LAKE TOBA & MEDAN Jun 2010

A less travelled destination, an exploration to the land of north sumatra.

Before embarking on the journey, i was full of worries. Worries of natural disasters, worries of lack of information, worries of violence and worries of the place. the trip cleared up myths, cleared up worries and most importantly cleared the mind of a hectic life.

Previously, i was one of those worried about travelling to indonesia yet wanted some affordable adventurous unqiue destination to travel to. i am not a city girl when it comes to travelling, always preferring quiet scenaric places to relax the mind, away from the hustle and bustle of life.

All i can say about lake toba, it is indeed a quiet scenaric place with beautiful clear fresh lakewaters still considerably untouched by the effects of tourism. There are tourists, but mainly western backpackers. So few singaporeans have stepped their foot onto this little island that we, the trio have been mistaken numerous times as Japanese, koreans and malaysians. yet none guessed we were from singapore. if only we had more time, if only we had more money, a trek would sum up the trip really well.

No matter how the pictures are taken, it seems really hard to capture the actual beauty of the place, which does not even have enough information on the internet or on guidebooks that we have some trouble planning an extensive trip.

a simple snapshots of the place to sum up the trip. our little comfortable traditional house with really affordable rates and clean spacious toilet which i appreciate lots. though we had to scoop around the house, afraid on knocking our heads on the low ceilings.

Playground is a common sight, with one right outside our house.

One of our favourite pasttime is to explore other accomodations to use their facilities, to make up for our budgeted stay. There was even a german lady when opened an place for accommodation with really well maintained gardens and even breakfast buffet suitable for foreigners travelling there.

Pillion motorbiking experience around Samosir island, an island as big as Singapore but with little development in most places, still maintaining the traditional houses and lifestyle. Motorbiking is definately not easy to learn within an hr for us to safely ride around the house. A pity that the broken heart waterfall with no water falling though.
Hotspring! we reached the foot of the volcano, reaching the source of hotspring with steaming rocks and lava stones. we went for a short soak for our feet. since almost all of us had fresh wounds, we could not soak in the waters.Food was much of a luxury with really delicious food. We had quite a bit of pleasant surprise with an super oversized springroll with fries that sent us laughing hilariously as we were expecting a small portion. Banana porriage was cerals. cottage pie was mashed potatoes and magic mushrooms with drinks was priced at 85,000rp (~S$13). Linda had really lovely food which we had to wait for more than an hr for it to be served. Satay was super good, mee goreng too. The pace of life is slow there but the food is made of real ingredients, hence the taste of food was strong.

Companions for the journey :) chatted lots, walked together lots, explored lots and bargained lots and most importantly, shared the experience together. Thank you.

Despite being the 4th largest city in Indonesia, Medan itself has really nothing much to do. Lake toba was unexpectedly more expensive than expected, hence we went on a budget from the 3rd day at lake toba. Unexpectedly we ended up having problems finishing our cash in the city with shopping not to our taste and food not as delicious. Finally on the last day, we had a sumptuous meal of dim sum and real chinese porriage coupled with 'Knight and Day' movie. Good funny movie. Traditional massage was the finale for the 2 gals. Finally we shopped at the bakery which amazed me with the range of bread and fanciful cakes. Thereafter, it was home sweet home.

Our feast in our hotel in medan on our final night, enjoying dinner with world cup screening with the comforts of room. *smilez* our main night activity revolved around watching world cup, with its free screening in Indonesia, it was widely watched.

To Mr Ong,
i love you. you have never failed to be beside me whenever i need you. Thank you for understanding me so well too.

been a long time i was so upset. when i received the calls, it hurts. the closer the relationship, the harder it hits.

A slow jog.

Finally revived running after a period of absence. Recently, there was much motivation to run as i could no longer stand the growing tummy. There was a long break of 3-4months since SCB run last Dec, always giving the excuse that work is keeping me busy and the inappropriate timing after work. Yet recently, i set exercising as the top priority, determined to flatten the tummy.

