Komodo Trip

The talk about going for another holiday has long been around my close friends and me. However, with the marriage of a friend and the marriage plan of another, not to mention earlier long overseas trip 3 of us had, the idea seems so far away from realization (time and money were really the issue). It was pretty shocking (and again impulsive) that we decided to go for this Komodo trip. Again, it started only with the 3 of us, then the group expanded to 8 people, enabling us to open a private trip. The holiday EO this time is Rani, and we went with Salamransel crew for a 4D3N Sailing Komodo Trip (visit their website here).

Our first day started on Saturday at 3 AM (I can’t recall the last time I woke up this early for a first flight, on a Saturday), when we met up at the airport to catch our flight. We flew Jakarta-Denpasar with Lion Air and Denpasar-Labuan Bajo with Wings Air. Thank God the flights were not delayed so we arrived in Labuan Bajo on time at 9.30 AM. We were picked up at the airport and headed straight to Kampung Ujung Port to start our Sailing Komodo trip.

Our first destination was Pulau Kanawa. We went trekking the small hill and snorkeling there. OK, we weren’t too much impressed by the island but it was a good start. Then, off we go to Sebayur for another snorkeling session. I like the underwater view better here, since the fish was more colorful and various here. Tired of snorkeling, we headed to Gili Lawa Island, where our ship was anchored for the night.

Day 1: Kanawa

Our second day started quite early, we woke up at 4 AM in order to trek up the mountain (I cannot say that it’s a hill – it took us 40 mins to get to the top) and catch the sunrise view in Gili Lawa. I started the trek with a lot of complaints, especially since I got really tired of climbing and it was really dark when we started, but what I saw when I reached the top made me forget all those complaints – the view was really breathtakingly beautiful. After a lot of pictures, we went back to our boat and headed to Manta Point, where I didn’t dare to swim (the flow was quite hard and it was a deep, free sea, so it’s a no). We waited there for 30ish minutes until we finally saw 2 mantas swimming around. Quite satisfied with what we saw, we headed to Taka Makassar. At first, we questioned what the place was, and apparently it’s a small vacant island consisting only of a few trees and sand (the sand is half white-half pink), just like Pulau Gusung in Derawan and Karimunjawa. When the sand is covering a wide area with pretty, clear water, take pictures. A lot of them. So that’s what we did.

Day 2: Pink Beach – doesn’t look too pink in pictures

Tired of taking pictures (well, it’s a lie. We don’t get tired of taking pictures. Never did), we headed to Pink Beach for (tired sigh here) another trekking and snorkeling. (I like snorkeling but I don’t really like trekking, especially with the extreme heat in Komodo.) You cannot really see the pink sand from the picture, but if you’re there, then you’ll be able to see that the sand is really pretty pink. So sad with the fact that Pink Beach was our last snorkeling (the underwater experience was very beautiful, by the way), we headed to Pulau Komodo afterwards. I guess it’s a must visit place for tourists, since it’s where the Taman Nasional Komodo (Komodo National Park) is located. Going there, you have to be accompanied by 2 rangers per group, 1 in front and another 1 in the back, since komodo (komodo dragon is the more popular English name) is a carnivore predator that can attack people unexpectedly. Luckily during our visit, we got to meet one by the beach (seems like it needs some dose of the sun also! LOL) and took pictures with it. Our last destination for the night was Pulau Kalong, where we were supposed to see a group of bats flying above our ship during sunset. Unfortunately, the bats didn’t come out that night, probably because there were too many ships anchored there.

Day 2: komodo by the beach in Pulau Komodo

So we’d been warned: trekking on our third day would have been really tiring. It was proven. We started our first day at 5 AM (well, the ship crews started it that early, we only woke up at 7 AM when we’d arrived at our destination) to head to Pulau Padar. It was the highest track we climbed; the track was really slippery with sand and very few rocks to hold on to. We trekked for 45 minutes, but then what we saw was really pretty – we saw 3 gulfs surrounding the island, all 3 with different colors: black, pink and white. It was really pretty that we even recorded a music video there (for private use only LOL). Next, we went to Pulau Rinca, another island with big population of komodo. We also trekked the hill there, but it was not so sloppy so I survived. The komodos were smaller than the ones we saw in Pulau Komodo, so they are said to move faster. Our (certainly) last destination was Pulau Kelor, for another trekking. Due to my shoes condition (the soles didn’t survive Pulau Padar they fell off) and the tour guide’s story that the track there is the hardest one, I decided not to climb the hill. It was not so high, but my friends told me that the slope is 45 degrees and the rocks are located far apart from each other that they had to duck on their way down. After Pulau Kelor, we went back to Labuan Bajo to (finally, yeay!!) stay in the hotel there.

