Photos Of The Week - Tofu & Trucks

2 weeks ago I taught my maid to steam tofu. Obviously she has never done steaming before with a steamer, so I told her to put the square soft tofus onto a metal plate and steam it for 10 mins. When I came back I was surprised to see the following dish on my table!

This was her steamed tofu dish with fried garlic on top.....but it was all mashed up and out of shape! So the next day I asked her what happened and she told me that she steamed the tofu for >1 hour!!

No problem, she was on her learning curve. However, last week the steamed tofu dish came out to be like this....

I was surprised again. Not only the tofu is all mashed up, it was perfectly round. I ate half of the tofu dish and asked her what happened the next day. She said, "I used a plastic container to close up the tofu and steam it".



I almost fainted when I heard that she put a plastic container covering up the tofu and put it on a metal plate to steam under the >100c steamer! The plastic would have melted and I would have eaten all the toxins from the heated plastic container. I have been poisoned by my maid.... She was banned from steaming tofu from that day onwards.



In Palembang, all the trucks that carry fertilizers into the estates are only limited to 8 tons compared to Malaysia's 20 tons due to the bad road infrastucture. Any trucks > 8 tons will not be able to enter the dirt roads.



They have funny funny writings all over the trucks and this is one of them.... KEKASIH HALAL - literally it meant LEGAL LOVER. So what does Legal Lover mean? I am sure it does not mean THE WIFE.

What Is A MOCAK?

Yesterday afternoon when my driver came to pick me up for lunch, he told me that there was a power outage at home. Therefore, I was not able to heat up the food from the fridge and had to buy some take-away food. I wanted to try this Mi Aceh (Aceh noodles) from a nearby shop, so we drove there. It was pouring. When we got to the Mi Aceh stall, we saw a MOCAK (sounds like "mow-chuck") or Motor-Becak (Motorized-trishaw).

The Mocak belongs to the Mi Aceh guy. He is from Aceh (northern Sumatra) and claims that he brought the mocak to Palembang by bus. It was dismantled into smaller pieces then put on a bus. When it got here, he re-assembled it back. He said it is very popular to have mocaks in Aceh and it is legal. The Palembang city regulations prohibit mocaks to be driven but I guess he is still driving it illegally around this area.

If you examine the mocak carefully, you can see that it can take on a total of 7 passengers - the bike rider and pillion rider on the bike section (2), plus 3 leaning back at the carriage section and 2 more facing opposite the 3 persons!

The Mi Aceh guy stir fries the noodles then use a lid to cover them up and steam it. It is a spicy dish. If you look properly at his stall, you can see a piece of beef hanging there. Other than the Mi Aceh, I also took away some BATAGOR which is something like dumplings and fried tofu (see photo below). I would not say that the Mi Aceh & Batagor were nice but at least I got to know more about the MOCAKs.

I Work At Home

Everyday passes really slowly especially when my wife and son are away in Brisbane. I am alone in the house after work. I managed to go through some of the photos that my wife took in the laptop.

I recalled my son telling me that he works at home when I told him I was about to go to work in the morning.

Exactly what work does he do??

1. He cleans the dead leaves and twigs that falls into our fish pond at the back of the house. This is normally our driver's job but my son likes to help adults do chores. Maybe I can get him to wash the plates next time!...LOL! Washing plates is my most hated chore as both my brother and I were forced to wash up after dinner every night (we had to rotate everyday)!

2. He pretends that he is an excavator digging the soil that we put into this cut-into-half oil drum from my work place. We had to plaster the sharp edges of the drum so that he does not get cut.

My son normally would find worms and caterpillars and cut them up! We tried to let him cut the caterpillars only because they eat up my wife's plants whereas the earth worms help loosen the soil for the plants to grow better.

3. He is also the construction team coordinator. He instructs his shovel to scoop soil into the dump truck. The soil we have on the ground is mostly clay, so it is hard to dig and gets messy when it is wet.

