanned destination for holiday?.....i don't know...let's see ya...where and when my mood drag me and i will try to still send you postcard from those places...you like it hah?

never stop enjoying our journey of life....:-)

*) is taken from makansutra catalogue.

pms

perempuan....mengalami yang namanya pre menstruasi syndrome (PMS). (sorry males pasang link info ttg subject ini..google ndiri aja ya?). tapi yang pasti kalo saya itu, either seminggu sebelum mens maupun seminggu setelahnya (bukan pre lagi donk...dodol lu!...ya dah pre dan post kl gitu)....gak bisa diprediksi sehingga ketika hal itu datang gak bisa diantisipasi dengan benar.

apa yang terjadi dengan saya ketika syndrome itu datang dan mempengaruhi hormon estrogren and progresteron saya? yang mana hampir semua laki-laki (kecuali dokter kali ya) mengatakan bahwa itu adalah hal yang gak masuk akal dan bikinan perempuan aja agar bisa mencari-cari alasan untuk tidak melakukan "sesuatu" ataupun malah melakukan "sesuatu" (baik yg nggak2 maupun yg iya2).

okay, kembali ke kondisi saya, menurut dugaan saya, hari ini adalah saat saya mengalami syndrom itu, pre-ms. dan apa yang terjadi dengan saya biasanya? males...ngantuk ...dan males..:p. kalo perempuan lain uring-uringan...saya lebih sering males, intinya males makan, males mandi, males tidur, males bangun tidur so efeknya jadi males kerja (aah..untung punya deadline dan jadwal2 itu..kl gak sama sekali gak ada pemicu deh). jan-jane (sebenernya) lu maunya apa sih aaaannnn....??? tidur males, makan males, baca males...trus gue ngapain aja donk sehari2? jawab: ya biasa aja sih, pagi tetep bangun kesiangan (krn males bangun dan males mandi so males kerja), habis mandi pan seger tuh nah semangat ke kantor tapi kok sore2 ngantuk cuma males tidur, gak afdol banget pulang kerja sore2 tidur. tidur tetep aja jam 12 malam ato lebih. insomnia? gak juga...saya doyan tidur dan gak inget smalamnya ngimpi apa. yang paling menyebalkan adalah saya (masih) selalu kangen sama seseorang pada saat pms itu (either pas pre ato post-ms). cuma krn saya tambah "pinter" dengan diri saya, jadi sekarang lebih sering diem...diem aja dengan kangen itu....dinikmati aja rasanya sambil nulis ini (ini mah gak diem namanya..tp crita2 gak jelas!!), sambil baca (woooii..bli novel banyak2 gak dibaca!!..dasar!!), sambil nonton "house" (i agree with cameron, i like house, he's rude but cool...kayak robbie william kl diliat-liat ya?), sambil duduk di taxi (krn bau taxi kadang2 bikin pusing...heran, sopir2 taxi tu emang kl mandi brp kali sehari ya?), sambil nelpon orang2 itu, sambil makan (makanan yg itu-tiu aja)...bahkan sambil ngobrol ma orang2 itu...ato sambil jalan2 (jalan2 yang gak pernah direncana itu).

alhamdulillah gak pernah sakit perut kl pms...cuma sebenernya "sakit jiwa" lebih parah dari sakit perut ya?:p

kamu kalo pms ngapain ato diapain?

ketularan hamil

hari ini:
cek inbox...
subject: hello girls...
from: 2 beautiful moms (6 unread messages)

news1: hi girls...where are you guys...jadi jalan2nya? anakku nanyain "mi, liburan kita kemana donk?"...kayak orang banyak duit aja ya? :D..wong anak TK lho nanya gituan ke umi nya..huuu...
news2: kabarku: tambah lemu, gak punya baju yang pas lagi, hasil hunting di ambasador sudah menuhin perut.
news3: bawaan bayi...makan dan makan ya?
news4: membajak kaos-kaos layak pake suami membuat dia gak mau baju second sisa orang hamil katanya...kurang ajaarrrr!....anakku lebih parah...gak mau bagi makanan ma ibunya lagi, ibu gak boleh nyicipin makanannya. katanya "takut ketularan hamil kayak ibu". halah!
news5 (gue): wakakakkakakakka (ngakak abis.:)))...............guys...your sons are adorable....and kreatif dalam berkomentar...asli aku ngakak habis. ajaran siapa coba kl membagi makanan ke ibunya yang lagi hamil bisa menularkan hamil ke anak laki2?. hhhmmm....aku gak yakin kl gurunya di sekolah, krn bu guru mengajarkan untuk tidak membuang sampah sembarangan. jelas ibunya yang lagi hamil krn dulu juga pernah mengajarkan padanya bahwa "merokok itu dosa"...halah! ada-ada aja.
news6: sip..sip..ati2 di jalan semoga misi sukses ya
news7:tujuan mulia begitu ...patut di dukung, kudoakan lancar
news8:.....(blum balas email krn internet mati nyala)

p.s: postingan sudah disensor sana-sini.

