taking a grip in Bali: Aug'09

Some time long before August came...
Doug: Kelimutu lake?
Shinta: ok

Some time near August..
Shinta: I have to cancel Kelimutu.
Doug: ok! no worries.

Some time in August..
Shinta: Kelimutu lake still on?
Doug: nope, only Bali.
Shinta: argggghhh...

Some time still in August..
Shinta: ok! Bali.
Doug: ok!

So here I was almost falling a sleep in Terminal 3 - Cengkareng waiting for the flight to Denpasar. The flight departed at 12 am. It's three hour late and I arrived in Denpasar at 2.30 am. Luckily, Doug already booked a room for me in a hostel at Poppies 2. But, I had to cancel my 1 am appointment in Kuta with Ganesh and Elphi. Yup, they were also in Kuta.

Day 1

I spent the morning walking along Kuta beach and reading in a cafe; hanging out with Geq in Denpasar and Sanur at noon; playing with Didi, Puri, Simone and X (I don't remember his name) at Canggu beach and Silq-Seminyak on the afternoon and at night; and accompanying Chris having her midnight supper in Kuta. What a day!

Day 2

After having 10.30 am breakfast with Doug, I spent the next day reading in the same cafe as yesterday near Kuta beach and walking along Legian... remembering yesterday and smiling. This was the 6th time I visit Bali since 2003. Nevertheless, this was the most unique vacation I have in Bali ever. I met all of my friends above in Bali by accident, except for Doug and Geq. It's amusing, but I needed to get away from Kuta, so I booked a biking trip in Ubud. This was also the first time for me using Lonely Planet book for traveling in Bali. The book brought me to my next trip in Ubud.

Day 3

I was already on Perama bus terminal - Legian at 6 am. After arriving in Ubud, I looked for a place to stay by walking and found Nick's homestay still had one available room. The homestay is not too far from Perama bus terminal. Wayan Kontra from Bali Fun and Action (http://www.balicyclingtour.com) picked me up at 9 am along with two British and two Australian for biking trip. Wayan dropped us in Kintamani to have breakfast. It's a traditional breakfast menu and the others expected me to explain about the menu, because I'm the only local among them. Jeez guys, you had met the wrong local since my food knowledge is very limited. Still, I became their food taster :)

The bikes were already waiting right after we finished our breakfast. I didn't use the helmet because it didn't smell good. Kintamani - Ubud biking trip was a great one. The descending road was a heaven as I can feel the wind as I paddle fast. There were paddy field, orange field, people work on handicrafts, people celebrating independence day...woohoo...independence day? Actually, I shoud have joined..nahh I'm in holiday.

Then my heaven changed a little bit as we entered the rocky road with paddy field next to it. Descending on that kind of road with a bike, suddenly I needed my helmet, but I successfuly fell down. Hmmm only light bruises.....I continued the biking still without the helmet. The Australian fell down also. This time was a more serious fall that cause him serious wound. After biking through the paddy field, the road turned into ascending....arrrrghhh my breakfast this morning was not modified for ascending. I wish I ate all of my breakfast. The trip ended with a very delicious lunch at 2 pm.

My biking trip friends were wonderful. We had interesting conversation about gadgets at wars, cangaroo, snake on the beach, Indonesia's culture, and else during the eating time. At night, I watched a dance performance at Ubud Palace. It was beautiful as usual.

Day 4

I really wanted to go for rafting today on Ayung river, but I had my flight back to Jakarta this afternoon. Shit! I only spent my last day in Ubud by walking along monkey forest road, having a foot reflexiology at Kenko, and having lunch at Bebek Bengil. I was at Bebek Bengil for almost two hours thinking over these past months of my live. This is why I suddenly go to Bali...to find out where I'm going to. Having deciding to go for undesirable point A after considering the whole condition, I was ready to be back in Jakarta with a full spirit no matter what. Then my friend called telling me a good news. The implication of that news was that I don't have to go to point A. What??!? That's wonderful because I don't like point A. But, I was in Bali to make peace with myself in accepting being in point A. By the time I had accepted, I got news that I don't have to be in point A. I should have going for rafting :) After saying good-bye and thanks to Doug in Kuta through sms (well, he'll be also in Jakarta next week), I was on the plane back to Jakarta.

