Yogyakarta Art, Sunrises, and SCAMMING?? (INDONESIA 2017, Part 1 of 3)

Selamat hari!

I am back in Singapore after a long, hot week in Indonesia. Before I begin this post, I have to say.. a lot of things went very wrong on this trip. Nonetheless, it has been one of the most surreal and culturally exciting trips thus far in my life, but I will include my Series of Unfortunate Events in here for comedic relief. Even then, a lot of really good things happened too, and those things outrun everything else.

This recess week was spent with Amy, Suwen, Kelly and our favourite "Instagram boyfriend" Victor in three areas called Yogyakarta, Ubud and Kuta. We began our journey early last Saturday morning and landed later that night, with a flight stopover in Jakarta then Yogyakarta. Singapore may be hot, but Indonesia is hotter… A lot hotter.

DAY 1

Our first destination: Yogakarta, East Java.

Sunday morning after arriving, we visited Taman Sari Water Castle, a garden area owned by the former Sultanate of Yogyakarta. The gardens and pools were built in the mid to late 1700s by the Portuguese, allegedly as a gift to the wives of Sultan Hamengku Buwono I.

Unfortunately I didn’t get any shots without a bunch of people in them, so here’s a photo from Google. This is the bathing area for the concubines that stayed with the sultan. 
Source

While walking to the Water Castle, my backpack of seven years decided to break and I was forced to carry my backpack like a baby for that afternoon. (RIP Backpack 2010 – 2017. You’ve been through tricolour paint splatters, harsh winters and muggy Asian summers, you will be missed). Fortunately we were heading to a nearby shopping area where I found a new backpack and on our way there… where we made a new friend!

MVP goes to Pima

A local named Pima was walking along with us and struck up a conversation with us. At first we were scared that he was going to try and con us into buying something from us, but as we continued to talk we saw his sincerity. He taught us common Bahasa Indonesian phrases to use when partaking in price negotiation at the market stalls including words such as:

-        Sangat Mahal = Very expensive

-        Berapa Ini = How much is this

-        Jalan-Jalan = Walking, in context used as ‘walking away’.

-        Enak = Delicious (for food) and Sedap = Delicious (for smelling food)

Pima taught us that using “Sangat Mahal” in combination with “Jalan-Jalan” can be a negotiating tactic that will make shop keepers think you’re leaving, and in response they will offer a price negotiation if they haven’t already. I think I’ve already mentioned this in my blog, but negotiating prices is a very competitive game for me. It’s so fulfilling and I wish this was a culture present in North America!

A man filled with lies (left). Photo by SL

Pima walked with us and also told us about an Art Institute where he taught classical music. We told him about the Palace that we were unable to enter because it was 'closed' which surprised him. He told us that it was always open to the public and that people will tell us that to scam us into visiting their Batik shops. We all screamed because this is EXACTLY what happened to us..

Fortunately, the Batik art we bought from the first shop was indeed authentic, just severely overpriced (RIP Amy’s wallet). Pima brought us to another Batik shop with local artists from his institute, where the prices were much better. We met an artist in school named “Three” (asked him three times if that was indeed his name because I wasn’t two sure) and he helped us find more wonderful art. If you walk down the streets of Java and Bali, you will see many people wearing colour printed patterns on their shirts, skirts, sarongs and headpieces, very similar to what you will find on authentic Indonesian batik cloths.

Batik shop. Photo by SL

Canting [chan-ting]
 Source

Batik art from Indonesia involves the wax dyeing of cloth, and uses many patterns with different cultural influences, and is a very well developed sector of art in Java. The cloth, which can be later used as wall art, sheets for tables, clothing, etc... is first washed then soaked in water and beaten. The artist begins by lining the cloth with patterns in pencil, which they will line over with beeswax or plant resin, using a canting tool. After it has dried, the wax is boiled off in water. The wax leaves patterns and these steps can be repeated many times to create different patterns and images. This work of art can be easily transported, hung, and used in many different decorative ways and I have a lot of respect for people who put the time and care into making these!

After this, we made our way to the night market where we practiced our bargaining and I finally bought a new bag. I also broke my slippers and had to walk around barefoot for a while. But it was raining so it was kind of fun!

DAY 2

This day started very early, but it was well worth it. Our awesome driver Virgi brought us to Punthuk Setumbu, where we walked up a hill to watch the famous Nirwana Sunrise.

