| gelora | seething, turbulence, enthusiasm |
| gelora semangat | enthusiasm |
Folks, that’s what I got trying to translate ‘gelora’ into English ( taken from EUdict ). In my opinion they don’t fully describe the word, so I’m just going to make my own translation. Yeah I tend to do that. So, read carefully. ‘gelora’ means ‘burning passionately’ . And Gelora Pancasila actually is an old, historical building in Surabaya, dedicated to accommodate many cultural and sport events in Surabaya waay back during the 90s. Next to it, there are small shops, the kind that you find on flea markets, that stretched on one side of the building. These, ladies and gentlemen, are my gems.
This is my go-to source whenever I need interior objects that is unique, bargainable, and sold partially. You know, I really hate it when I find a nice pair of one seater and then at the end I need to buy a set of 8 instead of 2. What a bummer. Well, the seller here are much more flexible (happy!)
They have oriental, colonial, bronze, woods, ceramics, so a lot of things happening here, people! Many times I need stuff to put some extra oomph on an interior setting, be it a centerpiece on the dining table, a wall decoration, or a little something to put on top of a stack of books, they have to contain a character, some texture, and a little story behind. Those are the stuff you can’t find on retail, you have to HUNT them. Like these pieces below, they range from Rp 200 rb – Rp 2.000 rb , that would be 20 – 200 bucks. The trunk is the winner of course. I would love to carry that home with me, but for 200 bucks? I don’t think so, you see, it must cost me a lot to refinish it into a presentable state. So… bye bye trunks!
Now, up here are the things I would like to say a bargain! Big green glass bottle for Rp 550 rb (50 $) , ceramic vase for Rp 350 rb (35$), and a freestanding bronze makeup mirror (forgot the price, sorry). I had so much fun, until suddenly I bumped into this:
A vintage white porcelain hand mold! I can’t believe I’ll find it here. Right there, in the middle of clutters. This was used as a model to measure hand to make gloves, and old ones is quite uncommon, quite hard to find (especially if you live in a tropical country where bare hands are more popular in fashion terms). And for Rp 250 rb (25$) I can bring this baby back home with me.
Need I say more? Whenever you’re visiting Surabaya and you share the same passion, this place is a must visit. Until next time! *waving (porcelain) hand, and yeah pun is so intended. And here is just an unimportant picture.
anya lestiani 
