perennialsteps

around Semarang: Feb'11

selizabeth — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 11:38:00 GMT

Day 1: Semarang, Bandungan, Ambarawa, Salatiga

I jotted down some weekend travel choices on a Tuesday with Lonely Planet Indonesia book besides me. The options were Solo, Togian Islands and Balliem Valey. Of course, Solo was the most sensible option for a weekend excursion. It seems that I have planted in my mind to have an excursion once in a month.

So, I penciled in the schedule to Solo on 26-27 February. And when the day came, I and friends went to Semarang instead. The tentative part was the destination instead of the date. I didn't mind since I never visit both town. I went there with my very reliable travel friend, Rita, and Yana.

We had our dinner in a brief to catch up our 19:30 Sembrani train from Jakarta to Surabaya via Semarang. Getting used to delayed schedule of public transportation here, we didn't get fretful when the train finally departed at 20:00 (6 hours, first class Rp250,000).

The train guards awake everyone with Semarang destination at 02:00. So, you don't have to worry to fall asleep during the trip because the guards have a list of passengers' destination. My friend who grew up in Semarang had advised me to go straight outside Tawangan train station where I could find taxis with fare-meter plying for hire.

We headed to Candi Baru Hotel (Jl. Rinjani 21, 024-8315273, standard room Rp200,000). I chose the hotel because it is relatively cheap as we'll only spend a couple hours there. Also, it seems quaint according to the erstwhile guests as written at triadvisor. The room is quite huge and it has a nice bathroom especially at its price. We arrived there at 02.30 and went to bed peacefully.

(Later, my other friend who had spent some years in Semarang was very surprised when she found out that we stayed in the hotel. It seems that for locals, the hotel is famous for being spooky because it is an old building from the Dutch-colonial era. Well, I was too sleepy to feel anything else when I arrived and too excited to start the journey when I awoke). Our driver during the trip, Harkoso picked us up at 07.00 (Puspa Indah car rental, Rp275,000/12 hours). We started at 07:30 heading to Gedong Songo Hindu Temples (Rp5,000 for local, Rp25,000 for foreigner) in Bandungan area, about one hour from Semarang. Gedong Songo means nine buildings in Javanesse. The temples are spreadingly located on the foothills around Mount Ungaran. I am not a big fans of temples. Instead, I am more interested on the trekking path or the journey on the way to the temples. Some locals offered horse riding to go up to the temples. I felt sorry though that I can't give any contribution to them by renting their horses. But, I'd like to do the trekking.
The view at Gedong Songo Temples area is impressive. At first, there was a bit of disappointment in me seeing two rest areas within the sites. Fortunately, the forest still dominates the area. Hopefully, the regional government will be cannier in deciding further rest area/resort development here as the nature itself is the precious virtue here.

After reaching the third temple above, we had to go down and took the pathway to go up again to be on the fourth temple. There's a ravine belching the sulfur steam in between the third and the fourth temples location.

The fourth temple is my favorite one. It has a unique candle shape on its edges. And the temple is surrounded by a clean broad green field where I can lay down. I was taking a rest on the green field while watching Rita and Yana taking pictures with different kind of styles. Meanwhile, a farmer were collecting trees branch to be used as fuel in his kitchen and some horses were grazing while their riders had snacks. It's very quite there.

A woman in a food stall told and the farmer told us that there is only one more temple above: the ninth temple. We're confused as we only found four temples. Then, we found the ninth temple aka the fifth temple according to the information boards in front of the temple. It turned out the other temples had been damaged. I don't know since when it happened.

At first, I couldn’t believe this is the last temple. So, I thought there must be another route to go to the other temples. If a fisherman looks at the stars to find direction, we looked at the horse filth left by the horses used by the visitors with guides. Rita even took some pictures of the fresh filth (I’m not sure if she’s going to upload it on her multiply page). But, it is the last temple.

On our way down, we found cabbage vegetable plantation which also planted with roses. A farmer seemed busy working at the plantation ignoring us taking pictures of his vegetable plants. Being located in a cool area, the farmer here combined their vegetable plants and rice field with flower plants. There are also pansy here with various colors of flowers: white, red and even orange. We also found not-too-vast rubber plantation. The wind blowing the colorful leaves helped to remove the sweat away from us due to walking on the area.

We spent around two hours inside Gedong Songo temple areas. It is recommended to enjoy every step you’ve made here and the view along the way where economically human activities blended with the nature. I am not sure about the boundaries when human activities will give destructive effects to the preserved nature. I just feel that it is still acceptable here than it is in Dieng. Trees still dominate the area instead of the plantation plants.

As we reached back the entrance area, we saw a lot of people were starting to go to the sites. It was a very good choice to start the day earlier when not many people have come yet. Hence, you are still able to hear the silence above.

Harkoso droved us to a tofu factory: Om Shin tofu. The buyers can see the tofu making process while having the tofu and the soy milk. We found out later that the place is more crowded on Sunday than Saturday. There were not many people when we were there. As far as I remember and taste, it was the first time I drank a glass of soy milk. It is lighter that cow milk.

Having got some extra energy from the tofu and the milk, we continued to Ambarawa train station museum (Rp5,000) that supposed to be Koening Willem I station opened in 1873. We arrived there at 12 pm, while the next Lori Wisata schedule only started at 1 pm. Lori Wisata is a cheaper version (Rp10,000/person) of having one hour Ambarawa train experience compared to the pricey one (>Rp2,000,000/group) which used an antique locomotive to pull the wagon train. We spent the time by seeing the antique locomotives, antique train equipments, antique pictures, antique “prohibited from selling here” sign, etc. It’s a museum, so actually I don’t have to explicitly write that the things here are antique, except for the sign: prohibited from selling here. I categorized it as an antique one since I found some sellers selling snacks, toys, and souvenirs. Nevertheless, they keep their surrounding clean and well-organized. Why not? They are some locals trying to benefit from the tourism industry. It would be better that the museum management gets rid off the sign as it’s not a credible sign. Nevertheless, please do not displace the pushcart men just to make the sign becomes credible.

Finally..1 pm came and we were on the train carriage heading to Toentang station via the housing next to the railways, rice field, highway, and Rawa Pening. Rawa Pening is a lake and one of the travel destinations especially for photographer. It is said that the best time to be there are on sunrise and sunset. We didn’t allocate specific schedule on the lake. So, it’s great to be able seeing it while having the Ambarawa train station experience. It was just rather difficult for me taking the lake’s picture with the train keep moving. Another great thing was when I saw the train conductor had to get off the train to stop the traffic while the train crossing the highway. We finished the trip and arrived back at Ambarawa train station at 2 pm.

Then, we had our late lunch at Kampoeng Kopi Banaran. After the late lunch, we went to the coffee plantation still inside Kampoen Kopi Banaran. The light rain still followed us giving us the great smell of wet land and mist enveloping the mountain’s and the lake’s views. Our guide told us that the coffee beans planted here is Robusta type that can reach 30 years old.

I ended the day by having massages for three hours at Laras Asri resort and Spa – Salatiga (standard room Rp525,000) where we stayed the night. Meanwhile, Rita and Yana chose to wander around Salatiga to find some interesting objects to be photographed. I saw some old buildings on the way to the hotel. But those old buildings are mostly used for military offices/barracks. There’s no way I would take the pictures in front of the military personnel, especially at night!!@%&:^ It sounds worth trying now.

Day 2: Mount Telemoyo, Umbul Sidomukti, Semarang We started our second day at 8 am heading to Mount Telemoyo. It is more like a hill as it is not that hight and it can be reached by a car. It took around 40-50 minutes by car from the foot-mountain to the top. The road is already made from asphalt, but it is a small road which has some part broken. It is understandable that most people going up to Mount Telemoyo prefer using motorcycles than cars.

We didn’t know where the road will end. Is it on the top? And we reached a point. After we took a right, we found some series of towers on the top on the mount. The towers are owned by a telecommunication company, army, and police. We met the guards and had a small talk with them. Once in a week, the guard will be off from the mountain to take some ransom. The rest of the conversation was between the guards and our driver, Mr. Harkoso, in Javanese. It’s too bad that we didn’t speak Javanese.

It was wonderful to see the village from above with the mist covering it. Sometime the wind let us taking a peek of the view below. But then the mist will come again. We even tried to blow the mist off. It was a silly idea. Well, there’s nothing wrong with trying something silly.

On the way down, we saw some couples enjoying the mountain also. Of course they were not hanging around us. They will find their own spot on the edge of the ravine. Dude, I don’t think it’s not that romantic to sit together with your boy/girlfriend on the edge of the ravine in the middle of the forest. I imagined if they had a fight. Hmmmm….I think this is the effect of too much watching Criminal Minds and CSI. We even met a meatball seller using a motorcycle. He surely had found his niche market on the mount. There’s no competitor here. There are no malls, coffee shop, or cinema in a village. So, it’s natural to see the teenagers hanging around in the nature.

On the foothills, we spotted some farmers harvesting the cabbages, tomatoes, and mustards vegetables. One of the farmers even invited us to have a snack with them. We couldn’t stop by too long. It was soothing to see their activities. It was my favorite moment on this trip.

We had a short visit at Umbul Sidomukti. It is a very crowded commercial area. We only spend some minutes here to let the driver taking a rest. I do not recommend this place, except if you can enjoy seeing a lot of people with a lot of styles having their family vacation. There were some teenagers also. But I appreciate more the teenagers whom I met on Mount Telemoyo than at Umbul Sidomukti :)

We stopped by in front of PT. Nissin factory in Ungaran to take some pictures of biscuit canes that we have familiar with since we were still a child. As we were in Semarang, we went to Blenduk church, Tay Kak Sie temple with its admiral Cheng Ho’s ship replica and lumpia foodstall on Gang Lombok.

Hey, it’s Sunday and tomorrow is Monday. We should have our night flight back to Jakarta. So we could be at the office on Monday morning. I love Monday!!! Yay….what a liar!

