A lot of my foreign friends complain about being stared at intensely when they travel around cities in Indonesia. I know it is not something nice to stare at somebody in a lot of western countries in the world. But I wanna share few things that hopefully will help you dealing with this annoying point which you might experience during your visit in Indonesia.

1. Bear it please in your mind that most Indonesians who never go anywhere and just live in remote areas are easy to be blown away or surprised by, when they see someone who is completely different from them.  This happens very often especially when they meet foreigners who have blond hair and fair skin -who  completely different from most of us Indonesians who have dark skin and black hair. And they are very expressive with what blows their mind. That is why they love staring at foreigners. It is not that they are being impolite but they, in the opposite, are actually admiring you.

Just for your information, this kind of habit does not only happen when they meet foreigners, but also when they Indonesians with dyed hair except black and dark brown colors!

2. Please bear it in your mind that Indonesians are very friendly. When they see you different, then most of them will try to say hello and try to have a short conversation with you. They will be very happy of they can do that. They will even be more than happy if you would sit and drop by to their house. They are very friendly and helpful. Just give them a nice polite smile. Do not take their attitude too personal.

3. If you are caught in this staring situation, just react naturally and say hello to them. You may accept their friendliness if you feel comfortable. Yet, you can signal using your gestures that you are in a hurry if you don't feel comfortable. You can say "Maaf" mean "Sorry" that you can not interact with them. And you can then go from them as quickly as possible politely.

4. If anyone try to be rude to you, show your unpleasant feelings through your facial expressions and your gestures. Be strict to them. This kind of situation happens rarely though. If this does happen,  never hesitate to ask for help from other locals around you who are willing to help.

I hope these 4 notes written above can help you dealing with being stared at situations.

Ready to eat Patin Bumbu Kuning Soup

During this dry hot season, Indonesians usually love serving fish soup to the member of the family. There are many kinds of soup such as; sayur asam. sayur bening, sup sayuran, ikan bumbu kuning etc. Those are some famous Indonesian fresh soup.

This time I'd love to introduce you to easy to make fresh fish soup called Patin Bumbu Kuning. It is really easy to make that you can try to make it at home too.

The ingredients:

5 medium size of shallots
3 medium size cloves of garlic
turmeric (not too much)
ginger (not too much)
salt (as you like)
1 lemon grass
2 kaffir lime leaves

Grind all the ingredients

Ready to cook Ikan patin Bumbu Kuning Soup spice

Put it in a bowl and leave it warm or cold. The soup is ready to serve You can serve it with or without warm rice.

Happy cooking

Fresh Yummy Sambal Tomat

Sambal Tomat is very popular in Indonesia, especially in Java. Almost all Javanese people love it very much. There are a lot kind of different sambals in Indonesia. And Sambal Tomat or tomatoe sambal is one of them.

Eating without sambal is very difficult for Indonesians. That is why Indonesians Ibu-ibu (that is how we call our dedicated loving mothers) seem to be in troubled when the price of chillies go up for they will be the one who face questions from the members of the family: Mana sambalnya? (translated: Where is the sambal?)

You can find Sambal Tomat everywhere in Java, East Java, West Java, and Central Java. And you actually can make it easily too.

The ingredients that you need are:




1. Some chillies (3 or 4 big ones and 4 or 5 small ones)
2. One medium tomatoes
3. A half spoon of sand sugar (if you like sweet, you can put more sand sugar in it)
4. Little bit of salt
5.A little bit shrimp paste
6. A little bit of lemon juice

Small Chilies or Cabai Kecil

You can decide the level of spiciness based on your own taste preference. If you are a big fan of super spicy food, you can put as many chillies as possible. I usually put three big red chillies and three or four small chillies.

Big Chillies or cabai Besar