I remember how unhealthy i felt at the first run, literally feeling my stomach throbing up and down though i tried consoling myself it was the effect after dinner. Had a quick swim over the weekends before this week's run. shiok was the word to describe. it made me feel that life is a little more meaningful than working, sleeping and eating everyday. Unlike my previous runs where my focus would be on keeping a steady breathing pattern, this run was to clear my head. I thought and reflected much during the run, not concentrating on my legs or my breathing, it was a breeze and before i know it, i was nearing home. Though admittedly a very slow run.

Thinking carefully over my choices, my goals and the 9 mths of work that passed, i can clearly set out to say i have not regretted joining audit and definately no regrets in joining my current company. Definately i have learnt a lot, definately met many people and obstacles along the way. But all in all, it was an excellent learning process. Though i still have second thoughts over banking audit, but i will stand by it. after all the industries i am in, i hope to say that auditing is the same everywhere. we can't run away from its applications, we can't run away from the processes. 3 years is my ideal for learning sufficiently, but somehow this ideal doesn't seem applicable anymore. It is time to build up my real dreams, simple yet self-fulfulling dreams. Corporate culture may not be suitable for me, politics are things i do not want to mingle with. I have yet to find my exact fit, but i definately hope to find out soon :)

my takeaway from a friend's farewell.
i have a dream to chase.

Recap of some more exciting days of working life.
Night cycling! ...with the fellow neighbours.
Fast. almost a year since graduation. yet all of us are still the same. thankfully working has not turned us into some fatigue or no life working adults. we have all managed to squeeze some time out for night cycling! roomie rocks for organizing such a successsful event. i enjoyed it thoroughly with the companionship and the thrill of riding through the wee hours of the slient night. Riding through bedok, stadium, marina bay, helix bridge and barrage, we clocked 45km, an achievement.

Visit to resort world and casino

toilet of hotel michael's deluxe room. well, i had the chance to at least step into the hotel room for a peak at the deco and room.

casino!

when the casino was announced to be opened in singapore with a charge of $100 for locals, i never thought i would ever step in. $100 levy charge was just not worth it. but, i was really lucky to enter and dine in there upon invitation. amazing how people can enter this place without batting an eye. expensive it is a place to be, only meant for people with riches they are willing to spending. walking around looking at the tables of gambles- blackjack, jackpot and many unfamilar names. the minimal spending at each table is $25 per bet. really heartache seeing how money disappear upon the roll of a dice or cards.

lady luck's wasn't at our side by the end of the night and we lost a little on our end. though it wasn't from our pocket, it was still much heartache at how fast money disappears. lolz. i think i will never be a gambler, it is just too expensive to keep up. but it was definately an eye-opener that night.

Recently, there has been very little photo taking. not because there are no special memories but because i kept forgetting to bring out the camera. indeed as time goes, everyone gets a little caught up with work and forgot how precious these little pleasures in life are.

Our little retreat to Traders' Hotel Buffet.
there was no special occassion, perhaps just a treat for both of us especially when there is a uob 1-for-1 discount.

there was a reasonable range of food from jap, western, seafood, thai, chinese etc etc. perhaps call pull off as an intercontinental buffet though there was slightly more emphasis on the thai dishes. we had kebab, crab, prawns, sushi, ha gao, potato, chicken, bread, fish, oysters...

i was too shy to go around taking photos. *smilez* so just a sample for a segment of food we had. for the first time, i tried cold soba. i am not a fan of oysters, nonetheless it was really fresh and i don't mind eating.
finally, our favourite segment of hotel buffet. chocolate frondue! they always taste so heavenly, so delicious.

our contented happy faces. ate so much, the burge on our stomach are quite visible.

the special segment - Bread.

no wonder the ang mohs love eating bread so much. i fell in love with the oven toasted bread the moment i had my first bite. I have indeed never eaten such nice bread with a tinge of crispyness in the midst of softness. superrr delicious! my eyes lit up and i fell in love with it the moment i bit it. i love it so much that i went specially to take photos of it despite being shy.

