It is typical for workers like these not to wear any protection while hanging around in high buildings. No helmet, no harness, nothing. Are they just brave men with super powers? Or perhaps they don't value their lives that much? Oh, I don't know. It's just scares me sometimes.
'Kunci' means keys. This small kiosk is for duplicating your keys. Car keys, door keys, any keys.
And most of our doors are easily duplicated. It's not an expensive service, so it's good to make a few spares if you're a forgetful type of person.
Another pengamen. When I looked at him, I thought that he was old enough and fit enough to get a job. Jakarta has tons of places that would need his help. If he didn't have an education then he could probably find a physical work. So unlike the other pengamen on my previous post, this time I didn't bother to give money. Maybe it's not as easy as I thought, but I always believe the old saying 'when there's a will, there's a way'.
Though I must admit, very creative of him to carry around that small drums and cymbals!
I was in a bus when suddenly this girl hopped in with her small guitar and started singing. She is what we call a 'pengamen'. She's one of the many street kids in Jakarta who can not afford school, wandering around day and night trying to get some cash by singing and playing an instrument. The younger kids who don't know how to play a guitar usually just clapping away and asking for money. There are still many unfortunate children like these in the streets of Jakarta. A friend of mine is a social worker who owns a home for these kids, a shelter. She tried to help them go to school, but most of them just run back to the streets. It's sad. These views I see here everyday, always make me feel grateful for what I have.
I have another pengamen picture which I will post tomorrow.
This is a typical Padang Restaurant which we call Rumah Makan Padang. ('Rumah Makan' is restaurant.) Padang is a city from West Sumatera. That triangular shape is taken from their traditional Minangkabau houses called 'rumah gadang' which means a large house. When you click the picture and look closely, you'll see how they set up the plates on the display. They usually cook the food early in the morning, put them in those plates and keep them there until the restaurant is closed, which is around 10 pm usually. Some of non Indonesians would be somewhat reluctant to eat in Padang restaurants mainly because of two reasons: the food is very spicy or they worry about the food quality after so many hours being kept outside. As for me...well, I loooove Padang food! And never had any problems with them :)
This is Kinokuniya bookstore. They have a large number of collections, from Indonesian, English to Japanese books. Books here are expensive. I usually buy books in the local bookstore called Gramedia. But for certain titles and publishers, you will have to go to bookstores like this one. I love books, and I also love those wooden tiles!
Btw, those are my daughter's legs walking into the frame... :)
Jakarta is currently building more and more shopping malls. It's becoming a weekend getaway for most families. Since we don't have decent parks and playgrounds for children, we go to shopping malls to entertain them (and of course to entertain the moms as well!). Beside the regular stores and restaurants, our malls have arcade games, slides, swimming pool, bowling alley, billiard, cinema and a few of them even have a roller coaster inside! It's convenient, but can be a bit boring sometimes. Although there are other choices of outdoor fun available around Jakarta, for some reason people still go to the malls.
Anyway, this picture of a walk way towards the Nine West store was taken in Plaza Senayan.
Here are more pictures of the mall.
This is the inside of Pondok Indah Mall 2.
I know you've seen the bajaj and the bus, but the reason I took this picture was because of that yellow flag inside the pot. We use yellow flags for telling people that someone around the neighborhood has just passed away.
Many of our schools celebrated 'Hari Kartini' today. This was taken at my daughter's school. Ibu Kartini was the hero of Indonesian women from the early years of 1900. She believed that women should have the same education as men, and have the rights to work in any kind of professions. At that time, it was difficult for Indonesian women to be acknowledged as an intellectual. They mostly became a housewife and that's it. Ibu Kartini fought her way through to make a difference. She was a Javanese lady, and to honor her, schools always celebrate Hari Kartini by having children dressed in traditional Javanese clothings. They will do fashion shows on stage, do a parade around the school and sing a Kartini song together.
