HEAVEN'S AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun… in Penang, Malaysia

2012-01-26T17:57:00.000-08:00

Traveled in November, 2011

It’s crazy how work (and play) has taken up so much of mytime, I finally found time to write about my trip to Penang! *fistpump*

So. I had been to Georgetown, the capital of Penang, a few years back. Ididn’t have enough time to explore it, so when Cici and Vindhya informed methere was a promo on Air Asia for return flights between Jakarta and Penang, Ididn’t think much further. I was in! And we dragged Renny to it as well :D

S L E E P

It was no ambitious travel. All the 4 of us wanted was justhaving a relaxed and good time, no crammed itinerary, and we made room forimprovisations. But of course, we wanted to sleep good, so lodging was bookedquite long before departure date. We fell for RED INN, and it turned out to besatisfying. A small inn with clean sheets, friendly staff, okay breakfast, andonly RM 30 / night / person in a 4bed girl dormitory.

Getting comfy once we got in our room at RED INN

We assumed these 2 backpackers were waiting for vacant beds

Where we stayed

Located on Love Lane, I read that the street name couldderive from the history of the street, which was where brothels and houses ofmistresses located. It’s not something certain until this day but it’s quiteinteresting, no? *gossip mode: on*

S H O P & E A T

We didn’t do much shopping in this trip. I don’t thinkPenang is really known as a shopping place anyway. But I did go crazy in theCHOCOLATE BOUTIQUE, which if I’m not mistaken was located on Lebuh Leith. Ispent a total of about MYR 150 ‘only’ for some packs of chocolate (sesame oilflavor, dark choco, mango flavor & some others), a pack of teh tarik sachets, and a pack ofpeppermint white coffe sachets.

It was so hard to pick a few from the wholeoption in the store, cos almost all were yummy! We know that almost all of themwere yummy because we tasted the samples for almost each kind of the products.A friendly service too they’ve got there. Remember, the store closes at 6 pm.Don’t miss your chance to experience the chocolate heaven.

Hm.. what to buy? So confused...!

As Jakartans, we’re really used to shopping malls. But weheard that some brands were cheaper here in Penang, so we tried our luck in theGURNEY PLAZA, on Gurney Drive. It’s located along a shoreline, it would be niceto sit out and enjoy the night lights across the beach.

Gurney Drive sidewalk 'stores'

And yes we shopped a little at the mall and at the sidewalkshops, but it was the food bazaar that really made our Gurney trip. The GURNEY DRIVE HAWKER CENTRE was just next to the mall, packed with food stalls rangingfrom snack to big meals, ie. rojak(fruit salad with spicy sauce), oyster omelet, char kuay teow, sugarcanedrinks, and sooo many more. Some stalls were so famous that I didn’t even wannajoin the long queue, no thank you. I want my food fast when I’m hungry.

Would you like fries with that? oh whoops, they're all fried :P

Dining under the stars

Dinner and me

As for our other meals, we weren’t being so picky. Whereverand whenever we felt hungry, we just hopped in the closest diners that lookedaffordable and decent enough. Stressing on that ‘affordable’ factor, we had tocancel our plan to eat and relax at DAVID BROWN restaurant on Strawberry Hillaka Penang Hill (used to be named Bukit Bendera). Even the waitress at theentrance knew we were too cheap to eat there, she didn’t even bother to smilewhen we asked about the menu. Oh well, to the commoners’ food court we went.

Fried rice at Penang Hill foodcourt

Random ice cream with yummy and quite rare flavors, in front of the Chocolate Boutique

A diner where we had our first meal in Georgetown

Our last supper in Penang, menu: nasi kandar

Nasi Kandar, an Indian cuisine

S I G H T S E E I N G

PENANG HILL is a (literally) high place where you can viewthe whole Penang island – so to speak – and a tip of the main land from bird’seye view. Apparently it’s a very popular tourism site that the viewingpoint was packed with tourists from every age and ethnicity. I’m glad we tookthe buggy tour around the hill (I think it was about RM 30 per buggy) cos therich people’s houses and villas were so nice to look at and, well, I justreally liked the buggy ride. I wish I could have one to ride around in everycity I visit. Hee hee…that would be fun!!

The ambience reminded me of a neighborhood in Bandung :P

Knock knock!

That's the David Brown's Restaurant up there

Penang view and the tram that takes you up the hill

The way up to the hill was by tram. Getting to the tramstation by bus was quite a long trip, we fell asleep on the bus. It wasprobably about half an hour or more.

The bus station at KOMTAR

Trying to find out which bus we should take

Georgetown seen from a normal eye-view is no lessattractive. The town is much influenced by the Chinese, Malay, and Indian. It’sobvious by looking at the buildings, food, and well, the people. And my doors and windows photofetish was satiated * verywide grin *

A street art, sort of, illustrating the "tok tok noodle"

The typical backpacker profile, drawn on the terrace of a hostel

One of the very famous heritage – if I may say a landmark –in Penang is called the CHEONG FATT TZE MANSION (not to be mistaken with hisrelative’s house the Tjong A Fie mansion in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia).The history goes way back to the 19^th century at the time of CheongFatt Tze, a successful merchant with 9 wives (I just had to highlight that), was at the top of his game.It’s not allowed to take pictures in the house, so just imagine a Chinese housewith furniture of the rich and famous back then.

The tour around the mansion with our guide lady was likelistening to an epic Chinese story because of the narration-alike intonation ofthe lady. Everyone in the group was engaged to her stories. But forgetful me, Idon’t remember the details though I found it an interesting story (especiallybecause it was true according to history), so I recommend you guys to searchabout it yourself on the net :D

Much to our surprise, the mansion is also a guesthouse with only 8 rooms to rent, one of them being named “Batavia” (Batavia is theold name for Jakarta). If only weresearched better, we would’ve stayed there at least for a night. Hm, thatleaves a reason to come back to Penang someday.

Location: Lebuh Leith (Leith Street)

Admission fee: RM 12 / person

And then then next day we continued our touristy sightseeing to the PERANAKAN MANSION. This house used to belong to another rich Chinese man.

Having seen the Cheong Fatz Tze mansion the day before, which was designed very much similar to this one, I honestly wasn’t as excited, except for the fact that here you may take as many pictures as you’d like. Plus, growing up watching so many kungfu series made these houses felt somewhat familiar to me.. hahaha..

More on the mansion, have a visit here.

Location: on Church Street.

Admission fee: RM 10 / person.

- B A T U F E R I N G H I

Aaaaannndd here comes the main attraction of Penang (forus)… *drum roll* …It’s the TOY MUSEUM..!!! *audience cheering*

They claim to be world’s largest toy museum. Maybe it is, Idon’t know. What I know is, seeing action figures of Kurt Cobain and The CorpseBride characters really made my day though they’re only a few inches tall. Itdoesn’t take a lot to make me happy, does it? :P

The New York Unplugged version and the Smells Like Teen Spirit version \m/

Creepily romantic <3

The museum was being renovated, so the toys weren’tdisplayed really well (though I’m not sure how they’d be displayed normally).But where else could you see Goofy and Uncle Scrooge standing next to LaraCroft’s long legs, and what’s Cheshire Cat doing next to Batman’s knees? Yes,you ~~heard me~~ read it right.

Admission fee: RM 20 / person

Closing time: 8ish PM.

Location: Tanjung Bungah, Batu Feringhi. In front of Copthorne Orchid Hotel.

Walking towards the Toy Museum after an early dinner

Batu Feringhi is an outskirt of Georgetown, a beach town ifyou may. Hotels, apartments, and villas lined up along the beach including theToy Museum and Hard Rock Café / shop. It took us about 1 hour to get there bybus from the heart of Georgetown.

Just before falling asleep :P

We went to the Hard Rock shop just to accompany Vindhya toget some stuff for her friends or family. But oh dear, I could not resistmyself from purchasing a calm-colored pullover that cost a fortune (meaning I hadto use my credit card). But no regret, it’s really comfy :D

To the shop, we go!

All in all, this was a super fun trip and at the same timerelaxing and simply just silly-fun. Whatever that means…hahahaha… Yes it wastiring because we filled up our days with walking, sightseeing, and riding thebus to places, but I came back happy to my routines afterwards J

THE PHILIPPINES, MAY 2011 - PART 6

2012-01-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

Finally… a post on mylast day in the Philippines! And this was traveled months ago! Hahahaha.. sorry, Igot busy with work and traveling :P

View from the airport

However, we didn’t do much on our last day in Manila. BuSusan and Pak Jonjo picked us up at the airport and took us to this elite area calledSerendra, consisted of apartment buildings, offices, and shopping mall. Mainagenda was to munch on – again – ensaymada at the Mary Grace café! Being a trueManila savvy (Manilaist? Manila-er? Manilan? …) that she is, Bu Susan showed usanother branch of this lovely café.

Mary Grace at Serendra

And she showed us how to eat the delicacythe better way: dip it in a cup of tsokolade (chocolate)! Yummo! Oh my, I cantaste the soft bread with savory cheese disolving with the warm tsokolade andmelting in my mouth right now.. *delusional*

A match made in heaven

Mary Grace's ensaymada, not to be mistaken with other ensaymadas

Meal got yummier with a portion of wheat bread layered withcheese (I forgot what kind) as you like.

