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.

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*

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.

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.

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

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.

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) .

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...

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)!

Baso Sapi - homemade beef balls.

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

Tu-Bo-Seng @ Mr. Octopus

What? Tu-Bo-Seng? What in the world is that?

That, my friend, is the yummylicious Mr. Octopus cooked in hot water and dipped into a mixture of sweet chilli paste with deep fried shallots and grounded peanuts!

I've been craving for Tuboseng for the longest time, it takes about an hour drive from Penang to Nibong Tebal for this meal and if you're really unlucky they're sold out the moment you make your order and this place is yet to be modern enough to be accepting reservations. But if you're lucky enough to be passing by Nibong Tebal, just look for Ruiyen Restaurant, next to Public Bank, the locals usually know where to point you to. 

I got too greedy and ordered way too much for 3 of us. When you come to this place, there are a few things that is a must try - Deep fried pork knuckle, tuboseng and seafood. All kinds, crabs are usually the favourite. But I just had to have my lala and fish steamed Teowchew style. Since there's too much food for carbs we ordered the Singaporen Meehoon. Ah. The food was SO GOOD... *swoon* So good and it only came up to RM51 for our luncheon! 

Come, and I'll treat you to lunch!

Chelsea - Serendra Mall

It was up to my choice to decide where to eat for my last dinner in Manila.

The moment I set my eyes on Chelsea I wanted to try. I was too lazy to read up reviews before I left, I had too much to do :) 

We sat outside because it was full inside, it looks like a deli/bar inside.

Before our food came, we had complimentary Focaccia bread with grilled garlic bulb - a good pacifier for the hungry ghouls.

We ordered the fig pizza, angus beef burger (so much for trying to be vegetarian), salmon tartare, molten cheese rissoto ball and  chocnut cake to share. All in all I had a great dinner but also it was a mini farewell for me... so even IF the food wasn't good, the good company made up to it. ;)

Thanks so much girls! 

Pares King

Pares King - Open almost 24 hours.

We never found out their definition of almost 24 hours but it's the best local fast food I have ever had! I had a great meal of Beef Pares, Ensalada Ampalaya (Bitter Gourd Salad) , Laing (Taro Leaves) and Halo-halo (Filipino ABC) !

I love the interior of Pares King, it's like a cottage for kids, with boots flower pots and cloud lamps. Cute!

Legazpi

After a fruitful 2 days of swimming with the whale sharks we went to spend a night at Legazpi.

The main attraction would be Mount Mayon or Mayon Volcano.

"The most destructive eruption of Mayon occurred on February 1, 1814. Bombarding the town with tephra that buried the town of Cagsawa—only the bell tower of the town's church remained above the new surface."

After the eruption in 1814, the Daraga Church was built on top of the mountain and is now the country's historical treasures.

We were totally overwhelmed by the beauty and the weather, we just couldn't help ourselves. =)

Thanks NLC and GGA for the photos!

Dear flying friends, I had so much fun! Thanks for the great last weekend!

This is the best Filipino breakfast I've ever had.
Really, I'm not a fish person but this Tilapia is so fresh and well fried and the almost non existence bone almost made me lick my plate clean! My father will definitely be proud of me. =)

Donsol

So swimming with the whale shark, or locally known as the butanding is a must do in Donsol. On a good weekend, you get to see more than 20 over butanding, but if you're not in luck, there's no sight of them. Too many (good) things happened over the weekend...

Waking up at 4am to catch the 6am flight to Donsol.

Mayon Volcano , Woodland's Resort - Where we stayed at Donsol, the sunset before we took the boat out to see fireflies at the mangroves.

2 hours dinner by this eccentric lady at Barracuda Cafe, though, food is yummy, around the town of Tabacco market and the church that was built in 16th centuries.

JUMP!

Over the weekend, I jumped 17 times into the sea, saw 3 whale shark's fin on the water surface and swam over 2 hours with them (collectively). How was it? Oh, it was definitely a very surreal experience, feels like as if you were flying in the water but when you see the whale shark about to bumped into you, you wish you could just jump out of the water straight away - well that's how I felt, I know some people actually wished that they could ride on the gentle giants!

It was quite stressful in the beginning when the guide told you to get ready and before you know it, he said, ' NOW! NOW! NOW! JUMP!'. Then you have to jump into the water before the whale sharks swim away. Sometimes when the guide is really good, the moment you jump into the water, you see the gentle giant head on. Oh my, many times I swerved right away as fast as I could but the guide always pull me closer to it and laughed.

But when you get to actually swim side by side with the whale shark, your whole world seems to quiet down and you're in a surreally calm atmosphere, watching the giant fish swimming next to you or underneath you, until they come too close to you or you have a collision with a fellow blind snorkeler. Haha... =) But this is definitely a once in a life time must do experience!

Thanks NLC for the photo!