Indonesian-Chinese Wedding

On Saturday, March 2, 2013 I went to the wedding of a relative of one of my colleagues. It was another wonderful experience that I will never forget. I got to be included in the family part of the activities so got to see lots of the behind the scenes. I met my colleague/friend early in the morning about 7:45a.m. to travel to the bride's parents' house. We were ushered upstairs to the bride's room where she was just sitting and waiting for things to start. She looked like a beautiful doll, all made up. She had to get up at 3:00a.m. to start with makeup and everything. She had a ball gown type dress and it looked like it was heavy.

Then we went out the kitchen area, so that she could keep relaxing. Set out on the counter where items that were for the rituals/traditions they were going to be participating in. Everything is done in red and gold. The red bowl of rice with the coins is thrown at the groom when he arrives at the house. He has someone holding an umbrella overhead so that he is not hurt when it is thrown. It is for good fortune. The wine glasses the bride and groom will drink from after they see each other for the first time. They will also eat some food. In the larger bowls is two hard boiled eggs for fertility. Noodles for long life and some mushrooms. In the smaller bowls are figs, which they eat to give them energy. The tea cups will be filled and presented to the parents and grandparents. While the Mom's and grandma's give the bride bracelets or necklaces, gold, and the fathers and grandpa's will give the groom ampang (money).

Waiting for her groom

After that I went back in the bedroom with the bride's parents and photographer. The parents take the veil and place it over the bride's face. Then, they help her stand up and position her with her back to the door that the groom will come in through. After they got her positioned I went outside to wait for the groom. He arrived in a car with the groom's men. He brought her bouquet for her. It had pink, gold, and purple roses. After he got out of the car the father's oldest sister threw the rice and coins at him. He was wearing white gloves.

Being led to his bride

After that his parents each take an arm and escort him into the house. Before the reached the bride's room they turn him around and walk him into the room backwards so they start with each other back to back and then they slowly turn around. People who are still single are not supposed to be in the room and see the bride and groom see each other for the first time because it is said that then that person will not marry. I decided to take the chance and be in there will my friend waited outside. After they were turned around. The groom kissed the bride's hand and arm and gave her the bouquet of flowers. Then, he removed her veil from her face and kissed her on the forehead. She removed the glove from his right hand, but he wore the white glove on his left hand for the rest of the day. Next came the drinking of the beverage in the wine glasses. They opted not to go with wine, but fanta instead. The beverage was room temperature and I think was a bit stronger of flavor than the bride was expecting so it made her cough a bit. First, they took a sip of their own glasses and then they gave each other a drink of the others glass at the same time, after that they hooked arms and twisted their arms so they could drink out of their own glass again.  Next, they were given the noodle, hard boiled eggs, and mushroom dish. They fed each other the eggs. They ate with chopsticks. They don't break the noodles because to not break the noodles leads to long lives. After that they shared the figs.

One put the fig between their lips and the other took a bite. After that the bride's parents came in and they offered the tea or fanta (I couldn't see) to the parents. Next, the Mom gave the bride a gold necklace and the Dad gave the groom the ampang. Once that was done the three bride's maids and three groom's men joined them. The bride's maids stood next to the bride and the groom's men gave his bride's maid a kiss on the hand and then handed her the ball of flowers. The groom's men's ties match the bride's maids dresses. Once they had finished that they went downstairs to the living room and presented the tea cups to more older relative and were given more necklaces or bracelets and ampang. Once all the morning ceremonies were over they wedding part headed off to the church for the church ceremony. I didn't attend because it was a regular Christian church ceremony and was all in Indonesian, (so I wouldn't have understood any of it even if I am familiar with them). I stayed with the part of the family that didn't go and we ate lunch. I went back to my house for a short period of time before I was picked up for the reception. I changed clothes since everyone was going to be dressed nicer. That morning I wore my white baju kurung with purple flowers and in the evening I wore my fancier baju kurung that was purple. I wasn't sure if it was an occasion where I needed to be really covered like in Malaysia, plus I don't have many fancy outfits here. It was a good thing I love purple and already have two purple outfits to wear so I fit right in.