Highlight of the trip (top-bottom): sunset (day 1) and sunrise (day 2) at Gili Lawa, and 3 gulfs at Pulau Padar (day 3)

We spent our last day in Labuan Bajo getting to know around our hotel, trying to find souvenirs (failed) and eating good seafood before we went back to Jakarta. The most interesting thing we tried was Jungle Juice (thanks to Reni for introducing the drink to us) in Treetop Restaurant, a combination of aren (traditional alcoholic drink), Kratingdaeng (red bull), and soda. After a good lunch, we thanked our tour guide and were taken to the airport. The flight home was delayed for 1.5 hours, by the way, which we spent playing cards to kill time (because there’s no reception there for carriers other than Telkomsel). We flew with NAM Airline for Labuan Bajo-Denpasar and Sriwijaya Air for Denpasar-Jakarta.

The peaceful sea view from inside the ship

Arriving home safely, I just realized that I got sun-burnt really badly (my sister would stare at me from head to toe when I arrived, then said: how come you are so tanned), but I am happy. The trip was worth all the sunburn (and I didn’t shower for 3 days during my time at the ship); Komodo is a very beautiful place that I would recommend everyone to visit. However, if you got time, you might want to exercise a bit before going there – one thing I regretted was I didn’t exercise enough that I wasn’t physically fit when I was there. Please, please, please do not let it get dirty. Tourists, please be responsible with nature. Take only pictures, leave only footprints.

 

 

Karimunjawa Trip

The idea of having another holiday with friends has been there all along after our last year’s trip to Derawan (post here) and since my traveling buddy was so busy with his thesis this year, we finally decided to take a short holiday instead of a time consuming one. Our choice fell for Karimunjawa, an archipelago consisting of 27 islands located in northwest of Jepara, Central Java. There were only 3 of us when I first arranged the trip, but we ended up as a group of 10. Some friends went there back in 2010 and the review was pretty good. You might want to know more about it here. As we did when we traveled to Derawan, we joined WisataKita again this time.

We actually took the 3D2N tour, from Friday to Sunday, but since the ship will depart early on Friday, we had to fly to Semarang (the closest airport to Jepara) on Thursday evening, go directly by land to Jepara and stayed there for 1 night. None of us had been there before, so the transportation method reference from Jepara’s tourism website was really helpful. I contacted all 5 travels listed there, but finally chose Panama Travel as they are the most flexible one – the others would only depart outside of their regular service hour at a higher price. So off we go to Jepara from Semarang airport and stayed the night in Samudra Hotel, located near Kartini port at Jepara.

We met WisataKita crew at 8 AM in Kartini port, from where Bahari Express will depart. For your info, there are 3 options to go to Karimunjawa: KMC Kartini departing from Semarang every Thursday, Friday and Saturday with the duration of 4 hours, Bahari Express (which we took) departing from Jepara every Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the duration of 2 hours, and KMP Siginjai (ferry) departing from Jepara every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday with the duration of 4.5 hours. Bahari Express departed on time at 9 AM and we arrived in Karimunjawa port at 11 AM.

Bahari Express that took us to and from Karimunjawa

Day 1 – so glad to finally arrived at Karimunjawa

Again, instead of staying at villager’s houses, we upgraded the accommodation to Kelapa Karimunjawa Beach Resort. It was the most distant accommodation the tour participants were staying as it is located 2-3 km from the town square (alun-alun), so WisataKita team booked a minibus to pick us up every time. As soon as we arrived, we were picked up and checked in at the resort to have lunch and arrange our belongings before we continued with the activities.

At 2 PM, we were back at the port to go to Cemara Besar island and snorkel there. The first impression when our boat set sail there was how clean and beautiful the sea was. When we snorkeled, however, the coral reefs are not so colorful (or maybe it was the effect of me having seen Derawan before). After snorkeling for 1 hour, we went back to Karimunjawa island to chill out at Tanjung Gelam beach. The beach is so clean with white, soft sand that is so beautiful during sunset. After sunset, we went back to the resort.

