travel: South Korea 2013: pre-flight + Seoul

Soon after our Taiwan trip over Christmas break 2012, 1/2heart and I booked in for another break during Easter holidays. Not too long though, as we could only manage to scramble 1 week break all up. But our intended destination has been pretty clear: South Korea.

This time, we choose Asiana Airlines - a south korean airline that flies direct from Sydney to Incheon airport - making my legs went numb during the 10.30 odd hours in the sky. It's probably would have been better if we had a layover somewhere, but as our planned trip is pretty short - 1 week - we didn't really want to waste any time.

You could not fault the service. Inflight crews are polite, courteous and very kind. (cue me asking them for another gochujang (red pepper) paste to smother my rice with, the stewardess beamed proudly that me-truly like their inflight gochujang paste, then proceeded to give me 4 tubes of them. I still have them in my bag now as I type this...).

But hey, I love their inflight bibimpap meal. 

Arriving in Incheon around 7 p.m. at night, we took the rail to reach our accommodation for the night: Soriwool.

Reaching downtown Seoul from Incheon airport by subway took us more than 1 hour. And lugging our luggage up and down the stairs : not fun. But at least our accommodation for the next three night is beautiful.

Soriwool is a hanok type accommodation, and I absolutely fell in love with the place. Quaint, comfy quiet, and ohmyf**god, the wonderful warm floors (due to their ondol heating) soothing our tired and cold feet (it is around 3-5 degrees outside). 

Room type: Geomungo

Cost: KRW120000 per night (includes breakfast)

Room comes with private bathroom and private small kitchen & laundry

the instrument this room is named after

1/2heart and our late night snack.

Let's see the place in better light tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a wonderful day... . 

travel: Bandar Lampung 2012, Part 4 + Final

02/01/2013

We visited my late grandma at her final resting place. After she passed a few years ago, she was cremated and her ashes were stored at a cemetery facility. I think it is pretty compulsory for my part to visit her whenever I go back to my birth town - not just out of obligation - but more out of love and respect I have for her (and all my grandparents in general, both from my mother or my father side). But this grandma is special: she was the one who gave me my real name :)

Afterwards, more food:

Stop no. 1: We bought some grilled chicken and fried chicken from another Padang restaurant: Dua Saudara, then proceeded to Sate Utami for some chicken and mutton satay.

Left: Tongseng. Right: Gulai.

Stop no.2: some street food.

Martabak, Ketoprak, Mie Tek-Tek.

03/01/2013

This was our last day in Lampung, so we did not waste anytime but to hunt for last minute food. After buying some snacks to be brought back to Sydney (packed in two boxes and turned out to be 18 kgs additional baggage. I am very grateful that we flew SQ back to Sydney and they did not charge any extra baggage fee), we marched on...

Stop no.1: Kampoeng Seafood. Was disappointed with the crab we had the other day at Pantai Duta Wisata, so my father ordered two more crabs... . Haha. These ones were much better. And some fried chicken and grilled fish that tasted very very nice. 

Stop no 2: This place served grilled pork. The eatery is owned and operated by Indonesians of ethnic Batak. My older sister and I liked this so much when we were still teenagers, and I have been wanting to eat here again. Alas, the place was closed when we visited it for the past two days. However, on 03/01, it opened! Yayy!

Tasted as good as I remember it.

Then we had to bid goodbye to Lampung as we had a flight to Jakarta at 7 p.m.

As soon as we arrived in Jakarta, 1/2heart wanted to get some fried dumplings (pangsit) from Bakmi Gajah Mada.
Being such suburban we are, of course we didn't know the closest stall for GM, and so we decided to take a taxi to mall Taman Anggrek - the only one we knew. Haha

20 fried dumplings to be shared amongst the three of us (me, 1/2heart, and my younger brother)

We stayed overnight at Jakarta Airport Transit Hotel, before catching our flight to Sydney the next morning - via a stop over at Changi. Jakarta Transit Hotel was nothing fancy and quite expensive (around A$130) for the quality. But it was clean and comfortable enough. 

