Recently returned to my hometown, Batam, for Chinese New Year. It was a very special trip, mainly because it’s been four years since the last time I celebrated CNY with my family, but partly is because my job had pushed me to look into this island with a fresh pair of eyes… 

It was an eye-opener. 

I visited my usual favourite chow spots, only this time I am packed with questions. Like this satay stall in front of Morning Bakery next to Tua Pek Kong Temple… It’s the same old man who’s been making me satay since the early 90s. 

Pak Muktar came from Padang, he has 6 children, youngest being 14 years old. 

I also met his son, Ali, who is also selling satay in from Hotel Nagoya, it was totally coincidence! If I didn’t ask, I would never know. 

“My dad is a very hardworking man. Everyone in the family is asking him to retire, but he refused to… Still selling satay at 64 years old,” says Ali of his father. 

Pak Muktar looking a little shy in the picture, but in person, he has such a bubbly personality, you’d never thought he’s 64. Just a pushcarts, a low wooden table and stools, a humble setup on roadside…

His sate padang still tasted like how it used to be decades ago, I’d like to be specific… but it’s simply delicious. 

I am not sure if people actually read this…

But I’ve been telling myself to write everyday, no matter what. It’s not that I haven’t been writing… In fact, I have been writing way too much, catching deadlines, writing under pressure, stunned, stressed out and now staring at my keyboard a little too often. 

My colleague once told me not to forget the joy of writing, since it’s what brought me here in the first place. 

So alright… just a note to remind myself, I need to start writing leisurely more often, write about WHATEVER I like.

Ciao. 

Dessert in a jar? These are actually really good. 

But what I love most about it is it’s sustainable food! Everything used is recyclable and reusable. 

The Grin Affair, Everton Park, Singapore. 

Super affordable ‘French’ @ Saveur, Purvis St, Singapore. 

I won’t call it French nor Italian nor American. Yes, they have pasta, foei gras, panna cotta and steak. It’s just a cool cafe with really nice put together food. Everything on their dishes is executed well, but service and atmosphere is only good enough. As a whole experience, it’s good, but not great. 

Coffee or beer? Alert of buzz? 

WHAT ABOUT BOTH? 

Coffee beer!! 

Like any relationship, friendship takes some effort. 

Here’s to a decade strong friendship, still counting and growing! 

It’s always a good time :-) 

Yes, we’ve grown up! But when we are together, it’s like we are being transferred back to the old times when we used to be stupid, silly and outrageous. 

Most of us are either done or almost done with school. Some of us are working and some are still looking. Life’s changed. It’s an exciting journey, we have big dreams and we are working towards it. We have different attitudes, bigger responsibilities and perhaps breaking less rules. 

Everytime we meet, we spend sometime talking about changes in life, what we’ve learned and how we have improved. We talk about our problems, we talk about how much we have missed each other. We have so much to talk about. Sometimes I can’t help but to smile watching my friend have grown so much, talking serious stuffs now. I always think, they are acting “like a boss.” I am so proud of them. 

Well, the serious talk ends, there’s a huge relief in each of us. Not sure if it’s the talking or beer. For few hours, we left all our problems behind. We are once again young and carefree! It’s ok to be stupid, it’s ok to be silly, it’s ok to be annoying. For a few hours, everything it’s OK! What I love the most is our silliness often makes people around us smile. We are not that noisy bunch kind who annoy the public. There’s a lot of love and sincerity in our friendship and they spread…. 

At the end of the day, we are tired of laughing and fooling around. We like to joke about how we are ‘old’ now, we used to do so much better. We are too ‘old’ for the extreme. And we look at each other with a smile, “When are we gonna do this again?”

“Soon.”

It’s like yesterday we’ve just met. 

Back to the hustle and bustle, I’ll see you ‘tomorrow’. 

Took a short trip back to my hometown, Batam. Now that I look back, it was quite a humbling trip.

I am extremely grateful. 

Being at my starting point made me realized how far I’ve come. But sometimes we forget to be thankful. People somehow take luck for granted. 

12 years ago, I left this small island to another island in Malaysia. When I was 17, I moved to San Francisco by myself. There was certainly some sort of improvement in every move… I had nicer room, cleaner streets to walk around, fresher air to breath and I started earning USD. It was very gratifying, being able to buy myself a nice dinner and fully paid my own vacation. Those are great experiences, I like to talk about all the food I’ve tasted and places I’ve visited. 

But here’s what I realized….

I learned the most not during the best times in my life. It was during the worst, the lows, that I learned and grew up even more. It’s just that sometimes I forgot and thought being far from the where I came from means there’s no way I am going back! 

There was a time when I felt better carrying branded bags, wearing nice clothes, nice shoes… speaking American English, reading books (reading is a luxury!)…. However, you could be wearing the most expensive clothes and still not satisfied. 

And there I was…. in a small room where my mum and grandma have been living for the past 2 years… a small room cramped with luggages, no television, no internet, no fridge, no microwave…. no thing. My mum has been sitting there for years praying for her daughter to be safe, healthy and successful in everything she does. I asked myself if I’ve done enough? 

Then I met my friends whom I’ve known for more than 10 years. It was like the old times. I am, again, the kid from that little island. No differences. 

I like that feeling. I felt bare. It was me who’s sitting in front of them. No make up, branded stuffs needed, ‘cause it’s not what I wear that they will remember. It’s what I do and say. 

I am just very humbled. I am starting to define greatness differently and I want to have a different purpose in life. I want to be a blessing to as many people as possible. I want to define happiness differently. I want to be grateful, everyday.