Day 1 – Tanjung Gelam beach

Day 2 – sea view from Kelapa Karimunjawa Beach Resort

Our second day started at 8 AM, when the minibus again took us to the port. We spent the whole day on the boat (we cannot do much at the resort anyway, since there is no electricity from 6 AM to 6 PM!). First destination was snorkeling at Pulau Kecil, where we saw beautiful fishes and quite colorful coral reefs (again, not as colorful as the ones in Derawan) with clear view. The downside, though, was the sea level is so low that some of us hit the coral reefs (which only later I know would cause great itchiness to the affected skin). The trip continued to Batu Topeng beach, again located in Karimunjawa island, where we had lunch and had some time to play frisbee and chill out.

Day 2 – Batu Topeng beach

After lunch, off we go to another snorkeling at Pulau Tengah. Unfortunately, the sea level was quite high that Pulau Gosong (a sand island with an area of only 5 m x 8 m) didn’t appear on the surface so we didn’t go there. After snorkeling, we directly went to Pulau Menjangan Besar to see the shark captivity. Then, we went back to the resort. Later that evening, we were taken to the town square to buy some souvenirs. Instead of buying souvenirs, we were tempted by the very cheap fresh seafood (we were too late to taste the lobsters and clams but we still got to taste the giant squid priced only 35 kIDR) and ordered grilled squid, and very tasty kelapa bakar (grilled coconut – they put the coconut on fire and after the shell turned black, they crack it open to put in some cracked grilled ginger and honey). Satisfied with the snack we had (that was after we had dinner at the resort), we bought some firecrackers and fireworks before we went back to the resort.

Day 1 – sunset at Tanjung Gelam

On the third day, we had to finally say goodbye to Karimunjawa – our ship departed at 9 AM, 2 hours earlier than the scheduled time and arrived at Jepara port at 11 AM. Well, it wasn’t the end of our trip yet. Our flight was at 7.20 PM so we still got plenty of time to have some culinary adventure in Semarang after we arrived there at 1.30 PM. We had the famous lumpia semarang, nasi soto ayam, wingko babat, another famous Oen ice cream, nasi gandul, and nasi ayam until 6 PM when we went to the airport.

***curcol part***

Apparently, God didn’t allow us to fly back to Jakarta that night. It was the day of the JW Lounge incident at Soekarno Hatta airport, Jakarta and somehow no Garuda Indonesia flight was departing that day. After waiting for almost 6 hours at Ahmad Yani airport, Semarang, we decided to stay for another night in Semarang and fly back to Jakarta the next afternoon by other airline, to prevent another delay by Garuda. Thanks to my situation-maker traveling buddies, the tense was not too high and we enjoyed the extra night. We even had some lunch box from another famous restaurant in Semarang and the famous lekker Paimo before we took off. The trip that was supposed to end on Sunday evening had finally ended on Monday afternoon and we all had fun. 🙂

Overall, one thing to remember when you book your trip to Karimunjawa is to go there before you explore the eastern part of Indonesia. Otherwise, you will be a bit disappointed. The place is beautiful, with the clear blue sky and sea, but still the sea creatures are lacking compared to those of eastern Indonesia, say, in my case, Derawan.

My message to other travelers (I heard this from Adam, my tour guide of Great Ocean Rd trip back in 2012): leave only footprints, take only pictures. Wherever you’re going.

Sawarna Trip

The trip started with a short conversation and impulsive decision coming from a friend and me on our way back home. We agreed that we needed a short getaway (after our last vacation to Derawan back in July 2014 – see my post here) and this busybody friend of mine proposed to go on 1-3 January 2015, with the 4th as a spare day for a rest. I’d then suggested to go to Sawarna, a beautiful (I’d only seen it in pictures back then) beach located in Pulau Jawa. (To be exact: in Lebak, Banten.)

As always, I took the initiative to ask some friends for options: first option is to drive on our own (this was our initial plan) so I asked for cheap and clean homestay contact numbers and the second one is to join a tour with all-in package including return transport from Jakarta to Sawarna and homestay. After some quick calculation, we decided to go with the second option, joining LiburanBareng (this is another small local tour agent).

