Welcome to August! How are you guys doing? Personally, I am currently in quarantine because—after 2 years of steering clear of the disease—last week I finally caught covid-19! Can’t say I’m not disappointed. I thought I could get away with never contracting the disease at all until the pandemic is officially behind us. Unfortunately, well, that’s not my fate. At the same time, I’m a little bit glad to be given this opportunity to slow down a little bit and let my body—and mind—rest. However, it hasn’t allowed me to leave the house—of course—and so I don’t really have any new materials to put up here on the blog. Luckily, we can still pull something from the vault—and this is it.
Towards the end of Ramadan earlier this year, Agung and I visited Semasa Ramadan Market at Taman Lapangan Banteng—we visited it on the last day. I’d never been to this park before but had heard so many good things about it, specifically that it is great for picnics. I’ve also seen on their Instagram that there is a special area for picnics, which Agung and I were too happy to take advantage of. We visited Semasa twice before—the one at Balai Kota (town hall) and the one at Commune RDTX Place (next to my office). Needless to say, we are a fan of the frequent event. Let’s check out this one!
Ramadan Bazaar
Welcome to August! How are you guys doing? Personally, I am currently in quarantine because—after 2 years of steering clear of the disease—last week I finally caught covid-19! Can’t say I’m not disappointed. I thought I could get away with never contracting the disease at all until the pandemic is officially behind us. Unfortunately, well, that’s not my fate. At the same time, I’m a little bit glad to be given this opportunity to slow down a little bit and let my body—and mind—rest. However, it hasn’t allowed me to leave the house—of course—and so I don’t really have any new materials to put up here on the blog. Luckily, we can still pull something from the vault—and this is it.
Towards the end of Ramadan earlier this year, Agung and I visited Semasa Ramadan Market at Taman Lapangan Banteng—we visited it on the last day. I’d never been to this park before but had heard so many good things about it, specifically that it is great for picnics. I’ve also seen on their Instagram that there is a special area for picnics, which Agung and I were too happy to take advantage of. We visited Semasa twice before—the one at Balai Kota (town hall) and the one at Commune RDTX Place (next to my office). Needless to say, we are a fan of the frequent event. Let’s check out this one!
Ramadan Bazaar
Taman Lapangan Banteng is a rather big, semicircular-shaped park in Central Jakarta. It has a body of water in the middle area of the park—with a monument standing tall in its epicentre. Surrounding this area is a circular-shaped plaza decorated with hanging vines that can house a wide range for tenant booths. The park itself has been around since the early 19th century, but it is unclear when it was officially open for public. It also didn’t use to look exactly like this—that is thanks to the recent revitalisation done in 2018.
The market area is divided into at least four sections: arts & crafts, fashion, kitchen goods, foods & beverages. Aside from the latter, everybody else is located pretty much at the plaza in the middle. There were a number of very well-known tenants who attend the event at the time, so it’s no wonder that the place is a lot more packed than we were prepared for. We didn’t really plan to shop much here, to be honest, so I only walked away with 5 stickers from Jelly Playground.
Aside from the tenant booths that the visitors could explore throughout the entire event, there were also a number of other items in the event itinerary. There were a few musical performances, fashion shows, talkshows and limited-time giveaways. The hosts in charge kept chatting for the entirety of the event—which was pretty impressive, given the fact that it was still daylight hours during Ramadan. Agung and I didn’t really pay attention much to what happened on stage as we were too lethargic to move to much—when I say “we,” I mean “Agung.”
Once the sun started to dip further down the horizon, however, we decided to take a walk around and stop by the stage just to check out who’s performing at the moment. Lo and behold! We saw Agung’s work friend Yessy on stage performing with—who I assume to be—her band. It was only after I took photos of the performers—the sun was so good, I couldn’t resist—did Agung tell me about this. What a small, small world, huh? Who knew?
Taman Lapangan Banteng is a rather big, semicircular-shaped park in Central Jakarta. It has a body of water in the middle area of the park—with a monument standing tall in its epicentre. Surrounding this area is a circular-shaped plaza decorated with hanging vines that can house a wide range for tenant booths. The park itself has been around since the early 19th century, but it is unclear when it was officially open for public. It also didn’t use to look exactly like this—that is thanks to the recent revitalisation done in 2018.
The market area is divided into at least four sections: arts & crafts, fashion, kitchen goods, foods & beverages. Aside from the latter, everybody else is located pretty much at the plaza in the middle. There were a number of very well-known tenants who attend the event at the time, so it’s no wonder that the place is a lot more packed than we were prepared for. We didn’t really plan to shop much here, to be honest, so I only walked away with 5 stickers from Jelly Playground.
Aside from the tenant booths that the visitors could explore throughout the entire event, there were also a number of other items in the event itinerary. There were a few musical performances, fashion shows, talkshows and limited-time giveaways. The hosts in charge kept chatting for the entirety of the event—which was pretty impressive, given the fact that it was still daylight hours during Ramadan. Agung and I didn’t really pay attention much to what happened on stage as we were too lethargic to move to much—when I say “we,” I mean “Agung.”
Once the sun started to dip further down the horizon, however, we decided to take a walk around and stop by the stage just to check out who’s performing at the moment. Lo and behold! We saw Agung’s work friend Yessy on stage performing with—who I assume to be—her band. It was only after I took photos of the performers—the sun was so good, I couldn’t resist—did Agung tell me about this. What a small, small world, huh? Who knew?
