This time I had a trip to Meru Betiri and Alas Purwo national park with Arya, Dian, Riky, Rinta, Rita, Tiwi, Yana, and Yanti.
Aris from http://www.backpackingindonesia.com/ picked us up at Juanda airport 1.30 am on Friday. We arrived at Jajag in the morning to swicth the ELF car with a Land Rover jeep to go to Meru Betiri national park as our first destination. The places that we visited here were Teluk , green turtle breeding camp at Sukamade beach, and Rajegwesi beach.
The road to the area is awesome. We were passing a rubber plantation, cacao plantation, local people housing, and the forest on our way to Teluk inside the national park. From above, Teluk view is a stunning one that make you want to right away go closer to it.
But we need to do a short trekking first to go there by breaking through the forest. There is a pathway to go down to Teluk that is usually used by fishermen. Still, the plant near the pathway is rather thick. We reached the bay around 3 pm, but we can still feel the heat at that hour. No one else there except us and 3-5 fishermen. Being tired after descending the hill, we just sat on the rocks, had a chat and of course took pictures. The place is very soothing, event though it was still hot on the afternoon. The descending part was nothing compared to the ascending part on our way back to the place where the jeep was parked.
Then, we went to a guesthouse in Sukamade plantation complex, still inside the national park. Seeing a bathroom was a relieving for me since I haven't took a bath from Thursday night until Friday afternoon. February is categorized as rainy season in Indonesia. Nevertheless, the temperature in the national park is still high for us.
At night, we went to Sukamade beach where there is a turtle breeding camp (pic 9). We can also see the turtle lay its eggs on the beach. We were already on the beach at 10 pm waiting for the turtle laying its eggs on the beach. But, we fell a sleep accompanied by the sound of the wave, the sound of the animals inside the forest, the full moon, the stars, the white cloud, the dark sky, the wind and the soft white sand. Aris woke us up at 11 pm as a turtle approach the beach in a very slow motion. Everyone just silently sat watching the turtle digging the sand. Well, not everyone. Some of us were still peacefully sleeping. At the third hole, the turtle is so close to a man sleeping tight in his yellow sleeping bag. The turtle itself didn't seem bother with his presence. However, the turtle didn't lay any eggs that night and decided to go back to the ocean to extent its visa on arrival at the nearest custom :) The custom part is a joke since the turtle can swim from Australian to reach Indonesian islands. The turtle need a visa right?..or may be because it often go back and forth between Indonesia and Australia, the turtle already has a frequent swimmer member (not a frequent flyer. For your information, a turtle can't fly). It was just a great and sweet day to spend!!
Meru Betiri national park still has another more to offer in the morning. We went to Rajegwesi beach . Again, there were only us and the fishermen there. We spent some time there to take picture, see the fishermen, and have a rest in a food stall before continuing our trip to Alas Purwo national park.
Garut? What do I know about the city? I only know the city is famous for its "dodol", a sweet traditional food that I don't like. It turned out that the city has more than that. For example, the city is also famous for its "batik". Mostly the seller sell the batik at their home. When I said this is a home industry, the batik is really sold at a house. But, for people who do not like to shop on holiday, what else can the city offer? This time I went to Garut with my senior colleagus.
Kamojang Crater
The steam from the crater is used as geothermal energy source run by Pertamina, a state owned company that works in oil and gas industry. Some of the wells are also used as tourist attraction. Particularly, I like doing the walking to the craters and wells. The fresh air and the serenity are great. The view to Kamojang crater area is also stunning. I can be so impressed seeing pine and casuarina trees along the way. It is great that both the local people and the oil and gas company that operates here still conserve the trees.
Bagendit Lake
At first, I am not interested seeing the lake. My opinion definitely changed when I was on the bamboo raft in the middle of the lake. Sitting on the bamboo raft and enjoying the lake's view with the mountain as the background was remarkable. The rower offered me to go further to the lotus park in the lake. And it is even more beautiful there. The lotus plant grow there interchangeably with the "eceng gondok" plant. Most people won't interested seeing "eceng gondok" :)
I went there in the morning around 10 am. I thought the lake will be more stunning on the afternoon. The rower also sells fresh fish and shrimp. The lake is not big, but I can see a lot of people depend on it for living. There are rowers, fishermen, street seller, and also a canoe athlete practicing on the lake.