We thought of building him a sand pit. However the thought of cats doing their business in the pit put off our idea. My friend also just reminded me that it would be very difficult to find clean sand in Palembang.

Wishing that I could reunite with my family in Brisbane soon, all that I could do now is to continue to browse through the many photos that my wife took throughout the 3 years we were in Palembang. I never really had time to go through all of them when they are around. Yes, 3 year olds do work at home!

Dismal Display At Anfield

The Liverpool-ManUtd match yesterday was a disappointment for United fans. ManUtd lost 0-2 to the "wounded animal" Liverpool who desperately needed a win to overcome their 4 loses in a row crisis.

I drove to the mess to watch the match at 8pm WIB (Waktu Indonesia Barat - west Indonesian time) only to know that the live match will only start at 9pm WIB. The schedule provided by the local newspaper was inaccurate.

After the start of the match, frustrations mounted as Utd struggled to dominate the mid-field area and the first half ended 0-0. Thinking that the second half will turn out to be better for Utd, came the Liverpool goal where Spaniard Fernando Torres (aka El Nino) outpaced out-of-form England and Utd centerback Rio Ferdinand to shoot past keeper Edwin Van Der Sar. 1-0 down, Utd tried to fight back but the introduction of former Liverpool man Michael Owen did not provide Utd much magic that we hoped for. Nemanja Vidic (Utd) and Javier Mascherano (Liv) were both sent off after 2 bookable offences. After added time beyond the 90th minute, Liv scored again and my heart sank.....

After a whole week of taunting and exchanging "fire" with my Liverpool friends on Facebook, I had to swallow the bitter pill. Can't stand my friends keep talking about the "you'll never walk alone" crap (motto of Liverpool), so I called their home site ANT-field instead of Anfield. The "Liver-POO vs. Manure United" rivalry will have to wait till the next match at Old Trafford in 2010. Funny how the people give names to the players and teams of their rivals.... the best is still "ARSE-Shavin" playing for "ARSE-Anal"! (Andrei Arshavin playing for Arsenal)....

The Reds deserved to win at home against a woeful United side yesterday. The win also temporarily delayed the crisis call at Liverpool and their manager Rafa Benitez' job is gonna be safe at least for a few more games. It was also time that Utd lost their 11 game unbeaten streak so that they could bounce back in the next few games esp the tough test at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea on Nov 7, 2009.

I hope this is a blessing in disguise for United as last season they also lost both games to Liverpool but ended up clinching the ultimate prize - being the Champions of the English Premier League!

THE Match Preview - Liverpool vs United (25/10/09)

Many readers do not like to read about my Manchester United posts but tomorrow is a BIG match where Liverpool hosts Manchester United at Anfield.

Liverpool has had a 4 consecutive match losing record coming into tomorrow's game while United (current league leaders) are seeking to avenge their double loss to the reds last season. Liverpool is weakened by the absence of their influential skipper Steven Gerrard while United will be without their star striker Wayne Rooney who is still out injured.

I will need to watch the match at my colleagues place in the company's mess because they have Indovision cable TV (the new EPL match broadcaster). I am sure Liverpool will want to use this opportunity to bounce back with a win over their arch rivals. I am anticipating a 2-2 draw but as a Devil fan I hope former Liverpool star Michael Owen (photo below) will tip the scales with a last gasp goal for United against his former club.

Can't wait for the cracker match tomorrow! Go Red Devils!!!

A Visit To Our Former Maid's House

Last week, we received news that our former maid has delivered a baby boy. My wife has been to her house in Mata Merah last month to visit her but I have not been. Yesterday after work, my driver and me went to pay her a visit.

Mata Merah is 10 mins drive away from my work place. I thought it would be a "poor" area but the houses looked pretty nice and well maintained for Indonesian standard.

