A world without borders

Pause a bit on the US blogs... Another boring rant post without photos...

There are many ups and downs to be Indonesian. And what makes me envy a Taiwan or Malaysian passport holder? They can visit many countries without visa, as they are granted permission to stay for a month or maybe more. Yes, as an Indonesian I can visit any southeast Asia countries and Hong Kong, but Taiwan passport holder can visit Japan, South Korea, even US, which made them easier to travel for business or maybe holiday. I know the fact from a Malaysian friend, they even can visit any European countries with a visa on arrival, which made me so freaking jelly. But if I'm wrong, feel free to correct me :)

Anyway, as an Indonesian, the process of making European countries, UK, or US visa is a bit... well, complicated. Last year, I had been granted a six-month UK visa,  3 month Schengen visa, and for this year a 5 years US visa. I'm like a visa collector or something hahaha. The process of making these three visas, each of them is so different, and to be honest, sometimes really irritating. That is why, Taiwanese and Malaysian friends, I envy you.

Now, there's a Rotary summer camp in Denmark that I can attend this summer. And...  as you can guess, I need that bloody Schengen visa again. After an excruciating experience with the visa agency in Jakarta, I really hope I can make the visa in Taiwan, and it will be easier than in Jakarta, which really is quite impossible, seeing how difficult it was back then. *sigh.

I do hope my mom can get back her Taiwanese nationality real fast, so (finger crossed) I can get my Taiwanese passport... Once, I talked to my dad about making a Taiwanese passport, because I still have relatives from my mother's side in Taiwan, but he said why bother? By adding that Taiwan is not officially a country (yet, plus I really don't want to talk about politic here) he refused. Nevertheless, after all those fash making visas, now he really want one.

First night in Las Vegas

Okay, so we arrived in McCarran, picked up our luggage, and bought a ticket to Travel Lodge hotel near the strip. Seeing the confusion in our faces, the butler (yes, even the shuttle bus stand has a butler in tux) joked, "Don't tell the cabbies that this is your first time in Vegas!"

Shuttle Bus no. 3

So apparently, our hotel is located near MGM, and exactly beside the strip. After checked-in, we decided to buy some dinner nearby, but all we found was casinos, grills, hotels, and shops. We wanted to take-away something simple, like pizza, maybe?

One thing in Vegas, beware of these "cosplayers". Yes, maybe they look friendly, and seeing our Asian face, they immediately spotted us and asked, "Hey wanna take a picture with us?" We didn't have time to response and my dad just handed his camera, and we started taking photos. After that, with no surprise, they wanted a $20 tips. What the? This is a blackmail! This is a scam! My dad just gave them like $15 and after we got away, we learned a valuable lesson: don't make eye contact with these people.

I'm sorry the photos are very blurry, cause I used my shitty phone camera to capture this. I didn't bring my Canon X2 cause my hand was still injured when I went home to Indonesia. Yes, loads of excuses, bla-bla-bla. So we came across this Pin-up Pizza, near the hotel in the Vegas strip.

Whoa I have never knew they have this huge slice of pizza in US. But the food in US are mainly grills, sandwiches, pizzas, and other junk food, so we couldn't complain much. We ate the pizza in our hotel room while we were watching Sochi Winter olympic on the telly.

HKG - LAX - LAS

We departed from Jakarta 8 a.m. in the morning. It was like 5 hours of flight to Hong Kong, and after we landed in the airport, we went to the lounge, took a shower, and refreshed ourselves until 4 pm for the LA flight. According to the itinerary, it would be like 12 and a half hours flight.

Brace yourself, 12 hours flight

My mom once said, long-haul flight is excruciating. She went to NY last time for dad's Boston marathon, and she slept for like two days in order to adapt with NY's time. I have never experience a jet lag before, cause I know how to dodge it: you must sleep for like 7 hours or more in the flight, like my dad. He has this ability to sleep right directly after he sit down and fasten his seat belt. Envy.

Nothing special happened in the flight, mainly sleeping, and we arrived in LAX. We were greeted by a long queue line for the immigration, and a bit disorganized, plus, the officers were all like robots, with no expressions in their face and arrogant. For those who haven't been to LAX and in a connecting flight, here's a tip for you: remember to bring your luggage as all luggage are required to stop at LAX first, after that drop it off at the check-in counter. We didn't know that, so we almost left our luggage there. 

LAX: convenient my posterior!

LAX or Tom Bradley International

We dropped off the luggage in the American Airline counter and continued our way to the domestic terminal. It is a security requirement to take off the shoes when screening, which is unusual for us. We don't have to take off our shoes in Hong Kong, Taipei, or Jakarta. Later, we took a shower in the lounge and relax a bit until our 8 pm flight toward Las Vegas. And guess who I met there? Lady Gaga. LOL. Kidding. It wasn't her, but this waitress in the lounge looks exactly like her, just a little bit shorter. Too bad I didn't ask her for a photo. 

