JenJenqld

Mahkota Lamps and Antiques, Jakarta Indonesia

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:36:00 +0000

It has taken me nearly 3 years to get around to it, but I have finally made time to visit this lamp shop. I drive past at least once a fortnight and have always wanted to go in and ~~shop till I drop~~ browse.

The lamps start out a shinny yellow brass and gradually age to a wonderful dark colour and I want one of each lol! Small lamps start at about 200 000RP (US $21) and go up to 2.5+ million RP for the giant ones (US $ 260+), bear in mind that this is the ‘blonde’ price- it’ll will vary with the colour of your hair i.e. the lighter the hair the higher the price lol

I saved these images a couple of months ago when they were featured on one of my favourite design sites, as they suit a Queensland, Australia tropical home. These photos show what can be done with a well chosen lamp, or two or three……

Ben Stiller’s home for sale, www.hollywoodspanishestate.com
Photos by Everett Fenton Gidley, www.efg3.com

There are no marked prices and the price fluctuates every 2-3 minutes so be prepared to bargain. The shop assistant speaks good English, much better than my Indonesian.

The address is JL Pangeran Antasari # 64 (close to the JL Cipete Raya intersection) Cipete, ph 021 7590 2663

These photos were all shot on my mobile phone, the colours were much more vivid in real life.

Traditional Indonesian street markets

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:35:00 +0000

Ciawi markets.

Ciawa is south of Jakarta.

Halloween in Jakarta, 2009

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:14:00 +0000

A Punk, A Pirate and a Witch!

The school had a Halloween themed day on Friday 30th, GJ's birthday.

The kids had their FIRST experience of Trick or Treating!. A few of the large Expat clubs and compounds host organised events; we went to the Kemang Club Villas for their event on Friday night. The kids had a party at the club house with a magician before the main event of Trick and Treating! Ben was shocked that you go to the participating houses and "they just give you candy!!!!" lol.

We have a great stash of candy now that the kids and GJ are working their way through!

Underwater at Pulau Petondan

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:44:00 +0000

Chelsea celebrated her 9th Birthday in grand style...on a private island in the Thousand Islands.
I am in the final weeks of a uni semester...assignments are due and exams are imminent.

Hopefully I can get back to some blogging soon!

KidZania Jakarta a Fabulous Birthday Party

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 09:59:00 +0000

Georgia had her birthday party at KidZania this weekend. The kids had been before, but this was my first visit and I can see why this place is so popular, it is amazing. A city designed for kids, in scale, full of fun things to do and as a bonus, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Saturday mornings were not too crowded.The kids have photo drivers licenses, ATM cards and wads of cash (they earnt more kidzos, than they spent!), all which they can use on their next visit. We all had locked wrist bracelets that were programed with our details, which kept track of activities and whereabouts, no child can leave with out the adult that actually signed them in.

KIDZANIA is a unique EDUTAINMENT CENTER for children between 4 to 16 years old and their parents.

It is a kid-sized replica of a real city, with streets, buildings, retail and different vehicles going around the City.

Here, children play adult roles and they learn how to be a doctor, a pilot, a construction worker, a private detective, an archeologist, an F1 driver and over 100 other PROFESSIONS and OCCUPATIONS.

There is a replica of the most representative buildings in a city such as Hospital, Supermarket, Beauty Salon, Theatre, Industrial sites, and many more.

KIDZANIA is a SAFE, INTERACTIVE and HIGHLY EDUCATIONAL center where kids wear the uniform and perform the role they are playing. Led by our Zupervisor, they learn the complexities of the adult world, and learn the value of money, just as in real life.

In KIDZANIA, kids use our official currency KIDZOS. Here, children learn to appreciate the value of money, by performing over 100 professions and occupations and earn a salary. Their salaries earned, can then be used to buy goods and services available in KIDZANIA.

