Medan Kota

I may and may not be alone to feel this…

Lately, the service has been way TOO TOO SLOW and BAD… especially during the weekends…

I was there on Sunday afternoon at about 12pm.. the place is not fully taken… waiter and waitress can be seen walking around.. but damn it.. I have to wait like 15 mIns !!! asking for the special menu from 3 waitresses!!!  I really wanted to just walked off…

worst yet… some how.. the sahimi was not fresh and it’s not as nice as before…

Medan is in need of another Sushi Restaurant!!!

Popularity: 44% [?]

I am positively and definitely sure that I am not alone….

Maid, it’s a love and hate situation in this country.. basically, you can’t live without them but at the same time, you just can’t live with them..

I never have a maid who managed to stay with me longer than a year.. having said that,

1. I never scold/nag/whine at them.

2. their basic salary has always been the above average as I often feel that they are always underpaid

3. I never mistreated them and food in my home is pleantiful

now, with that, what have I done wrong???  initially, I often get a local Medan Maid and since I have to keep finding a new one every year, I decidied to get a Surabaya with 2 years contract, paying 3JT.. thinking that I am maid hassel free for the next 2 years…

guess what… after 7 months, on my bright sunny morning, she ran in to my room sobbing that her mum has passed away… I felt bad instantly.. and of course she wants to go back home… apparently she lived in Kupang.. after deducting those advance money that she had already taken and the air ticket that she need to buy back herself, she has little left to bring home..

before she left, she insists that she would be back as she liked it here… and put long story short… a typical Indonesian maid… after arriving home, she decided that being poor is ok.. not having to work to support her daughter is ok… what else can I said.. her salary is at Rp 700.000 purly doing simple house work and not even laundry or cooking!!!

My friends and families often advice me against being too nice or I will often be the one to lose out… this has been going on and on ,one after the other and frankly in the past, I did not take those advices seriously as often these maid are the poor people and that for me, I see it as doing some charity work.. thats all…

But now, I am at a point where… I have given up hope and that I am simply seeing my daily life here like in the UK where I have to clean and look after the house myself with no maid…  that’s what I have been doing for the past 2 weeks… and surprisingly, I am enjoying it… and feel a lot much better

Popularity: 46% [?]

Where are you from? … is the most common phrase that I need to answer every now and then while I am here in Medan… often the conversation will lead to this:

strangers: where are you from?

me: I am from Thailand.. (often with my Thai smiley face…)

strangers: really? you look Taiwanese.. Japanese to me…

strangers: I love it there… i went there once.. the shopping is so cheap, the food is awesome etc.. and everythings are so cheap…  i love it there… blah.. blah..blah..

strangers: I went to MBK, pattaya… etc.. i love the food.. there is so much to eat… all the sweet stuff on the read side… ( still going on about Thai food and the beer)

you see.. for each time such conversation pop up… all I have to do is answer that *I am from Thailand * and the person will just go on and on of how much they enjoyed Thailand and continue saying, while me, all I have to do is simply giving them the Land of Smile face… ahhah

now.. imagine.. being an Indonesian and someone asking you where you are from?  this is what I often get when I tell people in other countries that I live Medan, Indonesia.. ( I am not even an Indonesian!)

Me: I live in Medan, Indonesia

strangers: where is Medan?

me: an hour flight from Singapore and the place that is nearest to Aceh where the Tsunami hit in 2004..

strangers: oohhh… i see..  is it dangerous living in Indonesia..? I saw all the killing on the TV and the people looks so scary…

strangers: I have never been to Indonesia and I only know of Bali.. have you been to Bali? is it really that nice as advertise?

me: No.. coz Medan to Bali is 5 hours flight and I rather go to Phuket..

strangers: yah yah .. its true.. ( still going on … asking of how Indonesia looks unsecure)

worst yet, for me to recommend something good of Indonesia, I am often speechless.. whats there to buy, to eat, to play?  most things here are all franchise, you can hardly find any good local stuff apart from the famous fashion designer Biyan whom at the price that he is charging, I would rather spend on International brand name…

its just a thought…

Popularity: 32% [?]

The weather had been hot during the past few weeks… not even the humid hot but the dry dry hot.. just like the UK summer… I then recalled my childhood years, the times when technologies were not as advance, and as a kid, we played mainly in the garden catching dragonflies, kicking ball, pretend having tea in the garden with all the kids in the neighbourhood… but its hardly what our children do anymore…

one thing I remembered doing well when I was young and some of the best time in Thailand… and its one of those things I played all the time…

Water Bomb !!!

Basically, I filled the balloon with water and we throw at each other… and of course, the kids each have their own water gun to add more fun to the play… for an hour, these 5 happy kids couldn’t stop laughing and been asking for more from me ever since ….. rather than dragging them to Sun Plaze to spent silly amount of money and time at one of the game arcade, I normally try to do some of old favourite past times that I used to do when I was young…

my eldest son Jadon with his cousins laughing his heart out…

the boots were filled with water and going … *blab.. blab..blab..*

even the nanny couldn’t resist…..

the youngest one just bare it all out… like the kampong boys

let your kids have the try and they will be begging for more……. ^0^

Popularity: 32% [?]

Did you all realised that Medan’s Water Fountain actually serve 3 purposes to the local society??

1. of course, as a decorative monument

2. Advertising space… nothing unusual right?

but

3. well… this helps the society most…

I missed the good shot by a few seconds… else you would have seen him cleaning his face, hands, and of course his feet too…

Popularity: 28% [?]