AOE: Yogyakarta Day 3, City of Yogya.

Hi, finally I got my mood back to write here after I struggled finishing my final thesis of my master degree, actually I'm still working on it and it's not finished yet hehe... It has been couple days since I posted my day 2 in Yogyakarta. So, here it is, my experience of day 3 in Yogyakarta.

Since I and my family have been to outside the city of Yogyakarta on day 1 and 2, we decided to try some culinaries inside the city. My gf once told me, "If you have a holiday in Yogyakarta, you MUST try The House of Raminten because it's quite cheap and has a traditional theme". She know that I used to blog an unique things everytime I travel to somewhere as I did in Yogyakarta. So, I asked my family to go to this traditional cafe since it is inside the city and not too far from our hotel. We used a rent-car on that day, so it just took several minutes to be there. Once we arrived at The House of Raminten, I personally sensed a different atmosphere, a viscous culture of Yogyakarta. Its rooms are decorated by traditional design. The waiters and waitresses wear traditional outfits. I also saw a paintings of Raminten, a lot of ornaments, and offerings (in Indonesia, it is called 'Sesajen').

The House of Raminten

Inside The House of Raminten

How about the foods? We intentionally ordered different kind of dishes, so we could try many unique dishes in one visit. We ordered extra big 'bubur ayam' (chicken porridge), 'es krim goreng' (fried ice cream), 'es krim bakar' (roasted ice cream), and 'ayam koteka' (koteka chicken). [For you who don't know about Koteka, It is a male traditional outfit from Papua. It is usually used to cover their genitals.] That cafe put the name of the outfit on the food. That's ridiculous.

Koteka Chicken

Fried Ice Cream

Roasted Ice Cream

Extra Big Chicken Porridge

A lot of cafes usually just concern about their profit. That kind of concern mostly affects their quality of products and services. Because of that, customers are not satisfied later and they might not come to those cafes anymore. That situation doesn't occur at The House of Raminten. Good taste and great portion don't affect the price of the foods. It is quite cheap for quality like that. I was impressed by the cafe.

Last day in Yogyakarta made us want to buy some gifts. As usual, if anyone visit Yogyakarta, they must be buying bakpia or wingko as a gift. So do I. Green tea flavor bakpia was my choice. I bought it because that was my first time to try that super delicious bakpia.

Green tea flavor bakpia

If bakpia and wingko have become Yogya's first must-buy gift, Monggo chocolate shows its fang to enter the competition haha.. Monggo chocolate is not just an ordinary chocolate. There are some flavors that complete its collection of products such as Durian, Mango, Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate, Strawberry, Red Chili, Pala, Rendang (Indonesian's most famous food usually made by beef), etc. It is unique, isn't it?

The collection of Monngo Chocolate products

My Red Chilli and Rendang flavor of Monggo Chocolate

Tourist who has been to Yogya must be known about Malioboro street. Some people said if you want to buy something like clothes, foods, and gifts at the certain level of low price, just go to Malioboro street. We can see a lot of merchants around Malioboro street.That's why if you go there, you can see a crowd and also a bunch of people bargaining. But for me, instead of bargain something randomly at random merchants, I prefer to buy something I definitely wanna buy at merchant that I and my family used to buy. I bought some packs of pecel, a kilos of cashew nut, and a kilos of sweet emping at Beringharjo traditional market. This traditional market is one of the most famous place in Malioboro street. I and my family personally believe that merchants inside this traditional market are more believable than outside the market. It is worth it to be listed on your must-visit list.

Elephant statues with gravities near Malioboro street

Malioboro street

Pecel and friends haha

Inside Beringharjo traditional market

My favorite cashew nut

I didn't expect something new from this trip because I've been there for a couple times. So, after we finished buying gifts, our next plan was wait for the train which was 5 hours ahead. At the same time, my friend from Yogyakarta texted and asked me to join her session of broadcasting at KR Radio. So, I gladly join her. Her session is about Kpop and fortunately I have a little bit knowledge about it. That was a pretty good experience for me.