No words or camera that can capture this beauty. Photos by SL

After the sun came up, we made our way to Borobudur Temple, the largest Buddhist Temple in the world, completed in 825 AD. Is has been named one of the “7 New Wonders of the World”. The temple had four main entrances with many flights of stairs leading up to different levels. We made our way to the first few levels, where the walls had stone carvings telling the stories of Buddha’s birth, his past lives and his enlightenment. The stories started at the East entrance and worked clockwise across the walls. However, the true views came from the Stupas on the top level of the temple, where bell-shaped structures dominated with an incredible grassy view surrounding. Each bell had a statue of Buddha inside, praying.

Squad. Photo credits to our Instagram boyfriend VT

After our tour of the Borobudur Temple, our really awesome driver Virgi brought us to a Kopi Luwak shop, where we got to drink real Arabica Luwak Tea, and got to meet some AWESOME WEASELS THAT HELP MAKE IT HAPPEN!!! Sorry if that makes no sense.. you’ll have to read my FOOD BLOG (link TBA) to get answers.

Overall, Yogyakarta was wonderful and I wish we could have stayed longer, as there’s always something else to see. I’ll be back one day :)

Our next destination was Ubud, Bali which was personally my favourite part of the trip. Sneak peak:

Views from Mount Batur. Photo by SL

Stay Tuned!

- Arlene

Exploring my New Home

-- Written Jan 30th --

Happy (now belated) Chinese New Year/Gung Xa Fa Cai!

It's definitely been a while, wow. I am currently on the bus back to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur as I spent Chinese New Year with my family in Cameron Highlands, in Malaysia.  School has gotten hectic very quickly but I want everyone in Canada to know I'm alive and well! I feel that the school system here at Nanyang is surprisingly similar to that of Queen's and it has helped with the adjustment. I actually like the setup much more here with all the different sub-schools being interconnected. It presents a sense of cohesion that virtually doesn't exist at Queen's. I have gotten lost in so many buildings though… so I can't say I haven't felt like a lost Frosh once again. 

'BOH' Tea Plantation Hills, Cameron Highlands

Some cute (and cold) tourists!

Above are a couple photos from our Cameron Highlands trip. We got to visit the tea plantations that the Highlands are known for and explored the quaint little town below the hills.

----

First thing I want to comment on regarding Singapore is that I'm so happy with my living arrangement! The hall I live in feels a bit hotel-y but I am lucky that I have AC (aka aircon) so I'm not complaining too much. The humidity was hard at first but I have adjusted, so things are a lot less terrible nowadays. Another thing I love is my roommate Valerie. She doesn't have Facebook therefore probably won't know this post exists so I'm just going to rave about how much I love her.

Valerie is a Singapore local, this is her first year and second semester living in our resident. If I talk to you regularly, you probably already know about my overflowing love for my roommate. She might actually be one of the coolest human beings I've ever met. The first night I came in, she was so welcoming and gave me the wifi password, offered me lemongrass lotion from Taiwan and said we could share the fridge. Valerie, you had me at wifi. She sometimes brings me home food without my asking, because apparently one of her clubs gives her free food at times. I am SO #blessed.

Okay, that's a summary of my platonic feels for Valerie, let's move on: SINGAPORE!

This city is amazing. The list of all the things I want to see was long to begin with and continues to grow. My first check off the list was a visit to the Chinese Gardens. The Gardens were so beautiful, and I want to say probably one of the most beautiful and peaceful gardens I've ever seen. I spent about two hours just walking around and being alone and it was a nice stroll. I arrived after closing hours for many gated areas so unfortunately I couldn't visit the shrines in the Japanese Gardens or the turtle museum, so I will definitely be back.

 

My view from the top of the tower (right)

After the gardens, I went to Chinatown. It was decorated with lanterns and Roosters everywhere in preparation for Chinese New Year, which apparently is quite big as there is a large Chinese population here. To be honest, Chinatown has been incredibly saturated with people each time I've gone, and it's almost too overwhelming, but I end up buying a lot of food and random items for very cheap. It can be a fun place to be if you like having your personal space taken from you!