Thank you! Like I wrote before... A unique trip :)

srambled in Singapore: Jul'09

Mostly I will be staying one night in Singapore only for transit. But this time was kind of shocking since I had to stay there for a week and it’s for business. I couldn't even bear staying a night in Singapore since I found the country is dull. According to an article in Bloomberg magazine: “Everything in Singapore is so well organized. Everything is so efficient”. Luckily, Lonely Planet saved me from the threatening dullness and turned it into interesting moment to spend. I had my free hour after 5 pm during the week to wander around.

I wandered around with Asti, my colleague. Then, what did we do? Shopping of course. Well technically, Asti did the shoes shopping while I watched her and other shoppers shopping. I am not against shopping binge like this. Instead, I look at shoppers as heroes who helps supporting the economic growth as long as they don't mainly finance it with debt that far beyond their income. Once you are out from a MRT station, you will instantly be surrounded by a mall or a market.


Besides the stores and malls, we also went to Chinatown. Yes, we can shop also in Chinatown. But, that's not the main goal. We went to Singapore’s Hindu temple, Sri Mariamman Temple, which was built in1827. We stayed there for a while to see a ceremony. I did not know what ceremony it was.

Satisfying taking some pictures and seeing the ceremony, we went to Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. It’s already night and the temple was closed. Hence, we were only able to take pictures from the outside. But even from the outside, the temple looks striking. I wish I could go inside.

We took a break at Chinatown food street. The atmosphere there was great that could ease our tired feet after short roaming along Chinatown. By the way, what exactly the relation between a place atmosphere and my feet condition? It just great. You could find a lot of foodstall along the street. Everyone seems relaxed. On the way back to Chinatown MRT, we passed Chinatown night market where sellers fill in both side of streets with colourful and attractive traditional goods. However, you could find cheaper goods at Mustofa Center. Overall, Chinatown was a great place to wander around. On the left side, you can find a Hindu temple; on the right side you can find a Buddhist temple; and in beetwen it, you can find Chinesse food and night market. Highly recommended to start walking on the afternoon, but you must notice the opening hour of the temples.

We also went to Singapore flyer on courtesy of our colleagues in the morning. I think it will be better if you take it at night when you can see the city’s lights from above. On the other hand by having it at noon, we were able to see places that were explained in the tape.


We closed our journey (I mean our business trip) by watching Singapore Symphony Orchestra playing Postcards from Heaven at Esplanade Concert Hall. It was beautifully played with Lan Shui as the conductor. We sat on the left side balcon in front so we could see the shifting among the violin players, the bass players and other players. I was speachless listening and seeing the orchestra.

Ok, that’s it all. That’s all the activities for a week?!! Well, since this was actually a business trip, we couldn’t go out every night to keep our fitness during the day. But, I had changed my mind. Singapore can be attractive and challenging also. Scrambled in Singapore? The opposite of well organized in a unique way :)

2009: doing thing without thinking first :)

Crazy SO send an email: what about going to Turkey this August?

....will be continued in August then.... :)

...this can be continued in July....

SO and friends have bought jakarta-turkey-moscow-jakarta for September'09...that's how technology advancement can make it very easy for you to choose the next travelling destination. Don't try this at home too often :) I can't join them this time...this time my limited days off restrained my impulsive side. Limited?? I don't have any by September!

2009: Gede-Pangrango National Park

I won’t go out of town in June, but Rita gave me an interesting daytrip offer: to Mount Gede-Pangrango National Park. Besides, I really need this trip to prevent me from suddenly flying to Lombok to join my lunch friends there. Doug also joined us at the last minute. I was confused and rather doubted whether he could manage to come on time or not, since he’s not a morning guy. But he showed up at 6am. Bravoooo Doug, you’ve made it!!! Wait, we had to go back to his boarding house aka ‘kos’ to take his sunglasses..arrrrrghhh he wasn’t fully awake yet.