Pics at http://perennialsteps.blogspot.com/

Morroco - Chefchaouen: Dec'10

selizabeth — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:45:00 GMT

Day 6

I, B and P took the last train (7 pm) from Marrakesh to Fez (first class Dh295). We arrived in Fez at 2 am and waited at the train station until the morning come. We had our bus to go to Chefchaouen at 8 am. I did not feel well to continue the journey to Chefchaouen. While waiting, I was considering the possibility of staying alone at Fez. A comfortable stay at Ibis Hotel which is only a few steps away from the train station teased me. B & P reminded me that I will be alone for two days in Fez in that case. What would I do if I were alone in Fez? Taking a bus and walking around the new part of the city. Then, I can get myself lost in Fez’s medina alone. Nope..it’s not a good idea. Fez’s souk is bigger than Marrakesh. Not having enough guts to wander around Fez by myself, I joined B & P hoping on the morning bus to go to Chefchaouen.

It took four hours by bus from Fez to Chefchaouen (CTM bus Dh70). It was beautiful four hours. I felt refresh by the time I saw the green view along the journey. In the southern Morocco, I can see the cattle grazing in between the rocks. Meanwhile, in the northern of Morocco, the cattle are grazing in the middle of vast hilly green field. It instantly made me regret why not I spared more time in Chefchaouen. Next to me on the bus was a young Moroccan woman. As usual, I would prefer spending the time in silence than having a conversation along the journey. It was only when she offered me a biscuit we started to have a short conversation. She was a university student majoring in Biology. She came to Chefchaouen for a few days to do a research. Cool!

The bus driver dropped us at Chefchaouen bus station at noon. We took a petit taxi that dropped us on the wrong address. The local people explained that there is a possibility the taxi driver is illiterate so he actually did not know the address that we have shown to him. It’s a nice thought. We took another taxi and this time he dropped us on in front of the correct place: Aline hostel (Av. Sidi Ahmed el Uafi 2, Dh80). It was a three-story guest house. The family live in the first floor, the guests are in the second floor, meanwhile the third floor is for a kitchen and used for the hanging clothes. The guest house has two clean bathrooms and three rooms. Each room can be filled in by six people. It’s a small room. Thankfully at that time, we can have a room only for three of us.

We spend the rest of the day by having our lunch at a rooftop restaurant, strolling along the medina around Plaza Uta el-Hammam, taking a look on the kasbah, having dinner at Aladdin restaurant, stopping by at Mustafa’s small souvenir store.

Then, we had our lunch accompanied by a bee that made me and B freaking out. A man said that it is ok, the bee is only interested on the smell of the mint leaves inside our tea cup. After a while in Chefchaouen, I have noticed that the Moroccan does not afraid of the bee as Indonesian does. In a market, someone sell a bunch of mint leaves ignoring some bees flying around the leaves. Whether the Moroccan bees do not sting human? The view from the rooftop is a great one. The foot hill is enveloped by the colorful houses, mostly dominated by blue and white.

As we had finished our lunch, we went through the medina going up to the hill direction. I read that the local inside the medina does not like his/her picture taken. Some people step aside when we took a picture of a building. I was trying my best not to enter their personal space. A girl stopped walking when my friends and I taking pictures near her house. We let her passing first without us taking any pictures. I don’t know whether it is good or not to have your way of live becomes tourists’/travelers’ attraction…as long as each person respects the other. On the contrary, some teenagers were asking us to take their pictures. Houses inside the medina in Chefchaouen were painted marvelously with the blue and white color. Those are simple colors that become imaginatively beautiful. They’ve made their daily life become art. Inside the alley, we can find a shop gallery selling paintings. If I were a trader, I would have a big grin on my face seeing the relatively cheap paintings and handmade handicrafts there. It’s too bad that I am not. I have a big grin to see such beauty in front of me. I am only remembering and writing it on my blog.

When the afternoon about to come, we decided to go back down way as it became endless hiking inside the medina. As we were back on Plaza Uta el-Hammam, we took a look on a Kasbah (Dh10) and went up inside the fortress. From above the fortress, we could see the houses covering the foot hill on one side and the streets with the green field on the other side. The afternoon sun trying to compete the wind in giving its warmth and chill to us. It must be great to see the sunset from the fortress. But the wind won the competition against the sun. It’s too chilly for us to stay there until the sun down. So, we went down the stairs and went inside a museum, still in the Kasbah. The museum is filled by the traditional clothes inside glass cabinets. I was more interested with the architecture of the museum itself. The stairs with its tall ceiling allure you to be explored and photographed.

Then P recommended us to have the dinner at Aladdin restaurant. It was a great choice inside the medina. Before we entered the restaurant, someone on the corner of the alley smiled and said to us to keep in silent. What’s up? They were filming something inside there. Aladin restaurant is furnished with middle-east decorative style. It was so comfort that we spend quite a long time there. I had a delicious kebab and a glass of Moroccan tea.

On our way back to the hostel, we stopped by at a souvenir store owned by Mustafa. He is a friendly one who has a motto like this: “I have a friendly price to my friend”. So I ask him whether we can be his best friend so we can get a best friend’s price. He’s not too pushy in offering his wares. Well generally, the sellers in Morocco are not aggressive which is nice to be encounter with. I and friends bought some things from his little store. The shocking thing (in a positive way) was that then Mustafa gave us each a Fatima hand keychain for luck. I figured out that he gave us the keychain as he was lucky enough to meet us whom did not bargain a lot. Still, if he wasn’t kind, he did not have to do that. Hail the sellers in Morocco…keep being not too pushy. On the other side, damn…the price can be lower than this.

Day 7

It was our last day in Chefchaouen. I want to spend more time here. Still, we failed to awake early in the morning to start the day earlier. We had our breakfast on the rooftop: bread, strawberry jam and Moroccan tea. We went to Mustafa’s store again as we had an appointment with his friend, Shihab, to make a henna (Dh50). This time, Mustafa welcomed us with Moroccan tea. I was surprised enough last night when he gave us the keychain and now he also provided us with the tea? What kind of seller is he? P explained that according to an article, Moroccan sellers will be very polite and friendly when they feel comfortable with their customers. Shihab painted our hands with natural ingredient. While she was painting our hands, there were some customers stop by. We met nine travelers from Malaysia who just arrived to Morocco from Portuguese. It was nice to meet some people from your neighboring country.

We went back to Aladdin restaurant to have lunch. After having our lunch, we took some pictures outside the restaurant. A man on the corner of the alley smiling at us and asking where we come from. He invited us to visit his restaurant where it was used for filming the other day. It’s a new restaurant that he does not put any sign in front of it that indicates it is a restaurant. The decoration inside there is great, but it still gives the spacious feel of the place. The owner explained that most of his guests come from the hotel. It’s too bad that we already had our lunch and we were having our bus leaving from Chefchaouen at 3 pm.

We were having a bus schedule at 3 pm to Fez (CTM bus, Dh70)? Great!! We hurried went to the bus station. We arrived there on time. But being on time is not enough. You have to arrive at the bus station at least 15 minutes before the bus departs. The bus conductor scolded us. Thanks God, we do not understand his language. It’s Chefchaouen fault being too interesting to be left behind so early.

We arrived in Fez at 7 pm. I and B joined P to wait until midnight in Dar Fez Medina, a hotel where P stayed in Fez. Yup, I and B were going to Casablanca to have our flight to Jakarta tomorrow, while P was going to spend two more days in Fez before going back to London.

So, we were at Fez train station again to take a night train to Casa Voyageur, Casablanca (first class, Dh165). We had bought the train ticket two days ago and did not check the time of the departure properly. B wondered why there is no train schedule on the board that match with the time written on our ticket. It turned out that ticket seller gave us 12.50 pm ticket instead of 12.50 am as I asked. I should have asked him the train ticket to Casablanca at 12.50 at night instead of 12.50 am. We were worried we cannot arrive on time in Casablanca to catch up our flight back to Jakarta. Thankfully, the chief of the train station was there. He changed the schedule on our ticket to the nearest schedule. It is great that the train ticket booth here is open for 24 hours with the chief stand by at his office.

We arrived in Casablanca in the morning and having our flight back at noon to Jakarta via Dubai.

I was having a great holiday with fabulous B & P. It was wonderful to explore Morocco from its south to north part and met interesting people along the way. Still, I was impressed by the infrastructure the Moroccan have here: the road, the electricity, the transportation (the bus and the train are well maintained and leave on time), the accommodation. Something that tourism in Indonesia still lack of for most of its region. Each place has its own beauty and uniqueness.

pics at http://perennialsteps.blogspot.com/

Morocco - Sahara Trip: Dec'10

selizabeth — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 01:06:00 GMT

Day 3: Marrakesh-Tizi n'Tichka-Ait Benhaddou-Ourzazate-Zagora-M'Hamid

It was still dark in Marrakesh at 6.30 am during this time. And I smiled because if I were in Jakarta by that time, I would have been already at the office or Starbucks, Skyline branch. It was Monday! Our Sahara trip was started from Marrakesh at around 7.30 am with Abdel and Abdou from http://www.saharaservices.info/ as our guide for the 3 day trip. We spent our first day on the road for 9 hours.

People were starting to go to work as we headed out of Marrakesh. We passed by a park where usually uses as a place for pre-wedding photo session. The buildings are getting lesser as we got closer to High Atlas Mountains. The straight roads become sinuous like a snake walking on the sand dunes. The rocky mountains, and sometimes pine trees, accompanied us as we went along the edge. I wondered whether any slides ever happened, how the lane looks like at night, etc. Nevertheless, those questions never came up from my mouth as I’d prefer to just take pleasure in absorbing the scenic scenery with my eyes. At some parts of the mountains, Berber mud brick houses were built. With its shadow, the clouds above gave another color of light black on the surface of the mountains.

We had a stop at Tizi n’Tichka pass where we could see the winding road ascending and descending...tasting a bit parts of the immense mountain range. The green colors from the trees show up as spots among the rocks. The chill wind that wafted out through the open window when we were inside the car now could freely cover us with its breeze as we were standing outside seeing the glaring view below. There are some rocks-made handcraft sellers at the stop. Amazingly, they did not bother the visitors with being too pushy in offering their products. Abdel explained to us that The Atlas Mountains comprises of three parts: High Atlas, Middle Atlas and Low Atlas areas.

