Saigon, a charming city

I have been living in Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for a while and I feel that this city is charming. Many tourists come to Saigon to see the old post office, the old church but for me the most important is to taste the daily living like locals.

First of all, Saigon food is good. If you are meat lover, you will like Saigon so much!

Beef Pho

The Vietnam popular food is Pho (Beef noodle soup), noodle and sliced beef in savory soup, best served hot and topped with beansprouts and basil or mint leaves.. This hearty soup is the best eaten in cool weather.

Another common food is called Banh choose what you want to put inside (can be grilled pork, egg, ham, chicken, beef, etc). You can find Banh Mi stalls everywhere in Saigon.

Beef stew is also a common dish in Saigon. The beef is stewed with carrot and potato until the meat is so tender you do not need teeth to eat.

Beef Stew

Motorcycle is the basic transportation in Saigon and you can see roads full of motorcycles a rush hours. They are already expert in riding  motorcycle that seeing 3 persons in 1 motorcycle is a common. Some foreigners here also have adapt to this and they can buy or rent motor cycle here.

Motorcycles in Saigon

3 persons in 1 motorcycle

 

A post for my father

 These days I feel so blue. I often think of my late father that passed away 17 years ago.

I miss him so much and want to see him in my dream if God allows. 

I remember when I was a kid my father is the one who pushed me to study multiplication. I was lazy at that time and pretended to sleep. My father is the one who taught me to play chess and many times I defeated one of his friends in chess when he came to our house.

My father is the one who give me a ride on his bicycle to look for missing tricycles. And he often bought me 'soto daging' to eat. 

When I was studying at University in Surabaya my father came to Surabaya to give me money  IDR 90,000 per month for my expenses to rent a room, transportation, etc. We always met at a restaurant in front of STTS University Surabaya. I remember I alwasy ate nasi rames with daging bali there. After giving money he will take metro mini to Bratang terminal and take bus from Pulo Gadung to go back to Kediri.

When I was having KKN (Kuliah Kerja Nyata) in one of vilages in Madiun. I rode my motorcycle with him from Surabaya to Madiun. I think he worried if something would happen to me so he accompanied me from Surabaya to Madiun.

When I was working in Jakarta, he already got sick of lung cancer. Once he was admitted to a hospital Bhayangkara and I visited him. He hugged me and I know that he cried. It is a rare thing that my father hugged me. In our family we usually don't show affection openly to each other. But I am not that sensitive back then. As a young person I think much of my work which I regretted right now. If only I can return the moment I may just resign from my work and accompany him in Kediri.

I lost a lot of moments with my Dad, even when he passed away I was still working in a stupid project in Jakarta.

Now I just realized that we should appreciate the time we can spend with family, even though it may be boring.

Now I am trying to spend more time with my kid and my wife. Life is just short. Someday I will be gone and my grandchildren may not know me. All of use will vanish one day. This is life.

I just want to say to my father that I love him and I want to hug him back.

Beautiful City of Legazpi with Mayon Volcano, Philippines (Part 2)

Continuing the story of Legazpi from Part 1, I visited the Cagsawa Ruins which was very crowded at that time. It is better to visit not during public holiday since you can enjoy the view better.  You can view Mayon Volcano from the ruins with beautiful flowers in front.

Cagsawa Ruins

View of Mayon Volcano from Cagsawa Ruin

Another View of Mayon Volcano from Cagsawa Ruins

We then went to visit Daraga Church. This church is in the Legazpi City. This church has beautiful relics on its walls and also has a beautiful background of Mayon Volcano. I really like to pray in this church and I feel that God is near me whenever I pray in old churches like this.

If you have time, I suggest you go inside and peacefully pray to God and ask Him your wishes and He will hear you.

Daraga Church

Daraga Church

In the afternoon I visited Legazpi boulevard, which is near the sea. There are many people visiting that place to relax. 

Legazpi Boulevard

Legazpi Boulevard

There is one thing that you can try when you are there: Chili Ice Cream. Colonial Creamery has a famous Chili Ice Cream that has many level of 'hotness'.  There is a store in the mall in Legazpi and you may try it before you go home.

Colonial Creamery Chili Ice Cream

Beautiful City of Legazpi with Mayon Volcano, Philippines (Part 1)

 I love Philippines so much. Generally Philippines people are kind. I worked in Philippines for about 3.5 years in total. Now I would like to share my experience when I was there.

Firstly let's visit Legazpi with its Mayon Volcano. The volcano is very beautiful with it symmetrical cone shape. I took Cebu Philippines airline from Manila to Legazpi. The travel is around 1 hour only. From the plane you can see the Mayon Volcano already when you are approaching Legazpi.

