This blog is designed to help you survive in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. It is based on my real life experience not as a tourist, but as a local living and working there. Knowing Bahasa Indonesia might help you to survive, but is not the only key for your survival. Your comments are expected and very welcomed.
Map of Indonesia
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Monday, November 21, 2011
A HAUNTED HOUSE OR A MANSION?
22 Nov 2011
Palembang
Indonesia
A HAUNTED HOUSE OR A MANSION?
It turned out that the housing provided by the XX University in Palembang is haunted!
The documented evidence came from the first neighbor that used to help my wife with the simple household chores. My wife was told that the first people that used to live in that house were too busy with the black magic. The traditional wooden house where they used to live was well known in the neighborhood for this kind of activity. Later on, the wooden house was sold really cheap to the current owner who destoyed it and made a new brick house. The new owner bought the house for $USD 7,000with the intention to rent it, not to live there. I had spent around two months living in the haunted house. Here are the following indicators that we were complitely unwelcomed in the haunted house:
1. Two pictures of horses in stampede (one in the living room and the other one in the hallway). According to the Chinese prediction, this was supposed to bring a good luck to the house! Unfortunately, this has never happened!
2. The master bedroom furniture has a "scare ghosts away" sticker with the paragraph from the Kuran that is supposed to protect the furniture from the devil
3. Daily amount of at least five warms that are literally found anytime anywhere
4. Strange noise activities just outside of the house that start around the midnight and go through the morning. The sound could be described just like something between the rats' and bugs' talk.
5. The hallway table chair which was constantly making the weird noise at around 5 a.m. (confirmed by Uncle Centi
6. Restless (constantly tired)that makes you don't want to spend time in the house
7. Negative aura
Palembang
Indonesia
A HAUNTED HOUSE OR A MANSION?
It turned out that the housing provided by the XX University in Palembang is haunted!
The documented evidence came from the first neighbor that used to help my wife with the simple household chores. My wife was told that the first people that used to live in that house were too busy with the black magic. The traditional wooden house where they used to live was well known in the neighborhood for this kind of activity. Later on, the wooden house was sold really cheap to the current owner who destoyed it and made a new brick house. The new owner bought the house for $USD 7,000with the intention to rent it, not to live there. I had spent around two months living in the haunted house. Here are the following indicators that we were complitely unwelcomed in the haunted house:
1. Two pictures of horses in stampede (one in the living room and the other one in the hallway). According to the Chinese prediction, this was supposed to bring a good luck to the house! Unfortunately, this has never happened!
2. The master bedroom furniture has a "scare ghosts away" sticker with the paragraph from the Kuran that is supposed to protect the furniture from the devil
3. Daily amount of at least five warms that are literally found anytime anywhere
4. Strange noise activities just outside of the house that start around the midnight and go through the morning. The sound could be described just like something between the rats' and bugs' talk.
5. The hallway table chair which was constantly making the weird noise at around 5 a.m. (confirmed by Uncle Centi
6. Restless (constantly tired)that makes you don't want to spend time in the house
7. Negative aura
Friday, October 21, 2011
XX Campus and Housing Security Issue
Documented Evidence – XX University Campus and Housing Security Issue
ELF: Todor Djordjevic
Location: XX University Palembang
09/24/2011
08:50 p.m.
While walking through the entrace of the XX University campus from the main road, I smirked at the local “orang beca” (three-wheeled bicycle rider). “’Malam” (‘Evening) - I greeted the older gentleman and proceeded to walk. It was just an another day, I thought. It was relatively late, and I was preety tired coming back home from my daily routine. (My housing is on the campus premises around five minutes walk from the main entrance through the dark street.)
“Mr., money mister!” a local homeboy following me shouted. “Mr., money mister!” X nervously repetead. I hadn’t answered and kept walking through the gloomy steet. X kept following me. When I saw I could not get rid of him, I aksed him in Indonesian what he had needed money for. He answered “uang merokok Mister”. Obviously, he was asking me for the“money for cigarettes (smokes)”. X seemed to be very persistant in his request, but even more he was intoxicated. I politely mentioned that asking for “uang merokok” is wrong because smoking causes a lung disease. “If you needed money to buy food I would be glad to give you,” I said, but not for smokes.
