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Ubud, Bali, offers visitors the feel of Balinese art village and also an amazingly long list of good eating places, and this list keeps expanding fast. There are a myriad of cuisine selections in Ubud to choose from Indonesian, French, American, Italian, Japanese, etc. One restaurant, suitable for desserts, an afternoon tea time and chatting with friends, that needs to be on your list is Casa Luna. It is located on the main road, Jl. Raya Ubud, close to Ubud Traditional Market.

My visit with A to Casa Luna was primarily to relax, spend a casual afternoon, and enjoy desserts, which I heard they were superb. At the front of the restaurant is the bakery counter, Honeymoon Bakery, serving breads and freshly baked pastries. At the back is the restaurant. The restaurant location is absolutely beautiful, epitomizing the feel of Ubud. The restaurant is built on a cliff with layers of terraced floors, overlooking a deep valley and river that runs through town. The staff were all friendly and wearing traditional Balinese costumes. Arriving at the restaurant, we chose to sit at the back on wooden benches facing the beautiful green valley with a flowing river. It was a perfect setting for an afternoon tea.

My dessert order was their popular Paris Match, also commonly known as Mille Feuille (literally means “a thousand leaves/sheets”), which is actually a French puff pastry filled with vanilla custard. A ordered Tiramisu Torte. For drinks, both of us ordered hot red hibiscus tea. Also, Brem Balinese rice wine on ice was included in A’s drink orders. Although the Paris Match was not the best I’ve ever eaten, it was yummy and a great fit to accompany my afternoon tea. It was light, not very sweet, and soft with a slight crunch. A’s tiramisu was fine. It was soft, moist, and not overly sweet, but I personally think the tiramisu would taste better if it was a bit soggier. The taste of the hibiscus tea was naturally sweet and very delicate. The tea was simply perfect. The local rice wine, which is made from black glutinous rice and coconut milk, was pleasantly sweet and light (about 7% alcohol content). Our meal at Casa Luna was definitely one of the highlights of our holiday.

The owner of Casa Luna is Janet de Neefe, an Australian woman who travelled to Ubud, met and married a Balinese man, had children and started opening up restaurants, guesthouses, and bakeries. Another popular restaurant of hers is Indus, which is located in Ubud as well. Her best-selling book, Fragrant Rice, is about her life and her love of Balinese culture and food. Her book also includes various food recipes. At her Honeymoon Guesthouses, she regularly conducts cooking classes that successfully receive a lot of international attention. With all of her hard work, many things she has touched have turned into gold. My hat is off to her.

Casa Luna
Jl. Raya Ubud
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
361.977409

This year, A and I decided, since we are spending quite some time in Indonesia, to travel to Manado, located on the northern tip of North Sulawesi province, to explore the underwater beauty of Indonesia. For divers, North Sulawesi is a paradise. The coral reefs in North Sulawesi are renowned for its marine biodiversity as it is located at the center of “Coral Triangle”, a geographic area that boasts the largest variety of coral species not found anywhere else in the world. Why this broad area is so rich in underwater life is because it is the meeting point between the Pacific and the Indian oceans, bringing a wealth of nutrition to feed the numerous species. There are even more marine species here than on the Great Barrier Reef.

Three totally different dive areas in North Sulawesi are reachable within a maximum of 1.5 hours boat trip. The most well-known dive area is Bunaken National Marine Park. The truth is that when you are diving in the waters of Bunaken, you can see over 70% of all fish species that exist in Indo-Pacific. The underwater biodiversity becomes even higher if we add the additional species that can be found in the other two dive areas: the Bangka Archipelago and the Lembeh Strait. The coral life around these areas is absolutely remarkable.

There were not many hotel choices for us in Manado. Our preference was to pick a hotel that offers a diving package and is also near the dive sites so that we did not need to leave our ten-month old baby Shiori and her nanny at the hotel for a long period of time. Hence, we selected Seaside Resort Santika as our hotel and Thalassa as our dive center. The dive center is positioned on the premises of the resort, which is 15 kilometers north of the Manado city. The location of the resort and the dive center is on the mainland, amongst palm trees and flourishing mangrove forests, in the middle of Bunaken National Park. Such a strategic location enabled us to always come back to our hotel room in between each dive, to see Shiori. The breaks between dives brought great convenience to our stay over there.