The reception was at the Zhang palace. It looks ok from the outside but it very fancy on the inside. It was also decorated really nicely. The family signed in and received their souvenir gift. They got one for me too. Both the invitation and souvenir were Korean themed but nothing else was. We arrived a little early so we got to see part of the rehearsal. The bride had take off her sheer top that went over her top, so now her neck and shoulders were bare. She switched from the long gloves to fancy arm guards. She had her hair in a different up-do with flowers by her ears and the veil was gone. She also had a different clip in her hair and a tiara. The groom still had on his left glove. They took some pictures. They took one with the grandma and all of the children (siblings of my friend's dad). Then they took a picture with all of the grandchildren and great grand children. I was put in that picture and I ended up next to the groom. It is a large family. After that the family went to their tables and the bride, groom and parents left the room. Once most people arrived then the reception began. It started with both sets of parent's being announced and walking up the center aisle. After that came the bride and groom. They asked the bride and groom some questions in Indonesian and then they gave them each a wine bottle filled with fanta or a red liquid. People used to have the double happiness symbol, but this couple had the word love. They poured their bottle of red liquid into the two openings so that it filled the love up. The bride hesitated a few times at the end because it looked like it was going to overflow. The groom finished first. I was told who ever finished first that is the sex of their first baby. (I noticed as the night went on the level of liquid went down, but I couldn't see where it was going. There wasn't an exit that I could see.)

After that both sets of parents joined the bride and groom on the stage and they were all given the cocktail glasses filled with the fanta. We all stood up and toasted them. They had a several acts throughout the night. It started with a man and a woman that sang love songs in English. They sang on and off throughout the night. We started the several course meal. I didn't eat many of the dishes since I am not much of a seafood person and I am kind of hesitant having seafood in setting like that since it is hard to know how long the food has sat out before being served. While we started with the first dish a man came in carrying a woman over his shoulder that had a turnkey on her back. He wound her up and they danced to a Brittney Spear's song. After that the hair and make up guy, who is very famous here, came and sang a song. I guess that is part of his deal. Is that he always comes to the reception and sings a song. With his hair, makeup and outfit I almost felt like I was back in the 80's. He kind of reminded me of Tina Turner back then. (There is this huge mechanical arm in most of my pictures since they were video taping everything.) After the hair dresser's song, two ladies came in and sang in Chinese. They were wearing the same dress but sang solos. Next was the tango by two couples. (They had quite a mix of entertainment.) Then we watched a video of the earlier part of the wedding day. I was in one shot where I was in the bride's room looking on. It was a shock because I didn't even know that I was being recorded.
I am not quite sure why they use swords, but they used a sword to cut the massive cake, just like my student did at her Sweet 17 birthday party. They shared a piece of cake and then they gave a piece to their elders. That too is similar to the Sweet 17 birthday party I attended. It is showing a sign of respect for the elders. After that the two female singers came back out together in flapper type dresses and sang another song in Chinese. Followed by a couple who did the salsa. After that the parents and bride and groom came up and drew for the prizes they were giving away. Another commonality to the Sweet 17 birthday party. They gave away some nice phones and a diamond necklace. That was pretty much the end. The whole time during the entertainment we were eating and my friend and I tried to visit between courses but they always play music so loud in Indonesia.  Not many of her family speak English so I could no visit with many of them and get to know them. Some of them thought I was very beautiful, so they wanted to take quite a few pictures with me. I had a wonderful time and glad that I was able to experience this occasion and get a behind the scenes glimpse at the traditions.

Chinese New Year 2013

Shop at Kasongan

On Saturday February 10^th 2013 two friends, the young son and pembantu of one friend, and I went to Jogjakarta for our three day weekend over Chinese New Year. We rode the train both directions. It took about 5 hours. On the way to Jogja we left at 7:30a.m. We had to catch a cab starting at 6:15a.m. We all live in different neighborhoods. We got executive class. I am not sure if there are different companies, but in talking with some of the locals and seeing their pictures it did not seem as if ours was executive. We stopped at several towns to pick up or let off passengers. Also, we had vendors come and sell food products when we were stopped at the different towns. The ride was pretty bumpy. Also, there was a toilet and it was open to the ground, so basically anything that went in there went straight onto the ground in the tracks. When we got to Jogjakarta we met up with the friends of the pembantu that were going to drive us around. They took us to the hotel that one of the ladies had booked and we decided it was not the right place. Not in good condition and not in a good location. I had a hotel that a friend recommended the Bladok Loesman. We really liked it but it did not have cable tv for the son. I knew we needed a pool but not cable tv. We spent two hours looking at hotels. We ended up staying at the Malioboro Inn just down the street from the Bladok Loesman. After we had picked out the hotel we had lunch at the Bladok Loesman restaurant. Then, we had the driver and friend drive us to Kasongan (tempat kerajinana gerabah), the pottery and handicraft/woven road. The street was just filled with all sorts of incredible shops. Many of the shops had great things but I don’t have any where to put them. One of them had an awesome fountain that I really liked but I wouldn’t be able take it with me someday when I move. Our next stop was Kota gede (tempat kerajinan perak) and Tom’s Silver shop. They had lots of beautiful silver jewelry and other items made out of silver. We thought about stopping at Gerega Ganjuran (a church) but we were very tired so we went back to the Bladok for dinner. We looked at a few other restaurants but they all were very quiet and the other two were nervous about eating in a place with so few customers. After that we went to bed.

