TravelStream™ news feed for member minggaang on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/minggaang en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:14:22 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/minggaang/14/1225044540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/minggaang/14/1225044540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/minggaang/14/1225044540/tpod.html Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:14:22 -0500 Camping & Overnight Trips

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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Only 10 minutes ferry ride from Circular Quay, the heart of Sydney Harbour, this island gives a different glimpse of the city.... camping is now available, and being one of the few perfect spot for NYE fireworks, no surprise the NYE package is already fully booked for 2008 months ago.
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Pekalongan, Indonesia

Had Soto Pekalongan for lunch - what a tiny, dark, hot "warung". This one is unique to Pekalongan with heaps of miso paste stir fried with chilli, shalllot and more spices.

Mind you, there are more than 30 different varieties of 'soto' or chicken soup all over Indo, usually named after the local area it comes from (hence: Soto Pekalongan, soto padang, soto betawi, soto bandung, soto kudus and what not). Sorry, it's not always chicken, can be beef and evey single part of the animal, or even buffalo meat like I later found out about this Pekalongan version (!@#), but never pork or seafood. Can be with or without bean sprout or thinly sliced cabbage, with or without noodles, rice noodles or glass noodles, with or without boiled egg, clear or with coconut milk

Then Kepiting (=crab) Pak Sukardi - we ordered "two crabs, please", thinking of 1 crab for each bugleader as the juniors wanted traditional fried chicken with traditional sambal (chili sause with shrimp paste). Two huge servings arrived, of 3 crabs each!! Oh, it costs us rp 50,000 or approx au $7 per serving, and almost 2 hour effort to finish them all.....
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Semarang, Indonesia

Nice hotel, huge lobby with marble columns and floor. High end of 3star.

Bugleaders had nasi ayam for supper while the jrs were more tempted by the golden arch right next door. This is another one-dish meal of rice, chicken and veggies, notably served by street vendors in Semarang. This one in particular only opens at night (that is, 10pm) till early morning (3-4 am) - I know, I also wondered who on earth will have heavy meal that late at night. But we were told, taxi driver and night workers.
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Jakarta, Indonesia

Jakarta is the melting pot of every culture in Indonesia, plus the international side of it. Growing up in Jakarta, we have a long list of must-eat, so long it seems that five meals a day will not even make it.

Padang food - the spicy and curry-based dishes from Sumatra is a must have. Our favourite has been Sederhana - a chain of humble place but great food at a fraction of 'lush' Padang resto such as Sari Ratu. Beef rendang (close to thai's masaman curry), chicken curry, spicy (and sauce so red of chilly) egg dish, curry-based veggies.

Oh, they also have soto (indonesian beef/chicken soup specific to the area, probably around 50 different soto), gulai kepala ikan (the curry based fish), all the internal organs and brain and tendon and 'babat' (only god and devotees know which part of the stomach, not for me thanks). Tempting (and not expensive) as it might be, tasting each will extend lunch to 3 hours (stomach upset can be the side effect due to the spicy and rich sauces.

The unique way of serving padang food is entertaining enough for the jrs - the waitress took all 10 or 12 disshes in small plates piling up like pyramid on his arm. And yes, you pay what you eat only.

Another must-have in Jakarta is Bakmi Gajah Mada - the chain of noodle resto famous for decades. I still remember their first humble outlet at Gajah mada street in western Jakarta (hence the name, bakmi simply means noodle) as weekend treat from my childhood. Special noodle thin and soft (nowhere to be found, at least not in Jakarta where noodle vendors and small eateries and resto can be found every 300 meter!). OTher than the normal chicken noodle with soup or dumplings or meatballs, they have noodle with stir fry beef or sweet and sour chicken.

Soto mie is another popular beef soup (originally from Jakarta??) - noodle with thinly sliced cabbage, meat slices and spring roll slices on top. Delish soup difficult to describe.

Toge Goreng is another signature dish - noodle with bean sprout (the 'toge'), slices of tofu and boiled egg, topped with rich tomato-miso based sauce. There's one super-humble smaller than hawker-stall outlet just behind Pasar Baru in central jakarta which has been there for 3 generations. You might wonder why they're still there if their food is so famous, but there's this belief among these traditional food enterpreneurs that leaving the original humble shop for a better place might ruin their fortune. Despite the not-so-hygienic look, the germs are all boiled with the noodle and bean sprout...

Empek-empek is probably more snack, afternoon-tea type of food. This is the fish-cake based dish from Palembang, Sumatra, served with noodle, slices of cucmber and the brownish thin sweet and so-sour sauce. Different shapes other than the normal fish-cake shape, including the "kapal selam" literarlly means the submarine, which has egg yolk in the middle of the fist-size fish cake.