We stayed at Santika for seven days, with four full days of scuba diving. The four-star resort is built on a large area of lush garden and is implemented with a good balance between Western demands and local atmosphere. The restaurant on the premises offers food both local and international. The view of Mount Manado Tua, the islands and the sea from the restaurant is simply spectacular. In the large garden, there are a free form swimming pool and a children playground, so that guests can experience a family-style atmosphere. Traditional massages and body treatments are offered by the resort’s spa. There is no beach at Santika since the resort is surrounded by mangrove swamps. Consequently, the resort constructed a long jetty, with a stunning view of Bunaken and the sea. The hotel room, especially the bathroom, was, however, below my expectation. The buildings are a bit old. Also, the taste and the variety of the food (especially the breakfast) needed to be improved. Some guests took advantage the free shuttle service to Manado (about 45-minute drive) for a dinner in the city. We went to Manado twice for tasting local food. Another blog about my favorite Manado foods is currently in the work.

Overall, we were pretty happy with Thalassa Dive Center. Each day, Thalassa offers three dives: two in the morning (8am and 10am) and one in the afternoon (2pm). Divers are given freedom and flexibility to create their own dive schedule. A night dive can also be arranged. Since the dive center is very close to Bunaken, we typically come back to the resort during surface intervals if the chosen dive site is not far from the resort. If we go to distant dive sites such as Bangka Archipelago and Lembeh Strait, we will need to leave in the morning around 8am and return in the afternoon, with a yummy lunch provided on the boat. Another good thing about Thalassa is that a large group of divers is split into smaller groups and placed on different boats, so that we do not feel overcrowded when diving. As part of the dive package, they prepared tasty local food for lunch and also delicious snacks with hot tea and coffee in the afternoon. I personally liked the food provided by Thalassa’s chefs better than the resort.

In summary, our diving experience was really amazing and very memorable. We will definitely return to North Sulawesi again someday for another diving experience. We explored many dive sites at Bunaken that have impressive, completely overgrown steep walls. Diving along the Bunaken’s steep walls gave me an interestingly eerie feeling as I could not see the bottom of the sea. But I was truly impressed with the abundance and diversity of the coral life. We saw schools of different kinds of small and big fish passing by the walls, such as turtles, sharks, barracudas, eagle rays, napoleon fish, parrot fish, sweetlips, butterfly fish, moray eels, etc. With the help of our dive guides, we discovered a wealth of very well camouflaged critters hiding in little cavities and corals on the walls. These critters include a great variety of beautiful nudibranchs, different species of sea horses, scorpion fish, lion fish, frogfish, stone fish, cuttlefish, and still many more. Our favorite dive sites at Bunaken were Tanjung Kopi, Mandolin, and Lekuan 1. In Tanjung Kopi, we saw many kinds of big fish including barracudas, parrot fish, and sharks. The colorful deep wall of Mandolin is impressive, and the strong current will give you a nice drift diving experience. And diving in Lekuan 1 almost guarantees that you will see turtles.

We also spent one full day diving in the north, at the Bangka Archipelago, formed by active volcanoes that extend from the mainland into the sea. The dive sites at Bangka are relatively new reefs, where the hard corals did not have a chance to grow yet. Underwater, we could see traces of volcanic rocks, covered with amazingly colorful soft corals. Here we not only saw big schools of fish, but also many special critters hiding in between corals and small crevices, such as pygmy sea horses, ribbon eels, frogfish, nudibranchs, various types of crabs, and so on. When the sea current is running, the soft corals bloom to catch all the passing nutrients. Although the visibility sometimes was not as good as Bunaken (due to the crashing waves), a visit to Bangka must not be missed.

We unfortunately did not scuba dive at the Lembeh Strait, which is on the east side of the peninsula. The reason was due to the long 5-hour round trip required to reach Lembeh from our resort by car and boat. So, we would have arrived back at the hotel very late at night, and it would not be good for my lovely Shiori. I talked to one of the divers who went to Lembeh. She said that Lembeh is covered with black sand both underwater and on the surface. There is no interesting reef in Lembeh, but it is a paradise for underwater macro photography because of the large selection of rare, exotic, and bizarre species. Exceptionally strange small animals usually dig themselves in the black sand and they are difficult to spot. So, the eagle eyes of our dive guides are definitely a big help in spotting them. Lembeh will be unquestionably a place to dive for us when we return to North Sulawesi later in the future.

