Royal Caribbean Cruise - First Day (Depart from Singapore, Ice Odyssey, The Australian Beatles Show)

#rcruiseshiptravelog

Actually, prior to purchasing the cruise ship tickets, I did some research first and I kind of knew what to expect. I initially almost selected the Genting Dream Cruise, since it's cheaper. However, some travellers said that the quality is not that good, kind of rob of (where you need to pay for almost anything), and good for those who love gambling. For those travelling with family, Royal Caribbean is much better. And they offer great food with many free activities. Well, then I chose the Royal Caribbean one.

Since I had done quite a research, so I knew that we should deliberately choose the free activities if we wanted to have full experience (eg. kind of exploiting) our cruise journey.

So that night, at 17:30, we opt to enjoy the "Ice Odyssey" Ice Spectacular. The review said we should come very early, since the space was limited. And it's on first come first serve basis. Following the guide, we were one of the first to arrive. #ambi. And that's right, not long after, the venue became packed within short time.

Oh yes, the cruise ship had an ice-rink on it, where at night there were shows and at noon, we could reserve to enjoy ice skating session on the venue. Apparently, it's the first cruise ship (or I guess any sea transportation by any means) ever with an ice-rink on it.

The performance was very entertaining! Well, there were some mishaps where the skaters fell. But overall it's pretty good, with acrobatic and breathtaking moves. Actually, the ice rink was not that large, so perhaps it's not that easy for the skaters to move easily. They ought to control their moves very carefully as not to touch the rink side or other skaters.

The skaters asked the spectators if anyone wanted to volunteer as a cameo on the show. So there's a woman from Japan who acted brilliantly the made the show even more entertaining.

We were not allowed to take video, but photo is fine as long as without flash

22:00. After dinner, there's a show that I attended to: The Australian Beatles. The event was held in an auditorium named La Scala. We'll talk about the venue later. Actually I was a bit sleepy, but didn't wanna miss a chance to see the show. Since hey it's free (ga mau rugi sih aka oportunis. lol). Unlike the Ice Odyssey, show ini diadakan di venue yang cukup besar jadi masuknya ga perlu rebutan.

I loved the performance! So, basically they were The Beatles' impersonators. Their costumes, look, and everything were prepared rigorously. From the mop top hair, instruments, and the songs (of course, lol).

And they sounded amazing! Perhaps the only thing that was less fun was the unenthusiastic audience. It was like they didn't even clap. I urged myself so hard to not cheer the band up.

I don't know whether it's in my mind only, or I really did that: started to turn my cell's flash light on in Hey Jude song, then the band caught my hint then asked the audiences to turn the flashlight too.

23:19. Let's call it a day! Foto-foto bagian-bagian kapalnya kita lanjutkan besok lagi. Walau karena sudah malam, sebenernya menarik sih untuk eksplor bagian-bagian kapal lainnya, soalnya sudah sepi, hehe. Tapi masih ada 2 malam lagi, so that's fine.

Third Day

05:27. The perks of waking up early was you could enjoy the cruise ship like it's your own. lol. Hampir ga ada orang lain!.

Amazingly, si cafe promenade ini buka 24 jam jadi tetep bisa ngemil. Walau menunya relatif terbatas sih, tapi lumayan lah soalnya kan gratis, hehe.

So why did we wake up early? Kalau lagi liburan kan enakan bangun siang. Yak, itu betul. Tapi selain subuhan, jacuzzi ini sungguh sayang jika dilewatkan, wkwk. Kalau siangan dikit pasti rame.

6:39. Just like the day before, rain decorated the morning with cloud as company. Oh well. But the sun seemed ready to greet. There's still hope!

07:13. We decided to have the breakfast at Main Dining Room. The day before, our breakfast was at the Windjammer.

Hmm, I didn't really like the breakfast ambience here. Since the windows were covered by some kind of shield, that I guess aiming to protect us from direct sunlight. But what I felt was it made the room gloom and dim.

Plus, the food selection was some kind of regular breakfast that I also could get at Windjammer. Well, ada beberapa variasi menu unik dan sehat, tapi buat saya kurang menarik, hehe.

8:03 After a cloudy dawn, alhamdulillah a rainbow appear. It seemed the day was going to be bright and good!

Salah satu bagian kapal yang sempat dieksplor adalah, umm, kokpit. Wait, kokpit itu kan di pesawat. Kalo di kapal, tulisannya sih namanya the bridge. Tapi aneh kan kalo bilangnya jembatan. Setelah cek di internet, namanya ternyata ... anjungan kapal! haha. Baru tau!

