journal of a guide

travels & … whatever

Babi Guling!

Posted by kris on December 23, 2011

Besides the famous Bebek Bengil, a dish served with roast duck and an assortment of dishes, the Balinese are also famous for another dish – the Babi Guling! As Nasi Lemak is to Malaysians a famous local dish, so is the Babi Guling dish to the Balinese Hindus. Now why the Babi Guling (roast pork)? Well, mostly because I had not had the chance to have this meal for over 5 years despite so many visits.

During one such working visit, while waiting for available units in a site inspection to some villas, the property’s representative took time out to have a babi guling meal with me. Always trust a local to bring you to the best eating spots. He took me to a small corner stall called “Warung Babi Guling Pak Malen” located along Jl. Sunset Road No.5 in Seminyak, Kuta. There are many others located all around Bali, but I am mentioning this because it’s the one we went to (and it’s another spot for you, my dear reader, to check it out if you wish).

When we had arrived, I noticed a group of Singaporean Chinese cleaning up their plates and drinks inside the stall. Besides them, there were also a couple of westerners at a corner amongst the many local Balinese people who were there for that one meal.

There really are no other meals served except babi guling. The only choice I have was whether I want it spicy or non spicy. I suppose the other choice I have would be how many types of pork meat I wish to have with my meal. I told my host that I’ll have the regular, whatever the Balinese are having, and in the regular portion. The meal came with a bowl of (you guessed it) pork soup, although I did order a cup of locally grown lime juice.

As Malaysians, we’re mostly spoiled for choice when it comes to food in our own home country. Various dishes are served in every part of Malaysia and most with localized flavors to suit the many demands of our multi-cultural and multi-ethnic peoples. Bali in itself retains its own flavors and serves dishes moderately as per how the locals like it. Many a Chinese tourist would usually complain how it’s not “tasty” or whatnot, but in my own humble opinion, the Chinese have their own way of preparing pork and Balinese have theirs. Respectfully, my advice to travelers would be to savor the local dish as it is made locally for it is not catered specially for the tastes of tourists.

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Kecak Ramayana & Fire Dance in Uluwatu

Posted by kris on December 18, 2011

Despite being in Bali numerous times (mostly for work), I have not had the time to truly see the sights up until recently. And one of my dearest wish was to be able to watch some of the cultural knick-knacks and performances available within this beautiful island.

On top of my list is the Barong Dance. There are several venues for this dance located in various spots around the island, but none are truly the genuine dances. According to the local Hindus, the true Barong performance is only held during a holy and religious day of celebration depending on their Hindu calendar. And each Barong dance performance differs in depiction of characters according to its territory or region. I asked about getting this calendar and was told that one can get it easily from some of the groceries or other places of commerce as a souvenir or gift, but the real Hindu calendar used by the Balinese Hindus can only be gotten from the Hindu priests themselves. I decided to wait for that chance instead of getting one that is just decorative.

Since both these are temporarily out of the list at the moment, my next best bet is the Kecak performance. Again, there are several of these said Kecak dances found all around Bali, but the most complete and most genuine Kecak dance can be found at the famous Uluwatu temple site. When I asked my guide what he meant by the most “complete” and “genuine”, he said that he has seen many, and some of the other performances skips a certain chapter of the story, making it incomplete. “Sometimes a part of the story is not told,” he said, as we sat by a gift shop’s side stairs, eating this delicious chicken sate made by a local Balinese vendor who barbeques the sate on the spot.

Towards the evening, there will be a small stall selling "sate" cooked on the spot opposite the parking lot. One can get 10 sticks for as cheap as Rp. 15.000. In other areas, you can even get them for Rp. 10.000! Super yummy!

“Then there are some others which do not feature Hanuman.” Incase you’re unaware; Hanuman is the colorful & mischievous Monkey God, a character which is just as fascinating on its own. Once we were done with the sate (which was absolutely delicious by the way – and this is coming from a person who lives in a town famous for its sates!), we made our way to the temple site.

The ticket counter is located to the south side of the Uluwatu temple, where a table area is manned by several vendors in traditional Balinese “uniform”. Stacks and stacks of tickets are placed upon its table with names of groups written on it, indicating booked tickets for groups of tourists. The stage is located on the southern end, which is not hard to miss, especially when the chanting starts. A single entry costs Rp.70,000.

