Me chilling above the reef (photo Janusz Draminski)
Eleven days ago we set off for Bali to kick off another bucket list adventure: a trip to dive with manta rays and see the Komodo dragons, aboard the luxurious vessel, Dewi Nusantara (we sailed round Raja Ampat on the Dewi 18 months ago and loved it so much we vowed to return!) Continue reading
Now we are in Ubud for the weekend, staying in the Komaneka Tanggayuda. I have booked a villa with an infinity pool as a birthday present to us both, and it is divine. The outdoor granite bath is something else!
I am gliding over the coral reef, like superwoman. Fan corals stand proud from the reef wall, pink and purple, hiding their pygmy seahorses, while the hard stag corals resonate in blues, oranges and greens, interspersed with waving fronds of anemones, complete with their Nemos, guarding eggs. Butterfly and surgeon fish dart in and out of the intricate fretwork and shoals of fusiliers dart by in a flash of silver before disappearing into the blue.
Have been suffering the proverbial ‘writers’ block’ recently; can’t marshall my creativity into a firm direction. A bit depressing really. The SG50 celebrations did nothing to raise my spirits as it was mainly a wash out – the highlight of the weekend being England winning the Ashes in spectacular fashion. Continue reading
Thorny sea-horse
Another attention-grabbing headline! Continue reading
Lame lady on bike – Hati! Hati! – danger! danger! too right!
Surely it can’t be almost a whole month since I last wrote a post? But I check the blog and it is a fact. And, no, its not because I have been doing anything fascinating; rather more prosaic than that – just head down, writing, getting an agent and finishing the book!
I had two offers on the table and was weighing up the pros and cons of each, when the little voice in my head (ie the Society of Authors and former agent and friend, Jo) kept niggling at me to give the agent one more try. So I sent off an email and received one by return saying he would take me on. Ian Drury at Sheila Land, v respectable agency. So now we wait…it’s the story of my life!
Also been busy putting the finishing touches to the website, with Ross’s help of course, www.healthylivingwithcancer.co which I launched about 10 days ago. It’s a slow build and I keep it out there by publishing a recipe every day. It will be word of mouth, or click, and I think it will gradually grow as nothing gets people going like cancer. If you haven’t looked at it already, click and see. Would love to hear any feedback. Continue reading
Enormous greenback turtle, as big as me!
Two national parks within a week, four days to be precise! From Mana Pools, Zimbabwe to Bunaken island, North Sulawesi, via Joburg and Singapore! I barely had time to unpack before taking advantage of the long Eid el Fitr weekend and setting off to chart new territories. Continue reading
My return to Singapore was somewhat eventful after two months away. First of all my bag got lost, to reappear several hours later, but what a pain! (Now possessor of several thousand airmails to add to my new Malaysian Airlines Enrich loyalty account.)
Secondly, a nagging calf pain over the preceding two weeks had morphed itself in my mind into DVT, and my first day back was spent at the docs and at the hospital having ultrasound scans. Good news: not DVT; bad news: a haemotoma (bleeding clot in muscle) which would require 4-6 weeks rest. Good news: let off gym antics; bad news: swimming not so good either. Oi vey.
So what to do as accompanying spouse than to cook husband delicious meals, especially as he was due to desert me for a couple of weeks?
We started with crispy skin cod with hot, sour and sweet sauce (Thailand), served with stir friend garlic and ginger greens,
Roasted hot, sweet, and sour fish
then went on to slow cooked pork with ginger, chilli and sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) from Indonesia, again with more yummy greens, this time my favourite kailan, a local kind of broccoli but much sweeter.
slow cooked pork
Another night we had spicy grilled chicken with lemon grass, but the finest achievement was my tofu and mushroom miso soup (home-made stock OF COURSE) that I made for myself to keep me company while watching an episode of an Arne Dahl Swedish thriller. Who needs a husband with the complete first season to chomp through?
Mmmm-miso
Before husband left, we headed for a local garden centre, in brilliant sunshine. By the time the bus stopped we were in the midst of a minor tropical storm with no umbrella. Queen Victoria was not amused. Choosing plants in the pouring rain is hard, but we are pleased with the result. The garden centre chaps came yesterday and planted everything up in situ; an hour later our irrigation system arrived, orderd online, cash on delivery. Singapore is wonderful!
Bougainvillea, hibiscus, heliconium, ginger, orchid and lantan
I also managed to persuade him to part with more money – this time for a reclining chair (to rest my leg obvs) and a heavy teak carved pole from Indonesia to drape a luxurious piece of cloth, as a wall hanging for the bedroom. Latter yet to be acquired (more money to be spent!). No pics as they arrive on Thursday!
In between all this joint expenditure I have been a busy little bee on my own, arranging for more fabric to be mounted and framed for the guest room, and testing the efficacy of the Singapore bus system.
Talking of framing, just before we left London, the wife of a dear friend, Clare Morton, presented us with this mind-blowing collage of Louise, which includes ephemera from her life, for instance photos from the funeral sheet, the words to Cabaret, little in-jokes on being a vegetarian, fashion and all her foibles, plus cut-outs from the Marathon Kebab House menu and so on. It is simply stunning (all on the back of an old door) and this photo does not do it justice.
