Champagne

I feel compelled to write this as lately, it has been difficult to find some quiet time reflecting…

It was nearing the end of summer in Europe. And as I was contemplating on the real weather there, I can't help but wonder whether mid- October is a good time to visit the Champagne region. My reservation was influenced by Swiss Aunt who had been saying that the summer was rather warm and nice but ended too quickly. Early October had reported a little snow fall, Swiss Aunt was surprised and was in disbelief of the oh-so-noticeable changes in the earth's climate.

My journey starts from Paris in a van or mini-bus that could fit 8 passengers. Joining a guided tour is the path I would rather not take for the past few years, as I would rather explore the places all by myself whenever I am overseas. Since Champagne is quite a last-minute decision, I decided that a guided tour is the best way and would guarantee the access to the champagne houses.

My pick-up was early at 7:15am at the hotel. I woke up early as I always love to have the café croissant breakfast at the hotel’s bar. To my surprise, I was offered a complimentary Americano and unlimited croissants from a basket. I had only two although I wish I could have another one as the croissant was so fluffy and buttery to my liking. I thanked the barman and the host for such a treat before leaving behind a tip of a few euro.

My guide “Marjit” came, and I was escorted to the co-driver’s seat of the van. Behind me was a mom-and-daughter team whom claimed to be wine experts from Las Vegas. Also there was another couple of Chinese Canadians from Toronto, named Mr and Mrs Tze. We exchanged our hellos and briefly introduced ourselves before picking up the final couple named Bob and Eileen from Virginia. They were all lovely and pleasant people, all well surpassed or on par with my parent’s age except the daughter, Crystal.

The journey to Champagne along the highway was not a quiet one. At the rear of the van, the friendly people were chatting among themselves and at the front, I was chatting with the guide who’s of course, a French. I could sense that he was not too keen on his job and like many French, always love a vacation (apologies for stereotyping!). However, I must say that, he is knowledgeable about champagne and pronounced “champagne” in the proudest and most typical French way.

Finally, we had arrived at Reims (pronounced as “rance”) and we saw the massive cultivation of vine. Then, we continued driving to Hautvillers that marked the Tourist Route of Champagne ( Route Touristique Du Champagne). Along the way, we saw many smaller champagne houses. And many have German sounded names as we were told that, the Germans were the ones who started the champagne industry in Champagne. The Germans were good in trade whereas the French were good in wine-making as I was told, hence, the success of the champagne industry even back in 18 to 19th century.

We were given a brief introduction of the history of Champagne as a place and as a type of wine. Champagne, the sparkling wine was founded by a Benedictine monk, Dom Perignon in the 17th century by popular belief. He blended the 3 grape varietals namely Pinot Noir, Pinot Muenier and Chardonnay and voila, a great drink was created (of course, after 2 fermentations) as told by our guide. Well, the actual champagne production is definitely much more complex than his explanation! Understandably, simplification and exaggeration were used sometimes to make things more interesting and dramatic in capturing our attention and imagination.

Our first champagne house visited was Nicolas Feuillatte, a rather young champagne winemaker using a more “state of the art” method of production and marketed as a hip and trendy Champagne brand. We were given a tour of the facility and we saw the various stages of transforming the grapes into the bubbly liquid in a distinguished-shape bottle. Most of the stages of production was automated and I wonder to myself, how sad it is that the romance of wine-making by human is being over taken by emotionless, uncompassionate machinery. Why would human create a machine to detach himself/herself from using their very own senses, their very own hands? Of course, simply, it's business rather than art!

At the end of the tour, we were given a glass of Nicolas Feuillatte champagne to sample, a non-vintage of course, as a vintage one will be too expensive to dispense to us. According to the guide at Nicolas Feuillatte, 2009 will be a vintage year as the harvest has been of a very good quality one!

We then were told that, we would be taking a break for lunch in Reims, which was already included in our tour. On our way to the restaurant, we drove past the Reims Cathedral, famous for the many coronations of France’s kings. Joan of Arc was once at the coronation of King Charles VII in the majestic cathedral.

