Celebrating My May Birthday at Malaysia

During  May long holiday I went to Kuala Lumpur, to handle some sort of businesses while also celebrating my birthday!

The last time I went to Kuala Lumpur I did not get to visit lot of places since I went there with high school kid from UK and she only want to watch movie and sip a coffee in a coffee shop. And she always asked me to go with her. But it's okay, because at that time the movie theater in Indonesia blocked all foreign movies.

Then, because I did not get to visit a lot places, on my May trip this year, I tried to visit as much as possible, (tough there are lot places that I could not visit because my main purpose to visit Malaysia was not travelling). Here are some of my favorites:

Kuala Lumpur Bird Park

The Kuala Lumpur Bird Park is located in Kuala Lumpur, I went there with uber to save time and money. Uber is a cheap alternative if you travel in a group of two or three. The price was a bit cheaper compared to travel with monorail.

There are various types of birds in this park, some were caged, and there were also some birds we can interact with. We can also give food to the ostrich and take picture with parrots. 

After saw this picture my friend said, "look even the bird has lover, how about you?"

Bird Park ticket with my date of birth :p

These birds ready to take a pose with you

                                                                          Art Exhibition of Young Malaysian Artists 

I always a big fan of art, and I love to visit art exhibition whenever I have a chance. I like to learn how artists turn their ideas into great art and sometimes unusual form of art. So when I was passing by and saw that there is Young Malaysian Artists Art Exhibition right in front of my eyes, I just cannot left it out. And here are some of my most favorite:

The Human Zoo. With this art, the artist, Khairul Ehsani Sapari, want to questioned his audience whether they realized that they are living in a caged life, a human zoo, where we exchange freedom  for food and welfare.

The Crowded City, the artist tried portrayed the crowded city of Kuala Lumpur. 

Emotion by Muhammad Hafiz Abdul Gapor, the artist used color as a representation of human emotion. I really love the idea that he used both thread and acrylic on canvas.

Shadow by Hafawati Abadin, if you take a closer look it will look amazing.

Indian Wedding Ceremony 

One of my bestie live in KL, so when I got a chance to visit KL, I immediately contacted her so we can hang out together. We decided to meet up at Dataran Merdeka, to watch International Jazz Concert held in that place. Dataran Merdeka or Merdeka Square is located in front of Sultan Abdul Samad building. This is the place where Malaysia first declared their independence from UK. Nowadays, Dataran Merdeka often used to held various kind of events. 

On our way to Dataran Merdeka we found  lot of parade with full of lighting, and people dancing. Yes, I think it was an Indian wedding ceremony held in the street. That was my second time seeing wedding ceremony on the street (the first one was in Edinburgh).

International Jazz Festival

The International Jazz Festival at Dataran Merdeka was fun, and it was free of charge! 

Happy Engagement Day!

You know someone is your best friend when she/he not only know your stories but she/he is a part of your stories. So I have a bestie since junior high who have an a to z love stories. And I witnessed lot of her love stories, while all of my other friends (and me :( ) still swing on uncertainty, she already move on to another lover :P.

And finally she found the one, and she got engaged. I am beyond happy, congratulation dear N! 

Jump for Joy at Jambore

Last July I went to Sahabat Anak Annual Event, Jambore Sahabat Anak, a 2 days event where street kids and volunteer spend 2 days and 1 night in a camp. The event was held in Bumi Perkemahan Ragunan, Jakarta. The 1st day events were workshop, cooking competition, and group performance. Day 2 events were games and story telling.

In this event, I met volunteer from various background, from artist, entrepreneur, even taxi driver. I also met several foreign people who joined this event.

I always happy to meet new people and gain new experience, but JSA was different, not only I feel happy, but it also such a fulfilling experience.

On the first day, when I was helping the instructor in giving her material in health and nutrition, one of the kid (whom I met on the HSA event) called me and said "Hi, we meet again!" I could not believe that they could remember me, when the last time we met was months ago.

I also witnessed how happy these kids were, and how contagious their happiness was. Not only the kids, I also witnessed how sincere their companion was. I was lucky to met those kids and all of the volunteers who joined this event.

This little girl happily lead her team member performed their group cheers. Their happiness was contagious, I just could not stand still and end up jumped around along with the kids. (Could you spot me just behind the leader?). -Photo taken from @samanggarai instagram-

The kids also enjoyed decorating their tents so much. Some of them are talented, they drew well and had creative ideas. At first the committee and the volunteer felt worried because the sky looked cloudy like the rain would come. But the sky seemed understand  and the rain did not come at all. While decorating tents the kids learn teamwork not only with their friends but also with the volunteer, they also learned to share and work on their ideas.

Kids and volunteer helped each other while decorating Sup Konro Tent

While supervising tent decorating, there was a kid who loss her tooth, she panicked and one of the volunteer from Canada told her that she should put her tooth under her pillow, then the tooth fairy will replaced it with a candy. I told the Canadian that she will get nothing for putting her tooth under her pillow, because there is no tooth fairy here in Indonesia, I then tell him that we usually throw away our loss teeth to the roof if we lose the bottom teeth, and throw it to the ground if we lose the upper teeth. The Canadian seemed worried and said "Well, I did not know there is no tooth fairy here."
The kid then asked me "Should I put my tooth under my pillow? or should I throw it to the roof? Will my tooth gone forever?" I replied "Don't worry, your tooth will grow again, just at the same place where you lose your tooth today." The kid then relieved and kept her tooth to be put under her pillow when she went home. I said "You may not get candy", she said "But I just wanna try". I cannot said anything beside "Okay"

On the second day, the kids enjoyed the games so much, they even asked me "Could I just play again? I enjoy it so much" (Thanks to S, who created this fun game!).

The story telling was as much fun, the story teller could imitate lot of voices from kids to animals, I can tell it from the kids face that they enjoy the story telling so much.

The story telling session reminds me when I joined a community development program years ago. I went to all of the ECD (PAUD) facilities around the village to story tell about health and nutrition, I told story with handmade puppet made from paper and I was told that the kids kept asking their teacher everyday when will I ever come back. I wish I had more time kids!

The kids enjoyed the story telling so much

The event was closed with winner announcement, And congratulation to Papeda team for winning the Best Tent!

Two days of JSA has ended, time to say goodbye. Thanks to all the great people (all kakak-kakak and adik-adik) and to M who trapped me in joining HSA and JSA. See you (again)!