Travel2Korea: All Those Yummy Foods

Korea is not only a home to k-pop,  but more than that, it is a home to many super yummy delicious food. So I just stuff lots and lots of good food everytime I am in Korea, without ever worrying how much I would gain by the end of journey. 

My all-time favourite food is none other than hot oden, or omuk in Korean, spicy or not. It is always delicious wherever I eat it, whenever. Of course, it is better eaten in cold windy days, but hey, I always travel in April to Korea so oden is never a wrong choice. If I have to choose a great place to eat oden, my choice would be an overcrowded oden stall in Suwon market. Just a 5-minute walk from Suwon market, the oden stall offers both normal and spicy oden broth. It is not common in Korea for a stall to offer both so this stall is special. Sorry if I don't remember the name, but if you really want to go, just find the largest and most overcrowded stall in suwon market. I bet you are in the right place.  

In all honesty, the best food in Suwon market is actually not the oden. It is the famous Korean chicken! Suwon chicken alley in Suwon is a heaven for fried chicken lovers, cause it offers lines of chicken shop ready to serve our hungry stomach. When I went there, my friend decided that we should all went to one of the most favourites - of course full of visitors - called Jangan Tongdak. We ordered half half, BanBan in Korean where we will get one plate of spicy fried chicken and half garlic fried chicken. IT WAS A BOMB!! Soooooo deliciooouuusss.... Four of us finished the first serving in a heartbeat and decided to go with the second one! hahahahaha.. It is that good that I just wanted to eat this chicken forever.

Another food that I always get is the famous One Chicken Soup(닭한마리) in Dongdaemun. The shop is again in the small narrow alley, but the spicy soup is just so so so good with the whole chicken. Yes, you hear me right, they serve us a whole freaking chicken. But don't worry, I once went with only one friend and we finished it completely. We even added rice cake Tteok and noodle inside of the soup. Highly recommend! 

My culinary journey continues as I indulge myself in a sin of eating piles of 'mayak kimbab (마약김밥)'. The kimbab, aka rolled rice, is so addictive that Korean literally calls the food mayak kimbab or drugged rolled rice. Since I want nothing but the best, there is only one place in Seoul to get it, Gwangjang Market. To find the shop that sells the best mayak kimbab in Gwangjang market is not necessarily easy because many shops sell it. But if you are big 'Running Man' fans, just find a shop in the corner with a cute  oppa selling mayak kimbab non-stop just next to pictures to Lee Kwang Soo and Yoo Jae Suk. Find your treasures, detectives!! kekekekeke.... 

I want to write more about food, but I know I should stop before I have to force myself to press order button to the closest Korean restaurant at the moment. That's because my next Korean food I always love and enjoy eating is the famous toppokki with gimmari (김말이) aka Korean deep fried seaweed spring roll on the side. I know that all I need is to dip the crispy gimmari in the spicy toppokki (떡볶이) sauce and I can smile for the rest of the day. 

more posts on Korean food to come!!

Travel2Turkey: Ancient Surprises in Pamukkale

My journey in Turkey continued with a short trip to Pamukkale, famous for its white salt hill. To get to Pamukkale, we headed to Denizli which is the closest town. We arrived by bus from Konya after more than 6 hours ride on Kontur bus. It was midnight when we reached Denizli but seriously I need to ask the bus operator in Turkey whether they put some kind of sedation in the bus because I slept the whole time I was on the bus. Not only on the ride to Denizli but also from Keyseri to Goreme and return. 

We tucked into our hotel which is right behind the bus station. It was a great choice because it is so easy to reach the bus station and train for that matter. There are many hotels in the surrounding so variety of choices are there. 

In the morning, we made our way to Pamukkale using the dolmus or minibus. Cost us 3.5 lira to go to Pamukkale on 15 minutes journey. When we reached there, a guy from tour gave us all sort of options including paragliding. I decided not to take it. Not because I was petty with money or something but I just had a hunch that I would rather pass that. Paragliding cost my travel buddy 200 lira, although I learned later that people can get 150 lira offer even. 

I made my way from Pamukkale centrum to the site. Passing through the natural park, I reached the entrance of Pamukkale heritage site. The admission fee is 25 lira. 

That's the start of an amazing journey of falling in love to Pamukkale and Hierapolis.