A table of seven was set ready for us. We were then given a brief introduction of the menu of the day. Our starter was a fish dish, a mousse-textured curd that tasted very fishy but surprisingly paired very well with the white wine served. Then, entered the main course of braised chicken leg in red wine sauce served with the side of tagliatelle and chive cream sauce. The chicken leg was heavenly with the very light-bodied red and I supposed the choice of wine served was due to the heavy and flavourful sauce. Suddenly, I felt happy with the great company, conversations and thankful for the great French gourmet experience. The finale was a champagne-infused grape and cherry served with vanilla ice-cream and whipped cream.

Our second champagne house visited was none other than the famous Mumm. I secretly wanted to visit Moet et Chandon instead. Nonetheless, Mumm has many great legacies and it is more “old school” or traditional as compared to the trendy Nicolas Feuillatte. The cellar was deep in underground. It reminded me of a wartime bomb shelter or bunker and also a medieval castle. I was most impressed with the wine library that housed its oldest champagne dated 1893. And Mumm definitely managed to keep automation hidden in maintaining its image as a "serious" champagne house.

Any great learning encounter will come to an end. What is left behind is a sense of fulfilment that you have enriched yourself with a little more knowledge than before. With that, I hope that many more learning encounters are in waiting and certainly, something to do with wine would be very encouraging for me.

Yogya! Jogya!

What runs through my decision-making process especially when it comes to choosing a holiday destination is, or course, it must be a place where I really wanted to go. Then comes the rational part of analysing the accessability, cost, safety, etc in making the holiday, a reality. I always wanted to visit Borobudur ever since I first heard of it from my dearest cousin, the Flamboyant Maestro. Because of the 2004 earthquake in Yogyakarta, I did my pilgrimage to Angkor Wat instead.

Late last month, one of my travel wishlist finally came true, thanks to my Hubby. We boarded an Air Asia flight that flew direct from Singapore to Yogyakarta. Having done my research for the past few weeks, I was quite sure what to expect for the trip. Well, not exactly, when I first laid my eyes on the few tall volcanic mountains while still in the air. I felt like this place spells terror everywhere, what if the mountains are still active and erupt, all at the same time?

After landed, we walked from the tarmac and into the small terminal. Our first task or rather the immigration's was to sanitize our whole body as H1N1 was still one of the hottest topic then. We walked through something like the metal detector in any regular airports but this one, we had to pause our movement for the machine to spray disinfectant towards us. Quite high-tech for a place like this. Well, what do we know...

After a short walk, from the disinfectant machine, which made me feel clean but weaken a little, we walked about 5 steps to collect our luggage from the only carousel spotted. Then 2 steps away, we cleared the custom and another 2 more steps, we were on our way to negotiate for a cab to the city centre, Jalan Malioboro.

We boarded the cab and I began to realise there are many versions to spell Jogya and I was happy to know that the official one is the one I use most often, Yogyakarta. I spotted the spelling in a police station, from a distance, looking outward from our cab along our way to Malioboro. My introduction to Jogya is somewhat, familiar yet exciting while we were travelling along Adisucipto Street.

It did not sink in directly to me that I was in Indonesia, Central Java to be exact. I find the culture and language similar to Malaysia. The people here are most friendly and somewhat, trustworthy like the Nepalese. I am not sure whether religion plays a role but they are truly polite (berbudi bahasa).

Once we reached Malioboro, we headed to the Tourist Information Centre to get a map. It is located next to Mutiara Hotel, we were told but we detoured when we saw a mall. We did some shopping in Polo, which is not quite typical of us to begin our adventure like this, but since it is conveniently in front of us and many birthdays ahead, we threw our one bagpack and wrestled through the clothing line. Then we break for lunch at a local fast food chain where we saw only a few tables occupied, because of the Ramadhan.

Then we were back on our feet again to Malioboro Street where we spotted a cab. We wanted to go to Borobudur where we had our hotel reservation there. We asked the price for the 45-minute journey and the honest cab driver pulled out a price list and showed us the price. We agreed as it is the price range that we expected and we know from his gesture, he is a reliable man. Our cab driver is Yulianto, a kind, knowledgeable and honest gentleman. Along the journey, he explained patiently of what we saw and asked, although I felt bad as he was fasting then. He is proud of his city and told us he is from Kotagede where it is famous for its silver industry.