04/01/2013

After our outbound flight from Jakarta, we had a layover in the afternoon in Singapore, and it was just after lunch time. So what did we do? Visit Lau Pa Sat :D

Carrot Cake & Char Kway Teow & some satays

Then we killed some time around Orchard Rd until we had to return to the airport to catch our night flight to Sydney.

And dang, it's still crazyhot summer here -_-

travel: Bandar Lampung 2012 part 3

31/12/2012

Wow, it's the last day of 2012. We have successfully passed another doomsday prediction.

Food Overeating adventure kept going on... .

Stop no. 1: Begadang II. This place serves 'Padang' style food. I guess for most foreigners, you would find the style similar to Indian food, where they use a lot of herbs, spices, and serve curry style dishes.

Stop no. 2: Idola. Sells Fish Cake - ("Pempek") Indonesian Style - and the cheapest but still nice my parents could find in Lampung (they said). The stand besides this place sold Egg Pancake ("Martabak/Murtabak Telor"). The style here was deep fried, though I have also tried less oily ones at another place. Equally good. We opted for duck eggs for the meat mixture to make it more fragarant and tasty. 

May I just say I won't be booking any appointment to my GP anytime soon. She will have a heart attack looking at my blood pressure/cholesterol chart right after this trip.

"Martabak Telor"

"Pempek"

01/01/2013

Happy New Year, everyone.

Wishing this year will be a good year for all of us with plenty of love, laughter, and happiness all round.

As for me last midnight, greeting 2013 in my parents' house for once in such a long long time brought me a sense of joy, although it was also a bit weird to watch the splendid fireworks display presented by Sydney only through Channel News Asia on television.

Compared to that, Indonesian New Year's Eve... ermmm... the fireworks were sporadic and all over the place (as they were alighted by general public). But I guess, as long as everyone enjoyed and welcomed year 2013 with joy, that's the most important thing.

Stop no. 1: Pantai Duta Wisata. Seafood. Nuff said .

This place would have been a gorgeous place if not loitered with random garbage and general unkempt. Pity.

Don't be fooled by the scenery photos below. I beautified these scenes by 200%

And their chilli was the bomb (below right picture). Definitely got my seal of approval. If you dare, ask for extra spicy (yes, I had it extra spicy. All other chilli sauce consumed prior to today were tomato sauce compared to this gem).

The other seafood we ordered: Grilled "chicken" fish (local calls it "ikan ayam", literally translated to english "chicken fish". As the meat is quite firm and chewy - a bit similar to chicken), Deep fried squid (very very yummy), Black Pepper Crab (more like sweet soy sauce crab. Hardly any black peppers. Disappointing);

Deep fried Tempeh & Tofu (very nice too), and Blood Clams (a bit of an acquired taste. Kinda smell fishy).

Stop no. 2: Rumah Baso - same management under Rumah Kayu.

Ah yes, we were back to this place we went to on the first day I touched down in Lampung a few days ago. But this time, we went to the building located just besides it for some meatballs soup.

It's hard to find good meatballs here without containing any preservatives - usually borax or Formaldehyde/Formalin (*gasp). Dishonest vendors would use preservatives to maintain longer shelf life of their meatballs, but at whose expense? 

Apparently this place claims to not mix any preservatives into their meatballs (well, it did not taste like they have used any, or at least any that I could taste. Borax laden meatballs are quite chewy and hard). 

travel: Bandar Lampung 2012 part 2

30/12/12

It's such a great feeling to go back to the house you have spent your childhood and teenage years in. I felt so much at home that I had dreamless sleep last night, with full belly after bouts of eating.

I honestly don't know what to do here in Lampung, except for eating - like - 7 times a day. I am very afraid to step on the scale provided in my current room.

Even in the morning, weather in Indonesia is still hot and humid. I like to take a stroll in the garden my mom has done such a great job in taking care of.

Then off to more eating... .

Stop no. 1 for today: Sendok Mas. Fried noodles (we call it "Mie Tek Tek" - both stir fried & soup style. Both were equally delicious), grilled fish, Ox-Tail Soup, Fried Duck with green chilli.

Definitely all stuff that usually would be impossible to find in Sydney, or would taste mediocre if compared to this feast.

Stop no. 2: Durian hunt.

