On a Muse high!

Lately Singapore has become a hot spot for bands and we have been lucky enough to catch some pretty awesome acts live – Coldplay, Oasis, Greenday, Yeah yeah yeah and now… MUSE, which I went to watch last night. They were the headlining act in a night with 3 acts playing – Saosin, Rise against and Muse. They gave us 90 minutes of pure unadulterated head banging, feet thumping rock which I can’t get out of my head!!! You know you’ve had a great night when 12 hours later you are still listening to theirs songs on repeat!

My plug in babyyyyyyy crucifies my enemiessssssssss!!!!!

This is confusion, am I confusing you?

So I am trying to figure out my life plan over the next few months. The initial plan was to travel. Spain and possibly parts of SEA. But lately another idea got planted into my head. The possibility of doing something good for the community. I was looking through a few options – building houses in villages, teaching English etc. But none of them called out to me, primarily because I only have 2 months or so at my disposal and I didn’t think I would be able to make any kind of an impact during that time, and it will be more for my own satisfaction to massage my altruism bone as opposed to actually helping the people in need (cos seriously, how much English can I teach in a month and I’d probably be more of a nuisance than help, over the first few weeks atleast, in my housebuilding attempts).  

Last weekend when I was in Toba, my friend Smita told me about an organization called Embrace (embraceglobal.org), where they have created an alternative to incubators to aid premature babies born in 3rd world countries to survive sans 10s of thousands of dollars in medical care and are working on improving and marketing this product. 

Oh and did I mention this was started by a bunch of Stanford grads all of whom have passed up on the opportunity to mint money and have instead decided to make their NGO a success?

This idea really spoke to me, and after speaking to some of the team members,  I identified that there were so many ways in which I could help, albeit indirectly. And I am happy with indirect impact. Atleast I know during the 2 months the experience I gained in my corporate life could be used in some ways to help someone down the line.  This would mean a 2 month internship of sorts in Bangalore. But it would also mean – no Spain and probably no other trips as well. But hey so what? Barcelona will always be there and these trips can always be made. But how often do you get to take a significant portion of time out of your career to do something that would actually help someone other than you?

So yeap – here I am trying to make a decision..

raola - if you are reading this, please don’t panic/ kill me. I am still trying to figure things out. I am confusedddd. Case of too many options.

A slice of heaven!

So you’d probably think a night’s stay under the stars with a gorgeous mountain view set on the bank of an immensely gorgeous lake, pleasant 20 degrees C weather and the most incredible home cooked Indonesian food would set you back a few hundred dollars. How about if I told you that you could get all that and more for US $15 a night? This includes a stay in a cozy cottage with attached bathroom with hot water and cozy beds. That’s just what Mama and Papa Thyesza of the Flower of Samosir guesthouse (www.flowerofsamosir.com) in Lake Toba offer you.

A family-run guesthouse, with the feel of a homestay and the comforts of a lush guest house, this is now my new favourite getaway from Singapore.

The on-site restaurant offers amazing Indonesian fare (and German fare due to the popularity of this place amongst German tourists) that Mama Thyesza lovingly whips up. The nasi goreng and vegetable soup have me salivating at their mere memory. Not to mention the best french toast I have ever eaten.

Papa Thyesza is happy to take you on a sightseeing visit around the town, which includes famed tombs and a visit to the cannibal tribes. But frankly, while experiencing what feels like a “stay in a postcard”, why would you want to leave that and do anything else? It is an amazing place to go for some reprieve from the soul sucking numbness of city living to catch up on some soul searching and reading while drinking some chilled Bintang.

Getting to Lake Toba may seem like a chore. You need to fly into Medan (direct flights from Jakarta, Singapore, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru) and then suffer a 4 hour winding and stomach churning drive to reach Lake Toba (which Mama Thyesza is happy to sort out for you, including an airport pick up at Polonia Airport in Medan). But believe me, it’s worth it.

The selfish part of me wants to keep this place well hidden since its specialness is in the remoteness of this place, and I’m already beginning to regret sharing it on the world wide web.

Hello 2010!

I thought long and hard as to what should be my first blog post of 2010. I finally decided to address the first of my 2010 resolutions – Take better photos! I started that resolution off by signing up for a photography workshop over the weekend of 9th to 11th January. It was 3 days of internsive beginner’s 101 on photography.

The workshop was conducted by John Arifin, a free lance nature photographer with loads of his works featured in Asian Geographic etc. It was a very interesting workshop and really got me excited about pushing the limits with my camera. I am hoping to try out some of the new techniques I have learnt in my upcoming Medan trip.

This trip couldn’t come sooner. Having been stable for a month, I am feeling rather edgy and am dying to go away! Despite this being a short trip, I think it’ll be a good break!