Aini was our 2nd live-in maid in Palembang. She was one of the hard working ones that we have had and my wife also liked her because of her pleasant personality. She was so efficient and throrough in her work that we let her study in the afternoons (to finish high school). After she got married and left us, we still kept in touch with her.

Aini looked pretty happy when we met her. She was carrying her 10 days old baby boy. His name is Ruslan, named after his great-grandfather. According to customs of people from her husband's hometown in Kayu Agung (2 hours drive from Palembang), their sons and daughters are named after their grandparents. They said this custom will enable their ancestors to be remembered.

In fact, the elder Ruslan is just staying a few roads away. According to Aini, he is 80 years old and having some mobility problems. However, the baby's great-grandpa is still quite healthy, eats well and still smokes 1 pack of cigarette a day! Unfortunately, the 2 Ruslans still have not met one another yet. Aini's father still has not visited her and her newborn yet. So I felt priviledged to be one of their first visitors.

Aini told us that her baby is a deep sleeper. He seldom wakes up despite loud noises and only cry when he is wet or hungry. She said her baby kept wanting to get out from the swaddle... I could imagine how uncomfortable it is to be swaddled up under these hot Palembang weather!

She only started breast feeding her baby 2 days after it was born. She had a natural birth and was happy not to have a C-section because they would still have to pay for 50% of the medical cost despite being subsidized by the government. She delivered her baby (3.3kgs) in a mid-wives' home (BIDAN) instead of a hospital. Most of the people living in this area go to a BIDAN instead of a doctor. Therefore, there were many cases where they could not accurately predict the delivery dates of the baby because they did not have any ultrasound scanners at the BIDAN's place. Aini's baby only came after 3 weeks of her expected delivery date.

Aini stays with her in-laws now in a house with 6 occupants. Her father in-law has 12 brothers and sisters! He was there to chat with us as well and said he was very proud to have his first grandchild as a boy. I guess people here prefer to have boys over girls (same as other parts of the world). I told him that as long as the baby is healthy, the gender should not matter. He had to nod his head in agreement after I stared at him for a few seconds...;)

We brought Aini some baby clothes, nappies, nappy cream and a baby soft toy. We only stayed at her place for 30 mins and left after bidding farewell. She was appreciative of the gifts and even sms'd to thank me for it later. Hope that Aini would be happy enjoying her new life with her newborn baby.

Photos Of The Week - Ampera Area

As mentioned in my previous posts, my driver and me both took the local bus to Palembang downtown and here are some photos that we took:

The following photo was taken on a pedestrian bridge with the Ampera Bridge and Palembang's water fountain round-about at the background. My driver Iwan is still not smiling...

This pedestrian bridge is called Jembatan PUSRI because it was built by Pusri (Pupuk Sriwijaya), one of the largest urea producers in the world. Supposedly there are a lot of pick pockets along this bridge but we did not encounter any incidences. Palembang is also full of satellite dishes (look at the background) because there are less government restrictions on their installations as compared to Malaysia. Once you have a dish installed, you can get any channels around the world. However, it was not something that we wanted to invest in.

This is Mesjid Agung Palembang (Palembang's Mosque) located right next to the Ampera Bridge. The horns on the roof came from a mix of Hindu and Chinese influences.

Across the mosque is this MONPERA monument. MONPERA stands for Monumen Penderitaan Rakyat. It is a monument to commemorate the suffering of the Indonesian people under the rule of president Soekarno in the 60's.

The front gate of the Palembang mosque.

Unique Palembang architecture and decorations.

An "angkut" or mini van is Palembang's other most common mode of public transport other than the BUS KOTA (city bus).

Busy street away from the Ampera Bridge just in front of the Monpera monument.

Water fountain round-about right before crossing Ampera bridge to the other side of Palembang (Plaju area where Pertamina's refinery is located). The city council only turns on the water fountain at night. They also have colored lights shooting at the fountain. The houses at the background have been painted in multiple colors for the Visit Musi Year 2008. I still remember donating paints on behalf of our company for the event. Supposedly all the houses facing the Musi River were all painted with these rainbow colors in 2008.

