I am baaaackkk.....!!!

Yup, I am back to my blog page after, gosh...more than 3 months. There have been a lot of things happened in my life.

First, we had a wonderful family trip, with the in-laws, to North Sumatra.
Second, business has been running pretty busy after the Eid holiday.
Third and last.... *drum roll*, I am expecting our third child!!!

The last happening was the main reason I haven't blog. Every spare time has been rather spent on the bed, or in front of the TV. Now, the pregnancy has started to be more enjoyable, even I still experience nausea beyond the first trimester.

OK, as I promised in my last post, I will share photos of our trip to North Sumatra. From Bali, we spent one night at my in-laws, then off we went to Medan. It was a big group. Total 14 pax! Yup, the more the merrier. It was the first big trip with my husband's parents, his sisters + spouse + children. We spent 2 nights at Medan, then we went to Siantar for one night, stopped over at Tebingtinggi, one night at Parapat/Lake Toba, went to explore a bit of Samosir island, stopped over at Berastagi, then spent the last night at Medan, before left the city to Jakarta.

I had pretty much high expectation on the culinary tourism from this trip, and low expectation on the service or hospitality. Well, that's quite right. The hospitality of people there is far below any service we can get in Bali. Services at hotels, restaurants, public places were not very warm, though not bad at all. They are kind people, but serving with smiley face was just not in their blood.

Food? Super fantastic. All of us enjoyed the food so much, expect me. Hahahaha. I felt weird at first, wondering why everybody loved all the food. I found out the answer on our first night at Parapat, when we stayed at Lake Toba Hotel. I realized I hadn't got my period for the past one month (I did one full month of fasting!). Voila! Positive result on the test pack. That's why my taste bud had been abnormal, and I became fatigue pretty easily. Yeay! Unexpected blessings...

So, here are the photos that I've taken mostly from my Blackberry camera. Enjoy...

Welcome to Medan!

Dressed up in Kebaya for family gathering in conjunction with Eid celebration. That handsome young man is my first son.

Posed in front of the hotel where we stayed in Medan, with my sister-in-laws.

The street food stalls are so tempting...

Lemang, made of sticky rice, in combination with Sari Kaya, a concoction of coconut milk+palm sugar + egg, is super perfect at Tebing Tinggi. Gotta try!

This is the ultimate public transportation in North Sumatra. Count how many passengers can this motor-taxi take!

These are the grand children of my in-laws. The two boys, one in pajamas (but with sneakers on) and one with shawl, are mine.

During this trip, hubby couldn't let go of his Olympus EP3. Even a 'not so normal' view would be his object.

On the boat, on our way to Samosir island.

The traditional house at Samosir. This is where the 'Sigale-gale' live puppet show is regularly shown. Gotta try if you come with a group of friends to Samosir. You will experience the 'Manortor' dance, and wear the "Ulos' fabric. Some Rp amount of donation is expected (couldn't remember the amount).

The view of Toba Lake from top. We took the not common street to go to Berastagi. When we stopped at this area to take some photos, we could clearly hear the sound of "Uwuk..uwuwkk...", the shoutings of Siamang (black furred, tailless gibbons, native in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Thailand) in the woods.

This is our family photo opportunity, on the BSA, Becak Siantar Asli (Original Siantar Motor Taxi). The motor used for this taxi is a classic UK-made motor. Totally cool. The taxi riders definitely do not want to loose their coolness, so they pick a genuine masculine ride!

This last photo, including our family photo on BSA, were taken with the cool Olympus EP3. Hubby took this picture, perfectly portraying the beautiful view around Toba Lake.