Guess where I am posting this from? Indonesia! I have wanted to travel here for the longest time. Every time I would read about it, or see pictures about it, it just made me want to go even more. It always looked so beautiful! Let me gush for a little bit now. I mean seriously, what’s not to love? Tropical weather? Check. Beaches? Check. Spicy food? Check. Friendly people? Check. Shopping? Check.
The food. Seriously you guys. Look, I already love spicy food. I like Thai food. I like Indian food. I usually keep a supply of hot peppers to add to whatever I’m eating, but oh my gosh, the food here is so amazing. And it’s nice because, ok, normally in America when you order something spicy, it’s still not really that spicy. For example, at many Indian places I’ve been to even their hot dishes aren’t really that hot. It’s because there is a (mostly correct) stereotype that Americans don’t really like spicy food. They are fine with a little bit of heat. So I’ll order something that is supposed to be hot, and it’s actually fairly mild.
Not in Indonesia; when it says spicy, it’s spicy!
So I tried something here called nasi campur, which is rice with veggies, peanuts, eggs, and meats. It’s super delicious. I’ve also been eating satay, which is like an Indonesian kebab made with marinated chicken or beef and grilled and served with a sauce. One of my friends wanted me to try something called babat. Babat is beef tripe, so that’s not happening, no matter how good they tell me it is. Oh, and there’s something called pisang goreng, which are fried bananas. The idea of frying a fruit never occurred to me before, but it certainly is good!
I think I’ve talked about food enough for a while. I’m starting to get hungry now.
So Indonesia is a series of islands. To get from one to the other, you either need to fly on an airline like Garuda Air, or take a boat. The plane tickets aren’t bad, though. They’re like 600,000 Indonesian Rupiah, which sounds like a lot, but it’s like 60 USD, so if you think about it, $60 for a plane ticket isn’t a bad deal at all.
There are some beautiful temples here with unique architecture. Indonesia is also famous for its scuba diving, although I’ve never done that before, and I think you have to take classes or get certified first, so I don’t know if I can do that. I might look more into that and see how it works cuz it does sound kind of cool.
Alright, I need to stop writing this and get to bed, now.