Mayon Volcano from plane

Legazpi airport is a small airport and you also can see Mayon Volcano from there.

Legazpi Airport

I chose to stay at Camalig area since it is close to Mayon. From the city of Camalig yo can see Mayon in the background. 

View of Mayon Volcano from my accommodation in Camalig

Camalig Area

Not far from the center of Camalig, we can go to Quininone Hill where you can see beautiful Mayon Volcano in the background of green pasture. I like this place since it can give a peaceful mind. You just can sit around there and quietly watch the Mayon Volcano.

Quininone Hill Camalig

Near Quininoe Hill, just a 5 minute walk, you can visit Japanese cave made by Japanese to hide from their enemy during World War 2. You just need to pay a small amount of money to tip the 'small guide" (which is a kid) to take you there. 

Japanese Cave near Quininone Hill

Another attraction of Camalig is the Saint John the Baptist Church, an old church that has been rebuilt a few times. This church is close in the Camalig center and still being used for public mass until today.

Saint John the Baptist Church Camalig

I personally like churches and I like to have a quiet moment inside the church. Sometimes I just enter an open old church and pray inside. Sitting inside this old church gives a peaceful of mind. 

Inside Saint John the Baptist Church Camalig

I also visited Quitinday Hill which has many small hills similar to Chocolate Hills in Bohol. At that time the road to this hill was still in construction so we had to park our car a bit far and walk through muddy road to the hill.

Road to Quitinday Hill

After walking we arrived at the entrance post and from there we hike a bit into the place where we can see the green hills. There is a small hut there so you sit and can take rest while enjoying the view for a while.

Quitinday Hill View

Lumut, a travel story

I was in Lumut for quite long. It is  a small town in Malaysia, about 3 hours drive from Penang or 3-4 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur.

 

Last time I stayed mostly in Best Western Hotel, a hotel that actually looks more like an apartment than a hotel. This hotel is quite OK, it is near to new Jetty where you can take speed boats to go to Pangkor Island, a popular destination in Lumut.

 

Well as usual, I just want to share my experience in Lumut, especially the food and the interesting places to visit.

 

There are some restautants that I like to visit when I was there:

 

Lumut Restaurant

 

It is located near the old Jetty. This restaurant is a bit hidden and it serves Chinese seafood. I like the chili crab here and the fish is also good (try ikan tiga rasa or 3-flavor fish). The vegetables are quite standard.

 

Biriyani

 

This restaurant serves Indian Mamak food. I like to eat Roti Canai with Tandoori chicken here. The location is near Petronas petrol station. You can also try biryani rice with fried chicken or with crispy bitter gourd.

Nasi biryani

 

 Chicken Rice Shop

 

This shop has many branches in Malaysia. The one I often visited was located in AEON Jusco shopping mall. I like to eat the chicken rice with roasted chicken and  beansprout. However I also like the asam fish (Fish in sour soup) very much.

 

Asam Fish

Chicken Rice with beansprout

AEON Jusco is my favorite mall in Lumut. Usually I go there for my groceries and to buy UCC coffee at Daeso shop. Compared to Indonesia, the prices of fruits in Malaysia is cheaper. Last time when my wife was there, I often bought Kiwi fruit and Red Grapes and the prices approximately 50% cheaper than Indonesia. In addition to AEON Jusco you also can visit Tesco (near AEON) and also Giant.

In Lumut, I also visited Taman Paya Bakau (Mangrove forest). There are many monkeys there and the place is very quite. If you want to have some time alone maybe you can go there and enjoy the forest.

Coffee UCC I used to drink in Lumut

Souvenir Shop in Lumut

Lumut Town near Old Jetty

Lumut is abundant in seafood. You can find dried fish, anchovy, squid there. I found one shop is quite good in terms of price and quality, it is Anak Kampung Pangkor shop. I usually buy cooked dried seasoned squid here. A friend of mine likes to buy dried anchovy here.

 

If you visit Lumut, I recommend you also visit Cameron Highlands since it is not so far away from Lumut. Cameron Highlands is a high area in Malahsia where you can find tea plantations and flower gardens.

 

In Batu Gajah, approximately 1 hour from Lumut you also can visit Kellie's Castle. It is actually a big house built by an Englishman long time ago but not yet finished. The house is like a castle since the walls are made of big brick stones.

Another place to visit is actually Ipoh where you can find many caves. Ipoh is  a town surrounded by granite hills. The soil is suitable for growing vegetables like beansprout and also fruits like pomelo. Beansprout in Ipoh is famous for its size and the pomelo (usually calles Tambun Pomelo since the famous one comes from Tambun, an area in Ipoh) is also sweet.

