3 Days to Celebrate a Quarter of a Century

This year I turn a quarter of a century old. Am I old? Am I young? Who cares! Live life and have fun! The birthday celebration this year was just that!

Friday

To jump start the birthday weekend, we had our official October FIPDes Birthday dinner on Friday night. The rule is, whenever someone has a birthday, they have to cook something from home for everyone else. 
The treats from Indonesia this time were: 
a simple dish of Nasi Goreng (our everyday fried rice :9 ) and Pisang Goreng Coklat Keju (our everyday banana fritters, albeit with Chocolate and Cheese :9 ) 

Despite my indifference to this dish when I'm at home, I am proud of one of the main ingredients Kecap Manis (Indonesian Sweet Soy Sauce). A specialty only found in Indonesia! You can’t even find it in the Chinese Quarter here in Paris! (if anyone proves me wrong, please tell me about it. I have eager mouths for Nasi Goreng).

The humble dishes also got the privilege of being served alongside the exotic Polish dishes. Pierogi (Dumplings with Smashed Potatoes/Sour Cabbage with Onion bacon stirfry) and Placki z Cukinia (Zucchini Pancakes with Yoghurt). This Polish Indonesian team made a spectacular show and was all gone in about 15 minutes! My Nasi Goreng and Pisang Goreng have never felt so proud of themselves. Happy Birthday to Ada Balazy and Me!

What kind of birthday would it be without presents? 
Each birthday girl must submit a wish list before hand so the others could buy them a present. I got the first item on my list! A black Swatch watch!
Thanks guys! It's so pretty. Simple yet classy. More than I even expected!

Side story: The day before, I practiced making the Pisang Goreng. Only there was something wrong with the bananas. The ones I bought were incredibly hard and starchy. I cooked a small piece, then a whole banana trying to figure out what was wrong! Wrong batter? Wrong recipe? Wrong type of banana?

Can you guess what was wrong with them?? (It’s actually super obvious. I’m such an unexperienced green chef.)

I paid the price though, what a lunch of fried raw bananas. So yummy -__- !

Saturday
Saturday was India Day! We start by having Indian Dessert for breakfast. Followed by shopping at Indian Quarter & Supermarket. Took a break and ate lunch at an Indian Restaurant. Stopping at the sweets shop to buy Indian snacks. Coming home and cooking Indian Dinner with Indian Friend (tag Sarabjit Kaur!). Lastly, massaging Indian hair oil into my hair after dinner. Hooray for rocking it Indian style all day long!

Saturday was also fireworks night! Have you ever heard of a Pyro-musical Show?

Somehow the French decided that a wine festival deserves a pyro-musical show (read: fireworks show orchestrated to music). But I’m glad. How lucky we were to watch that. Green Red Purple Yellow lights lit the sky, in my head they were just especially for me 
(\(^^)/).

The night ended at a bar.
Not the first place we came to though. We had walked through red light district, queued for a bar, only to get rejected by the bouncer because we were on the phone when our turn came up! Geez, all hail the all powerful bouncer. This is power abuse if I ever saw it. 

So we headed home, but still hoping to go out, we ended up at a sports bar, ordered a liter of beer, and talked too seriously till morning came. Intense stuff my friend, intense. Before we leave, I manage to throw up a little bit of that beer (yeah I need more hours for one liter. Not drunk, just damn full stomach!). Then we found ourselves navigating our way home by night bus. Fransisco displayed some El Savadorian hospitality and was so nice to share his frozen pizza for all of us.  After pizza, we all had a date with our beds. Nite nite!

Sunday

9 o’clock the sun is out, and I am up. By 12.30 me and roomie Amelinda head out for church, then stroll to the banks of the Seine. Good weather leads to good ideas, we decided to rent a bike and explore Paris on 2 wheels.

Challenge number 1: How to rent a bike. We had a hassle with the bike renting machines, but after trying, trying, and trying again we made a success. I guess 3 time’s the charm! The next challenge:  Reach another machine station in 30 minutes, or pay an extra Euro. On the first stretch we did well, timing in at 26 minutes. The second stretch, we didn’t find the station till 4 minutes after. Turn's out, we had passed the bike station 3 times by 10 meters away at the adjacent crossroads. Oh no!

Oh well, so we decidedly ditched the bikes for a while and tried to find some snails (Escargot!) or roast pork/chicken in the Latin Quarter (Oh la la so fancy!). Okay snails are yummy enough for appetizers.

Next: ICE CREAM! Time to try famous traditional ice cream of Paris, Bertoulli’s, on the island next to Notre Dame’s. Nice, not number 1 on my list, but might hold a place in the top 5.  We feel it’s getting cold outside as well as in our stomachs as we eat the ice cream.

We go home on bikes!

Okay no. We took the RER(train) because it was getting late and it was so cold.

When we get back, we arrive at the weekend finale!

Dinner celebrating the epic Indian holiday Dasara celebrating the victory of good over evil as Lord Rama defeated Ravana. Happy Dasara!