Ok, so it's not as spectacular as Daejeon's wet leaves! But it was raining last night and I've been meaning to take a picture of water droplets...so there you go :)
(This was taken after several attempts! Haha...I think I should get a photography lesson!)
This Ibu is preparing a dish called Gado-Gado. It's a combination of various kinds of vegetables, just like a salad, but with peanut sauce as dressing. I will post one with a closer look of the food next time. She mixed everything in a large stone bowl. A number of bottles above and in front of her are soy sauce, one of the essential ingredients of gado-gado. I think a display like that is an interesting way to keep stock.
Speaking of food, yesterday I saw a delicious dessert in Wiesbaden, Germany. Come and take a peek!
This is how our policemen look like on the streets of Jakarta. They wear masks to protect themselves from the horrible air pollution caused mainly by dark thick smoke which comes from busses and trucks. People on motorcycles, bicycles, and those who sweep the streets for a living also wear masks. Not the pedestrians though. I know...it would be absolutely awkward to see people on the street walking around with masks!
It's frustrating sometime...but I've been breathing here all my life that I tend to just enjoy the nice people around, the trees and the warm weather. Or I could hide in one of our cozy air conditioned malls! :)
Had a little hair trim on the weekend. Went to the hair salon early in the morning to avoid a long queue. So, as you see in the picture, it was still quiet and empty. Tempted to color my hair, but 300 thousand rupiahs is a lot of money for me! (in US$ = $30) I would've settled for a 65 thou 'do it yourself' color tube at the drug store. After all, I don't have that much hair :) But anyway, I decided not to color my hair just yet.
Coloring your hair in Jakarta's decent salons can cost you around 200 - 800 thousand rupiahs.
Here, I took picture of the color bar as well.
Still at the fun fair. It was incredibly hot. Starbucks opened up a mobile stand for people to buy some cool frappuccino. I'm a coffee lover and still prefer my coffee hot :) I'd rather buy softdrinks or plain water to cool off (yes...we buy water here. Water from taps are not drinkable).
Here are more pictures of the mobile Starbucks.
Went to a fun fair and there was this huge dragon slide! Wish I could try it out, but...no adults were on the queue :)
I caught a glimpse of miss Aniston's lovely face on a dirty street wall. Apparently it's a poster of yet another new magazine that I can't keep up with these days (when you look closely, it has a combination of Indonesian and English language). We have Indonesian version of Cosmopolitan, Bazaar, GoodHousekeeping, Parents, Parenting, Female, and here comes another one called Eve. I don't know where that magazine is originally from. Anyone can tell me?
But the most controversial one recently is of course...the Indonesian version of Playboy.
Speaking as a moslem, I think if one feel sinful to see nudity pictures, then just don't buy the magazine! And parents should communicate better with their children when it comes to nudity and pornography. I personally have nothing against the launch of Indonesian Playboy. More news on that here (I couldn't find one from the local Jakarta news that is in English).
Ooh,look at that...a bajaj is getting some fuel :)
Pertamina has been the only petrol company in Indonesia. Wherever you go, the gas station will be under its name. Only recently that I saw some Shell gas stations in a few Jakarta areas. And we don't have a self service gas stations. Jakarta is packed with people from all over the small towns or from another Indonesian islands. To keep them from wondering the streets jobless, the government tries to open as many job opportunities as possible. Serving cars at the gas station is one of them.
Here's a picture of the Shell gas station. They give a free service for window cleaning and tires checking.
Aah...this time my posting has a sentimental value. You are looking at the painting of my late grandparents. My nenek (grandma) was wearing a 'kebaya', and my kakek (grandpa), although wearing a suit and a bow tie, still had our traditional hat called 'blankon'. You'll see a small pattern painted on my grandma's forehead, that is a 'paes'. Her hair was pulled back and a round hairpiece known as 'konde' was pinned at the back.