Me and Aiu at KR Radio Yogyakarta

In this trip, I didn't let my passion of traveling push me so hard like when I was in India because this was a family holiday. So, I had to think about the others who maybe doesn't like to do my way. On the other side, I had to think about my parents stamina who aren't young anymore. But after all 3 amazing days that we've been through, I definitely want to thank God for giving me this unexpected experience from offroading around mount Merapi until joining my friend broadcasting. Alhamdulillah!

See ya !

AOE: Foods and New friends in Sydney.

What kind of traveling do you like?

Do you like sightseeing more?

Or do you like trying something new?

Something that you cannot find in your own place.

For me, traveling will be a complete package if we try something new (like the food, the local culture) or even make new friends from different backgrounds and walks of life. We can learn a lot from them. We can share our experience and also learn about life from different perspective.

Sydney is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Therefore, I don't doubt if Sydney has a lot of variety of foods and cultures from other countries. During my trip to Sydney, I've been to Vietnamese restaurant in New Town, Indonesian restaurant in Kingsford, Japanese restaurant in the city, Korean restaurant in Macquarie, Chinese restaurant in Chatswood, etc. I believe there are still many more international restaurants like those places in almost every corner of Sydney. Lucky that I had a chance to try some of them. Here, I want to share about those unique and different cuisines I've tried for my survival there (Sounds too much, haha).

1. Pancakes On The Rocks, The Rocks.

If you go to Sydney, you must try this. I got my "Devils Delight" when I went to this place. It is basically a chocolate pancakes, topped with some strawberries, chocolate lava, and chocolate ice cream. The taste? 2 THUMBS UP! I got no complain about it: quite a huge portion, delicious taste, and very cool service. The not so expensive price make it worth trying.

"Devils Delight"

2. Menya Mappen Japanese Noodle, City.

I went to the city to try the "Bukkake Kimchi Udon". When I heard the word "Kimchi", I spontaneously thought about Korean food and Korean restaurant. But I was wrong, it is purely a Japanese restaurant (I have no idea they could mix "Kimchi" from Korea and "Udon" from Japan). Nevertheless, the food was totally delicious. It fits the Indonesian taste "a bit spicy and salty". No wonder it's one of my gf, Natya's favorite restaurant.

"Bukkake Kimchi Udon"

3. Queto, Macquarie Centre.

This Korean restaurant was our choice to celebrate our special day. We had a "BBQ Seafood Noodle" and "Salmon Crab Roll". The portion? Big enough for me and too much for Natya. The taste? Yummy! The price? Not too expensive, just around AUD $10-15 per meal.

"BBQ Seafood Noodle"

"Salmon Crab Roll"

4. Easy Way, Macquarie Centre.

This drink amazed me at my first slurp. I and Natya tried "Mango Shake Pearl" and we couldn't stop slurping it. Haha.. It is a great choice for you in summer days while you are relaxing in town.

"Mango Shake Pearl"

5. Noggi, Macquarie Centre.

No comment. It is completely fresh, healthy and delicious. MUST TRY! For you girls and also boys, since it's yogurt, not ice cream, it's good for diet too. 

"Taro frozen yogurt with cone"

6. Spice of Life, Parramatta.

My new friend, Abdusamad introduced me an authentic Indian restaurant named SPICE OF LIFE. We had a lunch at this place. He told me that this restaurant is one of the best Indian restaurants because the taste is very original. I've been there twice because it's Samad's favorite. We ordered Thali, Chicken Masala, and cokes. It was really good. I already fond of Indian cuisines since the first time I tried them.

"Thali"

7. Ji Li's apartment, Wolli Creek.

Ji Li is Natya's lecturer in her first semester during her master study at Macquarie university, Sydney. Ji Li became one of Natya's best friend once they started sharing about their personal matters and experiences. When I was in Sydney, I and Natya were invited to her apartment in Wolli Creek to have a dinner with her and her boyfriend, Richard. She cooked Chinese foods herself for us. She made Chinese  popular foods from different provinces, such as Guangzhou, Xinjiang, Sichuan and they were all really good. We finished them all. We had a great dinner and meeting after all. 