What’s more about the loveliness of Mary Grace is thatvisitors can write some messages or testimony to put beneath the table’s glasssurface and on the walls. Here’s what Boyo and I wrote:

A smart way to engage visitors to your business: make them feel they're a part of you

Each of us packed up a dozen of ensaymada to bring home forfamily, and then checked out what they offered in the mall. We got some fridgemagnets, jeepney toys, and said our goodbyes to the kind Bu Susan and PakJonjo. We decided to take a cab and do a bit more of souvenir shopping atKultura store in Mall Of Asia.

And that was it. Another cab ride to airport, another delayof our Cebu Pacific Air flight due to the weather. Too bad the airport didn’tprovide wifi connection except in some cafes where you’d have to sit in and askfor their password.

A cabin bag plus a box of ensaymada each :D

But all in all, the whole trip was fun, and I definitelywould love to have another chance roaming in Batanes or even Intramuros, and ofcourse, another ensaymada dip in tsokolate!

THE PHILIPPINES, MAY 2011 - PART 5

2011-09-08T11:06:00.000-07:00

The ride around Batan Island continued… woohoo!

Ivana Town – theoldest house and Honesty Coffee Shop

It’s said to be the oldest house built on the island thatstill exists, it’s called the Ivana House, because it’s located in Ivana town.Honestly, I expected something more spectacular or more run-down. But the househad gone through a little renovation as it turned out. And it didn’t look thatmuch different or older than the rest of stone houses I saw on the island. Itmay be historic, but.. then what? *laughinglike Beavis & Butthead*

Ivana House

The next “tourist attraction” I found much more interesting.It’s the Honesty Coffee Shop. And it’s not there just for show. It really teststhe honesty of any visitor. There’s nobody waiting the store and coffee shop.They put a price list of each item they sell, including the DIY instant coffee,and a box that’s sitting on the counter acting as the cashier! You takewhatever you want, eat/drink in the shop, total the prices, put your money inthe box. Wouldn’t it be nice if the whole world can be trusted like that?

Honesty Coffee Shop

Uyugan & Itbud

I don’t know what to say about these two towns or villages,except that..they’re another gorgeous view and breezy ride around Batan Island:D

And in Uyugan, my taxibike driver was quick enough to pullover when we went past a house with an old lady in her farming cloak (orwhatever it’s called), so I could snap a picture, with her approval, of course.

The outfit that we saw in Diura earlier that day

Fundacion Pacita

If Greece didn’t work out for my phantom future honeymoon, Iknow where to go. Here, Batanes, and definitely would stay at Fundacion PacitaNature Lodge in Basco, on top of a lush green hill. The house belongs to therich Abad family and once was a home studio of Pacita Abad, apparently awell-known Philippino artist.

The house on the hill...

Statues of Pacita's parents

We weren’t allowed to go in because only guests werepermitted, but already I fell so deeply in love with the house, with the well-maintainedgarden, panoramic view of Pacific Ocean and all. My god..!

Click here toget more info of the lodge.

View Deck

We had passed this area the day before and looked around fora little bit. Pinoys are known to be devoted Catholics (or so the image), nowonder there are rosarios and Virgin Mary statues in such random places. Likeon this View Deck, where else would you see a Virgin Mary shrine at the side ofthe road almost on the edge of a cliff? Amazing!

What’s also amazing is when you look down the ocean. Thescenic view and the protruding deck with benches were the reason this areacalled “View Deck”. I bet I could even make divine poems if I sat therepondering through the ocean and mountain view long enough… *Oh Romeo Romeo..where art thou oh Romeo..*

And then down we went by the stairs, oh so many stairs…! Iwas almost dead beat but curiosity won over physical weakness. I made it! Imade it down there, jaw-dropped by the enchanting nature, scared by thebreaking waves, and freshened by the cool water in the smallI-have-no-idea-why-it-was-green sort-of pond or whatever that was.

Yup, it was that high

Video of View Deck

Brandon’s Lodge

We spent the second night in Basco at Brandon’s Lodge. It’smuch nicer than Ivatan Lodge and expectedly cost more. Wanna know more aboutit? Wait for the next post! ~ to be continued ~

THE PHILIPPINES, MAY 2011 - PART 4

2011-09-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

Batanes’ iconic sign is the “Blow Ur Horn” traffic sign on theedges of cliffs all around the island. It’s there for safety reason, but it’sunusual because the ‘your’ is always spelled ‘Ur’, and it’s even printed onsouvenir t-shirts.

Around the island in 7hours

Okay, I’m exaggerating just to make the sub-title catchy. Wedidn’t actually go around the whole island, only some part of it * grin * Wehired 2 motorbike taxis from 8AM to 5PM (but the trip actually ended 2 hoursearlier) to several areas: Diura fishingvillage, Mahatao town, Ivana town, and Itbud town. Motorbike + gas + driver= php 800 / pax.

The ride was great! With no helmet on (though we did bumpinto cops, they didn’t make that a problem), I felt a maximum joy of the breezywind. It was much better and far more enjoyable than riding the pedicab likethe previous day. And Owl City’s pop dreamy music in my iPod made the ride evenmore delightful :)

Diura fishing village

It’s actually a preserved village meant for tourism, andstill being a real fishing village. Tourists had to sign up on a guestbookbefore entering the area. We walked from the entrance to the whole tour sites,including the Municipal Cottage, which is actually for rent, the Crystal Cave,where a Virgin Mary statue is built before a small fountain that flows to asmall river.

Caraboos around the entrance to Diura Village

You can actually spend the night here

Virgin Mary on the river

The very fresh freshwater

Diura's traditional house

At one of the preserved traditional houses, they sold theseclothing for farming or fishing purpose. It’s made of some sort of coconut fibre and is supposed to keep you cool in the heat and dry from the rain.At least that’s what our motorbike drivers / guides told us.

This is what houte couture means!

Waking up to this view? I would!

The village's fishing output

We continued the long walk down to a beach and a cave.Honestly, I didn’t find the beach’s beauty anywhere near the beauty ofIndonesian beaches, but I was excited about the trekking up and down the road,into and out of the cave.

I gotta admit that I was almost out of breath, unlike Boyowho’s used to working out, and I almost ran out of energy if it weren’t for theprepared chocolate bar in my backpack. But all in all, I loved it! I wish tohave more chances of trekking like this. I know I can do it! * a fist in theair with optimistic glare into the sky *

Mahatao town &lighthouse

First thing first: lunch. We found a simple diner among thelocals’ houses and gobbled whatever food they provided, steamed rice and somesort of stir-fried meat and veggies.

Nearby, there’s a church called San Carlos Borromeo Church.It’s the oldest church of Mahatao, built as a small chapel in 1787, then got renovateddue to a destroy by typhoon and simply styling and has become a NationalCultural Heritage Treasure since 2001.

San Carlos Borromeo Church in Mahatao town

Next: the Mahatao Lighthouse. Another long ride through hillsand villages, it was blue and green as far as the eyes can see. And what afeeling when we got to the lighthouse. It was.. almost surreal!

Oh if only these pictures can do justice. But just imagine, an oldlighthouse – which still functions – on a windy lush green hill surrounded byhills, ocean, and mountains, with cows, goats and caraboos eating off the grassand bushes.

To keep you from scrolling down too much, I’m splitting the4^th day story in two. On to the next post!

THE PHILIPPINES, MAY 2011 - PART 3

2011-09-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

HOORAY! This was the day I had been waiting for months!!! FINALLY we were leaving for the one and only…* drum roll * Batanes..!!!!! * audience cheering, confetti flaring, me doing cartwheels on a string of rope *

Marlboro Hill, the main destination

Getting there

Batanes is the furthest North province of the Philippines. We flew from Manila in the wee hours by SEAir to Basco, on the Batan Island, and it’s the capital of the province.

About 1,5 hours of a little bit delayed flight and we were there. Scenic – and by that I mean GOERGEOUS – landscape was seen from the airplane since about 15 minutes before we landed. Oh fudging heck, it was exactly what I expected, and the awe was even more than I thought I would be feeling. Exaggerating? No I’m not. Boyo, on the other hand, couldn’t help but sleeping even until we landed, it annoyed me because I had nobody to share the excitement with!! Oh Boyo, how could you??

Getting closer to Batanes

Batan Island viewed from the plane

Anyways, the flight was alright, there was only one stewardess on duty, so she was kinda hassled with the mic while showing passengers the safety procedures with all the safety jacket and all. But all went well. The fan at each of the seat pocket kinda made me wonder.. “Is the flight air conditioned?” haha.. turns out, it was, thankfully. And turns out, Batanes produces fans made of some sort of rattan just like the ones in the seat pockets, but I don’t think it was a freebie. Or was it? Darn, I just left it where I found it.

Local craft, fans

The runway was surrounded by mountain views. The airport was really small and things were done manually, like baggage check and baggage collection. The toilet was clean, as everything else was. I had a hunch this was gonna be a lovely stay :D

Basco Airport

Finding a place to stay

We didn’t make any reservation because we found it hard to find any cheap-enough lodge that was bookable via internet. So we took a pedicab and asked the driver to take us to an address on our lodge list. First up: Ivatan Lodge.

Hm, I expected something nicer than this, so I insisted to look at some other places. There was one place called Shanedel’s Inn with a nice back terrace facing the sea, but the room was badly ventilated and I think it was the [asbes] roof that made it so hot, an electric fan just wouldn’t do it for us. All the air conditioned rooms were fully booked.

So we took a room at Ivatan Lodge, PHP 400/ night. It is government owned, and the ladies who run it were very nice and friendly. Fortunately, it was quite a windy season, so the night was quite cool with only a help of the electric fan.