We continued our journey to Ait Benhaddou, a UNESCO-protected red mud brick kasbah, that stood up gracefully. Some Hollywood films took their scene in Ait Benhaddou. We took some pictures of the kasbah from a hill. Kasbah itself means a castle/palace or the older section of a city. On our way to the hill, Abdel took the car out of the main lane. It was great to be on the bumpy road due to the nature contour (compared to be on the bumpy road due to pothole on the asphalt road). The combination of the green trees and grass, the brown land, the red kasbah, the blue sky and the white cloud were miraculous. We could also see from far away the peak of the High Atlas Mountain with its snow.

There were two women below us with their donkey carrying things walking along the field. For donkey aficionados, there are a lot of donkeys here using to carry things and people. It’s too bad that we didn’t explore more on Ait Benhaddou. Well, we should have spent more time in Morocco then. Meanwhile on the steep hill, the sheep peacefully had the grass that grows between the rocks as their lunch.

What about our lunch? We had our lunch at Agdz Café Restaurant after passing Ourzazate that welcomed its guest by palm trees on both side along Avenue Mohammed V (Most of the cities we visited in Morocco have the street with this name: Avenue Mohammed V). There are some film studios also. The kasbah with rocks mountains and sands seem really suit for filmmakers that needed a medieval era or Middle-East background. It does not mean the life there look like both the aforementioned background samples. Abdou bought a bag of nuts and dates and shared it with us. It was the most delicious nuts and dates I ever ate. He knew which one is the good one or I was just too hungry. Nooo, it’s for the first reason.

Back to the lunch, Agdz Café Restaurant is located in Agdz (guessing from the restaurant’s name), a city in between Ourzazate and Zagora. Moroccan seems to always have the bread that rather difficult to chew as the appetizer (It’s a different kind of bread as in Indonesia). We had big pieces of chicken roasted on skewer with the fried potatoes. Even though the meal were mouth-watering, we could not have it all due to its big portion compared to our normal portion standard. When it came to the drink, I had misunderstood it. I forgot that café in French means coffee. So I ordered café du chocolat as I was more focus on the chocolat. There were four groups in the restaurant that time. The classic difference between most of Asian and Caucasian guests is the Asian prefer to sit under the shadow avoiding the sunshine, while the Caucasian sit at the position looking for the sunshine.

There are a lot of palm trees in Agdz. But I don’t think the palms are the one that produce the crude palm oil (CPO). Malaysia and Indonesia, as the main producers of CPO, face environmental issues as the palm oil trees area was replacing the forest area. Meanwhile, there is no forest on this part of Morocco. Hence, my simple thought think that why they do not plant palm oil trees as there’s no way they will face environmental issues. Abdel did not familiar with the term crude palm oil. Meanwhile my simple thought is too lazy to search more on this. For instance, in what condition the palm oil that produces CPO can grow, or may be the palm trees in Morocco indeed produce CPO even if it were in insignificant amount. The thought can make me search more on Morocco’s GDP and what comprises it. I had even looked for its GDP per capita (I will add Economics as my interest on my Facebook account besides traveling after I wrote this). Let it become the mystery of the palm trees.

In between Agdz and Zagora, we had a stop at Draa Valey. The view there is soothing as the river that reflecting the bright blue color from the sky divides the sand fields. The Atlas Mountains elegantly guard the green valley. It was a beautiful sunny day with the wind and the sight cooled anyone’s mind off. It was one of my favorite moments in Morocco: sitting silently on the rocks while enjoying the Draa Valey. Even the river does not have any sound. It’s a very quiet river. Well, the silent sometimes was interrupted by a car passing-by the road. Not only the car passed by the road, but also the donkey-drawn cart with the locals passed by the road. But the later one passed by in silent. Viewing and hearing the silence of the donkey and the soundless river made me feel very reluctant to leave when Abdel asked us to be back into the car. While we were sitting on the valley, Abdou told us about the Moroccan custom when Idul Fitri and Idul Adha come. It’s basically the same with the celebration in Indonesia. The food is the difference.

I might fall asleep on our way to Zagora. All I knew, Abdel stopped the car in front of a sacred sign: Tombouctou 52 Jours (Timbuktu 52 days). It is sacred according to Donald Duck’s enthusiast. Timbuktu is a place where Donald Duck, the most handsome duck ever, runs away whenever he’s got into troubled. Nahh…Timbuktu is in Mali. After taking picture of the sign, Abdel took the opposite route from the Timbuktu way. Ohhh, I thought we were heading to Timbuktu :) Yeahhhh…in your wildest dream. There are lines of palm trees along both side of the route covering it with its shade.

Afterward, the side of the road turned into sand dunes. In a rare occasion, we met other cars in passing on the street. We reached M’Hamid, a 40 km away from Algeria border, on the afternoon and stayed a night at Hotel Kasbah Sahara Services (300m on right after M’Hamid entry). It was a comfortable and a unique one made from red mud-brick. The hotel has rooms with en-suite bathroom and rooms with separate bathroom on the courtyard. Moroccan men seem to have the custom to kiss each other cheek for someone whom they do not meet regularly in short period (the word short is a relative time measurement).

We were having our dinner at 8.30 pm: bread as the appetizer, Moroccan chicken as the main course (I forgot the name of the meal. It’s a chicken with Moroccan mixed spices, not only Moroccan born chicken), and fruits as the dessert. The meal are delicious and the staffs are very friendly. There was a man who always asks whether the food is good or not. Nahh, it is a great one. They even have wine that I had to skip. My previous alcohol drinking was caused mostly by boredom. Meanwhile, bored was the non-existence feeling for me while I had my holiday in Morocco so far. While we were having our dinner, other guests just arrived: four Germans. I only had a conversation with them on the next morning. One of them had been spending a month in Padang, Indonesia several years ago. He even still remembers some words such as terima kasih, selamat malam, etc. Finishing the dinner, I and B spend a little while in front of the hotel. It’s so dark there with the sky full of the stars. My stomach was full as well. But I didn’t feel good about it. A good sleep might heal it. I had a very peaceful sleep that night with the temperature inside the room was warm enough.

Day 4: M’Hamid-Erg Chegaga

After having the breakfast in the morning, I was successfully throwing up my dinner and breakfast at the same time. Not all great food can make peace with my stomach. It’s a little bit sensitive to some cooking spices (I don’t know which one). Even with empty stomach, I still joined the camel riding from 9 to 12 am. At first, I felt terrified seeing how tall the camel is. I still remember the horror of riding a horse on the way up to Mount Bromo. I didn’t have guts to be on the horse again when I descended Mount Bromo at that time. The camel experience was somewhat different with the horse one given the dissimilarity of the landscape between mountain and desert. Besides, the camel is cuter than the horse.

Farhon, a 21 year old, became our camel riding guide. He speaks a little bit English, mixed by French. At a point, he had a stop and asked us to come down from the camel. Actually, he asked the camel to sit down. After tying the camel, he walked for a while and stretched out on his back just like that on the sand dunes. I confused what the hell is he doing? We just followed him and sitting on the sand dunes. The sand is cool even though the sun shines brightly. It was lovely to hear almost nothing. I heard the sound of birds since there are some trees on sand dunes with birds stopping by on it. We had not entered deeper into the sand dunes, but it already seemed as a border-less area.

We arrived back at the hotel around 12 am and I was very hungry due to the vomit part earlier. But the lunch was served at 12.30 pm. Then we just sat on the back terrace of the hotel. We met a French man who speaks English in somehow American accent. It’s a precious moment to have a conversation in English with unknown people (Usually I will have it in a mixed of French, English and body language). He told us about his journey and his next journey to Kenya in January. He also said that he met two Australian in the morning. After a while, he went to arrange things with the travel agent.

During our lunch, we met the other guests: three Canadian and a Moroccan with a wonderful little girl: Anissa. One of them seemed so surprised to meet Indonesians in Morocco. L’Indonesie!!! as she exclaimed with a big smile. The good news at lunch time: my stomach had made peace with the meal: Moroccan salad, roasted chicken with the fried potatoes and orange with some spice (ok, I got rid off the spice from the orange). Now it’s complete: a delicious and peaceful meal :) We would meet the German, the Canadian, the Moroccan, and the Australian in Erg-Chegaga on the afternoon.

I and B zoomed off to Erg-Chegaga with Abdel, Abdou and Brahim. The first bumpy road we had on the way to Ait Benhaddou is nothing compared to the bumpy road on the sand dunes on the way to Erg-Chegaga. Moving fast by a 4WD on uneven sand dunes and got bouncing were an incredible one. Not to mention the stunning landscape view surrounding us and the soft sand flew inside the car. There are some permanent tend with its dwell when we were heading to our base camp.

Finally we arrived. As Abdel parked the car, I just got out, put my backpack inside the tent and wandered around the sand dunes. It was out of my expectation in a positive way. I never thought of doing hiking on sand dunes. But, we did hiking and sliding on our way down. I never hike sand dunes before. It gave different feel on your feet compared to hike a hill or mountain. Climbing, descending, climbing, and descending and so on along the edge of the hill made of sands. In the desert, I’d prefer the descending part as I could just do sliding on the sand dunes. And the soft sand will fill in the shoes for sure. I would just sit serenely on the sand when I got tired and took a look at the magnificent scenery. This time no sounds heard. Some people asked me: what can you do in the desert? Nothing… It is the greatness of doing nothing.

We met the Germans on their way back to the tent. When the dark about to embrace the sky, it was only me, B and two Australians whom once told by the French man left on the sand dune. The Australians were on the other side of sand dune peak. The sun gave the sand dunes gold effect at noon, meanwhile at night it is the shine of the moon turned to gave the sand dunes light gold effect color. The shimmering sand dunes with it mountainous contour, the moon and the stars embedded on the dark sky covered me with an astonishment.

Unfortunately, the astonishment have blurred my sense of direction at night: I was not able to point the exact direction to our tent. Neither did B. Aka we were successfully lost. I was looking at the Australian because from the way they walked confidently, it appeared that they knew about the direction better than me (It’s dark enough that I couldn’t even see other people face). So, we teamed up with them. It just then we had different opinion. I and B insisted to go the right side as we saw a light on that side, meanwhile they insisted to go the left side. So we split up. However, on our way to the right side, we were not able to locate the light again. For me, it would be better to get lost in the desert with three other people than with only one other people. So, I and B went back to the place where we decided to go on our way. We met them also at that point. So we tried to track our back together and found an empty base camp. We went to the right side and found our tent with Abdel, Abdou, the Germans, the Canadians, and the Moroccan having a conversation on the tent terrace.

