May 31, 2006 - Carrefour

Like Safeway in the United States, we have this big store which claimed to be a french company. I haven’t been to Europe before. So, is there a Carrefour in Europe?

Comments (16) about Carrefour ... posted by Santy

May 30, 2006 - Sungkeman

A baby born, a couple wed and a soul go to heaven…happening together as we speak. While Yogyakarta is crying, happiness filled these couple’s hearts. This is a Javanese wedding ritual called ‘sungkeman‘. Where the bride and groom kneel down and express their gratitudes to the parents. It is in our culture to stay with our parents until we get married. The sungkeman ritual is usually very touching because it is a symbolic moment which shows that the parents need to let the children live their own lives. Unlike the parents, I’m sure the young couples are actually quite thrilled for the fact, but still… some of them cry. Cry of joy perhaps People of Yogyakarta also used sungkeman to show respect to their Sultan. 

And by way of this picture, I would like to express my gratitude to all of you who have given so many emotional supports and kind thoughts for Indonesia and Yogyakarta in particular. Thank you so much for all your prayers.

Comments (6) about Sungkeman ... posted by Santy

May 29, 2006 - Earthquake in Yogyakarta

Thank you all for your concerns about the earthquake that happened in Yogyakarta. I was not able to post during the weekend, so my apologies if I have made you all wondering. But always a big thanks to Denton for helping me post my weekend pictures. As for the earthquake, we couldn’t feel anything in Jakarta. My brother in law is currently studying over there and thankfully he’s okay. The earthquake has severely damaged old houses and most of Yogya’s suburban areas. Thousands of people died (more than 3,800 people), as you have probably seen on the news. A great loss and another grief for Indonesians after the Tsunami. Unfortunately I couldn’t go out there and shoot some of the earthquake scenes. What you see on the picture today are Javanese wooden dolls as a symbol of Yogyakarta. Here is today’s news from our Jakarta Post newspaper. It was so hard watching the news without shedding a tear My prayers are with my fellow Indonesians out there.

Comments (28) about Earthquake in Yogyakarta ... posted by Santy

May 28, 2006 - A Nice Trade

The man: Ibu, I’m so hungry. Your crispy ‘pisang goreng’ looks tasty.
The lady: Help yourself, I could use a glass of cold ‘cendol’ too

Pisang goreng is an Indonesian snack, it’s a banana covered in flour and deeply fried with oil. And cendol is a Javanese traditional drink/dessert contains coconut milk. Both are not exactly healthy, but taste yummy! One wouldn’t kill you

Comments (11) about A Nice Trade ... posted by Denton