The room

The shower

The reception area

The common room

Marlboro Hill & a ride around the hill

Our first sightseeing was the Marlboro Hill. Look up Batanes on Google image and you’ll see many results containing the picture of this vast green hill. It was also the reason that I took this trip in the first place. Batanes hasn’t made it into the top natural tourism sites of the world, so when people see the photos of it they would most probably think they were taken in New Zealand or Ireland. Well I’ve never been to either, so I wouldn’t actually know.

Filling the tank before the ride to Marlboro Hill

Anyhoo, we took a pedicab (also known as tricycle) to Marlboro Hill. We settled with PHP 300 / a round trip and it took us about 2 hours in total. The view along the whole trip was MARVELOUS. Hills, cliffs, ocean, mountains in the distance, oh it was a sight for even perfectly healthy eyes! And for a place as unknown as this, I was quite surprised that the roads were all asphalted well. I guess it’s not so off-the-beaten-track after all, huh?

Carefully find a spot among the caraboo's poops

Pondering what's the meaning of life

The Marlboro Hill itself was named after, obviously, that cigarette brand with cowboys riding horses on vast hills in their commercials. The actual name of the area was Mahatao, if I’m not mistaken. But what’s in a name, right? (Seriously, this saying doesn’t apply to Lord Voldemort..).

The road around the island

Our pedicab driver couldn’t wait longer than 30 minutes, so we had to make the most out of it to enjoy the awesome view. Of course we took pictures, but we also made time to sit, lie around on the grass (with caraboos’ shit all over, eeww!!!) and just enjoy the moment. It was a sunny day with the right amount of windiness, and summer was the perfect time to visit this island.

Basco town

At only 2 PM we were back in Basco. We didn’t really know what else to do ‘cos we had arranged a longer tour around the island the next day. So we decided to walk around this small town and sightsee.

Basco Church

Basco church

Jeepney, the local transportation that we didn't have a chance to hop on.

There weren’t many people we met on the streets, probably people were working inside buildings. It was a hot day, we got sweaty from walking around, so a little of Philippines local delights did it for us: cold San Miguel beer. I’m not really a beer drinker, but I just had to take a sip or two out of curiosity. It was actually good, I kinda liked it, but I didn’t even finish the first can.

Local delight

We had the drink at the diner of Brandon’s Lodge, which we found accidentally. But it looked so nice and homey, we decided to shorten our stay at Ivatan Lodge and move to Brandon’s Lodge the next night!

The day was so hot that we couldn’t continue our walk. Boyo took a long nap at the lodge, I wished I could too, but somehow I didn’t. I took a walk again by myself later in the afternoon, without any certain destination. I ended up watching the fun that local children were having at a port nearby. They were canonballing, laughing, with grown ups working with containers and stuff in the background.

Basco port

Fun in the sun

2 children consoling the crying mother :(

Diners

Carl’s Canteen was our choice of lunch place after settling our bags at Ivatan Lodge, which was located only about 3 minutes walk from the canteen. The food was good (and we were extremely hungry!), the whole meal cost us PHP 250 for two. They served several kinds of food, which sorta reminded me of Indonesian food back home, but a bit blander. This way I had to say that Indonesia has better food than the Philippines. * fist in the air *

At night, we had dinner at a place located a stone throw away from Basco Church. The food was good, and it was funny that the canteen shared building with a stationery store. Hm, a simple version of high-end bookstores that usually have cafes in them.

The canteen

Eating in a stationery store :))

Our favorite diner was Zan Tan cafe, only a few buildings away from Ivatan Lodge. They serve spaghettis, sausages, fries, cooked instant noodles, hot drinks, cold drinks and a lot more, as well as free wi-fi connection. Yes!! Not wanting to hassle myself with a local cell number, I had to rely on wi-fi and my iPod to get in touch with family and friends back home. I mean, I gotta let Mom know that I was doing fine and let my Twitter ‘followers’ know how fabulous my vacation was! * wanna throw up? I don’t blame you * Just kidding!! :)))

Zan Tan cafe at night

Up next: the next day adventures in Batan Island!

SINGAPORE, A Challenge Breaker

2011-07-19T01:32:00.000-07:00

I know, I still owe myself a writing about Batanes, Philippines. But this weekend trip in Singapore just last weekend was also so fun and while I have a teeny tiny time to blog about it, then I am :D

Here's a collage of simply what I saw during the stay.

Didn't take many pics as I've been there a couple of times, and I was more focused on what I was doing.. which were:

- Highlight of it all: we saw The Lion King musical at Marina Bay Sands. Not allowed to take pictures of the show, but I swear to God, it was one of the greatest shows I've seen, and should I have more chances and money I certainly would see it FIVE TIMES. The cast, the music, the arts & props, the stage directing, the costumes, the singing, EVERYTHING WAS BRILLIANT!! It was my IDR 900,000ish well spent. Seriously!

- We saw Harry Potter, which ends it all. Planned to see the Kungfu Panda 2, but the tickets were all sold out :( Acul and I ended up watching Your Highness, Ipin and Odoy saw Transformers, while Renny and Lita were roaming around somewhere else. Your Highness is a crazy movie... ROFL...

- Shopping. And I broke my own challenge of not purchasing any clothes and accessories until the year ends. Turns out, 3 tops and a scarf went right in my shopping bags, among books, DVDs, and others. Teehee. Well, I can always revise my challenge to "No purchase of clothes and accessories until the year ends, except when I'm on vacations". Ha!

- Get healthy. By walking here and there, and not to mention getting lost because I held the map upside down alone at night..hahahaha..

THE PHILIPPINES, MAY 2011 - PART 2

2011-06-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

DAY 2 – Manila (Sofitel, Intramuros), Makati City (Green Belt)

Breakfast…

Sofitel Plaza in Manila is said to be the best in the city. It’s a 4 (or was it 5?) star hotel, and I was so lucky to get a very great deal from a friend, super super cheap. I’ll keep the ‘how’ as a mystery though, teeheehee.

Breakfast was lavish with yummy-looking food! The Filipinos are big on pork, leaving me less to choose from (trying to stick with the ‘rules’, here). The chicken longanisa, which translates to chicken sausage, is delish as Bu Susan had told me before. It’s sweeter than the usual sausages I’ve ever tasted, so even though it’s good I can’t eat as much as I can with the usual sausages. (I’m big on sausage, by the way.. Sausages FTW!!!)

The thing about comfort…

The whole hotel’s ambiance was so cozy that we really took our time enjoying breakfast. The outdoor part of the restaurant was laid back with swimming pool and the ocean in sight. The lobby was obviously cooled with AC, and even sitting on the room’s balcony felt nice with the breezy wind and, again, ocean and garden views.

I don’t usually stay at high-end hotels in my trips. This time, the stay at Sofitel made me come to a conclusion that comfort makes me lazy.. and sort of kills my adventurous side. But did I enjoy it? Very much! I mean, who wouldn't?

Boyo and I were enjoying our lazing around so much that we almost forgot we had plans for the day. Oops! Usually my “city tour” would start as early as 7 or 8 AM, but this time we stepped out of the hotel at 10.45 AM..! Heehee..

Hotspot and the comparison to Jakarta (sorry can’t help it)…

Just as I thought, a deluxe hotel as this wouldn’t have a free wifi connection in the guest rooms. We had to go down to the lobby, the dining area, or the pool area to use our wifi-ed gadgets (Boyo mostly chatting with his then girlfriend, and me tweeting to my sister and friends).

Not a lot of my friends in Jakarta were interested to see Manila, with a thought that Manila is so much like Jakarta. Wrong!! I found it a lot easier to be connected wireless in this city.. (ooh I’ve become the child of the tech era, …or am I just plain geeky?). The malls and the airport for example, though not 100% of them provide wifi connection, it’s certainly much more difficult to get connected in Jakarta.

Not only that, there are a couple of other differences between Manila and Jakarta, like the streets are much cleaner (ironically trash bins weren’t easily spotted, so do the people put their trash in the pockets until they get home?), and the Old City part of town is much more preserved, the Intramuros.

The Walled City of Intramuros

We killed our wanting to go by Jeepney, Philippines’s public transportation similar to angkot that we have in Indonesia, to get to Intramuros because we were too lazy to hassle ourselves by connecting the Jeepney route with taxi to really get to Intramuros. By taxi, we went. I think the meter was about 100-200p from Sofitel.

I loved Intramuros, so many beautiful old European buildings (look it up for some Philippines colonial era if you wanna know the history). And as common tourists that we were, we took (and got scammed by) the pedicab to go around the district for almost 3 hours with some stops at:

San Agustin church. It’s located near the entrance gate of the district, and it was our first stop, even before taking the pedicab. Lovely church with painted ceilings that looked a lot like reliefs.

Stunning and at the same time spooky statues and paintings of religious figures were displayed in the medieval styled museum next to the church. The admission fee of 100p, and cheaper for senior citizens, college and grade school students.

Manila Cathedral. I don’t go to church, so I wouldn’t know the usual facilities in churches. Bu Susan stressed that this cathedral is air conditioned, and I think I’ve read that information as well somewhere. Hm, so churches don’t usually have aircons? Is it because they have high ceilings that they don’t need aircons? Manila is quite hot, I would think that any big building like these churches would definitely be air-conditioned. Hmm.

Fort Santiago. It’s where Jose Rizal, Philippines’ biggest (on the contrary he was only about 5’2” tall they say) national hero was imprisoned in the 19^th century. You can learn about his and the rest of Filippinos’ patriotism of that era in the museum here, but to me the coolest thing was the planted bronze foot steps that reconstructed Jose Rizal’s path from his prison cell to the spot where he was executed.