Upon admission, I saw a white valley. Do I need to climb that? For real? Oh well, they said that climbing the travertines (it has a name!!) is the most annoying part of the journey. But not for me!! I found climbing it fun. It hurt my feet, yes, but it was all worth it. All shoes and slippers but be taken out and feet will have it natural massages. The travertines are like cold white marbles but later on top, the water running over it is warm. Of course, because that's why people are bathing on it's travertines. It's like terraces of mineral warm water where people put their feet or their body, their choice. 

Reaching on top, all I wanted to have is an ice cream. So I got myself one, got 3 scoops of stracitella, banana and black mulberry. Life is good.

So I continued to sit overlooking the travertines for hours. It's that serene and beautiful. Then I started making my way round. The travertines are everywhere apparently. Not only where I hiked. Sadly, most of them are not passable. Not that I complain really coz all of them are extremely beautiful and rather unearthly. 

Heading west from where I climbed, I found the real treasure (at least for me). The ruins of ancient city of Hierapolis. No one told me that on top of Pamukkale is an ancient city! Dated during Roman - Byzantine era (around 3 century AD), this city was a piece of art. A majestic for me. 

Imagine this, a city on top of the hill. Blanketed in clouds, and showered with sun. What a joyful life it must had been for the citizen of Hierapolis. Living in such a place. Then things started to struck me because not only this city was located in amazing place, it had majestic city landscape. 

I started off with the Frontinus street. The long street was paved away nicely after the Byzantium Gate. Pillars were erected on the side while a latrineo with more pillars were put right next to the street. Tried walking on the street and I felt like walking during the Roman Empire in Athens. People walking pas the gate in their white outfit, washed their feet on the bath and headed to the city center. 

My dream came true. My childhood saint seiya dream majestically came true. And the sun seems to be smiling. 

I continues my journey in the city by passing the Bath Basilica. The bath basilica is located outside the city for the people to clean and purify themselves before entering the city. Those who was not clean could not enter the city. What a system, isn't it? And to think the system was put in place thousands years ago blew me, confirming how advanced the Romans were. 

Passed bath basilica is the graveyards. Some tombs near the basilica were big, guessed it probably for the important people. The graveyard is big, as I went deeper into it. It gave me chills actually and I literally immediately made my way back to the city. I am a coward that way.

But like a good citizen that I am, I passed the old route. Bath basilica then Byzantium Gate then going pass Frontinus Gate before walking again on the Frontinus street. Sadly, the street leads to nowhere, perhaps unlike the old days. So I turned my feet to the paved roads that leads me to the center of Pamukkale. There, Pamukalle archeological museum lies majestic. The museum is the best place to know the history of Hierapolis and its priced artifacts. Admission fee is required but totally worth it. 

Behind the museum complex is a swimming pool, a modern one. Which I kinna despise because it is so modern it doesn't fit the place. So I dissed that and made my way to top, where the theatre stands magnificently.

(Oh the climb to the top exhausted me! I need to get back to the gym for realsies) 

Then that rush of emotion washed over again once I reached the top and put my feet on the theatre. I stepped into what I would call the gladiator scene. It's grandeur atmosphere, the stage with pillars and the gladiator arena. I felt like coming back to a movie scene. And now I know why in those movies, the spectators and audiences are equally esthetic over a bloody game. That rush of emotion and adrenaline is what I felt the moment I sat down there.  

Then I met Esma, a lady from Anatolya who came to Pamukkale on one-day vacation. She told me that Turkey has similar places like this in Ephesus, Izmir, Ankara and Anatolya. You gotta be kidding me right? That means I need to travel again. Yet, I am glad I will go to Ephesus and Izmir on the next journey. Ankara and Anatolya can wait. 

I walked around the theatre and admiring its construction. Very well thought of. On the bottom is somewhat gladiator rings with 3 gates. What struck me is the stage. As if this theatre was also for play, musical or dance performance. I learned later that the citizen of Hierapolis loved festivals and glad to know gladiator game was not the only enjoyable game. That stage had another purpose and it was a good one. 

The sun set rather quickly so I need to get myself down before dark. I had to pass the travertines again. I didn't want to slip or whatever because of dark. So with heavy heart, I left. But I left with a happy feeling. That my dream of living an old Roman day finally came true. 