Ah yes, the pungent almost putridly smelled fruit that would put stinky tofu to shame. People will either love or hate this fruit. Needless to say, I am a maniac. I grew up never missing this fruit every season without fail. Though there are durians sold in Australia - the big Thai imported varieties (Monthong), the local durians are smaller in size, but IMHO, more fragrant and taste better (if you could find good ones, that is).

Can I just say: I felt such euphoria when eating these stuff (good ones), it's worth the exorbitant calories it contains (durians are definitely not fruit to be consumed for diet purpose).

Our loot

zomg. The best durian I have had for such a long long time

Stop no. 3: Sweet pancake - Indonesian Style. (Martabak Bangka).

Oh yeah, slap more butter in that baby over there.

Stop no. 4: Grilled corn on cob. They had different topping/flavours. I had the spicy one, and it was very delicious :-)~

Stop no. 5: Khuai Lok restaurant for a bit of chinese food, but 1/2heart mainly just wanted the eel dish. It was cooked with fermented red rice. (Named "Lindung Cah Kumak")

travel: Goodbye Taiwan 2012, Hello Bandar Lampung, Indonesia part 1

28/12/12

We had a flight to catch to Singapore, then to Indonesia - Jakarta at noon with Singapore Airlines again. It's time to say goodbye to Taiwan, with our wallets lighter, our belly considerably bigger after only 4 days in Taipei (yeah, those weight we lost during our 9 days excursion around Taiwan with Grant & James from RoundTaiwanRound? We gained them all back just in the span of 4 days in Taipei).

And may I just say our Taiwan trip was totally awesome. The food was great, RTR was great, people were friendly even when they couldn't speak English, they always tried their best to help us out.

And apparently, we were considered Japanese, as people keep trying to talk to us with their limited Japanese after trying to talk mandarin to us was met with our blank look.

Continue on... .

The morning was spent just by waking up late 0-o, breakfast, then hanging around in our room at Palais de Chine until it's time to take a taxi to Taoyuan International Airport. Taxi costed TWD1200.

big Gundam at a shop at Taoyuan International Airport

On board meal: Pork & Rice for Oriental Selection, Fish & Mash for Western selection

Had a bit of layover in Changi Airport, Singapore, before we continued on another flight routed to Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Jakarta.

On board meal: Fish & Mash for Western Selection, Beef & Rice for Oriental.

My little brother picked me up at the airport and he had arranged an overnight stay at FM7 Resort Hotel, located around 10 minutes drive from the airport. The hotel had shuttle to take us to domestic airport the next morning, so it was quite convenient. Didn't take any picture of the room, as we were knocked out as soon as we checked in.

29/12/12

breakfast at FM7 Resort Hotel, Jakarta

This morning, we continued on a Garuda Indonesia flight routed for Bandar Lampung, a town located on the south of Sumatra island - and also my birth town.
The aim is to hibernate eat as much food as possible, and of course spending New Year's Eve with my parents.

My brother and I have been arranging this trip to Lampung since a few months back. All my parents knew was that my brother was going to Lampung - but knew nothing about me & 1/2heart coming over.

When we walked out of the gate at Raden Intan - the domestic airport for Bandar Lampung - they still did not realize that we were tagging behind my brother. o_0; They only saw my brother and turned their back straight away on us. Only until they reached the car and I tapped my mom's shoulder, they were very shocked (my mom was in the verge of tears) to see us. LOL.

I would cherish the memory forever.

And so, let the hunger game begins, with Food Pit Stops for today.

Stop no.1: Mie Inti, for some not very light breakfast (again) of noodles. And some fish  balls, wontons, and soy milk

Stop no.2: Shereen cakes, for assorted cakes and snacks that would be very hard to find (and taste horrible) back in Sydney.

Stop no.3: Rumah Kayu, a very charming garden style restaurant with lots of yummy food.

You know the whole point of this blog is really not to make my dear readers jealous. (well, yeah it kinda is), but more-so, I want to cherish these times forever (and the memory of the food. glorious food) and to always be able to re-read my blog and drool all over it.

And then, when you saw a JCo shop at a shopping mart... . You shall not pass without buying some donuts.