The day was super hot and sunny, we decided to lunch before going to other historical places.

Ristorante delle Mitre. That’s where our pedicab driver took us for lunch, and a great choice indeed. The name originated from the word Mitre, which is like ‘friend’, and it refers to the friends of the bishops. So, this restaurant used to be an eatery for bishops of the church that stands nearby. But later they allowed others who were working to build the church (if I’m not mistaken) to eat there too, and these people are the ‘friends’ or the ‘mitre’.

Hence if you look at the menu, you’d see they use a lot of the word ‘bishop’ in naming the food. The place was cozy and cool, such an oasis in the middle of the hot day, and the food were great.

We ordered a soup of salmon, a fish steak, and halo halo (as Bu Susan described it: Halo halo literally means "mix, mix”, and when taken as dessert or refreshment is a mixture of sweetened fruits with crushed ice and topped with a scoop of ice cream.)

A few of other sites. The pedicab driver, who kinda took a role as a tour guide as well, took us to some other historical sites. This building with old cannons surrounded by vast land that now are golf fields, and then passing by statues of ex presidents, etc.

The thing with cheap pedicab fare… !D#!?!%&$@^>!!!!

I’m not a history buff myself, so a 3-hour tour of these things had become a bit too much for me. I’m glad Boyo felt that was enough also, so we called the tour quits. And surprise, surprise….! We were gonna pay the pedicab driver as we were offered, 200 for the whole tour of Intramuros. We even felt generous enough to wanna give him extra money because he’s taken us around by his own force to paddle the bike. And the sympathy and gratitude suddenly disappeared when he claimed that the initial fare he offered us in the beginning was actually the fare for each person, for an hour. What the hell??!!

We weren’t in the mood to argue, let alone in a foreign language. And we certainly didn’t wanna ruin our mood for the rest of the day, so we let it go. We paid him almost as much as he asked for (he asked for 1200p but we only gave 1000p). But of course I made myself clear to him that that wasn’t exactly a fair deal because he never mentioned the fare being only for an hour per person. He probably didn’t care. Boy, if I was in a bad mood I’d probably get furious and.. oh it would be just plain ugly. Lucky for him I was fed and full. And still had much money left in my wallet :P

More of other sites…

We took a little more stroll near the San Agustin, where we got off of the pedicab. There was this little restaurant that served Spanish food and reminded me so much of the movie ‘Letters To Juliet’ for its set of tables in the alley. My god, I so wanna go to Europe!

Green Belt, Makati City…

Why did we go the shopping mall again? I forgot. But I’m glad we did because it has some well-designed areas with gardens and a mini church in the middle, and we accidentally chose to sit at Mary Grace café for a light drink and wifi.

Turns out, the very ensaymada bread that my brother in law asked me to bring was available at this café, which turns out one of the best ensaymada in the whole Metro Manila, as told by Bu Susan later.

And then Boyo finally realized his thought of shopping at TopMan..teehee..

About 2-3 hours we spent at this huge mall (it’s a series of Green Belt 1 – 5) and we rushed to go back to Sofitel, avoiding the rush hour.

Keeping our fitness at the hotel…

Having facilities and not used them? No way. I went for a swim and Boyo went working out at the gym that night. The pool surrounding was nice, but it wasn’t really nice to swim at because it formed a circle and when I swam around I’d bump into other swimmers’ path, it wasn’t really convenient. It would be nice if you were just swimming a little and then chit chat n all. But I was there for swimming swimming, you know. But hey, I had done some calories burning when walking around the Fort Santiago, so only a little swimming was fine by me.

THE PHILIPPINES, MAY 2011 - PART 1

2011-06-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

It started from an online conversation between me and Bu Susan, my Filipino ex-boss who now lives in Manila, about visiting her there and island hopping on Philippines’ many islands. One of the many was the Batanes province, at the very north of Philippines. I googled it up, and swore to God I had to go there before I die!

And so I went :D

But lemme blabber about the time I had in Manila first.

Maybe I’ll do the story chronologically, day by day? Here it goes…

DAY 1 – Manila (Sofitel Hotel, Mall of Asia)

What? All the way from Jakarta to Manila only to visit the mall? Hahahaha… in fact we did, on the first day! Am I a mall rat, you’d probably wonder. Well, not exactly. But MOA (Mall Of Asia) is said to be the biggest mall in South East Asia.

Not that it mattered much to me.

But it is located quite near to Sofitel Hotel where I was staying.

Well, not that it mattered much either.

So what was the reason? Honestly I forgot, but it ended up to be a quite interesting day at the mall. These are why:

Movie Time..!

We saw a movie, Thor 3D at the Movie Time, MOA. Oh wow, a movie at the cinema! Hahaha.. It was quite exciting for us due to the fact that many box office Hollywood movies couldn’t be played at any cinema in Indonesia for some stupid tax reason. I didn’t care much for Thor anyway, but I’ve been growing this curiosity about cinemas in foreign countries, and neither Kungfu Panda 2 nor Pirates of Caribbean 4 were playing yet.

The movie cost us 300 p (that’s Philippines peso) each, including popcorn.

The movie itself, well, I liked the first 2/3 of it.

The cinema? Hm, for that kind of money we could watch a movie at a better cinema in Jakarta, and a much much much better cinema in Siam Paragon, Bangkok.

The sea view..!

when waiting for the movie schedule, we sat at this half round shaped plaza and I noticed that the sea is just across the mall. I thought that was cool. Though the day was hoooottt!!!

Lunch..!

Uhm.. out of curiosity (again) I did something ~~out of the rules that have been imposed on me all along~~ I’ve promised not to do. But it’s been one of my necessities when traveling especially to somewhere new and foreign, to have a taste of their special delicacy. And in Manila, it is lechon (lechon paksiw). Google it up to find out what it is. And turns out, I didn’t like it much.

A portion of lechon paksiw, rice, and a portion of veggies cost me 180p.

Shopping…!

Being a spender that I am, how could I resist a sign that says “further reduction”? It was widely written on a TopShop store. Though it’s a brand easily found at Jakarta malls, still we got in. And I got out with a new pair of shoes and Boyo with a thought to buy some clothes later. And these items I’m talking about weren’t on sale. The further reduction turned out to be only for a little section which goods weren’t so good.

But hey! I love the shoes!

The next day I wore them strutting the city a whole day and boy, were they comfy!

I wanted to swim, but the pool seemed too crowded with kids playing and screaming.

Aaaak, nevermind. Sunset came and boy, was it gorgeous.

Dinner at MOA Baywalk…!

Finally Bu Susan could reach me by calling to the hotel (I bought the wrong local mobile number, the one that couldn’t make a call to other providers’ numbers, making me fail to reach Bu Susan’s number). Then we made a plan for that night, yay!

Bu Susan and her husband Pak Jonjo (it’s so cute calling this native Philippino couple by Indonesian salutation, “Bu” which means “ma’am” and “Pak” which means “sir”) picked us up at 7:30 and took us to the Baywalk of MOA. It’s a row of restaurants at the back of the gigantic mall, bordered with the Manila Bay.

We had dinner at …. um, I forgot the name of the restaurant. Dishes of prawns with red salted eggs, veggies, and lechon were served on our table, with coconut drinks and mango juice. Yum!

Drive around the city…

Going out with our lovely hosts Bu Susan and Pak Jonjo felt like we were on a Saturday night family stroll with mom and dad :D

We were then taken to places like the Qurino Grandstand,

apparently an important place for presidency events and many others,...

...and then shown the oldest hotel called the Manila Hotel

(the picture was taken the next day from Intramuros),...

...and driven by the main avenues of the city.

The globe in front of MOA lights up so pretty at night!

Man, was I sleepy. It took me no time to transport right into the z-land right after we got back to the room. Zzzz… and ended the Day 1.

Next up: the Walled City of Intramuros and the discovery of ensaymada..!

BALI, Neverending Destination

2011-02-07T01:13:00.000-08:00

10 days in Bali, mixing work, leisure, and Indohoy coverage. I'm not gonna lay everything out here because I'll do that for Indohoy . But I can't not share anything at all, so here's some of what I experienced in the trip, which ended only a few days ago.

Isn't she cute? (or was it a he?)
@ Bali Safari & Marine Park, Gianyar

Spending the last half an hour at the Fun Zone
@ Bali Safari & Marine Park, Gianyar

The way down to the beach
@ Blue Lagoon, Karangasem

Blue Lagoon beach
Waves were to big, I couldn't snorkel and see any fish

This is where I'd just sit and read a book
with the backsound of the waves
@ Candidasa beach

One of the bungalows at Puri Pandan
where I stayed in Candidasa
Mine was IDR 250,000 / night
but I haggled to IDR 200,oo0 / night

The beach at the back of Puri Pandan,
I had a great relaxing time just soaking at the shallow water
with some other tourists

Instead of going for the famous Bebek Bengil or Bebek Tepi Sawah,
I went for the crispy duck at Made Joni restaurant,
Ubud

Rectangular pizza at Envy Restaurant,
courtesy of Holiday Inn Baruna Resort, Tuban.
Also where I had a small reunion with a college friend, bli Jacky

Mr. Nengah, my guide at the Goa Lawah temple.
My camera couldn't catch the bats - after which the temple is named -
that hang around in the cave just above the altar,
but boy, were there lots of them!
@ Goa Lawah, Karangasem

Cloudy morning at Jimbaran beach, just across to where I was staying.
The book is written by an American who's been living in Ubud for 26 years,
in consultation with the owner of Murni's Warung, a native Ubudian.

