Palembang Trip : Indonesia Scrabble Challenge 2014 (Part Two)

Hi there! I'm gonna continue my story in Palembang in this SECOND PART of my PALEMBANG TRIP. In the first part, I've written about my first two days in Palembang for competing in Indonesia Scrabble Challenge (ISC) 2014 and so far it was an amazing trip! Now, it's time for the third and fourth day. Enjoy!

Third day

We were entering the second day of the competition. 8 games to be played in the second day. First, I met Harryadi Hermanto. A very close game with him, but in the end I managed to edge him 422-392 to get the first win of the day. In the next round, which was round 8, I was paired with Alexander Gozali. We had a slow start but my three bingos later secured a convincing victory 513-377 over him.

Round 7 - Harryadi Hermanto

Round 8 - Alexander Gozali

Moving on to round 9, I faced Julius Wilson for the second time of the tournament (the pairing was reset in each day, so we could meet the same opponent we've faced a day before). And again he beat me, he got four bingos to one. 519-357 to him. We were reaching the halfway line of the tournament as we started to play round 10 out of 20. I met Christian Oktavius also for the second time. Finally, I got a win over him and stopped his winning streak thanks to my great tiles. I could win bigger if knew the right word instead of making a phoney (illegal word). After playing the first four rounds, we had a lunch break before playing another four rounds.

Round 9 - Julius Wilson

Round 10 - Christian Oktavius

It was a quite good spell after lunch for me, beating the trio, Yuda Eka Prasetia (457-338), Inas Firhan Aziz (451-369) and Ahmad Ramadhan (493-318) to climb to the second place behind Christian Oktavius.
In the last game of the day, I met Christian Oktavius again (the pairing was forced to be reset since there were no possible pairings of two players haven't met before on that day for all participants in Master division ). I failed to close the day with a win in this nail-biting game. Lost the game in the last move where he countered my bingo with another bingo and the final score was 433-566.

Round 11 - Yuda Eka Prasetia

Round 12 - Inas Firhan Aziz

Round 13 - Ahmad Ramadhan

Round 14- Christian Oktavius

After the tournament, we had yet another meal at Pempek Ekspress (we were addicted, yes!). And of course another Pempek Lenggang :D I just couldn't move on from it, extremely delicious! :3. I spent the rest of the night just at mall near the hotel and the hotel room since I was a bit exhausted.

Fourth day
Last day of the competition! The race for National Champion was heated up. 6 more games to play in Indonesia Scrabble Challenge 2014. In the first match of the day, I played Steven Surya for the very first time in this tournament. With Steven was leading for most of the game, I should find a move to turn around things. Actually I did find it, but he blocked my possibly-winning move. I had to surrender a crucial point to him as he won 430-405. In the next round, I met Steven again (the pairing now could repeat) and directly aiming to pull one back. It didn't start well for me, Steven took an early lead ahead of me. Thankfully, I did better this time to turn around the game. I won comfortably by 555-381 score.

Round 15 - Steven Surya

Round 16 - Steven Surya

In round 17, I faced Christian Oktavius and that round was the decider, if I lost then Christian would be crowned as the Champion. Eventually, he did win the game 445-420 as I made a terrible..terrible blunder in the end of the game. Christian had cemented the top spot with three games to spare. So the attention had shifted to the runner-up place with me, Fadlan, Julius and Steven were vying for it. In round 18, I met Fadlan and Julius played against Steven. Had some dreadful combinations of tiles at first, but luckily I could play a string of high moves to snatch a win over Fadlan 401-379.

Round 17 - Christian Oktavius

Round 18 - Fadlan Satria

Round 19, the penultimate game, I still faced Fadlan as well as Julius and Steven. This time, Fadlan beat me well 498-351 and Julius also beat Steven. They both will meet each other in the last round and my chance to be the runner-up was almost impossible. In the last round I played Alexander Gozali, who leapfrogged Steven to the fifth place. With 4 bingos, I ended the tournament with a win 437-366 and sealed the third place (YAY!).