Unfortunately, all my attempts to politely get rid of him were unsuccessful. At the same time while X kept talking, he would “accidentally” touch my gym bag couple of times. It was obvious that X was aiming for someting more than the smokes. Finally, I gave him rp. 5,000 and told him not to ask me again. He happily walked back as he won the Nobel prize for peace.
Note: This is the second time that the same incident has been repeated on the campus premises and it shouldn’t be neglected. The Dean (currently on vacation) had agreed to further discuss with me the security measures he could take in order to make this university a safer place. I have already asked him to be moved to the safer place; the gated housing complex, instead. This upcoming Wednesday we will see the alternative housing. The accident above has appeared just two days after the careless motorcyclist tend to run over me on the edge of the busy campus road. The overcrowded XX Campus in Palmebang is very unsafe and the XX Embassy in Jakarta should be aware of that.
The XX Palembang Housing Exposed with Documented Evidence
21/10/2011
Todor Djordjevic
Location: XX University Palembang
The XX Palembang Housing Exposed with Documented Evidence
My current on campus housing:(including documented evidence)
1. Unsafe and unsecure housing including:
a. Continual multiple in-person soliciting including one robbery attempt on campus premises (campus security failed to provide help). Please refer to the documented evidence previously emailed.
b. Housing robbery attempt that appeared during my Bandung visit reported by my neighbor on Oct. 12th, 2011 (if interested photos of the broken door lock will be provided) (This event has never been mentioned by XX even though they were aware of it)
c. House exposed to easy flooding (photos available)
d. Two hours of running water per day
e. Dead rat “welcome to the neigborhood” experience (refer to the www.realpalembang.blogspot.com)
f. More than five “kaki seribu” per day, gutter rats bigger than local home cats, and the baby snake visit have been reported
g. Electricity cuts for more than four hours on daily basis including electical devices breakage and multiple times spoiled fridge food
2. The minimum “US Standard” housing features has not been met, even though availalbe in Palembang:
a. Matress not provided (I bought it by myself) Their sleeping sponge has nasty bugs and ants in it!
b. Gas Stove with dishes and pans I had to buy myself (I haven’t been reimbursed for them yet). Their gas stove was broken!
c. Leaking ceiling (when it rains) in one of the bedrooms
d. Bathroom facilities substandard (photos availalbe): no western toilet and no hot water
e. Insufficient cooling (AC and fan old and easily broken); I had to buy the fan by myself
Friday, October 14, 2011
PALEMBANG MICROCULTURE EXPOSED: RATS AND WHAT LOCALS DO WITH THEM
PALEMBANG MICROCULTURE EXPOSED: RATS AND WHAT LOCALS DO WITH THEM
REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE
02/10/2011
The smoke of an intesively burned South-Sumatra rain forest woke me up before 7 a.m. I sleepily looked through the window and there was no sun again. I knew this was going to be just another day in paradise. We were still in the middle of the “kamarau” season and days without sun were very common.
The lush rain forests of the exotic South-Sumatra have been burning for a couple of months now. The rain was forever on its way from Medan to Palembang, but it just never happened. The rainy clouds were just moving too slowly. “When would the real rain come?” I kept asking myself and returned to my bed...
I somehow “fata morganazied” myself on a beatiful Flores island being surrounded by the swaying coconut palms, the exotic flowers, white sand beaches, and the clear blue sky. As a matter of fact, the sky with thousand stars on was so close to the land that I could literally touch it...Everything was sooo real.
Oppps, I just remembered there was a time to through the last night’s garbage out. This was nothing unusual; just my morning routine. While still in my pijamas, I slowly put my sandals on and dragged myself outside. I carefully unlocked the fence and approached the garbage can, when something...something...smelled so horribly that I thought it would win the stink-out-of-this-world award; this aroma I still couldn’t describe!
After placing my gargabe into the garbage can, I had noticed a huge dead rat covered with thousand....ssss..... not “stars” but....ffff.... “flies”. Wow, I couldn’t believe it what I had seen! The size of the rat was three times the size of the skinny street cat that lives in my house gutter in Palembang, and the size of the garbage eater raccoon of Chicago suburbs.
