Saturday, August 27, 2011

Yumz @ Indonesia

Food had always been THE highlight of every trip that we made.

Lufthansa served light snack on our flights to Singapore-Jakarta while Garuda served Nasi Goreng on our Jakarta-Bali flights. Food is one of the reasons why I do not fly budget :)

We stayed in Aston Marina Jakarta because it was near to our friend's house. In Bali, we stayed in InterContinental Bali Resort. InterCon is popular for the wide spread at Breakfast Buffet. We stayed in the Singaraja Wing. Additional benefits of accommodation in the Singaraja category include a dedicated Reception serving complimentary tea, coffee, fruit and cookies as well as featuring a well stocked library of DVDs, boardgames and reading materials.

Our first meal in Jakarta was a sumptuous and fresh seafood dinner.

Our friend bought us local Nasi Lemak for breakfast.

We had Mee Bakso for dinner. Our friend brought us to a store favored by the locals. You add soya sauce and vinegar to your noodle, or like me, simply eat it as it was served.

We had Indonesian durians and Jakarta "Martabak" as supper. We bought both the savoury and sweet ones. The savoury one was like those murtabak that we ate from our India stores; but it was many times tastier! If you choose peanut fillings, the sweet one would taste like "mee cham kueh". However, many many many times tastier! We ordered half chocolate and half peanut; the generous fillings was simply unforgetable!!!

In Bali, our friends brought us to Naughty Nuri's for wicked ribs! Verdict? "I used to think that Tony Romas have the best ribs" :)
A must-try in Bali was babi-guling. Our friend bought us the "traditional" version of it. Yumz!!!

On our previous trip, we visited Made's Warung at Kuta. This trip we visited the one at Seminyak. Seen here, Nasi Campur and Gado Gado :)

We had seafood supper at Jimbaran. Beachside seafood restaurants :) Travelling with our Indonesia friends was an added advantage! They knew where to go for the best food; for both tourist and locals and we felt safe that we would not be charged a higher "tourist" fee :)

In conclusion, I cannot wait for my next Bali trip :)

Monday, August 22, 2011

Kidzania, Jakarta

KIDZANIA is a unique EDUTAINMENT CENTER for children between 4 to 16 years old and their parents. It is a kid-sized replica of a real city, with streets, buildings, retail and different vehicles going around the City. Here, children play adult roles and learn how to be a doctor, a pilot, a construction worker, a private detective, an archeologist, an F1 driver and over 100 other PROFESSIONS and OCCUPATIONS.

Kidzania has it’s own economy; ‘Kidzo’ is the legal currency. Each time you visit Kidzania, you will receive a 50 kidzos check. Once inside, you must go to the bank, cash your check and use your money to buy goods and services such as: rent car or a boat, get a hair-do at the beauty salon, or shop at KidZania Department Store for instance.

Kidzos are not for sale with real money, if you spend all your kidzos or if you want to earn more, you must get a job and work to provide a product or service such as firefighter, dentist, hairdresser, or constructor, or choose among many different professions. At every activity you may spend or earn kidzos. For example: at the Ice Cream Factory you can earn money, while at the Pizza Restaurant you can spend them.

If you want to save Kidzos and manage your credit balance, you can open a savings account at the bank. These were what the kids did at Kidzania on our recent trip to Jakarta!
Kids getting their wristbands and Kidzos. Ready to "work" so that they can "earn" and "spend".
First stop, get a Kidzania driving licence. Then quickly start work in a Milk Factory, where children learn how to manufacture milk.
Next stop, the Ice Cream Factory. Here, children will learn the process of making popsicles and prepare their own popsicles. They have the freedom to choose the flavour they like best for their popsicles.
The next few hours, they performed Justin Beiber's "Eenie Meene" in a disco, learnt to fly a plane using a flight simulator , drove a car and baked cupcakes...
While the older kids went to be delivery women and painters, Debbie became a packer in a minimart and a nurse in a nursery. She did activities such as
bath the baby, dry the baby, give powder to the baby, scale and measure the baby length, dress
up the baby and lullaby the baby.
With the money earned, the kids opened a Kidzania bank account that came with a "real" ATM card. Children could withdraw Kidzos from a "real" ATM machine :)
This place has become a "must-visit" for our children!