Kidzania’s history starts like all great stories do, with idealistic passion and an unwavering spirit that was stimulated by a communal desire to create something better. The kids decided to create a nation filled with abundant opportunities, where kids could assert themselves and be responsible. And this was a world where kids could think and act independently from adults.

What the kids envisioned was a real world made perfect which ultimately made it “the place” where kids wanted to be, KIDZANIA was born. Making the world a better place was a grand idea for sure, but the kids know it was also the road to self-empowering. It would free and empower them to exercise their rights.

To Be: the power to be self-determining, unique and free;

To Know: the capacity to be experimental when educating oneself

To Care: the responsibility to be supportive and proactive

To Play: the ability to be playful and participatory in life.

KIDZANIA is an indoor facility, located in 6th floor of Pacific Place Shopping Mall, Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav 52-53, SCBD Complex, Jakarta 12910

Georgia and friends

Making ice blocks

Riding the bus

Window cleaning

Wall climbing, all made it to the top, rang the bell and then abseiled down!

Street views

This is Georgia and Chelsea climbing the wall.

2 down, 2 to go!

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:58:00 +0000

It is October, or commonly know as party month in our house!

Georgia has turned 11, and is very VERY happy with her presents.

Ben has just turned 6, where has my baby gone ???????

We have Chelsea's and GJ's birthdays still to come.

Oktoberfest 2009, Jakarta Indonesia

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:00:00 +0000

We had a fantastic night at this years German Oktoberfest, the same band as last year was playing and managed the same great eclectic mix of music, very loudly (we were right next to a speaker- and an a/c machine!).

If we are still here next year I'm am getting a dirndl (traditional German dress) made!

The only down side was the smoke, everywhere public in Indonesia the air is full of cigarette smoke, but OMG, it was particularly bad in this ballroom.

Traditional Indonesian markets, the day before Idul Fitri 2009

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:04:00 +0000

Ocean Queen Pelabuhan Ratu

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:39:00 +0000

We had a few days this trip where the waves were suitable for the kids to have a swim. This stretch of coast is notorious for its dangerous surf and undertow, last time we were at Ocean Queen it was just too dangerous to go in. It is a beautiful little beach with black sand and local small fishing boats pulled up above the high tide mark. The jungle comes right up to the edge of the beach, the bottom right shot shows two young guys surfing on a single board.

The kids spent days collecting wood for a bonfire and on the last night the dads lit it for them on the beach.

This is the main beach of the resort, the girls had fun playing badminton as the sun set.

Early morning Bullock exercise along the beach; every bungalow has its own beach cabana.

I think the kids have been to too many 5star Brunches......this is how they set the table for last nights dinner!

Sunrise at Pelabuhan Ratu

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:18:00 +0000

National Batik Day in Indonesia

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:10:00 +0000

It is Batik day at school today, 2nd October 2009.

Why I'm too busy to blog

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:46:00 +0000

Jakarta Earthquake 2009

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:08:00 +0000

All is well here with the Qld family, just another unusual experience to be filed away in our memories! Depends which news you read but yesterdays Jakarta earthquake was between 7 and 7.5 scale earthquake...this is apparently pretty big!

As per usual, there was no immediate news online or on TV, but Twitter was instantly full of updates...as with the bombing here and in Mumbai it only takes seconds for the info to start rolling out. This morning I can find out more details; villages closer to the epicentre have been flattened and there was a landslide which killed people. There are no reliable details yet on the number of people killed or injured, Aljazeera has got good coverage with images and video here. It is tragic how much Indonesia suffers from natural disasters, my heart goes out to those who are suffering.

At 2.55pm the kids were still at school, finishing their after school activities. Georgia was on the sports field running and fell over, luckily no grazing just a shock. Chelsea was in the computer lab when all the screens started to jiggle! Ben was the worry for me, he was in the only 2 story class room, one that has a rickety steel stair case bolted to the only exit. A teacher ran up and got all the kids from Mad Science and then all were assembled on the field like a fire drill; good thing we did a fire drill practise last week at school! The driver and the nanny were one block away from collecting the kids and felt nothing as they were driving!