Borobudur temple

 On Sunday we got up pretty early again. First we went to Boroburdur (Buddhist) temple. Most pictures that I have seen only take pictures of the top, so it wasn’t what I expected but incredible. The only drawback was there were at least a thousand students there. It wasn’t that I minded the students being there, but every few steps I was stopped by a group asking to practice their English and to take their pictures with me. At first they wanted individual pictures. Eventually I had to tell them I would only do one group picture. I told them that I was willing to do one picture but that I wanted to enjoy Borobudur and was spending so much time answering questions and taking pictures. My friends were also asked but not as much as I was. Once we got to the bottom and were leaving I was flocked by men wanting to sell me souvenirs. I remember looking up at one point and my friends were already way past them. On the way to the next stop we went by Mendut. We didn't stop but I did take a picture.

Borobudur

 Next we went to Sendangsono Ziarah Maria. I was told it was close to Borobudur but it took us two hours to get there. If we would have gone straight from Jogjakarta it would have only been an hour. We had all agreed on it but one friend decided that it was taking too long and wanted to turn around.  Plus, we couldn’t find it any of our books. My other friend said that we should just stick it out since it is what I had picked and we were going to her choice after.  The driver knew the general area but had to stop a couple times for directions. This place was way off the beaten path. We had to keep going up and up a hill. We eventually got to the church. They were doing some performance next door to the church under a roofed area. We went in and looked at the church and then we got back in the vehicle and drove to the pilgrimage site. It was another two kilometers. Then we had to walk up this path that was lined with carts full of rosaries, candles, bottles for the water, etc. Finally, we arrived at the building. Next to it was a Virgin Mary statue that had people lighting candles, placing flowers, and praying in front of it. I had read there was a stream that had holy water, so I wanted to get some for my friend that had recommended I came to this place. There were so many different little buildings and stairs everywhere. I saw one place that had a pump and then walked up a flight and there was a graveyard and more stairs but I came back. There was a bridge that we crossed and down below were all these faucets but we had already filled up the bottle up at the pump so wasn’t sure what those were for. I didn’t get much time to enjoy it because the other friend was waiting since she hadn’t wanted to come up after it took so long.

Prambanan

After that we drove two hours to Prambanan, a Hindu temple. Right across from the entrance was a beautiful mosque that we stopped by, but didn’t go in. So for Chinese New Year I saw a Buddhist temple, Catholic pilgrimage site, Hindu temple and Mosque. After that we went back to Bladok Loeseman for dinner. They didn’t want to go anywhere else. I kind of wanted to try the Jogja specialty, Gudeg,  but was tired, so it was ok.

Underground Mosque

On Monday morning we split up. One friend went back to the Pottery street to by some items. My other friend and I went to Kraton (Sultan’spalace). We rode in a becak. We had a hard time fitting both of us. Some are very small. I noticed that they have motorcycles, becaks, horse drawn carriages, and vehicles on the street. It had a couple large buildings, but other than a few pictures in the main building and one building with all these different statues of people there really wasn’t much to see. After that I wanted to see Taman Sari (the water castle). This guy that worked at the palace told us that Taman Sari was closed until noon for renonvations. He told us not to go the Batik shops in the area because they were like the mob and all of their items were really expensive. We were told instead to go to the Government Batik place where the batik was inexpensive. 

Taman Sari

We thanked him and decided to choose another place on my list. As we were coming out becak (baycheck) drivers pointed us the way to the water castle. One man took us down this small alley. I finally got him to leave us and let us find our own way. It was a long roundabout journey because no one would point us in the direct way because they wanted us to stop at their shops and by stuff. At one point there were these arches that looked like they might be the entrance but the sign pointed to the left. So we started walking to the left and then we were pointed down another alley. My friend didn’t feel comfortable following men down alleys. We kept going to the left but then we ran into a whole group that told us we were going the long way around and to go back to the alley. So we went down the alley and the guy caught up with us and passed us. We tried to let him get way ahead of us but he kept stopping telling us we should believe him. We told him it wasn’t that we didn’t believe him we just didn’t want him to lead us. He led us up by people’s houses and above some roofs.  