Jadi, anjungan kapal adalah ruang komando kapal di mana ditempatkan roda kemudi kapal, peralatan navigasi untuk menentukan posisi kapal berada.

Actually, saya baru baca keterangan tentang the bridge ini saat mau nulis caption, dan banyak hal yang menurut saya menarik.

Few fun facts:
1. Multiple positioning systems. Nah, biasanya kan kita familiarnya dengan GPS. Ternyata GPS ini standar positioning system-nya US menggunakan 30 satelit. Si cruise ship ini selain menggunakan GPS, juga menggunakan GLONASS, positioning system punyanya Rusia yg menggunakan 24 satelit. Dengan mengkombinasikan dua data ini, hasilnya pun bisa lebih akurat dan real time, karena jadi pakai 54 satelit kan yang posisinya tersebar di langit sana. Terus waktu eksplor lebih jauh lagi, Eropa, China, dan Jepang punya positioning system yang berbeda. Menarik!

2. Armrest. Di armrest kiri ada trackball untuk mengontrol display di depan mereka. Di armrest kanan ada joystick untuk mengendalikan kapal. Jadi ga usah repot2 pake setir super besar untuk mengendalikan kapal.

3. Dynamic Positioning System. Dengan sistem ini, kapal bisa berada di suatu titik dan menghadap ke arah yang sama selama berjam-jam tanpa harus mengaitkan jangkar.

4. Voyage Management System: ini semacam auto-pilot kalau di pesawat. Jadi most of the time, sistem ini yang bekerja, dan petugas bisa memonitor.

5. Automatic Radar Plotting Aid: covering 133 km area, track up to 40 different targets a time.

Flowrider. One of many interesting free attractions on board. Although there were quite lengthy queue (for sure), and unexpected d d d drama!

Jadi kan itu emang ngantri banget (swipe right). Terus kayak ada yang nitip antrian gitu. Nah, kan jadi ga maju2 antriannya. Terus ada yang protes. Sampe si officernya juga ikut kesel sama yang nitip antrian dan si flowrider ini sempet dihalt beberapa saat.

This is how the bridge looks like from the front. Somehow it reminds me of Ohm - from Nausicaa of The Valley of The Wind by Studio Ghibli. I don't know, perhaps because of the round windows, or the shape. Anyway, I love it!

Wall climbing. Dimensi foto di instagram kurang sesuai jadinya terpotong :/

A successful jump, but the expression, umm, not so much.

Lalu mencoba juga ambil pose di ujung depan cruise macam2 Titanic. Tapi kok angle-nya kurang pas ya? Harus ada yang ambil gambar dari luar kapal. #repot

Golfing above the sea.

There's a casino located right below the promenade.

And there were few interesting instagrammable spots. Well, basically many things are instagrammable for first timers.

I dont know why I post this, lebih karena dibuang sayang I guess. Ok next.

Swimming pools. Actually I don't know how many swimming pool that this ship has. Actually on the other side of the ship, there's another one. If I'm not mistaken, pre-covid they installed a new waterslide which makes it even more exciting.

16:04.Mendapatkan tempat yang tenang untuk membaca buku, atau untuk meditasi bagi yg mau, ternyata bukanlah hal yang mustahil di kapal pesiar ini. Di bagian belakang kapal ini hanya ada segelintir orang! Eh, tempat lain seperti perpus juga sepi sih. Tapi kalo di bagian sini, suasana di atas lautnya lebih kuat.

18:30. Hollywood musical night at La Scala. Live performance with live music of some most famous tunes from hollywood movies. Although I didn't recognize around 60% of the tunes though.

The singers really do have great pipes! I also love the stage, simple but the background was wonderful. I should say that it's an impressive show. Well, maybe because I set my expectation quite low (since this is basically a free show?). But those performers were reeeally good.

La Scala, a venue in the cruise ship that named after Teatro alla Scala in Milan. The theatre (the one in Milan, not in cruise ship) is regarded as one of the leading opera and ballet theatres in the world.

However, I should say that this theatre is a decent one. Better than the one in Balai Kartini or Istora Senayan. I knoww, Balai Kartini atau Istora kan memang peruntukannya bukan untuk art performance. Tapi kenyataannya, pertunjukkan seni acapkali diadakan di tempat tersebut kan?

