Gifts, Swaps & Thrills-Fafa's Javanese Couple

When Fafa returned from her hometown near Jogyakarta, Indonesia, 

she brought home many gifts. 

One of them is this pair of Javanese husband and wife on an old bicycle.

Measuring a mere 2 1/2" (base) wide and 2 2/3" high at its tallest, 

it depicts the couple in traditional Javanese costumes. 

The lady looks a lot like Fafa who is as pretty if not prettier,

and definitely just as voluptuous. 

The lady, wearing  a long Indonesian batik sarong,

 is holding dried edelweiss found in the Jogyajakarta mountains.

The man, bare chested (very typical in our tropical countries) 

wears his udeng (headgear) and loose checkered cotton pants.

There are also edelweiss on the ground.

Fafa's gift is now sitting on top of my jewellery box from Sri Lanka.

Like a perfect little box topper. 

I love my Javanese couple soooooooo much. 

Thank you, dear Fafa.

My Maharajah's Palace-Bazaar-Rolla n Ro

This is an excerpt from the post which 1st appeared on Day 93 of My Maharajah's Palace:

The 2nd scene for the bazaar is completed and it is of the opening day of the store. There was a musical performanace by the gypsies led by the Rollas. Rolla is on the tabla and Ro on sitar.

The other dancers too, take their place on the stage, frozen in their starting pose before the tabla begins.

If you look to the left of the stage, you'll see Sumaiya in a flowy orange sari and matching veil, her famous mehndi-ed hand around her man's neck.

And even the resident mystic has taken her place, shielded by a panel of delicately embroidered tapestries and surrounded by the various heirloom pieces from Rosanna. There's Ganesh in his lotus position on OM's table and Sissy, peeping through Sans! copy-bag.


Jai is sitting in the VIP seat.

A crowd, drawn by the music has also gathered.

And before they can sing "Jai" Ho (in honour of their VIP), dancing in the crowd has started.

The lone girl in the ribbon of orange veil with no partner can't help swaying to Rolla's drums and you can see she risks spilling and dropping her jug of goat's milk,kindly supplied by Sylvia.

A mother laden with a baby and 2 pails of wood and charcoal has to stop too as her baby gurgles in delight and wriggles to the beat.

I added her veil which is plain cotton with a mere slice of ribbon at the edge bought at the S$2 store.


A group of palace servant girls with their brass pots filled to the brim sit firmly on their heads.

They take their place at the far right hand corner. Their work cloth is made of fabric from S$2 store and SuZ's stash. The rings of cloth holding their pots are the same ones I used to make holders for handbags.

Then there are the students with heavy loads of their girl friend's books in pink basket (ebay junk to some)

or her shabby satchel and more text books, (more ebay junk)

They stand right at the back.

Only 1 couple seem oblivious to the celebration, incredulously occupied with the Royal Fan.

Standing behind the stage, they stare at the ridiculous size of the peacock feather on the fan. Comparing it with their albino baby peahen, they wish they have a giant one instead.

And here are the wares at the store:

For a start, we have the tapestries which are actually bookmarks.

Then there are plates of powder paint fronting the stall which are actually incense cones from Bangkok sitting on Thai plates. These incense cones represent gulal in India, the powder paint are used to celebrate the Festival of Colours or Holi.

The carved wooden toys were bought from my regular bead shop in Chinatown.


while the cloth ones were from Bangkok

Then there are the cushions on centre stage while

heritage Indian painted toys on "6 in 1" and traditional drums flank the right.

An update of the flower stall next door:

I have added dried flowers to the topiaries and they look like the have bore fruits!


Finally, the aerial view of Rolla n Ro.

Art, Artisan,Artistry-TreeWizard And the Bombed House

Last weekend, I met my friend, Chris aka Treewizard who's trees I featured on Art, Artisan, Artistry-Tree Wizards and Bonsai Priestess. Chris was so excited with his current commission, he could not stop talking about it.I had to go and see it for myself.

This is a 1:24 model of a Chinatown shophouse that has been attacked by a terrorist. Chris was commissioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs to build this model for a particular occasion.

He is especially proud of the "bomb" that he made (Clue 4). There was also a decapitated head at 3, a crashed oil can at 6 and a broken circuit at 8.

Below is a pic of the other side of the house and you can see more body parts on the floor. This model will come complete with sound, maybe even smoke and definitely lights where "live" wire will be flickering dangerously.

For those of us who prefer pretty things, I found out that Chris also built the row of shophouses I featured at Miniature Museum of the World-Singapore. Chris did all the houses, the wayang stage, bumboat etc. A friend of his did the human beings.

I am very proud of my friend, Chris.