Taman Sari

 We found the ruins of the Taman Sari and saw the arches that were the entrance to the place. We went down and there were some buildings that had been pointed out. One led us to an underground Mosque, but it didn’t look like a Mosque. It was a circular building. We went down another one and when I came up I had put my hat back on. It was a low stone arch and I thought I was clear but I smacked my head really hard. After that we were done looking at this place. It was ok, but we were tired of guys trying to lead us here and there. Looking at the pictures as I write this post. It doesn't look nearly as nice as on the internet. So we walked back to the hotel and stopped in a few shops. We ate at the Bladok Loesman one last time. Then we took cabs to the train station. The train ride back seemed so much longer. The door on our compartment was broken so most of the time it was left open and it was so noisy.

East Java Tour

Purwodadi Botanical Garden

A man who has lived in Surabaya for around 24 years does tours of different parts of East Java on weekends. They are just day trips. I signed up for the Discover East Java Tour that took place on Sunday, November 25, 2012. We assembled at the meeting place and got on a small bus. There were a few people from my school that went on the tour and several from two other International schools that are close by. There was a little over 20 of us. A few people were sick and so they were unable to make it, but it was a nice number of people.

Purwodadi Botanical Garden

Our first destination was Purwodadi Botanical Gardens located in Pasuruan. We took an hour tour. We started off in a large cluster but they broke off into smaller groups. It was a nice place. There were not as many flowers as I thought there would be. I know botanical gardens aren't just flowers, but since we are in a tropical climate I thought there would be more of them.  I think the gardens are probably much larger than I realize, but with only an hour we did a quick walk through some of the areas. I don't remember seeing anything remarkable, but it was nice. There was supposed to be a huge suspension bridge, but we did not find it before we ran out of time. Maybe if the small group I was with had chosen a different route.

Haunted Hotel

 On our way to our next stop we passed this hotel. We were told that it is haunted because it used to be this guy's house and he didn't want his daughters to marry so they committed suicide by jumping off the roof to their death.

Wonosai Tea Plantation

Our next stop was the Wonosari Tea Planation. It is situation on the slopes of Mount Arjuna in Malang. I thoroughly enjoyed this place. I have heard of tea planations and there is one in Malaysia that some of the students, of my former school,  did an overnight field trip too, but the timing wasn't right, so I decided to stay back with the students at school. I really didn't know how tea was made. I knew there are tea bags and tea leaves, but I didn't even know what a tea plant looked like. They employ mostly women at the plant to do the picking of the tea leaves. It is a huge plantation. They also have houses for some of the more senior level workers. Plus, bungalows that people rent on the weekend and stay there. They even have ponies that give children rides. I am not sure if I would stay there only because I don't know what else there is to do in the area, but maybe if I had more knowledge I would. I could also see it was a nice weekend getaway for locals. It was very educational and we had a nice lady, that spoke fluent English that gave us a tour. The only part that was a bummer was that since it was a Sunday we didn't actually get to see the different steps in the process of making tea.

Chart that explains process

The lady did open up the plant for us and did explain each step, but since I am a visual person it would have been nice to see the actual process. At the end of our tour we got to sample some of their tea and then buy tea. I love tea, so it was great. I learned that the older tea leaves that are lower quality are what they use for tea bags and the process that they use for them is that they make tea quickly and dark. I learned that the new leaves are the best quality and make tea that is lighter in color and takes a bit longer to seep. They also had white tea leaves, but I passed on buying any of them. They were expensive and I wasn't sure if I would like the flavor. I like my tea very strong and with no sugar, milk or anything else.

After the Tea plantation we traveled to Kaliandra Sejati Foundation. I think this was my favorite part of the trip. We pulled up to this beautiful house. It is the owner's childhood dream house. The foundation was founded by Atmadja Tjiptobiantoro. It is to help improve the welfare of the people of Kaliandra, preserve Javanese culture, and help with reforestation of Mount Arjuna. His gardens are incredible. He has several peacocks and what look like deer. Plus, a few other birds I was not sure what they were.