45-minute is not long with superb road condition outside, and inside, a very clean and comfortable air-conditioned Toyota. I did not once, close my eyes as I wanted to witness everything along the way, along Jalan Magelang where many familiar sculptures where made, like the ones we usually see in a Sundanese restaurant or a Balinese spa.

In a blink, we reached Saraswati Borobudur, a boutique hotel of 18 rooms in a colonial-like bungalow. We parted with Yulianto but told him to pick us up in 2 days time. The hotel staff there offers very personalised service and checking-in made us feel like royals. We were then, ushered to our room, 207 with a view of Mount Merapi. The place is quiet and private and it reminds me of Raffles Singapore, a small one. We quickly unload and took a walk outside the area. We walked towards Borobudur park to find out about the entrance fee or the famous sunrise tour. We were directed to Manohara Hotel where it is the only place that will conduct the sunrise tour for visitors.

We made our bookings and took a walk to see the souvenirs shops, where I bought a small replica of a stupa, went into local restaurants, horse-carts, trishaws and visited the many stalls selling food and fireworks for Ramadhan. We also saw a Catholic Church just a few steps away from our hotel.

The sun began to set quite early and the street began to quiet down with only the sound of the Azan. We walked back to our hotel and we had our first meal of local dishes in our hotel restaurant. There, we saw the other guests and there were only 5 rooms occupied.

We retired early for a very early sunrise tour the next day, which begins at 4:30am. We roamed the dark street again towards Manohara. We made payment for the tour which costs us Rp600,000. The many zeroes don't help when you try to convert them to your currency, especially at this kind of wee hours. Anyway, we were on a holiday.

In the dark, we were given a torchlight each, a brand new one, and we made our way to the private entrance to Borobudur from Manohara. It is the entrance where they charge you extra for the exclusiveness and opens 1.5 hours earlier before the public could access. With just a few spotlights, shining the vast area of the temple, I saw the silhouette of the magnificent Borobudur right in front of me after my entrance ticket was checked.

The sight was unforgettable and I could not have imagined the size of the whole temple when I was standing at the base of it. We climbed the steep stairs to reach the main stupa. When we reached there, everyone was just admiring the dark view around, with stupas everywhere. We stood still and sat down at the spot where the sun will rise shortly. The silence was deafening, something that I could get use to quite easily. The calmness was abound and I began to wait patiently for the first glimpse of the sun between the two peaks of Merapi and Merbau in front of us.

While waiting, I overheard a conversation between a quide and his clients. They spoke about Buddhism although he is a Muslim man. The first spark finally came out and everyone begin to aim their lenses towards the sun. How beautiful, the sight was!

Soon after a short while, the fog began to blanket the view. It was chilly and we walked around to see the many stupas and the Buddha statues. Inside each stupa lies a statue of Buddha that had eroded. The arrangement of the stupas is incredibly in perfect alignment and all the four main directions look almost identical. We begin to explore the entire temple by descending slowly to each level and we took some photos, of course.

When our stomachs began growling, we decided to head back to Manohara to redeem our free refreshment. The coffee served was perfect to my liking. And the light snack was substantial enough. We walked back to Borobudur and then, we visited the museum.

In the museum, which is often missed by tourists, is one of the best place to be. The guide there, not only offered us information about the temple, but also shared with us about the locals here whom he claimed, are very peaceful people in a multi-religious community with Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists living together.

According to him, Borobudur is most happening during the Wesak in the month of May. While the Buddhists celebrate, the Muslims guard the place. How cordial it is for such an arrangement, with respect for each others customs. It is enlightening to know. At the museum, I was told by the guide that I could pour water over the Buddha statue (which is originally found in the Borobudur complex) for 7 times and what I wished for will come true. Knowing me, I did not wish for anything but did it just for the experience.

Before the heat of the afternoon punctures our skin, we hired a trishaw to see the smaller temples called, Candi Mendut and Candi Pawon. The trishaw guy was quite an elderly man and when the journey was going uphill, Hubby got down and helped the guy to push the trishaw. We paid him Rp 60,000, which is more than 10 times the market rate. I supposed the amount justified the great physical effort he put in.

