Minimum monthly wage of a live-in maid = Rp 300,000 (approximately S$52/ €26.00/ US$32.90)

Minimum monthly wage of a staff working in an Internet cafe = Rp 450,000 (approximately S$77/ €39.00/ US$49.35)

Minimum monthly wage of an office manager = Rp 2.5 million (approximately S$430/ €216.75/ US$274.10)

Cost of paying two men to clean and add coolant to one air-conditioner unit, and move the placement of the air conditioner condenser = Rp 150,000 (approximately S$26/ €13.00 /US$16.45)
This means Rp 75,000 (approximately. S$13/ €6.50 /US$8.25) per person.

Cost of a 19 litre bottle of drinking water = Rp 10,000 (approximately S$1.72/ €0.86/ US$1.10)

Cost of 1.5kg fresh chicken from the market = Rp 26,000 (approximately S$4.47/ €2.25/ US$2.85)

Cost of a 5-bottle roll of Yakult (drink with milk cultures) = Rp 11,750 (approximately S$2.00/ €1.00/ US$1.30)

Cost of a 1 litre packet of low fat fresh milk = Rp 10,950 (approximately S$1.88/ €0.95/ US$1.20)

Cost of a 1 litre packet of fresh choclate milk = Rp 10,000 (approximately S$1.72/ €0.86/ US$1.10)

Cost of a 330ml can of Coke = Rp 3,900 (approximately S$0.67/ €0.34/ US$0.43)

Cost of a 330ml can of Diet Coke = Rp 4,300 (approximately S$0.74/ €0.37/ US$0.47)

Cost of a loaf of Earthquake Cheese bread from BreadTalk = Rp 17,000 (approximately S$2.92/ €1.47/ US$1.86)

Cost of one goreng pisang, similar to those from the sarabat stalls in Singapore for S$0.50 = Rp 500 (approximately S$0.09/ €0.04/ US$0.05)

Cost of one murtabak (one egg and no meat) from a roadside stand = Rp 9,000 (approximately. S$1.55/ €0.80/ US$0.99)

No matter which country you are in, there will always be people hell-bent on leeching themselves on you.

These are the people you most definitely do not call ‘friend’: they call only when they need help and all but disappear otherwise; some are only interested in telling you what happens in their life and pretend to listen when you answer their query about what you have been up to; some are only interested in what happens in your life so that they have something to gossip about to others.

Whatever their action, the only reason I can think of for them is that these people have – literally in every sense of the phrase – no life.

These people only live through others: they seek to fill the void in their own existence with other people’s experiences; they hope to a popular person by having updated information about others.

In a way, these people could secretly be longing for the experiences and life of other people, without realising that each person’s life and experience is what you make of it.

Each person is himself/herself responsible for how their life turns out, according to the choices made and the reactions felt. Each of us is the master of own destiny, the controller of our emotions and the creator of our present and future.

Unfortunately, too little people know this truth and those that already know it understand that leaving others to their own devices is a wise move.

So now, all I can hope for is that these leeches find other more interesting people to disturb, so that our days will not be interuppted by their sucking.

I know it has been a week since my last entry. Do not worry, I did not vanish from the earth because of the accident.

Instead, I was up to my neck with some work that was due by Saturday morning. So I had to put aside ‘writing for leisure’ and concentrate on writing for being paid.

Now that I have completed the job, my brain is dead tired. But I had to drop in and let you know that I am alive and well. Will write something soon!

It seems that most of my friends in Singapore are moody, partly due to the gloomy ‘weather’ in the air there. For sure, when smoke blocks the sun and stifles the wind, there is nothing cheery about that!

Some have asked whether we are also experiencing the haze in Bali. Perhaps the many daily blessings that the Balinese perform has kept her out of the great pollution. Or perhaps, the island is not lying in the path of the winds that blow the smoke from the forest fires in Java and Sumatra up north-east.

So there is definitely no way to blame the weather for the minor accident that I was in this afternoon. No one was seriously injured: the riders of the motorbike came out unscathed, but I grazed by right shoulder, there is a small bump on the left corner of my forehead, and a couple of scratches found their way on to my right hand knuckles, right elbow and left foot.

The S.O. is fine, because he was at a meeting and was supposed to head to a business dinner, while his business partner kindly offered to take me home. We were cruising along at 70km/h with no incident for 10 minutes, when suddenly, I heard him pressing his horn furiously and starting to apply his brakes: a bike on the left had suddenly swerved in to his path!

If there was just another couple of metres, we would have come to a safe stop. Unfortunately, the gap between our bike and the car in front was too small, only the kid (it was a 17 year old boy on the other bike) would know why he did what he did despite the odds, and so we crashed head-on into the right side of the boy’s bike. And we fell.

For starters, the kid was lucky that we were not a truck or van, for then today would definitely be his last day breathing. Secondly, we were all lucky that the vehicles behind us were not travelling too quickly or too slowly, and all stopped instantly.

It was probably less than a minute between impact and being picked up by other motorists (yes, we saw that they were wearing helmets!) and staff of the building next to the road. Then within a minute of moving both bike and people to the side of the road, traffic was back to normal.

Other casualties of the crash was the bike we were on – the front wheel suspension is totally gone – plus two spectacle cases – we both had them in our bags – and the buisness partner’s handphone. A policeman came and took both party’s driving license away, and they will not get it back until both reach a settlement, but not before attending to another accident somewhere that involved severed limbs and loads of blood spilled.

The S.O. came more than an hour later, after my SMS got through to him on the faulty phone network (I did call, but the network was not working!). We bought antiseptic lotion and some bandages to take care of the open wounds, and dark chocolate to celebrate the fact that I am still alive with all my limbs intact with no major injuries.

Maybe some would blame it on Friday the 13th, but I have never been superstitious at all. But for sure, I will not ignore niggling thoughts that my sixth sense tell me and will always wear a jacket when I next get on a bike.

Now I will sign off as the ache in my right shoulder is crying out to be laid down to rest. Have a good weekend.

Any child going through the Singapore education will, at some point in the 10 years of primary and secondary school process, be reminded about how the island is geographically safe: no earthquakes; volcanic eruptions; avalanches; snow or sand storms; danger of drought, floods or tsunami; typhoons or hurricanes; forest fires.

In geography classes, they will be taught the cause and dangers of some of these natural occurances, and possibly how these can be avoided or remedied if the damages has already been done.

Which is ironic, because this information should be made available to those that need these information the most. That is, unless those that have the information will use that to help those that do not.

In the end, Singapore citizens and residents will never have to experience what these Indonesians are experiencing now.