Anyway, here are the tidbits I had planned for today.
Earlier this week, Mike left a comment saying that he didn't know about our locked gates here in Palembang. Well, they are everywhere here. And all over Malaysia too. You won't be able to see from these photos but many of these gates, including ours, are padlocked all day long. Let me tell you, it is the most troublesome thing to have. Each time we go out, someone has to go unlock the gate, open it, stand there and wait till the car is out and then close and lock it back. And then when we get home, no matter if its raining or scorching hot, you've got to do the same thing again.
This photo is of the row of houses directly opposite us. All except the first one have gates. Perhaps this is because they are the only house without a car.
This is a view of all the houses on our road.
With the gates shown in these pictures, you still have a view into the garden. The really paranoid people build a brick wall and have a solid gate so that you have absolutely no view of the inside. They also have no view of the outside!
The other tiny tidbit I had for today is the way we buy towels (hand towels, bath towels, wash cloths, bathmats etc). There are places you can go to buy single towels but they are also sold by weight. I saw a cute Thomas & Friends hand towel yesterday but was told that it didn't meet the minimum weight requirements. I had to mix and match with other towels until I had at least 0.5kg worth! Needless to say, I didn't need so many towels.
Richard and I are going for the company's annual dinner tonight. All the bosses will be there. Remember these bosses? Well, their boss will be here too and he's supposedly a pastor on the weekends. Lets see how they behave today. Tell you about it tomorrow.
5 comments:
:) I saw those cute thomas n friends towels too. Have you gotten them already? We could combine! then again, i remember they weren't that many. it's crazy how people do business here. we realise how they raise the original prices by almost double and offer discounts up to 40-50%.
??
I've never heard of buying towels by weight...that's amazing. Your street looks very beautiful, if perhaps overly secure...why do people have so many locked gates? Is there a bad theft problem? I'll be anxious to hear about the bosses' visit!
I'd tell you to get an electric gate but you don't have enough power to run one.
I think locked gates and fences depend on the area. I remember mean was pretty open same withore rural places. Gotta say the locked up atmosphere of a place like jkt is kinda weird ...
Fiona - LOL! I'm always wary about those 'sales'!
Bilbo - I don't know how it all started but these days, its definitely for car theft, break ins, door-to-door sales people and also stray animals. Actually, Palembang is not so bad and I haven't heard of any crimes in our area the entire time we've been here. Malaysia is a completely different story though.
Mike - Too bad for me its raining today.
Johnorford - Yes, the outskirts of Palembang are all without gates. Except for the odd stand alone mansion here and there. Sometimes, I think its just people's paranoia because when you think about it, the more you try to hide your house, the more people will think you've got good stuff in there.
Post a Comment