Ji Li's foods

Our dessert

8. Katsu Curry, Chinatown.

When I and Natya planned to go to Manly beach, we visited Chinatown first to have a lunch. We looked for something different. And so after we arrived at its food court, we found this "Chicken Katsu Curry". We've never tried it before. So, we ordered it and it was not disappointed. My tummy was happy again!

"Chicken Katsu Curry"

Natya and this great food.

9. Roasted Chicken, Coles.

Australia is one of the most expensive countries for its living cost. In order to save our money (mine and Natya's), we often hunted discounts at Coles. Coles always gives a discount at the evening. We always went to Coles at 9/10 pm. One day, we bought this AUD 11 "Roasted Chicken". It is ready to eat. We finished it like 2/3 days. It was quite good choice to save your money in Sydney.

AUD 11 Roasted chicken

10. Rock and Roll Sushi, Chatswood.

Natya gave me this small meal named "California roll" when I picked her up in Chatswood. It is simple meal and good choice when you are in a rush and do not have enough time to have a breakfast.

"California Roll"

11. Fish Shack, Manly Beach.

I was curious to try "Fish n Chips" in Manly beach because I heard that it is the most famous food from there. Actually, every beach in Sydney has their own "Fish n Chips", but I have no idea why it is just Manly beach's "Fish n Chips" that sounds so famous.

"Fish n Chips"

12. Vegan's Choice, New Town.

New town has a lot of Vietnamese restaurants. One place that captured our attention was Vegan's Choice. They offer you an ice cream with tofu flavor. First time I heard it like "what?! Tofu in the ice cream?! It doesn't make sense. Ice cream will always be sweet or sour but tofu is a little bit salty". So, we decided to give it a try. The taste is like "Ketan Hitam", that's how Indonesians call it. In Indonesia, It is usually served in a form of porridge with coconut milk. Not bad. We enjoy trying new foods.

"Tofu Ice Cream"

13. Cream Puff, Chinatown.

This is the most famous meal in Chinatown, Sydney. People want to wait and make a long line to get this meal. It is so cheap, like 35 cent each, AUD 1 for 3, AUD 2 for 7, AUD 3 for 11, AUD 4 for 15, and AUD 5 for 20. It is still hot while you get it because the seller makes it when she get an order. It is good choice for the cold night, isn't it?

Cream Puff

14. Pizza Hut, Chatswood.

Since Natya worked at Pizza hut Chatswood, I often got meals for free. My most favorite meal was "Beef Cheesy Lasagna". Probably you can try it at Pizza Hut outlets near you (I don't mean to promote it, hehe).

"Beef Cheesy Lasagna"

Natya during her work.

15. Make our own foods.

As I told you, Sydney is not cheap for its living cost (almost everything literally). So, I and especially Natya made our own foods many times. These pictures below are not the display of all of the foods.

Chicken sandwich. We made it while we were going to Katoomba for Blue mountain trip.

"Samyang fried spicy chicken noodle", the famous instant spicy noodle from Korea.

"Mie Laksa", Singaporean noodle. We made the instant noodle one.

FRIENDS

Me with Abdusamad, a friend that I met in Sydney.

Samad's boy, Faisal.

Natya's friend, Sandy's birthday party.

Natya, me, Ji Li, and Richard.

Sasa, Yurika, and Natya.

Actually this is my old friend from 9 generation, Krida Nusantara (my high school in Bandung). He is taking his Ph.D at New South Wales university. He will become the first Ph.D in our 9 generation.

Sightseeing, meet new or old friends in new place, learning about the local culture, and trying new foods are the essential of my traveling principal. Even though I didn't travel for a long time but I tried to blend to local behavior everyday. I didn't sleep and spend my time in my room too much. I let myself explore the place. I could feel that I was in another place, another culture, and another country with that principal. It was amazing and I feel alive.

Well, that's my experience, looking forward to hearing other great lessons and experiences from you!