Looking back on the main house

 
They do organic farming and bring the vegetables to Surabaya to sell in some of the grocery stores, they even will deliver to a person's home. I was able to buy actual lettuce and have been able to eat salads again. After having a snack we toured the grounds. People can stay at Kaliandra. They have rooms in the main house where people have stayed. They have bungalows that are accomodations for groups of up to six people. I loved the layout of them. They had an outdoor bathtub and shower as well as an indoor shower.

One of many beautiful buildings

 They have cottages for up to 12-15 people. They also had dorm style cottages for up to 70 people. One of the upper elementary grades at my school stays here for their camp week. One of the other schools has some of their students stay there as well. They had a villa that had a private pool for honeymooning couples. Since this is located on a mountain we were told it can get cool at night. They also had huge mosquitoes. I could see if I were to get married while I lived in East Java I would stay there are part of my honeymoon. We walked up to their restaurant. The food was pretty good. Next to it was a roofed but open sided area that had the Gamelan musical instruments.

Looking from back of main house

Another features was a plunge pool surrounded by Hindu deities. We were also told they do massages. Before we even got to the main house we saw they have a ropes course that they use with different groups for leadership and team building.  They also have packages for activities for people staying there: hikes, cultral experiences, tours, golfing, etc. It is also looks like they do quite a bit to help the people and the community to help them be successful.

Bungalows

Our last stop was Jawi Temple. We were supposed to have another stop besides this one but we were running behind all day and so early on we knew we wouldn't make that. It was a Hindu ritual bath. I kind of had a feeling when I read the original itinerary on the first e-mail that it seemed too much to accomplish in just one day and with travel time and making sure we stayed on schedule. I figured getting to see some of them was better than staying at my house and not seeing any of them. By the time we reached the Jawi temple it was already dark out. Our tour guide knew that sometimes they have rituals or celebrations at night and that many times it is still open. Luck was not on our side that day and the gate was closed, there  was one small light by the entrance gate but it was not enough to light up the temple and the moon didn't really provide enough light either.  I did take a picture, but it is really hard to discern what is in the picture. There were also tons of flying bugs by the light that kept attacking us. So we were just a few minutes before calling it quits and heading back to Surabaya.

We were told at the end of the day that sometime in the spring of 2013 there will be another tour to different sights and places. I am looking forward to going. 

Hello Kitty Sweet 17 Birthday party

The Invitation in frame (turned backwards so can't be read)

I was invited to a Sweet 17 Hello Kitty party by one of my students. The invitation was given to me in person. It came in a large envelope. When I opened the envelope inside was a black Hello Kitty picture frame with the invitation in the frame. It also came with three small Hello Kitty shaped papers that told the table (Tiramisu) , to be exchanged for a Quickly (treat), and to be exchanged for a thank you gift. On the bottom of the invitation it showed that flowers and stuffed animals were not acceptable but presents and cards were. It also stated there was a dress code of black or soft pink. It was held at the Shangri-La hotel.

I invited one of the expats from the Elementary part of the school as I did not want to be at this party all alone. Since the party was on a Friday night it was hard to get a cab. I was going to call earlier than I did, but then the power went out in the house and so I got behind in getting ready. It took almost an hour of calling before I finally got through to the cab company, either they did not answer, the answered and hung up , or I got a busy signal. I had misread the invitation that it started at 7p.m. when really it started at 6p.m. We did not arrive until 7:30p.m. When we arrived I had the cab driver take us up to the lobby. We found a sign at the entrance stating the party was in the ballroom but we were unsure where that was located. We asked for directions but at first were misdirected. At the counter in the lobby there was a young lady with her back to us that has this beautiful pink evening gown and what looked like a fur stole that was hanging down. We finally found the ballroom but came at in from the wrong way. There were these black curtains set up. We were told by this young man that we were at the entrance but when we went through the gap we came through at where they had been taking pictures (kind of like a prom). It appeared that the picture taking session was over.   

There was a created hallway in front of us. We walked passed an entrance to our left and kept going down the hallway. There were lots of lights hanging down and everything was black and pink and lots of Hello Kitty things everywhere. We passed the Quickly booth, but I didn’t stop there. We walked to the end and there was a large group of people but I was not sure what they were doing, so we turned back around and headed back towards the entrance we passed. Standing in front of the entrance were two young ladies.  They were dressed in these old fashion dresses like the 1800s. They had Hello Kitty heads that they were wearing. We went through the entrance and I handed them my table card. They confirmed I was a teacher and directed us to the right. They lady was dressed in a black outfit with a pink scarf and black Hello Kitty glasses.