The advantage of getting lost that night: I could see and feel the beauty the sand dunes at night in a complete loneliness. Erg-Chegaga is utterly a gorgeous borderless area as if I were on the ocean without the sea sick effect. The dim light from the moon lit our way back. It appeased the panic feeling of getting lost. Actually, we were not too far from the tent :p We just can't see it :)

I joined the conversation with the others at night, while waiting for the dinner. It’s weird though. We made a circle, but we did the talk using each native languange French and Germany. We?? I did not speak as B stayed in the tent....I didn't have counterpart to speak in Bahasa or English. I just tried to understand the French conversation group. If we spoke in the same languange, I believe it would be a better one, at least for me. I had great conversation from a mixed of nationalities in Ubud, Bali: British, Australian and Indonesian. It was great since everyone speaks in English and we shared some stories from each country. It is a different rule in Morocco, so I have to adjust.

I had a superb dinner as every meal is a new thing for me: the moroccan soup and tagine. After finishing the dinner, almost everyone joined the campfire and listened to Brahim and friends playing/singing Moroccan traditional music. I went into the tent earlier and wished they will play the music until I fell asleep. They did :)

Day 5: Erg Chegaga-Foum Zguid-Taznakht–Tisselday-Marrakech

I and B got up earlier in the morning. As the base camp was almost in complete darkness, I could see the sky covered by the bright stars and moon. The breeze wind hindered me to enjoy it longer outside the tent. The moon slowly began to fade and replaced by the sun. Sunrise time. It’s wonderful to see and sense the competition between the warmth from the morning sun and the chill from the wind.

We were the first group leaving Erg-Chegaga as I and B had our train schedule to Fez at 7 pm from Marrakesh. Abdel didn’t take the same route as we headed to Erg-Chegaga. He took the old Paris-Dakar road. The road is not as bouncing as the our way to Erg-Chegaga, but a 4WD can speed up here. I didn’t see Abdel or Abdou bring a GPS, but they know when to turn to right, left or take a straight. Amazed by the way they know the desert well didn’t mean I missed to see a group of camels and sheep strolling over the mountains. Camel as a herd is a new sight for me.

There are several police checkpoint as we entered Foum Zguid and some cities (I also saw police checkpoint on our way to M’Hamid) with a banned sign and Gendarmerie Royale written on it on the right side of the street. The car will stop until a police officer standing a couple meters from the sign gives an indication to the car to move on. The police usually checks the papers. But, they never stopped us on our way. We made a stop at Taznakht, but I and B did not out of the car. Something that I regrets as it is a very small town that must be interesting to see even in a flash. At the outside part of town, I noticed a cemetery complex with gravestone made by a not rectangular stone as in cemetery complex that I used to see. The view along the way turned from palm trees to rocky mountains. There are a lot of rocks and I fell a sleep. It just like counting the sheep as suggested by some story books to make you fall asleep. I didn’t have to count the rocks though :p

As I open my eyes, we arrived in Tisselday and had our lunch at Irocha (http://www.irocha.com/). We were greeted by the swimming pool (The owner greeted us after the swimming pool did :)). It is a stunning hotel above the hill owned by Catherine and Ahmed who are very friendly. I wish I could speak in fluent French. I watched the children below playing, quarreling, talking to each other. It seemed they were hanging out near their school after the school hour. The environment there are very tranquil even with those children voices. We had a delectable Irocha pizza as the lunch. The restaurant supposes to open only for the hotel guests. Abdou taught us to say: merci beaucoup pour votre hospitalite.

We arrived in Marrakesh at 5 pm. The city life back on track again :( Abdel and Abdou dropped us at the train station as we will meet P there. Yup, she had arrived from London at noon to join me and B. We had our next trip to Chefchaouen via Fez using the train and the bus. It was a very great time we spend with http://www.saharaservices.info/. Thanks a lot!

*Pictures at http://perennialsteps.blogspot.com/2011/01/morocco-sahara-trip-dec10_03.html

Morocco - Casablanca & Marrakesh: Dec'10

selizabeth — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:01:00 GMT

Having a 15 hour flight from Casablanca to Jakarta (via Dubai), I do not have anything else to do besides listening to the music and waiting for Emirates’ flight attendants giving me something edible. I am too excited to end the eight day holiday without leaving any note about how I and friends taste a little bit of Casablanca, Marrakesh, Erg-Chigaga (Erg = sand dune), Chefchaouen and the journey in between those places. So, here is the journey with the great help from Lonely Planet: Morocco.

Day 1: Casablanca

I and B arrived at Mohammed V International Airport, Casablanca at noon. We went to downtown by a train (take the exit of terminal 1 down stair to find the train station, 35 minutes from the airport to Casa Voyageur train station, second class, Dh40). Before we were on board, we asked one of the officers at the airport train station about our ticket. The officer eagerly accompanied us to our railway coach and even helped me with my backpack. I was touched until he asked us Dh20 for his forcing services. Still, we gave the money after questioning him about it. The experience made us more careful when we were going to ask someone for direction or anything even though he wears uniform. I saw the man later on when we were in Mohammed V International Airport, Casablanca on the way back to Jakarta. He does offer this kind of helping service to any tourist who just arrives in Casablanca and wants to take a train. Meanwhile, the other officers in the airport are very helpful. Only that one :)

As we got to Casa Voyageur train station, the first thing we do was buying train ticket for the next morning to Marrakesh, then taking a petit (small) taxi to Galia Hotel (galia_19@hotmail.fr; 19 Rue Ibn Batouta; Dh) near central market (Dh50 for the petit taxi is too high compared to the normal fare). The room in the hotel is lovely enough as it provides a bolster. It’s the first time I ever found a hotel providing bolster. When the receptionist knew that we are from Indonesia, he instantly asked us whether we are Moslem or not (Indonesia is a country with the biggest Moslem population in the world). But, we are not Moslem. Then the receptionist said it’s OK. I think he will be more excited if we were Moslem. We had this kind of question along the way in Morocco when the locals found out where we come from. But, I do not mind about it.

From the hotel, we were off to Hassan II Mosque located by the side of Atlantic Ocean by a petit taxi (Dh12). Non-Moslem visitor can get inside the mosque with a guide. However by the time we arrived there at around 3 pm, the guide service already close (It is ended at 2 pm). Hence, we only strolled around the mosque. There were still a lot of visitors there taking pictures of the mosques. Among them, I recognized two Emirates’ flight attendants and two passengers on our flight this morning. I said hi to the flight attendants and they were very surprised to see me there. Not only the tourists were on the mosque’ yard, but also the locals with their little children running around and hitting anyone who does not watch the path in front. A group of teenage girls greeted us with their first question: do you speak in English? Yes, we do. Moroccan speaks in Arab and French (plus Berber and Spanish). Then, they asked us to take pictures together while asking us about where we are come from, have you tried Couscous, etc and teaching us some words in Arabic. I did not understand some of their questions but just keep smiling :) I had the same experience with some teenagers in Nepal. It’s funny and great though.

After saying good bye to the teenagers, I sat on the top of the wall separating the path to the mosque and the beach. A woman with her two daughters opened a conversation with us with questions such as where you come from, where you stay, etc with her broken English. She told us about her Indonesian acquaintance; meanwhile her little daughter offered us her candy. From my reading, it is not polite if I reject her offer. So, I tried the candy that taste way too sweet for me. She laughed seeing my expression after tasting her candy. After a while, the little daughter lost her milk teeth. I was amazed that both her and her mother took the moment lightly. I mean, she lost her teeth and had blood in her mouth, but she was just smiling. Great girl! We had to end the conversation because we had not had our lunch yet and it was already afternoon.

Hassan II Mosque with its wind from the sea is magnificent. Strolling along its yard and sitting on the top of the wall facing the ocean are relieving. But, the hospitality of the locals that impressed me much.

We took a walk from Hassan II Mosque to Rick’s Café. But the café opens after 6.30 pm for dinner time; in the meantime we were already in front of the café at 4.30 pm. We sat in front of the café’s door and watched the street. We noticed that the passenger of petit taxi also share with other passengers. I thought only the grand taxi passengers share their ride. We do not how the taxi sharing works, but we tried it. However we found an empty taxi (empty taxi = without a passenger, still with a driver) to go to Brasserie La Bavaroise near the central market. Again, the place opens after 8.30 pm. We were too early to go to these comfy restaurants. Before the door keeper answered our question about the restaurant working hour, he asked first where we come from. He guessed we were from Japan :)

We sauntered around Central Market and found a fast food restaurant. We had a huge cheese burger with mint tea (Moroccan tea) here. No Moroccan traditional food? No, not yet. The cook said regards for Jakarta as he knew that we are Indonesian. It was still 7 pm in Casablanca but we were sleepy already because it was already 2 am in Jakarta. What a great jet lag!!! Hence, we did not do our plan to go for walking tour that has been described in Lonely Planet L The only site I saw from the walking tour was Hotel Lincoln. Hotel Lincoln’s grandiose ruin for exactly.

I slept as if I were at home and awoke early in the morning to catch the train to Marrakesh at 6.50 am (3 hours from Casa Voyageur train station to Marrakesh, first class, Dh140). We took a grand taxi to go to Casa Voyageur train station without other passengers (Dh22). The hotel receptionist watched us until we got a taxi.

Day 2: Marrakesh

We reached Marrakesh train station at 10 am. It is a bigger one that Casa Voyageur: two-stories train station with McDonalds, KFC, minimarket, banks, etc. We hit McDonalds for our breakfast. In front of the train station, a man offering us his taxi to go to Riad (guest house) Julia (www.riadjulia.com; 14 Derb el Halfaoui; Bab Doukkala; Ph. 024-376022; Eur60). The man asked us Dh50 from the train station to Riad Julia, and then it went down to Dh30. I knew it was still too expensive, but we took it. By the way, it seems that Dh50 is the magic spell for a little bit dishonest taxi drivers. It turned out that he do not have a taxi, only a regular car. Amazingly, we still took it. He drove us and dropped us at a place. Sucks, it was not the place we were heading to. I had the map on me; still I did not question him because I was enjoying everything new around me along the journey.

