For a very personal-private-confidential reason *wink*..traveled to Palembang brings some memories :)…enough for sentimental moment…let’s explore Palembang!!..

Palembang is capital province of South Sumatra..If you ever known about Jembatan Ampera, you may heard about this city. Beside that legendary bridge, this city also has a lot of historical places, such as Benteng Kuto Besak, Masjid Agung Palembang, Museum Kerajaan Sriwijaya, and some places you must not miss…Culinary places! The list: Pempek bakar, pempek candy, mie celor, floating restaurant in Musi River…and they all serve the best food ever!

The trip was on 29 – 30 Dec’07, we departed from Jakarta head to Palembang using our beloved budget airlines :D. It only took 35 minutes to reach Palembang. The airport of Palembang, Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II is very sophisticated..I was impressed! Thanks to Prie (my friend who willing to become a guide in Palembang) who picked us up to go to hotel for check in..Our first destination: Pempek Candy (although Palembang has a lot of alternatives like Pempek Vico, Noni, Dempo, etc)..

From Pempek Candy, we go to Pasar Ilir 26, a market which sold many unique handicraft from South Sumatra, especially kain songket, a  beautiful hand weaving cloth..Next culinary destination: Mie Celor…a noodle with curry and green beans, sounds strange for you? welcome to the club!

Pempek check…Mie Celor check..next: Masjid Agung Palembang.. The great mosque which never lost its magnificence..the mixed of Chinese and Malay cultures

Our final destination: Jembatan Ampera and Benteng Kuto Besak…

Since it’s already in the afternoon :P…it’s time to eat!..*again?*…our choice was Pempek Bakar Saga, mmmm…for me, a regular pempek taste more normal than this pempek bakar…don’t know why…

We went back to hotel after trying this pempek bakar..exhausted but my stomach is full hehehe…We plan to visit Jembatan Ampera at night to take some pictures and try to have a dinner in floating restaurant along Musi River..Due to limited knowledge of taking night picture :)…we failed to capture Jembatan Ampera at night 😦 ..and due to the electricity in some part of Palembang was down, the night picture session canceled. There is a funny story about the floating restaurant, to reach the restaurant we have to use the boat/sampan. Actually the place is not far from the jetty, it’s like 200 m..but since the boat must park with reversal (yes…reverse parking), so it took more times to get out from the boat..Well, since I’m not a good swimmer, so I have a phobia with water :)..Thanks God, everything is under control and the food was so delicious!

We went back to hotel and try to sleep since our next flight is on the next day which departed from Palembang for Bangka at 6 AM!..

– More stories are illustrated in my web album “An Illustrated Journey” –