Niar is Chinese-Indonesian, an identity that was subjugated under Suharto. Mandarin was forbidden and Chinese Indonesians were not allowed to openly celebrate their New Year. Under President Gus Dur, the first elected president after Suharto, all of Suharto’s anti-Chinese regulations were done away with and Chinese culture and identity began to flourish in the open. And now every mall in Jakarta is decked out in red and they host dragon dance performances. So much has changed in a little over a decade.

We went to the Ekayana Buddhist Center in the Green Ville Duri Kepa area of West Jakarta. This was an area of town I had never visited before. Because traffic makes getting anywhere in Jakarta an ordeal, there are many parts of the city that people don’t visit simply because it would take too long to get there. I’m always happy when I have a reason to go somewhere new. The Buddhist service began a little after 11 p.m. and ended after midnight — the new year. The service was full of beautiful chanting. I was able to follow the prayer book because the Mandarin characters were also written in Latin letters because not all Chinese Indonesians speak Mandarin.

At the end of the service everyone was given an orange, for good luck, a can of Chinese tea and some money. I’ve never gotten anything for being Catholic except guilt trips on why I wasn’t in church last Sunday…

Niar and her family are vegetarian, so we feasted on nine-plus dishes including delicious noodles, vegetables and pork for the meat eaters. At the head of the table was a bowl of salad, a Dutch inspired recipe. Niar’s mother is fluent in Dutch and knows many Dutch recipes, a vestige of colonialism.

Pictured below is jengkol, a new dish for me that Niar’s mother prepared. Jengkol comes from the Padang area of Indonesia. Jengkol was very meaty and the spicy sauce paired with it well. Jengkol is the bean that comes from a flowering tree and one of the English names for it is Dogfruit.

For dessert we had a fruit jelly cocktail. Jelly in drinks and desserts is very popular in Indonesia.

And for good luck and monetary success we had layer cake. It takes hours to bake these cakes, just look at all the layers.

So as a dragon myself, a happy year ahead to all. And here’s an update: a journalist I met was working on a story and came with me to Niar’s, read her piece in the Christian Science Monitor here.

After the long ride from the airport (costing about Rp 90,000 almost $10), Chloe and I were starving. A Surabaya food specialty is sate klopo — meat (beef) grilled on a stick with shredded coconut and peanut sauce dip. It was so delicious that we had it twice. In our huger-crazed wandering, we accidentally stumbled on a sate place on a wonderful tree-lined, shady street and it was packed, so we decided to give it a try. Turns out Ibu Asih (Jalan Walikota Mustajab No. 36) is a well-known sate restaurant that has been written up in Indonesian media. Two portions of sate with rice or lontong, rice that has been wrapped in banana leaf and cooked, and drinks set us back a little over $4.

One remnant of the Dutch colonial era that I really love are old-school ice cream parlors. Zangrandi Ice Cream Palace (Jalan Yos Sudarso no. 15)  is on the side of a main road in Surabaya where back in the day a tram used to run. I’ve noticed an affinity for rum raisin flavor in Indonesia, which was tasty, but the real highlight was the coconut ice cream. Seriously, order the coconut.

I’m always up for a tour of quirky places. So when I heard that Surabaya was home to a cigarette museum owned by one of Indonesia’s wealthy business families, Sampoerna, I knew I had to visit.

“The strong smell of cloves hits the moment you open the stained-glass door at the House of Sampoerna Museum in Surabaya. Steeped in symbolism, this museum is more than just a homage to one of Indonesia’s self-made men and cigarette titans: Sampoerna’s tale is intertwined with Indonesian history given that all over the country packs of Dji Sam Doe are sold at roadside stalls and the crackle of burning kretek provides a comforting soundtrack to daily life.” For the rest of my travel piece in The Jakarta Globe about this museum, click here.

I loved the stained glass throughout the museum.

It was a bit odd to see cigarette packs displayed in glass cases.