Clare’s stunning tribute to Louise
Where was I? Oh yes: in hot pursuit of an Indian visa – yes again,dear reader, our patience is being sorely tried by bureaucracy – the system has changed since three months ago, necessitating a huge bus trip to Little India, where appropriately enough the recently outsourced visa service resides, but not before I had schlepped down to the High Commission, where apart form anything else, I got chatted up by another despairing Brit!
But the upshot is that I have nailed these buses and am merrily riding round Singapore for $1 or less per trip. Very satisfying as I try to convince husband that I am not a spendthrift. (note to Janet: some hope!)
Now we eagerly await our first visitors: Mr Tubby who comes on Monday and then the Mr & Mrs JBs, who arrive on Wednesday for 6 days. Many culinary and artistic pleasures await…
Mirror image – bougainvillea, lantana, hibiscus, heliconium, ginger, orchid and also a little chilli plant
My delightful interrogators on Easter Sunday
Not sorry to leave Jakarta. Huge city of 8 m plus people, clogged with motorbikes, taxis, cars, buses; traditional red-roofed houses juxtaposed against enormous sky scrapers – and polluted. But compared to India the traffic is (almost) regulated! Certainly infrastructure – flyovers and roads – superior, and there is a whizzo toll road to and from airport. India could learn from that.
Motos parked as far as the eye can see!
Added to which hotel Manhattan was rotten to the core – dirty (mould growing in bathroom and on shower curtains), bad food and murky pool. Even gym tired. Might have been OK once but seen better days, and it was paid for on expenses. Wah! Reason: 5 mins walk from offices, unheard of in this city of horrendous rush-hour jams. But for accompanying spouse it’s a poor place to hang out and work, as sight-seeing alone is challenging. English is virtually unspoken, even by upmarket Silver Bird taxis; Blue Bird drivers, for the record, were better! So I left two days early.
NB man wearing ManU teeshirt; there was a noisy ManU convention in town over the weekend, can one never escape their fans?
We arrived for Easter so we got a couple of days ‘doing’ Jakarta a deux, enough really. From the enormous Medan Merdeka square – largest in Asia, and Soviet in style, centred round what is known as Sukarno’s last erection, a monument to himself – to the old Dutch Batavian port of Kota, interspersed with some good grub we did ok. But stupendously hot and sticky and 2 hrs max outside excursion in full sun.
Ross being interviewed!
Not sure about this lesson in violence from mother to son!
Holiday weekend so hordes of families camped out in square, having picnics, visiting the erection (5 hours queue to go up top). Ditto Sunday in Kota, where the old Dutch Fatehilla Square was extremely festive: girls in Sunday best, floaty pink, red, and pastel-coloured gauzy outfits with sleeves to keep off the sun, complete with straw hats over their headscarves, being ferried round the square by gallant swains on hired pushbikes; human statues; monkey on a motorbike; marionettes; and street food and drinks galore. Highlight was being interviewed by keen and delightful students in English – obviously a class exercise. Asked what I thought about Indonesian people, first I said ‘very friendly’ and then, ‘they are very small and make me feel very big’. Giggle, giggle. Ross asked much more searching questions on the political system. History does not relate his reply!
Fatehilla Sq, Kota
Sad reminder of glorious past…
Fine old Dutch building on the canal
The old Dutch drawbridge, nicely restored, but the stench from the canal is quite believable looking at this pic!
All in a day’s work
Grab 40 winks when you can…
You could see remains of the old Dutch town, must have been very attractive, now largely crumbling. The canal leading out to the sea full of putrid debris – stank to high heaven, as did the fish market in the shanty town near the sea front (couldn’t see that for building works!). People eking out a living by collecting plastic bottles and sleeping by their stalls, or whatever shelter available. Reality check – Indonesia is a very poor country for most people. Jakarta is a misleading city.
We were nevertheless astounded by the ostentatious wealth on display in Indonesia Grand Mall,
…while the washing dries
largest in Asia apparently but you could be in Bond Street or 5th Avenue given the luxury branded shops, and the immaculately coiffed and coutured ladies, elegant men (all yuppy-young), an army of uniformed nannies minding spoiled and overweight offspring while mums shop and gossip with friends. Let’s hope there is a trickle down effect…
A good cocktail always gets rid of the hump! here we have chargrilled grapefruit martini; followed quickly by pineapple kaffir lime leaf margarita! smile on face!
Upside undoubtedly the helpful, smiling and gracious people, and delicious food. Like Singapore, food courts and restaurants in the malls are very popular, but we went to two recommended restaurants: Samarra, in sumptuous surroundings, carved statues, Indo-Arab fusion, where we had delicious fish satay and a lamb nasi dish, accompanied by a bamboo shoot and coconut soup.
My nasi (rice)dish with lamb
Fish satay on lemongrass skewers
Satay street food, at a fraction of the price!
deep frying must be extremely hot!
On my last night we visited Kembang Goela, Jakarta’s no 1 Trip Advisor-rated eatery. A bit OTT, but splendid decor (we had a ludicrously expensive bottle of wine), but the rendang and deng deng (deep friend beef carpaccio) were out of this world. A purple-suited nanny spent most of our meal chasing an unruly child round the restaurant and feeding him when he stood still. Children are absolutely adored all over the Far East (and they are beautiful) but under-disciplined in my opinion! One wonders what kind of adults they will turn into?
I shall look forward to returning to Indonesia – to the islands – but will give Jakarta a miss next time.
Deng deng beef (left); rendang (right) and our chicken nasi dish (foreground)
vickygoestravelling 