Main Dining Room. One of our fave dining rooms, because of its elegant interior with its big chandelier, all you can eat 3*-course-meal set (* = easily multiplied anytime we want), and its excellent service.

We thought that we ought to dress up to eat in main dining room, but seeing other guests seemed quite casual, so we took the hint and applied for ourselves. lol.

At the final night, the waiters danced on the stairs, that night with latin energetic song as the background. So fun!

21:05. So, at the final night, there was a watching party on the pool area. The movie being played that night was Captain Marvel, which is relatively new that time, but I had watched it. The challenge was to get a comfortable spot to watch the movie, which was not that easy.

21:58. There had been a loud sound coming from the Promenade Area. It's basically a party to celebrate the cruise journey as the ultimate

Well, it's full of dance and upbeat music. At first I just wanted to see from afar, but in the end I got closer and allowed myself to join the train formation with the others, lol.

But it seemed they knew that for some people, the night was still young. So they had this after party at one of the cafes, where there were live band and people could continue dancing. I enjoyed the music by sitting on the side, before getting back to my room not long after.

So nice! (bukan sosis). Begitu masuk kamar setelah beraktivitas di luar, di tempat tidur ada handuk berbentuk gajah.

At another time, we found a monkey! I should say that the hospitality was superb!

Tipping is encouraged and very common. But they also really took care of the services and wanted to know our feedback.

Ok, in the next slide, there's our bathroom. Really small, but cukup lah yah. Yang penting bersih.

Memandangi laut yang seakan tak bertepi, dari jendela bundar yang ada di kamar.

Let's put fillers here and there karena target weekend ini sudah selesai urusan perkapalan.

Chasing sunset, or sunrise?

05:45. To get a good spot, we came very early to have our breakfast.

That's a tug boat! No worries, our ship wasn't stuck (like the one in Suez). But it's there to push (or pull?) our ship to be able to dock at the harbor nicely. So how does it compare with the Ever Given?

Voyager of the Seas was the largest cruise ship in the world, although she was overtaken the following year by her sister ship Explorer of the Seas.

She is 311 m long overall, has a waterline beam of 36.8 m and a height of 63 m. It can hold 3,602 passengers at double occupancy, and 4000 passengers maximum.

Voyager of the Seas included the first rock climbing wall (mounted on the funnel) and the first ice-skating rink at sea.

So, how does it measure compared to the famous Titanic? Titanic has 269 m long, 53.3 m height, and 28.2 m beam. Smaller but not so much smaller.

How if we compare to "that ship"? That ship clogging the Suez Canal. The Ever Given ship is 400 m long, which is 89 m longer than Voyager of the Seas. Nevertheless, those ships are huge!

Singapore welcomed us with beautiful warm golden sunrise. Ending a vacation is never an easy thing. But this like the way of nature saying that I should welcome a new day with a grateful feeling. It greeted me "have a nice day 😊".

Nope I'm not in Singapore, this comes from 2019 album.

Arriving to the little red dot.

The passengers' luggages were sorted based on each passenger's deck. There's no conveyor belt like in the airport. But we had no difficulty in finding ours since they arranged it very neatly.

Then we had brunch with mba @esti_pratiwi1505 and family at West Coast Plaza. The food was super super delicious! Alhamdulillah.

Masjid Sultan adalah masjid pertama di Singapura, pertama dibangun di tahun 1824 tapi kemudian direbuilt tahun 1924 karena yang sebelumnya itu kekecilan (kalo ga salah ngerti ya).

Haji Lane and its surrounding is famous for its mural. Perhaps like in Georgetown's Albanian Street. Kalau di Indonesia, kira-kira yang terkenal dengan muralnya ada ngga ya?

This photo marks the end of #rcruiseshiptravelog. Finally! The next travelog will be in one of the oldest cities (or even the oldest!) in Indonesia. Guess what!

Singapore Day 1

11:21. Arriving at Terminal 1, I headed to the Jewel part of the airport to find my family who had arrived earlier from Jakarta.

I know that I just praised Kualanamu, but this was on another different league. Perhaps any airport in this earth would look pale compared to this one.

It was my first time seeing the famous Rain Vortex, and I was in awe, really. Keren banget! I visited this in June 2019, and it was first opened in April 2019.