Not having an underwater camera and sufficient time to purchase one, I was planning to rent one of Thalassa’s underwater cameras. But, very disappointingly, their underwater camera housings were all broken, so I was not able to rent and take my own underwater pictures. All of the underwater photos shown in this blog were taken by Natasha Monina, a sweet Russian girl we met in one of our Bunaken dive trips, who kindly shared her underwater photos with me. Thanks much, Natasha! Next time I scuba dive, I will buy an underwater camera first, not a dive computer, although Mr. and Mrs. Unger (a German couple we got to know in Santika) repeatedly reminded me of the importance of dive computers for our safety and health. They are absolutely correct! But I still can’t change my mind. Haha.

Around 400,000 people are currently without homes and had to take refuge at temporary tent shelters, after Indonesia’s most active volcano, Mount Merapi (which literally means “Fire Mountain”), erupted on October 26th, 2010. Since then Merapi continued to sporadically spit out hot clouds and fiery lava. Experts say that the recent eruptions are the most violent listed for Merapi. Rescue workers have been recovering bodies from the affected villages and at least 300 villagers are dead due to burns and respiratory failure by hot volcanic ash. Nearby airports are still closed due to air travel safety reasons. Even US President Barack Obama was forced to cut short his whirlwind Indonesian visit because of volcanic ash clouds. The volcano’s intensity has decreased significantly, but a danger zone remains within a 12-mile radius from the volcano. When the eruption is going to end still cannot be determined.

Merapi overlooks the densely populated city of Yogyakarta in Central Java Province, and is only 30 miles away from the city of Solo/Surakarta, my beloved hometown. I’ve been staying in Solo since mid October, and now would like to blog my experiences with the Merapi eruptions. Fortunately, Solo is within a safe distance from Merapi, so the eruptions do not pose serious danger so far to life in Solo. Volcanic ash rains quickly struck Solo a few days after Merapi’s first eruption in October, enforcing officials to close Solo’s airport for several days. An airborne flight from Jakarta to Solo in which my brother in law boarded was forced to turn back to Jakarta after reaching (but not landing at) Solo, because some volcanic ash reached a certain height above Solo’s airport.

Three weeks after the first eruption, A and I traveled to some of the affected villages to see the destruction from the eruptions.  Our drive started from Solo to three affected villages: Cepogo, Selo, and Musuk. The three villages suffered from evident physical damages resulted from Merapi’s hot clouds. Thick volcanic ash blanketed homes and streets. Trees were all white, covered with thick gray ash. Their leaves were burnt by the acid ash. With heavy rains, the thick ash turned into mud. Consequently, many trees fell (some landing on houses) and rooftops collapsed because they were not strong enough to support the heavy burden of the ash. Dozens of villagers, including children, were busy cleaning their homes and main roads, some scooping ash from the ground while others sprayed water.

Merapi buried surrounding crop fields with a thick heavy layer of ash mud. Farmlands within 12 miles are now dead and it is difficult to determine when the fields become arable again. Experts believe it could take years for the farmlands to become productive again. Snake fruit industry is hardly hit by the disaster as it is one of the most important commercial plants that local residents near Merapi grow.

Our final destination was the Ketep Pass/Hill, located between Mount Merapi and Mount Merbabu (another mountain north of Merapi), which offers a spectacular view of the Central Java’s big five: Mt. Merapi, Mt. Merbabu, and Mt. Sindoro, Mt. Sumbing and Mt. Selamet. However, when we were there, we could not see any parts of the mountains because of the thick ash clouds from Merapi.

I also went to one of the evacuation camps in Sleman (a suburb of Yogyakarta) which accommodates around 22000 people. The evacuees took shelter in Maguwoharjo Stadium, which is a football stadium and the home for the soccer team “PSS Sleman”. Most of the refugees are farmers who lived near the slopes of the volcano. It was a very relieving sight to see that they had shelter and enough aid for food, clean water, medical supplies and clothes. Hundreds of Indonesian soldiers were involved in every form of assistance, from logistics to health support to cooking and playing with children.

The stadium and piles of boxes of donation

Many humanitarian organizations, private parties and volunteers showed concern for the victims of the disaster by setting up new tents for food aid distribution. High piles of boxes of water and instant food could be seen at the aid reception area, managed by volunteers. Teams of doctors from nearby universities came to the stadium to help with health and sanitation issues caused by prolonged stays in the crowded stadium. Even, evacuees could benefit free haircut and wash provided by some hair salon employees. It was amazing to see that many people were trying to help the Merapi victims by giving whatever they could give.

