Photoblog — Tatter Scoops

Magnificent Temples of Bangkok, Thailand

12 Apr posted by Maureen

Visiting Bangkok, Thailand means you must check out their temples! And here are the top 3 temples you have to see. We did not use a travel agent service. Holiday Inn Staffs were super nice and wrote down the names of the temples in Thai for us to show taxi driver. We booked the taxi to take us to three places for 500 baht which is not a bad deal.

1. The Grand Palace:

Built in 1782, this place is huge with 218,000 square meters. It is the royal residence of Thailand’s kings. It have government offices as well as the famous Temple of Emerald Buddha.

350 baht or around 11 USD you will get your entrance ticket. Mind you please don’t make the same mistake I did…wearing a dress. I totally didn’t think much about it until we get there and saw the sign that says shorts/mini skirt is not allowed. There is a place where you can rent out a sarong like cloth to cover up. I didn’t do that since the lady at the ticket counter gave me a “No problem” after she saw my dress.

The Palace is packed with tons of people. It is one of the most visited place of Bangkok so be careful with your belongings.

The intricate patterns and design of the whole place mesmerized me. They have a small cafe in there for you to get some cold drinks after walking around the huge area, a bit pricey but it is to be expected.

2. Temple of The Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho):

Covering an area of 80,000 square meters, this place is also pretty big. This place is much smaller than the Grand Palace. Ticket fee is 50 baht (1.6 USD)

The main attraction of this place is of course the Reclining Buddha statue. You must take off your shoes, to come inside. The huge Buddha is really something amazing. First time that came to my mind was how they built that thing? It is HUGE!

3. Temple of The Dawn (Wat Arun):

Located right next to the Chao Phraya River, this temple is just as majestic as the others, built somewhere in 1809. Temple of Dawn, is named after Aruna, the Indian God of Dawn.

One suggestion: you might want to bring a hat because it can get really really hot there. Also be careful when going up the stairs. Some sides have railings but some doesn’t. Heights never give me fears but I must admitted that going down the stairs made my knees a little wobbly.

From Wat Arun you can easily hop into one of the many river tour boats. Remember to haggle! We paid ours for 700 bahts (23 USD) for an hour of river tour.

For more pictures from Bangkok, feel free to check out my Flickr account.

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Filed Under: Photoblog, Travel, Uncategorized

When It Rains…

6 Oct posted by Maureen

Jakarta (and most part of Indonesia really) has been having so much rain. It is predicted that these rain will last until February. That means the traffic will be like this most of the times

Without rain (and flooded streets) traffic in Jakarta is a nightmare already. I just spent about 2.5 hours in traffic and that was ‘pretty fast’ because we took a detour using what Indonesians calls as “Jalan Tikus” (loosely translated means mouse street) that means going through small small street cutting corners.

So what a girl gotta do when she’s bored out of her mind, her butt hurts and knowing she forgot to go to the toilet before leaving? Reached inside her purse, grab a pocket camera and starts taking pictures of course!

and another one:

Check out the other entries and join the fun over at Project Alicia

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Filed Under: Jakarta Livin', Photoblog

Bangkok, We’re Coming!

29 Sep posted by Maureen

Yes, yes, yes…we are going to Bangkok, Thailand!

Edited: I had decided to remove the winning picture until I got an okay from them to post it here.

On Monday, I was super excited to learn that my picture had actually made it to the top 20 Finalist on Holiday Inn Stay Together Photo Competition. Last I checked before the voting closed on September 12, we were on the 7th position. The judges will then picked the winners. There are two categories, Public and Employees.

Since I was up by 4 AM to go to a job interview (by 8:30 AM) that Monday, I was actually started to fell asleep in my mom’s bed that afternoon when my brother knocked my leg excitedly saying “Yen, Yen, we won!”

It took awhile to register what he meant and jumped to the computer.

There it said:

Later that day I got their e-mail with details that I really did won second place. Shocking because this is the first time my picture ever win anything, it took me two days to actually believed that I did won and our prize were a 4 days and 3 nights stays at the Holiday Inn Bangkok plus $1,200! Holly molly! Thank YOU, Jesus!

With a job possibility coming my way and my brothers schedule…we still haven’t decide when to go but no worries the vouchers are good until April 2011.

Thank you guys for voting too, we wouldn’t even make it to be the finalist if it wasn’t because of the votes.

This is my Wordless Wednesday submission – well not exactly so wordless but you get the point, right? Now, head over to Project Alicia to join in the fun.

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Filed Under: Photoblog

Photography From A Mom’s Point of View

26 Aug posted by Maureen

Growing up I don’t remember our family taking lots of pictures.

At least not to the extent that I’ve been snapping pictures of Lil’ A – which reminds me I have to do something with these mountain of digital pictures.

Yes, maybe a few clicks on birthdays or Christmas but nothing that really stood out in my memory. My parents just wasn’t big on taking pictures.

So when I was given my Oma (Grandmother) collection of pictures went back as far as 1920s, I instantly knew where this love of photography came from. She took some amazing pictures in her young age.