inti email hari ini: like mother like son...hahahha....:))..oopsh..

blessing

Jakarta, 5 Maret 2008

pernahkah saya bercerita tentang sahabat-sahabat saya? sepertinya saya hanya menyebutkannya sekilas di beberapa postingan saya atas pendapat-pendapatnya. kali ini saya akan bercerita tentang mereka, orang-orang terdekat saya yang mewarnai dan memberi pengaruh pada kehidupan saya selama ini.

bila dilihat secara cepat, hampir semua sahabat terdekat saya adalah orang-orang yang memiliki karakter yang bertolak belakang sama saya. mereka pendiam, tenang, not 'a people person' (katanya), penuh pertimbangan dan cakep. yang tentu saja itu semua beda dengan saya yang cerewet, 'lincah', 'bermulut gatal', ceplas-ceplos dan gak cakep. tapi (menurutku) kami memiliki kesamaan dalam hal selera makan, selera nonton, selera baca, selera baju, selera omongan (walo levelnya beda), selera sepatu dan tajam dalam berkomentar serta straight to the point person, kadang tanpa basa-basi namun tetap bisa diplomatis dan yang pasti penuh cinta dan perhatian serta concern dengan masalah negara dan 'orang-orang kecil'.

semalam, salah satu dari mereka mengundangku menghadiri acara blessing rumah barunya, walaupun sudah 2 kali dia mengadakan house warming :-) tapi kali ini blessing itu dilakukan oleh pastur gerejanya. nah, ini jg yang membedakan saya dengan salah satu sahabat dekat saya, kami berbeda kepercayaan. tapi itu sama sekali tidak membuat kami berdebat tentang hal itu. seingatku baru sekali kali berbicara antara apa yang kami percaya tentang surga, neraka, setan, malaikat dan Tuhan, bukan berdebat tapi lebih pada sharing pengetahuan.

dia hanya mengundang sang pastur dan kami berdua (ada seorang sahabat lagi) dan saya merasa semakin 'mengukuhkan' diri untuk memanggilnya sahabat terdekat saya karena special treatment dari dia itu. we're blessed with our friendship.

hidup dan berinteraksi dekat maupun secara langsung dalam lingkungan kepercayaan yang berbeda bukan hal baru buatku. saya besar di rumah yang berbeda kepercayaan (eh dah tau kan ya?) sejak kecil (ketika berumur lima tahun) saya memutuskan untuk menjadi muslim di tengah keluarga saya yang kristen advent. sebuah keyakinan yang saya sendiri tidak tau bagaimana bisa hadir dalam otak kecil dan lugu saya waktu itu. tapi yang pasti hidup saya sudah dilingkupi dengan ajaran toleransi, moderat dan non diskriminasi atas kepercayaan, warna kulit, garis wajah dan mata, maupun ide-ide. ajaran budi pekerti ibu, bapak dan nenekku yang serupa selain dari itu semua adalah sopan santun, menghormati dan menghargai baik yang muda dan terlebih yang tua terlepas dari apapun latar belakangnya. sejak kecil kami dididik untuk 'bermimpi dan berjuang sendiri tapi tidak menjadi tersendiri dengan perbedaan'. walaupun ketika kami besar sekarang, mereka sudah pasrah dengan apa jadinya anak-anak mereka saat ini, yang bisa orang tua lakukan adalah mengingatkan dan mendoakan (ternyata memang sulit menjadi orang tua ya?).

anyway, kembali ke soal sahabat. sahabat terdekat saya lainnya sedikit beda dalam 'penampakan' dari sahabat saya yang tadi tapi masih memiliki karakter yang hampir sama. dan kali ini kami memiliki kepercayaan yang sama. dia juga seorang yang tanpa pamrih, setia kawan, care, dan apa adanya kepada saya. dia adalah orang pertama yang saya hubungi begitu saya sampai rumah di semarang.

satu orang lagi yang saya anggap sahabat dekat adalah dia yang juga jujur apa adanya kepada saya dan menerima saya apa adanya serta lucu tapi yang satu ini 'people person' banget deh ;p. saya juga bisa kapanpun menghubunginya dan memintanya menemani saya, dan saya juga bersedia kapanpun menemaninya. jenis kelamin sepertinya tidak akan pernah menghalangi kami menjadi sahabat dekat.

jadi ingat cerita sahabat saya yang satu ini tentang pertanyaan dosen kami di kelas "berapa orang teman kamu?" dan ada satu orang teman dari Nepal yang mengatakan bahwa temannya ratusan karena dia (seperti halnya kita orang Asia) menganggap bahwa sahabat, teman, kenalan adalah teman-teman kita. tapi sebenarnya yang dimaksud dosen kami itu adalah teman dekat kami, jelas saat ini teman dekat saya hanya 3 orang itu. walaupun dalam waktu dekat saya yakin teman dekat saya akan bertambah lagi karena kami akan tinggal bersama.

semoga sahabat-sahabat saya merasa blessing juga memiliki saya sebagai teman dekatnya. :-). makasih ya dah menjadi sahabat terdekat saya.