On our last day in Surabaya, we decided to explore the Arab Quarter and Chinatown. Our Lonely Planet guide told us that Mesjid Ampel was the most sacred mosque in Surabaya and historically important because one of the wali songo who brought Islam to Indonesia was buried in the area. Lonely Planet described the interior of the mosque, but failed to mention a key detail. Chloe and I assumed we could enter the mosque because we had done so in Jakarta. About 30 seconds after entering we were ushered out by a man and a woman. They asked us if we were Muslim and we said, “no.” Turns out their mosque only allows Muslims to enter. So we apologized for our faux pas, then they apologized that we couldn’t see the inside and then we all smiled for several minutes, it was all very Javanese. After giving me a skirt that would cover my ankles, we visited the grave. I’m guessing not many foreigners visit this area.

After returning the skirt and apologizing again, we walked through the Arab market and then visited the Kong Co Kong Tik Cun Ong temple. I personally prefer the smaller Chinese temples of Jakarta, but it was interesting nonetheless. We were craving Chinese food, so we asked a man in the temple for a recommendation. He led us out of the temple and down the road that runs between the two temple buildings, about a 30 second walk, to a home marked no. 22. There was no sign, nothing to indicate that this was a restaurant that would serve some of the best noodles I have ever had. While we were there another man stepped in and sat down, he must be a regular because he never ordered, but a dish of noodles appeared before him. We sat in the living room of this home/restaurant and watched a rabbit hopping around the street and ate. It’s moments like these I know I won’t forget.

The best part of staying at Hotel Pavilijoen (Jalan Geteng Besar no. 94) in Surabaya was the seafood tent that appeared in front of the hotel every night. Delicious.

I’m back in Jakarta tonight after almost two weeks in clean, shiny, quiet America. It was wonderful being at home and spoiled by the people I love most. Jakarta welcomed me back with a massive traffic jam, but it’s good to be back and I am ready for more adventures. Stay tuned.

Gado-gado comes in many different varieties and is one of my favorite Indonesian dishes because it involves fresh vegetables (every now and again you need a break from fried foods) and delicious peanut sauce. Gado-gado is a salad dish and the name means hodgepodge or mix-mix.

The recipe I am listing below was from my first week in Indonesia when I cooked lunch with a teacher at language school. The amount I made at school was enough to feed over six people. So, I’m going to list the ingredients, and you can eyeball for the portion size that you need. I will list the peanut sauce amounts for six people. If you are making this for one person, you will have left over sauce. I’ve eaten many versions of gado-gado since my first week in Indonesia and not all of them include all of the ingredients listed below and some include others. So take a look at some other recipes before you start, here and here, if you are curious.

Ingredients: potatoes boiled and peeled, boiled eggs, lettuce, cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots, green beans, tofu, cucumber, tomato, and longtong (if you can find this).

Ingredients for peanut sauce: 200 cc of cooking oil, 250 grams of peanuts peeled, 125 ml of sweet soy sauce, 6 cloves of garlic, 100 grams palm sugar, 1 dab of shrimp paste (this is a preference thing, I don’t like too much), 6 lime leaves, 200 cc coconut milk, and 1/2 tablespoon of salt.

Toppers: fried shallots, sambal (the Indonesian end all be all of hot sauces, I choose not to put this on gado-gado), kerupuk (these are the fried chips you see pictured below, they come as a side dish with most things here).

So I lied a little bit. The tofu is gently fried to give it a nice crispness in the salad:

When you begin cooking the peanut sauce it won’t look very appetizing, but as all the ingredients are added it will look less like mush and more like a delicious sauce. You will need to use a blender for the peanuts and any other ingredients you don’t feel like chopping, then get the mix on the stove to cook.

The bean sprouts, carrots, and green beans were all gently blanched.

This is how the peanut sauce should look when you’re finished.

When you’ve got all of your ingredients sliced, diced and cooked, assemble your salad and don’t forget the toppers.

Bon appetit!

Srikaya has many names in English including sugar-apple, custard pineapple, sugar pineapple, and sweetsop. The first time I saw a srikaya I thought that it must be some kind of Asian artichoke. And then my mind drifted to thoughts of melted butter and garlic…how wrong I was.

