Happy Independence Day, Indonesia!

Monday 17th August 2009

Tumpek Landep...a day of celebrating the metal in our lives

Saturday 15th August 2009

today in Bali it is Tumpek Landep, which is a balinese ceremony that honours metal objects. i figured therefore, it was the perfect opportunity to bless the most important metal object in my life - my motorbike.

Desak, my wonderful balinese friend ordered offerings for me and came today to help in the ceremony. she started off by getting all the offerings ready and placing everything in its' rightful place. we then proceeded out to the motorbike (otherwise known as Fifi) and laid a cloth over the top of her. the offerings were put on top, incense was lit and the ceremony began. the ceremony itself is a nice simple one. Desak began by rubbing some powder on Fifi, then she tied lots of beautiful decorations on the handlebars and on the front of the bike. then we sprinkled her with holy water. we finished up by praying beside the bike to ask for protection and to keep out of danger.

it was a lovely little celebration to show thanks for the things that are so important in our lives like our vehicles and i truly love the way the balinese remember to honour them.

Huge thanks to Desak for making this a day for me to remember...

what can you do with $147...?

Saturday 8th August 2009

ok, so i'm in singapore this weekend for my brother-in-law's wedding. and what do you do when he hands you $147 and requests you to do something special with it...? you initially rack your brains because you are so honoured that he has given you the very important job of aranging his mas kahwin...and let me explain a moment what mas kahwin also known as mahr actually is...

Mahr is a gift given by the groom to the bride after the malay solemnisation ceremony. It symbolises the beginning of a husband's responsibility towards his wife in fulfilling her everyday needs.

Mahr can be in cash or benefits, such as gold, silver, money, land, a car, or an apartment.

Mahr is the bride's right and she owns the Mahr. Thus, she has the will to dispose of it as she wishes.

The current minimum rate for the Mahr in Singapore is $100 cash.

my brother-in-law and his wife chose $147 as it is a combination of their favourite number 14 & 7 (lucky the bride didn't chose to arrange the numbers the other way around!) and because they decided on money, my brother-in-law wanted it displayed in a most eye-catching way. this is where i enter the picture...

ok first things first...singapore money is almost of a plastic consistency...so i ask you...have you ever tried folding plastic money and actually getting it to stay in formation...super difficult. anyway after much folding, taping, pinning and various other activities of a not-so-PG quality...i decided to fold the money into a bouquet of roses...

this was made easy by the variety of notes i requested as $5 notes are green - they became the leaves. $10 red and $50 blue became the roses and the purple $2 notes became the added foliage. what a job! but worth ever pin prick, bead of sweat and moment of stress for the bride and groom...

and who knows? maybe i have a new career...mas kahwin folder and decorator pte ltd!