Turkey - Hot Air Balloon @ Cappadocia

We went on a hot air balloon trip last November. I was torn between going to Koln, Germany, for a Christmas Market trip, and this one. I haven't been to the city centre of Koln, but on the other hand, I don't think I can find anyone who is interested in riding hot air balloon in 10 years. Or even in my life time. I'm glad I chose the hot air balloon ;)

We headed to the site before dawn to get some complementary breakfast (just a cup of coffee and a slice of cake, nothing fancy). It was rather cold because it's almost the beginning of winter. Or perhaps winter had already come.

The ascent began when it was still partially dark, and the scene began with the silhouette of Cappadocia landscape.

While our balloon had risen up to quite some height, there were still other balloons nearby that had not been fully inflated. Maybe the balloons are not allowed to fly at the same time to prevent crash.

The ride was slightly shaky, but on overall, stable.  The staff who handled the burners was very professional, and he had been doing this for 10 years. 

It was -2C on the ground according to the weather forecast, but it was definitely much colder up in the air. Thankfully, the occasional burst of flame could warm you enough. Still, I don't think you can survive without a glove, especially if you want to take lots of pictures up there.

I don't know how many balloons fly every day, but you definitely can't count them by fingers.

The balloons don't really vary by size, but since they represent a company, the balloons have different designs and that makes the sky look really beautiful.

We stayed up in the air to watch the sun rise. It was really beautiful, but my camera was just not good enough to capture the best of the moments.

Aside from the sunrise, we also saw the best of Cappadocia landscape.

The landing was very smooth. We sort of had to cooperate by squatting down at the right moment to control the balance of the basket we were in. 

When we reached the ground, the balloon slowly deflated. They had to be careful not to get the balloon stuck on any tree branches nearby, and sometimes the wind could be a bitch. Ours was almost stuck to a tree nearby, but they managed to pull the balloon away from the tree :)

The whole experience was closed by a complementary champagne, and of course, this was the time to give tips to the staff for the awesome experience on the hot air balloon. 

I'm definitely recommending this company (Discovery Balloons) if you ever want to go for a hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia!

A big thanks to my brother and his friend for arranging this memorable trip :)

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Turkey - Cappadocia

Last year around October I traveled to Turkey for the first time. Yes, this is a long overdue post, but I'm still going to write it anyway because Cappadocia is just plainly awesome and if you like to travel, this is a definite must-go destination. We first flew to Istanbul, and then took another flight to Kayseri before a 2-hour car drive to our hotel.

Cappadocia is in the middle of Anatolian region in Turkey and, unlike any other places I've visited, Cappadocia has a truly unique landscape that it's not strange to think that this city had been terraformed by aliens. If Antoni Gaudi's works are the description of bizarre man-made beauty, this place is the description of bizarre nature awesomeness.

The photo below, by the way, is a city centre.

You can climb up and see what's inside, but the holes seemed inhabited and some of the holes are even filled with garbage. Nevertheless, the city centre is pretty active. There were merchants selling goods and souvenirs along the streets of the city centre. The prices were quite reasonable, and they had quite a good selection of items.

 

We stayed in a cave hotel called Cappadocia Cave Suites, and it was one of the coolest place I've ever stayed. The room is equipped with proper heaters and a TV, and there is a normal bed inside, so it's not like you're staying there as a caveman :)

We took a hot air balloon ride at dawn. We were told by another passenger of the hot air balloon that we were lucky because she had been waiting for two days because you can't ride the balloons in bad weather. So, if you plan to ride the hot air balloon, it may be better to reserve some extra days just in case the weather does not permit you to fly. It would be quite a waste of the trip if you miss the balloon ride.

We paid USD 150 to ride the balloon, but the price may vary from one company to the other. The one that we rode, Discovery Balloons, seemed to be in the middle range. The staff was very professional, and he brought us really close to the landscapes without crashing. He's been flying the balloon for years :)

The balloon ride took about 2 hours, and the view from the balloon was just splendid.

 

They kind of look like king oyster mushrooms, don't they?

(image courtesy of www.mushrooms.ca)

Later on, we saw more of these king oyster mushroom-looking stones from closer distance.

I also tried my first Turkish ice cream in Cappadocia. Well, I had Turkish ice cream somewhere not in Turkey before, but you can never tell if it's authentic unless you try it once at its origin, right?

It was really creamy and delicious. The ice cream was made of goat milk, and although I'm not a big fan of sweet stuffs, I don't mind getting another cone of this ice cream again. And by the way, it's amazing that they also have Japanese translations in many touristic places in Turkey. I guess what they say in Hetalia, a Japanese web comic strip about personification of countries around the world, is true about Turkey and Japan.

Oh, and we spotted some camels, too. But these guys were just there because they know many tourists would take a photo of the camels and then they will demand a payment from taking the pictures of the camel. Well, at the very least, these guys are not aggressive, so you can quietly take a picture and they wouldn't be chasing after you.