Georgia is still a little freaked out, she is now old enough to suffer from the “what if’ syndrome. She had trouble going to sleep last night in case there were aftershocks - which there weren't:- well that we know about or felt. Georgia had her new phone in the car and was able to ring me just as I went back inside after the earthquake. Poor thing was shook up (literally and figuratively).

The feeling was really strange...like sitting in an inner tube going over irregular waves. It was definitely not a rattle type of shake. I can see a roof top and a building out of my office window, both were swaying...but in different directions! That was freaky. I had no idea what was going on at first...Once I realised it was an earthquake I waited for it to stop, but oh my gosh it did not! The eerie thing is that the quake was silent…I expected to hear loud noise with so much movement. The glass was rattling in the window, but that was all.

My study is upstairs and standing in the door way (remember the old advice always stand in a door way-bollocks) was ridiculous. It never occurred to me to get under the desk; it seemed to start to slow down so I decided to get outside...the huge window over the stairs has always been a concern. We have discussed in the past with the kids that it is the weak point...the glass falling would be super dangerous. Of course as soon as I got under the window more waves came, I ran down those last steps! I met up with the staff and guards and the next-door neighbours in the street just as it stopped. Over 1.5 minutes of rocking and rolling! I was shaking so badly...but I did manage to plan cocktail party for next week with my neighbour (I am Martha Stewart to the bone). Only a week ago we discussed earthquakes with the kids, under my bed is our upstairs safe spot...it is so solid. There are more cracks in the house, but no damage. Only a few light things fell over, and the pictures are all crooked.

I was very pleased to find that the power stayed on but after an hour the internet went very slow, probably as everyone rushed on the get info.

So all is well...what an experience to talk about when we are all old and gray and in the retirement home!

Below is my stairway of potential doom, the cracks that have been around the window for the last 2 years and the view from my office window.

Book Week

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:09:00 +0000

I've started to do some painting for book week at school.
Can you recognise these famous childrens book characters?

I'm still working on a big yellow bus and a colourful elephant for next week!

Indonesian Independence day 2009

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:18:00 +0000

The street parade between Carita and Anyer, west coast of Java.

My baby welcomes the tooth fairy.....

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:05:00 +0000

Two days after this tooth fell out the one next to it became wobbly. Unfortunately it disappeared...it is either rolling the floor at a friends house or in the septic system lol.

TGIF

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:56:00 +0000

This was a TGIF moment, a week or two after the bombs. Rachael's toast was wonderful and poignant:

"here's to friends come and gone, here's to friends lost and found"

Kite flying, Jakarta

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:54:00 +0000

Georgia made this kite at school at the end of last year.
It has been up a few times before, but yesterday the wind was perfect and it soared to never before reached heights.

The girls had a fabulous time flying their kite.

Hester Basoeki Guest House, Bogor

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:26:00 +0000

We spent the day filming the Indonesian activities for the Trans 7 Homestay program at a guest house in West Bogor.

This would be a great place to take out of town guests to see what rural Indonesian life is like. The guest house arranges kampung (village) tours and other cultural things such as cooking classes, rice planting, garden tours and music recitals.

In the below collage, the girls are washing, then riding a water buffalo and playing Indonesian games with the Kampung kids
Below the girls are cooking traditional Indonesian cakes and making hot ginger drinks.

It was a long, hot day which didn't finish until nearly dark. My idea of relaxing in the car for a 2 hour trip home with the AC on full was unfortunately aborted when the driver decided to fall asleep with in 5 minutes of leaving the guest house, whilst driving the car with the kids and I inside. (This was the second time this had happened with this particular driver, it has happened to us before though, so I am extremly viligent)

I debated leaving him in Bogor, but had to take him, as I had no idea how to get home.