The fake taxi driver dropped us near Koutoubia mosque area. I was both upset and touched at the same time. I was upset mostly because the fake taxi driver made me walk to Riad Julia carrying my 4.4 kg backpack (too shocked to take a taxi again). It’s a very light one compared to the other backpack. However, I have my right arm injured due to my last rafting trip. My doctor already forbids me carrying anything heavy. 4.4 kg backpack includes anything heavy. 10-15 minute walk with the burden tortured me. Gone is the healing effect of those unfinished physiotherapy sessions. I was touched because people along the street helped us showing the way, including people who were busy offering Riads and thankfully the surrounding is all a new thing for me. It is worth for the pain.

Riad Julia is inside the alleys. Some reading told us that it will be difficult to find a riad. But it is quite easier to find Riad Julia even at night as there are proper light along the alleys and it is not too far from the main street. We knocked the riad’s door. As the receptionist opened the door, we found a courtyard inside. He welcomed us with the mint tea. The room is beautifully decorated and the receptionist is very friendly.

Having refreshed, we wandered in the souks and successfully got lost. There are shops that sell shawl, antiques, souvenirs, etc. These kinds of shops do not give their customer a fix price, so you have to bargain. And that is exactly my weakness: I cannot bargain and am not interested in the bargaining process. So, I mostly only enjoyed the souks atmosphere itself. Sauntering along the souks while listening the engine from a motorcycle and a bell ringing from a bcycle behind you, or someone in front of you blocking your way can awake anyone there. Seeing other people kept bussy doing their business, while I was walking my live on slower path was a refreshment for me in one way or another. The shopkeepers in the Marrakesh souk itself are not aggressive enough that can irritate the passers-by.

As the afternoon about to come, we tried to find our starting place: Bab Doukkala. But then gave up and shifted the goal to find any main road, the end of the souk. I couldn’t differentiate how I felt when I can’t find the main road. It was in between excited of getting lost and traumatic of asking people for information. Surprisingly, we showed up at Djemma el Fna.

The place is so lively. It is full with food sellers, snake charmers, people wearing traditional clothes (or not) offering themselves so the tourists can take their pictures, horse-drawn carts, monkey performers, etc. Of course, the performers in Djemma el Fna will ask for some fee. It is intriguing to see the interaction between the seller and the potential buyer, the interaction between the sellers and the seller itself. A lot of other things happened there that I cannot fully observed since I watched it all from above a cafe’s terrace: Le Grand Balcon Cafe Glacier mainly through my camera lens. I think the main selling point of the cafe is not their food and drink, but the view of Djemma el Fna from above. Before the dusk coming, some parts of the square transformed into food stalls.

We enjoyed the view there accompanied by the quite chill wind for about two hours. The night seemed attract more people coming to Djemma el Fna. In addition, there was a stage set up in the square for music performance. What amazed me was when there is a call prayer, all the sound from the sound speaker suddenly stopp. The call prayer is the only sound that fill in the air around the square. At a moment there is a part of peacefulness. But as the call prayer stopped, everyone was back to their businesses and the sound speakers were on . Well, Djemma el Fna main attraction is not its peacefulness but their frantic lively activities.

At night, we went back to Marrakesh train station to buy a ticket from Marrakesh to Fez. As usual, we met the taxi driver with its magic spell: Dh50 :) We handed over him the map that show how close it is from Djemma to train station. Then he changed his offer for Dh50 return. Yeahhh right! We chose to walk. Along the way, I noticed there are a lot of cafe in Marrakesh main street. Mostly men sitting in front of the cafe watching the traffic and people walking in front of them. It’s not the custom here to see women do that. We took a bus on our way back to the riad. Since, we were not in the tourist area, we asked a lot of people how to get to Bab Doukkala by bus.

* More pics at http://perennialsteps.blogspot.com/

cemetery, hills and river in Tana Toraja - South Sulawesi: Jun'10

selizabeth — Wed, 7 Jul 2010 09:24:00 GMT

After spending two nights in Makassar and Palopo, I joined my friends Tira and Riky in Tana Toraja. The two hour journey from Palopo to Tana Toraja itself was a great and a bit adventurous one. It was great due to the mountainous terrain with its forest view and a bit of adventurous due to the landslide effect that happened last year in the area. Along most of the road, you will find the ravine on the right side and the water flowing between the big rocks stumbling from the cliff due to the landslide on the left side. You don not want to be on this road on the dark on in the middle of the rain. Hence, the driver made sure that he could go back to Palopo before the dusk falling.

I arrived in Tana Toraja at noon and visited Lemo, Londa and Ketekesu where you could be indulged by the skulls, bones, and coffins everywhere inside and outside the caves without having spooky feeling. I went there with Tira, Riky, and Imel my little cousin as our guide. Those places are must visit places for a first time traveler in Toraja like Tira. It was my second visit. The last time I visited Toraja was 10 years ago to celebrate Christmas with my relatives. Yup, some of my relatives are Torajan and they live in Toraja and Palopo.

While my friend Tira was excited to see a Torajan funeral ceremony, I did not feel that way. By the way, there was no funeral ceremony on that day. I had seen it before. It was a magnificent ritual. Still, I also thought it as very costly culture. When a relative pass away, a Torajan family should hold a party, have a lot of buffaloes and pigs to be feed to the guess, build shacks often above the rice field for the guess to sit and eat, and else. The more buffaloes you sacrifice and the longer the party takes time, then the higher the family pride. However, it is a culture that is strongly believed by the Torajan and cannot be measured by the material things such as money.

Tira and me stayed at my uncle’s house, while Riky stayed at Wisma Maria I, a hostel run by my relatives.

The next day, we went for white water rafting on Maiting River. I have never done rafting in Toraja before and so exciting to have this experience. Tira, Riky and me used IndoSella Eco Expedition as our rafting operator. My cousins also join the rafting but with different operator: Toranggo Buya, a subsidiary of Sobek Expedition.

Agus Lamba from IndoSella took us to Bolu market in the morning before going to Maiting River. Yup, it was a market day in Rantepao when people from Toraja and other regions/islands come to sell their buffaloes and pigs. Some buffaloes in Toraja are fabulous as their price can reach as high as hundred millions rupiah. This is the place where buffaloes have a high value due to the culture. This is the place where seeing a buffalo can be a breathtaking view due to its beauty.

After spending around 30 minutes in Bolu market, we were ready to go for rafting. We had to go by car for two hours from Rantepao and had a 40-60 minutes trekking down the hills before having a three hours rafting on Maiting River. Every inch and second of it was an astonishing journey. It also includes the part when we had to pull and push the car also made the pathway become more friendly for the car tires. Well, actually most of the time I only took pictures of my friends and th crews did all of the car pushing and pulling.

When I had to stop and off from the car due to the terrible muddy road, I could enjoy the fabuluous view up on the hill. I spotted the red and white shool building surrounded by brown square area in the middle of green forest and rice field. The students were playing on the square with their red and white uniform. And here I was having a holiday...yay!!! Some villagers just passed by to do their activities, made Tongkonan, a Torajan traditional house, pushed a car. Hohoho it's my friends pushing the car not the villagers.

While enjoying the gorgeous view, including the car pushing, by my eyes, my ears catched the voice of sprinkling water down from the hill. Yup...we could use it to clean up or muddy hands and feet before getting back on the car to continue the journey to the river.

As we arrived on the nearest village to the river, we met some local people with their joyful children greeting us and giving their best smile and laughter especially when posing in front of the camera. They were keep smiling as we put on our safelife vest, helmet and carried our paddle. Ok...where's the river?

Then we went for the 40-60 minutes trekking down the steep hill to reach the river. The pathway was steep and getting steeper as we went down further. I really recommended to have a serious breakfast before having this trip. I could feel my legs trembling as we went down the hill. I hate the descending part.

However, my hatred on the descending always fade away as the impressive scene down there can instantly soothe my trembling legs, pleased my eyes, and touched my heart. It is an overwhelming statement on a view, huh? :) The clear green river inside the swath green forest which make a beautiful boundary with the bright blue sky scenery is worth seeing. Up until now, it is the best view I ever seen. It was because I could not only see its beauty but also felt it as I was on the raft and got splash of the fresh water river on the first rapid as the rafting started.

Maiting river has grade II-III rapids. Mostly, it has grade II rapids. Hence, it's not challenging enough. The positive side of it was that I could optimally enjoy its stunning beauty as we're flowing through the canyon with its beautiful ubiquitous waterfalls. Also, there are a lot of birds, teals, and some kind of iguanas.

We had our lunch on the river shore and met the team from Toranggo Buya. From that point, we had our rafting trip together.

As the canyon with its waterfalls disappear, the view along the river changed into the rice field scenery with the buffaloes taking a bath on the river-bank or just having their lazy sun-bathing. The three hour rating ended. Nooo... I want it more. Could I repeat it again??

When my feet touch the ground again, I know that I'll go back here again for rafting..maybe trying another river: Sadan.

Thanks a lot to Tira, Riky, my families in Palopo & Toraja, and Indosella Eco Expedition team.

More pics on http://perennialsteps.blogspot.com/

Alas Purwo National Park - East Java: Feb'10

selizabeth — Thu, 4 Mar 2010 10:33:00 GMT

After spending the night at Meru Betiri National Park, we went to Alas Purwo National Park: Sadengan (pic. 3), the forest itself (pic. 2 & 4), Parang Ireng beach (pic. 5), 'waiting for the car' beach (pic.6) and Plengkung beach or G-land (pic. 7-10).

We're off from Rajegwesi beach in Meru Betiri National Park at 10 am heading to Alas Purwo National Park. We arrived there around 3 pm and went to Sadengan, a place where you can see some wild animals on the savanna. It's too bad that at that time not many animals around us. They're too far out of our sight. However, seeing the green savannah itself is amazing. They have different kind of green combined with the blue and white color from the sky and the bright cloud. We didn't spend a lot of time here.