Everywhere was black and pink. It was incredible how fancy it was. We were taken to the farthest long table on the right, but the table was all full. I saw several of the local teachers were sitting at this table. In front of the long tables were round tables that had pink and black umbrellas above them. I think those were for the birthday girl’s friends. Since the table we were supposed to sit at was full we were taken to the left side to long table second from the end on the left side. We were seated at the front of the table behind the round tables. In the middle of the room was a empty space that had a pink and black canopy above it. On the left side (our side) at the front was a huge Hello Kitty birthday cake. Around the empty space were just box (footrest) type seating.  There were also several large screens around the room where we could watch the proceedings.  The tables all had really nice dishes on them and there were short and tall flower arrangements.

Trying to get picture of the cake

Not long after we sat down the party really started. So, our timing was actually good. There were two Masters of Ceremonies announcing something but since it was in Indonesian we had no idea what they were saying. One was a man dressed up in a black suit. The other was a man dressed up in a pink sparkly corset type top and short shorts, and hose with a garter belt. He also had a Hello Kitty bow and these high heels on.

 Next, on the stage at the front there was a group of young ladies in Hello Kitty outfits dancing.   A box came out and a guy dressed all in silver, even his face, came out of the box and walked like a robot. The group walked towards the entrance that we had missed to welcome the birthday girl. On the screens the outside of the Shangri-La appeared and a white sports car with a large Hello Kitty face on the hood pulled up to the hotel. Out of the driver’s seat came the birthday girl. She was the one I had seen up at the lobby counter. She was in the beautiful pink evening gown and around her waist she was wearing a Hello Kitty head (made out of something).  Part of her hair or maybe a hair piece that looked like hair was tied in a big bow like Hello Kitty. She made an entrance and the cameras were following her the whole way. She was escorted in by the girls and robot guy. As she was walking down the created hallway a girl in the entourage gave her a bouquet of flowers with a Hello Kitty face in it. She was brought up to the stage and talked some. Then her parents and siblings were brought up on stage and she thanked them for all they had done for her and hoped that everyone enjoyed her party.

After this part I might not have the rest of the events in the correct order because it was such an overwhelming night and it was confusing since it was all done in Indonesian so I remember the events clearly but not necessarily the order. Plus, during all of this we were eating dinner.  Also, in between events there were pictures of the birthday girl up on the screens.

I think the next event that happened was that the birthday girl sang a song to her family and loved ones. Then there was a girl group that sang to the birthday girl. I did not think they were that good. They seemed nervous and couldn’t remember all of the song and dance routine. After that the birthday girl had on another beautiful pink evening gown. Her hair was more normal at that point. She cut the cake and went around and fed people like this little sticks (I think it was cake). I am not sure exactly what it symbolized. She did it to her parents, siblings, (grandparents-maybe) and some other people. People also gave her gifts. She got jewelry, lots of bracelets and a pink Hello Kitty guitar.

After that a young lady sang a song for the birthday girl ( I think it was a favorite song). It was the Carly Rae song “Call Me Maybe” and in the background there was a guy and girl doing like a ballroom routine.  At some point the man dressed as a woman had changed his top to a black corset type top and had a man’s jacket on. I think he was tired. I know earlier he had taken off the high heels and they were back on but he was sitting down.

Then Afgan  Syah Reza, a famous Indonesian singer sang several songs. He sang a Bruno Mars song in English and other songs in Indonesian. He had some of the young ladies come up from the audience and he serenade them and took pictures with them. The birthday girl came out on stage during the last song in a different outfit. This one was a slightly above knee length black top and pink skirt sparkly dress and really high heels.  After he was done and the Masters of Cermonies duo was talking to him, the man dressed as a woman kept trying to kiss Afgan on the cheeks. He did not seem too thrilled about that and eventually was covering his cheeks with his hands. 

After that there was something with her fellow classmates. During a song that, I think the girl group sang, they came out with bows in their hair and carrying one of the guys and he had a large bag with a gift in it for her. Then they were all given roses to give to her and one guy got down on his knee to give it to her. Then they were calling different guys up and trying to get them to say something in Indonesian and at one point the guys had on these shorts with suspenders and bras on. At this point not knowing what they were saying made it really confusing. After that dancing started and we decided that was our cue to leave.  It was almost 10p.m. by that time and were both hungry as we didn’t care for the food and on overload.