Taking The Bus To Town - Part 2

Continuing from my previous post... I boarded the next bus from the national mosque (mesjid agung) area heading to Perumnas. Similar to the previos bus, the one that I got on has all the wondeful hippy colors and decors all over it.

This is a photo of the inside of the previous bus. You can see the Jamaican flag with Bob Marley hanging on the ceiling. This photo was taken right before it became packed.

Ok, the following photo is the one that I boarded on the way home. It has flowers all across the wind screen. I would have felt very cosy if I were the driver. Look at all the different colors on their seats.

This guy below is the bus conductor who collects money from the passengers. He will go around showing his "grabbing hands" (open and close quickily) to all the passengers demanding for payment as he walks around the bus. I can see that he does not keep track on who he has taken money from and who has not because he came around asking for payment from me twice in the past 15 mins! He also acts as an usher, shouting at the potential passengers at the bus stops to board the bus. He also bangs the bus' back door whenever passengers have gone up to bus to tell the driver to drive off. In order to get down the bus, you just have to knock on the top of the bus' ceiling and the driver will stop (I have not seen any bells on the bus though).


Along the way home, I saw the following interesting event happening along the streets in front of Cinde market. People are actually having their arms tatoo'd along the dusty streets!

It looked as if someone was taking jabs of drugs but was a more legal activity. Blood, paint and dust... yucks!

The following photo shows 2 entertainers coming on to the bus. One guy carried a guitar and has a mike on his headset with amplifiers at the side. The other guy carried his drum set which consists of a 6 piece joint percussion equipment. They started to sing and play DANGDUT music (popular Malay-Arabic-Hindustani music with strong drum beats & synthesizers). They performed for a mere 5 mins on the bus but they were pretty good. Therefore, they earned my Rp1000 (RM0.35) before they left for another bus.

After a bumpy 30 min ride, we finally got back to Novotel where we parked the car and went home. It was an interesting 1.5 hour excursion despite the heat and deafening atmosphere. Now, I can proudly say that I have gone on every mode of transportation in Palembang....;)

1. Bus
2. Ankut (mini van/truck)
3. Becak (trishaw)
4. Perahu (boat)
5. Mobil (car)
6. Keretapi (train)
7. Pesawat (plane)
   
   
   
   

Taking The Bus To Town - Part 1

Last weekend I decided to take the Bus Kota (local bus) to downtown Palembang. The locals call it "bis kota". My wife and son have both taken the local bus before. Even my father in law who seldom comes have taken it when he came 3 years ago. So I HAD to take this opportunity to try out the bus.

I invited my driver Iwan to tag along. I was taken by surprise when he came in his nice black shirt (he normally wears T-shirt - see adjacent photo). I asked him why he dressed up but he just denied it. I thought to myself he must have thought that this was "a day out with the boss", so better dress nicely!....LOL!

We parked our car at Novotel and crossed the road to take the bus. Iwan chose one that had "good music". My legs were too long to fit in between the seats, so I had to sit sideways. I guess they designed the buses for people less than 1.5 m to save space?

The music in the truck was deafening.... oops, did I just write "truck"? Maybe because it felt like sitting in a truck. They have no cushions. Only a PVC sheet covered wooden seat. Back to the music.... it was so loud and the bass was so extreme until I could feel my arm hairs vibrating! The seat was vibrating too.

After a few stops, the bus was packed like a sardine can. Iwan did warn me about pick pockets, so I only brought along some cash and ID with me. A bunch of students came in and they all started smoking in the bus. They are only primary school students! Along the way also came some "entertainers" with their guitars hoping to make a living from their 1 minute on the bus performance.

We reached the Ampera stop after half an hour of sauna, 2nd hand smoke and ear drum bashing. I have nowhere specific to go, so I decided to walk around the Palembang national mosque (which I will blog about in detail next time).