If only I didn't just hurt my foot, I would've done the same thing..
minus the dog

Open-aired shower, just the way I like it.
It's safe, nobody could peek unless they'd climb a coconut tree around the villa
@ Karma Jimbaran resort

If you're not staying at the resort,
you have to pay $35 to get to this beach
@ Karma Kandara resort
Thank God for freebies :D

Chocolate Baklava, ordered randomly at Nammos Beach Club
@ Karma Kandara

Attached to my Blackberry.. updating @indohoy's twitter account
@ Di Mare Restaurant, Karma Kandara

My villa's gate, just the way I love it
Santorini blue..
@ Karma Kandara

And you'd think an upscale resort is free from wildlife?
Well, this little dude came in uninvited.
Good thing there were fruits provided on the dinner table..
Off you go, monkey dude!
@ Karma Kandara

My new favorite place to eat and laze around.
Thanks to Gina who spotted it for me in a magazine :D
I also had another small reunion here with my other college friend, Amel
@ La Plancha, Seminyak

Another meal on the beach
@ Pasir Putih, Karangasem
But the sand wasn't that white,
and clearly not as white as I saw in a magazine

Learning to make a leaf container for offerings
@ Bali Classic Center (BCC), Ubud
And I sucked at it, I kept tearing up the leaves!

Rangda, an evil symbol in Balinese belief, but is actually good
because life has to have balance, therefore there have to be good and bad
@ Bali Classic Center (BCC), Ubud

I've been keeping this habit of writing postcards in my trips.
I love it :D

Sambal matah, a Balinese chili condiment.
I promise myself to learn making it myself.
It looks quite simple..

I discovered about this place towards my last day of stay
and I'm glad I went there, it's vast and beautiful!
@ Taman Ujung, Karangasem

Stupid me, I forgot to ask what is the name of this tree?
It's so Balinese and I find it so pretty..

Chubby monkey's probably waiting to be fed by the Balinese woman
@ Uluwatu

When the waves hit the rocks.. it always brings an amazing feeling,
undescribable..
@Uluwatu

How would you like sipping on a coconut drink
at the side of the Campuan River?
I loved it :)
@ Murni's Warung, Ubud

Waiting for sunset on a - thank God - bright sunny day
@ Rock Bar, Uluwatu

So there you go. Overall, I'm not a fan of traveling alone, though I did meet my colleagues and friends in my stay. But you know what, I think I'd give solo traveling another go and see how I could detach myself from my gadgets and socialize more. I need to be able to do that.

Lampung, Sumatera - The Hidden Gems

2010-12-15T16:37:00.000-08:00

April 2010

Born and raised in Lampung doesn’t make me an expert on it. In fact, I am far from being one. I spent the first 13 years of my life in Bandar Lampung, the capital city of Lampung province, at the southern tip of Sumatera Island. But on holidays, my parents used to take the whole family to Jakarta, Bandung, Bali, or Padang. Never to the other parts of Lampung. So, now is the time to explore this province, which houses, surprisingly, jaw-dropping natural sceneries. And this entry is about my first Lampung exploration. More to come in my next trips, still in planning.

For complete story, click here.

PART 8 - VIETNAM & CAMBODIA TRIP

2010-10-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

THE LONG WAY UP TO SIEM REAP
Oct 19, 2009

When traveling Vietnam and Cambodia, the recommended route would be Ho Chi Minh City – Phnom Penh – Siem Reap, based on the geographical locations. However, we had to put Phnom Penh last because we had booked ticket back to KL (and then to Jakarta), because that’s what we got a great deal on the price. So from HCMC we took the bus to Siem Reap for 12 hrs long via Phnom Penh.

Our loosely packed bags :D

We left HCMC at around 7ish AM. We expected the bus to be a good one like our Mekong and Cuchi Tunnel tour buses, but we had to settle for something much less. But the toilet was clean, though I didn’t use it.

To enter Cambodia, Indonesia passport holders have to make a visa, but it can be a visa on arrival. After asking around the travel agents in HCMC, we found out that we only needed US$ 25 for a visa. And the travel agent promised us that their man would take care of it all in the immigration. And they kept their promise well.

Me and my Cambodia visa in front of the Immigration desk

All we did at the border was get off the bus, wait in the waiting area for the immigration staff to call our names. The bus staff collected our passports and money and then submit them to the immigration desk, and voila, we legally entered Cambodia.

Cambodia's Immigration office at the border with Vietnam

It takes 6 hours from HCMC to Phnom Penh, and then another 6 hours to Siem Reap. Twelve freakin’ hours we just sat there in the bus. But to me it wasn’t boring at all. I was excited with this ride. I’m not one who likes to sit and be idle for too long, but somehow this trip amazed me. Sure, of course I slept for hours, woke up, slept again, woke up again, slept again, and was mostly entertained by my iPod. But I also beheld so many things along the way.

I saw that the natural scenery in Cambodia resembled the one in my country so much, like the paddy fields, traditional tall houses, the locals with brown skin and short noses. Also the different and surprising things like roaches as fried snacks, cows standing freely in the middle of a bus terminal, and monks in our bus.

Everything that I experienced in those 12 hours ride came down to one realization: I loved being on the road. I felt like I didn’t ever want to get off of the road. It’s funny I could feel that cos I can be a pretty spoiled brat at times, but maybe being spoiled is the reason why I needed and wanted this kind of new excitement in my life. Or maybe I shouldn’t even bother to think why and just do it.

Anyhoo, we had to change buses in Phnom Penh. We kinda panicked because that bus staff, the one who took care of our visa and the only local who spoke decent English, had got off before we got to the bus terminal, leaving us with a puzzle of which buy we should continue the trip with, in the middle of the rain! Fortunately, the information was stated clearly on our tickets. Phew! The bus number and time arrival were there. And the good thing is, the bus came and left on time. Something that I didn’t really expect of Cambodia :D

Waiting for our next bus in the rain, on our way to Siem Reap

One thing that also surprised me was that I didn’t like Cambodia’s coffee. As soon as we past the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, we were served with bad coffee at a transit restaurant. But the food was okay, and there's a lot of Indian influence with all the curry and stuff.

At 7 PM we arrived safe and sound at the Siem Reap’s bus terminal. A man was holding up my name on a piece of paper, meaning he picked us up from the hotel that we had booked, the Golden Temple Villa. He took us outside of terminal through this door on a wall, and it was pitch dark out there. It was sorta scary and felt mysterious. The man took us to a tuktuk, arranged our seating and our bags there, and then rode the tuktuk.

About half an hour later we arrived at this uniquely decorated hotel. I fell in love with the hotel instantly! I heard that the hotel is owned by a foreigner, a westerner I think, but they sure decorate it in Asian (if not Cambodian) style. It’s modern, but it’s got a lot of traditional and natural touch to it.

Take of your shoes before getting in the hotel.

It's a common (unwritten) rules when entering homes in Asia.

Just to keep the floors clean.

Our lovely room :-)

Private bathroom

And also a lot of features that will let you relax and unwind.. like the hammocks, the free 20-minute massage (which we topped up to 1 hr and paid some money). The Khmer massage was very similar to Thai massage, but less contorting.

Walk all the way down the corridor, turn left, and...massage room!

Me, relaxing while waiting for the others getting ready

Options of chair types to relax at the porch

And if you like to play pool, the green table is available in the dining area, and you can play with those Buddhas watching your back.

Just like most of hostels / hotels, here you can also book for your transportations to other cities/neighboring countries, as well as your guided tours to the nearby touristy places. That’s what we did when we just arrived, we booked a tour to see the world famous Angkor Wat.

The prices can change from time to time, but you get the idea :)

More about our “tours” in Cambodia, next post!

Something I Should've Done in My Teen Years Or Early 20's

2010-09-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Blindfold Trip Around Solo, Central Java

I’m back from Solo, Central Java, people! Woohoow! It was only a 3N2D trip in the weekend, but it was one helluva trip! Why? Because it was the first time I (and my travelmate, Vindhya) decided the destination right in the train station! So, this is how it started, summarized in an imaginary dialogue based on the true fact.

Vindhya : I want to take a trip by train.

Me: Where to?

V : I don’t know.

Me: Ok, let’s just decide in the train station. We point a finger, with eyes closed, to a Java map. And whatever is pointed, then that’s where we go.

V : Yeah, let’s do that!

Me : Ok, let’s limit our budget to IDR 300,000 / pax.

V : That’s too little! Make it 500,000.

Me : Really? Okay then. Who else is coming along?

Renny : Count me in. I need a vacation. I’m tired with work.

Motulz : Hey, that sounds cool! I’m coming along!

Endi : Me too.

Boyo : Can I decide last minute?

Me : Yeah, sure. So Vindhya, from which station should we start the trip?

V : Reno said Senen has more Economy trains. Since we only have IDR 500,000 (that’s equal to about USD 50) each, it’s safer to take the Economy train to start the trip.

Me : Ok. What time will we meet there?

V : 7-ish pm?

Me : Cool. Can’t wait.

V : Me neither!

And so we went last Friday. Unfortunately, only Vindhya and I made it. The others had something else came up for the weekend. Alright, no problemo!

And so I got to point a destination because I won the rock-paper-scissors thing (in Indonesian version which is called “suit”). My index finger pointed Malang! Yay!! I’ve been wanting to spend more than just a few hours in this cool-weathered city!

