Palembang Pempek & Ham-Chim-Paeng

Today I treated my maid and driver pempek for lunch.

Pempek or Empek-Empek is a delicacy from Palembang which is made of fish and sago. Pempek is eaten together with a dark sauce called cuko (vinegar).

I ordered my favorite pempek kulit (made from fish skin) & pempek pistel (looks like dumplings, contains shreded papaya strips) together with some other variety.

Both of them were very happy but only my maid showed her happiness. My driver was a bit camera shy.

One day I also came across one of my favourite snacks from Malaysia....Ham-Chim-Paeng (deep fried dough covered with sesame seeds and mashed red beans paste). I saw a motorbike vendor carrying these HCPs in many transparent plastic containers. I asked my driver and he said we can easily get these ROTI WIJEN (sesame bread) from the nearby market. So I paid him to buy some for me to try. Malaysian HCP is more fluffy (has more air inside) vs. the fully compact version from Palembang.

The Big White House

Our Palembang house's rental contract will be due within the next few months. The land lord wanted to extend his lease for another 2 years but we are trying to get him to agree to the following first:

1) Repaint the walls and gates of the house.

2) Agree to pay for the repair cost for roof leaks (past & future).

3) Change a new set of sofas - one of the seats have broken through, the fabric is 15 years old and dirty!

We have been eyeing one of the corner houses on the next road to ours that used to be rented by a Malaysian. The guy had left and the WHITE HOUSE (everything outside and inside are all painted white) is now for rent.

I called the contact person to make an appointment to take a look. To our surprise, the house is actually very big inside. The master bedroom leads to another smaller room and a connected bathroom. The airwell space is smaller and does not have any ponds for our fishes. The kitchen is just adjacent to the living room without any partitions. There are 2 guest rooms but of a size smaller than ours. The place is also empty (does not come with any furniture). At the back there's a store room, a wet kitchen room, a maid's room, a garage for the car and a staircase leading to another level that has 2 more rooms and an open area (balcony) for hanging washed clothes.

This house's rental costs Rp50 million/year compared to our semi-furnished Rp30 million/year. The grass is always greener on the other side (its true for this house - they have nice Japanese spiky grass) but can we afford these kind of luxury? I doubt the company will pay 65% more for an empty house for me, my wife, my son and my maid....

Video Dedicated To My Loved Ones

Here's a home-made video that I made that is dedicated to my wife and son who are in Australia now. I hope my wife likes this "surprise"....

Photos Of The Week - Black Cats & Awnings

I have been trying to get photos of the black cats who are staying on top of our awnings. Here are some shots. I still could not figure out why people build houses with awnings like these?

Maths & English

I seldom read the notices that are stuck on the back of the Novotel gym's locker doors. Yesterday I took a good look and found these writings below:

WE NEED YOUR CORPORATE ASSISTANCE FOR ENSURING SAFETINESS IN OUR LOCKER ROOM BY NOT LEAVING ANY VALUABLES ITEM IN THE LOCKER.

SAFETY DEPOSIT BOX IS PROVIDED IN THE SPA RECEPTIONIST AS YOUR SAFETY PLACE TO KEEP YOUR VALUABLES ITEM.





















I could not believe Novotel (the best hotel in Palembang, supposedly 5 Stars) would have posted English notices with grammatical errors like these!

I am not trying to make fun of the Indonesians but the level of English of people here still needs some brushing up.

Maths is another subject that is considered "difficult" for Indonesians. We have been trying to teach maths and English to our maid and driver. We have been allowing them to take time off to go to school so that both of them can finish high school and get their certificates (easier to get jobs).

I have been trying to teach them for months but they still could not do this despite being in the final semester of high school :