I’d seen the pine-cone like fruit in Jakarta grocery stores wrapped in packs and I always feared committing to a quantity of at least six because what if it was awful? Well, I shouldn’t have been afraid. In Surabaya fruit vendors had tables full of very ripe srikayas for sale. The fruit has a somewhat floral smell that is also reflected in its taste. One vendor let us try one before we bought.

She selected very ripe ones for us that needed to be eaten within 24 hours:

A ripe srikaya, like the one we tried, easily opened in our hands revealing the white fruit clusters. The fruit had a custard-like consistency and had a light sweetness with a floral hint. Watermelon-size rounded seeds were in the middle of each white fruit kernel and it was a bit like eating watermelon — spit out the seeds as you go.

I should have never been afraid of buying this fruit, it’s tasty and I like the way it looks. Here’s to another year full of new fruits and foods!

Chloe and I based ourselves out of the second largest city on Java, Surabaya. We paid Rp 600,000 (about $32 each, find them here, according to our receipt: www.persewaanmobil.com) for a driver to take us to Bromo and wherever else we wanted for the day. We left Surabaya at 11 p.m. and reached the final parking lot near Mount Bromo at 2:30 a.m. The pitch black, winding drive was a bit scary, but I was too busy looking at the stars, you can’t see stars in Jakarta, it is too polluted. It is important to tell your driver to go all the way to the final lot because hotels along the way try to lure customers with Jeep and room combos. You can either get into a Jeep near the mountain with a driver and be driven to many places or get on a motorcycle with a driver and hike from wherever you want them to drop you. For $10 Chloe and I decided to get on motorcycles. At around 3:30 a.m. we got on the bikes and they dropped us at the base of Mount Pananjakan from where our hike began. And this is what the sunrise “on Christmas day in the morning” was like:

We had flashlights and hiked for about two hours all the way to the viewpoint. “Awe-inspiring” is an apt description. From Mount Pananjakan you see Mount Bromo, the active and smoking Mount Semeru, and Mount Batok.

The clouds looked like water — moving, drifting, swirling and overflowing onto the terraced onion field plots around the mountains.

At the viewpoint many people wanted to take photos with Chloe and I. All I wanted to say was, “there is a beautiful volcano behind us!” The Bromo area is Hindu, and this boy in his beautiful batik wrap was selling flower offerings:

Our hike down was much faster because it was now light out. So we took some photos. A face only a mother could love, what can I say? I was excited to be on a volcano. This is for you mom:

The hike down Mount Pananjakan was really pleasant and there are many viewpoints along the way.

The fields all around Bromo, and for a few hours drive towards Surabaya, are so lush it is hard to believe that Jakarta is in the same country.

From Mount Pananjakan we rode to the Sea of Sand. It is other-worldly and for some reason what I imagine Mongolia looks like:

The winds blow up dust and visibility can be very low at moments.

The route up Mount Bromo is reached from the Sea of Sand. We decided that the crowds would make it a fairly unpleasant hike so we walked around the “sea” and went to the Poten Hindu Temple.

Although the temple itself wasn’t as impressive as ones I saw in Bali, the location can’t be beat.

Our friend Fajar, who arranged our car, told us we had to stop at the Madakaripura Waterfall on our way back to Surabaya. The waterfalls are about an hour drive from Bromo and they are breathtaking.

Our driver, Efendi, told us we would be able to walk to the falls on our own. So when two men approached us and said they would guide us we said no thanks. Well, turns out the path was washed away some time ago. So two lovely Javanese men gripped our hands and pointed at specific rocks for us to step on as we criss-crossed the river six times or so before we reached the waterfalls. They were very nice and told us they just wanted us to have a good time and wouldn’t charge us anything — of course we tipped.

From far away and up close, it appears as if the water just comes out of the rock faces.

The area around the falls was so lush and green it reminded me of Jurassic Park:

Looking up was a bit dizzying, but beautiful.

We were exhausted after staying up all night and hiking, and an alarm may not have been set correctly, so after 15 hours of sleep, I was very rested the next day. It was an unforgettable Christmas.

