back from indo, peacefully, without much hype about the H1N1 virus.. in fact, i just learnt that our status is still orange but will be lowered to yellow on monday.. apparently this is not the case at tanah merah ferry terminal.. they had a infrared camera, but no one was manning it and the people all had their masks off when we arrived.. orange alert huh..

but indonesia was great!! i travelled alone to indonesia and was picked up at the Sri Bintan Pura ferry terminal.. it was a nice and smooth ride, although i was really hoping that there are the huge waves to make the trip slightly more exciting.. sadly there was none at all.. i even dozed off in my first trip there in ages!! to think that when i was young i could stay up all trip just looking at the waves and frothing made by the ship..

day 1 dinner was the authentic indonesian riverside BBQ that made the plaza singapura bbq look like crap.. but what i loved most was not the fish, but the sotong.. and there was "asam sayo" (which literally means sour vegetables) which i have not tried before, but i loved it immediately.. it was like our tom yum soup, without the spicy stuff.. absolutely delicious..

day 2 breakfast, bak kut teh.. yet another winner that puts even the best singapore bak kut teh to shame.. it's thick, almost literally flooded with pepper pods, and loads of meat.. but i love the soup more..

then begin my 1 day tour with my relatives to visit all the relatives in indonesia.. first stop, grandpa and grandma @ Huai En Tang (i think), where their ashes are stored.. i remembered how my grandma is so lovely and doting and my grandpa who did all the discipline stuff.. i remembered being chased around the whole house with my grandpa and his splited cane.. and grandma who would give really huge angbaos and would buy all kinds of food for all her grandchildren.. oh what lovely memories..

then was great-grandmother, buried in the christian cemetry.. she lived to a ripe old age of 97, and survived the japanese occupation.. she had a great story to tell, but most of her great-grandchildren aren't history fans.. so we didn't really sit around to hear her story.. it's too late for regret now anyway..

then we went for a really long (30 mins @ 130kmph) drive to my uncle's corn farm.. and had a nice pluck and eat session with corn.. i ate 3 whole corns!! and i've never tasted anything as fresh and sweet as these.. and oh yes, we ate them raw.. and these aren't even the best crops.. the grade 1 crops will only ripen in Sept.. but nonetheless, the grade 2 corns are good enough for me..

then we went to another uncle's dragon fruit plantation.. and i just found out that dragonfruits grow like grass (i.e. horizontally).. they have really weak aloe-vera-like stems that cannot stand up to gravity.. but in a planation, space is money, so they had a pole and a tyre used to support the dragon fruits.. and i never knew that dragon fruits are so tedious to plant, because their flowers only open at 12mn so the workers have to go around the plantation at 12mn to collect pollen and to manually fertilise every single flower one by one.. work aside, dragon fruits have a low capital because one plant have a life of 20 years and they can produce fruits within 6 months of growth and keep producing fruits every 2 months.. and the seeds can be re-used to plant even more dragon fruits.. so basically all you need is one dragon fruit, poles, tyres and a large plot of land.. and all these are cheap in indonesia.. of course we tried their dragon fruit (the red ones - cos indonesians think the white ones are not as nice and sweet).. and it was love at first bite.. i ate 3 of them =D.. of course, my lips got tinted red by their blood-red flesh and it looked like i applied lip stick..

then we went to another uncle's vegetable farm.. which was pretty much the same as those we have in singapore.. so there wasn't really anything that interests me..

then we went to yet another uncle's champedak & durian farm.. but sadly it wasn't the durain season so all we had were baby durians that weren't ripe yet.. so we can only see, but not taste.. argh.. i was really looking forward to great durians..

then we had yet another long long drive to the beach where yet another aunt operated a kelong cum seafood restaurant, famous for gong-gongs.. and i single-handedly ate over 20 gong-gongs (amongsts lobsters, clayfish and other seafood).. my cholesterol levels are going sky-high, but ohwell, i haven't ate them for ages..

and that concluded my tour of indonesia.. we had a long long ride back home..

and guess what, i met up with my younger cousins so i took them out for LAN (in indonesia).. well, surprise surprise, they had core 2 duo PCs, although they still used CRT monitors.. but it isn't cheap, coming at an equivalent of SGD$1.25 per person per hour.. cheaper than singapore, but it's supposed to be much cheaper.. we had 2 hours of LAN, playing warcraft, and counterstrike cos i didn't know how to play the other games there.. and guess what, i was badly trashed (13 to 2) by my younger cousin, aged 12..

day 3 breakfast was fried carrot cake & ban kat mee.. both of my childhood favourites.. then we went to visit another 2 aunts who lived nearby..

lunch was yet another round of bbq fish..

indonesia was nice.. but it's still not very well developed.. try having no electricity for most parts of the day; forget piped water and try well-water.. and try doing your business over a hole that overlooks the splashing seawater below.. so i wasn't really used to it, but childhood instincts took over after some time..

it was supposed to be my uncle's wedding, but i think i enjoyed much more.. and i even had the groom be our tour guide and driver around the place.. i got to meet my uncle's super pretty wife (i've yet to see anyone face-to-face, or even on TV, who's more pleasant-looking than her).. i'm really happy for him..