The flight to Las Vegas is approximately 45 minutes, and I found out that their American Airlines flight attendants are mostly middle-aged, very different from the attendants from Cathay Pacific. 

It felt like a blink of an eye, then we landed in Las Vegas airport, or McCarran International Airport. A bit cold, and my thin jacket didn't help at all. 

Vegas, baby!

My dad, looking exhausted.

Vegas indeed, slot machines everywhere

Tapa-tapa-tapastic!

Life is all about good and bad news.

Being a rather pessimistic person, I will now reveal the bad news first: it's foggy and drizzling outside. Such a melancholic weather.

Good news is: I have my own Tapastic now! I'm planning to make a series of P ♥ J, where I can draw little things that happen around me and JJ. I have drawn two episodes, and hopefully (finger crossed :D) I can continue to draw our story. 

Very first episode

Drew this in the very moment

And today, the most bizarre thing happened: I got an e-mail from Michael, the editor in chief from Tapastic. I was like, what the? Is this a generated e-mail? But I saw some comments for the series like: "I just read  P <3 J (haha, how did you make the heart symbol?) and really enjoyed the first two episodes, they're adorable!" or "I like the hand written fonts and the characters." I'm so happy!

Well I know my drawing isn't as good as the artists (of course I can't admit that I'm an artist now), but it's good to have a viewer and comments, making me feel recognized not invincible. All I need now is a lot of practice, oh, and maybe the determination to keep drawing.

Wanna see the drawings? Just click the link on the left bar, and you'll be directed to my P ♥ J series.

US visa

I have been to UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore. I know, still a few of them, but there's this one country I've always wanted to go to: USA. Moreover, I finally got this chance to visit this winter holiday, by sacrificing my part-time job in Taiwan as a translator. Cos I had to apply for US Visa. Luckily, my dad had applied for the visa even before I arrived in my home country. Thus just a few days after I got home, I had the appointment for the interview with the USA embassy in Jakarta. 

Let me share the details after I arrived in Taiwan from UK. Arrived safe and sound in Kaohsiung Airport, I went back to the deserted Puli, and managed to work my part-time job for two days before I flew again from Taoyuan Internation Airport to Jakarta, where the flood is ready to embrace me. Nah, just kidding, the flood had already gone in the town where I live. Crazy, huh, being me, just two days arrived in Taiwan, then I have to get ready to fly again, but this time, to my hometown, I was pretty homesick at that time. 

Had a little difficulties while doing the interview, cos I forgot to bring my latest 6 months' photo in 5 x 5 cm, and my dad told me to get the photo ready the night before the appointment. Crazy, huh? Yet I still managed to sprung up the legitimate photo, but it was the same one with the photo in my Schengen and UK visa within my passport. Unfortunately, the worker there noticed, and I tried to reason with her. Still they passed my passport and my application in, and I had to wait like an hour or more to be interviewed with the real American. She asked me my reason to visit USA, and I stated more or less what my dad told me to say. I want to visit the WSA Magic, a forum for fashion footwear, in Las Vegas. Yes, but my dad didn't tell me what WSA is short for. My fault, really, and the interviewer asked me that tricky question. Really bad start. 

Anyway, she then noticed my photo and later asked me to drop-off my passport and my newest photo, then several days later, my US visa was ready. Pretty quick, huh? More efficient than applying for UK and Schengen visa, to be honest. 

Freaking worker put the queue sticker
on top of my HK fast track barcode

So, visa's ready, my luggage is ready, the plane ticket is ready, what are we waiting for? Let's go to LA!

Surabaya: Food haven part 2

Ote-ote and prawn cakwe

While eating our ice cream, we walked to the back of Pasar Atom, and there's this crowded fried food stall. JJ recommended their prawn cakwe, a long golden brown fried strip of dough, fried with prawns, which usually eaten with porridge, and ote-ote, a traditional Indonesian style fried vegetable cake, with cabbage, beansprout, and other veggies inside. I love the prawn cakwe, it was salty, crunchy, yet too oily. I think it's best to eat that with sambal. About the ote-ote, if you don't know, I am not a big fan of veggies, thus just after one bite, the ote-ote was tossed back to JJ.

Bubur Madura or Maduranese porridge

I don't like porridge, I hate it. My opinion? Porridge is for sick people, even when I'm sick, I refused to eat that bowl of soft rice with soup. When first JJ told me to try Maduranese porridge, my first reaction is, quoting Ellen: ain't no way in hell I'm eating porridge. JJ kept trying to persuade me, and told me it's not the usual yucky porridge, it's sweet. What? Sweet porridge? That word triggered my interest, and then I realized Maduranese porridge is a dish of glutinous black rice and the other sweet ingredients, and later sauced with thick coconut milk sauce and melted palm sugar. Every dish that comes with melted palm sugar and coconut milk sauce, I love them all, and almost immediately I was in love with this kind of porridge. The dish is a bit sticky, but not too sweet, and the black rice is delicious. 