When we entered the mosque complex we were directed to room where we were given robes to wear and where we left our shoes. Our guide wasn’t very excited to show us around and the free tour (donations encouraged at the end) was not very long. Istiqlal was built to commemorate Indonesia’s independence from Dutch rule and Wikipedia tells me that Istiqlal means independence in Arabic. I found it fascinating that a mosque was built to commemorate a political event. Religion and politics mix and mingle in a fascinating way in Indonesia. The Indonesian state is built on Pancasila, the state philosophy, which says that there must be belief in one god, and one god only. And this is where things begin to get complicated. Although the Indonesian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, the state only recognizes six religions: Islam (Indonesia is about 90 percent Islamic, making it the world’s largest Muslim populated country), Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Hinduism.

I am much more conscious of religion than I have ever been before and this is because of everyday facts: the call to prayer and seeing women wearing jilbabs. Before moving here I was conscious of bringing clothing that was more modest, skirts going to my knees, cardigans to cover my elbows. I wanted to be respectful, but the fact of the matter is that Jakarta is a huge metropolis, so there are plenty of people who wear whatever they want. The photo below shows the doom in Istiqlal that measures 45 meters in diameter, signifying the year Indonesia proclaimed its independence, you guessed it: 1945.

So in a country that politically stresses understanding between religions, it seems only perfect that right across from Istiqlal mosque stands St. Mary’s Cathedral. The Catholic cathedral was built in 1901 and when I stepped inside everything felt familiar.

Working as an editor means I read a lot and there are a lot of things that come across the desk that paint a not-so-positive picture of relations between religious groups in Indonesia. Religious minority groups have suffered in recent months. The Ahmadiyah sect has been threatened, read here. In Bogor, a city close to Jakarta, the mayor has refused to follow the Indonesian Supreme Court’s order to allow a church to function in the location where it has been for sometime now. The mayor even made a statement saying churches shouldn’t be built on streets with Islamic names, read here and here. And this is where I am always left wondering why the president doesn’t step in and put his foot down and demand local authorities do what has been ordered. But more on him and his musical abilities another time.

Historically, it hasn’t been all rosy between religious groups in Indonesia. Clashes between Muslims and Christians continue to this day, read here. To say religion in Indonesia is complex is putting it lightly. So I continue to read and try and make some sense of it all.

At least it’s nice to know that commercialism is more than happy to treat religions equally: malls get decked out for any holiday they can find and Christmas may be the most intense one I have seen to date.

My first experience with rambutan occurred over three years ago in Paris when I went to an Asian grocery store with Sam and Shirin. I decided to buy some rambutan because they looked funky and I liked the reddish, yellow color. My host family swore that the fruit made them wake up the next morning at 6 a.m. completely energized. I have never experienced this.

When not in season, rambutan is a bit more expensive and usually sold pre-packaged in Jakarta grocery stores. Sometimes you get lucky and meet someone who has a tree! A few weeks back when I was at my boss’s apartment baking pies and biscuits for Thanksgiving (which was wonderful), I met his maid/chef who helped me a lot in the kitchen and then fed me snacks, including rambutan that her husband harvests from their tree. I was in heaven.

Rambutan are addictive. They are light, not too big, and juicy with a nice fruity taste. You find yourself having eaten about 10 without even noticing. C’est la vie.

I think of dim sum as Asian tapas without the tapas price tag. At Leong Kee Tim prices ranged from 0.70 ringgit cents to 7 ringgits per plate. We never did find out what was the most expensive item was at $2. Women hustled around with dim sum carts and stopped by our table and without being able to read the Chinese menu we pointed and pointed and pointed some more until our table was covered in plates of food. Leong Kee Tim wasn’t a fancy place, it was a neighborhood joint with self-serve pots of Chinese tea. But since we were two confused looking white girls, tea was brought too us and people smiled as we photographed our food.

Some buns called to me, so I pointed and then bit into the best bun I have ever had in my life. It turned out to be filled with sweet black sesame seeds and it was perfectly light and buttery. Chloe and I both looked at each other when we bit into this bun — this was the real deal.

We also tried a sweet pork bun and lots of little shrimp filled dim sum and of course any other pork thing we could find.

After our brunch we strolled Penang and on every street there was food. We stumbled on the tail-end of a seafood market:

The smell of curry clings to the air in Penang. We had some Indian food for dinner and it was also good.