“Everyday, the seats are full,” my guide said. A brief glance at the parking lot on the northern end will tell anyone that despite its maximum capacity, tour buses are still flowing in, following a stream of vans and private cars. I followed him quickly up the path as he tried to get me a good seat. “Seating capacity at its maximum is for 300 viewers.” 300 people only? Even though full to the brim, and out of sitting places, most tourists are still content to stand or sit by the side until it spills over to the stage area a little. I was warned not to be too close as the fire dance act will not be so enjoyable in that sense.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Kecak Ramayana & Fire Dance, it was originally developed in the 1930’s by a German artist by the name of Walter Spies for a film. Spies was fascinated with the “sanghyang” or ‘chorus of the sacred trance dance’ and combined it with the sound of chattering from crowds of men crouched over cockfight events. With this combination, he developed it with a local Balinese dancer, Wayan Limbak, to produce this performance. From there, it took off as one of the best cultural dance performances in Bali. Safe to say, this development is considered quite new and very successful.

The Kecak begins just before sunset at 18:00 hrs, against a beautiful backdrop of the sea and sun at one end, and a sea of trees on the other. The spectators sit in a circle of ascending wooden chairs constructed to surround a small circular floor stage.

Kecak Ramayana

Once the performance started, everyone was mesmerized. In order to not spoil potential visitors’ fun, I will not elaborate the story, but rest assured, once you go for the performance, each person is given a piece of paper explaining each act from the Ramayana. Moving to the rhythm of the trance-like “Kecak! Kecak! Kecak!”chanting by a group of men surrounding the play, the actors and actresses carried out the act with fluid body movements, complete with facial expressions to tell the viewers of their feelings. There is not much dialog, mostly the rhythm of the chants which gives the story its flow. Delighting the crowd is the random emergence of Hanuman, the magical white monkey, who causes mischief and laughter amongst viewers as part of the show.

Fire Dance : Hanuman kicks up a riot in the act

The entire Kecak Ramayana & Fire Dance show takes up a solid one hour. By the time it was over, it was dark all around us but smiles aplenty on the faces of satisfied customers. For those who think it might be a little too expensive, rest assured, it’s not. The quality of the performance and energy depicted by the performers is a memory you would want to bring home with you. Even if you’ll be late for dinner, try not to miss this performance when you’re visiting Uluwatu in the evening. I for one would not mind going for it again, only the next time, I’ll not forget the insect repellent!

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Notebook scan on Xi’an, China

Posted by kris on December 17, 2011

Rice cakes doodle

Some of my notes from my recent trip back from Xi’an, China. The trip was enjoyable and an eye-opener. The Chinese there are so… well, different. I have a feeling I’ll adapt faster in Thailand than in China.

There are many more pages of the travel journal but there’s quite a lot of things to do right now to really keep up with my notes. I’ll come back to it when I have more time.

By the way, I use the medium Moleskine Cahiers for my travel notes, a Faber Castell TRUE GEL 0.5mm S-Fine pen (beautiful ink!) for writing & a Pilot FRICTION 0.5mm (brown ink) for sketches / doodles. For other notes, I would usually prefer Field Notes brand.

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Been busy

Posted by kris on November 2, 2011

While I have been away on assignments and lots of traveling for work, everything is changing and again, I am reminded to update as much as I can. I will try though. I find the art of “notebook-ing” so much more fun than blogging and killing my eyes looking at the computer screen. Eventhough technology makes it easy for us to upload digital pictures and publish articles straight away, I find myself leaning away to traditional writing and polaroid pictures instead too! Everyone is moving forward and I am moving backward! Yikes!

How many times have I promised to change this? Numerous. Okay, no promises, I shall do my very best.

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Taipei : National Palace Museum

Posted by kris on June 13, 2011

It has always been my opinion that if a country can showcase their history properly in a museum, it’ll pretty much reflect on how the entire country is being run.

That being said, once I got to my free day, I immediately got up early in the morning, breakfasted and rushed out to get onto the MRT to get to Shilin MRT station, hopped onto a taxi which got me to the bottom of the stairs of the famous National Palace Museum in 10 minutes. Already my perception of the local population has given rise my respect to them, I was anxious to see how their museums would look like.

The driver, a middle aged man tried to start a friendly conversation despite my limited knowledge of Mandarin, but we managed to communicate nevertheless. According to him, he usually gets a lot of fares from Singaporeans and Malaysians, so he was happy to have yet another Malaysian in his taxi. From all these friendly talk, he told me that people who look like me usually would follow the bus tours in groups. He has no idea how close his guess was, the only difference – I am usually leading the group.

National Palace Museum, Taipei

National Palace Museum, Taipei

Once arrived, I thanked the driver kindly and began my ascend to the “palace”. The museum is said to be modeled after a typical Chinese palace, thus the name. While standing outside, marveling at the enormous gate, I was approached by some activist who went on talking to me like I understood the cause. It was only when he realised that I looked lost that he slowed down and asked me where I am from.