They were wearing one of the simple Javanese traditional outfits. There are many traditional clothings from Kalimantan, Sumatera, Sulawesi, Bali, etc which are equally beautiful. If you want a one stop shopping for traditional things in Jakarta, be sure to visit Pasaraya Grande.
Just saw Lisbon's little beco (alley), and remembered that I have a picture about alley as well. Though mine's only a sign. 'Gg' is short for 'Gang' (read: gung, not gang as in gang members!), which means alley. And 'Senang' means happy. So you know why this sign caught my eyes. It's a direction to a happy alley!
The alley itself has only regular houses. I guess they are happy people living in their happy homes in the happy alley :)
My daughter turned four last week. She had a little party with her friends at the pre-school. Her classroom has numbers on the windows, and I thought this one suits her perfectly :)
It's been very very hot this week. About 38 degrees of Celcius maybe!
Although the other trees were fine with the heat, this one...I think would probably say "I've had enough of it! I can't take it anymore!"
Hope you all have a good weekend :)
In some districts, where the houses are newly built, you will see people selling plants on the side of the streets. New houses need pretty garden, right? They have pots, grass, flowers, and all sorts of compost for gardening.
This bapak (a polite way to call a man) was very nice to let me took a picture of him and his plants.
Here are more shots of the greens.
Nowadays, you'll see more and more motorcycles on the streets of Jakarta. People are trying to avoid sitting on the road too long because of the traffic jams. With motorcycles, they can make their way through pretty easily (although they tend to annoy the car drivers!). Also cars would cost a lot more on fuels. Local men see this as a business opportunity to open a motorcycle wash. With less than six thousand rupiahs (in US$ = $0.60) you'd get a shiny bike!
'Cuci' means wash.
I went to Pondok Indah Mall (PIM) the other day and walked on the bridge which connects PIM 1 and PIM 2. You can obviously tell that there was a window in front of my camera. Not very smart, eh? I know, it's not quite a sharp shot there, but that very moment I felt like capturing the Metro sign. The building has stood there for 15 years. It was the first Metro Department Store in Jakarta. A year before that, when it was still empty grounds, people were so fussy about going to Singapore to shop at Metro! Now the stores are all over Jakarta, where we can find nearly everything we need :)
Metro ought to give me some discounts for this post, eh? Anyway, there are still many things in Jakarta which need to be improved, but I just want to share how good it feels being a witness of changes and developments in this city.
It's Women's Day on Wednesdays at Cilandak Town Square (people call it Citos), one of Jakarta's popular place to hang out in the South district. The lady on the mirror was trying to find the right thing for her. And it sure was hard to choose! There were so many girlie stuff being sold here. Every Wednesdays in Citos there is a bazaar especially for women. And women get special discounts as well at the cafes and restaurants. The ladies come to check out the clothes, bags, shoes, earrings, necklaces, etc. And...the guys come to check out the ladies...haha!
They also sell our traditional batik. Come and see what's in store.
Came across this Abang on the way home yesterday. 'Abang' is a friendly way of calling a man at the market, a bus/becak driver, and in this case the one who sells that various things on the street. Abang actually means big brother. As you can see, his cart is loaded with so many things. He will push the cart to a near market and park there.
On top of the large red pail, is what we call 'tudung saji'. It's made of bamboo and we use it to cover food on the table.
Indonesia had been under the Dutch influence for 350 years. Many of the older generation speak Dutch. Some of the Dutch language are still used and sometimes combined with the Indonesian language. It's quite interesting in this particular picture though, where the local tailor use the word 'Vermak' which means 'to fix' (I would have to ask Dutchie or anyone who understands Dutch, is that correct?) and the word 'Levi's' which of course means the popular American jeans brand. The point they're trying to make is that they can fix your jeans :)
Ibu As, standing behind the counter, is my mom's neighbour (We say 'Ibu' to our mother, women older than us, those who are in higher position than us at work, basically 'Ibu' is a polite way to call an adult woman). Ibu As changed her little front garden to a warung which sells all kinds of things. She's retired. So, the warung keeps her busy.