One of my favorite things about Asia is that pre-sliced fruit is so easily available. We strolled Penang with bags of papaya and an Asian version of persimmons.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people and how many different things you can fit on a motor bike:

Before leaving for Penang I chatted my only Malaysian friend and future dictator, Nicholas Quah, who gave me a list of Malaysian food I had to try. Char Kuey Teow was on the list. Chloe and I stopped at a road side stand and got our plate of noodles. They were delicious and there was shrimp, scallop, coquilles and pork bits mixed in. In Indonesia kwetiau noodles are similar but there really isn’t a standard dish with ingredients like in Malaysia. We enjoyed some fresh sugar cane juice and coconut juice with our noodles.

Oh sweet god, a fried roll with sweet pork inside? The fellows we crashed with took us to dinner at one of their favorite restaurants and it was a wonderful fusion of Chinese, Malay and Indian with curries that tasted unlike any I have tried before.

This was called sambal goreng and was delicious. It’s funny because sambal goreng means something totally different in Indonesian, so although the languages are similar, we encountered plenty of differences.

A shrimp, sweet potato and kankung curry that had a nice kick, see I’m starting to like heat.

In Indonesia it’s tradition to bring something back for you friends and colleagues when you go on a trip, it’s called oleh oleh. Usually people bring back snacks of some sort, or if they like you a scarf from India, thanks Pinta. I decided to bring back biscuits. They were savory and sweet at the same time with a flaky crust and a light coconut taste. You see them all over Penang, so try some if you’re there.

Until the next meal!

George Town: The Old World

Penang is about a two-hour flight from Jakarta. It is located off of the mainland of Malaysia and there is a 13.5 kilometer bridge linking Penang to the mainland, here it is on a map. We had a nice view of the bridge from the Princeton in Asia fellow’s apartment where we stayed. When you land there is a handy information desk with city maps and a public bus that for less than a dollar will take you almost anywhere on the island. Oh, Indonesia, if only you had information desks and easily accessible clean buses. My one transportation complaint with Penang is you are never sure how long you’ll have to wait for a bus and taxis are few and far between. Cabs don’t have meters so you have bargain for a price and the cabbies aren’t willing to budge too much. Malay is pretty similar to Indonesian, so we were able to barter in Indonesian.

Our first stop of the day was George Town, the old colonial hub of Penang, where there are many historic buildings and plenty of streets to wander.

Although George Town is the historic center, it is still very much alive with markets and street vendors and the chores of daily life. It is a great place to spend a good part of a day wandering, looking, and eating.

The mix of cultures also means a mix of religions. There are several mosques in George Town. This one is the Kapitan Keling Mosque and it is the largest historic mosque in George Town dating back to 1801. My handy map tells me it was designed in the Moghul architecture style. Since there are also large Buddhist and Hindu populations in Penang, the call to prayer is nowhere as loud as it is in Jakarta.

Chloe and I wandered the Little India section of George Town near King Road. The smell of curry hung in the air and vendors with delicious-looking samosas tempted us. Don’t worry, I will write a separate post all about the food.

Town Hall is a remnant of the British colonial past and it was used as a backdrop in the movie Anna and the King.

There are many temples all over George Town, but many don’t open until later in the afternoon. The Hainan Temple was open, so we took a look around. The temple dates to 1866 and is dedicated to the goddess Mar Chor, patron saint of seafarers.

Inside the temple a gentle breeze rustled the bamboo and incenses burned. The whole atmosphere made me want to take a nap.

The one place we wanted to tour was the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, also known as the Blue Mansion. A co-worker of mine had visited a few months back and stayed at the mansion, it is also a boutique hotel, and recommended the tour.

The mansion is an elegant building that let’s you imagine the old glory days of Penang. It was built for the Chinese merchant Cheong Fatt Tze in feng shui style. Cheong Fatt Tze was known as the “Rockefeller of the East” and was basically a 19th century jet-setter with homes all over Asia. He had several wives and concubines living at all of his different properties.

The tour was interesting, if a little historically dubious, but the mansion is worth a look. The mansion was also featured in the Catherine Deneuve film Indochine.