I thought, for a second, I had entered into the twilight zone. In my life I have seen a lot of rats: street rats, jungle rats, the furniture eating rats, just name it, but I have never seen a rat that size. On a top of that, it was a dead rat already covered by thousand flies. “What should I do now?” I asked myself!
The first person I remembered of was my local neighbor Pak Tarza. I thought as he was guarding the couple of houses in my neigborhood including mine, he would know what to do. At least, I thought, he could take care of the stinky dead rat. Luckily, I was really lucky to find him at home. I carefully described my problem and took him to the spot. When he saw the rat he almost puked as well. Than, he collected some empty carton boxes from the store nearby, and placed a dead rat inside one of them. After that, he took the box down the street and through the rat at the undisclosed location far away from the house. “Wow,interesting way to get rid of the rat” I thought.
Pak Tarza mentioned that there was no particular place to put dead rats in Palembang. Local people were unfamiliar with the burning rats’ technique that include: burning rats with their own garbage (like on some “more advanced” islands) or making dead rats’ funeral and fertilizing the land. Instead, Palembang loved their famous “hide and seek game”. The dead rat in front of someone’s house today, could easily become in front of your house tomorrow, depending on perpetrators of the game.
Finally, I was still unable to figure out if I was a part of the sick joke, or the welcome to the neighborhood party. I haven’t asked my neigbors yet! What do you think?
13/10/2011
It was early morning in Palembang and I was going to work. The five minute easy walk turned to be a little bit longer. No, I haven’t entered into the twilight zone, but I was on the edge! Here is what it exactly happened:
I was walking on the .....edge.... of the road trying to avoid the muddy ponds from the yesterday’s light rain. I kept thinking how lucky I was by not wearing my white Aldo shoes (my wife’s all time favorite). Ding dong, my nirvana was heavily disturbed. I just passed the “spot”. The small mouse that was killed on the road and then left unattended for one week, unfortunately had already turned into “the flat skin with no bones” street-mark. I kept walking and thinking about....the life of the rats in Palembang. Then something “stinky” happened again...hmmmm....
Just hundred meters from the small mouse funeral which was attended by zillion flies, there was an another event. I had no idea that I was already invited...hmmmm....
The stinky rat(not as huge), dead of course, was placed on the edge of the main campus road in front of the security guard house (circa 8 a.m yestarday morning). While bypassing the “stinky” area, I have noticed a couple of “early bird” flies enjoying their morning feast. I told myself: “I don’t want to disturb that!” and I kept walking to work. At 4 p.m. on the way home, I noticed that the early morning flies had invited too many new friends. I had no idea what they were doing any more. I could barely see their meal as it was well wraped!
This morning while walking to work, I noticed that the early flies’ meal (call it the dead rat) somehow moved from the edge to the middle of the busy road. Well, then, I asked myself: “Toraja people of Sulawesi had famous funeral rituals where the dead buffalows were walking, but how about the people in Palembang?” As a matter of fact, I still haven’t heard any of famous Palembang stories of the “dead Zombie rats” walking to the middle of the road to become someone’s food! Because of that, I started believing that someone definitely moved the dead rat to the middle of the road hoping that the passing cars could destroy the evidence. The same person probably believed that the rain could make the rat’s skin flat before the flies would finish their early morning meal. Gross!
Conclusion: Burning dead rats or even burying them in the ground is something foreign to Palembang! What would you do?
REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE
02/10/2011
The smoke of an intesively burned South-Sumatra rain forest woke me up before 7 a.m. I sleepily looked through the window and there was no sun again. I knew this was going to be just another day in paradise. We were still in the middle of the “kamarau” season and days without sun were very common.
The lush rain forests of the exotic South-Sumatra have been burning for a couple of months now. The rain was forever on its way from Medan to Palembang, but it just never happened. The rainy clouds were just moving too slowly. “When would the real rain come?” I kept asking myself and returned to my bed...
I somehow “fata morganazied” myself on a beatiful Flores island being surrounded by the swaying coconut palms, the exotic flowers, white sand beaches, and the clear blue sky. As a matter of fact, the sky with thousand stars on was so close to the land that I could literally touch it...Everything was sooo real.
