Laura Joy Land

  Friends + music + food + 30 degrees in October = a very happy birthday!   The cake was a wonderful surprise!  (the colour coordination was a happy accident)

Last weekend I took a trip with two colleagues to a traditional village in Batam called Tanjung Uma. There's a large community of people living in houses built over the water. Over time the area beneath the houses has been filled with rubbish, some of which is caused by the residents themselves, and some of which drifted over from Singapore thanks to one not-so-nice company. To get to the village we took a 5 minute boat ride through the water, although it was 70% mud on the journey over. On the way back, there was no more water and the three of us (200kg+) were humbly pushed through the mud by two men who (try to) make a living ferrying people back and forth. The community covers a large area and consists of hundreds of wooden houses connected by wooden bridges. I walked along watching my every step for fear of the bridge collapsing at any moment, which was perhaps amusing to the locals riding motorbikes down the same "streets". The initial smell during the crossing wa...

This post is dedicated to someone special. You Noo who you are ;)  After seeing a photo of a delicious looking iced cookie-coffee drink, I wanted something delicious to drink too (*stomps feet*) so I got myself one of these... although it looks like a mini Guinness, it is in fact a peppermint-coffee-liquor-creation. photos courtesy of askwhy@FortunaPhotography   More drinks... On the left is my drink of choice at Glashaus. Someone wittily named it LSD...Laura's Special Drink - coffee and coconut milk with a little honey for kicks mmmmm. In the middle is an orange juice, made special by the fact that I asked for no ice and got a hot drink :) It was so good that I don't think I can make do with cold orange juice any more. And finally, mangoes mangoes mangoes, just for Noo.

I rounded off my first week in Indonesia with a trip to the beach. After an enjoyable but tiring first week of work, and a Saturday clouded by a little too much time spent inside my own head, Sunday was all about sand, sea, and "near-the-sea food". I drank my first fresh coconut beverage (blimey that thing's heavy) and chowed down on spicy barbequed corn on the cob, which was definitely worth the 15,000 mosquito bites I got while waiting for it to be burnt to perfection. Indonesia is tasty.  On the bridge above, locals hang out and there are street vendors galore. I was very grateful to be with locals who can speak Bahasa and know how to bargain... After about 30 minutes of negotiations, we bought three bottles of pure honey and two of 100% royal jelly. I paid about 20 Euro for my two bottles. If you know how much royal jelly costs in Europe, you know what a good deal that is!!!  The guy selling it collects the honey from the bee hives hims...

Don't be fooled by the title of this post... I'm not going to get philosophical; I just have a few photos to share. The first is a tree that I pass on the 10 minute walk from school into town. Of course there are many of these trees, not just one. I love how green it is here. Here is the school swimming pool, which I'm told I'm free to use in the evening. Don't worry, I intend to, but first I need to find the time to buy a swimming costume since I forgot mine in Singapore.     To the right is the view around the swimming pool and the building in the corner is the school cafeteria, which serves delicious Indonesian food (along with a scary selection of sugary chocolatey sweets). One decent sized meal with a drink costs 15,000 rupiah, which is about 1 pound. This is the view from my washing machine :-)   I was amused by the choice of wash programs. I went with fuzzy, in case you were wondering :-) ...

Upon arrival in Singapore on Thursday evening, I met up with a good friend who moved here a few months ago. She took me out for a delicious local dinner and then we ventured up to a rooftop bar called Altitude. From there we had a good view over the city, and in the photo to the left you can see the F1 racing track, which was host to the grand prix in Singapore on Sunday. On Saturday I left the comfort of being with a friend, along with the convenient and futuresque Singapore, to begin a new chapter of my life on the island of Batam, Indonesia. The ferry took about one hour, but since Indonesia is one hour behind Singapore, it really took no time at all ;) I am not much of a picture taker. I forget to take them, and my camera is also not of the greatest quality (maybe because I haven't read the manual). Nevertheless, here are a few snapshots from my first weekend in Indonesia. Rex, my new boss and office-mate, gave me a fantastic tour, which included three islands, ...

Isn't it always the way, that the times really worthy of being recorded, written about or reflected upon, are the times when it's really hard to find the time? I have been home visiting family and friends, frantically trying to see everyone and also get last minute but very important things taken care of. Despite the stress of being such a busy bee, I have loved every minute of being here and catching up with the people I love. It is a confusing state I find myself in, feeling so sad to be going so far away from home, yet still wanting to do it, needing to in fact. Tomorrow I travel to see a dear friend (I'd say that even if she wasn't driving me to the airport) and her far too adorable son. On wednesday I fly, by thursday afternoon I'll be in Singapore, and on saturday I will arrive in Batam. Let the traveling commence!