On the night train back to Jakarta. It's almost 1 am, everyone fall asleep after a busy weekend in Magelang, Borobudur temple for the Vesak day. Got some good music here in my Ipod, just a perfect companion in a quiet night when I seem to be the only girl in the train wide awake at this hour. Feeling exhausted after a non-stop walking since Saturday morning I arrived in Yogyakarta, rush from one place to another since we only got 2 days here, bring home tons of photos and stories to share..it's all about the good days at Goa Pindul where we went cave-tubing, rafting and off-road, continue to Magelang...for an amazing experience with AmanJiwo Resort, the parade and how...geez, I can't even find the right words to describe about this Vesak ceremony in Borobudur temple. Unbelievable lots of people from different places came there just to see the ceremony...it was exactly like watching a concert, it took me an hour to get in the temple. Hundreds of photographers with their DSLR cameras capturing every moments from early morning 4.30 sunrise at Punthuk Sitempu, the parade til the ceremony. My eyes caught some girls excited to take pictures with the monks, some visitors sit between people praying...and busy taking photos. That's pretty sad that the ceremony was meant to be very sacred for Buddhist celebrating Vesak, but some people seemed to be selfish and didn't respect the ceremony. Too busy taking photos that they forgot Vesak wasn't an entertainment or show.
Going to write more about this once I get home, in the mean time, here's some Instagoodies from Yogyakarta...
We brought you back some postcards from Pulau Seribu, or Thousand Islands - Jakarta ! Feel free to check my previous blog post about Pulau Semak Daun Just Another Trip to Semak Daun Island back in 2009 when we just graduated from high school. Very happy to had a chance visiting this small island in Pulau Seribu again last week. Hekris Akwilla knew I've been craving for beach, so the idea to leave Jakarta on Saturday morning to Pulau 1000, taking the fast boat CitraJet, leaving every 8.30 am from the new harbour in Muara Angke - North Jakarta, only one hour and a half journey ( Rp 100.000 one way, not that expensive and pretty fast ) just perfect if you want to enjoy some sun, snorkeling or just chill, away from this big city and Monday-Friday routines. We even did a little photoshooting, made it to Pulang Tidung, Pulau Panggang, Pulau Pramuka and Pulau Semak Daun Island.
CitraJet boat stops at Pramuka Island then Tidung Island. As we've never been to Tidung Island before so we decided to check what's on the island. Tidung island is great if you want to do some water sports like banana boat, jetski etc, easy walk at the bridge, you can find lots of guest houses there so don't worry about accommodation, prices pretty cheap too starting from Rp 100.000 per night. But it's kind of difficult to rent a fisherman's boat to do island hopping so when we saw a fisherman going back to Pulau Panggang, I didn't think twice to jump into the boat and the captain didn't mind to take us to Semak Daun Island. Bring back the good memories when Will, Bram, Riza, Andret and I went there...5 years ago. Nothing changed with the island, we went camping there and very happy waking up next to the quiet beach with a rainbow in the blue sky.
Pulau Semak Daun
Semak Daun island
Pulau Tidung
Jembatan Cinta "Pulau Tidung"
Pulau Tidung
It was so good to sit at the fisherman's wooden boat in the middle of the ocean, I felt closer to the sky, the breeze and how warm the sun touched my face. Watching the sun rises and set definitely a magical moment I don't wanna miss from traveling.
Sunset at Semak Daun Island
Good morning Jakarta from Muara Angke new harbor
Muara Angke in the morning
Muara Angke this morning
Pelabuhan Muara Angke
CitraJet from Muara Angke to Tidung Island Rp 100.000 one way
Seriously it's good that they now have the fast boat from the new harbour in Muara Angke to Pulau Seribu. The new harbor seems safe for you to park your car there, more organized than the old harbor, they even put the boat schedule which if you miss the 8 am boat, you still can catch the 8.30 am and 11.00 am. Again, our weekend trip was very cheap, the fast boat always better and super convenient, happy to bring home some good photos for the blog.
