Monday, May 4, 2009

Palembang

Labour Day - A day to do nothing and be merry and a lot a lot of happy meals.
We flew to Palembang for the weekend, I've been wanting to go back to Indonesia for the longest time so when the chance arises I jumped onto it.  I travel with a pack of hungry souls that I love dearly :)

My cousin was raving about this bread non stop and she was willing to starve herself so that she can eat it. When I saw it I was laughing out loud, it's Roti Boy! My uncle had to run to the mall that sells it and bought 10 of them before he picked us up and we devoured it (not all of course) before we reached the hotel.

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The hotel that we stayed in has a very nice swanky interior and the breakfast spread was very nice, I was very happy with all the local specialties that I get to try every morning such as Longtong Lemak, Nasi Kuning, Nasi sumbat, Mie Baso, Model.... *yummers*

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For the whole weekend all we did was eat, sleep, shop and eat some more. 

There are 2 kinds of drinks you should always try in Indonesia, Es Jeruk (Local Orange Juice) - for the refreshing taste and Es Apokat (Blended Avocado) - for the sinful taste.

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Dinner : Night 1 -  prawn balls, deep fried frog legs, free range chicken, crab meat broccoli, fish soup, fried vege and kerupuk (fish crackers). There don't seem to have a lot of fancy Chinese restaurant around and all the famous ones are very low profile that feels like the papas and mamas from next door.

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After dinner we went around town and visited the well known Musi Bridge.

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Lunch : Day 2 - Pagi Sore.
I couldn't grasp the idea of having a buffet spread laid in front of you while you remain seated.
Then I understood. They serve you every single dish that is available in the restaurant and you only pay for the plates/bowls that you touch.

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Star of the meal - deep fried free range chicken. 
My cousin insisted that you have to make sure it's the real free range chicken and not some malnutrition chicken from the chicken farm. 5 of us whacked 12 pieces of chicken , 6 plates of vegetables, 10 sticks of Satay, Sambal Udang, Kari Ayam and Gado-gado. By the time we're done, we're ready to go back to bed. The food was really really good and I was very happy to be able to taste masakan padang (happy meal No.1) .

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Unfortunately dinner came too soon and this time we were treated to a mini banquet by another friend. One thing I realized is that they eat a lot of free range chicken and prawn balls and fish soups. We had  - fish soup, steam fish, prawn balls, seafood balls in vege, bitter gourd, fried vege, tofu and steam chicken. What can we do after a meal that I could barely stand after that? SHOPPING!!

Then, the weekend ended too soon...

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Last Lunch -  Mie Ayam Baso.
I'm a noodle fan. I love noodle and this is by far the BEST noodle I've had in ages. The noodle is so chewy and the sauce so simple and light yet so adequately flavoring the noodles with steam vege and marinated chicken bits. From the looks of it I thought it would a dry bowl of noodle but it wasn't, I don't know how to describe this but the only way to find out is to try it yourself because I LOVE IT (happy meal No. 2)!

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Baso Sapi - homemade beef balls.

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Pempek - It's a kind of fish balls that is only available in Palembang.
Again, after a bowl of noodles each, 5 of us could still stomach 22 pieces of Pempek. There are the plain ones, the ones with tofu stuffing, the ones with eggs in it, the steam ones, the deep friend ones and the ones that you roast in banana leaves which is my favourite.

I had a great great weekend and I feel truly blessed and lucky for the family and the life that I have. 

Dear Uncle and Aunt and my little cousins, thank you very much... x0x0