On to Batavia, James!
November 29, 2009
Whether we admit it or not, all travellers have some form of preconception of their destination - New York, Time Square; Singapore, shopping; Sarawak, headhunters. Doesn’t matter whether they’ve been there before, the internet takes care of a whole lot of research at the fingertips. These preconceptions are not incorrect. They’re just one pixel of truth out of a much larger collage.
For me, Jakarta was a larger Surabaya. I’d been to Surabaya twice, and Bojonegoro, also twice. That was all Java. I’d seen first-hand was life for the average not too well-off Javanese was like. I’d also stayed in a nice hotels there and given the thumbs up for the service industry in Indonesia. And so I thought Jakarta would be a bigger and shinier version of Surabaya.
I was right to a certain extent. I just didn’t expect how much bigger and how much shinier it was by comparison. Soeharto International Airport is a lot less frenzied than the boiling cauldron I imagined it to be. My ride was waiting outside. He didn’t have a sign, like he said he would but he really didn’t need it. He just walked up to me and asked; I am that obviously not from Indonesia.
Driving through….No. Crawling through two hours of traffic to get to the Hotel Gran Melia, I was fascinated by the slum-organic-metropole mishmash of the place. I saw a slimming centre back-to-back with a slum village. A few inches up the road, ragged kids and adults were pan-handling in the middle of the gridlock. In the middle of cars crawling through a red light and horns blaring like the end of days, a young guy was walking through the traffic like Jesus on water, selling pirated 2012 DVDs.
Lives are so polarised here. Fifty metres from the main door of the hotel, a team of guards in full uniform went through the Mercedes I was in, and us inside, with metal detectors. In front of the main door, more scanners and detectors. It reminded me of meetings I had at the US Embassy. Right beside the hotel property, humble roadside stalls line the street, the type everyone warns you about. I ate at a couple of places like that once, in Surabaya. No gastronomical disaster occurred.
The hotel is nothing short of opulent and grand, falling just a few inches short of magnificent. In that sense, it’s really like any other 5-star hotel in the world. Or is it 6-star? Who keeps count?
Hondas, Talking Dolls and A Water Fountain
November 27, 2009
When I was very little, I spent a lot of time at my grandfather’s shop. He sold Honda motorcycles, generators, motors, Flygt hardware and shotgun cartridges. We were in the middle of town. So was my other granddad’s shop - my mom’s dad’s. In fact that was how mom and dad met. They were neighbourhood kids. That’s how some of dad’s siblings found their partners too.
I loved being at my other granddad’s place (mum’s dad). He sold sports equipment and music instruments. Sports equipment and music instruments. I can never figure out how those two could get to be sold at the same time. It’s like selling burgers and furniture in the same store. But there were plenty of shops like that back then.
We were right across the road from the Electra House and Open Air Market. Some days, mum would bring me down to granddad’s shop where she worked. I loved to sit at the front of the shop, watching people walk by, shoppers buying rubber flip flops or wooden clogs next door. Most of all, I love watching folks from the interior come to town in their traditional head dress, elongated ears and traditional tattoos. The main bus stop was. There was a little water fountain right outside the Electra House. All sorts of people would pass by there. Little old men with throat tattoos, little old women with lovely elongated ears, young proud warrior-types, most of them from out of town. They would stand there looking at the hustle and bustle of the town. I used to watch them, feeling the adventure and romance oozing out of my pores, thinking about walking the forests with them.
I recollect these moments with much fondness. The sights, sounds and smells of downtown Kuching were the building blocks of my childhood. 
Then there’s the Electra House itself. Boy, what history. I would say that it was the first shopping centre in Kuching. But way before that, when my great-grandfather was a young man, and Kuching was a sleepy little village by the river, the Electra House was where the generator for the entire town was kept. One large generator, and the whole town lit up. Someone had to switch it on every evening. My great-granddad worked for the electric company at the time, so he got to switch it on every day, seeing’s that he lived across the road. So there it is. My great-granddad helped kept Kuching lit up. What an idea.
Top: The tiles that lined my granddad’s shop were over a 80 years old, at least. I’d played on that floor since before I can remember. I would ride on the back of my aunt’s humongous dog, Brownie, on that floor. Great-granddad presented me with a talking, walking doll one day. He’d bought it on a trip to Singapore (I didn’t like it very much since I had never really taken to dolls, but I was fascinated by the fact that it could talk).
Bottom: The old shophouses in that part of town.
Sabai Dee – Charmed by Vientianne
November 20, 2009
Vientianne is one of the most charming cities I have ever come across in a long while. Great food, reasonable prices, lovely people. If it stays the way it is for the next 50 years, I will consider retiring here. But of cour not. It the last innocent trapped by neighbours hungry to be the first to exploit it for profit. By 2010, 200,000 mainland Chinese are scheduled to relocate here - an agreement made by the Lao government to mainland China in exchange for the SEA Games stadium, apparently. Hopefully, plans would have changed by now. Meanwhile, Malaysian giants are here building dams and bleeding the country resources, as are giants from Italy, Japan, you name it.
But that one particular week when I was there; that week, I wandered the streets of Vientianne, drinking and eating original Laotian and authentic French food in turn, the latter being a remnant of the French colonials of pre-1970s. There are Scandinavian bakeries and italian bistros too.
I was ther for work, but never had my work trips been so much pleasure as it was there in the Land of A Million Elephants, the Paris of the East. What absolute charm. What absolute blessing too, to have a job that takes me to places like this.
