Finally I gathered enough strength to write a new blog. This time I would like to discuss some of the more positive things and oddities I have encountered.
After a couple of weeks in the hot tropical sun, there was one vital thing which I hadn't done yet. Drinking some nice fresh coconut juice of course!
Close to our home we have a small shop which sells coconut juice in glass or from the shell. Being a foreigner and all I figured it would be more exotic to drink from the nut itself
To my suprise the young coconut itself doesn't have alot of flavour, this is solved by adding some sweet syrup which can be added per request of the store lady. Also I was amazed how filling one coconut is, it felt like a hearty lunch. I can understand why coconuts can be seen as a gift from God when stranded on a deserted island, it was certainly a must do experience when visiting a tropical country.
Another thing which I learnt was eating with my hands. Now this sounds easy but it certainly isn't. You need to first kneed a small ball of rice and then scoop it up, using your thumb as a spoon to get it in your mouth. Let's just say the first few times I tried the food disintegrated in my hands it became quite a mess
Let it be known to future generations that Ron ordered a nasi goreng here and kept bragging how it was such an extremely good deal. Only coming to the conclusion that the food was total crap and he didn't FINISH THE PLATE! While our slightly more expensive eggplant dishes were extremely tasty and fresh. In the end he also ordered one.
Other strange things that I encountered was a blue wasp, it was not as I first thought the dreadful blue mosquitos as described by my good friend Cedric, nonetheless there should be a law against blue insects.... just look at this fearsome beast!
I am pretty sure it would be quite unpleasant to be stung by this little bastard. Speaking of bastards, we were all sitting quietly in our house when we suddenly noticed that there was a big bat sleeping outside in a corner.
He didn't very much appreciate it being moved, making all kinds of screeching noises.
We made sure the bat was moved unharmed.
So after all that 'work' we decided to visit the swimming pool in Dieng. My what a beautiful clear blue swimming pool it is, while we visited the pool you simply forget that you are still in Indonesia. Because all Indonesians fear getting a dark skin under the scorching sun, nobody goes swimming during the afternoon. Of course this is not an issue for us, therefore it felt like we had our own private pool. After some swimming it was time to just enjoy the sun.
The pool even had a hot shower facility, and I must say that it was divine being able to enjoy a shower again. We will certainly visit the pool again in the future.
Next day we went to the infamous barber which my mother kept telling me about. The front of his shop was crowded with umm his posse of young boys (to each his own I guess).
He was quite an excentric person to say the least, never in my life have I been only cut with just a pair of small scissors only. I have to admit though the guy knows his stuff! The cost of having your hair cut at his place is 75.000 RP, which is a bit pricey but I guess you have to charge something to uphold a certain way of living.
We also celebrated Ron's birthday at Ikan Bakar Cianjur.
Wow, simply wow the restaurant was built in an old dutch house and the decor inside felt very rustic. The most important part is of course the food, man that ikan Gurami just melts on your tongue and the side dishes were quite nice as well.
Unfortunately Ron didn't have enough money with him so he spend like 30 minutes outside trying to find an ATM. Aside from that small fact it was a nice way to celebrate this occassion with some nice food.
Will continue writing some more soon, have plenty of other things to tell
No comments:
Post a Comment