Thank you gift-Hello Kitty Metal tree

It reminded me very much of the MTV show “My Sweet Sixteen” that I saw one day when I was home sick and they had a marathon on. It was just incredible how elaborate this party and those parties are. I can’t even fathom the cost. It makes me wonder what the wedding will be like. How does one top these birthday parties? In the MTV show they were trying to outdo each other and have their party be the most talked about party of the year. I don’t know if that is the case in Indonesia. For me, it is something I will remember the rest of my life, but it is not something that I have ever been to before and will probably never go to again. I don’t know what it is like for people who get invited to these all the time and probably go to several over the course of their lives.

Cambodia part 3, Siem Reap

Continued...


The next day instead of the big tour of temples we hiked up to a water fall and then went to the Ta Phrom Jungle temple that was made famous in the "Tomb Raider" movie.  We were not actually expecting a hike to this waterfall. I only had sandals to wear since I wasn't expecting to do anything where I would need to wear tennis shoes. We thought it would be a short easy walk. Instead it was a long hike and there really wasn't much of a trail. There were lots of rocks and huge boulders. It had rained the night before so it was slick. A police officer led us so that we would not wonder off the trail and go into parts that were off limits because they still weren't sure if they were all clear of landmines. When we finally got to the water fall it was not that impressive and we had been told the day before we would swim, but there was definitely not enough way to swim. We were only there for about 5 minutes to take a few pictures and then he led us back down. On the way back down I trip and hit my left big toe and cracked the nail way down so it was bleeding. I luckily had a band aid and got it wrapped up. Then a few minutes later I slipped and hurt my little toe on the same foot.





When we got down we had lunch before going on to Ta Phrom jumgle temple. I had no idea until later on that it was the temple made famous by the movie "Tomb Raider". It was a really cool temple. I think my very favorite one. The trees were incredible. We ate at a Mexican restaurant, Viva, for dinner. It was wonderful. Since I had not eaten Mexican food for over two years it was a great change from Asian food.

The next day we went to see a Floating village and took a boat ride on Lake Tonle Sap. These villages do not use stilts for the houses. The houses are actually floating. During different times of the year they are tied so they don't float too far. They are moved up the river and then onto dry land during the dry season and then moved down the river and to the lake when it is rainy season. They lose lots of people every year during storms. Lots of times it is little children because they are left behind when the parents go to work fishing. We were told about a school for students that don't have parents anymore. We had seen a grocery store so when we were ask to buy food for the students we thought it was going to be that grocery store. Instead we were taken to a place that had three items: rice, instant noodles and water. The rice was very expensive, and we didn't approve of the instant noodles so we went with the bottles of water. We took the bottles of water to the school and gave it to the children. We interacted with them some. They were on a break and so they were playing games. We were told that the teacher works for free but gets room and board. While we were there another group of people came with instant noodles.  

After that we went to a Silk Farm. We saw the whole process of how silk is made. I had no idea, so it was very interesting to see. Followed by a Spice factory. It started pouring rain on the way from the silk farm to spice factory. We did a shortened tour of the spice factory since it was pouring rain, although, we did have umbrellas they gave us to use. We saw enough and got enough explanation to understand how it worked. They make soap, candles, spices for food and incense.  We had a late lunch at the Bengal Tiger. We had dinner at The Warehouse that was across the street from Viva. The food was ok. We went and watched the traditional dance on the top floor of another building.

Our last day we just kind of hung out at the hotel. We slept in and then I stayed in the room for awhile and read while Sally went to the pool and sunbathed for awhile. When I got out to the pool it decided to start raining, so once it took a break we went to a market and did lots of shopping for gifts. We had a late lunch at a restaurant. We gave a young girl some of our lunch because the portions were huge and she was hungry. I don't know if she really got to eat it because a few minutes after we had the restaurant people box it up I saw her over by the kitchen. I wondered if they made her give it back. After we left we bumped into her a few minutes later at another place and she was not carrying the food. It poured that night so we just ate dinner and watched a puppet and then dance show at our little boutique hotel, the Alliance Cafe. 

The next day we rode the bus back to Phnom Penh. When we arrived we checked into our hotel and then went for a walk. We got a last foot massage and pedicure. Then we went and found a place for dinner. After that we went to a bar that had some local musicians that were performing for open mike night. 