Where we were supposed to go

However.. too bad the last train to Malang had left Senen Station in the afternoon. So we decided to go to the closest city to Malang, with available train that night. It’s Solo. BUT, the only available ticket was Business class for IDR 160,000 / pax, too much for a start cos we didn’t know how much we’d need for a room, ticket to go back, etc.

So, we crossed off Solo. But no, wait, we could still reach Solo by taking the economy train to Jogja, and then take the Pramex train from Jogja to Solo in the morning. And all that only cost us IDR 44,000 / pax.

Pramex train's female coach

Only IDR 9,000 / pax, Jogja-Solo, 1 hr ride

The downside? Well, apparently the economy ticket to Jogja was without seat number. Yes, people, it’s a standing ticket, or whatever you call it. So technically, we had to stand in the aisle between seats for the whole night. Practically, we sat uncomfortably in the aisle with many other unlucky passengers, and food sellers went back and forth through the aisle, making it even more uncomfortable. And in my mind I sort of thought, “Oh, whose idea was this again?” Hahahaha.. no real regret, though.

Long story short, the whole trip was mainly about food. Yes, we both love eating. We love trying local food anywhere we go. But we do care about our weight, hahaha.. so sometimes we shared a portion. Here are the food.

Nasi Liwet in a stall exactly in front of our hotel IDR 5,000 / portion.
Would cost more if you added chicken

Sate Buntel, made of goat meat
IDR 12,000 / portion

Me with delish Serabi Notosuman.
Left: regular, IDR 1,800
Right: chocolate topping, IDR 2,000
My favorite is.. both!

Tengkleng soup, basically anything that westeners don't eat :-D
Anything from the goat, except the meat, probably
This is the popular one, across Klewer Market,
near Alun-alun gate, next to the Security station

A portion of tengkleng with rice IDR 15,000

It was the most pricey of all our Solo treats

In the middle of Galabo, a street turned into food market at night
Near the Keraton Solo and PGS Market

Delights from the Bestik Harjo at Galabo.
Chopped fried tongue, fried skin, and risol kuah.
All IDR 43,000

Iced dawet, a sweet beverage that we shared
for our breakfast in Jogja

Together with this Nasi Gudeg each, breakfast was IDR 17,500 / pax

Another portion of dawet in Solo.
I just love dawet so much!
And this one costs IDR 3,000 / portion

Our last meal at a stop in Kebumen.
We prepared about IDR 15,000-20,000
and turns out it was only IDR 4,000 (Vindhya's) and 5,000 (mine)!

Our stay was quite comfy, I mean, for IDR 75,000 / night, what do you expect, right? We didn’t book it previously, we didn’t even find it through Lonely Planet. Vindhya’s friend’s dad said that the budget lodges are easily found near the Solo Balapan station. So that’s where we got off, decided to turn left, and saw this first hotel (well they call themselves a hotel), checked out the rooms, and checked in!

We picked the room with only a fan, no need for AC in such a cool afternoon. We figured, the night had to be even cooler. The bathroom was quite clean, although the toilet had to be flushed manually. In the morning and afternoon each person was served a glass of sweet tea, and the staff are all nice, friendly, and helpful. And the best of all was, our room faced the garden. It felt so fresh to just sit in the porch, sipping a glass of tea, and chat lightly.

Other than tasting the local dishes, we also went to check out the Keraton Solo (keraton = palace), or Keraton Surakarta (Surakarta is another name for Solo, I don’t know what’s the deal on why they have 2 names).

The entrance ticket was IDR 8,000 / pax. There isn’t a fixed price for a tour guide around the keraton and the museum inside it, but the average fee that visitors give to a guide is IDR 20,000. We didn’t get a tour guide because, well, we were really careful with our money. Didn’t wanna lose the challenge!

Keraton Solo / Keraton Surakarta

Oops! A knight at a Sodoran fight!

Groom and bride

Shocked by a huge dandang.

Dandang is like a traditional rice cooker.

But this big? Cooking for the whole village, maybe?

Overall, Vindhya and I had a great time proving ourselves for a challenge, we had unforgettable experiences, yet we didn’t spend so much money, and Vindhya didn’t even have to take a leave from office! (I’m an independent worker, so I don’t have to take any leaves).

So, it’s a pity when people restrain themselves from having a fun experience of traveling because they think traveling always has to be expensive and takes so many days. We could even go cheaper if there was a friend’s place to crash, or maybe be more tight with budget if we planned all the itinerary. It doesn’t have to be exact USD 50, doesn’t have to be by train, could be a little shorter for instance 2D2N, the destination could be closer to your home, and you could make use of a long weekend, etc.

You know, there are ways to make things fit with your budget and time-efficient. You just gotta have the will, then there must be a way. Think fun, and you’ll have fun.

PART 7 – VIETNAM & CAMBODIA TRIP

2010-09-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

OUR TOURS AND FOOD IN HO CHI MINH CITY & AROUND
Still 16 - 18 Oct, 2009

Hear no evil, hear no evil, hear no evil

The great thing about staying at a tourist area is that there are so many travel agents around. And we were lucky to have chosen Delta Tour, which provided good tours for us. If you wanna do it the adventurous way, maybe you could, but I don’t have any information on how to do it.

CU CHI TUNNEL

Our first tour was to the Cu Chi Tunnel, US$ 5 / pax, excluding entrance fee and meal. It’s where a part of the Vietnam War took place decades ago, situated about 2 hours ride from Ho Chi Minh City. On the way there, we detoured to this workshop where they hire the handicapped war victims to make lacquer products. Plates, pencil boxes, wall decorations, vases, you name it, they make it.

Handicapped workers are on a break

Mumun, Renny, a worker, and giant vases

Sketching step

The products are of good quality, no wonder we couldn’t really afford anything. Oh wait, I think Mumun or Renny bought something there for her Mom back home. The similar kinds of products are sold in the Ben Tanh Market as well, with cheaper prices, but as predicted, lower quality as well.

Some of the products, finished and the half-finished

Arriving at the Cu Chi, we had to pay for entrance ticket ourselves for VND 75,000 /pax. There’s also a souvenir counter near the ticket booth.

Our funny tour guide took us all through the woods that’s been trimmed and is comfortable for tourists to walk down the path. He showed us the traps made by the Vietcongs to trick and kill US soldiers who were attacking with their much more modern, lethal, and bigger guns.

Vietcongs' hiding hole

Booby trap with sharp metals facing upward on the bottom

Another hiding hole with steps going down

We were also taken to this narrow and short passage way underground, where the Vietcongs would hide and suddenly disappear from the US soldiers’ sight. They make it so narrow and short so that big built Americans couldn’t follow through because the passage would be too small for them. Simple logics, yet it hits bull’s eye!

Inside the tunnel. Narrow, hot, and humid.

Finally, getting out of the hole.
Oh, have the Americans gone home, yet?

There was also this tank that was used in the war, obviously by the US soldiers, I think. I was excited to climb it but didn’t dare to go in the tank cos I was afraid I couldn’t get out, you know, too short to climb up again.

Along the tour, we could hear noisy firing sounds without knowing what it really was. And at the end of the tour path, we found out there was this shooting range where we could buy bullets to shoot with the provided guns.

Our pick was the M16, sharing 10 bullets for 3 of us, costing VND 30,000 / bullet. Renny and Mumun let me have the 4 bullets because I was the most exciting one with this shooting experience. I did love it! I would’ve paid for more bullets if only it was cheaper than that. I mean, we still had, like, 10 more days to go in the whole trip, I didn’t wanna spend the rest of my money for firing bullets.

The Cu Chi Tunnel tour started early in the morning, like, at 7ish AM we had to be on the bus already. And then we were taken back to the Delta Tour on De Tham Street, just around the corner from our hostel, at 3ish PM.

MEKONG TOUR

The next day, we took another tour from Delta Tour, which we had booked in our first day, for US$ 9 / pax. The tour went from about 7 AM and we got back in the city again at 6 PM. Um, I forgot how many hours it took to get to the Mekong Delta at Vietnam part, which lies in My Tho area. But it was a nice ride with a nice bus just like we had the day before.

When we got there, first they took us all in a boat, going through the historical Mekong River until a stop at some village across. The day was so sunny and quite hot, lucky I was wearing a quite thin blouse. We walked through the village, that much seemed like it was set for tourism.

Renny wasn't really paying attention to the tour guide who adored her so much
;-)

First, we stopped at a bee farm, given explanation about how bee products are made, and tasted some of the products, other than just the honey.

Curious Mumun looks closely at the bees,
might be good for her next Biology experiment
;-)

We were also shown and tasted this medicinal potion with some sort of small snake in the bottle, which obviously I didn’t take the picture because the look of it just disgusted me. The taste of the potion wasn’t good either. And I forgot what kind of magic the potion is supposed to do when drank. But I remember how enthusiastic Renny and Mumun were when offered to pose with a big snake. It would take a big man with bags full of cash given to me to make me wanna do the same thing.

Enough said.

And then we got introduced to the dragon fruits and other tropical fruits served in small slices, while a group of locals performed their traditional music and singing.

We weren’t a slight amazed at all by the fruits because we come from a tropical country ourselves, we grew up with those fruits. But I guess it was something new to the other tourists, especially if it was their first time in this part of the world. You don’t easily find papaya, pineapple, and dragon fruits in Japan, Sweden, or Norwegia, do you? Not counting the supermarket.

Pineapple, at a toilet stop toward the river

Dragon fruit

Passing a short bridge to get to our lunch.

From there, we took another boat ride. It’s a small wooden boat that only holds 4 people other than the rowers. We went through the river, in between the lush tropical trees, to get to our lunch.

