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My Profile in Travel Blog SunandStilettos.com

This week I featured in the ABROAD series for the travel blog Sunshine and Stilettos. The blog is powered by Lily Girma, who ditched her career as a lawyer to pursue her photography and travel dreams. What Lily doesn’t know, is that when I was just toying with the idea of quitting my job, her blog served as a strong inspiration. I remember looking at her picture and thinking, “Wow! She did it. I need her bravery.”

Your dreams are limitless. Let them fly. Photo by Diana O’Gilvie

So we have come full circle. Now, because if my decision to live an international life, my story is featured on the blog that spearheaded that same decision.

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Posted by dianao617 on June 1, 2012 in Indonesia Travel, Travel

Photo Wednesday: Charles Town Maroons, Jamaica

30 May

Photo by: Diana O’Gilvie

I visited the Charles Town Maroons in Portland Jamaica to get some culinary background for my film, “The Jamaican Jerk Tour.” The film deals with evolution of Jamaican jerk cuisine from street food to being served in high brow restaurants worldwide. The man above is a Maroon. He gathered some herbs (known locally as pepper elder and fever grass) to show me the eclectic mix of ingredients the Maroons use for their jerk sauce.

As I walked around the Maroon compound, I swelled with pride. Carvings and paintings of African-Jamaican warriors decorated the compound. The Maroons in Jamaica bested the British in many battles for their freedom. They used the thick forests, rivers and mangroves to lure many soldiers in to ambushed attacks. Their history is strong and well respected in Jamaica.

The Maroons have a different language and cuisine from the rest of Jamaica. They are also a closed society. I was very fortunate to be let on the compound as an “outsider” even though I am Jamaican.

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Posted by dianao617 on May 30, 2012 in Jamaica

Tags: Charles Town Maroons, Jamaican cuisine, Jamaican food, Jamaican jerk spice, Jamaican Maroons, Maroons

Taking a Luxury Speedboat from Pulau Seribu

27 May

Me standing outside Marina Ancol in Jakarta.

Sometimes it’s a roll of the dice on what boat you get to Pulau Seribu. You can get an air conditioned boat with leather seats, or you get what I call a refugee boat. No chairs, no air conditioning, only room for sitting is on the floor on top of life vests and prayer blue tarp. No bueno!

Normally getting to Pulau Seribu takes anywhere from two to three hours depending on the island that you’re visiting. For 200,000 Rpi (US $20.00) each way taking a speedboat is now my only option. I’m done with sweating in refugee boats. Done with people stepping over me. Done with people smoking in a boat with only two windows.

Bonus: The speedboat takes 45 glorious minutes.

PT Sea Leader Marina Luxury Yacht

Yacht Interior

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Posted by dianao617 on May 27, 2012 in Asia, Indonesia, Indonesia Travel, Travel

Tags: Gettting to Pulau Seribu, Indonesia, Jakarta, Pulau Seribu

Photo Wednesday: Bogor Smile

22 May

Photo by Diana O’Gilvie

Depending on traffic, Bogor is about an hour or two hours outside of Jakarta. I visited the presidential palace and the Kebun Raya Botanical Gardens. Although we couldn’t get up close to the palace, we could get close to the antelopes on the grounds.

I walked through children’s squeals of delight and laughter when an antelope approached the fence to be fed.These antelopes create a thriving economy catered to visitors. Vendors sell carrots and greens for people to feed the antelopes and donkey carriages take folks for a spin around the palace.

Photo by: Diana O’Gilvie

Photo Wednesday: Kerak Telor in Kota Tua

17 May

Kota Tua is the Old City in Jakarta. The area is bustling with museum visitors, street musicians, dance performances and my favorite, street food. It is here I tried kerak telor. The best way I can describe it is it’s like an omelette with a rice base. I opted for the duck egg instead of chicken because I had never tried duck eggs before. The young man used a coal fire and a thatched straw fan to fan the embers.

The new spices danced unfamiliarily on my tongue. The kerak telor was very dry and crunchy and I realized that the rice was rather sticky thereby giving the eggs much crunch traction. Adorning the omelette was fried shredded coconut, spicy fried shallots and dried shrimp. It was a new foodie experience and I am now a fan of keral telor. It was the perfect snack before I embarked on my museum crawl to the Puppet Museum, Bank of Indonesia Museum and the Textile Museum.