After short visit to Sadengan, we continued to Plengkung beach or G-land for sunset. It's still 4 pm and we thought we'll be too early for sunset. Unfortunately as we arrived at Pancur (the starting point to go to Plengkung beach), we found that some high rank police officers from the city are also on the site with their families. So, they didn't allow any cars to go inside. Only their cars. The distance from Pancur to Plengkung beach is around 10 km. We took a walk for about 4 km (1,5 hours). The good side of having no vehicles to go inside, we were able to see and hear the black forest monkeys screaming, hanging and jumping above us on the trees; the birds having orchestrated singing and a little snake crossing the road. But it's going dark soon and the road to Plengkung beach is still far away. Luckily, a car operated by the national park management picked us up at 6 pm after we saw the sunset on the beach. At 5.30 pm, we're out from the track in the forest to the beach on its right side. We still can't go to Plengkung beach because the police and their families are still there. The driver took us to a beach near a helipad. There we just sat on a platform and had a chat with the driver. The beach and the top of trees inside the forest are illuminated by the full moon's light. This is the second time during this trip that we spend the night on the beach under the moon light. It is amazing to know how bright actually the full moon is. Usually its brightness is defeated by the city's lamps. We went back to the guest house at 7.30 pm and met the forest police patrolling on our way back.

We stayed at a guest house in Trianggulasi beach. It's very tempting to go to the beach to see the turtles as we can clearly hear the sound of the wave from our room. But, I chose to sleep earlier at 10 pm as we had to go again tomorrow morning to go back to Plengkung beach. Some of my friends still awake until midnight.

We're off from the guest house at 5.30 am. Aris seemed surprise to see our enthusiasm. We met the same driver as last night in Pancur, the starting point, and of course took the same antique off road specialist car again. This time, we arrived at Plengkung beach around 6.15 am. The tide at its low level in the morning, hence we could stroll along the beach line on the reef that usually covered by the water. But, there's no big waves yet at that time. The driver warned us to go up earlier as the sea water will slowly become higher and we can be trapped on the reef. We finish our roaming there at 7 am.

For surfer, Alas Purwo National Park is known for its G-land or Plengkung beach. The driver told us about some spot along the beach like tiger track, 20'-20', else. For some high rank officials, Alas Purwo National Park is known for its caves for meditating and asking for long lasting high level position in their career, money, else that tend to be related to material things. I'll be surprised if they ask for other people happiness instead of theirs. For me, Alas Purwo National Park is known for being rather unknown.

We've tried to chase the sunset in the forest; the turtle, the fishermen and the waves on the beach; the bird on the air; the monkeys on the trees and the garbage pile; the moon on the sky during our journey in stunning Meru Betiri and Alas Purwo National Park. Now..it's time for us to chase our flight back to Jakarta at 7.50 pm from Juanda airport-Surabaya. We arrived on the airport at 6 pm to have our flight delayed to > 8 pm. I can't noticed the time again :)

Pics are on http://perennialsteps.blogspot.com/2010/03/alas-purwo-national-park-feb10.html

Meru Betiri National Park - East Java: Feb'10

selizabeth — Wed, 3 Mar 2010 12:46:00 GMT

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 Hijau (Green Bay), 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 Hijau (Green Bay) inside the national park. From above, Teluk Hijau view (pic. 3 & 4) 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 Hijau 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 (pic 5-8). 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 to go to the beach to lay its eggs. 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 (pic 10 & 11) 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 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 (pic 1 & 2). 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.

Pictures at http://perennialsteps.blogspot.com/

a crater, a lake and a temple in Garut - West Java: Feb'10

selizabeth — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:31:00 GMT

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.

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 paddy 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 :)

(I did this trip on Saturday and Sunday...off from Jakarta on Saturday morning, back in Jakarta om Sunday night.)

with nothing in Badui Dalam Village: 2009

selizabeth — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:50:00 GMT

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/.

light trekking in Gede-Pangrango Nat'l Park - West Java: 2009

selizabeth — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:47:00 GMT

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

as if meditating at Borobudur Temple - Java: 2009

selizabeth — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:41:00 GMT

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.

listening to the guide in Dieng Plateau - Java: 2009

selizabeth — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:38:00 GMT

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.

Photos: Indonesia

selizabeth — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:15:00 GMT

rafting at Pekalen River & Sunrise at Bromo - Java: 2009

selizabeth — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:18:00 GMT

I was off from Jakarta at 8.30pm on Friday with my colleagues to Surabaya and then continued to Probolinggo with rented car. We arrived at Noars basecamp around 4am on the next day. After two hours sleeping in a comfortable sleeping bag, we prepared ourselves to go for rafting and started the rafting at 8am. The road to the river is steep until we concluded that this is a buy one get one trip. We bought a rafting trip and got a trekking trip as a bonus.

The journey on the river was already started with two streams just a couple seconds after we got on the boat. Pekalen river has beautiful cliff on its both side with the bats and the waterfall. The streams are also fascinating made from the combination of the river rocks and the currents. The view was enthralling, still we had to be cautious with the stream in front of us. For sure, I tried my best to minimize the risk of falling from the boat like my previous rafting experience at Cisangkuy river. After passing a stream, we waited for some other boats to pass it also. Hence we're not only enjoying the stream view, but also our friend's reaction while passing the stream.

We were supposed to end the rafting at 4pm. But the operator already pulled us out from the river at 1.30pm due to the heavy rain. Luckily, we had went through the great parts of the river.

The next day we went to see sunrise at Bromo.

The trip was arranged by http://joinenterprise.multiply.com with http://www.noarsrafting.com/?page_id=3 as the rafting operator.

The Valley and Phokara: May'08

selizabeth — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:23:00 GMT

Voila! May was coming, but I wasn’t still sure whether I could use my Singapore-Kathmandu ticket, which I already bought since last year, or not. Things could spin around just like that. The newspaper had made the Nepal politics turmoil as one of their news and my parents suddenly became aware on my next traveling destination. The reasonable reason that I brought up and made them change their mind was that I have to preserve my credibility. I already said to my colleague that I would go to Nepal. If I canceled the trip, she would have to cancel it also. And eventhough I make up her trip fare, my credibility will still ruin. My word is my bone applies here. Actually, I was just exaggerating the credibility things so I could go in peace.

Finally, we went to Singapore on Friday night and spend five hours in Changi airport before getting on a flight to Kathmandu. One of the passengers introduced herself to us. She’s a Singaporean who was going to travel in Nepal also along with her other three friends. The difference was they’re using a travel agent to arrange their itinerary, while we’re using Lonely Planet (my friend, SP, did the entire great itinerary). I guessed we’re going to meet them again next week on our way back to Singapore.

Day 1

We arrived in Kathmandu at 12 pm and the red brick primeval Tribhuvan International airport welcomed you as you smell the pre-monsoon weather (May isn’t a great time to visit Nepal due to the heat. But if you were from a tropical country, then it’s not a big deal). We stayed at Ganesh Himal Hotel, near Thamel area. Thamel itself is an interesting area where usually tourists flock there before heading to another destination in Nepal.

We’re spending our first day by strolling on dusty and hectic Thamel street, shared with other passers-by, bicyclists, rickshaws, taxis, etc. Etcetera here include the traditional market near temples. All the buildings look almost the same that I could loss direction here: souvenirs shop, restaurant, hotel/hostel, supermarket, trekking gear shop, money changer, book store. Often, I couldn’t make any difference between a regular building and a temple. I was stunned with the stark contrast between how people treat the Hindu temple here and in Bali. In Bali, the temple area is a very sacral one; while here people do their social life there, such as selling things, hanging out on Saturday afternoon, playing cricket or doing day dreaming.

We had lunch at Thakali Banchha Kitchen and joined the Nepali hang out at one of the upper terrace temples in Kathmandu durbar square on the afternoon. A boy told us that Saturday is the only public holiday in Nepal. Seeing their daily activities from above made me think about… Well, I forgot what I was thinking about at that time. From above, I could also see the rickshaw drivers waiting for the passengers.

We took rickshaw twice in Kathmandu and paid through the nose for the trip. On the first trip was because we’re stupid, didn’t realize how close the distance is, and on the second trip was because the rickshaw driver is an old, smart, humorous man with mischievous look playing with words J. We also met with a loquacious man in a travel agent who offered himself as our guide for trekking at Himalayan Mountain. He proudly said that we’ll be very lucky to have him as our guide as he assumed himself as a bonus. I was amused on his nice coaxing effort with a great confidence. Of course we said no to him, because May isn’t the right time for trekking no matter who will be the guide is. We ended the night at Roadhouse Café in Thamel eating Nepali pizza.

Day 2

We had a one hour mountain flight at 6am by Buddha Air, a more or less 18 passenger airplane. The flight takes Himalayan Mountain as the route and is closed enough for you to see its snow. Its breathtaking view made you want to jump down to the mountain slope. Of course, the airplane window fettered you to do it :) I hadn’t back home yet and I already wanted to go back here only for light trekking down there.

Then we had our breakfast at Nyatapola café inside Bhaktapur durbar square. A National Geographic photographer look alike took the photos of Nyatapola café with us having breakfast at its morning-shine shimmering upper terrace. Sauntering down the road, taking pictures of the sublime Bhaktapur durbar square, getting lost in the middle of local housing, and running under the light rain was a thrilling one.

The people live within the ancient city without making any significant changes in it. I don’t know whether it is because they really appreciate their ancestors and cultures or because they don’t have enough budget to renovate it. But, something felt missing when I couldn’t see the Nepali army presence as we’re going deeper into the local area. Due to the political instability, the army presence, both from the communist party and the royal side, are ubiquitous. They’re quite cooperative to the foreigner. Most of foreigners that we met here are American and European. We rarely met Asian, mostly will be Japanese or Korean. Despite the security concern, the ancient city of Kathmandu Valley and the dazzling Himalayan mountain could still entice foreigners to come to Nepal.

Satisfied and tired exploring Bhaktapur durbar square, we went to Patan and had our lunch at Taleju restaurant, enthralled by the view of striking Patan durbar square from its roof top. Everytime we got satiate, the valley could offer us a new interesting thing to explore. Afterward, we’re joining the crowd in Patan durbar square as there’s a parade there. All I could think was the people, their bright dresses, their expression, the ancient temples and buildings, and the whole surroundings would be a heaven for my photographic maniac colleagues in Jakarta. A little boy approached me to sell a bag, while I was watching at the parade. Knowing that I felt bothered by his presence, he stepped back voluntarily and said: I’ll come again after the parade is over. He came again with a smile after the parade was over and successfully sold the bag to me. What a great marketer as he could still appreciate the prospective buyer personal space, while still trying to sell the product!

