Wanderlust

I’ve always had wanderlust (that’s a strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world, if you don’t already know) and in 2008, I finally grew the wings I needed!

This list is meant to keep track of where I’ve been through the years and I hope it inspires YOU, too, to travel! Life’s not meant to be lived in one place…

Year: COUNTRY (City or Town etc.)

2008: PHILIPPINES (Manila)
2009: SINGAPORE
2010: MALAYSIA (local travels)
2011: INDONESIA (Bali). SPAIN (Madrid & Barcelona). FRANCE (Paris). ENGLAND UNITED KINGDOM (London & Manchester).
2012: MALAYSIA (local travels)
2013: CAMBODIA (Siem Reap)
2014: PHILIPPINES (Manila & Pangasinan). SOUTH KOREA (Daejeon & Seoul). CHINA (Shanghai & Wuzhen).
2015:MALAYSIA (local travels)
2016: VIETNAM (Saigon/Ho Chi Minh). POLAND (Katowice, Kraków, Warsaw, Częstochowa, Oświęcim). CZECH REPUBLIC (Prague).
2017: INDONESIA (Palembang & Jogjakarta). TERRA SANCTA (+ Abu Dhabi UAE + Jordan)

Let’s see where this year takes us! 😉

Blessed New Year 2018!

I am going to planet Mars – again!

Seriously!*

My boarding passes:

I went in 2014 for the Orion Flight Test.

And I will be going again next year (2018) for the InSight Mission!

Martian-status since 18 October 2014 – exactly 3 years ago.

Frequent flyer yo!

The Mission Patch for both trips:

Orion test flight mission patch, 2014

InSight Mission patch

SO EXCITING!

“What this is about?” you ask.

Well, the gist of it is:

In 2014, the names of 1.38 million people were encoded in a chip and loaded on the Orion spacecraft on its first spaceflight test – including mine. 🙂

See the chip here: https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/6752/

And now, applications were opened on October 2 and until Nov. 1, 2017 for the InSight Mission in 2018. Again, the names will be loaded into a silicon microchip which will fly with InSight for its mission to Mars. I have just submitted my name for this mission! 🙂

Here is an image of the chip mounted on the InSight Lander. They will put this second microchip next to this one.

I may not have “physically” been to Mars, at least I can legitimately say I have (even if it’s just in the form of my name in a microchip) gone where not all names have gone before. 😀

(You can read more about the mission here.)

So, are you going to join me?

Submit your name here: https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/insight/

Let’s go to Mars!!!

P.S. NASA plans to develop Orion into a vehicle that could one day carry astronauts into space. Who knows, maybe “frequent flyers” will one-day get to call shotgun on a trip. 😉

How To Make Pempek

Almost 3 months ago, I was in Indonesia.

Palembang was my first port of call before I went on to Jogjakarta.

Part of what I love about travelling is learning about the culture of a place. Indonesia is rich with that!

For Palembang, specifically, one such item is the food!

Now, “Pempek” (or “empek-empek”) is a savoury fishcake delicacy from Palembang, made of fish and tapioca.

Fortunately, I was able to learn how to make authentic Palembang Pempek while I was there!

The basic ingredients are pretty simple – fishmeat, water, monosodium glutamate/MSG and salt.

But I’d rather show you how to make it rather than type it all out so, here is my video recording of some aunties from St Stefanus, Palembang, teaching us how to make authentic Palembang pempek!

(Don’t worry, all the important stuff are subtitled in all my videos – remember to click the “CC” button to activate subtitles!)

Pempek is served with rich sweet and sour sauce called kuah cuka or kuah cuko or just “cuko”. And this is how to make cuko:

The above is the basic Palembang Pempek. For other variants, you can check my other videos below as well:

Pempek kulit/Fish-Skin Pempek:

Pempek kapal selam/Submarine Pempek
Pempek telur kecil/Small Egg Pempek
Pempek pistel/Papaya pempek

Good luck! Let me know if you succeed and how it taste yeah!

Even better, let me try your creation too! =D