Then in 1992, we lost our house in a fire. At the time we were living in a small mining town called Sangatta in East Borneo. We lost everything except for the clothes on our back, an old suitcase where my father kept all of our families important documents and my bible.

It was at the cracked of dawn…it happened way too fast for us to even thinking to safe anything. All of us went out of the house bare footed. My biggest regret is not even thinking to rescue our photo albums.

Old family pictures are important to me because they act as a bridge from one generations to another. I really wish I will have a chance to ask my Oma about some of her old pictures but I fear there isn’t enough time left and some of those pictures will forever be a mystery to me. Since we had lost all of ours, what little that my family have today came from my grandparents or other families.

It’s rather sad to know that I won’t be able to show Lil’ A pictures of his mommy when she was in elementary school…picture of me with my beloved little yellow bike…or my first dancing recital pictures.

Becoming parents, mommy, had changed my way of embracing photography. Not only that it captured and freezes the milestones from the first time I hold my son to the first steps he took but it’s like a little time machine. Time machine that can still transport me back to those early days where I was too sleep deprived and tired to savor each minutes new baby brought. These old pictures can still put tears in my eyes and made me smile.

Granted, there are pictures that would be perfect for blackmailing him in his teenage years and I will keep them too. Going through little old pictures that I have of me when I was a baby it strike me too how much this boy looks like his Mommy. Here, see it for yourself:

In almost 4 years of his lifetime, Lil’ A has only been in a photo studio once and Mr. X told me that he doesn’t need to since his Mommy already has been snapping pictures since day one. With moving around I haven’t had too many pictures printed out tho’ which I should plan on doing soon.

If you’re into taking pictures of your children, how do you manage the pictures? How do you feel about them?

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Filed Under: Musings, Photoblog

I Dream Of These…

18 Aug posted by Maureen

What I would give to be lounging here…

Sipping something like this but preferably either Margarita or a smooth Tanqueray No. 10

Then admiring a view like this

But here I sit with a poor sick boy…yet my mind keep coming back to Bali.

This has been Wordless Wednesday entry and I cheated because all pictures were taken by my brother Reggy, who went to Bali last week for a business trip oh and he works in a hotel and they went for a photo shoot in Bali. How I envy you, brother!

Hop over to A Beautiful Mess to link up.

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Filed Under: Photoblog

Happy 65th Independence Day, Indonesia

17 Aug posted by Maureen

Today Indonesia celebrates her 65th Independence Day after proclaiming its freedom from Japan (Japan took over Indonesia from Netherlands occupation in 1942) on August 17, 1945. Still young compare to some other countries but we’ve surely come a long way.

Unfortunately, because the day fall during the Ramadhan month, seems like there won’t be too much of traditional celebrations going on, sadly much like last year.

For fun, here are my top 10 reasons why I love my country:

My rich cultural background. Yes, I’m Indonesian but when people asks me where I’m from and I asked them to guessed they all failed miserably. My father is from Ambon one of the most beautiful island in Indonesia that I have sadly yet to visit, while my mother is originally came from Manadonese descents but I was born in Makassar. My family had hopped around quite awhile growing up which is something that I will forever treasure.
The foods – need I say more? With so many cultures there are too many delicious foods here.
The beaches and underwater wonders. Granted I haven’t visit all of Indonesia beaches but with over 17,000 islands you bet there are still a lot of virgins white sands beaches around. I don’t dive but I’ve heard and have seen so many breathtaking views from our underwater ecology like the ones in Manado and other islands. Diving is on my bucket list for sure and checking out these fantastic beaches. Can’t wait for my trip to Rote island this November!
Flores beach - photo courtesy of Mauricio

Sumba beach - photo courtesy of Mauricio
Living cost – depends on your chosen lifestyle – but moderately living cost in Indonesia is still considered much cheaper than in other countries.
The spas – oh how I love the spas here. From the fancy swanky ones to the ones that is dirt cheap.
Handicrafts and jewelries. Again, with so many different cultures Indonesia really have so much to offer when it comes to its traditional handicrafts. Some of my favorite necklaces are gems coming from Borneo.

Batik and other traditional weave textiles from all over Indonesia, not only beautiful but also timeless piece with rich historical culture stories behinds each patterns.
Habitat of some of the world’s endangered species such as the orangutans, komodo dragon, etc. I remember growing up in Borneo and seeing our little ‘neighbors’ the orangutans swinging from tree to tree. Those were precious moments that I will never forget.

Image from Greenpeace

Despite the glitz and glam of big city such as Jakarta there are still people who live and dress like this in Irian. It shows cultural diversity. Traditions still plays important roles in plenty of Indonesian people lives.

Image from Incito Tour

The smiles – Indonesians are generally a very friendly people. Yes, of course there are bad apples everywhere but in general people here are friendly and smiles a lot.

Yes, as a developing country there are still so much work to be done to bring this country into a better future, there are still things that irked me to death but I still love this country with every ounce of my being.

Happy birthday, Indonesia!