Why I Would Become a Fruitarian in Indonesia
Dear E,
The fruit in Indonesia is incredibly good. I can't stop eating it. If I lived here I'd probably become a fruitarian. The mango is unlike any mango I've ever had in California, mangosteen (purple and round-ish) was not at all what I thought it would be like but it's delicious, and then there's Rambuton (red and spikey), or hairy fruit, because it looks like it has hair. rambuton tastes a bit like a large grape to me.
The trip here took three days and three flights. Needless to say, both my friend and I were exhausted when we arrived. Also, because of the coronovirus outbreak, most people were wearing masks on the flight and I did end up wearing one for all three flights. I have to say I was happy to wear one even though I probably looked post-apocalyptic.
Japan Airlines was an awesome company to fly with though. We had great food on the flight (they included ice cream!) and some unexpected ramen during our layover in Tokyo. Does having ramen in the Tokyo airport count as having ramen in Japan?
We had ramen because as we were taxiing to takeoff from Tokyo to Jakarta, the pilot said there was a problem with the airconditioning and was going to go back to the terminal to check it out. Turns out, we had to change planes so a 1 hour layover turned into 3. But they gave us meal vouchers. I could barely sleep on the flight from San Diego, so my friend encouraged me to ask if I could sit in the very back row of the plane which was nice and empty so I could lie down. They were super nice and let me change seats so I was able to sleep a little bit.
A third flight the following morning got us to Ambon where we are staying for a few days. This view was from the plane flying in. The water in the bay here isn't as pretty as this photo, but my friend says there are some places near here where the water is turquoise.
Getting around has been interesting. Most people take a public bus or ride on the backs of motorcycles. We took a car taxi from the airport to where we are staying which was nice and air-conditioned. Today, we took a public bus. No air conditioning, a bit cramped, and the driver was playing really loud music. Playing loud music is popular here. In fact, we woke up at 4:30 am this morning to a church playing Amazing Grace over a loudspeaker. It was in English so I'm not sure why they decided to do that since no one here really speaks English.
There's a lot on my mind so far about this trip which I'll write about later. So far, we are safe, sweaty, healthy (finally!), and eating a lot of fruit :D.
The fruit in Indonesia is incredibly good. I can't stop eating it. If I lived here I'd probably become a fruitarian. The mango is unlike any mango I've ever had in California, mangosteen (purple and round-ish) was not at all what I thought it would be like but it's delicious, and then there's Rambuton (red and spikey), or hairy fruit, because it looks like it has hair. rambuton tastes a bit like a large grape to me.
The trip here took three days and three flights. Needless to say, both my friend and I were exhausted when we arrived. Also, because of the coronovirus outbreak, most people were wearing masks on the flight and I did end up wearing one for all three flights. I have to say I was happy to wear one even though I probably looked post-apocalyptic.
We had ramen because as we were taxiing to takeoff from Tokyo to Jakarta, the pilot said there was a problem with the airconditioning and was going to go back to the terminal to check it out. Turns out, we had to change planes so a 1 hour layover turned into 3. But they gave us meal vouchers. I could barely sleep on the flight from San Diego, so my friend encouraged me to ask if I could sit in the very back row of the plane which was nice and empty so I could lie down. They were super nice and let me change seats so I was able to sleep a little bit.
A third flight the following morning got us to Ambon where we are staying for a few days. This view was from the plane flying in. The water in the bay here isn't as pretty as this photo, but my friend says there are some places near here where the water is turquoise.
Getting around has been interesting. Most people take a public bus or ride on the backs of motorcycles. We took a car taxi from the airport to where we are staying which was nice and air-conditioned. Today, we took a public bus. No air conditioning, a bit cramped, and the driver was playing really loud music. Playing loud music is popular here. In fact, we woke up at 4:30 am this morning to a church playing Amazing Grace over a loudspeaker. It was in English so I'm not sure why they decided to do that since no one here really speaks English.
There's a lot on my mind so far about this trip which I'll write about later. So far, we are safe, sweaty, healthy (finally!), and eating a lot of fruit :D.
I'm so jealous of that ramen...
ReplyDeleteIt was really good. It was beef broth which I've not had before and it had some things in it that I couldn't identify. I'm guessing some kind of mushroom. really tasty...
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