sydney is illuminated

2012 vivid sydney @ customs house hot igloo harbour bridge sydney the building that needs no introduction jedi spotty museum of contemporary arts

bali lovelies

seeing my friends' blogs (that they update regularly) always reminds me that i should update mine. so here's another attempt at it.

i just came back from a trip to bali. bali has always been my favourite places to go to, but this time it was even more special and memorable because i was there with 3 lovelies that i truly adore. so here's one snapshot of one of the many, many happy moments there.... <3
me and two of the lovelies (the one more lovely took the picture)
@nammos beach club, karma kandara, ungasan, bali
photo taken by sz

watch this space for more pictures, or you can also go to my flickr

some stuff i made on a sunday ;)

i make jewelry on sundays. i post some pictures of the pieces that i made on my jewelry website made on a sunday. please stop by when you get a chance, your comments and inputs are greatly appreciated as i am trying to find out which types of jewelry i can do better and which styles are more appealing to people.

i want to share with you here the pictures of some earrings i designed and created recently. they are commissioned by a friend of mine to be made for the girls in her wedding party.

a walk in the park #2

i guess i have said this one too many times, that one of the things i miss the most about living in europe is the chance to take afternoon walks in the park...

...seeing the park benches and the afternoon shadow on the ground...


...blowing dandelions...


...lying on the grass, watching people passing by...


...waiting for the sun to set behind the skyline...


can't wait till my next walk in the park. will you take a walk with me?:)

*pictures are from kralingse plas, kralingen, rotterdam, the netherlands. click here for more of my pictures of rotterdam.

made on a sunday says "hello, world!"

made on a sunday blog is officially launched. before i can make (or pay someone to make) a proper website for my line of accessories, i will use this space to show you my pieces, all designed and made on a sunday. please stop by (or follow!) so you can see my newest pieces if you are interested. enjoy and have a lovely sunday!

notting hill

enjoy!

พระบรมมหาราชวัง, Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang

my friend laura and i went for our annual trip and this time we chose to go to thailand. below are some pictures of the details of the grand palace in bangkok and you can find more pictures here

a wedding in bali

went to bali to take pictures for a wedding. it was the perfect place and weather for bas & helsa. congratulations you two! may you live happily ever after :)

more pictures and the album

a walk in the park

i treasure simple things in life such as having a picnic with friends, reading a book or just having a walk in a park.

i wish there were more public parks in jakarta....

photo by chare, hyde park, london, uk, 2008

destination: london, united kingdom

i really need to catch up on my blogging, just like i need to catch up with everything else that i have been putting off because of work.

well, i am starting with a few shots from my winter vacation to london. needless to say, i instantly fell in love with the city

destination: the gilis, nusa tenggara barat, indonesia

my friend laura came to visit from sydney and we went on a 4-day trip to the gilis, a group of islands on the northwest coast of lombok (the island east of bali).

we flew from jakarta to mataram (or sometimes listed as ampenan) which took about one and a half hours. we then took a taxi from mataram to bangsal to catch our boat to the gilis. i must say that being at the bangsal harbor is a little uncomfortable as there were people agressively offering us boat tickets as soon as we entered the premises. not to mention luggage porters that will snatch your bags and overcharge you for bringing it on to the boat. but anyway, if you are ever in bangsal, make sure you 1. buy your ticket the counter and 2. hang on to your own bag, and if your luggage is too heavy, you need to agree on the fee first, before you give your luggage to the porter to carry. no need to worry, the people in the harbor are harmless, they are just desperate for some work (and money). you can also catch a private boat from another harbor, but that will cost up to $35. considering our budget, laura and i settled with going by the public boat and we only had to pay less than US$ 1 per person. we got to gili trawangan, safe and in one piece =).

the gilis (gili means island) consist of 3 little islands, gili trawangan, gili meno, and gili air. gili trawangan is the biggest of the 3 and that's where we stayed. there are no motor vehicles in this island, so you either walk, cycle or take the horse carriage (or rickshaws?). how's that? clean air, soft sand, blue sky and crystal clear water. days in the sun do not get much better than this =)

my full set of pictures is here

i have created a new site for a selection of my photographs. please come by and visit chare takes pictures =)

adele's chasing pavements

i love, love, love this song right now...

the beginning of the year of the rat

photo: "hear my prayer" - by chare

my brother and i went to petak sembilan in old jakarta ("kota") to take pictures at the temple.

chinese (lunar) new year
petak sembilan, jakarta kota, indonesia

more pictures here

bali

bali dec 2007-jan 2008.

see more pictures here

lawang sewu, semarang, central java

photo: my sister in front of lawang sewu building, by chare

The name Lawang sewu means Thousand Doors, but among the local Javanese the name conotates an eerie haunted house with a tragic history. This Dutch colonial building was built in 1863 by C. Citroen. It was the branch office for the Dutch Indonesian train company but when the Japanese invaded in 1942, they used it as a gruesome interrogation headquarter where they jailed and killed a lot of Indonesians. Long standing reports of multiple ghost sightings in this building has turned it into a local destination for young students & tourists who would make their visit on weekend nights to experience this legendary haunted house.
source: www.tripadvisor.com

see more pictures here

snowkiting

i have to do this someday!

in my bag... today

playing along with lola to display the things in our bags. so... these are the things i carried around today in one of my two bags (the other one being my laptop bag):

cellphone, hand lotion, ipod, wallet, coin pouch, make-up bag, TIME magazine - style &design edition(something i can read in a cab), notebook (to jot down things i don't want to forget), access card (to get into my hotel room), panadol (for midday migrane), business card case, antibacterial moist tissues, more access cards (to get into the building and the office).

ok... i think i carry too many things around....

musicovery

david introduced me to musicovery it's the coolest webradio i've seen so far as you can slide the cursor over to pick the genre, the mood and the time period. visually enchanting, too! give it a try, see if you like it as much as i do.

meulaboh, aceh, indonesia

picture: "after it's all gone" by chare

more pictures
i went on assignment to meulaboh.