Travel2Turkey: Magnificent Cappadocia

More than 60 weeks ago, I first learned the name of Cappadocia. Thanks to my Yeonseok who posted a picture of floating air balloons on his trip to Turkey. Since then, I kept that one dream of coming to Cappadocia and climbing on that hot balloon myself. 

It finally came true. 

But not after a series of glitches in my travel planning. The somewhat-disaster started when we realized that Keyseri, our hotel's location, is good one-and-half hour away from the balloon ride. It made the plan disturbed because the balloon ride usually started at 4-5 in the morning. Bloody 4-5 AM. How could I get there from Keyseri in time? 

But before I could even get the solution, I was tripped with second glitch. I missed the flight from Istanbul to Nevsehir. The traffic was really bad, even switching to metro ride didn't help. We wasted 80 lira and much more. So upon coming to the airport, we looked for an alternative flight to Nevsehir that day. None. Yet, the travel agent said there is another flight to Keyseri instead at 00.50. Hey! That's where our hotel is. So, we decided to take it. An hour smooth flight and I passed out quickly after reaching our hotel. Only later I learned that should we did not miss our flight, we will be homeless for that night. Keyseri is 1,5 hour by bus from Nevsehir airport. Ugh you expedia!! 

Kabooom.. Hotel in Keyseri gave us another headache as it has no way of arranging our balloon ride. So we decided for real that we need a hotel where the action is going aka Cappadocia central. Hahahaha.. What the heck is central? That's how I called the balloon ride. Apparently, it has a name. A valley city called Goreme. 

Goreme is a house to the caved houses and all that is cave. It's a cave city. Almost everything are made out of a cave. Hotel, houses and later I learned, old churches. It's magnificent really, how human being can carved out cave to make it a home. No wonder there's a cave period and seriously it looks pretty now. Flinstones, you're real! 

The first thing we did in Goreme is walking through the city. Seriously that's the best thing we all can do. It's hilly terrain, the cave houses just took my breath way. Yet, there is nothing as breathtaking as watching the sunset on top. Goreme is kind enough to show the way to sunset point so we are all good. From atop, Goreme looks like sea of whites, a valley city. Everything is in a bowl, surrounded by mountain of rocks. It's just pretty. Period. 

The balloon ride the next morning confirms just how majestic Cappadocia landscape is. We were picked up at 5.15 AM, had our breakfast before riding the balloon. The ride cost us 110 USD, for a 20 people balloon ride. So imagine how pleased I was to find that the ballon ride was only for 9 people! Hupla horray!! 

The ride was a smooth sailing although at times I thought we will hot the rocks. It was not cold up there. Instead, all is a wave of happiness and awesomeness. We saw from above the sunrise, Cappadocia's mountains of caves, Goreme air museum, love valley, and of course, other balloons that made the sky pretty. I am lucky to have a clear sky ride, not windy and surely not rainy. If someone asked me to do it again, I will say yes in a heartbeat. 

Upon landing, we were presented with non-alcohol champagne and a medal. Kya!! We toast for a great life a head and thank for the blessing that we had in life. Cheers!! 

During the balloon ride, I have decided that I wanted to go to Goreme open air museum. An open air museum was a foreign term for me because museum is identical to big closed building with air con and all sorts. So I was ready to embrace this new concept of open air museum. 

Goreme open air museum is actually a 11th century Church complex. The museum houses 12 churches that are the living witness of the glory of early Christianity in Turkey. All churches are located inside cave, which made it even more magnificent. Carvings and wall paintings beautify each churches. It amazed me still how they painted and how the pictures last centuries. I probably should credit the clarity of paintings to the handy restorations but the paintings itself blew me away. All of them were on the walls, dome and pillars. All are beautifully painted and designed. I am glad that none of the visitors are allowed to take picture because flash can destroy it. 

The whole journey over the museum took me an hour and upon exit, I found out that open air museum is more of my kind. I hope that there will be more in Turkey and Greece because I am completely loving it. Goreme open air museum is 20-30 minutes walk from centrum (depends on your speed of walk really and your ability to walk uphill). Admission is 20 lira.

When I finished the museum, I still got few hours before leaving back to Keyseri. There's a direct bus or shuttle so no need to go to Avanos or Nevsehir. So I strolled around the shops downtown and bought alot because they offered so much better price than Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. Everybody who came to Turkey and Cappadocia should get their souvenirs in here rather than Istanbul. 