Of years gone and years to come..

No year is the same, but at the end of each year the one constant feeling I have is that the year flew by too soon! 2009 really flew by! It was a year of growing up, self-discovery, travel, forging of new friendships, renewal of old friendships, new hobbies (blogging, rock climbing), renewed enthusiasm for old hobbies (photography, running) and all-in-all a foundation year for a greater 2010. As far as years go, 2009 was a good one. It had the right balance of laughters and tears, of adventures and monotony.. I know for a fact 2010 is going to be much much better. I am drooling at the prospect of all the wonderful things it promises to bring and all the unknowns it probably will bring. In preparation for a greater more fulfilling year ahead, I once again made a list of resolutions:

1. Take better photos.
2. Learn to cook more than just one dish.
3. Work on my presently very broken Spanish.
4. Improve my half marathon timing ( I am not telling you by how much )
5. Visit atleast 3 countries.
6. Blog more diligently about more interesting things.
7. Be a better person, a better daughter and a better friend.

And in that spirit, I wish all my 5 readers a very Happy New Year! Here’s to an amazing year!

Itchy feet!

So I am getting desperately wanderlusty again and I keep looking up budget flights to go somewhere – anywhere and all this has to happen REALLY soon cos I am just getting positively edgy staying put for as long as I have (3 months!!! oh my god!) So yes, I am off to Chennai in 2 days’ time and I have a trip to Medan, Indonesia coming up in a month’s time. But I need more and this is just too few!

These are my options so far:

1. Sapa, Vietnam
2. Jogjakarta, Indonesia
3. Mysore, India
4. Barcelona, Granada, Sevilla (Spain!)
5. Flores Island, Indonesia

So I am happy to travel alone, but it would always be lovely to have some company. I want to go somewhere in the Jan or Feb period and again in March and i wanna do some long travels in June. So please raise your hand and say aye if you are keen on joining me on any of these trips!

Passports with Purpose

A group of travel bloggers have gotten together to raise funds to build a school in Cambodia. They have donated prizes and are urging people to bid on the prizes and hence raise funds. It’s a great cause, so do check it out.

Singers and I

Too often I have gone on about wanting to leave, about how claustrophobic I feel here, how there’s very little to do, how people are so content doing the same ol’ same ol’, how it’s sterile and business like. But if you look hard enough, there are parts of the city that draw you in, that make you fall hopelessly in love and make you wonder how you could have walked passed and missed this?

Saturday started off innocently enough – morning run, lunch, afternoon nap. I went to the Marine Parade Library with a friend for a dramatised reading of a play – Someday, Samsara, which was amazing. The girl who performed, Anjana Srinivasan, really breathed life into all the characters and managed to differentiate them and send home the story without leaving us confused. She also had a lovely soulful voice and she sang in between parts of the play to give the necessary scene closure. (So we found out she is a jazz singer at Live@Bojangles at Tanglin – do check her out. She is incredible!)

I went to Katong after that, to satisfy my friend’s craving for kueh. Of course we found kueh, at a small shophouse run by a Peranakan family. They have been there for years and sell only kueh, so as you can imagine, their kuehs are pretty incredible. But we also found so much more. My trips past Marshall Lane and Joo Chiat Road have always been hurried, often in a bus. This time I was on foot and I had all the time in the world to stare at the beautiful Peranakan houses, the art galleries (Artoholic, Gallery Eight and Studio K) that have sprung up and the tiny cafes (Chezcake bistro, obolo etc). I also discovered a little store with the most eclectic clothes you can find (Warehouse Unlimited) – vintage wear to random American brands.

It was nice lounging in a sofa at Chezcake Bistro in the English house setting, drinking apple cinnamon tea and savouring the light and easy Cherry brandy Cheesecake. It felt like being in someone’s house. We were served by sweet Sally who was pleasant and friendly and happy to talk to us about the origins of the cafe and how it’s a place usually visisted by regulars. She knew most customers by name and knew their orders.

Some days I love Singers. Saturday was one of them.

Do you ever really know…?

…a place? As I have been traipsing around Singapore, armed with my camera and guided by instinct, I have been finding out so many interesting pieces of information I never really knew about my country. Like there’s a hidden fort at Katong Park! I live near Katong Park and I never knew this. Thought to ponder.

Why wait till you turn 40?

I was reading Kristin Armstrong’s blog on runner’s world, and she was saying how they did a weekend running party (i know – i didnt realise running and partying went together) to celebrate their friend’s 40th party. And they got to talking about the perks of turning 40 and the lessons you learn at that age. And I think I’d be well served to learn from their experience. I think we all would. Read them here.