The rower also told me that most of the men from Garut working in Jakarta work as a barber. Some of barbers in Indonesia work under the tree, not inside a shop. Still, you can't call their workplace as a barber tree for replacing a barber shop :)
Cangkuang Temple
On the way to Cangkuang temple, the bus that I and my colleagues used cannot enter the area. So, we continued by "andong/delman", a horse-drawn carriage. The delman driver told us that actually the bus can enter the site. It is only forbidden if the bus carried foreigner. I was surprised because I and my colleagues are not foreigner. But the good thing was we can enjoy having a rice field with its coconut trees view from the delman instead of from behind the bus window.
Then, we need to take a bamboo raft ride to reach the Cangkuang temple. The raft fare here is far more expensive than the fare in Bagendit lake. In Bagendit lake, we only pay Rp30,000, meanwhile in Cangkuang temple we pay Rp60,000-Rp75,000 for a raft. It can be cheaper if your group consist of 25 people, so you can share the fare with other people. But, it'll be too long to wait if there are not many people there. So, we hired the raft privately and paid Rp60,000. The fare applies to and from Cangkuang temple. The temple is a small and simple one, and it becomes smaller if you compared with the visitor numbers.
One of Garut’s bussiness center area in Jl. Ciledug
When I was in one of the business center area in Garut waiting for my senior colleague do the "batik" shopping, I had some interesting scene. Well at first, it is annoying, like:
- The street singers and beggars do approach their "prospective customers" who are about to enter their car. On our case, they hopped in into our bus. I was shocked seeing stranger just got into your private bus just like that. In Jakarta, there are differences between street singers and thugs. The street singers in Jakarta will not do that on private bus. But then, I think because there are different points of view on people's personal space.
- The batik shops here are spreading among the alleys that not everyone knows where the location are. It would be better if the regional government give the batik sellers specific location. It would make the customers easier to find the location with broader option and it would help the sellers increase their sales.
Garut must have a lot of great places to share that I haven't visited yet. My favorite activity on my first visit in Garut is having a bamboo raft trip on Bagendit lake. I used to think that this kind of bamboo raft only available in Yangshuo - China :)
Once upon a time, I read an article on Kompas newspaper about Wayang Orang Bharata performance played in Jakarta. Before, I had seen the show’s pictures at my friend’s, Rita, multiply (ritasan.multiply.com). Being curious, I asked Rita to go there. She said yes, then Rinta and Haris also joined.
The performance played at 20.30. But before watching it, I went to movie theater with my other friends to watch Avatar at 18.30 in Plaza Senayan. Avatarrrr in January?? Yeah, I was very late. I left the movie theater before the movie finished because I had to catch the performance at Senen area.
I was surprised to find that the theater building is almost full (about 80% of its capacity) and the seat is quite comfortable. The performance is played in Javanesse languange. The problem was both Rita and me do not understand the language. The running text above the stage only shows the story summary in each scene. Only Rinta and Haris can understand it.
So, what Rita and I did during this beautiful non-understandable performance? This is what happened when Batak-Japan and Sulawesi-Java descendants growing up in Jakarta watch Wayang Orang that played in Javanese language: we watched it from behind the camera lense. It’s also entertaining. Since I sat on the back, I moved to the front row sitting on the floor. I spend most of the time watching the performance literally from behind the camera lense.
Even though I don’t understand the languange, the performance is entertaining. The other entertaining thing for me is how the ‘ketoprak’ (a traditional food) seller can offer his product inside the theater. At first, it seems annoying since a lot of people order the food. But then, I can smile since I also order it. And it’s relieving to see the seller so busy servicing the buyer. He must had got quite good revenue that night. Never thought of me that I won't feel sleepy at all during the three hour wayang orang performance. Was it due to the performance or the camera? Both!!
I hope the group can always deliver their great performance both to wayang orang and/or photography enthusiasts and more people watch it. Hence the group can maintain the traditional inheritance and support its members’ wealth as well, at least to make their ends meet. Is it too much to hope for?
Wayang Orang Bharata is on http://wobharata.multiply.com/.
In a normal condition, I won't join Badui Dalam trip because the village doesn't have permanent bathroom. But since lately I'm not in a normal condition, I joined the trip. We were off from Outpack's basecamp at Warung Buncit around 10.30pm. There were 10 of us.
We arrived in Ciboleger village in the morning. The village is the last place that can be reached by vehicle. We met Badui Dalam villagers in a canteen which also provides four valuable permanent bathrooms.