Aaah...Bintaro, my neighbourhood. South Jakarta as well. The houses here are 'wall to wall' close to each other. They don't have a back yard, but it's not that bad. Quite cozy actually :)
Here are more houses in Bintaro.
It is typical for workers like these not to wear any protection while hanging around in high buildings. No helmet, no harness, nothing. Are they just brave men with super powers? Or perhaps they don't value their lives that much? Oh, I don't know. It's just scares me sometimes.
'Kunci' means keys. This small kiosk is for duplicating your keys. Car keys, door keys, any keys.
And most of our doors are easily duplicated. It's not an expensive service, so it's good to make a few spares if you're a forgetful type of person. 
Another pengamen. When I looked at him, I thought that he was old enough and fit enough to get a job. Jakarta has tons of places that would need his help. If he didn't have an education then he could probably find a physical work. So unlike the other pengamen on my previous post, this time I didn't bother to give money. Maybe it's not as easy as I thought, but I always believe the old saying 'when there's a will, there's a way'.
Though I must admit, very creative of him to carry around that small drums and cymbals!
I was in a bus when suddenly this girl hopped in with her small guitar and started singing. She is what we call a 'pengamen'. She's one of the many street kids in Jakarta who can not afford school, wandering around day and night trying to get some cash by singing and playing an instrument. The younger kids who don't know how to play a guitar usually just clapping away and asking for money. There are still many unfortunate children like these in the streets of Jakarta. A friend of mine is a social worker who owns a home for these kids, a shelter. She tried to help them go to school, but most of them just run back to the streets. It's sad. These views I see here everyday, always make me feel grateful for what I have.
I have another pengamen picture which I will post tomorrow. 
This is a typical Padang Restaurant which we call Rumah Makan Padang. ('Rumah Makan' is restaurant.) Padang is a city from West Sumatera. That triangular shape is taken from their traditional Minangkabau houses called 'rumah gadang' which means a large house. When you click the picture and look closely, you'll see how they set up the plates on the display. They usually cook the food early in the morning, put them in those plates and keep them there until the restaurant is closed, which is around 10 pm usually. Some of non Indonesians would be somewhat reluctant to eat in Padang restaurants mainly because of two reasons: the food is very spicy or they worry about the food quality after so many hours being kept outside. As for me...well, I loooove Padang food! And never had any problems with them :)
This is Kinokuniya bookstore. They have a large number of collections, from Indonesian, English to Japanese books. Books here are expensive. I usually buy books in the local bookstore called Gramedia. But for certain titles and publishers, you will have to go to bookstores like this one. I love books, and I also love those wooden tiles!
Btw, those are my daughter's legs walking into the frame... :)
Jakarta is currently building more and more shopping malls. It's becoming a weekend getaway for most families. Since we don't have decent parks and playgrounds for children, we go to shopping malls to entertain them (and of course to entertain the moms as well!). Beside the regular stores and restaurants, our malls have arcade games, slides, swimming pool, bowling alley, billiard, cinema and a few of them even have a roller coaster inside! It's convenient, but can be a bit boring sometimes. Although there are other choices of outdoor fun available around Jakarta, for some reason people still go to the malls.
Anyway, this picture of a walk way towards the Nine West store was taken in Plaza Senayan.
Here are more pictures of the mall.
Many of our schools celebrated 'Hari Kartini' today. This was taken at my daughter's school. Ibu Kartini was the hero of Indonesian women from the early years of 1900. She believed that women should have the same education as men, and have the rights to work in any kind of professions. At that time, it was difficult for Indonesian women to be acknowledged as an intellectual. They mostly became a housewife and that's it. Ibu Kartini fought her way through to make a difference. She was a Javanese lady, and to honor her, schools always celebrate Hari Kartini by having children dressed in traditional Javanese clothings. They will do fashion shows on stage, do a parade around the school and sing a Kartini song together.