What will the Year of the Rooster bring to you?
Probably good luck, fortune and prosperity

To play with cute dogs

I've also visited Bugis a few times. Bugis train station is the center of many must-sees as well, including a large tourist market known as 'Bugis Street', Haji lane and Arab Street (have yet to really explore these last two). I ended up going about two weeks ago with a couple new friends Kelly and Suwen, also from Ontario! We spent two hours getting distracted at the market, but we made it to our end goal:

Aside from the city itself, one of the best parts of exchange so far is the amazing connections I've made here. I definitely have a disproportionate number of friends from Ontario, and I've met many other Queen's students in the weirdest ways… but I've also met people from places as close as Australia to as far as Europe. It feels like frosh week all over again; we are all so eager to meet and befriend each other. A exciting time indeed. 

Another amazing connection: my parents came to Singapore to visit me after my first week of school! DKM for showing a slightly emotional side for a moment, but since I grew up away from my biological parents and siblings, I feel like a little girl again getting excited to see family and to have had my parents there for my 'first day of school'… it is really nice (:

Cute tourist photos at Marina Bay

A photo I snapped quickly while walking between Marina Bay Sands Hotel
 and the Supertrees

One of my brothers' high school friends Janice and I showed them around Singapore, especially Marina Bay Sands, the Supertrees, as well as the Botanical Gardens and Chinatown. They love the city as well, and also commented on how hot it is here compared to the Philippines… which is both funny and sad, because I wish it wasn’t this hot (and apparently will only get hotter).

Regardless I love this city, I love exchange and I am so excited for all this travelling I get to do! In fact, a group of us will be travelling to Bali/Java, Indonesia in less than 3 weeks, and Valerie and I will be jetting off to Japan in May!

..."Running out of pages in her passport, hanging with some girls I've never seen before" are words Drake once sang about me.

Speaking of songs, there's a song that makes me think of my current home:

"Valerie" By the Zutons/Amy Winehouse either version works. Dedicated to my main girl Valerie TXH <3 

Cha Gheill!

Arlene

As long as I have Internet, I'm okay...

(Written Jan 3rd)


Happy New Year everyone!


WOW what an adventure I am having. Tonight is my first night in Singapore and I missed my residence's office hours by TEN MINUTES therefore I do not have my room key and cannot get into my room tonight. I've lugged my 3 suitcases through campus like a lost soul, trying to figure out what to do with my life and contemplating my poor time management issues.

But I'm going to backtrack a little bit; the last few days in KL were very fun! On the day of New Year's Eve, we went to Chow Kit Market where there was a heavenly amount of freshly cut meats of all sort, vegetables and fruit. I have only experienced these in the Philippines but now that I have pretty much become a foodie, this was so much more exciting for me. The amount of fresh produce you can get for cheap is incredible! That night we also went to an IT fair, where I further practiced my bargaining skills and managed to get a discount on a new laptop.

New year's day was spent travelling and touring Batu Caves in Northern Kuala Lumpur. At Batu caves there is hundreds of fights of stairs leading to the top of a small mountain, on top of which there are Hindu temples. The cave offered this captivating and mysterious tone, while the musical performances and religious displays gave life to the cave.

After the Batu caves visit, my family and I continued on to Sunday church at a cathedral, then had dinner at a mall downtown and visited the Petronas Towers. Many photos taken.

Those were the last of my adventures in Malaysia and I have to say I already love the city. I can't wait to explore it more.

Petronas Towers

Halfway up the staircase at Batu Caves!

Found a monkey... had to dab 

The famous Murugan statue at Batu Caves

Anyway, back to my disaster of a first day in Singapore. Yeah so I'm pretty much homeless for a night. But it's all good thanks to my brother always having my back and helping me in my lost times, I found a cheap hostel called the Rucksack Inn about 40 minutes from campus. They've got free internet + breakfast and food places nearby so I am not worried at all, just a little sad over life right now. However this place is run by two cute older bubbly Chinese women. They helped me carry my luggage to my room and one of them even gave me a glass of water after climbing up the stairs! So I guess it's not too bad here. I'm going to take my selfie stick and shamelessly tour around this city like it's the last night of my life; it'll be an adventure!

…And I had to be on this side of  town tomorrow anyway, so I guess you could say this worked out just fine… (:

Cha Gheill!

Arlene

PS Today is Jan 5th and I am safely in res.... finally. Here is a picture of my front balcony at Nanyang this semester... I would say it's been worth it so far :)  

Exploring Kuala Lumpur

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur (KL)!