We’re off at 7am and arrived at Cibodas around 10.30am. At first, the place was too crowded for me, but as we started the trekking at 11am I also started to enjoy the forest quietness. The national park management had made a comfortable pathway from the rocks and woods along the trip to the waterfall, dividing the forest. Hence, I could finally enjoy the forest itself with its bird voices and fresh air (In Mount Halimun-Salak National Park, I concentrated mainly to get rid leeches off from my feet and to avoid getting fall down to the ravine. But one way or another, it’s also an amazing experience). I also love the clear cold water river and got my feet wet there. We had our lunch at noon. My lunch consist of three spoons of white rice, some chocolates and a little piece of bread. I was more exciting to continue trekking than having lunch, while Doug was exciting to continue sleeping :)

Finally, we arrived at Cibeureum, Cidendeng and Cikundul waterfalls. They are beautiful. I enjoyed the fresh water splash on my face when I was standing near the waterfall (I hope my camera got pleasure from it also). As if I have found my new playing park with its slippery rocks and gorgeous waterfalls. I wish it were within reach by transjakarta bus. Our way down was more tranquil than our way up. My favorite time here was when I only sat on the pathway to take a break, looking on the greeneries, hearing and thinking of nothing. It was my relaxing and peaceful moment.

Then we continued walking down to the starting place. As we approach it, I felt really hungry….hot instant noodle in toxic bowl..I’m cominggg! Thankfully, the food stall had ‘soto ayam’ menu for my combined breakfast & lunch that day. During my late lunch session, Rita and kang Ucup were trying to convince me to join them to do vertical caving on the next trip. I hate the part when your whole body covered by mud from the cave. But both those travelling maniacs couldn’t accept my mud reason. Help me so I can stick to my NO answer to them :)

Meanwhile, our way back to Jakarta was horrible due to the traffic jam. At some point, I really wanted to punch someone because of that. But I couldn’t punch the guy sitting on my left side..I didn’t even know his name. I also couldn’t punch Doug, who sat on my right side…he can downgrade me in our other life, if I punch him.

This trip was organized by www.outpack.multiply.com

sunrise and moonset in Dieng and Borobudur: May'09

Dieng

In spite of chaotic preparation one day before the trip, my friends and I successfully flown in to Yogyakarta from Jakarta on Friday night. Ato droved us to Dieng, Wonosobo that night and arrived there at around 2 am. We stayed awake during the four hour ride from Yogyakarta to Wonosobo so Ato could drive in full consciousness. Hence, having to wake up at 4 am to start our journey at Dieng plateau was tremendously grueling. We had a quite short-lived trek on a hill to see the sunrise and the mountains view. The sunrise with its mountains view is picturesque as predicted. However, the predictability of the view had made it less stunning.

What amazed me were the facts on how the local people use the steam from the craters, which are abound here, to generate electricity, get relatively wealthy from harvesting potatoes and other vegetable related plants, and learn English with its Dieng history every once in two weeks for free to prepare themselves as guides for foreign visitors. I am grateful for them to live far above poverty line thanks to the economics benefit from the crops and decent infrastructures. Alas, there is a trade-off for that. The crops have been replacing the forest over the hills. As far as your eyes can see, mostly there are only crops on the hills. It rather contradicted with our guide, Mr. Wow, effort to convince us that his hometown is scenic. His zeal to show Dieng’s beauty to us was mind-blowing, but sometimes it was bothersome when all you wanted was the quietness in front of the scenery. It is a dual view from spending seven hours in Dieng plateau. It might be not comprehensive enough.