 

 

Kediri, my sweet home town

When talking about Kediri, I always think of the food and my childhood memories there. I was born and spent 20 years of my life there. If you don't know about Kediri, let me introduce you to this town.

 

Kediri is a small town in East Java, Indonesia. The climate is mild, it is not too hot at noon and not too cold at night. Kediri is also the home of one of big cigarette manufacturers: Gudang Garam.

Logo of Gudang Garam

Kediri is called "City of Beancurd" since there are many beancurd manufacturers in Kediri. People in Kediri speak Javanese as their native language. Even I speak Javanese first before I can speak Bahasa Indonesia. Historically, Kediri is the place where the old Kadiri Kingdom resided. You still can see some remaining sites of this kingdom here such as the swimming pool with the "Totok Kerot" (something like guardian of the house) statue and also the "Selomangkleng" Cave in Kediri.

 

Kediri, East Java

Let's talk about food now. When I visited Kediri, I always eat these kinds of food.

 

Nasi Pecel (Spicy Javanese Salad on Rice)

 

This simple dish was actually made of steam rice topped with mix of vegetables (usually beansprout, long beans, cassava leave, etc) showered with spicy peanut sauce. There are many versions of this pecel but for me Kediri's is still the best. Another unique thing about Kediri's pecel is they have special sauce made of "rotten" tempe (fermented soybean cake), called "tumpang". If the peanut sauce is sweet and spicy, tumpang sauce is savory.

 

Sate Ayam Pak Siboen

 

Sate ayam or Chicken Satay Pak Siboen is simply the best. They use free range chicken (ayam kampung) and the peanut sauce is so smooth and creamy, usually also added with sweet soy. Many Indonesian celebrities will come to eat here when they visit Kediri. The chicken satay comes from Ponogoro. You may also need to try "balungan" (chicken bones with little meat attached).




Sate Ayam Pak Siboen

This sate is usually served with lontong (rice cake), and sliced shallots and crushed chili.

Sate Pak Siboen is located at General Sudirman street Kediri.

Tahu Lontong (Bean curd with Rice Cake)

Tahu Lontong is made of cur fried bean curd combined with cut rice cake, fried peanut, cucumber pickles, with gravy made of peanut, chili, garlic, and palm sugar (Javanese red sugar).

The one that I usually eat is located at Monginsidi street near Gi Ki (Chinese funeral service building).

 There are also several old restaurants that provide quite good food. For Chinese food, restaurant Canton and Po Kang have been in Kediri for quite long time. For Indonesian food, Depot Willis at Sudirman street is famous for its Rawon (Javanese black beef soup)



Tahu Lontong

As I said earlier, Kediri is known as bean curd city. There are so many bean curd manufacturers here. To name a few, Bahkacung, LTH, Poo are the famous ones. Kediri has two types of bean curd: the white one (uncooked) and the yellow one (cooked). We also can find bean curd stick snack here.




Po Kang Restaurant



Bahkacung beancurd shop



 


LTH beancurd shop

 

Some street snacks in Kediri

 

What are the things to visit in Kediri? I recommend the following places to visit when you are in Kediri:

 

Goa Selongmangkleng (Selomangkleng Cave).

 

It is located not so far from the city center. This place is a small cave where according to the legend, one of Kadiri kingdom's queens, Tribuwana Tunggadewi did meditation. Don't expect this as a large cave where you can walk in. It is just like a hole in granite hill that have some stone carving inside.

 

Mt. Kelud

 

You can read my previous posting on this volcano. This is a small active volcano near Kediri. It just erupted last week, showering Kediri and surrounded cities with sands and ash. The street was covered with up-to 5 cm of white materials. The sands and ash even reach Jogjakarta and Solo in Middle Java.

 

Pohsarang

 

Pohsarang is a pilgrim place for Catholic people in Kediri. They replicate whatever you find in Vatican here. You can find a big cave with "holy" water, Madonna statue, and also Via Dolorosa here.

 

Besuki

 

Besuki is high area in Kediri. The weather is cool and very cold at night. There are a few villas here. Recommended you drive very strong vehicles when coming here since the road is steep.

 

Popoh

 

Popoh is  a nearby beach in Kediri. This beach is famous since long time ago. However, don't expect to find white-sand beach here. It is just more a coral beach where you can sit beside the beach to have a picnic with your family or friends.

 

 



The Windmills of Kinderdijk

It was a month ago in the chilling air when I visited this place for the second time. The last time I came here was in 2006. The scenery was the same but this time I visited during sunset time.