Also in Goreme, I finally tasted the food that looks like Raviolli I saw in Istanbul. It is called Manti and it is indeed ravioli, Turkish way. It has stuffed meat inside. Served with tomato sauce and yogurt, one serving is more than enough for me. 

With full stomach, lots of gifts, and happy memory, I left Goreme with a happy feeling. A 63-weeks dream came true and much more. 

Lesson learned:

1. Cappadocia is not a city, it's an area. The city where all the good things happen is Goreme, Uchisar, or Urgup. 
2. Book hotel directly in Goreme or Urgup or Avanos. Never Keyseri or to some extent Nevsehir 
3. Fly to Nevsehir if hotel is located in one of the three places above
4. Careful in booking the balloon provider, they gave different price. If you want to book online, book in your country to avoid any credit card hacking. 
5. Balloon ride depends so much on wind speed and weather. When travel blog advises you to come before October, they have their reason. October onward, the weather for balloon ride is not favorable. We were lucky indeed to get it on the only day we were in Gerome. 

If you ask me whether I want go go Cappadocia again, I will say YES in a heartbeat.

Travel2England: Finding Dreams in London

Life is full of mystery. Right when I didn't expect it, time and fate collided to give me not only one dream but two at once. Dreams of becoming a diplomat came true when I was sent on a business trip to London. It came just like that, unexpected and unpredicted. 

I was flying to London on 15 September. Soon after I arrived, I was walking the Westmister walk. Started off at the most beautiful park I ever set eye on, I embarked my journey in London from Green Park to Buckingham Palace. It was raining that day, but hey it's London. Rain and London are inseparable entities. From Buckingham Palace, I continued walking toward the Big Ben via Green Park. The Big Ben is now officially named Elizabeth Tower. Nestled next to Big Ben is always the majestic Westmister Abbey. 

I walked pass through Big Ben and Thames river toward the South Bank where I got my classic British meal, Fish and Chips. The portion is so big I took note to myself that I will have someone share it with me next journey in London. From the window of the restaurant, the view is amazing. Big Ben and London Eye are so close. So close. 

After completing my lunch, I made my way toward embankment where I found an alley that smells coffee. I decided to find warmth at one of the crowded cafes, villears. Apparently, the name of the alley is villear. Hahaha.. There I met a man named Jhonny who must be the nicest man in the whole Britain. He talked to us, all cheerful and welcoming. I told him to come to Indonesia one day. Kekekeke.. 

Trafalgar Square is just right around the corner from Villear Street. It's so silly that my only reasoning to visit this place is SHINee. Those five boys were in this place when they were in London and of course, the fangirl in me wanted to follow. So there you go me posing in front of the Lion at the Square. And fangirl in me is happeh 

Pass the Lion, I made my way to Crossing Cross station next to Trafalgar square. Next destination: Oxford Street. The busiest street in London, full of shops and their eager customers. That including me! I walked in and out shops before found the one I was looking for. Debenhams at Oxford Street houses Urban Decay counter and I finally got my hand on the most gorgeous eye shadow palette on earth. Urban Decay's Naked 1 is simply the best! 

Satisfied with my shopping, I went back to my hotel. But before that, I got a piece of super delicious waffle topped with cream, chocolate and banana. Soooo good! So I ended my day 1 in London in a very good happy mode. 

Happy that my dream of London comes true. Happy that my childhood dream also comes true. In London, my dreams were fulfilled. 

A Fairytale and A New Beginning

Today I realized that I had been 

treating the story I am keeping alive for 7 years as some sort of fairytale. It had butterflies, unicorns, rainbow and a prince charming. No wonder it was so hard to let it go and to move on. Like in every fairy tale, I kept on having this tiniest feeling called hope and wishing that this tale will come true one day. 

Sure enough, not every fairytale comes with a happy ending. In real life, most of them just don't. Some of them even ended in silence. Just like that. But in that silence I found courage to move on with life. I'm using the same feeling called hope to move on and move forward. Marching toward the unknown which I believe will be better that the pastel-colored fake fairytale. 

Today, a fairytale closed it's chapter and a new beginning has just started. 

When I Am Out in the Field

When I'm out in the field, things are just not the same anymore. I just returned from 2 weeks emergency relief mission in Aceh. Now, while waiting for my return flight to Jakarta, I realized that there are things that will happen only in the field and that things will last forever. 

When I am in the field, eating lunch at 2.00 can be considered as miraculous moment. 