Oppps, I just remembered there was a time to through the last night’s garbage out. This was nothing unusual; just my morning routine. While still in my pijamas, I slowly put my sandals on and dragged myself outside. I carefully unlocked the fence and approached the garbage can, when something...something...smelled so horribly that I thought it would win the stink-out-of-this-world award; this aroma I still couldn’t describe!
After placing my gargabe into the garbage can, I had noticed a huge dead rat covered with thousand....ssss..... not “stars” but....ffff.... “flies”. Wow, I couldn’t believe it what I had seen! The size of the rat was three times the size of the skinny street cat that lives in my house gutter in Palembang, and the size of the garbage eater raccoon of Chicago suburbs.
I thought, for a second, I had entered into the twilight zone. In my life I have seen a lot of rats: street rats, jungle rats, the furniture eating rats, just name it, but I have never seen a rat that size. On a top of that, it was a dead rat already covered by thousand flies. “What should I do now?” I asked myself!
The first person I remembered of was my local neighbor Pak Tarza. I thought as he was guarding the couple of houses in my neigborhood including mine, he would know what to do. At least, I thought, he could take care of the stinky dead rat. Luckily, I was really lucky to find him at home. I carefully described my problem and took him to the spot. When he saw the rat he almost puked as well. Than, he collected some empty carton boxes from the store nearby, and placed a dead rat inside one of them. After that, he took the box down the street and through the rat at the undisclosed location far away from the house. “Wow,interesting way to get rid of the rat” I thought.
Pak Tarza mentioned that there was no particular place to put dead rats in Palembang. Local people were unfamiliar with the burning rats’ technique that include: burning rats with their own garbage (like on some “more advanced” islands) or making dead rats’ funeral and fertilizing the land. Instead, Palembang loved their famous “hide and seek game”. The dead rat in front of someone’s house today, could easily become in front of your house tomorrow, depending on perpetrators of the game.
Finally, I was still unable to figure out if I was a part of the sick joke, or the welcome to the neighborhood party. I haven’t asked my neigbors yet! What do you think?
13/10/2011
It was early morning in Palembang and I was going to work. The five minute easy walk turned to be a little bit longer. No, I haven’t entered into the twilight zone, but I was on the edge! Here is what it exactly happened:
I was walking on the .....edge.... of the road trying to avoid the muddy ponds from the yesterday’s light rain. I kept thinking how lucky I was by not wearing my white Aldo shoes (my wife’s all time favorite). Ding dong, my nirvana was heavily disturbed. I just passed the “spot”. The small mouse that was killed on the road and then left unattended for one week, unfortunately had already turned into “the flat skin with no bones” street-mark. I kept walking and thinking about....the life of the rats in Palembang. Then something “stinky” happened again...hmmmm....
Just hundred meters from the small mouse funeral which was attended by zillion flies, there was an another event. I had no idea that I was already invited...hmmmm....
The stinky rat(not as huge), dead of course, was placed on the edge of the main campus road in front of the security guard house (circa 8 a.m yestarday morning). While bypassing the “stinky” area, I have noticed a couple of “early bird” flies enjoying their morning feast. I told myself: “I don’t want to disturb that!” and I kept walking to work. At 4 p.m. on the way home, I noticed that the early morning flies had invited too many new friends. I had no idea what they were doing any more. I could barely see their meal as it was well wraped!
This morning while walking to work, I noticed that the early flies’ meal (call it the dead rat) somehow moved from the edge to the middle of the busy road. Well, then, I asked myself: “Toraja people of Sulawesi had famous funeral rituals where the dead buffalows were walking, but how about the people in Palembang?” As a matter of fact, I still haven’t heard any of famous Palembang stories of the “dead Zombie rats” walking to the middle of the road to become someone’s food! Because of that, I started believing that someone definitely moved the dead rat to the middle of the road hoping that the passing cars could destroy the evidence. The same person probably believed that the rain could make the rat’s skin flat before the flies would finish their early morning meal. Gross!
Conclusion: Burning dead rats or even burying them in the ground is something foreign to Palembang! What would you do?
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Palembang South Sumatra Food and Transportation Exposed
Real Life Experience
1. PEMPEK-PEMPEK
City Palembang is located in the South Sumatra on the Musi River. The city is not famous for almost anything but Pempek Pempek which is considered to be their national food. This regional delicacy is the best described as “Sago” (Papua core tree) dumplings. It is interesting that Palembang has to import the Sago from Papua in order to make this food. Pempek2 Gulai (yellow curry sauce)is the most famous among locals.