Round 19 - Fadlan Satria

Round 20 - Alexander Gozali

Open division winners

Master division winners

After we finished the tournament and closing ceremony, also packed our souvenirs (re : more pempek!) to be brought back to Jakarta, we took a meal again at Pempek Ekspress (we were about to get drunk with the sauce LOL, kidding). Then, we dropped by to the hotel to pick our luggage and headed straight to the airport to catch our flight back to Jakarta. We all landed safely and would face reality soon HAHA.

Personally, it was a great trip to Palembang, spent four magnificent days there. Thank you so much for all the friends there for your kindness and friendliness. I'm sure I'll miss Palembang (actually I already did).

Here are my personal scorecard in Indonesia Scrabble Challenge 2014 -> Albert Martono in Indonesia Scrabble Challenge 2014.
That concludes my journey in Palembang. Until we meet again, Palembang! :)

PALEMBANG TRIP : THE END

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Palembang Trip : Indonesia Scrabble Challenge 2014 (Part One)

Yes! This is my first trip since I started to write blog. In this post, I'll share my trip and my experience during the trip :D. My trip this time wasn't intended only for holiday purpose, but the main purpose was for joining National Championship of Scrabble in Indonesia. The National Championship is called Indonesia Scrabble Challenge (ISC) and this year is fourth edition, having been organized annually since 2011.

2013 edition of ISC was held in Jakarta, so this year we planned to hold it outside Jakarta. Palembang and the organizer (Universitas Sriwijaya) there were the readiest, therefore we decided to choose Palembang as the 2014's host.

Finally, Palembang as my latest destination trip! I was so excited since it was my first time to go to Palembang. The Indonesia Scrabble Challenge 2014 itself was held on May 24th-26th.

First Day

Woke up in joy because I knew I would go to Palembang, all packed up and ready to go. Took a plane to Palembang and after one-hour flight I arrived at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport Palembang.

The airport there was a decent one and the weather was no different with Jakarta. From the airport, I took TransMusi (bus rapid transit system in Palembang) to the central of the city. Had to transit twice before taking taxi to Palembang Square, where my hotel was nearby there. The taxi driver from B*lido (I guess it's a local taxi service) forced me and my friend to pay IDR 30k as minimum fare he said. We were a bit tired and hungry that time, we just paid for the amount he asked, ignored whatever he said and got out the taxi as soon as possible. How pity he was. Then, I dropped my luggage at the hotel and picked up another friends who were arrived earlier to found something to eat. After roaming around Palembang Square for a while, we hadn't found anything to eat yet and we were starving so bad. We opted Pempek Ekspress as soon as we saw it. First meal in town would be (and should be) its iconic food HAHA. We had a quite troublesome time while ordering, the waitress only used local language I guess. It was quite annoying and more, the Tekwan and Mie Celor - which we chose to order earlier - were sold out. One of my friend even quite disappointed and moved to another restaurant (not in too serious way). I had Model Ikan and Pempek Crispy. The Model Ikan was nice and tender with eggs in it and the soup was tasty. The fried onions here came in big cut, which I like very much, yay!

Pempek Crispy turned out to be one of my favorite, it's almost the same with the one we know as pempek kulit (skin). Its crispiness was perfect and a bit chewy, the spicy vinegar sauce made it so delicious!

After our tummies were satisfied, we went to Wisma Faeyza Syakira, the competition venue to meet the organizer and to oversee and check preparation progress then headed back to the hotel for a quick rest. At night, we took an angkot (public transportation) to Taman Ampera. Love the atmosphere and the ambiance there. From there, I could see the famous Ampera Bridge of Palembang. The view was just breathtaking at night. At the park, there were many hawker foods and beverages to enjoy. I had fried noodles and grilled skewered meatballs.

Next we went back to the hotel to have some rest and to prepare for the competition next day. I had a great and adventurous first day in Palembang :D.

Second Day

Here we go! The first day of the competition! The first round pairing wasn't like I expected, I faced the 2012 Champion, Christian Oktavius already! He got the better of tiles and beat me 511-410. In the second round, I was paired with one of the students from Lampung, Inas Firhan Aziz. My game was balanced, scored pretty well in each turn and I won the game with the final score 507-409.