They’re wondering when they could be back to their villages

The refugees preferred to stay in the stadium building, rather than in the provided tents. Mats and blankets were the beds of choice. Some used piles of donated clothing as their beds. One of the refugees said they had no problem with food, as it is always available. Snacks and instant noodles were always readily provided. The situation for children was more bearable. Classes from damaged schools were taking place in the stadium. Children could make a lot of new friends coming from different school districts. Teachers had their hands full of activities entertaining children, hoping to help heal the trauma after evacuation.

Refugees in the Maguwoharjo Stadium

Despite the small comforts in the evacuation camps, many evacuees hoped their stay there would not be long and they could go back to their homes soon. Many refugees said that they were worried about their future as they had lost their crops and livestock, which were their main source of income. Indonesian authorities promised to compensate evacuees for livelihood and livestock lost to the eruptions. Let us all hope and pray so that the distribution process of the disaster fund relief can go smoothly without any major obstacles.

Preparing food for evacuees

I also would like to note that, although aid supplies are adequately available in the evacuation camps, people who are already back in the affected villages obviously still lack of food, medicines, baby supplies and other kinds of goods. So, for readers who are still planning to provide aid to Merapi disaster victims, I would suggest to send the aid supplies directly to the affected villages.

Cha-An is a traditional but casual and classy Japanese tea house, serving excellent desserts and teas. Its location is in East Village, an area that has the highest concentration of Japanese establishments in Manhattan.

It is easy to pass right by Cha-An since it is perched on 2nd floor. But climb up the narrow stairway from the street, then you will find a small entrance hall to the dimly-lit beautiful tea house. The entrance hall is decorated with a Japanese door gate and bamboo plants, giving a special traditional feeling when discovering Cha-An at first time. With its nicely serene ambiance, Cha-An is an ideal place to spend a perfect afternoon, enjoying teas and desserts, and chatting the night away with friends and family. Despite its full crowd during the night, Cha-An’s atmosphere invites lingering, and customers are in no rush to vacate the precious tables.

The highlights of Cha-An’s menu are the desserts and the wide variety of teas. Cha-An offers different types of black, green, oolong, pu-erh, white, and herbal teas, and also some additional special drinks like chai latte and matcha float. Each time I go there, I always sample a different tea. Each gives you a unique experience as they are prepared and served differently. A is fond of their Green Tea Matcha, the powdered green tea frequently served in traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Although it’s most expensive among all teas, their Matcha is of high quality and top grade, and tastes very good (even from a non expert standpoint). Having tasted many of their teas, I can confidently conclude that Cha-An’s teas are particularly picked for their high quality and fine taste.

The menu for appetizers and entrees is fairly small. Three choices of set menus are available. We once ordered the popular Cha-An Set B, consisting of 15 grain rice, daily soup & vegetable, soy milk quiche with mushrooms & scallions, tea smoked salmon, dessert, and your choice of tea. The soy-based quiche is given as a starter, which is light, creamy and very savory. A likes the tea smoked salmon very much. A small dessert of chef’s choice is served at the end of the meal. Personally, I like their Afternoon Tea Set best, which is only available until 7pm. You will get a choice of tea, two kinds of small bagel sandwiches (one salmon and cream cheese sandwich, and one preserve and butter sandwich), baked scones, and assorted sweets. The scones taste very nice as they are freshly baked and still warm, but need 15-20 minutes to prepare. The other set menu that I haven’t tried but looks equally good is the Cha-An Set A, containing 15 grain rice porridge, 6 mini appetizers, dessert, and your choice of tea. Apart from the set menus, you can also order their appetizers individually. Also, please check their daily appetizer. When I was there once, they served delicious shrimp shumai and tofu dumplings.

For desserts, I strongly recommend their Chocolate Mochi and Sakura Flan (not listed in the menu). The mochi has very soft and chewy rice cake exterior, with subtly sweet tea-infused dark chocolate filling. It is absurdly good. And A really loves the flan. He said that it’s the best dessert he’s ever eaten so far, which I also agree vehemently. I never thought it was made from a cherry blossom. The texture of the flan is very soft and smooth. Its taste has a perfect balance between lightness and richness. With the red beans on the side, it’s just so insanely lovely.

Also, a visit to the electronically-controlled restroom is as much of a must as the teas.

Doumo arigatou gozaimashita!

Cha An
230 East 9th Street. 2nd Fl.
New York, NY 10003
212.228.8030

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