Old hat + top + boots // thrifted dress // Riverdean watch // Roti Eneng tote bag // photos by Agung
A Foodless Picnic
Old hat + top + boots // thrifted dress // Riverdean watch // Roti Eneng tote bag // photos by Agung
A Foodless Picnic
Okay, yeah, the bazaar is nice, the performers are great. Yeah, we get to bump into Agung’s work friend. Sure, whatever. However, the biggest highlight of our entire time there was the picnic area splayed out in the wooded area by the booths section. The place was made up of a spacious landscape with tall trees dotting the land. There were a few picnic mats and bean bag chairs provided by the event organisers—but we didn’t know this so we brought our own picnic mat from last time.
Once we found a good enough spot with a tree to lean on but also far enough away from the sun to escape the heat, we spread our mat and sit on it. Since it was Ramadan and we were fasting, we didn’t have any food or drink with us. We also didn’t have any pillows on which to rest our heads. It was also an oversight on my part to wear a dress to this event, which prevented me from lying down freely on the ground. What a picnic it was turning out to be!
This all happened towards the end of April, mind you. I think we were hit by some picnic fever around this time, so any opportunity to spread our gingham mat and laze in the breezy sunshine was a most welcome chance. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t eat or drink. It didn’t matter that we didn’t have a pillow to fall back on or even things to do, in particular. Got a good patch of land to spread a mat and lay down? We’ll take it.
Before long, I ended up whipping out the book I was currently reading—which was from this list, can you venture a guess? Otherwise, we really just scrolled through our phones, talked and people watched. There were all sorts of people hanging around: a few families with little children, a group of friends crammed into a couple of bean bags and even a guy trying to assemble a tent but kept failing miserably—I kept wondering what that guy was up to, could it be some sort of activist protest going on?
Okay, yeah, the bazaar is nice, the performers are great. Yeah, we get to bump into Agung’s work friend. Sure, whatever. However, the biggest highlight of our entire time there was the picnic area splayed out in the wooded area by the booths section. The place was made up of a spacious landscape with tall trees dotting the land. There were a few picnic mats and bean bag chairs provided by the event organisers—but we didn’t know this so we brought our own picnic mat from last time.
Once we found a good enough spot with a tree to lean on but also far enough away from the sun to escape the heat, we spread our mat and sit on it. Since it was Ramadan and we were fasting, we didn’t have any food or drink with us. We also didn’t have any pillows on which to rest our heads. It was also an oversight on my part to wear a dress to this event, which prevented me from lying down freely on the ground. What a picnic it was turning out to be!
This all happened towards the end of April, mind you. I think we were hit by some picnic fever around this time, so any opportunity to spread our gingham mat and laze in the breezy sunshine was a most welcome chance. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t eat or drink. It didn’t matter that we didn’t have a pillow to fall back on or even things to do, in particular. Got a good patch of land to spread a mat and lay down? We’ll take it.
Before long, I ended up whipping out the book I was currently reading—which was from this list, can you venture a guess? Otherwise, we really just scrolled through our phones, talked and people watched. There were all sorts of people hanging around: a few families with little children, a group of friends crammed into a couple of bean bags and even a guy trying to assemble a tent but kept failing miserably—I kept wondering what that guy was up to, could it be some sort of activist protest going on?
Spotted: Agung’s work friend is performing (the second girl on the right with the pigtail)
Back to Realtime
In present time, I am still under lockdown as you’re reading this. By this time, I hope to already find out the follow-up swab test result—and, hopefully, it is decidedly clear of any virus by now. Quarantine for me wasn’t particularly boring—if anything, it’s like not much has changed. I haven’t really left the house in over a week and I had to walk around my house with a mask on. However, I still had to work and I could, thankfully, still function normally for the most part. The worst symptoms died down after a day, so it wasn’t very torturous for me. It has allowed me to get back in touch with my illustrative side—which you can see here.
The only torture that I felt—if at all—was the fact that I could no longer host our beloved house cat in my room at nights. What makes it even more heartbreaking and challenging is that she would often wait outside my bedroom door, meowing to be let in all the while. Gosh, she knows exactly where my soft side is.
Hope you are all well! Keep safe and keep healthy!
Spotted: Agung’s work friend is performing (the second girl on the right with the pigtail)
Back to Realtime
In present time, I am still under lockdown as you’re reading this. By this time, I hope to already find out the follow-up swab test result—and, hopefully, it is decidedly clear of any virus by now. Quarantine for me wasn’t particularly boring—if anything, it’s like not much has changed. I haven’t really left the house in over a week and I had to walk around my house with a mask on. However, I still had to work and I could, thankfully, still function normally for the most part. The worst symptoms died down after a day, so it wasn’t very torturous for me. It has allowed me to get back in touch with my illustrative side—which you can see here.
The only torture that I felt—if at all—was the fact that I could no longer host our beloved house cat in my room at nights. What makes it even more heartbreaking and challenging is that she would often wait outside my bedroom door, meowing to be let in all the while. Gosh, she knows exactly where my soft side is.
Hope you are all well! Keep safe and keep healthy!