We returned to our hotel to relax by the pool. Before sunset, we began to venture out again and this time, we wanted to try the horse cart. We just wanted to see the village and how the local people live. After that, we packed some satay back and enjoyed it by the pool.

Our final day at Borobudur, we had another sumptuous breakfast at the hotel. I grabbed my favaourite book from the hotel's book shelf, titled Indonesia. It was written in the mid-eighties and the content is excellent! As I turn the pages, I fell in love with the country.

Our cab driver Yulianto finally came. Before he drove us to Malioboro, we made a pit stop at Ketep Pass to see Mount Merapi. He appeared fresh as it was his off day, the day before. Taxi drivers there work in a 24hr shift and get the next day off. We wonder how they can stand driving for 24 hrs and isn't it a safety hazard?

In Malioboro, we checked in to a backpackers inn. It was really basic with only SGD 25 a night, plus breakfast! We hired a trishaw and he took us to Kraton, Taman Sari,an underground mosque, a batik shop, and to see some local arts and crafts. I felt really bad as it was still Ramadhan and everyone was still working as hard.

Finally, after 2 nights of luxury and the final night in a backpackers inn, we called it off. Our experience and encounters had been great so far especially with the people we met. We love the city and the peacefulness of Borobudur. We booked for an early morning flight and once again, faithful Yulianto came to send us off.

Our flight took off and I guess, it is back to reality again...

Happy National Day, Malaysia

Malaysia just celebrated her 52nd anniversary of independence. My wishes to all Malaysians whether they are in the country or abroad, may our beloved nation will sail through the obstacles especially in the political arena and be known soon as a nation that is safe, secure, prosperous and fair... Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

A Tribute to MJ

My first introduction to Michael Jackson was on my mum's little red television in our room while we were staying at Granny's in Petaling Jaya. I was about four years old. The music video was the song "Beat It". I couldn't comprehend the significance of MJ but his music really made an impression at that time of my very tender age, so has his videos like Thriller, Bad and subsequently in my teens, Black or White etc..

I never really idolised MJ nor did I ever bought his records, unlike Bro, who watched MJ History Tour in KL while I was sitting for my PMR examinations. I was more into the Canto Pop and of course, The Spice Girls. My lack of MJ admiration at that time was probably because, I was born in the 80's and pop culture then was really colourful with the likes of Boy George (my first favourite because of my cousin), Cyndi Lauper (Bro's favourite), Anita Mui (my first idol), Madonna and I was too young to actually buy an album. Also, I was born after the era of Jackson 5, which I think my peers too had no recollection of them whatsoever.

By the time I could really afford to buy any records that I wanted, I was in my teens, and my Faye Wong collection just grew, followed by The Spice Girls but beforethat, was New Kids on the Block (my first ever album, a cassette).

I do hear MJ music and that was quite hard to ignore while growing up in the 80's and 90's. I remember whenever he appears on tv, we would just freeze and watch him. He had such a strong command of audience attention, and that was his real talent. No one dare to look elsewhere whenever he's on stage. I remember singing to one of his great songs, "Heal The World" in a choir performance for our school's award ceremony. I love those lyrics and I was quite shocked to learn it was actually from MJ. I only knew him as a great performer, never how a real fan would know him.

The news of his death indeed shocked me. Waking up to such a news was never a pleasant encounter. When the news finally penetrated the world's consciousness, I was already in the mourning mode. The tributes on the media just accelerated and perhaps, deepen the mood for bereavement.

Magazines began to put him on their cover, Internet search escalated, headline news was his death on every news channel and news channel these days includes E! Entertainment. I began to feel the need to know MJ a little more. I read about him on Wiki, I watched his videos on YouTube, I watched the Jackson 5 biopic on True Movies channel and I bought Time Special Commemorative Edition and a book as a tribute to him.

He was indeed the greatest act in the history of pop culture, arguably. He was universal and he was a talented prodigy. Based on the materials that I have gone through, MJ was almost pioneer in everything that he do if not, uniquely MJ and had created or masterminded many signatures that artistes today could not dare claim it was theirs. Artistes today has lack so much elegance that was so natural to MJ in his performances and his music. I can only count on Madonna, as she's really in quite a different league also.