We shared a table with two young Australian doctors who were in Ho Chi Minh for some sort of conference, and we shared this big fried elephant fish with them. The lunch was included in the tour package, but the fish was an extra dish that cost VND 250,000.

Elephant Fish

After lunch, we were given about 1 hour to bike around. The bikes was also included in the package, we didn’t have to rent them. Oh I looooved biking around the Mekong Delta. Too bad rain soon fell and we all rushed biking back to the diner.

Us and tourists from Australia and Sweden

While waiting for time to get on the boat again, Mumun the coffee lover ordered a glass of Vietnamese coffee, served with ice cubes. I took a sip and liked it!

Coffee-krazie girl

The conversation with our guide was a really entertaining one, as he was explaing stuff about Vietnam and constantly asking Renny if she wanted to be his girlfriend.. hahaha.

FOOD

Baguette

As a French colony, or used to be, it’s no wonder that there are many French influences in Vietnam. Including the food. Baguette is this long loaf of bread, and these street sellers offer fillings with hams, sausages, and salads, just like sandwich.

The lady was preparing my breakfast

The funny thing is, I have a friend back home, who’s tall and kinda big in the athletic way, and my other friends nicknamed her “jambon”. And I just found out from the baguette’s stalls that jambon is none other than baguette, cos it’s written on some of the stalls as well. But I don’t know from what language it actually derived from.

Anyway, I really like my jambon sandwich, which I had as breakfast befor going to the Mekong River. It cost me VND 20,000 for the whole big loaf of bread and its fillings. It took me quite some time to finish it.

Ngoc Suong (Le Marina) restaurant

We had one of the best meals in this seafood restaurant. Although the fake sea port view on the big wall was kinda tacky, at the same time it could look real in pictures, we loved the food, and they’re more expensive than the average food we’d have in this trip. Total cost for us three was VND 480,000.

Ngoc Suong, a restaurant "by the seaport"

Our menu included grilled squid, escargot, some veggies, and noodle.

Find this restaurant at 19c Le Quy Don. Our taxi ride from the Ho Chi Minh statue to this place by Mailinh Taxi was VND 20,000, and then going back from there to our hostel on Pham Ngu Lau was VND 43,000.

Pho 2000

This is another chain restaurant which also opens in Jakarta, but neither of us had ever tried. And so we had a taste on the original recipe in its original country.

We had lunch at the Pho 2000 across one of Ben Tanh Market entrances. Having a portion of noodle and a regular drink, I spent about VND 60,000. It was good enough.

A NOTE ON TRASPORTATION

Based from my friend Anton’s advice and from our own experience, we concluded that it’s better not to take any taxi other than Mai Linh Taxi. They don’t mess around with you in terms of route and fare. If you’re going to B, they’ll take you there through the shortest convenient distance, and the meter doesn’t accelerate like crazy.

But remember, there are some other taxis that copied its look, with white and green color and a logo that resembles Mai Linh’s a lot. We got fooled once, and boy, did the meter rob us or what.

We used Mai Linh service in Hanoi, Hue, and Ho Chi Minh City. I don’t know, maybe they’re available in other places as well.

Oh and lately I found out the Vinasun taxi is also a trusted one.

Alright, Vietnam story is done so far. Next, wait for our Cambodia travel story! I never thought I would have a great experience there!

PART 6 – VIETNAM & CAMBODIA TRIP

2010-09-12T05:18:00.000-07:00

HO CHI MINH, THE CITY
16 - 18 Oct, 2009

At 7 a.m we were picked up by a private car courtesy of the Hue Holiday Hotel to Hue’s airport.
Before noon we arrived at Noi Bahn international airport, Ho Chi Minh City, at the domestic arrival terminal.

A sign with my name written on it, with a little misspelling, was held up by a guy, the driver to our booked hostel’s pickup car.

We enjoyed the trip to the hotel, which was located at District 1, a tourist district. Just like in Hanoi, in the HCMC streets we also noticed the tangled electricity cables up there, and tangled traffic consisted of a lot of motorbikes and some road works.

Overall, HCMC is a much more metropolitan city compared to Hanoi which is the capital city of Vietnam. I guess HCMC is where the business and economic activities are mainly happening. They’ve got more and better shopping malls, cleaner and more modern public toilets, and more modern atmosphere in general. Nowhere near the sterility of Singapore or the techie of Tokyo (perhaps), but a little closer to it compared to Hanoi.

THE HOSTEL

My My Arthouse is located on Pham Ngu Lau street, but we had to walk about 2 minutes from the main road, into this aisle that doesn’t fit cars. We went passed by some street food sellers and people just hanging out sitting down on short chairs or stools. And our hostel was this 4 or 5 storey narrow building with only stairs to walk up. And our room was on the 3^rd floor. Hosh hosh hosh!

Renny, me, our stuff, and laundry on the bed's head :-P

Visitors were advised to take off their shoes or sandals at the entrance, and then just leave ‘em there or carry ‘em up to the rooms. There at the lobby were a few tables that functioned as dining table and hangout place for guests. As expected, we saw some Caucasian guests were sitting there, chatting while one or two of them were holding travel guidebooks. And further back near the stairs were 3 computers for internet usage. Further back again, behind the stairs, was a space where some of the staff slept at night on mattresses, and then the kitchen.

A room for three per night with private bathroom cost us about USD 8 /pax excluded breakfast. The room condition, ours at least, was kinda damp. When the hotel’s staff cooked something – I believe it’s for their own meal – we could smell the cooking through our open narrow window. We didn’t mind the smell because it was a good smell, we just wished they’d share some of that happiness with us. Hee hee.

DISTRICT 1

Uncle Ho Chi Minh statue in front of the City Hall
on Nguyen Hue street

Pham Ngu Lau street is located in District 1, which is the centre of tourist area. You’d easily get anything you need as tourists cos there are so many tourist information, hostels, hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, food stalls, travel agents, pirated guidebooks sellers, souvenir shops, and all that jazz.

Making our itinerary for the day with the help from a free city map
that we got in a restaurant at Pao restaurant on Bui Vien street

Across Diamond shopping mall

We were so fond of walking around the area. Sidewalks are clean and even at nights it’s relatively safe for us girls (just don’t flaunt your money or techy gadgets so much to catch theft’s attention). This is almost impossible for us to do back home in Jakarta where most sidewalks are occupied by food stalls with no official license, and bad guys are just everywhere on the streets.

Upon our walk around, we’d stop at souvenir stalls, shops, parks, and cafes, just to look around, take pictures, and find out what’s happening.

A poster that got us laughing just trying to pronounce it.
The word sounds much like a word that means 'transvestite' in our language
if pronounced funnily. Oh it's an inside joke anyway ^_^

Nike? In Vietnam? Heehee..yeah..well it was on 50% discount!

Saigon Pho on De Tam street, District 1

THE WAR REMNANTS MUSEUM

Other than walking around and shopping, of course we went to a museum. It’s one of the must-do in this historical country. I mean, it’s famous for the Vietnam War with the US, so we gotta know what really went on. Nah, we just went there for the heck of it, just wanted to know what’s up. And because it’s one of the recommended sites in Wikitravel.org. And because it didn’t require a lot of dough to get in. Tee hee.

Anyways, there are several museums in Ho Chi Minh City and we picked the War Remnants Museum. It charged nothing for entrance, I think. It’s located on Vo Van Tan Street in District 3 and we got there by taxi, costing us VND 30,000 from the Bui Vien Street in District 1.

It’s got several display rooms, which exhibit photos of war times, the battle field, the victims, the troops, the Vietcongs, and the supports from other countries in various forms such as posters with slogans.

To me, the whole museum thing was sort of heartbreaking. I mean, the museum was nice, but I guess I’m just too faint-hearted to behold too much suffering of the war victims through those journalistic photos. This one-sided exhibition got me thinking how awful human’s greed of power can be. The US bombed some parts of Vietnam and help me God they also did some other cruel things (sorry I’m bad with details and I did not take notes, but I guess most people would know about this war more than I do), which results in handicapped people and babies.

I wonder how Americans would feel when they see this sort of display of what their former fathers had done.

I didn’t wanna torture myself further, so I only saw the displays in the main exhibition room. When Mumun and Renny finished viewing the rest of the display rooms, I was already done shopping at the souvenir corner. They sold key chains, pins, travel books, etc.

Afterwards, of course it’s picture time in the front yard of the museum. The rain didn’t stop us from posing.

BEN TANH MARKET & THE NIGHT MARKET

We’re girls, and we’re Indonesians. So we love to shop when we travel. We just can’t help it. Ben Tanh Market was one of the few things that was already fixed in our unfixed itinerary. I read about it in any website that gives out information on Vietnam tourism.

It’s a huge 1-story market that sells just about everything. Clothes, food, fruits, handicrafts, laquerwares, you name it. I suggest you to haggle before saying, “Okay, I’ll take that one,” to the sellers, except maybe you do want to donate your extra money.

The market closes at 5-ish p.m. But starting at around the same time, the night market starts just outside of the market building. They sell many similar things to the day market, but not all the same.

Not only that, the night market is great because there are many food stalls. We had one of our best meals there, with fresh shrimps cooked in coconut juice right on our table. Delissimo!