Then we went to the "bus stop" opposite the mosque. Iwan decided to buy me a drink and insisted that he has to pay. We drank this orange cordial cup drink called "Ale Ale". Normally I would not buy drinks from the road side but since it was in a sealed cup I thought, "what the heck"! Iwan does not like to smile when he takes photos, not even on his wedding day! I had to force him to smile but asking him to hold up the "Ale Ale" drink and pretend that he was promoting it. Out came this photo with his "smile" and I told him nobody would ever buy this drink anymore....

The buses in Palembang are actually color-coded. They have red, blue, beige, yellow and green colors. If you are not a local like Iwan, you would have no idea how to catch the bus! It only costs Rp2500 (RM0.90) to hop on and you can go from Simpang Patal (junction next to Novotel) to Ampera bridge (1/2 hour ride).

We had to wait at this bus stop for 10 mins because I had to wait for Iwan to finish his cigarette. While waiting along the sidewalk, we saw students across the road. Iwan said that this is a place where student gangs hang out. When they see other gangs coming, they will fight. Just as he said it, we saw a group of students chasing another group down the road.

Then our bus came and I had to continue the second part of my "adventure" in another post....

TO BE CONTINUED.

Driving Tests in Palembang

Yesterday I talked to my driver Iwan about how strict the driving tests are in Australia. I was surprised to learn that people do not even need to do ON-THE-ROAD driving tests!

There are 2 ways of getting drivers license in Palembang. One is to go through the PANSOS (drivers association) where they train you for a few months then you sit for the written and practical tests. So the PANSOS style is similar to what we have in Malaysia except the testers are from the transport dept. The other way is to go through the traffic police department.

With the traffic police, you still need to sit for a written road rules test and they have 100 questions to be completed in 1.5 hours. However, the surprising thing is you DO NOT need to drive on the road! The traffic police department opposite Palembang Square has a SIMULATOR. I was in shock when I got to know that Palembang has this kinda technology. Iwan said it is like a video game where you sit inside the simulator. You have a couple of "LIVES". If you die in the game that means you fail the test!

I was amazed and puzzled at the same time after listening what Iwan told me. I was thinking to myself how would anyone know how to react on the actual road when they pass their tests using video games? Anyway, Iwan said only 20% of the people who took the simulator tests actually pass. The rest had to pay off the traffic police to get their licenses.... LOL!

Someone did ask me whether I wanted a SIM (Surat Izin Memandu - Indonesian Drivers Licence) when I first came to Palembang. They requested Rp1,000,000 (approx RM360) but I found the price to be too steep. After almost 3 years, I discovered that the 1 million rupiah was well saved because even though you have any traffic violations you will still need to fork out money irregardless of whether you have a SIM or not. Moreover, a new SIM only costs Rp300,000 (less than Rm100)!

Things That I Will Miss In Palembang

It has been almost 3 years since we moved to Palembang. In my previous posts, I have blogged about things that I hate or dislike about living in Palembang. Besides the negatives, there are also positive things about Palembang and I will mention about the things that I would miss the most upon leaving.

Of course, the first will be the people in Palembang. We have made a number of friends in Palembang throughout these 3 years. We spend almost every weekend hanging out with some of them. So it will be truly sad to leave them behind because our friendship bond has strengthened tremendously throughout these years. Next will be our house and the routine activities that we do.

When I first arrived, I went looking around for a house so that we can have a comfortable place to stay when my wife and 6-month old son join me. We did not want a double storey house because it is a bit dangerous for young kids. Finally after plenty of negotiations with the company regarding rental cost and furniture, the company finally rented a semi-furnished house for Rp30 million a year (approx RM1000/month).

This is not the biggest house in the housing area but definitely one of the bigger ones. It has a garden and a fish pond at the back. My wife and toddler son spent more than 90% of their time IN THIS HOUSE after they moved here.

