20. the last remnants of palembang

I had to do a three-part post of Palembang for fear of it being too draggy, as well as the pictures lagging. You can view post 1 and post 2 by clicking the respective links for better understanding of the mini getaway I did. To recap, my trip there was to attend a family ceremony for my baby nephew, called "cukur jambul" (the baby's very first haircut, snipped by close family members).

Day before the event: These "flower boards" were sent from companies as a congratulatory token. My brother and sister-in-law received around 4 of these huge boards. The "higher" you are in the social ladder, the more boards you will receive.

I decided to wear a slightly unorthodox outfit, pairing my old batik skirt with a black lace top from bajugraphy.

Me, my sister-in-law's sister, my sister-in-law holding her son (my nephew), and my sister-in-law's sister-in-law holding her daughter.

The batik skirt was getting very uncomfortable after 6 hours of wearing it soooo I whipped it off and paired comfy leggings. This was when the guests had left. I'm with my sister-in-law, my nephew, and my brother.

Me with my cute baby nephew! The cukur jambul dais was very grand.

I love this little girl's cute pink jubah! You can see from two pictures above her mom was wearing a matching one. Super sweet :)

And the above are some of the gorgeous clothes I purchased for myself from Palembang. A girl's gotta spoil herself sometimes!

19. a clash of cultures

Indonesian cuisine leaves one tastebuds miffed. It is always brimful of spices, salty, and most of the times, you can taste sugar in every dish. But all the food I've tasted thus far are delicious. Although it assaults your tongue in all ways delectable, so you can't really consume much of it, only a little.

This is kelapa susu manis. It's essentially the coconut flesh in fresh coconut juice, mixed with bendera kental manis (condensed milk) and gula Melaka (palm tree syrup sugar). In my humble opinion, this drink was so delicious, much better than jus alpukat (avocado juice). Just thinking about this refreshing drink is making me salivating. Drool!

This is pisang karamel (caramelized banana). Oh my God, this dessert was absolutely delicious. It's essentially banana fried in a crispy, crunchy batter, and topped with grated cheese and drizzled with caramel and chocolate syrup. It should be eaten piping hot. 

This is one of Indonesia's signature dish, bakso. This was from a restaurant called Bakso Malang (unlucky bakso). It's essentially meaty beefballs served in a delicious broth, sometimes with noodles, tofu pieces and so forth. Topped with their spicy chilli-soya-sauce, you could be enjoying a tantalizing mix of fiery, wholesome beef in your mouth. 

As the saying goes, When In Rome, Do As The Romans Do. In this case, when in Palembang, eat as the locals do. The top dish is a popular Indonesian dish called ikan terbang or "flying fish". My god, it was cooked perfectly; crispy on the outside, moist chunks of fish on the inside (you can see my father's impatient fingers in the picture). The bottom is kepiting masak lada hitam (crab in black pepper sauce). You know it's good spicy when you're gasping for water but you're still holding onto the crab. These dishes are from a popular restaurant, Riverside Restaurant.

The gorgeous view from Riverside Restaurant. Clear, sunny skies. What a beautiful sight to see.

18. a little change of air never hurt anyone.

For the first time in almost a year of working, I applied leave for almost a week *gasps*. Work is fun, but it was time for me to reconnect with my family, and finish off those to-do-lists after procrastinating for so long. The perfect opportunity came when my mom told me that my brother and sis-in-law, along with their 6 month old son, would be doing an aqiqah-cum-cukur-jambul ceremony in my sis-in-law's hometown at Palembang, Indonesia. I was lucky my leave was approved, as I would be leaving during a very hectic and time hurrahh!

I haven't been on an aircraft for a year (the last was Langkawi in September 2011... eww bad memories) and for my journey, I hoped to seek some inner peace, tranquility, serenity boring blahness.

When I was on the plane, there was a few seconds of turbulence where the plane kind of swooped down for a few seconds, and in that few seconds, a face immediately came to my mind. I don't know if I'll see that face again but that person means a lot to me. If it's up to Him above, God willing, it will happen. Or not, haha!

The beauty of the world from high above was breathtaking. It reminded me that we are all just tiny pieces in the scheme of the universe. That the only constant in our lives are change and our period of mortality, coming to a stop sooner or later. It's up to us to roll the dices of happiness in our hands. Though, we are all mere mortals and our temper, jealousy, and impatience are our shortcomings that will eventually lead us to our inevitable self-creation of unhappiness. 

So try to chip away those negativity, and live life with no regrets. If today was your last, what would you have done differently? Slept less? Say "I love you" to the one who matters? Eat whatever? Pray on your knees, forever? Everybody has their own keys to unlock being happy :)

- on the plane - in one of the textile shops - my future sister in law's father's stuffed tiger - on garuda airways - at a delicious restaurant -their national newspaper, kompas - endless koi fishes at the hotel pond - my bro and his lovely wife-to-be - my brother with the tiger - sibling love - textile shop - my bro, his wife-to-be, and my aunts looking on - the little girl in the textile shop - me & my dad - indonesian food, yummy - indonesian islands whilst transit flight from palembang to jakarta - me, my aunt, my mom + my grandpa at dinner - nasi goreng buntut, literally translates to fried rice with ass -the lovely bathroom - me and my future sister-in-law! - jakarta at 6 am -

The trip to Indonesia was wonderful. I just wish we had more time because everything was compacted into a 3d/2n trip =( But the food was amazing. There was so much photos to go through at the end of the trip. The only bummer was being stuck in transit from Jakarta to KL at the Jakarta airport because one of the Garuda people failed to notify AirAsia (our connecting flight from JK to KL) that we had a connecting flight, so we had to wait for our luggage at the luggage carousel instead of it being transferred directly by them. We waited at the airport for almost 6 hours, and they finally paid for another flight, courtesy of Garuda. We were of course, given a complimentary night stay at a really nice hotel, albeit dodgy on the outside, with free dinner before our flight the next morning!