Labuan Bajo

Hi all!

I flew to Labuan Bajo over the weekend for a short getaway towards the end of August and it was wonderful. Flying over was pretty interesting…we had to walk on the tarmac to get on the plane in Singapore (which was a first for me in Singapore airport). Then my luggage came out during transit when it was supposed to be put straight through to Labuan Bajo. Our hotel driver arrived late to pick us up, so we were surrounded by taxi drivers who were hounding us to take up their cab rides.

After we were all settled in, we walked about the island (really small) and came across one of the harbours situated near our hotel.

The thing about this place is that it is still in it is developing phase. So it is not as crowded when compared to say Bali. But you can tell it’s headed in that direction when the food here is more Westernised in nature.

Fried goreng pisang (fried banana fritters) sold along the road. Their banana (the green type when ripe) is different from ours, slightly less sweet, slightly tougher. Didn’t form a really good goreng pisang.

A noodle cart.

Each time you walk pass a laundry place, there’s this strong smell of fragrance that wafts pass. Not a good place to wash your clothes if you are sensitive to strong scents.

The dried fish market. Really strong fishy smell and this was as far as I could go. There’s baskets of dried fish being sold. And lots of flies.

Ended the day with dinner at La Cucina, where there was a wonderful view of the sunset. The food was also really good and it was here we discovered how fragrant their black pepper was. I brought back 4 bottles.

La Cucina. Address: Jl Soekarno Hatta, Labuan Bajo, Flores 86554, Indonesia

Free bread platter. Though the bread was stale so the sides was pretty tough. But the bun (white part) itself when pretty well with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar combo.

My tuna pasta! It’s really good with tuna chunks (instead of the flaky canned tuna) and tasted even better when topped with their black pepper!

A look of the restaurant from the harbour and a closer view of the sunset.

There was this pasar malam just round the corner of our hotel and we had dinner here one night. My friend was craving ikan bakar really badly. The interesting thing is you can choose your fish here form  the stalls and have it cooked for you. But you need to choose the correct type for each dish. My friend chose a fish that had too many bones and the flesh was sticky to the bones so it made it hard to eat the meal. It was a good was to end our day and till the next post, bye!

Kusatsu

Hi all!

I started the day with a cup of coffee from Tokyo JR station before hopping on the train for my long journey down to Kusatsu. Kusatsu is a town in Gunma prefecture, renowned for its onsen waters in Japan. I was largely fascinated with this place when I read that this place resemebled the bath house in spirited away. You can definitely visit this place as a day trip although the long travelling hours makes it quite a pain. But it is best to arrange for a stay over at one of the ryokans in the area to maximise your visit here. Because of my skin, I can’t do any onsen baths, so I can’t share any of that here.

When you arrive, the striking green sulphur waters in the Yubatake (located in the town centre) is what catches your eye. It is one of the main sources of hot spring water in the town. There’s also a free foot soak located near the Yubatake.

Old school post box

I had a Gunma specialty here, a thick and long (single) strand of udon served in a warm, light broth. It was surprisingly tasty despite the simplicity of the ingredients. After lunch, I had more amazake and a black goma soy ice cream (black sesame seeds). The ice cream was topped with freshly roasted black sesame seeds and the nuttiness from the sesame really adds a differently level of complexity to the ice cream.

My main reason for coming to this town was also because of the Yumomi performance (600 yen/adult) at Natsunoya (a bath house). Yumomi is a traditional way of cooling the hot spring water without having to add cold water to it. There’s a song and dance that goes with it that is pretty addictive.

After the performance, the audience have a chance to stir the water themselves with the wooden planks, you’ll also get a little token at the end of it. But I was rushing to catch the last bus out to the train station, so I had to give it a missed. Ended the long day with a meal at Tonteki at Shibuya. It’s a restaurant known for its pork chops though I found the meal pretty okay. Nothing I would rave about as the meat I got (from the original set meal) had too much fats. Definitely not my fav. I think you can choose the part of the pork you want, I’m not sure, but either way, I probably would not head back to eat here. Till the next post, bye.

Kurashiki

Hi all!

I made a day trip from Osaka to visit Kurashiki and Okayama, but I’ll split up the 2 areas and will talk about Kurashiki today. Kurashiki is a small, quaint town. I visited the place early in the morning and literally had the whole place to myself. I felt like I was part of the local community as I went about exploring and saw local photographers trying to capture the beauty of this place before the tourists strike…shop owners prepping their store for the day.

A group of band players and reporters celebrating the opening of a new store (?)

Saw a couple of couples getting their wedding shots taken…Can I just say how beautiful the white wedding kimono is!

If you come by a bit later, Kurashiki is also known for its fruit parfaits. But at almost 2000 yen per cup, I couldn’t bear to spend that much money. Till the next post, bye!