“Ooh! Malaysia. We have many tourists from Malaysia coming here,” he said in Mandarin. Nod and smile :) “You my want help?I’ll help you take a picture,” he offered. No, thanks. I don’t like my own touristy pictures. He kept smiling though, “You came on your own?” Affirmative. “Oh~,” he mused, looking at me with… respect? “Very good and brave of you to come alone!”

As I climbed up the stairs to the main exhibition hall’s entrance, I wondered what the activist meant. Read the rest of this entry »

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Taipei : Eating Halal

Posted by kris on June 12, 2011

There is only a small community of Chinese Muslims in Taiwan, but they surely made their presence felt through the friendly restaurants found in certain parts of the main city. While dining with my Muslim colleagues, one of my main worries would be that the food is not agreeable to their diet. Surprisingly enough, we were brought to some really small and homey establishments and we were served up some really delicious halal home cooking.

One such restaurant is called Yunus Halal Restaurant, whose owner, a kindly Chinese Muslim man, was there to serve us personally and to ensure that all our meals were fresh and hot. Although Mr Yunus spoke very little English, he was nonetheless very proud of his little restaurant.

Yunus Halal Restaurant

Yunus Halal Restaurant

“Son of (Tun Dr.) Mahathir, he sit here,” Yunus indicated to one of the chairs occupied by one of my colleagues. All of us looked at one another wondering which son he was referring to, as Yunus described him animatedly. Then one of the guests at the table looked up and said, “Is it Muhkriz?”Upon hearing the name, the owner nodded happily and gestured to some pictures at the wall. All of us crowded towards those pictures, and sure enough, it was a group picture with Muhkriz sitting in the middle of a group, surrounded by men in coats and the rest who looked like Malaysian students. Never mind the pictures, the food served up were, according to everyone at the table, delicious and tastes like home. Even I stuffed myself silly.

Another little restaurant just next to Yunus Halal Restaurant is “Thai Shiang Yun”, also a halal restaurant. We visited Thai Shiang Yun the next day for lunch, and happy to say, the food was also very agreeable. Although it is a simple and small place, the owner worked hard and all dishes served were amazing. The dessert was especially noteworthy. One of the participants was especially sensitive to sweet dishes, and would usually give his share to whoever else is interested, but in this joint, he was eating up everyone else’s left over dessert :D

Thai Shiang Yun dessert

Thai Shiang Yun dessert

Thai Shiang Yun owner

Thai Shiang Yun owner : It was unfortunate that this lady owner does not speak English or Arabic, but she was happy enough to pose for some pictures.

While eating within, we had the pleasure of meeting another traveler who hailed from Singapore and had a friendly chat with the fellow. He too had expressed that the meals in this particular restaurant meets with his expectations. Definitely a recommended restaurant for Muslims looking for halal meals when visiting Taipei.

Yunus Halal Restaurant – No. 36, Pei Ning Road, Taipei, Taiwan. Tel : (02) 2579-0528 / 0933-703-544

Thai Shiang Yun is located next to Yunus Halal Restaurant.

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Impressive Taipei

Posted by kris on May 12, 2011

One of my weakest languages would be Mandarin, so when I was assigned to Taipei for work, it became a constant worry as I thought of communication. Sure I can understand some Hokkien and Mandarin, but that is about it.

What I wasn’t counting on was how the city impressed me the minute I started walking the streets to get a sense of direction on my own.

Taipei, the main capital of Taiwan, a country with a population of about 23 million people, would have given me the thought that land would be very precious and therefore, the streets would be narrow and not accommodating. All thoughts were proven untrue.

Taipei gave me the impression that space isn’t a problem. The main roads are wide and orderly, cars drive on the right lane and the public transportation service is one of the best I have seen so far from my other travels. ‘Citizens’, as the locals are referred to, are encouraged to go green and a majority of them are very supportive. There were no unsightly rubbish or litter found anywhere and even if there were, the refuse would be neatly packed away, waiting for the garbage collectors to do their job. Whenever I have something that needed throwing away, I’d usually be cursing quietly as it’s difficult to find a bin. How in the world do the locals keep clean? It would take me a while to locate the discreet recycling bin which blends in rather nicely with the cityscape (instead of the huge industrial-grade plastic bins offered back home that stands out like a sore thumb by the roadside).

Heels on Wheels

There are probably about 90% scooters than there are any other 2-wheeled vehicles. Apparently, it is pretty fashionable for women to ride their scooters with high heels. It is rather mystifying as to how these local women can endure the stress of it. Vanity over functionality, eh?

When traveling in a vehicle, it felt neat to know that the roads, streets and alleyways follow a close grid-like system. Even while walking, Read the rest of this entry »

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