The famous Bakwan Kapasari

Bakso & Tofu? Yum
Fried intestines? Yuck

 Feeling quite full already, we decided to stop by in Bakwan Kapasari. Well apparently in Surabaya, bakwan is the same with bakso. The bakso is served along with fried tofu and also fried-intestines. The meatball texture is very smooth, unlike the usual bakso, and I usually don't eat intestines, yet JJ kept telling me try, and it was good actually. And I bet he was smiling and wearing his 'I told you so' face. Shut up, JJ.

Kartiko plus JJ making weird face

Last but not least, I wanted to bring something for my uncle and auntie back in the factory, and here we were, in Kartiko, a famous traditional cake stall plus cafe in Pasar Atom. The spekkoek or sometimes they call it kue spiku in Bahasa Indonesia, from this shop is very well-known, and I bought one for them.

Well, that's pretty summed up for a culinary day in Surabaya, though JJ said there's still a lot of food that he wanted me to taste, but there wasn't enough time. I had only one day to spend with him there. Maybe next time, eh, JJ? I was feeling quite dizzy and sleepy after all that superb dishes, and I bet I gained more weight. Thank goodness I don't live there. 

Surabaya: Food haven part 1

I'm honored to have a personalized local tour guide to help me enjoy Surabaya's local culinary. I present you: JJ Lin! Well not the popular singer, the real JJ Lin, but his real name is Jeremy, and he does looks like JJ Lin, with many confirmation from my friends. Yet, he's better than JJ Lin: shorter, wider, and fatter HAHAHAHA. So we call him JJ then? Alrighty.

JJ Lin driving

So JJ picked me up in Juanda International Airport with his car, and... can you guys keep a secret? He looks so manly while driving, if you cover up the stomach part with your hand :)). From Juanda to the city center it took like forty minutes if the traffic's OK, but Surabaya's traffic is a lot better than Jakarta. Still traffic jam everywhere, but phew, if you've gone to Jakarta, don't ever think you can get to your destination on time.

Let's start tasting Surabaya's food haven then!

First stop: Layar Seafood Restaurant

A plate of tempting crab with salted egg

For JJ, there's no "save the best for last" policy, thus he took me to Layar, an eminent seafood restaurant in Surabaya, to taste its best dish: kepiting telur asin or crab cooked with salted egg. I've never eaten a salted egg dish with a crab before, just prawns, but the smell was so mouthwatering. After the first bite of its tender crab meat, I was... in heaven. I couldn't stop opening the crab shell and grabbing the meat into my mouth. JJ helped me taking out the meat as I still couldn't bend my left elbow at that time. Voila, not long before the dish arrived on our table, there was no crab meat left, even the lettuce under the crab meat, which was supposed to be an ornament, also got eaten with the salted egg sauce. Mmm... yummy. I had a sudden urge to lick off the sauce from the plate XD. The sauce was just, brilliant, excelente. We just ordered this crab and hotplate kangkung, and no rice, cos we still have a long way to go, so we gotta reserve a big amount of space in our stomach.

Ayam penyet super spicy

I felt half full already, but we still continue our way to our next restaurant: Ayam Penyet Bu Kris. Ayam penyet is a traditional Indonesian dish consisting a smashed fried chicken, with sambal, tempe, fried tofu, cucumbers, and also the leaves of lemon basil. JJ was crazy, he knows that I love spicy dishes, so he ordered an extra hot penyet. I thought I can handle that, but oh boy, I was wrong. I was literally crying with all that sambal, I even ordered extra water, but it was really good. And the tempe, so freaking delicious. I always have this thing for East Java's tempe, so different from Jakarta's or any other place's. 

Leker

After wiped my tears and left the restaurant with redden face, and still trying to relieve the spiciness in my mouth, JJ bought kue leker or spinning crepe outside the restaurant. We shared the crepe in the car as we drove to our next destination. While eating the crepe, my mind surfed back when I was in junior high school where I used to buy this on my recess. I asked JJ where were we going next, and he said, if you really want to taste the ultimate food haven in Surabaya, then Pasar Atom is your place. So we drove there, and JJ started to pull me around the stalls. I forgot the stalls' names, JJ also didn't quite remember, but I got a few photos that I took that day while we were busy shoving delicious treats into our stomach.

Vanilla and chocolate ice cream

Yes, you are being deceived by its appearance. This is not an ordinary chocolate and vanilla ice cream. This is more like a traditional-made ice cream from Indonesia, its got this special sweetness, different from the usual ice cream. I don't really like the taste, though, think it was too sweet for me, but for JJ, he likes it a lot. He said this ice cream stall has been here since he was a kid, so he grew up eating this ice cream.