2. AMPERA BRIDGE
Palembang is famous for its Ampera Bridge which is an Indonesian version of overcrowded Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The Musi river is murky and it is nothing really special. There is an island in the middle of the river with the Chinese Pagoda. The population of the cit is around one million.
3. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Even according to the Indonesian standards, Palembang is considered to be very crowded, polluted, and far away from being clean city. It is well known as a transit city in the Southern Sumatra.
The public transportation is “Uzas” and it consists of a bunch of ten years old or older Suzuki mini vans, the closed-back Toyota pick-up trucks originally from the 90s, and the “prehistoric” diesel motor buses that are probably from the 80s (if we are talking about the newer models).Taxi cabs are almost non existent as there is only one taxi company (The White Cab) that holds monopoly in this city and has outrageous prices (rp. 50,000 minimum payment and rp 25,000 per kilometer). Note that this price might be even higher or slightly lower depending on your Bahasa Indonesia negotiating skills.
4. DISCO PURE STRESS BUS
The mini vans and “prehistoric” buses are driven by youngsters who are in their 20s and are known to be notorious drivers. They usually smoke (like fish) and play super loudly Indonesian techno music. Their right hand is also usually the notorious, fast and furious, bus assistant who collects the bus fare payments usually without providing the money back. The same bus assistant often plays “catch me if you can” game. In this game he plays a reality game show called "Dumb for Real!”. He pretends he is super busy by soliciting the passengers on the street, entering the bus through the back door and exiting the bus through the front door. As soon as he collects his money from poor passengers, he keeps the low profile and doesn’t provide the money back. For example, whoever has given him rp 50,000 might not even get the money back unless he/she chases him throughout the bus. It is very similar to the “cat and mouse” game. Throughout this game the bus assistant either screams to get more customers from the outside, or taps the bus door zillion times to let the driver knows where to stop. He is careless to help the passengers getting off as he and the driver don't care about your existence. So if you don't know where to get off “good luck!” as you will definitely need it. I hate to ride “Disco Pure Stress Bus".
5. SMOKING DISCO MINIVANS
The minivans are a bit better than the big stress buses as you can pretty much control the driver. All you need to do is to scream at him every two seconds to drive slower and to reduce the-inner ear-lube-destroying -10 mp bass music. The minivans come in different colors and the different routes share the same colors. This vehicles often don’t operate after 9 p.m. At the same time, it is very difficult to spot the right mini van at night as they all look alike in the dark.
6. READING “BECA” AND “OJEK” DRIVERS LIKE AN OPEN BOOK?
Imagine that you are in the shopping mall or at the restaurant after 9 p.m.? If you don’t have your own transportation you might not be able to get back home, as only “beca” two wheel bicycle rides and “ojek” motorcycle share rides could be available. These two should be your last chance as they are far away from being safe.
The way to decide if you are going for a “ride of your life” depends first of all on your Bahasa Indonesia negotiating skills, and the multiple intelligences that include reading the body language and face expressions of a driver. The absolute no are the drunk,naughty, and over funny drivers. In addition you need to clearly indicate that they should provide a slow and safe ride. Again, have a native speaker to help you with this issue.
7. PADANG FOOD EXPOSED
The best restaurants in the town serve Padang food. These restaurants are amazing and offer wide variety of dishes rich in light “Indian” yellow curry sauce. Pagi Sore is definitely the best restaurant in town. When you get into one of these restaurants, as soon as you seat down they will bring you zillion plates with the most amazing dishes that include: cumi gulai (squid in the curry sauce), ayam opor (chicken in the curry sauce), ayam bakar cabe merah(grilled chicken w red chillies), sapi rendang (over-spicy and oily beef steak), otak sapi gulai (cow’s brain in curry), kaki sapi (cow’s feet), sayur daun ubi gulai (sweet popato leaves in the curry sauce) etc. It is up to you to accept or decline these dishes.
What do locals say?
