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.