Borobudur

5 am and it's time to go for sunrise at Borobudur temple. I bought “visiting Borobudur before 6 am opening hour” trip for about Rp200.000 at Manohara hotel. It's regrettable that the sky was cloudy hence we were not able to see the sunrise clearly. On the other hand, I could take some pictures of Borobudur with its moon-set view. The view of stupas’s shadow iluminated by the moonlight in the dark with trees as the background was stunning. Unfortunately, I only brought a pocket camera that mediocrely capture the dark view or was it because I coudn’t use it optimaly? By circling the upper side of Borobudur, I could look at diiferent views such as mountains, forest, and a big tent. A big tent? Yup, the tent was used to celebrate Vesak day a day before. I only joined in Vesak’s celebration on the afternoon, while my friends also joined at night. Indonesia’s president also joined the celebration at nigt. He stayed at Manohara hotel which located inside Borobudur’s complex, hence the hotel was fully booked. It was great to be able to celebrate certain religion’s holy day without being a member of the religion.

At 6 am, Borobudur’s gate is opened for public with far cheaper entry fee around Rp20,000 compared to the price visitors should pay if they want to get inside before 6 am. You should pay ten times higher to get the tranquil atmosphere at Borobudur temple, but I still think that it’s worth paying. There were already quite a lot of visitors who also want to see the morning view of Borobudur or just want to take pictures among the stupa. The most disturbing thing was the voice from a loud speaker warning the visitors for not climbing the stupas. However, seeing people try to climb the stupas was more irritating :)

We were off from Borobudur around 7 am. An old man showed me a point where I can grab the whole view of Borobudur. He himself makes a living by taking other people’s pictures at Borobudur site. I hope he still have a lot of customer in spite of the increasing usage of digital camera.

I went with Sondang, Dian and Fenti on this trip :)

2009: Ujung Genteng, Sukabumi

Later :)

carried away in Cisangkuy River: Mar'09

I’m afraid of water and can’t swim, still I joined rafting at Cisangkuy river in Pengalengan-Bandung. We went to Bandung at 6 am with most of the participants were from my office. I slept on the bus most of the time, since I just arrived home at 2.15 am.

We went through the 11 km rafting route for two hours from 12 pm to 2 pm. The paddy field view from the river is very beautiful and tranquil. The only voice I could hear is the sound of the flowing water, which hit the rocks and create small and big waves on the river. Wait a second, it’s not the only voice that I heard. I also heard the instructor instruct us to “backpaddle!”, “forwardpaddle!”, “to the left!”, “to the right!”, “boom!”, “watch out for tree branches!”, “splash the water to other boats!”. Well, he didn’t need to instruct the last one. It was exciting and became more exciting when the rain started to fall, a light one. We stopped once to have a couple minutes break, and then continued the journey. Getting use of the river wave, at some point I started to enjoy more on the scenery than to keep my eyes on the rocks in front of us.

Suddenly, I was in the water and didn’t know what had happened with the boat. I just remembered that I have to keep my feet and face upside when someone gets into river. Keeping your feet upside was quite easy. But, keeping your face upside and above the surface were more difficult, especially with the wave hit you and the current rolled you upside down, then introduced your skin to the rocks and your throat to the river water directly – up close and personal. Having a faith that there will be someone from rescue team will pull me out of the water made me keep focusing on safety guidelines. When I still hadn’t seen anyone in front of me, then I tried to focus on the rope offering shout. Then I saw one of the rescue team was pulling someone else out of the water. I grabbed his hand, while his other hand holding that someone else. He told me to stand up, but I still focused on keeping my feet up :) How could I stand then? It was after I changed my focus. He kept holding me until I could stand still on the ground and back on the boat. Guess what, I still had my row with me all that time I was in the water, and then continued the journey back …Yippiee!!!!

Five from six people on my boat, including the instructor, fell into the water. It is funny to tell all the fall off stories. Try this: on another boat, all of the people, exclude the instructor, fell because of bamboo tree branches. Someone actually hang on the branch, but then it broke and he finally joined his friends in the water. Another person on another boat also fell then disappeared from the surface. It turned out he was below the boat :) I don’t know the whole stories from this rafting, but it seems it has inspired some of my friends to join the next rafting trip.

I’m still afraid of water and still can’t swim, but I’m afraid I won’t say no to another rafting offer.

Thanks to my colleagues, non-colleagues and Kawalu. It's awesome!