When I am in the field, sleeping at 2 AM is the way to go. With reports to submit and papers to be sorted, sleeping is a luxury. 

When I am in the field, putting on make up is never necessary. Balming face with sunblock and body with mosquito repellent are what made a difference to your health. 

When I am in the field, putting on sweet flat shoes means disaster. I ended up with sandals that will go dirty but sustain your feet from any harm. 

When I am in the field, I take notes note not only with my hands but also with my eyes, ears and mouth. I have to stay alert at all times. 

When I am in the field, my heart and brain needs to be synchronized at all times. That's just how humanitarian worker need to sustain to stay sane. 

When I am in the field, I have to admit that I wait for returning to normal life. With all its luxury and perks. But when that day comes, I left the field with a heavy heart. 

Because I left behind me a group of people whose life has no date of safe return to normal life. That's when I feel that normal life is somehow a privilege. Privilege only to some but not all. That's when I left with a heavy heart. Knowing I have that privilege and they're not. 

So I return to normalcy with a promise. That I will continue to work to bring back the very thing that should be a privilege for all. A happy normal life. 

Travel2Macau: City of Fantastic Sweets

I only spent two days in Macau yet this place fascinates me. Not only Macau stands beautifully with all it's "east meet west" building, it's culinary culture is amazing. Since I have limitations in terms of eating because of no-pork policy, I indulged myself more on what Macau has to offer in sweet foods department.

If you go to Macau's most crowded puic space, Senado Square, go direction Grand Lisboa hotel and you can find this lovely condensed milk pudding with red bean on top at a shop on your left. The shop is modest yet easy to find because the big cow poster right on the left side. The milk taste amazing! It's watery, not too sweat yet cover your mouth in softness that spoils you a little too much. It is available in hot or cold with different toppings to choose from. My friend happens to chose the hot one and it tasted sweeter than the hot one. So if you like sweet, go with the hot one. 

Coming out of Senado Square, continue your journey toward Grand Lisboa direction again until you find "avenida da praia grande" before you turn to the left after crossing the street. When you find the first intersection with a little park on the middle, turn right and walk less than 50 meters before making another turn to the right. Margaret cafe e nata, one of Macau's most famous egg tart seller is on the left side of the street. It's so easy to spot this amazing place because of the crowd. Crowds are flying around like hungry bee looking for honey there. The reason is simple, the Cafe's egg tart is to die for 

The egg tart is best eaten when its hot. Crunchy on the outside but super soft and sweet on the inside. The egg custard just make my tongue dancing in joy. One serving wont be enough. So the cafe made it easy for its customer to buy not only a single egg tart. They can buy in 6 or 12 for 45 or 90 Macau mops. It's soooooo deliciously alluring. 

My culinary travel didn't end there. Once I was full with 2 egg tarts, I made my way back to Senado square to see what that place has to offer. After a little walk around, I found this little shop of manjoo in front of another Macau's famous seller of its own interpretation of pork burger. The shops sells manjoo in a shape of fish. It comes small in size but eating 6 of them equals to a lunch serving for me ;p 

Filled with custard or chocolate paste, this little fish shaped manjoo is easy to be plopped into my mouth in no time. It's crunchy yet soft. Remind me much of Japanese's taiyaki. Only this time, it comes in much smaller size and no red bean inside. Yet to be perfectly honest, this dish might not entirely Macau but more of South Korean. A little twist than the one in Seoul but it goes more with how Japanese taiyaki tastes like. 

My journey was not over yet. Since I need to make my way back to the post office at the center of Senado square, I walked past by St. Dominic Church, or more precisely what's left from it. That's when I stumbled upon Mc Donald's store that offered two things I love the most in one serving. Sundae ice cream on top of apple pie with chocolate sauce. 

Call me cheap but I'm a big fan of McD's pie. Something that I could not find in Jakarta sadly. It comes in different variety of fillings which fascinatingly different in each country: apple, piennaple, taro, blueberry, corn, etc. In Macau, so glad that it comes only as Apple pie. Hahahaha.. So in hot and humid September Macau, eating ice cream with Apple pie among the crowds in front of post office offers a very delightful experience. At least for me ;) 

With all the sweets in my system, I was a happy camper in Macau. 

Burning Bridges

finally found my long awaited answer 

lucky enough

not all bridges were burned 

just one 

I called it "illusion"