My wife started to plant flowers and vegetables in our garden. We have okra (ladies fingers), kecipir (four angled beans) and potato leaves as our weekly supply of vegetables. My toddler son helps my wife water her plants. Digs sand and plays with his toy trucks at the places with soil (mostly clay). Every morning, the "taufu-man" will drive past in his bike selling tofu and my son will tell him that we don't need any tofu (because we normally buy our tofu from the market). Sometimes, the lady that sells vegies and eggs will drop by. Sometimes we hear the clinging and clanging of bowls and kitchen utensils, indicating the "tekwan-man" selling noodles and Palembang dumplings is near.
In the evenings, our neighbor's kids will come out and play badminton along the road. Certain times, children will walk past our house in groups heading towards the concrete field where they play football with their bare feet. My son will try to talk to them in Indonesian with his hands holding along the fence like a monkey in a cage....;)

Besides the garden, we also spend a lot of time in the fish pond area. There's a bridge across the pond. Our son would try and help us dish out the leaves and twigs that falls into the pond. He said it is "his work". When he was still 7 or 8 months old, we used to put him in a rocker next to the pond. He tasted his first durian and rambutan in front of this pond.

In our dining room, we have some odd authentic Palembang designed cupboards that we use to keep our cooking utensils and food storage. We used to spend almost an hour every meal waiting for our son to finish eating his food! The white board at the back is used for me to draw things for him as he eats his food. He likes me to draw his favourite TRAINS.

We also have this picture of EEYORE the donkey (Pooh & Friends) from my son's 2-year old birthday party. I drew it for the neighbour's kids to play "place the tail blind folded" during the event.

Due to weight limitations, I don't think we will be able to bring my son's TRICYCLE back. I got my maintenance crew to weld together some galvanized pipes so that I could push my son while he rides along the road every morning before I go to work.

The living room in our place is quite big. It has 2 sections. One is for watching TV and the other one is for my son to play. The TV section is only used for watching TV (obviously!). In the photo you can see that the computer table has been shifted in front of the TV. This rearrangement only happens whenever my wife is not around. Most nights she will occupy the laptop but when I am by myself, the new arrangement enables me to multi-task... LOL! Another plus thing is I could get more direct A/C.

In the photo that shows my son's play area, you could still see streamers hanging on the chandeliers. We were too lazy to bring them down, so they have been left there for ages! At the right hand side of the photo is a door connecting to the fish pond. My wife spends a lot of time sitting next to the door reading to my son. Sometimes we eat there because there is a pillar to lean against and the ants around will come and pick up the crumbs on the floor (friendly black ants). On the left hand side partially covered by the standing fan is my son's playhouse. My wife used our fridge's carton box to make it into a house with doors and windows at the side. Sometimes my son and me used to lie in that box pretending that we were asleep.

The room next to the towel rack is OUR BEDROOM. It is the coziest part of the house because of the air conditioning and the foam mattresses. We do a lot of reading in the bedroom. We do not have any beds except 3 mattresses laid next to one another. We have one queen size bedsheet that has underwater fishes. So we do "swim in the sea" a lot too!

Palembang does not need a lot of fancy things for us to miss. It is the small small nostagic things that we will miss when we eventually leave this city. Palembang is my son's "hometown" despite being born in Kuala Lumpur because he spent most of his infant and toddler-hood here. Plus, he likes PEMPEK (Palembang fish-cake/dumpling)!... only a true Palembang person likes PEMPEK!!

Our Blooming Adeniums!

The world is really strange. When you want something, it is always very difficult to obtain it. When you are not asking for things, they will come naturally...

My wife has been planting Adenium bonsai plants at our garden for almost a year. The plants grew but they never flowered. Before my wife went to Brisbane, she gave one of our friends an Adenium plant. After 2 weeks, it started to flower.

Guess what? This morning when I went to check our garden, I found the following beauties basking in the sun!