CitraJet : Rp 100.000 / one way
Rent one fisherman's boat from Pulau Panggang to Semak Daun, then the next morning they will pick us up and drop to Pulau Pramuka where next you can catch a boat / CitraJet back to Jakarta at 12.00
Rp 150.000
Small tip for Semak Daun island's keeper Rp 50.000
Bring your own food or snack, or buy the meals from the local restaurant costs Rp 10.000 - Rp 30.000
Exploring Kota Tua or Old
Batavia, the heritage site located between North and West Jakarta - continue with cocktail and light snacking
session at Segara Beach Club is actually a great idea for tourists coming to Jakarta for couple of days visit or local people that always wanted to do
something different, relaxing and easy. This idea came up from my girl Rike, she was so bored of going to the malls and doing the same weekend routines,
wonder what else to do. Thousand island or Pulau 1000,
Puncak, Bogor, Ujung Kulon, Bandung, Pangandaran beach are just few of getaway destinations
you can visit in the weekend. But have you ever imagine how it will be so nice
if only this city has one or two big parks where people can bring their family to chill
and play, relax, read books and eat hot dogs on the grass ?
Take busway from Blok M to Kota Tua, or drive
all the way to Kota Tua, start your tour from Bank Indonesia museum, Bank
Mandiri museum, Fatahillah square, Wayang museum, Toko Merah, Stasiun Jakarta
Kota, the port of Sunda Kelapa, Maritime museum, fish market, lunch at Café Batavia,
then drive to China town. I found it still nice to walk around the Fatahillah
square, watching some happy faces riding
bicycle, local tour guides and tourists, some pretty girls dressed up very nice
posing against the old building and photographers carrying their SLR cameras
trying to capture every single beautiful moments, angle, people and movements, street vendors selling various items from traditional food ( kerak telor,
otak-otak goreng, ketoprak and many more) , sunglasses, tshirts, paintings, etc.
The rumour has it
that sometime around August and September this year, the government plans to
hold a three-weeks festival in Kota Tua to attract more visitors. Not only festival, Jokowi
as the governor announced at least Rp 150 billion to revitalize Kota Tua area. Let's hope they will really fix Kota Tua since this place promising good opportunities for tourism industry in Jakarta.
Cultural dinner for APEC 2013 at Bank Indonesia Museum
Pelabuhan Sunda Kelapa
Sunda Kelapa Harbour... A must visit place in Jakarta
Stasiun Jakarta Kota, was built in 1870
Kerak Telor
Ondel-ondel
Meet the hero, Noni Belanda, toy soldier, farmer and me !
Stop by at Café Batavia either for lunch or light snacking. We
recommend you to try Batavia orgy and poffertjes. Taste the sweet and sour
sensation from home made sorbet, layered with mix fruits and topped with
vanilla cream. Definitely one of the best ice cream in town and perfect
companion while Rike and me were gossiping about the guy in pink shirt sitting
just behind us. It was very hot and humid, 26 degrees, these 2 huge fans of life were in the middle of conversation about love life, fantasy, career and dreams. Rike talked about her dream man from Grey's Anatomy and now that she found Darren in her life, even though long-distance relationship is not always easy, but this guy completes her life. While I've been craving for a new adventure, to do another amazing and big big things, it's just me in new place with bunch of new people. Slowly working my way for it, in the mean time I'm happy my visa for Australia has just been granted, got few writing gigs and some other projects that I've been looking forward to do. Ooh seriously there’s still so much out there to see, win, experience, and get … Then suddenly Rike eyes caught this prince
charming walking inside the restaurant with his girlfriend, got two of us
melted, a little heart attack and
nose-bleeding ( kidding ) How a part of us wanted to kill or shoot the girl, but of course we were just joking. See that's the good thing of having girlfriends, you can practically share anything ( not boyfriend ).
It was almost 3 pm and we decided to move to Ancol. Saw some family picnic on the green grass, sharing food, love and laughs, little girls running naked in their cute underwear, young couples cuddling, it was all about happiness and simple joy being under the sun with the loved ones. We went to Segarra Beach Club, Rike ordered us martini, illusion, french fries and calamari while waiting for the sunset. Loving the breeze, the cocktails, and a great tour we did together since this morning...
Batavia orgy : Rp 89.000
Poffertjes : Rp 29.000
Martini : Rp 90.000
Illusion : Rp 90.000
French Fries : Rp 40.000
Calamary : Rp 40.000
Batavia Orgy & Poffertjes ( Cafe Batavia )
martini, french fries and illusion at Segarra Beach Club
Having cocktails, girl talk, while watching the sunset at Segarra Beach Club. Loving the easy weekend.
Late night photo shoot session I did couple of weeks ago with
a multitalented photographer and designer Gabion Reinansatia and his beautiful
girlfriend Ivonne Helena in Jakarta. They took me to some cool spots in town, the city looks so much better at night, beautiful
lights, less traffic of course, plus... I'm happy to announce that my travel VBLOG project is in progress, can't wait to show you more places :)
Next post : Beijing 5 days itinerary and budget...