My head was about to explode with all the swear words you could imaging but couldn't say in front of the kids!

I can now drive all the way from west Bogor, through Bogor in peak hour traffic, on the toll way to Jakarta and through its peak hour traffic and get home.

On this Indonesian toll way, I discovered that trucks find head lights (in full dark) optional and a speed of any where between 35- 160 km/hr is acceptable.

It was a very scary drive, but adrenalin and maternal instinct can make anything possible.

Needless to say, we now have a new driver!

Home Stay program, Trans7 TV

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:57:00 +0000

We spent 2 days last week filming for a local TV program. The Home Stay program is a great cross cultural show joining kids of different nationalities with Indonesian kids for a two day home stay.
Georgia and Chelsea spent two days with three lovely Indonesian girls and spent a day doing Indonesian activities and a day doing Australian things.
For the Australian part we played with our new neighbours, the puppies, played in the pool and had fun with the chocolate fountain all at our house.

If I had known I was going to be filmed I would of gone on a diet, done my hair, put more make-up on and worn flattering clothes. Luckily I did have time to remove the wine and beer from the fridge before they filmed it lol!

Maintaining an Australian education

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:19:00 +0000

Ocean Queen Resort has an open air bar room where you can relax and socialise while listening to the waves crash onto the beach.
There is a TV with cable for sports (and cartoon) lovers as well as a billiards table.
Only here can you take your young children to the bar, get them to top up your wine from your cask and teach them to play pool!

The bungalows at Ocean queen

Ben was exhausted from non stop activity, he had a few day sleeps as well as big sleep ins. In the middle photo he has just walked in and crashed on the lounge.

Pelabuhan Ratu Beach. Indian Ocean

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:41:00 +0000

While we were at the Ocean Queen Resort, there was a low pressure system off the northern Australian coast which unfortunately, made the Indian Ocean flare up.
This section of coastline in Java has a very dangerous reputation, and during the week we were there, it was not safe for swimming.

The photos do not show how thunderous and heavy the waves were.
Here is GJ reliving his youth (he grew up on the surf side of an island!). Face book friends will have a real laugh at his hijinks!

This is the beach directly in front of the resort, each bungalow has it own beach hut. Chelsea actually slept out there all night our friend, her ex school teacher! It was a bit too much for Georgia, the crashing waves reminded her of the Bali trauma. She is going to have another try next time we visit.

These are the littlies frolicking on the little beach next to main resort beach. Ankle deep water was enough to knock them over so we only spent a few minutes here before heading back to the pool.

Ocean Queen Resort, Pelabuhan Ratu pool

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:21:00 +0000

Meet our new neighbours

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:05:00 +0000

Marley and Ziggy have just moved in next door.

The girls are in love!

GJ is in love with the fact that they live next door and not here!

These gorgeous babies are only 11 weeks old and need lots of sleep.

They are so cute that even I pick them up and cuddle (I'm not a huge fan of critters).

Jakarta

jenjenqld@gmail.com.au (Jen Jen in Jakarta, Indonesia) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:39:00 +0000

I am still in shock about the last 24 hours in Jakarta. Our families innocence and life has changed dramatically. How do you explain to young kids that a favourite haunt is gone and friends could be hurt?
We love living here in Indonesia; Indonesian people are kind and peaceful.
I’m sitting here trying to understand what a terrorist gains….is publicity for their cause going to make people say “wow, what a great religion, let’s convert!”, or is blowing up things going to make people think, “Yeah, western lifestyle is wrong, let’s change”.
Is it just a case of any publicity is good publicity or just bullying by bored ignorant people?
Friends have lost friends and I am left wondering if any of the staff I know at the Ritz Carlton are injured or worse. The security was excellent at the both these hotels, I took my kids there regularly.
I have friends here (in Jakarta) who have lived through the bombing in Ireland and London, and they say life goes on, do not give into the fear, but still there is a huge why stuck in my mind.
I am so sad.