Palembang : City on Fog

Back at the last weekend of September, that was my first time visiting Palembang for my friend’s wedding, I stay for a night here. My expectation was so high before. I thought that this city is as big as Surabaya or hip just like Makassar, but I don’t see it. For a capital city, the city was so quiet outside on the night, I wonder where the people go for hanging out that night because one of the hippest place in here located besides Musi river and Ampera bridge named Kampung Kapitan was having only small group of customers, and unfortunately their beer is run out of stock. It might be because of the thick fog covering the city with maximum eyesight of 200 meters. It’s not comfortable for me to go outside, it makes my eyes red, headache, and even cough, but this is my first time and I have to explore. Okay, there is an issue of problems nowadays about the thick fog caused by the forest fires across Sumatra and Kalimantan. It is very sad that the government looks slowly handling this problem, there are many people having asthma or lung disease, and the disrupted animal ecosystem.

Morning is the same, even worst. The fog looks thicker in the morning. There still a lot of people hanging around the riverside and Benteng Kuto Besak, an old landmark beside the river. The museum near there is open for just Rp 5.000,- per person. The museum is still maintained well but feel so creepy with a lot of old stuff and human statues inside. Palembang is well-known for the fish cake called Pempek. I tried for some pempek here and it tastes good. There are many variations of pempek with different shape and dough. I also tried mie celor, local noodle that looks like mie atep from Belitong or mie ongklok from Wonosobo but contained more eggs. There is another well-known local food called martbak Har, but I was confused because there are many martabak restaurant with different look but they all named martabak Har, I guess Har is a name of the owner or brand not the food itself.

There are many malls here, might be one of the best in Sumatra. Might be the residents of Palembang choose the malls than going outside because of the unhealthy thick fog. Landing and taking off at the airport feels so stressful with extreme turbulence. No wonder some of the flight going in and out from Palembang was delayed because of the thick fog. 

But now the rainy season is coming, no more fog. Thank God.

Museum Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II

Kampung Kapitan & Glowing Ampera Bridge at night

Mie Celor, you can see the yellowish sauce dominated with eggs

Benteng Kuto Besak at the riverside

Gloomy Ampera Bridge in the morning covered with fog

Beautiful Seoul

The best week to visit South Korea is at the end of October and the first or second week of November. The leaves turn into their perfect colors yellow, red, and they’re ready to fall. I with my friends arrived in the afternoon. The weather was quite chilly in the afternoon, warm and windy in the morning and it goes zero at dawn. First, we went to our hotel and meet our friend who is studying the master program and works here afterward. She gives a first timer guidance for us in the city, because most of the signs written in Hangul and most of the people cannot speak English. The next day we go by ourself.

First impression : make up store everyhere it, a lot of plastic surgery ad, not all of the people looks pretty as we seen on TV, and most of them looks the same. Seems like Beyonce’s song line,”perfection is the disease of a nation”, and here we are.

We visited almost must visit places in Seoul such as Gyeongbokgung palace and surroundings, N Seoul tower, Bukchon Hanok Village, Cheonggyecheon Stream, Namsangol Hanok Village, and of course Naomi island. The best thing in Seoul is the market, I’ve also visited most of the famous market here, the better for me are Namdaemun with a lot of cheap stuff and Myeong-dong, even we’ve visited Myeong-dong three times when we were there. It’s complete and more modern, a nice place for hanging out and shopping. Lotteworld became the famous theme park there but we decided not to go there, but Everland because we want some thrill rides.Everland is the biggest theme park in South Korea located at the Everland Resort in Yongin, a city in Gyeonggi-do province, it takes two hours getting there by bus. What we love from this theme park is they have one of the biggest wooden coaster in the world.

The food is amazing, they might use less MSG in their food and use more traditional way for seasoning and spice. We’ve tried a lot of street snacks and it’s absolutely great. My favorite is odeng. All of us drank banana milk every in the day and we brought as many as we can for gifts, it’s delicious. It has become our favorite since the first time we drank it. We also bought some box of kkultarae, also known as Korean court cake, is a type of Korean dessert made with honey and meats, as well as various fillings.

ginseng – chicken – soup a.k.a the samgyetang, it’s healthy for you but I just don’t like it

I forgot the name, this food is full of fried flour… even one of my friend got sick of it

honorable mention : my favorite milk drink, legndary BANANAAA

korean sushi roll called kimbap and another tteokbokki

just another whatever cake, it just tasteless for me

you need to try this odeng, delicious fish cake

hot teokbokki, soft rice cake, it’s so popular here and in Indonesia nowadays

I don’t know what it is but it looks like a messed bibimbap

it taste just like nasi goreng

in the edge of Locks of Love at N Seoul Tower

you are here sign at N Seoul Tower

I guess they’re making theri pre wedding photo, I got their pic

korean traditional village near the N Seoul tower

Namdaemun market, one of the oldest markets in Seoul, perfect place to buy souvenirs and also to have fun getting lost

peace and serene at the reflecting pool of Gyeongbokgung palace, it might be the princess favorite place

Korean traditional dance in front of National Folk Museum

morning Royal Guard Changing Ceremony at Gyengbokgung Palace

the parade stopped here and let the visitor taking their pic

Cheonggyecheon Stream at night

Bukchon Hanok Village

the trees of Nami island

I can’t stop starring at those beautiful red tree

feelin like a korean actor, taken on Nami island

a huge pole in the middle of Nami island library made from old books

sup oppa

one of my favorite district, myeong-dong

hangul everywhere

The Museum Resto

This is my second time I came to Malang. This time, me and my friends were decided to have lunch at Museum Resto Inggil. It is located at Jalan Gajahmada, near the train station and the regent’s office. There’s nothing special about the food here, they serve Javanese food with average tastes, but the ambient’s of the restaurant itself is quite unique with a lot of old and antique stuff. It would be creepy if you’re alone at the night inside of the restaurant because of creepy puppets and masks. In front of the restaurant there is a sign which stated that the museum itself have been moved a hundred meters away across the street, but we can still find some cool stuff and cool spots for taking pictures. My favorite spot is a room full of old cassette box, and I found some music cassette that I knew when I’m still a teenager.

Tons of old casette box, my favorite spot

Tons of old cassette box

I wonder how to use it, so hard

A room before the hall with a lot of old photos about Malang

The front desk before we enter the hall

Masks ornaments with small fountain

Medium sized hall for dining with stage

A creepy humanlike statue

It’s called wayang golek

just like another Javanese food, nothing special

Old flower styled floor tiles

A Gloomy Summer Afternoon

polo shirt : uniqlo dry pique . short : next . watch : nautica . shoes : 2:01 by zalora 

location : bogor botanical garden 

other photos :