Round 1 - Christian Oktavius

Round 2 - Inas Firhan Aziz

Third round, just before lunch, I met a Palembang player, who was actually the chairman of this year ISC, Ahmad Ramadhan. I won pretty comfortably 567-332, thanks to my triple-triple AEQUORIN for 199pts, which eventually became the High Word of the tournament. Then we had lunch that had been prepared by the committees. After lunch, it wasn't the result I wanted, I lost twice in a row to top Indonesian players, Julius Wilson and Fadlan Satria, 363-404 and 352-474 respectively.

Round 3 - Ahmad Ramadhan

Round 4 - Julius Wilson

I should go back to winning ways in the last round of the day and I did. I beat Yuda Eka Prasetia with a comfortable score 476-266. 3 wins and 3 losses, clearly it wasn't my best performance and should improve in the next day of competition.

Round 5 - Fadlan Satria

Round 6 - Yuda Eka Prasetia

Playing Scrabble drained our energy a lot, after the competition we directly headed to another Pempek Ekspress (AGAIN!) to have late afternoon meal. This time I tried Pempek Lenggang. At first, I thought it was just like the other ordinary pempek but it was SO YUMMY! I could say it was like a pempek omelette, and of course with the authentic vinegar sauce. You should try this when you visit Palembang (I MISSED IT ALREADY!).

We soon went back to the hotel to rest before took another walk to Palembang Indah Mall. We did nothing in particular, just looking around and searching for dinner. We returned earlier to the hotel because we wanted to watch Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid at midnight. But it turned out we overslept and didn't wake up to watch the final XD.

I'm done with the first part of my Palembang trip *big grin*

TO BE CONTINUED...

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Market & Museum 'Surprise Kitchen' at Grand Indonesia

Hi dearest readers! :)

It's been all about foods at last weekend. Why? It's because an event at Grand Indonesia organized by Market & Museum called Surprise Kitchen. This event was held from 29th May to 1st June 2014 with more than 70 F&B tenants participated. The Exhibition Hall at Level 5 Grand Indonesia was full of amazing and various foods and beverages. A little introduction for Market & Museum, Market & Museum is a thematic market for young entrepreneurs and was voted as 'Best Event 2013' by free! Magazine (from @marketmuseum IG profile description). This Surprise Kitchen event was also coincided with Grand Indonesia's 5th anniversary (HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAND INDO! :D).

I visited this event twice over the weekend and had foods galore! No entry fee for this event (YES, IT WAS FREE!) and I went surrounding the hall like TEN times! The hall was so crowded with people having a look and trying foods & beverages from the tenants. Young and old, with family and friends, all people are there. I believe people were having FUN there with all the foods & beverages.
I tried lots of foods and beverages, and here are the gems that I found from Surprise Kitchen :

Karokun
Placed in the middle of the hall and had bigger stand among the others. After the first lap of sightseeing, Karokun attracted me with their live grilling display. Also I was curious why there was a long queue in front of their stand, so I decided to join the queue. Karokun is a yakitori shop brand (Yakitori is Japanese skewered chicken). After more than 15 minutes of waiting, phew! Finally I got my yakitori. I had Chicken Breast, Chicken Thigh, Chicken Wings and Chicken Skin. Freshly grilled then dipped with soy sauce and added with seaweed, chili, sesame seed seasoning. I should say that my time used for waiting was absolutely worth! These yakitori were delightful and yummy, I love their sauce and seasoning. My favorite was the Chicken Thigh - also most people favorite I guess. The Chicken Thigh was always out of stock and you have to wait it to be grilled! The prices are ranging from IDR 10k-20k per piece. Fair enough though.
Instagram : karokun_id

Milky Way
No no no, it's not that chocolate producer. Milky Way in Surprise Kitchen had flavored premium milk pudding as their product. They had a cute packaging and the components inside hadn't blended yet so it looked like layers. Tried Choco Caramel, the milk and caramel were nice and the chocolate was delightful!
Instagram : milkywaypudding