The Indians (Sarabjit, Priyanka) dressed up for the occasion.
Stitch, Mocan the minion, and Sarabjit's Sister threw a private party.

Daniella cooked traditional Portugese pasta with olives, tomates and anchovies. Yum!

The Spanish Coalition (Fransisco, Adri, Gaby, Silvia G) broke out in song and sang a happy birthday song in spanish. 

Ada and I finally made our birthday wishes and blew out candles.

I can't tell you my wish, but even if it doesn't come true, my birthday was already a wish come true anyways.

..(^,^)/)

Belitong Island

Do not to confuse Belitong with nearby Bangka, and Batam.

Although smaller, a traveler still gets a full plate at Belitong with island hopping, venturing through massive stones on the beach, old and new traditions and  culinary delights.

A trip to Belitung is a good vacation to get away from the 9-5 routine of daily life.  I personally visited with family and family friends for last year’s lebaran holiday, and I would definitely go again!

Places:

Island Hopping:

This is definitely the main attraction. You hire a boat, or book a trip included in your tour package and leave from Tanjung Tinggi Beach to the surrounding Islands:

Driving the boat,  Belitung style: With feet!

Pasir Island, an island that appears when the tide is out, and disappears when the tide comes in. (Pasir is the Indonesian word for Sand)

Pulau Burong, where you can search for starfish while being watched by the great bird rock. (Burong is similar to Burung, the Indonesia word for Bird).

These starfish were alive and kicking! We collected them in a coconut husk then set them free again.

Lengkuas Island, with a lighthouse remnant from the Dutch colonization and a good place to have midday lunch with fresh coconuts to quench your thirst. Around the Island is a good place to do snorkeling

Main Beach:

Tanjung Tinggi Beach has soft sand and huge rocks. Be a little adventurous and explore these humoungous stones, or lay back and enjoy the sunset. This stones size are mind-boggling and they don’t originate from the island. Or so it is thought, as the stones are composed of granite, so it is assumed that they were blown to this beach by a magnificent eruption of the ocean volcano Mount Krakatau, located to the south.

I guarantee you will forget to breathe a few seconds as you stand at the base of these rocks, trying to fathom their massive size.

Lengkuas Island, with a lighthouse remnant from the Dutch colonization and a good place to have midday lunch with fresh coconuts to quench your thirst. Around the Island is a good place to do snorkeling.

Batu Berlayar Island, an island where one can find a lot of granite.

Vihara Dewi Kwan Im/The Goddess’ Temple:

On the far side of the island near Burong Mandi Beach, is the old temple of Dewi Kwan Im. My tour guide told me he believed She appeared here at this temple, and on the spot where she appeared is a rock resembling a lotus bloom.

The temple sits on a hill overlooking the nearby forest and beach Burong Mandi.

Laskar Pelangi School:

Belitong has risen in popularity these last few years especially after the production of the widely acclaimed motion picture Laskar Pelangi, based on the novel of the same name by Indonesian writer Andrea Hirata.

The novel is set in Belitong, and tells the story of a young poor boy and his friends and their pursuit of education despite the limitations of infrastructure and support on this once forgotten island. The movie was actually shot on the island, and visitors can come to the old beaten elementary school that was one of the main settings. To the viewer’s pleasure, Laskar Pelangi beautifully captures the amazing landscapes found in Belitong.

Food:

Gangan:

A soup made from fish (ketarap/ilak/baronang fish) that is yellow and spicy. There is also a hint of fresh sourness of pineapple chunks to balance out the spices.

Grilled Seafood:

It’s a small island. You are bound to find fresh seafood, grilled on your order. Visit the traditional “seafood restaurants” on the beach. They may not look like much, but they sure serve amazing food.

Mie Belitong:

This noodle dish is quite a favorite in Belitong. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to give it a try as they were on lebaran holiday as well :(.

Warung Kopi:

Chilling and hanging out is best done at a Warung Kopi, according to the people on Belitong. A small place to hang out and drink coffee by the road, there are so many Warungs available. I got to visit one of the oldest one and drink my coffee in the nostalgic style. There are so many Warungs in the city Manggar, which holds the name City of 1001 Warung Kopi.

Martabak Belitung:

The martabak seller I bought from was convinced that the Belitung had different martabak (deep pan pancakes) from the more famous Bangka martabak. In fact, he told us that the martabak had actually come originally from Belitung.

We ate his goods, and it was delicious.  And the same as the Bangka martabak, or at least in our experience.

For Souvenir:

Belitong used to be a place exploited for tin, with many people working for the Dutch Mining Company: NV Billiton Maatschapij . Nowadays, Belitong’s most prized produce is white pepper, available in any souvenir shop.

How to get there:

Direct flight from Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta Airport (CKG) to Tanjung Pandan

45 minutes

Airways: Sriwijaya Air/Sky/Citilink/Garuda Indonesia

When you get there:

If you haven’t bought a tour package, then you will need to rent a car (Rp 450.000) per day for getting around the Island.  I recommend to get a package.