Our trip started on 1 January 2015 near midnight (we departed from our meeting point in Plaza Semanggi at 11 PM) to arrive in Sawarna on the 2nd at 4 AM. (The predicted trip duration was 6-7 hours, so we were ahead schedule.) We weren’t able to check in to the homestay that early, so we took some rest and had breakfast at the homestay owner’s house before starting our “adventure”. It was raining but didn’t stop us from going – at 9 AM, we started our walk to Goa Lalay (‘lalay’ means bat in Sundanese, the local language) for caving. There are several routes for caving that you can choose, but we only took the shortest, easiest one. It took us approximately 2 hours from getting in until we got out. The walk was slippery but pretty fun, especially because you can see bats sleeping on the cave ceiling. I’m wondering how it looks like in the inner parts of the cave – the local guide told us that the stalactites are prettier and more natural since there are fewer people going there.

Going back from Goa Lalay, we checked in at our homestay, got cleaned up and had lunch. After a power nap while waiting for the rain to stop, we took another walk to…. *drumroll* the beach. Finally. Our first purpose going to Sawarna. So the first beach that we visited was Pantai Tanjung Layar, located not so far from our homestay. After some pictures and coconuts, we walked back to our homestay to have a rest.

The last day, we were supposed to wake up early so we can get the sunrise view from Pantai Karang Bokor and Pantai Karang Taraje (‘taraje’ means ladder in local language), but due to tiredness from the previous day, we all overslept and only went there after sunrise. We were lucky though, it was sunny when we got there, in contrast to the weather the morning before. So we walked from one end to another, sunbathed (unplanned, but all of us were sunburnt by the time we got back to the homestay) and took a lot of pictures. These 2 hidden beaches (it was actually 1 beach area divided into 2 or more attraction points) were worth the 2 km walk, not to mention the elevating and slippery routes. After cleaning up and lunch, we had to say goodbye to Sawarna to go back to Jakarta.

(The trip to Jakarta was pretty torturing – we left Sawarna at 1.30 PM, only to arrive at Jakarta at 11.30 PM.) Overall, I’m quite happy with our short getaway, regardless the less active trait of the tour guide. Sawarna is a recommended place for those who want to have a short vacation from Jakarta.

Pantai Karang Bokor, Sawarna

Derawan Trip

End of 2013, my friends and I agreed that we’ll go on a holiday together in 2014. After several rescheduling due to everyone’s business, we finally agreed on the dates of our trip. The destination this year is Derawan (we’ll explore more area later next years). With recommendation of a colleague, I chose WisataKita (web here), a small local travel agent based in Solo. In the end, we went there in a group of 9. 🙂

Our trip started early morning from Jakarta to Tarakan (4 hours direct flight, but most flights transit in Balikpapan). From the airport, we were picked up and driven to the Tarakan port. After settling down the remaining of our payment, we continued to Derawan Island by speedboat (2.5-3 hours, depending on the sea waves).

landed in Balikpapan – Day 1

Instead of taking the regular package of staying at the villager’s houses, we upgraded to Derawan Fisheries (pretend-to-be fishermen’s houses which face the dock) and 2 of us stayed at Derawan Dive Resort (the more elite upgrade, a resort which has its own beach where you can even start snorkeling and diving from). I can say that I like the upgrade (I stayed at Derawan Fisheries), it was pretty cheap (additional 125k/pax if you’re sharing with 2 people and 225k/pax if you’re sharing with only 1 other person) and we can spend the morning sitting on the dock, enjoying the view of the sea.

finally arrived in Derawan – Day 1

Day 2, we started early in the morning, at 8 AM. Our first destination was Maratua Island, 2 hours by speedboat. We were supposed to snorkel there, but due to the high waves, the snorkeling was cancelled and we only played at the beach and took some pictures. Off from Maratua, we continued to the beautiful lagoon in Kakaban Island, 1 hour by speedboat (and a long 1 hour struggle for some people having sea nausea). After taking some pictures, we had lunch there. After lunch, we went to the other side of Kakaban Island and snorkeled in the stingless jellyfish lake (there are only 2 places of stingless jellyfish lake in the world: Kakaban and Palau, Micronesia – source: www.stinglessjellyfish.com). We then moved on to Sangalaki Island, 1 hour from Kakaban, where if you’re lucky, you will be able to find mantas. The local guide told us that the last time he took tourists there, they were only able to see 1 manta. We were very lucky because when we were there, we saw the manta.. not only one, but many of them. Some of us (because the sea area is quite deep, only some strong swimmers were brave enough to see the mantas directly) went snorkeling with the mantas. In Sangalaki, there is a green sea turtle captivity, the biggest one in Indonesia. Unfortunately, the waves were very high that we didn’t get a chance to land there.