It took us around four hours from Ciboleger to Badui Dalam vilage by walking. We can see lake, paddy/corn/else field, villagers working on the field along the trekking path. The view was so calming. It would have given more calming effect if we hadn't been fainting along the way. The tantalizing hills toward Badui Dalam village were challenging. Contradict with my other friends, I'd prefer the ascending than the descending part. The road is slippery and muddy. I also had this kind of road when trekking in Mount Halimun National Park. Same as the national park, I acrossed small river here. After getting refreshed by the cold river water, I was ready to get my feet dirty again due to the mud along the road.
Finally, we arrived at Badui Dalam village where there was no electricity, no furniture inside the house except for cooking appliance, no permanent bathroom only the river, nothing. There are some rules such as can't take pictures, can't use things with chemical content that can polute the river water, can't across the tribe chief's lawn, and else. Badui's people themselves are not allowed to travel by vehicles and their outfits color mostly are black and white. So they travel by foot, even when it takes days to go to a place. But, they have to be back in the village if there's a ceremony. We spend the afternoon by having conversation among us and with the villagers about their customs. The village is fill of nothing, very serene. But somehow that nothing has turned into something for me.
On our way back to Ciboleger village, we got three Badui Dalam's children companion: Narja (11 years), Kasnadi (7 years) and Nadi (3 years). Our way back took around five hours through the hills and river. I think I don't have to explain again about the ascending and descending parts.
Still, I really enjoyed the trekking time since I could have amusing conversation with those children. Amusing here means I spoke in Bahasa while they spoke in Sundanesse and we don't understand each other language. Running on some parts of the road, playing the grass with a stick, crossing the river, getting burn by the sunlight were great moments for me.
It was a great trip. It's too bad that up until now, foreigners are only allowed to enter/stay in the outer side of Badui Dalam village which located six hours by walking from the village.
This trip was organized by http://outpack.multiply.com/.
*All pictures here were taken outside Badui Dalam area.
September had passed without a trip. At first, I was planning for not having any trips until December due to some reasons. But I can't resist the temptation to have another challenging weekend trip out of town again. Beside, I started to get bored spending the weekend on the shopping mall and doing math. Math?? Yeaahh...that's another different story.
So, I joined my friends to go for cliff climbing and vertical caving at Siung cliff and Jomblang cave. The trip leader this time was Joko, Rita's friend who was introduced to me by Berly. Joko enforced us to practice wall climbing at Pasar Festival before the trip day. I only practiced one time and it was terrifyingly fun.
We left Jakarta on friday night by car: Joko, Rita, Rully, Deasy, Tiwi, Ahaw, Diah, Brian, Lucky and MG. Our driver was a great one who could drive in a constant rate no matter the road condition was. I wasn't able to sleep well that night. I was more interested trying to see what the driver saw in front.
We arrived in Yogyakarta in the morning. Having the morning shine while sitting in a car made me sleepy. I fell a sleep on our way from Yogya to Gunung Kidul area. I awake because there was an accident between motorcycles in front of us. Thankfully, no one had serious injury on the accident. We stopped for a moment. Some of us must go to the police office to be questioned about the accident.
Finally we arrived at Siung cliff around noon. I didn't do the climbing. Lucky tried to be a belayer while Minol did the first climbing. I was more interested exploring the beach & cliff and taking pictures. If my other friends scaled up the hill; MG, Rita and I did the otherwise: we went down to the beach through sharp rocks and plants (I didn't know the plants' name). Ery joined us as the afternoon was about to come. I was astonished to see the ocean from above the cliff. This is what I called unpredictable captivating sight. I joined climbing a cliff on the afternoon. This cliff can be scaled up without using ropes. Going up was relatively easy for me. Going down was my main problem. Seeing my pale face above, Tantowi offered ropes to Mr. Robert. But he said "no, she can do this". Arghhhhhh!! I could manage going down only with Mr. Robert's help guiding every step that I made.
We finished the climbing and photo sessions on the afternoon. Ipung, Hendrik, and X joined us. At night, Tantowi obligated all of us to practice SRT (Single Rope Technique) for rappeling and jugging. His voice explaining about something successfully made me fall asleep. It was the first time I slept in a sleeping bag. We're going for vertical caving at Jomblang cave tomorrow morning.
to be continued...
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 :)
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 :)