On the afternoon, we went to meet some acquaintances: Mr. B family and Ms. V, who live in Nepal as a doctor at Patan hospital and a worker at a NGO. Their houses are located in a quiet expatriate area in Patan. We went back to Thamel area at night and had our late dinner at Koto Japanese Restaurant. One of the waiters at Koto had reminded my friend on her high school love story. Her reminiscent made us vow to go back to Koto before leaving Nepal.

Day 3

We checked out from Ganesh Himal Hotel at 6 am since Ms. V asked us to move to her house in Patan because of the incoming strike. They called it a bandh, when vehicles stay off the street and all schools, offices and else are also closed. The expatriate community usually find it out from their children’s school teachers/principal, who get the information from the embassy. The bandh issue already abounded since last night. Ms. V had tried to contact us through the hotel receptionist, but she couldn’t reach us as we’re still hanging out in Thamel until late night.

We’re already at Ms. V house early in the morning and at noon found out that the bandh issue was only an issue. Maybe it would have been better, if we hadn’t known the band issue earlier. Just let it flow.

On the other hand while we’re spending the time in her house, Ms. V could share her seven year experience living in Nepal to us: facing frequent electricity blackout, lack of gas and water supplies, lack of gasoline, earthquake preparation, bandh, but still enjoying the experience. my country has that kind of problems also, but it’s not as frequent as Nepal…far better. If those things take place in my country as frequent as in Nepal, we’ll have riots and demonstration to change the government. Hey…actually the communist Maoist was taking over the Royal supremacy when we’re in Nepal. Nepal has transformed itself into a Republic from the Hindu Kingdom country. Ms. V explained the culture here. One annoying thing: the house owner even made a toilet outside the house for the Nepali guest who mostly aren’t used to splashing the water after using a toilet. But they do that because they aren’t used to having enough water, especially for the poor one.

Ms. V took us to a Mexican restaurant for lunch and then to the Jawalakhel Handicraft Centre, a former Tibetan refugee camp across the Tibetan monastery. This area is well-known for its carpet industry, but we only bought Tibetan traditional dress. It’s too bad that we didn’t have enough time to see the carpet making process there.

At night, we attended a dinner with an ambassador for Bangladesh and a community in Nepal in a Japanese restaurant in Kathmandu. I chose a table with Mr.H’s teenage children so I could avoid doing the well-mannered talking. I wasn’t on the mood to do that. We took a taxi to go back to Ms.V’s house in Patan and had our taxi stopped by the army at the Kathmandu-Patan border. As they saw the foreigners inside the taxi, they didn’t ask any question and only said good-night and let the taxi go. The Nepali often wrongly presumes Ms. V as a Korean, me and my friend as Chinese or Japanese…come on...

Day 4

Before 4 am, we already left Ms.V’s house to go to Nagarkot by taxi to see the sun rise over the Himalaya. My friends actually preferred Dhulikel instead of Nagarkot, but the taxi gasoline only sufficient for Nagarkot destination. This is a place where the gasoline availability often could be a constraint for your trip.

We stopped by at Himalaya Resort where we could glimpse the sun rise from its backyard. The people were busy taking the sun rise moment with their long lens camera, digital camera, or cell phone camera. The sun rise wasn’t that special. It is still the same sun rise which I could also see in my country. What make it so special is when the morning sun shine highlight one of Himalayan mountain pinnacles. That view could beat the cold windy temperature that started to creep up from my toes to my head. I just took a couple shots and then standing with blank look with a cup of warm coffee flying above my head. Finally, we had our not flying cup of warm coffee at the Resort café.

Around 10 am, we went down to Bodnath, home to one of the world’s largest stupas, by the same taxi we use this morning. The taxi driver awkwardly mentioned some amount of money when we’re asking him how much it cost us. Then Ms. V scolded him with Nepali language. I didn’t understand what’s wrong. It turned out that the taxi driver gave us a very cheap fare. He didn’t count it correctly and too ashamed to ask more. So far, the people here are nice. After paying him with a more proper sum of money, we joined the Buddha Jayanti aka Vesak aka the Buddha’s birth celebration in Bodnath.

A lot of people lighted up the butter lamps along the street side. We’re not the only outsider joined the ceremony. The beggar also joined by sitting and praying that there would be people give them some money or food. A little girl beggar sang a song on a bench. Her soft alto voice could attract the passers-by to stop by, although most of the time her voice would disappear inside the crowdedness. I just watched her singing and tried hard to hear her soft voice from the backside - sitting on a closed store terrace in Bodnath area. When the traditional monks, the funky monks[1], the ordinary people, the students who previously gave me a flower, the army and the foreigners with or without the camera walking circling the Bodnath Stupa in a clockwise direction; I sat standstill on the terrace with a flower, a camera and a backpack….waiting for my friends. Great job! I lost them and didn’t have their cellphone number! But, watching their activities quietly could soothe my mind until my friends found me out.

Then, we tried the public transportation, minibus, on the way back to Patan. It’s sucks but entertaining as long as you don’t use it more than twice. We’re wandering around at Kathmandu durbar square with my multifunctional jacket covered my head from the falling water from the sky aka it’s raining. My friend, SP, bought some boxes of tea. I bought it also and then sold it at lower price to SP at the same day. I am not good at buying some things and successfully bring it home. Usually on my way home, I will have transferred it to other people.

We stopped by in an open building/temple while waiting for the heavy rain to subside. Inside the building/temple, there are some Hindu priests, who will pray for you and tell you about your future fortune. My curiosity almost made me come to one of the priests, but the fact that after the ritual they will give you a flower mark on your forehead as a sign of the worship held me down. My priest will kick my ass as a mark, if I do that. Besides, if I didn’t misheard, the priests were speaking in Nepali. How will I understand what he’s going to say about my future?

Because of the raining, we had to call off the trip to Swayambhunath temple. We had our dinner at the Bakery café, where all the staff are deaf, and spend another night at Ms.V’s house to have another dinner.

Day 5
We had all prepared to go to Phokara, seven hour route by bus. But the plan went awry since a bandh was really happening this time. It means: vehicles stay off the street and all schools, offices and else are also closed. It was only the army, the police and some people on the main street. No vehicles allowed on the street. A man at the money changer already reminded us about this last night, but we impugned his warning. It’s because the bandh reason was absurd. But we were in a different country which has the reasonable criteria different with us back home. I could see my friend really disappointed because prior to this she had had her plan messed up because of the bandh issue.

Therefore, we spend the day doing visits from home to home in the expatriate area in Patan: Ms. V’s, Mr. B’s familiy and Mr.H’s familiy houses. I even had a one hour Nepali course with Mr & Mrs. B at Nepali course language run by Korean. The teacher, JT, is very nice and a good-looking one. He could be a potential sinetron-star in Jakarta. We had lunch at Café de Patan and the waiter opened a conversation with us, as it was our second visit to the café. The waiter is a college student who has to work there. He asked where we come from. I thing he would like to continue the conversation, but the other customers were coming. Once they’re out from the poverty, they will try to make their sibling out from it also and guide them to avoid the bad neighborhood. It is a norm for the youngster here to smoke marijuana. Even if they don’t have a job, the family will always support them to fulfill their needs. And one more thing, your mother in law here will somehow has the right to walk all over you. And one more thing, woman doesn’t show their leg here, but it’s ok if you want to show your belly. Outside there, the bandh didn’t break into a violence one. It was just a peaceful annoying bandh.

Day 6

Finally, we’re on the Golden Travel bus heading to Phokara, seven hours from Patan. The trip went smoothly as there were no army checkpoints stopping the bus. We were staying at great Castle Guest House run by a family. They even have the dinner with the family program. But we had to miss it and a lot of things because we only spend a night in Phokara because of the bandh on the previous day.

We had our late lunch at Lemon Tree, which is known for its fresh lake fish. But I ordered a spaghetti carbonara. When the menu came, I was surprised of its triple proportion compare to the spaghetti in Pizza Marzano. Then I was more surprised than before when I tasted it. The cheese is from the yak….arrrgghh. It was amusing when I kept try hard to eat it, because I was very hungry. I hadn’t eaten properly since this morning and it was on the afternoon already. I had Japanese food, Mexican food, American food and Italian food in Nepal, except Nepali food. Well, this Italian food was the closest one to the Nepali food because of the yak cheese. It was a great lunch though. Where the hell on earth I could taste yak cheese….yakkkss!!

After going through the yak cheese late lunch, we went to Sisne Rover Trekking to buy a ticket plane back to Kathmandu for tomorrow’s noon. I had the rare golden opportunity to practice my very limited Nepali language here. When I smiled to hear my own voice speaking Nepali, they’re laughing and said: It’s very weird the way you speak Nepali. Ok, let’s just speak in English.

After buying the ticket, I split with my friend. She wanted to go for an hour boating on the tranquil Phewa Tal lake, while I just wanted to meander around Phokara. We made a deal to meet again around 6 pm.

I spend the time at bookstores, supermarket and internet café, but didn’t take a lot of shots here. It’s too serene to be distracted by camera shots. The bookstore offers both used and new books from many languages: Nepali, Indian, English, French, German, Japanese, and Korean. As in India, the book is very cheap. I only bought a book from Krishnamurti. After 6 pm, my friend hadn’t showed up yet. Great, I lost my friend and didn’t have her cellphone number. Agaiiiinn?? It became a habit for me. On a circuitous way, I could contact her and said that I would wait at Busy Bee café, a random pick. The café has a not too bad live music performance. The band played a common music that other band on the other part of the world would also play. It’s great since so far I only saw a very specific cultured society. Music is absolutely a general language everywhere no matter of your background: economically, politically, culturally and other divisions that could separate other people from the others. I was waiting for my friend by enjoying the music performance, Krishnamurti’s book and a glass of whisky. She showed up at 7 pm. What’s up with the one hour boating? Btw, she doesn’t like the noisy drinking bar. I’m sorry, it’s a random pick J I like both noisy and serene surroundings.

So, what’s up with the more than one hour boating?
It became a romantic boating on the tranquil Phewa Tal lake. The rower turned on the boys band song from his cellphone under the cloudy and cold weather. The interesting part is the rower said that he’s preparing for the IELTS so he could apply for a job abroad. After he had enough money, he would go back to Nepal again to make his own business. I wish him to be successful in pursuing his aspiration.