Local people spoke to me in Lao, not being able to differentiate my looks from theirs (I was surprised my size and height didn’t let on), but are nonetheless very gracious when my ignorance of Lao came shining through.
The massage places there were heavenly, and the city is a haven for fairtrade outlets. Across the Mekong, in full view, was Bangkok. But I was not interested in anything non-Lao that week. I spent what free time I had wandering the streets, eating French bread sandwiches from street vendors. I was fascinated by these. Imagine a street kolo mee vendor, but selling French bread sandwiches instead.
I need another trip there. Who wants to come?
Sabai dee.
Photo: the Scandinavian bakery a stone’s throw from my hotel. There is also much remnant French architecture in Vientianne.
Up The Mountain
November 10, 2009
I don’t necessarily want to be physically up the mountain today, but mentally, yes, please.
It’s just one of those days.
Cycling Sematan on a Lazy Saturday
November 1, 2009
Question: Who wakes up at 5am on a free-and-easy Saturday?
Answer: Nuts who are into cycling around the countryside, exploring less beaten paths.
It’s always a blessing and a joy to be able to hurtle away from town and get into whichever adventure gear with like-minded activity buddies. One lazy Saturday, it was to be cycling in Sematan.
Off we went, the three of us; minus our Sifu, Yoda and Master Kwai Chang Cane equivalent, who had to save the world from his office.
We piled the bikes on the pick-up and drove 110 km to the coastal village of Sematan, my childhood holiday beachside playground. We clocked 24 km at a leisurely pace, stopping often to take photos, enjoy the scenery and say hello to the friendly locals.
This is a pictorial essay of our trip. For once, I will let pictures paint my words. It was wonderful. I want to savour the joy of the ride in my soul for the moment.
Level Up – Fitness for Everyone
November 1, 2009
Level Up is the newest, biggest, mostest fitness hang-out by Kenny Sia in town. Every single blogger in Kuching got invited to sample what Kenny had in store for Kuching gym buffs one sunny Sunday. Yours truly, by virtue of owning a low-key, seldom-updated blog and a more active website, elbowed herself an invite from Kenny. I’d never met Kenny 
before Level Up come up on my radar; I just knew of his blog fame. He turned out to be a very pleasant guy with a nice smile.
My appointment said 12 noon. Having just popped out of a plane the night before, I stumbled in at 11am for two main reasons:
- Another engagement at noon.
- Because of 1., I chose to suck in the aura and calm of Level Up-ness (or whatever you call it) before other bloggers came storming in. I wanted an unadulterated take on the place.
The downside was, I didn’t get to be in the blogger group photo. The upside: I got a more personal, quiet feel to the place.
First off, the place is huge. It takes up a significant chunk of the Everise Building (10,000 square feet, to be exact), behind HSBC and opposite Travillion in Kuching. There are three storeys of gym equipment, weights, cardio machines and group fitness rooms for gym-thusiasts to play around with.
I walked in through the front door, passed the turnstiles and stood in the middle of weight room. The equipment are so new, they almost sparkled. There’s a pleasant feel to it. One or two early bird members were already at it. Second floor – perfectly aligned treadmills and cross-trainers stood at attention in front of four plasma wide-screen TVs. Members can hook up wireless headphones to get personalized volume control from whatever’s showing.
Upstairs were two group-fitness rooms and the management office. The main room is humongous, with an impressive sound system. Pump it up loud enough and you could easily shock people into an intensified cardiovascular state. At the moment, classes include yoga, pilates, Body Pump and Body Combat; the last two with instructors from KL.
Next door is a smaller room, for possible spinning classes in the near future.
Level Up is the manifestation of Kenny’s dream and took two years in the making. Kenny intends for it to be a gym for the every-man/woman. It’s objectives are to be affordable, conveniently located, and with enough machines for everyone anytime.
So, with such an impressive giant, what does that mean for numerous other gyms in town? My personal opinion? Well, a lull in membership for the others is to be expected, but plenty of Kuching folks gym-hop a fair bit anyway. I’d say that Level Up would be a great and convenient choice for people who work in town; and for those who are looking for a standard, affordable workout. Most other gyms are scattered around Kuching. They will have their own loyal following, if they take note of establishing relationships with their clients. In general, people tend to gym-hop when:
- The new place is more convenient
- The new place is cheaper
- They never really liked their old gym in the first place
- They are unhappy with the direction their current gym is going
- Their old gym doesn’t maintain their equipment
- The new gym has better trainers and group fitness instructors
On the other side of the coin, people tend to stay loyal to their old gyms when:
- They have established a relationship with personnel and personalities at their old gym
- They derive a great amount of value from their old gym. This could be mental, physical, spiritual and of course financial values. It’s usually a combination. I’ve been at the same gym for nine years. No plans for shipping out yet. You gotta ask why.
- It’s convenient. My office is within walking distance to my gym. In a traffic jam, I still get to the gym in 10 minutes. How much more convenient can it get?
- The old gym has better trainers and group fitness instructors
On and off (more on than off), I’ve been a gym buff for about 20 years. I have developed rather clear reasons why I stay or move on from a gym. So Kenny, you’ve made a good head start. The next steps are maintenance and sustainability. Keep on levelling up!
Clockwise from top left: The Level Up reception area; Juice Up is the drinks and juice bar; Kenny Sia, the man whose dream and vision came to be; a view of the ladies’ locker room.