Now, visiting Ho Chi Minh City usually means visiting the outskirts as well. So that’s what we did, and you can read about it in my next post :-)

FRIENDLY HABIT - A NOTE FROM SULAWESI TRIP

2010-08-18T23:42:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my 17-day Sulawesi trip 11 days ago. Overall, it was one of the best trips I’ve had so far. Many of the places I went to were amazing, some turned out to be lower than what I’d expected. But for me personally, the most highlight of this trip was that I (along with my travel mates Mumun & Reno) mingled with other travelers as well.

lunch at Karebosi, Makassar
with Jaap and Marlies from Holland

I don’t know why, but this was actually the first time I talked quite a lot to travelers other than my own group. In my trip to Vietnam and Cambodia last year (with Mumun & Renny) actually we met a lot of travelers as well, but somehow we preferred to keep conversations only among ourselves. Like, I would hesitate to start a conversations with others, afraid that they’d feel bothered, with a thought in mind that westerners in general are more private people.

Much to our surprise, the travelers that we met were mostly Europeans. It wouldn’t be far off if I said that we were the only Indonesian travelers along our path in Sulawesi. Conversations are often made just for the sake of conversing, and they started mostly with questions like where one’s from, where one’s heading, and then exchanging information about the object of interests we had seen and were about to see in the whole trip, and stories about each of our itineraries, countries, cultures, and some ended up in exchanging email addresses and sharing some car or boat rents to cut down on budget.

Breakfast at Kadidiri Paradise, Togian Islands
with Tanya and Cristoph

Riding around Tentena
with Pak Wilson, the ojeg driver

When our trip almost ended in Makassar, I got a chance to read an update by my favorite travel blogger, Nomadic Matt. The piece was about him having a hard time to casually just say hi and chit chat with people back home in Boston and New York City, while he can easily do it on the road with other travelers. I felt so related to that. In Sulawesi, we easily got involved in conversations with travelers from Holland, Austria, Denmark, England, Sweden, etc, as well as hotel staff, drivers, boatmen, etc. Everybody seemed so friendly.

Sightseeing at Fort Rotterdam, Makassar
with Maya our host,
Martin & Mie from Denmark, whom we first met in Toraja

Intruding archeologists' lunch break at Bomba, Lore Lindu National Park
in a very friendly way, of course

Snacking and hanging out at a binte diner in Tentena,
with Panther, a driver who took us from Ampana to Tentena

I compare it with how it is in Jakarta, the big concrete jungle where I reside, where suspicion and negative notions are floating in the air we breathe. You don’t really talk to strangers just for the sake of having a conversation.

I’d like to change that. Am I able to? I don’t know. But this trip surely has changed my habit a little bit, in the way that I am now more likely to smile or nod to, or greet people that pass me by in the streets, and simply with my neighbors and security guards in the building. And I feel much happier that way. I hope I can keep this up for long before I can develop simple nods, smiles, and greetings into conversations. Ain’t life more beautiful when everyone is friendly to each other?

Checking out from Victory Hotel, Tentena
with the manager, Debby

PART 5 – VIETNAM & CAMBODIA TRIP

2010-07-10T00:08:00.000-07:00

HUE IN A LITTLE LESS THAN 24 HOURS

Oct 15, 2009

Before I go into details on this pleasant transit between Hanoi and HCMC, let me just tell you that Hue is a very nice city to have a peaceful vacation, which then made me wish that we would’ve stayed there a little longer. I liked the windy air, much like Hanoi, I liked the vacant streets that it was safe to cross, and the laid-back atmosphere. Well, sometimes I do enjoy the hustle and bustle of bigger cities, but now and then a quiet ambience is just what we need to have a sense of balance.

Alright, enough of Socrates talk, let me introduce you a little bit more to Hue.

TRAIN OR PLANE? Which one to choose?

Our initial plan for Vietnam trip was to tour around Hanoi and HCMC only. Mumun insisted that we should try to take their trains between the cities to have new experience, of taking inter-city trains in a foreign country, and because she has friends who recommended it. Her friends, happen to be Caucasians, are awed by the view of paddy fields through which the train route passes. We, on the other hand, come from a country where paddies are like oxygen on Earth, it’s everywhere. (Um, I’m trying to look smart here, does it work?) So our aim in taking the train is more to experience the ride itself rather than the view.

Renny at the food service coach

After several discussions on the route, we almost canceled that plan because it would take about 3 days to get to HCMC from Hanoi by train, and just take the plane instead. We didn’t wanna spend too much time on the train. But we finally had a brilliant solution: take the train from Hanoi (a city in the northern Vietnam) to Hue (in the central), and then fly from Hue to HCMC. That way, we would have a train experience and spend just enough time on it. Everybody’s happy :D

A local passenger just woke up in the morning

Our hard sleeper compartment

This is where we got the info on the train schedule: http://www.seat61.com/Vietnam.htm

HUE HOLIDAY HOTEL, A NICE SURPRISE

Hue as a whole was a happy experience for us. It started with our train ride from Hanoi in the hard-sleeper compartment, in which I did not find trouble sleeping at all.

We arrived at the Hue train station at about 10 a.m. We called our hotel at a public phone next to the station’s exit, asked for a pick-up.

Hue train station (GA HUE)

We only had to wait about 10-15 minutes, a hotel staff came on a motorcycle. He surely wasn’t gonna pick us up with that. He made a deal with a cab to take us to the hotel, following him and the motorcycle.

Although the hotel is located on a narrow street, to which the cab couldn’t even get in, it’s surprisingly a very nice one, at least a lot nicer than our expectation. It’s clean, looks kinda new, and the staff were very friendly and helpful with their so-so English skill. It’s only about 1 minute walk from the main street, so it’s really no hassle to get to and from.

What made it seem even more pleasant is the comparison with our previous stay in Hanoi. (and later it turned out to be our best stay in Vietnam.) Riding up in the elevator was funny because it’s so small that only 2 people (with a backpack each) could fit in it (note: the people of our size), almost nose to nose. That was the smallest elevator I’ve ever seen.

View from our room, regular houses

Free internet usage is available in the computers provided at the lobby. That’s where we browsed for what interesting things we’d do in the city because we knew almost nothing about it.

And this method is also what we did in every city we visited in the whole trip. That was a lotta fun, I rarely had a spontaneous trip like that, and now I’m sort of addicted to it.

CITADEL HISTORICAL TOUR

Perfume River lies through Hue, dividing it to Northern and Southern parts. The Hue Citadel, which was the royal complex of the Tay Son reign when the city was chosen to be the capital, is located at the Northern bank of the river, while our hotel is at the Southern bank. So, up we went, riding the cyclo, costing us VND 80,000 (this price includes them waiting for us 2 hours exploring the citadel, and then taking us to the market).

Cyclos and us

To me, it’s awesome that all this already existed since almost 200 yrs ago, and still original, or at least most of it. Well, some parts aren’t really in good shape anymore, and some seem so rundown, unfortunately.

However, a historical tour without a guide nor research in advance, kinda got us lost, didn’t really understand what we were really looking at.

For more of the Citadel history, you can check it out here (http://www.vietnamtourism.com/hue/e_pages/kth_kinhthanh.htm ).

SHOPPING FOR AO DAI & SOUVENIRS

On the same side of the riverbank, not so far from Citadel, is the Dong Ba Market. Here at the market, you can get almost anything you’re looking for. Clothes, jewel, food, souvenirs, accessories, etc. And we got just what we were looking for.. the eternal love.. err I meant.. Ao Dai, one of the traditional woman clothes of Vietnam, VND 200,000 each.

Us in ao dai

And then, on our way to get some dinner near hotel, we stopped by some stores that sell many kinds of souvenirs and clothes on Nguyen Cong Tru Street, I think. We didn’t purchase many things. I got myself a USD 3,5 red silk scarf and a set of 3 statuettes that are now standing sweetly at living room’s my wall rack. One of my best buys in this trip :)

The 3 ladies each symbolizes Hanoi, Hue, and Ho Chi Minh City. Wow, what a coincidence, those are exactly the cities we visited! I guess they are the most prominent cities in the country?

Anyway, this set of statuettes cost VND 300,000. And later I found out that you can actually get them for less at Ho Chi Minh City’s Ben Tanh Market. Oh well.

BO BIN HUE & OTHER MUNCHIES

Temple Restaurant

Hunger struck, it was time for us to hunt for some local delicacies. We strolled down the main road near our hotel, make a left turn, and there we were, on a street full of cafes and restaurants. But somehow we found it difficult to make a decision on where to eat, I don’t remember why..

Finally, we chose Temple Restaurant, on the 5 D Chu Van An street, simply because I was attracted to the exterior. It wasn’t Vietnamese at all, actually, but I just liked it. The stone walls and leafy garden reminded me of some illustrations on European fairy tales when I was little. Hahaha.. that is one weird reason to choose a restaurant when traveling in Hue, and definitely a very subjective one. But Mumun and Renny were kind enough to agree with me.

As for the food, well, it was.. just okay. Not great. It cost us VND 240,000 collectively.

Bo Bin Hue

Still curious on what’s local, Mumun insisted to try some Bo Bin Hue at sidewalk café. Really really on the sidewalk. Renny and I just pinched some of it to find out what it tastes like. It was, um,… salty, and.. much like some food that contains much MSG in it. What? Why don’t you believe me? Didn’t I sound like a food expert?

Thanh Na

This is probably just some regular diner that’s not a place where people would go to for special occasions, judging by the looks of it. Why did we have lunch there? Because that’s what the hotel staff told us to when we asked about a nearby place to have a decent lunch.

Turns out, we did enjoy the food very much, as well as paying for it. Only VND 95,000 for everything that we ordered. Yay!

Next up: Ho Chi Minh City! Waaaait for it..!