Day 7

We went to the World Peace Pagoda in the morning taking the easiest route, by taxi. We only had to walk around 15-20 minutes after getting off the taxi. It’s a quite steep route where I could hear my heart beat harder. The other routes are from Phewa Tal lake, which will take approximately one hour walking, or from Devi’s fall.

From the World Peace Pagoda, which located on top of a hill, you could see Phewa Tal lake surrounded by the hills with the snow covered Himalayan Mountain as the background. The hills shadow appears on the unruffled lake surface as the morning sun stole a look between the clouds among the Himalayan Mountain. We were up there for about an hour and then went down to the lakeside to have breakfast at one of the restaurants there.

We still had a couple hours before the flight to go back to Kathmandu. My friend, SP, decided to go for an hour boating again, while I chose to continue reading Krishnamurti’s book at Fewa Hotel coffee shop, which located at the lakeside. From the place I sat, I could have a glance look of the lake with the boats and the World Peace Pagoda above the hill, if I get tired with the reading. There were only me and the other three customers: two American women and a local man on the coffee shop. This time I had a coffee pot, instead of a glass of whisky or a cup of coffee, to accompany my reading.

We’re finally on the Phokara airport. The airplane picked us up right in front of the inside airport terrace. I felt as if I was taking a private plane. It was the same airplane, Buddha Air, which we used for mountain flight. The stewardess was also the same.

A night was a very short time to spend in Phokara. Phokara is also known for its recruiting center of the British Gurkha soldier. I read one of the announcements of Gurkha soldier recruitment which attach on an electric pole, while waiting for the breakfast this morning at the lakeside. They are willing to defend other people country with their live as a soldier because of the financial reason: salary up to £1000/month and a lifetime pension. A column in a Nepali newspaper discussed about the irony of the Gurkha soldier: to let your people fight for other countries interest because of the financial reason. I have one common with the Gurkha: the ability to sleep while standing. The difference only the place: they could do that on the war, while I could do that on the bus/train.

We checked in again in Ganesh Himal Hotel in Thamel, Kathmandu, afterward going to Patan to say good-bye to the family there. Back to Thamel, we had our dinner at Koto Japanese Restaurant as our promised on our second day here. Across us, there were three men from US, Russia and Spain learning each other languages while drinking.

Day 8

We had breakfast with Mr & Mrs.H before our flight back to Singapore. They were using bicycle from Patan to Kathamandu, because of the limited gasoline they had on their car. Then we went to the airport and met our Singaporean acquaintances again there. I’ll see you again Nepal! It’s also really nice to meet Ms. V, Mr. B familily and Mr. H family.

Arrived in Changi airport around 9 pm, we’re still trying to find a hotel. We got a room at South East Asia Hotel. Unfortunately, they receive nor credit card or USD, only cash in SGD. We didn’t have enough SGD. Fast walking around the area, we looked for a money changer or Citi’s ATM. Luckily, we found a money changer that still open and right after we closed the deal, they closed their office. It’s 10 pm. Yeaahh we successfully checked in at the hotel. And around midnight, we went out to Mustofa center to buy financial calculators and went to a 24 hour internet café to buy online ticket for the first flight back to my hometown in the morning. Sunday morning flight is the cheapest. The passenger next to me on the flight asked: short vacation in Singapore? Yes! I replied, smiled and fell a sleep as starting from today to November 2008, I don’t have any official leave again.[1] With the latest i-phone, Nike sandals and backpack, and the most up to date bold haircut style; but still with their modest orange robe.

blood suckers in Mount Halimun-Salak Nat'l Park - Java: 2008

selizabeth — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:33:00 GMT

After 5 hours on the road with a Mitsubishi Colt L-300 drived by the road racer Mr. O, we finally arrived at Mount Halimun National Park. At noon, we started a light trekking to the canopy trail and Cimacan waterfall. The National Park circling the villages and the tea plantation area belongs to PT. Nirmala.

We stayed at one of the villagers’ house: Mr. S. His family is the environmentalist by nature. The villagers work as a tea plantation employee, a farmer or a forest ranger. They even have their own made electricity from a water turbine. When the dusk falling, we played a card game as it was raining out there. I had my first bruise because of a fork during the game.

After the rain had stopped, we went to the front-end of the forest near the Cikaniki research station. The forest at night is absolutely dark, eventhough you’re using a flashlight. As our eyes got used to the darkness, we could see some green spot lights, which came from the glowing fungus among the trees. I don’t remember the fungus scientific name. Then we spend the night inside the forest trying to capture the beautiful dark view with a camera. Well, I was only looking my friends got busy with the camera and the fungus. I felt there’s something wrong on my foot: a leech was sucking my blood. Awesome! It’s my first hole due to a leech. I found the second hole as we took a rest at the research station. The sleeping time was peaceful though.

Getting up in Mr. S’s homestay was a refreshing one. We went up early in the morning to see the sunrise, but Mr. dramatic sunrise Z was still sleeping undisturbed. So we’re heading to the tea plantation area above the village with a flashlight. The road is rocky and slippery.

We’re there for about an hour. We’re climbing it and standing watching the sun rise that slowly came into sight from behind a mountain. Meanwhile the white mist was flowing following the curve of the hills under the morning sunlight, with the forest as the surroundings. As the tea plantation farmers were starting to come and a bee was also starting to feel annoyed with our presence in his territory, we went back to the homestay to have breakfast.

Our schedule today is the jungle trekking to the seven meter Cikudapaeuh waterfall. At first, we’re going to the 25 meter Cipiit waterfall, but the road is too slippery and steep that you have to use thick rope.

We started the trekking on the tea plantation area and the village. At first I thought it would be a mundane four hour trekking through the tea plantation area. But then, we turned to the left side and entered the forest. Since this is a rain forest, there’s no sound as you’re stepping on the falling leaves. It’s muddy and slippery. Often the ranger re-opened the track with his machete and boots. As we got deeper, the forest became ticker. The greenery thicker swathe forest really looks amazing from far away. And it is more amazing when you’re inside it, and absolutely not a boring one.

After a packet of steep ascent and descent, we will have to cross the clear water river to have another packet of steep ascent of descent with the river and so on for six hours to and from the Cikudapaeuh waterfall. Some of the descents and ascents have almost 90 degree slope. I really thought the ranger would take the turn road, if it exist, but he went on with the slope.

Hence, most of the jungle trekking was crawling by holding the tree roots or everything available there and your friends’ hand. Not to mention the leeches. I had 11 small bloody holes on my feet and another hole on my leg due to the leeches. It didn’t include the leeches that hadn’t had a chance to suck my blood as I already threw it away. But the rain forest itself is an exquisite one. Besides the leeches, there are bird nest with the little birds inside it, colorful wild flowers and fungus, civet dirt, Java tiger’s track, Owa Jawa (chimpanzee cousin I guess) playing high above the trees and the beautiful Cikudapaeuh waterfall inside the forest.

The ranger also taught us to eat a tree stem & leaves and drink water inside another tree stem. The trees also make canopies that hindered us from the falling water when the light raining started on our way back. I had never been so happy to see the rice field as we got out from the forest to have our very late lunch on the afternoon at the homestay.

The adventurous journey hadn’t finished yet. It was continuing on our way back to Jakarta. Z and Mr. O, the driver, decided to take another shorter route, maybe because the night was about to come. But the road is slipperier and steeper than the road where we’re coming from. Somehow, the road racer Mr. O had successfully managed the old engine to go through all the difficulties on the road.

At some points of the road, the fog and flood, from a broken dam, slowed the car down. We arrived in Jakarta at 11pm.

It was the first time I entered the forest and it took a few months for me to stop daydreaming to be there again and fully back on the reality. I really hope the area will always be protected. It’s too valuable to be destroyed for economical reason. Those villagers have proved that they could live side by side with the nature. They are rich with the fresh water flow 24 hours straight from the mountain, the fresh air, the delicious food from their backyard, the warm day and the peaceful night. If they want something more sophisticated than that, just join us in the city. Don’t disturb the forest. I just hate the leeches. Why can’t they make an exception on sucking human blood?

This trip was organized by http://aryasadhewa.multiply.com/

not for golfing in Bintan Island - Sumatra: 2008

selizabeth — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:21:00 GMT

Less than two weeks after my arrival back in Jakarta, my friends asked me to join them going to Batam, Bintan and Singapore. It was on Wednesday night and then I already got on the flight on Thursday night with them. As the airplane was going to land, you could see the island mostly still covered by the forest. It was already late night by the time we arrived there. According to the taxi driver, most of the population in Batam are from Sumatra and Java who work at factories which are everywhere here.

We went early in the morning to Bintan by a ferry to spend a day at Bintan Resort. Most of the people who come to Bintan are going for golfing. Unexpectedly, I met with my old friend in Bandung when we’re heading to the mangrove forest. I hadn’t run into him for ages. Bintan mangrove forest itself is magnificent with the plants, water, blue sky, sleeping snakes, lizards, and big colourful butterflies. I could imagine that Jakarta had this kind of mangrove forest before it was destroyed on behalf of developing the town into a modern one.

On the afternoon, we were sitting on the beach, two kind of beach actually: the beach inside and outside the Bintan Resort. The beach inside the Bintan Resort is the beach that usually pictured in a travel agent brochure: white sand, blue water, coconut trees and cottages along the beach line. While the beach outside the Bintan Resort is a little bit different with the inside one: grey sand, the still blue water, and muddy, since the beach line moved farther temporarily. The coconut trees still there plus the coconut sellers who will serve the coconut on a rotten wood table.

We went across to Singapore on the next morning by ferry. One thing that impresses me a lot is the hostel we stayed for a night. It’s the kind of hostel that we didn’t even dare to use its public bathroom to take a shower, so we had our shower on the next day in Jakarta. We just hit the nearest available and affordable hostel on Bencoolen street, thanks for speculating on the accommodation on the peak season. Impressed by the hostel experience doesn’t mean I will spend the night there again on purpose.

rafting at Cisangkuy River - West Java: 2009

selizabeth — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:41:00 GMT

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!

This trip was organized by http://kawalu.multiply.com/