Btw, I thought the name of the waterfall was jewel, but apparently not. Jewel Changi Airport (also known as Jewel or Jewel Changi) is a nature-themed entertainment and retail complex on the inside of Changi Airport. Its centrepiece is the Rain Vortex, which is surrounded by a terraced forest setting (which is very cool also)

Rain Vortex is the world's largest and tallest indoor waterfall, standing at 40 metres high. Recirculating rain water is pumped to the roof to free fall through a round hole at up to 37,850 liters per minute to a basement-level pool. It received many awards and accolades for its outstanding design. I think everyone would admit that Singapore is very serious in spending their money to create design marvels.

From the airport, we went to Marina. Nope, not Marina Bay Sands, but the Marina Bay Cruise Center. Since as the hashtag has been hinting in the past few weeks, we were gonna take cruise ship!

I don't know, but I thought taking a cruise ship was like once in a lifetime experience, and actually, it wasn't as expensive as going to Europe, Australia, or even Raja Ampat. and it's less mainstream. And I just want to treat my fam. Alhamdulillah ada rezeki.

So, few weeks before the departure, we already had purchase the tickets. Similar with booking regular hotel rooms. However, booking a room in a cruise, we can, and have to choose, the exact room that we want to stay in.

So they will provide you with the layout of the ship (floor map), so we can choose in which floor that we want to stay in, bagian depan atau belakang, kanan atau kiri, intinya which exact room, and so on. Why? because different floor and location have a different price. I of course searched for the economical one. lol.

so, since we already chose which deck that we would stay in (there are 10 decks in total). Hmm, why it reminds me of PPT deck. lol. Back to the topic, our check-in time was determined by which deck that we chose. Staying in deck 7, our check-in time was on 1:30 pm.

So our Grab Car was nearing in to the cruise center. And I was so ecstatic just by looking at the giant ship.

The Marina Bay Cruise Center was a building specifically built as port for cruise ships, and it's moved there from previous location. The new location at Marina South has deep waters, a large turning basin, and no height restrictions, which enables it to accommodate the largest cruise ships being built now. From inside, the building's design was quite similar from cruise ship's design.

We then dropped our luggage and checked-in. We had to give our passport and they'd keep it during our trip. As the exchange, each of us was given an access card that we should keep during the trip. Since it'd be used as our main card when we want to enter/leave the ship, as well as to enter our room.

After checking in, we were guided to enter the ship. Exciting!

Apakah bahasa Inggrisnya garbarata? Kata wiki jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, airtube, or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)).

I asked since to enter the ship, we used jetbridge-like thingy, kinda. I'm not sure. But it's a nice one for sure.

Prior to entering the ship, we were asked to strike a pose in front of a banner, where the photographer was ready to take a pic. I knew that they would offer the photos later with a price.

13:32. The ship was huge with luxurious hotel-like interior. We went directly to the restaurant since, well, since it's not 24/7 open, and we're running out of time. Well, thanks to someone who posted it in her blog about the tips, so we didn't miss our lunch. I know the photo is kinda blurry, since I snap it from a video. lol.

Lunch! The restaurant was pretty packed with guests. It seemed we were a tad late. Actually, there was still enough, even so many, food. Perhaps since we still brought our bag with us, so it wasn't too convenient.

Oh ya, there were few restaurants that we could choose, and that afternoon we picked this one, a buffet one, where there were loads of varieties of food being served. Will write about it in another post.

So, when we finished our lunch, we then went to our room, a small room. Our luggage would be delivered directly to our room, we just needed to wait.

Then later, apparently one of our luggage got suspended by the ship's authority, since there's unallowed item(s) inside the bag. We're wondering what it was. Apparently, it's a clothes iron that my mom brought with her.

Yes, other than knives, gun, and so on, in a cruise trip, you're not allowed to bring items that were "electrically risky" such as clothes iron, even cable extension. Perhaps to avoid fire. We're also not allowed to bring alcoholic beverages, well, since we supposed to purchase it on board. Not that it's my concern, since we're teetotaler anyway..

16:00. Mandatory Muster Assembly Drill. For you who are working in an office building, this is similar to a fire drill. So, there's a sound of general emergency alarm, and the captain explained what the passengers should do, then the guests should be moving to a specified spot in the ship, determined by which room the guest was staying. For us, our meeting point was in a restaurant on the 5th floor, which our table was also had been specified. The crews were standing by in the alleys and every corner to guide us where we needed to head to.

A muster drill prepares passengers for a safe evacuation, in the event of an emergency on board the ship, and familiarizes the crew and the passengers with escape routes. In a muster drill, the use of life vests and the escape routes from the ship are explained to the passengers.