Kakaban Island – Day 2

lagoon in Kakaban Island – Day 2

Bonus from day 2: even though we didn’t get a chance to see baby turtles in the captivity, we were lucky enough to see not only one, but two sea turtles spawned in Derawan Island.

Day 2 bonus: spawning sea turtles

Day 3, the schedule was more relaxed. We started at 10 AM to snorkel around Derawan Island area. We didn’t get to see many things, though, due to the high waves and unclear visibility of the sea water. After snorkeling, we had lunch at the Fisheries and took a nap. The trip continued at 2 PM, where we went to Pulau Gusung (it was too small to be called an island), a beautiful land composed of sand. What’s unique about this land is the structured sand: some areas have bigger, rougher sand, while the other areas have smaller, softer sand. We spent 1 hour at the land to take a lot of pictures before going on to snorkel at sniper, an area around Derawan Island where the corals are so big that you can even step on some of them. Satisfied with the beautiful corals and fish, we went back to Dive Resort to play banana boat. Banana boat is the end of day 3.

beautiful sunset taken from Fisheries balcony – Day 3

On the last day, we left Derawan at 8.30 AM. Arrived in Tarakan port at 11.30, we went straight to the town to have lunch. After lunch, we moved to mangrove forest to see bekantan (a breed of monkey with long nose), bought souvenirs, and took some rest at Rumah Adat (traditional house) before going back to the airport, to reality.

Rumah Adat at Tarakan – Day 4

Overall, I would recommend all of you who are interested in coming to Derawan to actually go. The beach and islands are very pretty, regardless the high waves that might cause you sea nausea (it is recommended to go in April-May when the waves are normally not too bad). The crews of WisataKita are also very friendly and helpful, making us feel like a big family. The trip from Jakarta to Derawan is a long one but it was worth the time. 🙂

P.S.: Not recommended for older people since the activities mostly require strong physic.

my firsts in the first 10 weeks of 2014

1. Jan. 2014: BBQ by the beach. During my uni time, BBQ is like normal thing to do at least once a year. We normally did that in a friend’s house which has large open area so the smoke won’t disturb the neighborhood. At the beginning of this year, on new year to be exact, my family and I, who were on a tour, had BBQ by Lovina beach at Bali. It was special because firecrackers and fireworks were everywhere around that beach.

2. Jan. 2014: Charity work. An offer to join the small charity group with no religious mission had caught my attention (also) at the beginning of this year. Joining my first ever charity work with other boys and girls my age (at their 20s), I got a lot of experience. We went to Ragunan Zoo with the kids from the orphanage. The experience was tiring but relieving.

3. Feb. 2014: BBQ with cousins till we dropped (literally). On Valentine’s day this year (which happened to also be the 15th day of the 1st month in Chinese calendar, so the full moon was there), my cousins and I had our first BBQ experience. At the house of one of my cousin’s grandma, we set up our BBQ, light the fire and fan it out so it would burn more. We finished eating after the 4th round of BBQ, but we continued chit-chatting until past midnight (by which time the grandma had slept). It was Friday too so most of us went there straight after work. By midnight, most of us could hardly open our eyes fully so we decided to clean things up and go home.

4. Feb. 2014: Fun walk on car free day. This was actually another cause, but this time it was powered by Yayasan Onkologi Anak Indonesia (YOAI, or translated to be: Indonesia’s children oncology foundation) and sponsored by many big companies. For the first time, I walked along Thamrin from Monas to Bunderan HI during car free day. By this, doing sport with cousins is checked and enjoying car free day is also checked.

5. Mar. 2014: Hiking/trekking at Gunung Pancar, then bathing at the (not-so) natural hot spring. I agreed to a friend’s offer half-heartedly, yet I went back home full-heartedly, even that I got bruises here and there and I can barely feel my limbs. I was always skeptical to any hiking and other mountain-related activities, because I realize that I’m not a strong person. Doing it with friends was different, though.. you would chat and joke all the time that when you saw your surroundings, you’ve finally reached the target point. I would say my first hiking experience was fun and I would definitely do it again if the field difficulty is easy to medium.

*Photos are coming up later.