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Indonesia - Burning Hot "Winter" Break with 90% chance of rain

First of all, I'd like to wish you readers a wonderful Christmas and a joyful New Year. I had skipped 2 weeks worth of winter break not posting anything because I fell sick almost the moment I landed in my home city Jakarta. Consecutive sleep deprivation studying for the last exam in the Netherlands (and watching 6 episodes Big Bang Theory season 6 on the plane), sudden living temperature change of about 30 degrees and sudden long-distance family trip were most likely the culprits.

Something that almost everyone asked me: how was your holiday? Well, I had a fun time back at home, most of the time meeting my big family whom I haven't seen for quite some time, and also catching up with my friends whom I met during high school and college. Something a little bit special? For the first time in many years I went to a game arcade with someone who is not from my big family. I didn't go out that often because being stuck in traffic jam for at least 2 hours every time I need to go out of my housing complex was more terrible than getting constipation. And you can get haemmorhoid for sitting down in the car for too long.

While complaining non-stop about how slow the internet connection in Indonesia is, the only updates I ever posted on my Facebook were the amazing foods I could find in Indonesia. Those pictures most of the time caught the attention of my Indonesians abroad, and I received both pleasant and somewhat unpleasant reactions (Jealousy? Bch please, I'm also jealous looking at pictures of you guys playing with the snow and travelling around Europe during winter break).

That being said, I indeed spent most of my free (and healthy) time eating good food. I guess it's true that when you live in a place for too long, you don't feel like taking photos which, to a lot of outsiders' interest, are interesting. Here are some of good stuffs I had while in Jakarta:

Bandar Jakarta 
Bandar Jakarta sells a great variety of fresh seafood. Pick the one you like from the tank, they'll take it out for you and cook it right away.

One of my dad's favorite, lemongrass dessert with lemon jelly dessert, is one of the highlights of this restaurant. Its presentation is certainly refreshing and a little unique, with naturally colorful ingredients and a good mix of texture. I personally don't like the jelly because it's very sweet (to me), and I know, despite the refreshing concept, it has a lot of hidden sugars in there.

They also serve coconut pudding served in coconut shells. This dessert has become popular in the recent years, after being popularized by one restaurant in Jakarta. It may even went way back then, but it wasn't as popular as it is today. It's a good dessert to try if you like coconuts.

Ramen 38 (Sanpachi) 
Ramen 38 is a chain of ramen in Indonesia. Japanese-style ramen is currently the new food craze in a lot of Asian countries. When I told my friend I kind of miss eating from Ajisen Ramen, he said "that's not a real ramen". I guess in order to be called ramen it has to follow the traditional Japanese recipe using traditional type of noodles.

He recommended me the Jigoku Ramen, which has spiciness level from 1-10. I just came back from the Netherlands so I didn't dare trying anything above his limit, level 3. It's kind of spicy, and the spiciness comes mainly from local chili species which burns your mouth and stomach, unlike Sichuan peppers that make your mouth go numb.

This is not the best ramen shop available in Indonesia, but it's widely available almost everywhere, making it kind of popular. Nonetheless, each shop has different standards. I had been to Ramen 38 in Gandaria City that serves no pork. I know the reason why, but "chicken chashu" is just not up to my standard.

Magnum Cafe
If you love Magnum ice cream, then this is your heaven. They serve all kinds of desserts and drinks using Magnum ice cream, presented in a fancy way. I'd say that this cafe is rather innovative: turning a mere ice cream stick into something worth paying equivalent to a main dish meal.

Leko
Anything "penyet" (smashed/squashed into flat?) used to be the food craze about slightly more than a couple of years ago. You'll see traditional Indonesian restaurants almost everywhere trying to come up with this dish, with a different touch. When "penyet" dishes first came out, the type of meat used was beef ribs. Now, you can find chicken, fish, tofu, tempe and even duck in this style of cooking. Aside from the meat being slightly flattened, they will serve the meat on top of a plate of ground chili paste.

Leko is a restaurant chain serving these "penyet" dishes, and the reason why I keep coming back to this restaurant is because over the years they keep the standards high (by giving you a lot of chili paste on the plate despite the chili pepper price hike), and it is very close to my house.

Garuda
One thing that you shouldn't miss, and must never miss, if you are a foodie, is Padang food. Padang is the capital city of West Sumatra, and that is also my dad's hometown, and Padang food is one of the most flavorful and spiciest food in Indonesia. If you want something crazy hot and spicy until you cry tears and blood, eat Manado food.

Oh, by the way, we didn't order all these dishes. When you enter a Padang restaurant, you sit down on the table, and the waitress will start putting a lot of dishes on the table. EAT ONLY WHAT YOU WANT TO EAT. They will not charge you for what you don't eat. Some naughty people will take a tiny piece of the dish and didn't pay for it. But very few people do that :)

There are still many foods to list like the Indonesian meatball soup and soto. Seriously, there are just way too many kinds of traditional food in Indonesia, and adding more cuisines from all over the world makes it more confusing choosing what to eat within 2 weeks.

My prediction for the next food craze in Indonesia? Milk tea. Why? Because bubble tea craze is on-going, and the original bubble tea is served with milk tea. The flavor of milk tea was foreign until recently, and by the time Indonesians' taste buds have been accustomed to milk tea flavor, this will be a boom.

And a bottled tea company just launched its first ready-to-go milk tea. Smart move, I'd say.

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