Apparently the cruise had started moving. The island of Singapore was getting further, the skyscrapers seemed to get smaller and smaller. See you Singapore!

Well, I thought it'd be like in cartoon where people on the shore would be waving to the ship's passengers. Yeah, not like that apparently. Not dramatic at all.

Medan (Last Day)

 

I departed early in the morning, since I needed to go to Singapore, while the others would continue their culinary adventure in Medan.

I planned to go have breakfast at the hotel's resto. But unfortunately, it wasn't possible since I had to bring my room key with me. Well, I didn't bring it of course since the others were still staying in the room.

Usually, I only had to tell the officer my room number (and my name) to be able to enjoy breakfast. I know perhaps it's for security reason that they didnt allow me. But when I told the waitress that I could show her my ID card as well as the soft copy of our room reservation, she told me the only way for me to have breakfast was the room key. I was so fed up. It's no way that I ask my "still sleeping" friends to deliver the room key for me, or I got back to the room to take the key.

It's absolutely my worst experience of having breakfast in any hotel in any country like, ever! I planned to write it up on Trip Advisor, but was too lazy.

Then I walked to the train station, which is quite close to the accommodation. Actually, I was a bit hangry, so it felt further than it actually was.

From outside, the station was not crowded at all, so I was wondering whether I was in the right place or not. I liked the station, it's so clean and tidy. and I could buy the tickets online.

It was my first time also taking the airport train in Indonesia. I think it's pretty nice. There was a section where you could put your luggage on. Similar to the airport train in foreign countries.

Kualanamu? yes, it's a huge and nice airport, and it seemed still quite a lot of empty spaces. The design was very modern and I am glad to have such airport outside of Java. Btw, do you think that all new airports in Indonesia have quite similar design?

Medan Day 1

  Welcome to day-1 of #rcruiseshiptravelog

Welcome to day-1 of new series of my travelog. This time, we go to Medan to attend our friend's wedding.
We took morning flight from Jakarta. Actually I liked how the Soekarno-Hatta Airport transforming. It's so easy to do self-service check-in using the provided machines. Especially if you dont bring any luggage. zap zap, and then you could enter the gate.

And then, there's a room with full of resting chairs, equipped with tv and charging station, with super cold temperature. As the first to arrive, I was waiting the others in that room. Well, I couldn't really enjoy it albeit empty, since the temperature was friiizinn.

The plane was quite empty, so we could choose our preferable seat :D

We arrived at Kualanamu International Airport. It was my first time visiting the airport. In my previous visits to Medan, I always went to Polonia which located in city center. Soo practical, wkwk. I do love some of the decoration in Kualanamu.

In the airport, we met with the others who flew with similar schedule.

08:09. Our rented car with its driver was already waiting. Oh wait, paw was the driver. lol. From the airport, we dropped our bag in our accommodation, plus picked alfi up.

In the first pic is Masjid Raya Medan, or often called Masjid Raya Al-Mashun, built in 1902-1906, long before Indonesia Independence Day. I think it's so elegant. I didnt expect that a building pre-Independence could be that grande, and it's not built by colonial. Perhaps will go there on next my visit to Medan.

Second pic: inside the accommodation.

Third pic: pillow face! lol. and why my glasses were purple!

10:02. We headed to the breakfast spots. Yes, spots, with 's' (plural). Winda acted as our guide during our trip in Medan. They were actually located nearby our accommodation, thankfully.

First destination was RM Sinar Pagi (since 1961) which served Soto Medan. Winda actually recommended its lung menu as her favorite. But unfortunately, it's already sold out! Well the name is sinar pagi, dan kita ke sananya udah ga gitu pagi sih. Jadi, ya memang sudah risikonya kalau kehabisan.

I ordered half portion only, since I knew that we planned to go to multiple spots, so I had to reserve space in my belly.

The soto was awesome! the broth was savory and delicious. I tried so hard to not order another portion. The peyek udang (what do you call it?) nya juga enak!

Then, we went to next stop: Kedai Kopi Apek. Kedai kopi Apek ini sudah ada sejak tahun 1923 yang didirikan oleh Thia Tjo Lie atau yang lebih dikenal dengan sebutan Apek. Nama Apek diambil dari bahasa Tionghoa yang artinya kakek (maap hasil copas ni).