Meulaboh (or Moulabouh) is the capital of West Aceh Regency, Indonesia and located about 245 km southeast of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province.
Meulaboh is among the hardest hit areas by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Being just 150 km from the epicenter of the earthquake, Meulaboh was hit by tsunami, leaving the estimated deaths of 40,000 people out of 120,000.

source: wikipedia

tureloto beach, nias island, indonesia

another trip i went on for an assignment (i'm the one in pink). more pictures

after we finished our fieldwork in lahewa, we made the time to check out the local beach called tureloto. the locals said that it was nice and they were right.
because of the tsunamis in 2004 and 2005, the coastline of nias shifted and left some of the land (including trails of coral reefs) exposed out of the ocean. in the picture, we were standing on top of the reefs that used to be completely submerged.

here's a bit about nias island

Nias is the largest of the islands off Sumatra that are part of North Sumatra province. This area consists of 131 islands and Nias Island is the biggest. The population in this area is about 639,675 people (including Ono Niha - the native inhabitant of the Island, Malay, Batak, and Chinese).

Nias is an internationally famous surfing destination. The best known surfing area is Sorake Bay, close to the town of Teluk Dalam, on the southern tip. Enclosed by the beaches of Lagundri and Sorake, the bay has both left and right-hand breaks. As they wait for waves, surfers can often see sea turtles swimming below. There are also two consistent, world-class waves in the nearby Hinako Islands, Asu and Bawa. Many lesser-known, high-quality surf spots with low crowds await adventurous travelers.

Nias was part of the famous Hippie trail of the 1960s, particularly traveled by surfers, which lead to Bali. Some claim that the waves at the southern beach of Sorake are better than the ones in Maui. It has been the site of several international surfing competitions in the past, particularly before the 1998 Indonesian Reformation Movement.

On December 26, 2004 the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake struck a few kilometers north of the island, creating tsunamis as high as 10 meters. 122 people were killed and hundreds more rendered homeless.

On March 28, 2005, the island was again hit by the 2005 Sumatran earthquake, initially presumed to be an aftershock following the 2004 quake, but now regarded as the second-most powerful earthquake in the world since 1965 and twelfth-most powerful ever recorded. At least 800 people are reported dead, with the possibility of more than 2,000 casualties. Hundreds of buildings have toppled, and many thousands have been made homeless. In 2007, almost two years after the earthquake, there are still tens of thousands of internally displaced persons living in camps throughout Nias.
source: wikipedia

den haag is illuminated

i spent saturday night in den haag to see todaysart 2006

india.arie @ paradiso, amsterdam

i greatly admire india arie's previous works, acoustic soul and voyage to india. i think her lyrics are so honest and genuine. in my opinion, her latest album testimony: vol. 1 love and relationship is her best work yet. i have been listening to it for almost a couple of months and i haven't gotten tired of it! i thought it would be nice to see her perform live (and acoustic!) sometime.

and... she came to amsterdam!

she began with a few numbers from her newest album and she was amazed that the audience could sing along to the songs that had just been released a couple of months ago. many times she just stopped singing and jumped joyfully, saying "i can't believe it...y'all know my songs already!"

she is a great storyteller through her music and it made her live performance so intimate. it is so nice to see an artist who really does not need to rely on anything else than her talent to sing and write music. wearing a dress that her mother made and minimal make up, she was still able to have a spectacular production!

a little, useless note: the day before the concert i was lucky enough to get a ticket to india.arie's sold out concert. when people were willing to bid (on marktplaats) 100 euros for a ticket, i got it for 22! yay! ;)

shelby chan

i was just going through some old pictures on my album when i found this one of me while snorkling in benoa, bali, taken by shelby chan...

shelby is a new york based photographer whom i met in jakarta at the wedding of my friend, yuli. check out his professional work as well as pictures he took on our trip to bali (2001)

paulinho moska

it's another sleepless night while i'm trying to fall asleep listening to some music. my iTunes is playing my collection of brazilian numbers and i just listen to a voice that i really adore. it belongs to paulinho moska.

i really don't know much about his works, other than the fact that i enjoy listening to his voice on a few songs from the soundtrack of women on top (sabor da paixao). to me it's one of my top 5 favorite movie soundtracks (note: soundtracks, not movies). i haven't gotten tired of the entire album even after 6 years! tune to falsa baiana, nos bracos de isabel, sonho meu and cinzas, and tell me if you think his voice is incredibly soothing and sexy. i don't understand what the songs actually say (they may as well be sad and depressing), but for all i know his voice on these numbers just makes me think of a relaxed, happy, and carefree day. perhaps portuguese also adds to its allure...;) considering how much i love brazilian music and how extremely i romanticize brazil, i wonder why i have not attempted to learn portuguese!

so tonight... or actually... this morning.. i google paulinho moska. i try to find out more about his other works, but then i run into his collection of photos he had taken. i must say that that they are quite original. an artist with a beautiful voice and an edge for photography.

have a moska day!

brazil-france, world cup fan fest, stuttgart