Ok, so it's not as spectacular as Daejeon's wet leaves! But it was raining last night and I've been meaning to take a picture of water droplets...so there you go :)
(This was taken after several attempts! Haha...I think I should get a photography lesson!)
This Ibu is preparing a dish called Gado-Gado. It's a combination of various kinds of vegetables, just like a salad, but with peanut sauce as dressing. I will post one with a closer look of the food next time. She mixed everything in a large stone bowl. A number of bottles above and in front of her are soy sauce, one of the essential ingredients of gado-gado. I think a display like that is an interesting way to keep stock.
Speaking of food, yesterday I saw a delicious dessert in Wiesbaden, Germany. Come and take a peek!
This is how our policemen look like on the streets of Jakarta. They wear masks to protect themselves from the horrible air pollution caused mainly by dark thick smoke which comes from busses and trucks. People on motorcycles, bicycles, and those who sweep the streets for a living also wear masks. Not the pedestrians though. I know...it would be absolutely awkward to see people on the street walking around with masks!
It's frustrating sometime...but I've been breathing here all my life that I tend to just enjoy the nice people around, the trees and the warm weather. Or I could hide in one of our cozy air conditioned malls! :)
Had a little hair trim on the weekend. Went to the hair salon early in the morning to avoid a long queue. So, as you see in the picture, it was still quiet and empty. Tempted to color my hair, but 300 thousand rupiahs is a lot of money for me! (in US$ = $30) I would've settled for a 65 thou 'do it yourself' color tube at the drug store. After all, I don't have that much hair :) But anyway, I decided not to color my hair just yet.
Coloring your hair in Jakarta's decent salons can cost you around 200 - 800 thousand rupiahs.
Here, I took picture of the color bar as well.
Still at the fun fair. It was incredibly hot. Starbucks opened up a mobile stand for people to buy some cool frappuccino. I'm a coffee lover and still prefer my coffee hot :) I'd rather buy softdrinks or plain water to cool off (yes...we buy water here. Water from taps are not drinkable).
Here are more pictures of the mobile Starbucks.
Went to a fun fair and there was this huge dragon slide! Wish I could try it out, but...no adults were on the queue :)
I caught a glimpse of miss Aniston's lovely face on a dirty street wall. Apparently it's a poster of yet another new magazine that I can't keep up with these days (when you look closely, it has a combination of Indonesian and English language). We have Indonesian version of Cosmopolitan, Bazaar, GoodHousekeeping, Parents, Parenting, Female, and here comes another one called Eve. I don't know where that magazine is originally from. Anyone can tell me?
But the most controversial one recently is of course...the Indonesian version of Playboy.
Speaking as a moslem, I think if one feel sinful to see nudity pictures, then just don't buy the magazine! And parents should communicate better with their children when it comes to nudity and pornography. I personally have nothing against the launch of Indonesian Playboy. More news on that here (I couldn't find one from the local Jakarta news that is in English).
Ooh,look at that...a bajaj is getting some fuel :)
Pertamina has been the only petrol company in Indonesia. Wherever you go, the gas station will be under its name. Only recently that I saw some Shell gas stations in a few Jakarta areas. And we don't have a self service gas stations. Jakarta is packed with people from all over the small towns or from another Indonesian islands. To keep them from wondering the streets jobless, the government tries to open as many job opportunities as possible. Serving cars at the gas station is one of them.
Here's a picture of the Shell gas station. They give a free service for window cleaning and tires checking.
Aah...this time my posting has a sentimental value. You are looking at the painting of my late grandparents. My nenek (grandma) was wearing a 'kebaya', and my kakek (grandpa), although wearing a suit and a bow tie, still had our traditional hat called 'blankon'. You'll see a small pattern painted on my grandma's forehead, that is a 'paes'. Her hair was pulled back and a round hairpiece known as 'konde' was pinned at the back.