It is suggested among locals that you don’t savour Padang cuisine at night but only for lunch. They pretty much open up at 10 a.m. so lunch is your best choice. The dishes are recycled and “panas lagi” warmed up throoughout the day multiple times. It was surprising to find out that “Kakap fish” in the yellow curry sauce was decided to be reused (and fee was not charged) for just eating the sauce and not touching the fish by itself. The plate served was not charged. Be aware they don’t follow the Western standards and they are far away from the modern Indonesian restaurants’ standards found in Jakarta, Bandung, and Bali.
8. BAMBOO HUT SARI LAUT RESTAURANT WARNING – GURAME EXPOSED
The best sea food restaurant doesn’t exist even though, in the local eyes, it is Sari Laut (the Seahorse) Restaurant. This famous place is located in the front of the Novotel Hotel. If you dare to eat their sea food, be aware the the cook smokes while he prepares the dishes. In addition, their Gurame fish from the fish pond is located next to the toilet (luckily toilet and pond water don’mix as their plumbing works). The fish pond, I found to be “relatively” dirty as I had had a problem to spot the fish I ordered. When I approached the restaurant manager in Bahasa Indonesia about this issue, he just mentioned that they had no time to clean the water pond as they were super busy. (He hasn’t offered to change or replace my dish).
My appetite radically decreased after speaking to the manager and thinking about the fish cleanliness. I went to see the same fish pond again to convince myself that I could eat the fish I ordered. I ended up speaking to the staff trying to catch the last Gurame fish in the almost empty but filthy water pond. This fish was supposed to be for another “unaware” customer. I asked the same guy if he could see the the last two fish he tried to catch in the murky water pond. He told me that the water got polluted from the dust falling down from the bamboo roof top which edge was facing the water pond. This answer somehow satisfied my curiosity and I pretty much forced my appetite to came back as I was super hungry. Finally, I finished eating the “murky” fish, avoiding the fish skin. I ended up paying around rp. 60.000 for this “delicacy”. That was my experience at the best sea food restaurant in Palembang. I kept thinking if their best sea food restaurant serves delicious food like this, how about their other famous restaurants?
Real Life Experience
1. PEMPEK-PEMPEK
City Palembang is located in the South Sumatra on the Musi River. The city is not famous for almost anything but Pempek Pempek which is considered to be their national food. This regional delicacy is the best described as “Sago” (Papua core tree) dumplings. It is interesting that Palembang has to import the Sago from Papua in order to make this food. Pempek2 Gulai (yellow curry sauce)is the most famous among locals.
2. AMPERA BRIDGE
Palembang is famous for its Ampera Bridge which is an Indonesian version of overcrowded Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The Musi river is murky and it is nothing really special. There is an island in the middle of the river with the Chinese Pagoda. The population of the cit is around one million.
3. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Even according to the Indonesian standards, Palembang is considered to be very crowded, polluted, and far away from being clean city. It is well known as a transit city in the Southern Sumatra.
The public transportation is “Uzas” and it consists of a bunch of ten years old or older Suzuki mini vans, the closed-back Toyota pick-up trucks originally from the 90s, and the “prehistoric” diesel motor buses that are probably from the 80s (if we are talking about the newer models).Taxi cabs are almost non existent as there is only one taxi company (The White Cab) that holds monopoly in this city and has outrageous prices (rp. 50,000 minimum payment and rp 25,000 per kilometer). Note that this price might be even higher or slightly lower depending on your Bahasa Indonesia negotiating skills.
4. DISCO PURE STRESS BUS
The mini vans and “prehistoric” buses are driven by youngsters who are in their 20s and are known to be notorious drivers. They usually smoke (like fish) and play super loudly Indonesian techno music. Their right hand is also usually the notorious, fast and furious, bus assistant who collects the bus fare payments usually without providing the money back. The same bus assistant often plays “catch me if you can” game. In this game he plays a reality game show called "Dumb for Real!”. He pretends he is super busy by soliciting the passengers on the street, entering the bus through the back door and exiting the bus through the front door. As soon as he collects his money from poor passengers, he keeps the low profile and doesn’t provide the money back. For example, whoever has given him rp 50,000 might not even get the money back unless he/she chases him throughout the bus. It is very similar to the “cat and mouse” game. Throughout this game the bus assistant either screams to get more customers from the outside, or taps the bus door zillion times to let the driver knows where to stop. He is careless to help the passengers getting off as he and the driver don't care about your existence. So if you don't know where to get off “good luck!” as you will definitely need it. I hate to ride “Disco Pure Stress Bus".