oh my oh my, such delicious loaves of bread. i can't believe, my favourite 2 dishes for the day are bread and oysters.

the buffet was definately good! but if it had not been for the discount, i would not be eating there. 30+ per person is reasonable but not 60+ each. In comparison to the other buffets i had so far, it seems like Mhotel left the deepest memories. the chocolate frondue, durian paste and desserts are superdelicious and definately much nicer. each of the dishes i had left me with much memories, ostrich meat and pasta etc. yummy was the word to sum the day. time to exercise off the fats and sinful delights deposited. sadly i can't remember much of swiss hotel buffet which our class had as prom night.

april pay day came, a day i have been waiting for more than a year. it marks the offical last payment for my school fees. literally, i have been saving super hard for a year, surviving on bare minimal and managed to pay off within a shorter period. i can't describe how happy i was when i finally handed over the remaining balance to my mum the moment my pay came it. finally.

thoughts.

i am confused at times, asking myself how long i will stay. my dream life span here just seems to get shorter and shorter each time i ask myself. there are many contributing factors yet none is strong enough to make me leave at the moment. seeing many people throwing in letters doesn't help at all, esp when these are people i have worked late nights with. i came here wanting to leave 2 pointers as reminders to myself.

(1) do not let first impression or general sentiments form judgement of a person. understand the person more before setting a conclusion.
(2) the moment you leave is the moment you think you have learnt enough

these pointers struck me while i chitchat with my senior. i once feared working under her as she is known to be very detailed and work late nights, naturally general expectations are late nights for her juniors. yet on one occassion, she surprised me and opened up, chatting and sharing her experiences with me during work hours. this allow me to understand her better and improve the working relationship.

her experiences swayed me more towards staying where i am. i am aware of the future benefits of staying and gaining experience in the industry i am in. it opens up many doors and increase employability. more importantly which brings to the second pointer is, it teaches me so fast that i can't think of anywhere that teaches at this rate. many times, we have been thrown tasks which are totally new and forced to learn within a very short time to meet deadlines. i am pretty sure i have not wasted most days on the job. i am not complaining as this is within expectations when i signed the contract, in fact this is the reason why i signed.

of course, all these come with drawbacks. more frequent headaches have surfaced from a previously no headache records which is naturally a sign of worry and a sign of putting too much pressure on the thinking cap. this drawback alone is worrying. another factor to consider is how long can i motivate myself. there is a limit to our level of drive. being fresh grads, we tend to be fresh and work hard but will this level of motivation keep up in the journey of work. there will be a time when we are tired and less motivated and i wonder if this industry will tire us out faster.

on a side note, despite knowing my seniors will not read this post. thank you for guiding me so far and especially to my first engagement senior who gave me leeway to make mistakes and not penalizing me for it.

how i wish the long weekend would not end in 3 days...i can't wait for a holiday!!

looking forward to june's short trip to indonesia to explore! when i told my parents i am going indonesia, they jumped and lectured me quite hard, totally refusing to listen to any explanation for going there. i think i am probably the most problematic child at home, always causing worry by travelling to places they would not expect gers to go. trekking and now indonesia. nonetheless, i guess they are used to it. initially i had concerns about travelling to indonesia with no one understanding the language. furthermore, none of us have been there before. despite reading up on travel blogs and guidebooks, there is just so little information that the itinerary seems a bit hard to put together.

northern sumatra-the place with border clashes and volcanos. lake toba, the volcano that erupted millions of years ago to create a lake will be where i am going. excited to see the tribes and lifestyle there, excited to see waterfall once again. will i muster enough courage to climb volcanos? i hope i get to climb just a small one! *smilez* maybe i get to see president obama there during his social visit to indonesia? dreaming...

on a side note. the ocbc 3M will soon be disbanded. much as i was sad to see my buddy tendered, i am happy for her. the emails of complains, the late nights and dinner. soon, there will only be 2 of us left to grumble to each other. soon, the 3M team, my source of motivation on the job is reduced. seeing more and more friends leaving is really demoralizing.