I have arrived safely in Malaysia after over 30 hours of travelling and I am safely on the 37^th floor of my oldest brother’s flat, close to the heart of KL. Some of the thoughts I had while travelling here:

Family reunion! (left to right) Me, brothers Archer and Arvin,
Dad, Ate Paulineand Xyriel in the background

1) I hate airports so much

2) I’m so glad I bought noise-cancelling headphones prior to travelling

3) One should NEVER watch Inside Out in public ever, let alone on a plane that was such a bad idea.

Airplanes are never a great experience. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who feels anything but neutrality or mild to strong dislike towards flying. However, the overall journey was smooth sailing and I am happy to be here.

Malaysia is currently 16 hours ahead of BC and 13 hours ahead of Ontario, so the jetlag was definitely hitting me at 5:20 am today. It’s also maybe more than 25 C hotter than BC was before I left so it’s pretty terrible right now. I’ve received a lot of mockery from my family for changing 50 times a day due to the fact that I am sweating profusely through everything I wear. ): Regardless, I am loving KL so far! 

Merdeka Square 

I would say the weirdest thing I’ve experienced is how similar yet different Malay is from Tagalog (national language in the Philippines). Filipino culture has been heavily influenced by Malay culture and it really shows in Tagalog vocabulary. What’s weird is sometimes the letters of a word with meaning shared by both languages is essentially the same… but with like one letter difference. Very strange and has thrown me off a lot, but not enough to distract me from the beautiful culture of KL. 

It seems there is a harmonious balance between different cultures that reside in this city, with a large Islam community that has influenced the architecture of the older buildings including a really beautiful mosque, but at the same time a large amount of Chinese and Indian cultural influence is present as well.

Newspaper cutouts at the KL Art Gallery describing history of Kuala Lumpur

Today my oldest brother and I got the chance to visit a few places in Merdeka Square, including Kuala Lumpur’s Muzium Muzik (Music Museum) where I got to learn a little bit about the instruments used in Chinese, Malay and Indian culture.

My brother Arvin and I at the I <3 KL Sign in front of KL City Gallery

Next door was the famous “I Love KL” Sign beside the Arch art gallery, where we also roamed and I got to learn a bit about the history of British colonialism and declaration of independence in KL which happened right there at Merdeka. We then visited a beautiful Chinese temple, then an Indian temple nearby. These temples were obviously built by very talented and passionate artists and it was breathtaking, even for an outsider like me.

After all this tourist-y fun, we roamed around looking for some things I wanted to buy, and this is where the real fun began. We roamed Central Market and Chinatown, which was adjacent to the market.

Today I experienced the truly strategic art of bargaining. For those of you who haven’t experienced shopping in Asia, there are large designated squares where stands will be set up and people will sell many material goods at seemingly great prices. However, I saw the same bag at probably 7 locations and heard 7 different prices. ‘Tis why it’s important to bargain. It’s actually kind of a fun activity if you don’t consider how much walking and disappointment is involved.

My favourite part of this bargain hunt was seeing ‘Beats’ headphones for sale at whopping prices. Amazing. 

To conclude this post, I’d like to enthusiastically mention that tomorrow is New Years Eve. I will be partying it up 13-16 hours ahead of any of you and watching fireworks from the 37^th floor, so be prepared for the 1000 second snapchat stories....

Cha Gheill!

Arlene 

More photos below: Hindu temple close to Merdeka and my niece Xyriel because she's absolutely adorable

Bye Canada

Hello readers aka all my #Fans -- specifically YOU Baylee Balfour,

This is my first blog post! I really don’t know how long this whole blog thing will actually stick, but alas here I am. Hopefully you haven’t fallen asleep by the end of these six months or so of me being abroad and writing about my life. J

I was sitting in the car earlier with my mom and her friend on the way to YVR. The adventure starts today and my first destination is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to visit my brothers, my oldest brother’s family and my biological parents! It’s really ironic that going on exchange puts me closer to my relatives. However even knowing that and having prepared so much to go abroad, I still have butterflies in my stomach. It’s really sinking in all at once. Right now. I am SO scared, but more so excited for this new adventure.

Oh and whenever I remember -- for those of you who care lolz -- I will post a song that I think suits that day’s post. Today’s song is:

Nat King Cole’s “Smile” ballad, covered by Hugh Coltman.

This song helps to calm me down when I’m feeling off, and reminds me that there is always something beautiful in the future to be happy for.

Cha Gheill!

Arlene