Puyo Desserts
The famous silky dessert in J-Town! This people's favorite shouldn't be missed. A genuine silkiness in each cup of Puyo is irresistible. With various and colorful flavors, Puyo is fulfilling people's demand for a good premium dessert. Puyo's stand in Surprise Kitchen was always crowded by people. I bought home 4 cups of Puyo with different flavors. The price for each cup is IDR 12.5k. Other than Silky Desserts, Puyo also sold Silky Drinks. Silky Drinks combine milky flavors with the original Puyo. It looks very nice! Kudos to Puyo Desserts for creating such a great dessert! With no doubt, I can declare myself as a fan of Puyo, Puyo People! HAHA =))
Website : puyodesserts.com
Facebook : Puyo Desserts
Twitter : PuyoDesserts
Instagram : puyodesserts

Creamy Comfort
"Where Every Forkful Is A Comfort!" It's the trademark quote from Creamy Comfort. Creamy Comfort has one of the best premium dessert that'll indulge and comfort you. I couldn't stand to see their beautiful stand HAHA. I was so lucky to get their last Smores Pie of the day, one of the owners even suggested me to take it :). Graham cracker crust filled with chocolate nutella and toasted marshmallow creme was undeniably perfect! This pie was a perfect mix of luxury and sweetness. I love the soothing chocolate layer at the bottom. I fall in love with this dessert <3.
Website : creamycomfort.com
Facebook : Creamy Comfort
Twitter : creamycomfort
Instagram : creamycomfort

Fruters
Calling all mango lovers (including me :p), you should try this mango puree by Fruters. One healthy and refreshing fruit drink in Suprise Kitchen. Gedong Gincu mango puree and mixed with jelly and packed in small and big bottle, ready to drink anytime. The flavor was balanced, not too sweet, not too acidic either. The jelly made this mango puree more enjoyable. Love it!
Twitter : fruterss
Instagram : frutersid

Spiky Smooth
I had no interest with this ice cream tenant firstly, but after I saw their menu I changed my mind. Ordered their amazing Sandwich Waffle Ice Cream and I was stunned! Big scoop of Choco Milo ice cream sandwiched with two big chunks of waffle then poured with Toblerone chocolate sauce. It was freezin' good! The Choco Milo ice cream had small bites of Milo inside and the Toblerone sauce wasn't too sweet, just perfect! The waffles were also fresh and smooth. Hooray!
Facebook : Spiky Smooth
Twitter : spikysmooth
Instagram : spikysmooth

Kelasi
People are always creative especially when it comes to food and beverages. Kelasi (Kelapa Isi) is one of the example of creativity. Rather than drinking the boring and old-fashioned coconut from coconut shell, Kelasi transformed it into coconut dessert. Using half of coconut shell as the cup, Kelasi then filled it with coconut ice cream, coconut meat and various toppings! I was amazed with this new way of enjoying coconut. You can pick 'Boat' - coconut ice cream with two default toppings (peanut and sticky rice) or 'Cruise' - coconut ice cream + two default toppings + two extra toppings of your choice. The 'Boat' is IDR 20k and the 'Cruise' is IDR 25k. The coconut ice cream and coconut meat were VERY GOOD! Peanuts and mochi were okay for me, tiny-sized longan was my favorite topping! It matched perfectly with the coconut. One declining point was the sticky rice, the sticky rice was too warm. I expected it to be colder. Overall, this 'Kelapa Isi' was a great refreshing dessert! :D
Twitter : kelasi_ID
Instagram : kelasi_id

It looks like I had too many desserts rather than foods HAHA. It was simply because the desserts were more attractive for me. I did try some foods but the desserts stole my heart during this Surprise Kitchen.

Overall, this 'Surprise Kitchen' event was such a big hit. Great job for Market & Museum for organizing this event and Grand Indonesia for hosting it. This event really satisfied and pampered my tongue with all of great foods and beverages. Looking forward for another great event like this!

*cheers*

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