Of Melaka Part 1

Melaka 26th - 28th December 2011

To be continued

Of Baituna Jannatuna

Baituna Jannatuna, as translated into Malay, Rumah kami, syurga kami, or English, "Our home, our haven".

It would be any couple's dream to start a family in their dream house. In Malaysia, to have a stand-alone house is tremendously expensive, especially in urban and even semi-urban areas. That's how we are left with link-house or more commonly known by the locals as terraced-house (even though like 98% of this house type are built on flat ground!), apartments, cluster houses, what else? Hmm.. 

Where we live now, is a moderate town. By moderate, I mean, no big hyper-supermarket (although one is underway and expected to be completed this year but we all know it will take longer than that) and cinema is two-hours drive away in either Kuala Lumpur or Kuantan. Despite all that, I was actually expecting this town to have a lot of stand-alone houses as the typical residential choices due to cheaper land. However, terraced houses are starting to rule.

I once inquired a price of one 4-bedroom bungalow (if it's a stand-alone house, then it is called bungalow, whereas, I pictured bungalow to be so much bigger, better and lavish than that!! nevermind). And to our surprise, it cost RM360K. 

Then, we thought, maybe we'll just buy some land and build the house ourselves. We don't mind something remote if that's where can afford to live, in fact we love a remote place. It gives us privacy, kampung-style. Okay, safety wise, I hope the land will have adjacent neighbours. It's creepy when it's only our family.

So, I continued my "Dream House" dream. And sketched some ideas and translated it into simple Sketchup model. We want it simple. I quite like open-space concept, and some traditional elements of the Malay house. I know my husband would like it to be minimal and small. My initial sketch was quite big, oooops. He loves secret spaces, and he prefers them underground! Well, basement does not sound bad, but with the tropical rain, flood whatsoever... I have to research on how to tackle that.

Then, I am also inspired by the modular-size space used in traditional Malay house. The Japanese also apply this method by their tatami mat. So, by having same space dimension, the construction can be simplified. Perhaps, cheaper?

I like our house to have many windows for better air-ventilation and exposure to nature. But more windows means extra cost on curtains. Another thing I learnt from the traditional Malay house is it's ability to expand concept for future modification. Like perhaps, start with one-bedroom first and add walls as the family grows or when the finance permits. This way, we can control how much space we actually need at particular time. 

There are so many possibilities. I am going to sketch more plans and find more inspiration. 

This also means, my sketchbook has been abandoned for weeks!

Of Postcards As Souvenirs

When I was studying, my friends and I each chose a theme of our souvenir collections. Y chose to collect spoon, M collects snow globes and fridge magnet while I chose to collect postcards and pins. Our reasons behind the theme was to be focused (and not mesmerized by everything in the souvenir shops - which of course we were, just not to buy everything that looks nice). 

The second reason is the price. For instance, Y chose spoon because generally the spoon costs her $3 - $4 each all over the country. Fridge magnets and snow globes are relatively cheap (around $2-$4) while postcards are super cheap (50cent - $1.50 according to sizes). Can you see I'm being thrifty here? With the same $3, my friend gets one spoon while I can get six 50cent postcards. 

The third reason is weight. While travelling, the luggage weight, especially our sling bag/handbag's weight is a big concern. Souvenirs should not be heavy to carry around. And fragile is a big NO to me. So, when I was considering collecting small glasses as souvenir, I always thought that it would be bulky, heavy and fragile in my luggage. Whereas, postcards are super thin and lightweight. When I had extra dollars in my purse, I sent myself a postcard from the place I traveled because I wanted to have the stamp and date-stamp. That too, sometimes solved I-don't-want-to-carry-these-around-in-my-bag-so-how problem. 

My other reason is its visual memoir of places I went. Generally, souvenirs would have something carved, written or stamped about the place, usually being the name of the town or city. To me, postcards show things I am unable to capture. For instance - during sunrise, celebration or past history. 

So, while looking around Central Market, I was stopped by the collection of postcards in Dan's Village. I bought this Traditional Malay Costume notecard (for RM1.50) because I am now obsessed with traditional Malay women. Don't you think it's a sweet coincidence because we went to KL to find myself a traditional Malay costume? 

And these small Glimpes of The Past postcards (RM0.30 each). I love this mixed media postcards for their colors and details. It is quite hard for me to continue my postcard collection during my local trips because not many places sell postcards of small hometown. So to find something less than a ringgit each made me overjoyed.  

Therefore, by being focused, I hope that my collection then can carry out a same display theme. Yes, I chose postcards because I want to do this. 

Postcard gallery in hue. Photo by Ali in A Bubble

Postcard nook. Photo from From The Right Bank

However, my five-year postcard collection up to June 2010 were only up to this, and I'd say it's not growing any larger than this. Can you see this hobby takes time - and money because to be able to collect postcard, I have to travel.

I have to start back my collection. Because I am not an avid traveler now, maybe I have to resort to an alternative option, which is either to join a postcard community, or buy bulk from e-bay and such. Hmmm

Of Finishing Last Year's Organza Flower

This was.. my last year's project. For my wedding actually. I started it when I was bored with reading research papers. I wanted to make some boutonniere, head band, anything cute out of it. But... planning was all planning. I got happily married to my serious-but-cheeky-but-loving husband without this organza flower. And today, while going through my wardrobe's drawers, I found the bag that contains ALL the raw materials. Finished it, and going to wear it today while going out with my cousins.

Tutorials later!

Of Doing Things

When I have ample time with no specific task to do, I'll get bored. I get depressed. I have been used to have so little time, with so many things to be done.

To keep myself sane. I do what I love to do.

Design.

My little project: terrace housing