They were wearing one of the simple Javanese traditional outfits. There are many traditional clothings from Kalimantan, Sumatera, Sulawesi, Bali, etc which are equally beautiful. If you want a one stop shopping for traditional things in Jakarta, be sure to visit Pasaraya Grande.
Just saw Lisbon's little beco (alley), and remembered that I have a picture about alley as well. Though mine's only a sign. 'Gg' is short for 'Gang' (read: gung, not gang as in gang members!), which means alley. And 'Senang' means happy. So you know why this sign caught my eyes. It's a direction to a happy alley!
The alley itself has only regular houses. I guess they are happy people living in their happy homes in the happy alley :)
My daughter turned four last week. She had a little party with her friends at the pre-school. Her classroom has numbers on the windows, and I thought this one suits her perfectly :)
It's been very very hot this week. About 38 degrees of Celcius maybe!
Although the other trees were fine with the heat, this one...I think would probably say "I've had enough of it! I can't take it anymore!"
Hope you all have a good weekend :)
In some districts, where the houses are newly built, you will see people selling plants on the side of the streets. New houses need pretty garden, right? They have pots, grass, flowers, and all sorts of compost for gardening.
This bapak (a polite way to call a man) was very nice to let me took a picture of him and his plants.
Here are more shots of the greens.
Nowadays, you'll see more and more motorcycles on the streets of Jakarta. People are trying to avoid sitting on the road too long because of the traffic jams. With motorcycles, they can make their way through pretty easily (although they tend to annoy the car drivers!). Also cars would cost a lot more on fuels. Local men see this as a business opportunity to open a motorcycle wash. With less than six thousand rupiahs (in US$ = $0.60) you'd get a shiny bike!
'Cuci' means wash. 
I went to Pondok Indah Mall (PIM) the other day and walked on the bridge which connects PIM 1 and PIM 2. You can obviously tell that there was a window in front of my camera. Not very smart, eh? I know, it's not quite a sharp shot there, but that very moment I felt like capturing the Metro sign. The building has stood there for 15 years. It was the first Metro Department Store in Jakarta. A year before that, when it was still empty grounds, people were so fussy about going to Singapore to shop at Metro! Now the stores are all over Jakarta, where we can find nearly everything we need :)
Metro ought to give me some discounts for this post, eh? Anyway, there are still many things in Jakarta which need to be improved, but I just want to share how good it feels being a witness of changes and developments in this city.
It's Women's Day on Wednesdays at Cilandak Town Square (people call it Citos), one of Jakarta's popular place to hang out in the South district. The lady on the mirror was trying to find the right thing for her. And it sure was hard to choose! There were so many girlie stuff being sold here. Every Wednesdays in Citos there is a bazaar especially for women. And women get special discounts as well at the cafes and restaurants. The ladies come to check out the clothes, bags, shoes, earrings, necklaces, etc. And...the guys come to check out the ladies...haha!
They also sell our traditional batik. Come and see what's in store.
Indonesia had been under the Dutch influence for 350 years. Many of the older generation speak Dutch. Some of the Dutch language are still used and sometimes combined with the Indonesian language. It's quite interesting in this particular picture though, where the local tailor use the word 'Vermak' which means 'to fix' (I would have to ask Dutchie or anyone who understands Dutch, is that correct?) and the word 'Levi's' which of course means the popular American jeans brand. The point they're trying to make is that they can fix your jeans :)
Ibu As, standing behind the counter, is my mom's neighbour (We say 'Ibu' to our mother, women older than us, those who are in higher position than us at work, basically 'Ibu' is a polite way to call an adult woman). Ibu As changed her little front garden to a warung which sells all kinds of things. She's retired. So, the warung keeps her busy.
Aaah...Bintaro, my neighbourhood. South Jakarta as well. The houses here are 'wall to wall' close to each other. They don't have a back yard, but it's not that bad. Quite cozy actually :)
Here are more houses in Bintaro.