 

Kinderdijk is a small beautiful village in the Netherlands. It houses many windmills that stand near a water stream. The location may not be reachable by public transport but you can join a tour to come here. This time I came during the sunset time. Below are some pictures I tool when I was there that I hope you enjoy.

 

The Worst Taxi Winner: Malaysia

Ths is a real story about Taxi in Malaysia. One week ago I took a taxi from my hotel to Train station. At the same time I saw one fellow Malaysian was heading to the same direction so I offered him to join my taxi to thesame train station. The fare is usually MYR 10 (without meter!) but when we arrived the taxi driver asked for 20, explaining the number of persons is two!  I was really angry with this driver, but since my friend was in hurry to purchase train ticket, we paid 20. 

My friend, which is Malaysian, told me that this kind of things also happen so many times to him ( m

Not only me). one tme the taxi driver  charged him almost twice, even though it was not night time already ( and even night time they should only add 50%). Amnother time the taxi driver asked him to get out of the taxi soon after he alighted the taxi since he did not want to pay what the driver asked for.

These are a few reasons A taxi in Malaysian refuses to take you or charge more:
1. Traffic Jam. Add additional 3 to 10 ringgit from the meter or they just say a rate. Take it or leave it or most pf time the driver just refuses to take you.
2. The way to your destination is not jammed, but on the way back is jammed. They are so futuristic that they already think of the way back!
3. Your destination is not on the way of the driver's home. He wants to go home.
4. Your destination is on the way to the driver's home, but he will also bring his wife in the taxi with you.
5. You are more than 1 persons, so each of you have to pay seperately. Insane logic!
6. Sorry the destination is too far, The driver only takes short distance trips.
7. The taxi has been waiting in queue for long, so add more money or just take another taxi.
8. It is almost midnight. The driver won't take you since they are waiting for after midnight rate. Thishappens frequently in Airport. If you arrive 11:30 pm or more, 99% chance you have to wait for at least 1 hour to get taxi. they are waiting right outside the Airport for midnight rate.
9. And the list goes on.......

Reporting the taxi seems useless since it seems that they have more "power". I think Malaysian government should take this seriously since actually this happens not only to Malaysian, but also to foreigners. I think Malaysian tai needs competition, really hard competition, so they will not treat customers like shit!

I think most Asian taxis are like that, but Malaysian taxi is the winner!

Kuala Lumpur - 1 thing I like and I hate.

Kuala Lumpur (KL) is the capital of Malaysia. I lived in KL there for more than 1 year. I just want to share 1 thing I like and 1 thing I hate about KL:

 

I like KL Food

 

Since the population of Indian and Chinese are quite high, the food here is quite diverse. I like to have roti Chanai with teh tarik or nasi lemak with beef or chicken rendang. Roti Chanai usually can be found in Indian or mamak (Indian moslem) stalls. There is a variation by adding an egg inside the roti Chanai (they call it Roti telur). If you opt for healthier roti, you can try Chapati (looks like Chanai but cooked without oil). Teh tarik is milk tea creating by pouring the tea from one cup to another like pulling (tarik means pull). 

 

 Also like Nyonya food. Nyonya (for ladies) and Babah (for men) are the words used for Chinese who came to Malaysia (and also Indonesia) long time ago and married local people. They then adopted local culture (like the clothes, kebaya, for ladies) and local food. The food is then called Nyonya food, a combination of local/malay and Chinese food. One food I like is asam fish (fish cooked in sour soup).

 

I also like the mooncakes made in Malaysia because of the varieties and the pretty packaging. You even can find Mooncake with sambal (chilli sauce) here. I never try it so I don't know how strange the test is. My favourites are alwasy the one filled with lotus seed paste with 1 or 2 egg yolks inside. I like to buy mooncakes here as a gift to my relatives. As I said before the packaging is beautifully created and suitable as a gift (either tin or paper box). The price is also reasonable.

 

I hate KL Taxi

 

The Taxi is really irritating here. Firstly, 90% of taxi don't want to use taxi meter with many reasons. They always haggle for the fare (either withourt meter or with meter plus additional money). And it seems that they have gang of taxi drivers doing the same thing. Secondly, most of the time the taxi doesn't want to go to certain places with various reasons (Traffic, not on his way home, etc). If you are in KL for long term, I am suggesting you to buy a car since it will make you mentally healthier due to less angry moments with the Taxis here.

