From the category archives:
Gula Jawa (Javanese palm sugar) being poured into bamboo molds to set at a home manufacturer just outside of Pangandaran, West Java. It is made from the concentrated coconut palm nectar and has caramel overtones.
Sugar farm kid with a sugar sweet smile, who seemed to know just the right place to hang out to please the foreigners and their cameras.
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1. Form
The rambutan. You see them on sale everywhere in Indonesia during the rainy season. Inside, they are kinda like lychees or longan, but it has a different type of seed and flavor.
They are yummy and sweet (they taste a little grape like, but sweeter), but the color of them blows me away more than anything else. As they progress from unripe to ripe, they move from green to yellow through shades of orange to a deep dark red that looks like I’ve bumped up the photo saturation, but it’s the real color. The deepest red ones are the most delicious.
2.Color
I also love the little spikes… the spikes change color along their length, often with a dash of green or black at their extremities.
They are one of the good things about rainy season. Unfortunately durian season is at the same time and I still can’t stand the smell of those things, let alone the taste.
3. Skin up close
4. Inside
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Door to my bungalow at the guesthouse we stayed at in Ubud.
It was on Jalan Kajeng, that street of cheap guesthouses just behind Ubud Palace. The place we stayed, Gusti’s Garden Bungalows, had gorgeous gardens (as the name would imply) with ponds and butterflies and little sculptures everywhere, really lovely laid back staff (so laid back I never actually checked in), a swimming pool, yummy banana pancakes for breakfast and clean, basic rooms, all with balconies with chairs perfect for reading. A decent price as well, a little more expensive than some of the other basic guesthouses on the street, but worth it for the pool and garden.
It’s a Lonely Planet stalwart though, so it’s probably best to book ahead.
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Antiques on Jalan Surabaya, Menteng. Click for bigger photos.
The Jalan Surabaya antiques market is tucked away in the back of the swanky old embassy neighborhood of Menteng in Central Jakarta. It’s quite the treasure trove… wood carvings, ceramics, stone carvings, records, jewelry, bags, traditional puppets and many other artifacts are just a sample of some of the things available. However, I’m told that many of the “antiques” are replicas, so if it’s authenticity you are after, buyer beware. But if you want cool stuff, then this is the place.
Of course, like in all of Jakarta’s traditional markets, it’s all about the haggle. I didn’t buy anything today, but I did take a close look at some of the gorgeous jeweled hairpins that Indonesian woman typically wear when dressed formally in traditional dress… the prices I was told ranged from Rp 100,000 to Rp 200,000 depending on the sizes and amount of jewels on the hairpiece, and I think you could have dropped the price by at least half with haggling… even as a bule.
Many of the traders there spoke some English, so there’s no barrier for tourists to check it out. I think I’ll definitely take any of my friends that next visit Jakarta here… you could definitely find some cool and quirky oleh-oleh (souvenirs) here.
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