5. SMOKING DISCO MINIVANS
The minivans are a bit better than the big stress buses as you can pretty much control the driver. All you need to do is to scream at him every two seconds to drive slower and to reduce the-inner ear-lube-destroying -10 mp bass music. The minivans come in different colors and the different routes share the same colors. This vehicles often don’t operate after 9 p.m. At the same time, it is very difficult to spot the right mini van at night as they all look alike in the dark.
6. READING “BECA” AND “OJEK” DRIVERS LIKE AN OPEN BOOK?
Imagine that you are in the shopping mall or at the restaurant after 9 p.m.? If you don’t have your own transportation you might not be able to get back home, as only “beca” two wheel bicycle rides and “ojek” motorcycle share rides could be available. These two should be your last chance as they are far away from being safe.
The way to decide if you are going for a “ride of your life” depends first of all on your Bahasa Indonesia negotiating skills, and the multiple intelligences that include reading the body language and face expressions of a driver. The absolute no are the drunk,naughty, and over funny drivers. In addition you need to clearly indicate that they should provide a slow and safe ride. Again, have a native speaker to help you with this issue.
7. PADANG FOOD EXPOSED
The best restaurants in the town serve Padang food. These restaurants are amazing and offer wide variety of dishes rich in light “Indian” yellow curry sauce. Pagi Sore is definitely the best restaurant in town. When you get into one of these restaurants, as soon as you seat down they will bring you zillion plates with the most amazing dishes that include: cumi gulai (squid in the curry sauce), ayam opor (chicken in the curry sauce), ayam bakar cabe merah(grilled chicken w red chillies), sapi rendang (over-spicy and oily beef steak), otak sapi gulai (cow’s brain in curry), kaki sapi (cow’s feet), sayur daun ubi gulai (sweet popato leaves in the curry sauce) etc. It is up to you to accept or decline these dishes.
What do locals say?
It is suggested among locals that you don’t savour Padang cuisine at night but only for lunch. They pretty much open up at 10 a.m. so lunch is your best choice. The dishes are recycled and “panas lagi” warmed up throoughout the day multiple times. It was surprising to find out that “Kakap fish” in the yellow curry sauce was decided to be reused (and fee was not charged) for just eating the sauce and not touching the fish by itself. The plate served was not charged. Be aware they don’t follow the Western standards and they are far away from the modern Indonesian restaurants’ standards found in Jakarta, Bandung, and Bali.
8. BAMBOO HUT SARI LAUT RESTAURANT WARNING – GURAME EXPOSED
The best sea food restaurant doesn’t exist even though, in the local eyes, it is Sari Laut (the Seahorse) Restaurant. This famous place is located in the front of the Novotel Hotel. If you dare to eat their sea food, be aware the the cook smokes while he prepares the dishes. In addition, their Gurame fish from the fish pond is located next to the toilet (luckily toilet and pond water don’mix as their plumbing works). The fish pond, I found to be “relatively” dirty as I had had a problem to spot the fish I ordered. When I approached the restaurant manager in Bahasa Indonesia about this issue, he just mentioned that they had no time to clean the water pond as they were super busy. (He hasn’t offered to change or replace my dish).
My appetite radically decreased after speaking to the manager and thinking about the fish cleanliness. I went to see the same fish pond again to convince myself that I could eat the fish I ordered. I ended up speaking to the staff trying to catch the last Gurame fish in the almost empty but filthy water pond. This fish was supposed to be for another “unaware” customer. I asked the same guy if he could see the the last two fish he tried to catch in the murky water pond. He told me that the water got polluted from the dust falling down from the bamboo roof top which edge was facing the water pond. This answer somehow satisfied my curiosity and I pretty much forced my appetite to came back as I was super hungry. Finally, I finished eating the “murky” fish, avoiding the fish skin. I ended up paying around rp. 60.000 for this “delicacy”. That was my experience at the best sea food restaurant in Palembang. I kept thinking if their best sea food restaurant serves delicious food like this, how about their other famous restaurants?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