Bakso is another snack-afternoonish : noodle or vermicelli with meatballs and beef stock soup. Street vendors, small warung to part of any resto's menu, every person in Jakarta has his or her own favourite. It's either the soup, the crispy-ness of the meat ball, the chilly sauce, the atmosphere of the humble outlet, the memory and who-you-spend-time-with value attached to it, or the combination of all ....

Traditional chicken is abundant, mostly the west or central java style. Including Ayam Goreng Suharti (ms. suharti's fried chicken, originally from Jogjakarta?), ayam goreng Kalasan (kalasan being the name of supposedly its original place in central java near Jogjakarta ), the deep fried chicken marinated in coconut juice are among the most popular ones. Their cousin is the ayam bakar (grilled chicken) from every part of indonesia, the sweet-sauce javanese style to hot and spicy ayam Taliwang (and I mean s-p-i-c-y with tears coming from my eyes and runny nose) style from Lombok.

Add to those the snacks - martabak (the sweet or savoury type usually by street vendors, probably one in 500 meter on the main streets!) The sweet is basically thick, large-pizza size, pan cooked, cut in half, topped with grated cheese, crushed peanut chunks or chocolate sprinkle before the other half put on top.
The savoury one is thin, crisp wrap of chicken or beef mince, egg, shallot and onion slices, fried in flat wok. This comes with thin sweet and sour sauce and cucmber pickle.

(Let's skip the post script of this feast after so many years eating non-spicy other than thai-on-the-corner. Squeezing my loudly-protesting stomach and spoonfuls of antacid, still, it's worth it......)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/minggaang/1/1199287800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/minggaang/1/1199287800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/minggaang/1/1199287800/tpod.html Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:00:31 -0400 Travelbugs in Indonesia

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Ubud, Indonesia

Rented a car with driver, heading towards Ubud. Unlike Kuta where all the signs are in english, this is the more traditional and cultural part of Bali. Fine arts (paintings, woodcarving, ) traditional dance, temples and (balinese Hindu) religious tradition.

We couldnt decide between Bebek Bengil (crispy fried duck south Ubud) or the famous suckling pig Ibu Oka. Ended up choosing the all-in-one rice with the very tender and oh-so-delicious pork meat, its crackling skin and vegetables (we skipped the intestine and blood) - I dont consider myself pork-eater but the long queue and crowded small space, is all worth it!

We chose the take-away Bebek Bengil for afternoon tea - also all-in-one rice with crispy fried duck (even the bones so crispy like crackers) and veggies. Again, the long queue and so-difficult-if-not-impossible-to find-parking, is worth it.

Monkey Forest (and had one pack of lolllies involuntarily surrendered to the monkeys. Gosh, a few meters away and they could hear the plastic packaging being opened! In a matter of seconds they came approaching, hanging on to it, insisting that we gave in... ). Drove past small villages and rice fields ("sawah").

Head to Uluwatu for the famous temple and Kecak Dance performance. Impressive open air stage, with the cliff and the temple as the backdrop.

Nasi goreng (fried rice), young coconut and martabak (traditional pancake) for dinner.
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Kuta, Indonesia

Two bugleaders and two junior bugs arrived in Bali - the first night of 28 nights of fun...
Eleven pm, yet groups of airport porters still hanging around out there - looked tired yet hopeful that the next couple of hours waiting wil earn them a few more dollars to take home??

Explored the area after checking in. We know the single, most appropriate dish to look for at this time of the day: nasi goreng (the traditional fried rice) from the street vendors. But where on earth are they, after half an hour walk along the main street of Kuta??

Ended up getting two containers take away from a big resto - Rp50 000 ish (less than Au $10 for two) but guess what, we're Rp 2000 short..... ! We offered to walk back to the hotel but they let us go, how sweet....

(later we found out that some part of the Kartika Plaza main street has been freed from street vendor. walk away from the big shopping mall towards the southern other end for more humble eateries).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/minggaang/1/1199216700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/minggaang/1/1199216700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/minggaang/1/1199216700/tpod.html Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:34:20 -0400 Travelbugs in Indonesia

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Sydney, Australia

Ready for the new mission this time: Culinary Expedition! Growing up in Indonesia food will be in you blood. And it's been decades since we last tasted all these exquisites from Bali and Java. So, start salivating.....
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Singapore, Singapore

Free shuttle from Changi to the city. But Sin seems to be too hot and too humid - especially for us who'd just finished winter down under.

Singapore chilli crab for dinner. Taxi back to Changi airport.
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Nara, Japan


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/minggaang/2/1159128540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/minggaang/2/1159128540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/minggaang/2/1159128540/tpod.html Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:09:11 -0400 Travelbugs in Europe

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Copenhagen, Denmark


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