Kek Lok Si Temple

On our second day in Penang we took a cab to the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia, Kek Lok Si, known as the Temple of Supreme Bliss. Temple construction began in 1890 and the “Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas,” pictured below, was completed in 1930. The temple was an odd mix of religion, history and gift shops. It was a bit kitschy to look at Buddha statues people were worshiping at and then pass through a gift shop where you can buy Buddhas before moving onto the next portion of the temple.

The temple is still incredibly impressive and I am glad we visited. Be warned that entrance to the main temple is free but entrance to the Pagoda and the tram up to the Kuan Yin statue cost 2 ringgit (63 cents) each.

People were hanging wishing ribbons inside the temples. Some were nice like “Family to be safe” and “Living together harmoniously” others were personal for business success like “Success in everything” or for test results “Favorable results.”

The Kuan Yin statue is huge and a bit scary to stand below. She is associated with compassion in Buddhism.

Even though the swastika is an ancient Sanskrit symbol, it is a bit odd seeing it and not thinking of Hitler.

Penang National Park

After more delicious food, we took the bus to the north-west corner of the island, past all the swanky beach-front resorts, to Penang National Park.

We walked out on the pier and sat and took naps and watched boats pass by and looked out at the floating homes.

It was great to take a swim in the ocean as the sun set (photo at top of post). There were beautiful tropical birds flying around and we saw jelly fish swimming in the water and crabs running about on the beach.

Speaking of nature, my last story in the Jakarta Globe was all about it, read it here.

I’m back in Jakarta now with a bit of a cold and a full work week ahead, but it was nice to get away and see another country.

The answer is Taman Mini. Taman Mini features architecture and cultural artifacts from 26 provinces (it was built in the 1970s, today there are 33 provinces) as well as other museums, a water park, and weird kitschy things. Lonely Planet tells me this park was Suharto’s wife’s doing. I guess everyone needs to keep themselves busy somehow. Chloe and I visited Taman Mini several months ago when we first arrived in Jakarta, but even now, months later, it still is one of the stranger places I’ve been. Most Jakartans drive through, but, as always, Chloe and I decided to walk.

We were able to take public transportation to the park, so that was wonderful and the admission for people who walk in is very cheap. We really didn’t know what to make of the place when we got there. There are amazing examples of architecture from across the archipelago…

…but then there are weird toy-like trains you can ride around the park as well as bizarre statutes and people dressed up in animal costumes. To me, it seemed as if no one could decide whether or not Taman Mini should be an amusement park or an outdoor museum.

It was also very unclear whether the homes should be entered. One door was a bit ajar so I gave it a good push and we entered one of the brightest rooms I’ve ever been into in my life:

I saw a staircase off to the side and decided to see what was on the second floor. Clearly, it was not meant for tourists:

It seemed like a good part of Taman Mini has fallen into disrepair. Paint was chipped and tiles were missing. It’s a shame because some of the homes are really beautiful.

The wood work here was really impressive:

This house, which I believe was from Padang, had a thatch roof:

This was my favorite house. You have to carefully walk up the narrow poll to get inside:

There were also some “artifacts” of questionable authenticity:

Because I’m sure men in Papua wear 1980s track shorts while paddling standing up. This actually made me angry because Papuans can be portrayed pretty negatively in Indonesia, but that’s a political discussion for another time.

In the middle of the park there is a “lake” that features islands that from above form a map of Indonesia:

Cable cars seems to be pretty popular in Indonesia:

Then we began stumbling on weird objects that just sort of seemed to be scattered about with no real curatorial plan:

We were happy when we found a book kiosk. They had a huge selection of Sabrina the Teenage Witch books in English, and not too much else in English.

We then found this odd castle military structure where a color guard was performing:

I had to post this photo because this bus is wonderful.

One of the stranger areas to walk by was the water park, Snow Bay. It was really out of place with its snow theme.

After walking around for hours in the humidity, I felt like this poor fellow:

So if you happen to find yourself in Jakarta, and are in a mood where you want to be entertained and laugh a bit, I suggest you check out Taman Mini. It’s an experience.