Michael Jackson's armband, scream, gentle voice, elegance, Robot moves, the deliberate mispronounced words, the glove, the Moonwalk, the length of his finely cropped pants, militia jacket, his I love yous and I love you mores will forever be remembered... Michael Jackson is truly the King of Pop!

My Staycation

The amount of time I spent at home is now considerably more than what I used to have. I am having so much fun learning about my environment and it's fascinating cleaning it too. I have all that I need, more than what I can ask for, in terms of comfort and sense of privacy. I'm in my own world where I am not only free to be myself but most of all, I can live by my own rules and I enjoy every second of it.

This leads me to realise the current trend that glossy female magazines begin to sensationalise... "vacationing at home", hence the word, "staycation". I supposed, in the more developed nations with society that is so accustomed to spending vacation abroad, the concept of staycation is now popularised in look of the current economic situation. Brilliant ideas are introduced on what you can actually do at home which incorporates element of having vacations.

Well, if you like the tropical beach, try fixing yourself a pina colada, and I'm sure with the little cocktail umbrella as garnishing, you can have quite an effect of having a beach holiday. Perhaps for those who wants to know about some places, try wikitravel.org. Now, with so much information, you hardly need to step out in order to know what's happening.

Enough said, I am now back at my staycationing and I am proud to say that it's quite a fun holiday to have, as long as my yearning for somewhere new has yet to crop up.

Great Dinner, Great Women

The evening started with a great friend fetching me from home. I was also greeted by a Westie who is a cutie, named Rufus. Rufus' mom is none other than a gorgeous pregger, whom seems to stunt us with all things beautiful being pregnant.

Instead of expecting a session of wine-tasting, little did we know, this great friend had managed to cook up a four course dinner! The menu consists of pumpkin soup as starter, lamb salad with home-made Thai-inspired dressing, for main course it was chicken and leek in white wine broth (yummy!!) and dessert by our beautiful pregger, a home-baked flourless cake ( I hope I got it right here).

Each bite on each course was accompanied by about 10 choices of red and white wines (mostly new world) brought to us by our knowledgeable sommerlier. It was truly a mind-opening gastronomic adventure for me. The food, the wines, the company of great women, are just too good to be true. I was in ecstacy, partly attributed by too many glasses (I was too eager to taste them all!). But mostly by the great atmosphere.

The night was a great preview of what a great event it is going to be, come October. This great friend, as always, will be pouring every ounce of her love and effort to ensure her guests will have the best. I know we will (have the best) and with her bubbly little sister as side-kick, nothing is impossible..

Hawthorne

The temperature recorded outside should be between 18-21 degrees Celsius. The weather is sunny but in summer clothings, one can still feel a bit chilly when the wind blows. I am now in Hawthorne Boulevard, Los Angeles. Some would have thought whether this place has anything to do with the famous or rather infamous study of workers' motivation by Elton Mayo. Well, I am not sure. But according to the open-sourced Wikipedia, the study of Hawthorne Effect was done in Illinois. Hence, I don't think this place got its name from the study.

I always have this same feeling whenever I am in Los Angeles. I feel small in the bigness of everything here. The shops, the malls, the cars! Oh dear, everything is massive and unfamiliar to me. I always have this love-hate relationship with America. It is complex and I attribute it to my own ignorance. I can never really understand it. The Hispanics here whom I encountered, mainly as service workers, tend to put on a frown face if not, a standard, dreamy, "I don't give a damn" attitude. I begin to rationalise whether the recent report on CNN Black in America 2 has anything to do with such attributes. The Asians in America scored lowest in terms of unemployment, followed by the Whites, the Hispanics and then the African Americans (although CNN still use the term Blacks to describe this race). It would be interesting to know how the Hispanics view the Asians here.

The reports that dominate the headlines here are none other than Michael Jackson. Even the (probably) greatest victory over the white-collar crimes committed by Mr Maddoff couldn't match the sensations of this pop icon. It is the death of this pop legend that has generated his so-called greatest comeback in the media. It is truly a tragedy. But the mourning was somehow felt mildly only in this part of California, judging from only one retail shop amongst many others that played his music over the speakers.

Indeed, his death has put a new light into viewing who MJ actually was. Little that we know, he was indeed a brilliant business person and a even greater humanitarian. May he rest in peace...