Menu andalan kedai ini diantaranya, kopi Mandailing dan telur ayam setengah matang serta roti bakar selai srikaya.
Uniknya, kedai ini tidak menggunakan kompor atau mesin pemanas untuk mendidihkan airnya. Hanya menggunakan tungku yang di dalamnya ada kayu bakar.

Berhubung saat itu masih pagi, jadi makanan yang sudah ada pun terbatas. Serba salah ya, di resto sebelumnya kesiangan, di sini kepagian.

11:51 ~sorry for the blurry pic. Our plan actually only consisted of culinary spots. However, we were aware that our desire was constrained by our belly's space. Ga muat cuy. So from the second culinary spot, we decided to take a break and took a detour: visiting Rahmat International Wildlife Museum and Gallery, yang termasuk dalam natural history museum. Museum ini dimiliki dan didirikan oleh Rahmat Shah, ayah dari aktris Raline Shah.

Singkat cerita, ini adalah museum yang isinya berupa hewan-hewan hasil buruan yang diawetkan. Hmm, emang berburu boleh? Nah, katanya ada yang namanya Perburuan Konservasi. Jadi, katanya berburu sesuai aturan yang berlaku demi menambah populasi. Emang bisa? Dugaanku sih mengikuti prinsip yang ada di piramida makanan ya. Kalau populasi pemangsa terlalu besar, bisa-bisa nanti terjadi ketidakseimbangan. Ataupun memburu binatang yang sudah tua, sehingga "aman" untuk diburu.

Walaupun ya, kalau baca lebih jauh, tentang hal ini banyak kontroversi sih. jadi, legal hunting ini katanya salah satu alasan diperbolehkan adalah karena salah satu sumber utama pendanaan untuk konservasi. Jadi, daripada ada perburuan liar, mending perburuan legal dengan harga mahal dan termonitor dengan baik. Begitu katanya. Saya ga riset lebih jauh sih.

Waktu itu museumnya sepi, waktu di parkirannya pun hanya kami seorang (padahal 7 orang). Kirain tutup, karena kami hanya disambut oleh landak-landak di kandang. Untungnya buka. Dan ternyata dalemnya bersih dan terawat dengan sangat baik ya.

Koleksinya sangat menarik, walau saya lebih senang melihat binatang hidup daripada yang sudah diawetkan ya. Spot favorit saya adalah di section 'Night Safari', karena dibuat lebih niat dibandingkan bagian lainnya (third slide).

Last photo: coplo goat aka kambing koplo

Rahmat Shah telah mendapatkan penghargaan tertinggi dari Safari Club International (SCI) 'African Big Five Award'. SCI merupakan Club berburu International yang diakui oleh seluruh dunia. Dan beliau merupakan orang Indonesia pertama yang mendapatkan penghargaan ini pada tahun 1996. African Big Five yaitu gajah, badak putih, banteng afrika, singa dan macan tutul afrika. (semua hewan ini boleh diburu di Afrika dengan aturan, seperti gajah diburu kalau gadingnya minimal 1,5 meter di Tanzania dan harus di atas 50 pounds untuk daerah Afrika lainnya. Hal tersebut menunjukan kalau hewan itu sudah tua).

The museum displays various collections of wildlife from the smallest to the largest according to the habitat. Koleksinya pun menurut saya sangat lengkap dan menarik. Museum ini katanya galeri sejenis yang pertama di Asia.

14:03 After our stomach was ready to be filled (again), we headed to the next stop: RM Tabona. From the 3 culinary spots that we visited so far that day, this was the largest.

Menu utamanya adalah bihun kari, bisa pilih mau pakai jeroan ataupun daging. Saya pilih daging saja lah ya. Bihun kari pun disajikan dengan kentang dan juga ayam. Wait, ayam? Iya, jadi ada daging sapi dan juga ayam reunian di mangkuk kari ini. Protein galore!.

Menurut saya, rasanya lezat! Kuahnya sangat kental dan gurih. Kekenyalan bihunnya pun pas! Ok, just by imagining it is enough to make me hungry.
.
RM Tabona ini katanya berawal dari Pematang Siantar tahun 70an, kemudian buka di Medan tahun 80an. Wah klasik ya. Nah, ternyata katanya sudah buka juga di Pluit dan Muara Karang di Jakarta.

Anyway, actually I tried to avoid posting food pic on the feed in this acct, but I've no good pic of the place :/.

