Went Back In Time

Came back from Tanjung Pinang last Tuesday (13 May 2008) after a 6-day stint there. Though it was not my first trip there, there were several new experiences.

Housing
I had never really stepped into many houses there so what I saw during this trip was rather surprising.
This picture shows a narrow lane between two rows of houses built above water; yes, this is a coastal residential area. One would easily mistake these as modest little houses until one steps into one. The floor area of each house is even bigger than a semi-detached house here in Singapore! wootz. And it also cost much less to own one!


Food
I have long knew that people in Tg. Pinang likes their food sweet, salty and spicy but have not tried much of it before. This trip saw me trying several kinds of delicacies and they sure are all very sweet, rather salty and quite spicy.

Durian Ice Kacang @ 8,000Rp (approx. S$1.20)

Well, this durian ice kacang is not very much different from what we can get back here, less the smaller portion of durian and the addition of chocolate fudge.

Before and after of BBQ corn @ ???Rp (forgot le :P)

Barbecue corn the satay way

The corn is first dipped into coconut milk (which makes it salty) then sent for barbecue. Then after, the barbecued corn is glazed with condensed milk to the customer's liking (which makes it very sweet). Didn't taste too horrid, rather tasty actually but is something to eat once in a very blue moon cos it's way too sinful.

Home-made chwee kuei @ priceless

These are highlights of only some of the food I have tried during the trip. Overall, food there cost about half of the price here and the portion is generally about 50% more than at home. So it would seem food there is about 75% cheaper?

Water
Now, water doesn't come everyday in Tanjung Pinang but water not coming for 5 out of the 6 days is gruelling. The only day with water supply was enough for 1 day's of consumption only! Luckily, all of us who were there grew up in the days of water rationing so the theory got to be applied: jit gong lah dum, jit gong ker lah sam, dae sa gong hoe chut lai (one scoop to wet, another scoop to wash away the filth, and you jolly-well come out of the bathroom after the third scoop). Nah, this doesn't really work, but we had to make do with one pail of water each for bathing; we were lucky that the host stocked up water the day before we arrived. Even then, the stock couldn't last for all 6 days and one of our friends was kind enough to bring over an equivalent of 6 jerry cans of water from his home, which isn't very much also.

So fellow Singaporeans, be grateful that we have water by the turn of the tap and please, do use water wisely. Reason for not having water supply everyday? I shall not discuss......sensitive noe.

Power Supply

The "authority" has somehow, decided that every area of the village shall take turns to not have power supply every three days for two/three hours. Nope, they are not being environmentally friendly, but it has something to do with oil prices; the detail of such decision shall not be discussed......another sensitive one.

Romantic night without electricity

Romantic your head! No power = no fan = darn hot and stuffy + no water supply = WTH!!!

We finally decided to adopt the locals' solution:

Power Generator

So all was well during the following power cut, except the water problem. :)


Plant of Fortune

I was told this little plant cost 700,000Rp (approx. S$104.48) and its value will increase rather exponentially with its size. Anyone has any idea what this plant is? Perhaps we can consider making a fortune out of this plant. =P

Ah well, this kinda summarises the little notes of my trip.