Traveling Essentials

My ultimate things every time I travel. Usually I just bring a backpack, and this small sling bag that I put inside the backpack. When I walk around the city, I only take the small bag. Simple and compact. Between these things, I have two that highly recommended to be your favorite too.

MUJI Safety Case

I love this brand for its travel and home products. They are so simple, useful, and greatly designed. I don't usually bring my wallet, just some money and cards. I put that inside this mini bag, with some tickets and important paper. Kept inside jacket, it's more safe than having a wallet inside your pocket. It's so light and easy to take the things out. Price: IDR 185k.

UNIQLO Light Pocketable Parka

One of my most favorite apparel brand. Indonesia is so hot and humid throughout the year, so wearing jacket is a must when walking outdoor. This jacket is so light and feels cool. It can protect you from the harsh of sunlight but keeps your body from the wind or light rain. I still bring another jacket for keeping me from the cold (like in train), so whenever it isn't used, I can fold it so small so no worry to take wherever I go. Price: IDR 499k.

Happy traveling!

The Vibrant of Hari Raya... In Mall

Usually when Hari Raya, people visit one relative's house to another, or also known as "silaturahim". It's the reason people massively going to their hometown. But this year, i celebrated the day just with my little family. After the prayer ied we just had walk in... Shopping mall.

We went to Senayan City, a huge mall in the center of Jakarta. Surprisingly, the mall was full of people. And the same with us, they just came from the prayer with muslim dress. I just love the design of the atrium, it has different thing than any other mall (not just typical camel and dessert). It's unique and colorful. Not a traditional way to spend Hari Raya :p

Looking at the sky

It's hard to be a telecommunication engineer.... Or anything else.

Enjoy your life!

So Hot!

I live in a country where the sun shines so bright. It's very hot and humid throughout the year, no matter in dry or rainy season. And the UV level is crazy, you can see above  that UV index is at a level of extreme!  Some foreigners who come here usually just wear t-shirt and shorts, but we (local people) must having jacket whenever we go out. You can feel your skin burn, even you have darker skin. My friends once had blister skin for riding motorcycle in day without protection.

Always bring your sunscreen!

Going cashless

In developed countries maybe cashless is a common, but in developing country like Indonesia, very few people going cashless. The government has made some policies to manage this, and some banks and cell providers give many promotions such as discounts to make customers using e-money instead of physical money. I myself find it convenient to use e-money card (we have weak currency, more than 13000 IDR for 1 USD so the need of small money as change is a lot), but some stores just haven't ready yet. It takes too long to pay with card in convenience store like Indomaret. Swipe this, Swipe that, click this, click that... Not  to mention some errors and lost signal in the EDC machine, which is very common here (why they keep using GPRS when we have LTE?). And the queue become even longer.

I support the move, to have some e-money cards and mobile payment in my cellphone. I pay with debit card when I shop in shopping mall. But I don't use credit card, I don't want to have any debt to anyone. I hope the system going better in line with people using less physical money. It's good to the macro economy, so the inflation won't get crazy and our money will keep their value for a long time.

Sushi Time! (DE'SUSHI Semarang)

Sushi is a food that you can't eat alone. We should order many portions with different types and share it with friends or family, then eat together.

Good sushi is always pricey, most of my friends here can't afford it. So the only chance that I can enjoy sushi is when I and my family gathered.

Last weekend my sister asked us to have sushi (we had the last one in a long time ago). So we went to our usual sushi restaurant, DE'SUSHI (the one with reasonable price in semarang. It's located near Elizabeth hospital). They recently had moved to a new place, not far from the previous place. It has much wider parking space, but sadly the private area was gone.... so we had the regular table for dinner.

All of the sushi were delicious!! Even I couldn't resist to taste immediately and couldn't capture all of the menus we had.

No matter how much we order, we couldn't satisfied. But we had to stop before our bill exceeds the budget. Yeah, you can't have your belly full with food like this. Just get usual normal dish to get your stomach happy, and buy sushi just to make your tongue happy. LOL.

Soto

Soto, or sauto, or coto is traditional Indonesian soup. Every region has its own version with different taste.

In my hometown, the most popular soto is "Soto Sokaraja". Originally it came from Sokaraja region, Banyumas district,  in Central Java province. It has clear soup (other types of soto are given coconut milk) with shredded beef, bean sprouts, cabbage, and lots, lots of crackers. The thing that make it special from other Soto is the condiment, spicy peanut sauce. When it added, the flavor suddenly change. I and my family usually have it every our visit in Purwokerto, at Jalan Bank (the most famous Soto Sokaraja point where you can meet many Soto stall there).

In Yogyakarta (the city where I live now), soto is a popular breakfast dish (beside bubur ayam/chicken porridge). The taste and presentation is very different with Soto Sokaraja. It has clearer soup with refreshing sensation (due to more acidic broth). The Soto usually served with rice (differ from Soto Sokaraja that served with chunks of rice cakes) and accompanied with chicken innards' skewers (intestine, liver, and heart) and crispy tempeh. Preferably, I like it better. My mom usually make this type of Soto in my home since my childhood (she came from Solo, near Yogyakarta), and my palate grew with this taste.

There are many other tasty Sotos that you must try! Especially Soto Kudus and Coto Makassar!

Banana Split (Lind's Cafe Semarang)

Feasting time!

This saturday night, I and my family went to Lind's cafe Semarang to chill after dinner. The Cafe is located remotely from the crowd, in Jalan Papandayan. It has great ambience with its sparkling indoor lights,  and when going to upper level, you can get semarang panorama from above. Best to visit in the night.

This place is nostalgic for us, despite the high price and full seat during weekend, we surely will come back.

Italian Dinner (Nanamia Pizzeria Jogja)

Today we celebrate one of my friend's birthday at a Italian restaurant in Yogyakarta, Nanamia Pizzeria. We ordered two pizzas, chicken with mushroom and pepperoni. I myself ordered an extra meal, fettuccine Alfredo, because I skipped my lunch and only had corn flakes for breakfast.

Very satisfying meals and my tummy feels happy now!

Who Doesn't Love Ice Cream?

The cold and refreshing ice cream, less cream is better. I prefer those "es potong" than the full creamy cream ice cream that will make your throat uncomfortable and absolutely make you fat. So I chose wall's feast rather than magnum. Okay that's the same company but this is the cheaper version and "more me" version.

Jogja is hotter and hotter nowadays... I want to escape right away and definitely will make my new life in a cooler place!!