 

Airpor taxi is another thing. If you arrive at KL airport maybe around 11:30 pm (almost midnight), please expect to queue for long even if you already purchase the taxi voucher in arrival.  Once I queue more than 1 hour with other pissed off pasengers. The reason is the taxi driver will not pick up the passanger before midnight, because the midnmight rate is 50% more than the daytime rate. However when they pick the queuing pasenger at 12:00 midnight, since the passanger purchase the taxi voucher before midnight, the rate is still daytime rate. So they will wait for another taxi to pick up those passengers first. The problem is that "another" taxi also think the same, resulting no taxi picking the passenngers even after 12 midnight, you have to wait maybe until 12:30 morning then you will get the taxi.

 

Hopefully someday Indonesia taxi like Blue Bird can open its branch in KL so they can shut down those irritating taxis forever.

Lake Toba and Tarutung

Lake Toba is one of the biggest crater lake in the world. It is located in Sumatra Island, North Sumatra province, Indonesia. you can fly to Medan and then drive to lake Toba. There are actually many good places to visit in North Sumatra.

Medan is the biggest city in North Sumatra and the culture thre is very diverse. The culture of Batak and Chinese blends well so you can still hear people speak Hokkianese, one of Chinese dialect here. Even some Batak also can speak this dialect.
 



Lake Toba Map

Berastagi is a mounteneous area near Medan. The climate is cool and many people come here just to spend weekends. Another town is Pematangsiantar, a town you can visit on the way from Medan to lake Toba. Last time I visit this town and eat one of the best noodle soup in my life, with pork charsiu (red roasted pork belly). 



Lake Toba

Port at Lake Toba

Lake Toba

Most food here contains pork, since Batak is mostly Christian, they enjoy pork delicacy as much as Chinese. if you want to try alcoholic drink, you can buy "tuak", a traditional Batak rice wine. the color is white and it is also cheap, around IDR 25,000 (around USD 3) a bottle. You can find it in almost all restaurants and " lapo " (small traditional Batak restaurant). If you really want to experience the Batak food, you should eat at lapo. You can find some food made from dog meat and also food from pork blood.

The combination of Batak and Chinese, both are famous of eating "every living things" makes North Sumatra the best place for fear factor. The resemblance of Batak and Chinese culture makes them easy to assimilate. Some of my friends and relatives of my wife actually are Batak-Chinese couples.

From Pematangsiantar you can then continue driving to Lake Toba. You have an option to stay on the main land or in Samosir island in the middle of lake Toba. There is a ferry on the lake shore that can bring you car across the lake to the Samosir Island in the middle of the lake. Last time when I was there, the fare is IDR 90,000 (around USD 10) one-way. athe first town you visit in Samosir is Tuktuk. There are many choices of avcomodation there. The cost is from IDR 50,000 to 250,000. Last time I just came to an accomodation and stayed for 1 night. 

 

 



The grave of Nomensen

Nommensen Picture & Safe

Another place to visit is Tarutung, a small town where the first Batak church was established. Tarutung is a cool place with still surrounded by forests. Tarutung now is still the center HKBP (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan), Maybe the biggest church group in Indonesia.

It was started long time ago when Ludwig Nommensen from Germany came as missionary to Batak land. He is the successful missinaty in batak since before him missionaries were killed by Batak. There was a assasination attempt toward him before by poisoning his food. He did not eat the food but his dog, Tuan Sipakur ate and died. The dog now was burried near Nommensen grave that you can visit here. When visiting his grave you also can take a look at his framed picture and his very old safe that nobody knows what is inside since it was locked and not opened since his death.

 





Salib Kasih (The Cross of Love) at Tarutung



Salib Kasih (The Cross of Love) at Tarutung

In Tarutung, there is a place called Salib Kasih (the Cross of Love), the place where Nommensen used to pray for Batak people to be saved. It is beautifully located in a hill near Tarutung (about 15 mintes drive) with the view of Tarutung town below. You also can visit the first chuch built by Nommensen (HKBP church).

From Tarutung you can drive to Sibolga, a small town near the beach. Sibolga is famous for its seafood. On the way, you can see many monkeys beside the street and you can feed the monkeys. There is also one waterfall betwen Tarutung and Sibolga.

 





The Church of Nommensen (now HKBP)

Monkeys on the way from Tarutung to Sibolga



Waterfall between Tarutung and Sibolga

Nearby you can also take a visit to the grave of Sisingamangaraja XII, one of the famous Batak kings who died when fighting with the Dutch colonoalist long time ago. It was said that he is bulletproof and the Dutch could not kill him before. His power only disappear when he is in touch with blood. So during the fight the Dutch shot his daughter first and then shot him when he carries his bloody daughter, he was in touch with his daughter blood then.




Impression of Sisingamangaraja XII



The grave of Si Singamangaraja