Es Krim Ria. Actually I was already full, so didn't order much: Es Krim Ria (of course), Martabak, and Sate Padang as the snack. For the ice cream, we ordered es krim soda, as one of its specialties. Another option was es krim buah.

This ice cream joint was opened since 1936 (another old merchant we visited that day!). Es Krim Ria dibuat pendirinya dalam bentuk wujud happy (senang). Nama tersebut menurutnya bermakna pengungkapan senang ketika menikmati Es Krim Ria.

For me, the taste of ice cream was okay, but not memorable. Perhaps because I wasn't hungry that time. The other foods' taste also forgettable. Hmm, perhaps other culinaries that we tasted earlier were just superior.

After that, we went back to our accommodation to ... eat! Kidding, to take a rest and do some prep before attending the event later at night. Well, I ordered some dimsum nelayan for afternoon snack. lol.

The accommodation actually is adjacent to the Old Medan City Hall that's been refunctioned as a restaurant.
The city hall was built in 1908 during the Dutch colonial period, as kilometre zero in Medan, and was originally built for De Javasche Bank (now Bank Indonesia).

Dance til drop, like, literally. You could see the change from super power in the first video until low-bat mode in the last. lol.

So, at night, we visit our friends' wedding ceremony, that thankfully the traditional ritual had already finished earlier. Since it could be very long! Haha.

When we arrived, there was no one on the stage where the dais was. I thought we were late! Finally we saw the bride and groom, and they were gorgeous.

We were the first the one to take the food in the banquet, felt honored. (nope, we didn't ask to be prioritized ya. altho we were actually hungry. lol).

and then, yeah, we went to the stage to take the photo with the couple, and dance!

Could you see how happy and ecstatic we were? especially in the first few videos. But at the last video, we were exhausted! lol. I thought it's around 10 mins that we were dancing on the stage!
Apparently the musicians just won't stop to play the music until we give them the code to stop. hahaha.

A really good time!

After attending the wedding, we continued our culinary journey. This time we went to Nasgor Komdak, located in Kampung Madras.

Wiki said ~ Kampung Madras is the Little India of Medan, Indonesia, and one of the city's significant ethnic enclaves. It hosts a large Indian community (mostly Tamil).

In the mid-nineteenth century, the colonial Dutch began importing Indian labor to work on Sumatran plantations and to construct roads, trenches, and dykes; today, Sumatra is home to as many as 60,000 people of Indian descent, many of whom reside in Medan.

This area was originally called Patisah (Tamil: பெடிசாஹ்), and the name became a district in Medan called Petisah. The enclave's name changed to Kampung Madras to reflect the native land of the people of Indian descent who reside there. However, many people still refer to the place as Kampung Keling, a more derogatory term that may be offensive to some of its residents and others.

You know, the lighting from the temples at night were so cool! It reminded me of the atmosphere of Little India in Singapore or KL. I didn't know that Medan had such a place, although it's my third time in Medan. And I also didn't know about the history of Kampung Keling before. I feel so enlightened. lol. Thanks wiki!

Our first destination in Kampung Madras was Nasi Goreng Komdak. It's a good one! And yes, we ordered shared menu, since we already ate at the wedding earlier.

6th culinary spot that day aka 7th merchant (one is delivery order): Kwetiau Akuang. It's within walking distance from Nasgor Komdak. Despite its chinese name, don't worry, it's halal! The joint was opened since 1960s – with a wok and a spatula, Kwetiau Akuang has since became one of the legendary culinary spots in town. The stall was named after the current owner’s dad, the O.G person behind the wok, the late Mr. Akuang.

The Kwetiau is stir-fried with oil, fishball, veggies, and also shrimps. Because it’s stir-fried on a wok with charcoal as a source of heat, the smoky flavor is enhanced—both from the aroma and the taste. They primarily use duck egg instead of chicken egg, and it gives richer taste.

And I loved it like A LOT! I know, it's my 3rd dinner, but it's just so good. It's different than any other kwetiau's that I ever had. So so good.

8th merchant: Martabak Piring. While waiting for our driver to pick us up, we ordered Martabak Piring, basically martabak that was cooked on a plate. I don't really remember the taste. lol.

9th and final food merchant that day: Duriaaan as the dessert at the legendary durian ucok.

It's open 24/7 and if you dont like the durian that was served to you, you can ask to change it with the new one.

Actually the "rejected" ones wont become a waste, since it'll be used to be processed for other form of durian as food (eg. pancake durian, es krim durian, and so on).

Oh, how I do miss it!