 

My trip to Seoul, South Korea

The first week of October was our end of term break. I was going to go by myself. I had wanted my mom to come visit me in Indonesia, but our camp week for school had been moved to after the break so it did not work out since it takes four days to get here and one week would not be enough time. It turned out that it was only a one day journey to Seoul and so my mom was able to meet me there. We had a great time together. I arrived on Sunday September 30th in the morning. My Mom had gotten there the day before so she could adjust a little for the time difference. When I walked into the hotel she was waiting for me downstairs to greet me. When went up to the room and visited awhile before I showered and changed. We ate in the deli at the hotel. Then we took a walk around the block to get some fresh air. My mom was still feeling tired and was feeling the beginning of a cold coming, so we just had dinner in our room that evening.

War Memorial Museum

On Monday we went to the War Memorial Museum. It was a holiday so many places were closed. We really enjoyed learning more about the history of Korea. Mom wasn't feeling well, so after that we caught a cab back to the hotel. I finally found a pharmacy that evening that was open and I was able to get my mom some cold medicine. I was looking for a place to get the passcodes for wifi access since they don't have SIM cards to use in cell phones or Ipads when a person is traveling. I came across this Olleh wifi information when at the museum. The information said that it could be purchased at any of selected stores and I could not find any of those stores that had it.

Changdeokgung Palace (one of the buildings)

On Tuesday Mom didn't feel well in the morning. We went to Changdeokgung Palace and the secret garden. My parents had been recommended this secret garden as incredible by someone that they had talked with. It was ok, but not what we expected. Some of it may be that we saw it in the fall so there were not tons of flowers like the person described. It was also a large group we had to go with as they require that to tour the garden a person goes on a guided tour. We went to Insadong market. There were lots of cool shops and I got some great gifts that I sent home with mom for friends and family. I wanted to also go to Jogyesa temple but somehow missed it. Saw the sign and turned off on correct road and then saw no temple or additional signage. Ate at Bibimbab, one of many restaurants in the mall connected to our hotel, for dinner; they had dishes also listed in English. It was ok. 

Part of Secret Garden

On Wednesday we went to the National Folk Museum of Korea and Gyeongbokgung Palace which was huge and nicer than Tuesday's palace. The National Folk Museum was very interesting. We learned about the culture and people of South Korea. I always enjoy learning about other cultures. It is part of the reason I am living overseas and traveling to other countries. Went back to Insadong. Still couldn't find Jogyesa temple but saw great little shops and galleries and got some gifts.

National Folk Museum

Girls in Traditional costumes taking pictures with Samsung products

Gyeongbokgung Palace (one of the buildings)

On Thursday we went to Myeong- dong area, Myeong-dong Cathedral,  Namdaemun market, and Cheonggyecheon Stream. We weren't really excited about the two markets. There was not anything that we saw that we would buy. Lots of it was very cheap stuff and cheaply made. Nothing was unique to Korea or Seoul.

Myeong-dong Cathedral

 We saw a show - acrobatic at the Seoul Festival. There was a guy from Spain. He had a pole and a four straps going from the pole that he had four guys volunteer to hold tight so that he could do his routine and climb up the pole and do tricks from it. I was interesting to watch. Cheonggyecheon Stream is set down below street level. It is a couple miles long. We walked down most of it but as we got farther along it was the older part and was not in as good of upkeep as the more recent part. There were lots of people that were walking along. There were some people in the river doing some sort of photo shoot. There was a wishing well and two waterfalls. Saw a stage set up for some concert. According to the cab driver it is Psy- Some dude and something about Gangnam style.

Namdaemun market

Cheonggyecheon Stream

A presentation at the base of Seoul Tower

One of many of the scenes at the Teddy Bear museum

Friday was our last day in Seoul. We went to World Jewelry museum. The museum of the jewelry was a lady's private collection that she had collected over the years of jewelry from different people and cultures over several hundred of years. The museum is not really well known. It is not well advertised because it is a private museum, so they cannot do any advertising in government museum. We saw part of Bukchon village as the World Jewelry museum was on the outskirts of the village. Couldn't find Hanbok museum. It was supposed to be outside of the gate of the palace we had seen the day before but since I could not access the Internet I was not able to look up the directions again. Also, went to Seoul Tower and Teddy Bear museum. The Teddy Bear museum has the history of Seoul shown through Teddy Bears. I thought it was a pretty clever way to teach about the history of Seoul and help even get young children interested.

Seoul Tower

 I had to get up early Saturday morning as I had a pretty early flight back. I left my mom in the hotel since her flight was not until early evening. It was a great trip and nice to see her after such a long time since I last saw her.