Destination: Padalarang, Bandung

As we know, this holiday is distracted with major traffic everywhere except Jakarta (cause everyone flees to other cities for vacay). And that includes my family when we head to Padalarang, Bandung. So we visited:
1. Stone Garden  A 10 hectar garden filled with different size of stones with a view of green forest hills and village. Lots of great spots here to take pictures. Keep an eye out for those pesky monkeys.    Tips:

1. It’s quite open so I suggest you to use sunblock or come here earlier.

2. Be careful not to end up at the wrong gate cause we mistakenly park at Goa Pawon’s main entrance. We have no choice but to climb 20 minutes up the hill (quite exhausting).

3. Don’t use flip flops cause it will wound your feet.
2. Goa Pawon    Known in the legends as the kitchen (aka Pawon) of Dayang Sumbing and Sangkuriang. It’s basically a cave with lots of bats (be careful not to touch those bat poops). There are also 3 huge window like holes on the wall and a small forest in the middle.  A research from 1999 indicates that this cave was usually beneath the sea. A fosil of a shark teeth, sea shells and mollusca was found here, also with a human fosil.   Tips:

1. Wear a mask cause it’s sure smells.

2. The best time to visit is at 12 cause the sun ray lights up the cave. 

3. You could use a guide if you want to know more about this cave.

PS, check out my short clip about this vacation on my youtube channel: Syafira Chika (don’t forget to subsribe :))

Belitung!!

Sometimes I have a sudden urge to travel. But when time wasn’t available, I made a must-visit list. One of the places on that list was Belitung and luckily I have a chance to go there last holiday with Hanifa and Vania.

We flew to Tanjung Pandan (Belitungs airport) on the 27th of July. The ticket (Sriwijaya Airline) price is about 900.000 rupiah. We joinned a tour package for 3 that cost us Rp 2.000.000 each including a tour around the island, a private guide, car rent, 3 traditional meals a day, and a 3 star hotel (we stayed at Maxone Hotel).

Day 1

We spend our first day exploring the cultural heritage and nature of East Belitung. Our first destination was an open pit that is used to mine tins. We have to walk pass trees for about 600 meters until we reached a highland with a view of the blue skies and a greenish blue lake at the bottom of the open pit. A great view to begin this journey. I felt really happy, despite the furious wind blowing.   (Open pit)

On to the next destination, Dewi Kwan Im Vihara, the first Buddhist monastery in Belitung. It has a view of Burung Mandi Beach, where boats were lining at the white sandy shore. The scorching heat made me want to jump and cool myself in the water. Then, we ate seafood and tried Belitung’s signature coffee at an area called 1001 Warung Kopi.   (Dewi Kwan Im Vihara) (Burung Mandi Beach)

Okay, this next destination was one of my favorite. So you guys must have heard about Andrea Hirata, a famous writer from Belitung that was known for its best seller novel, Laskar Pelangi. He established Museum Kata Andrea Hirata, the first literary museum in Indonesia since 2010. This unique and colorful museum is filled with different kinds of literature, starting from art to music. There are also facilities such a reading and writing spot, post office, a stage for free jamming, and a free school. Inspirational quotes are written everywhere, on the wall, table, floor, you name it. One of the most memorable quote was “One step to education, 1000 steps to civilization” written on the path towards the free school. This showed how important the role of education is and how grateful I am to have the opportunity to easily access education in Jakarta.    (The entrance to the museum)           (Us pretending to be students at the  museums free school) Our last destination for the day is the replica of the original Laskar Pelangi school, used for the shooting of the movie. I felt like one of the characters of the film, singing Laskar Pelangi with a wide smile and twirling happily. I did’nt realize there were 2 policeman laughing at me. 😦  (Laskar Pelangi School)

Day 2

Beaches. This was what brought us here. So obviously we MUST spend one whole day at the famous beaches and islands. And our agenda was island hopping and snorkeling (YEAH SO EXCITED!). We took a boat and head to the blue sea. The water was really clear and you could definitely see fishes swimming. The color of the sea was between light blue (shallow) and dark blue (deep).   (Tanjung Kelayang Port)

We visited Batu Garuda next to Kelayang Island that lits at night cause of the lights. There are also island like Batu Berlayar and Pulau Pasir that disappears when the sea level rises. When we arrived at Pulau Pasir about 10 in the morning, almost all parts of the island was covered by water. The unique thing about Pulau Pasir was that the island has nothing but sand and a pair of starfish.   (Batu Berlayar Island)(A pair of starfish at Pasir Island)

There was also an island called Pulau Burung that was in the movie “The Philosopher.” Lengkuas Island was the last stop before we snorkel. It has a light house, a place called Batu Susun where the legend says that angels love take a bath there.    (Burung Island)  (The beautiful gradation of the sea water) (Batu Susun)

Now for the part I’ve been waiting for.. SNORKELING WITH DA FISHES. Life jacket. Check. Goggles. Check. So whats left to do was jump in the water. It was AWESOME. The fishes were more diverse and the corals were quite alive cause some of them were dead :(. The life jacket was getting annoying (we couldn’t swim deeper), so we took it off and jumped from the top of the boat, straight to the water. Oh yeah, we also fed the fishes with bread, so them fishes were all around us. We took underwater pictures with a go pro lended by our tour guide (big thanks to him!).  After enjoying the sea, we ate delicious fish at an island. It was so far the best lunch ever cause of the spectacular view!

We went back to shore and stop by the famous Tanjung Tinggi, where they shoot the film “Laskar Pelangi”. The rocks were huge and tall, and scattered around the beach, pretty much the same as the other islands. We ended the day at Berahu Hill eating fried banana and coffee while enjoying the sunset. (Us wondering around the rocks)

Day 3

We spend our last day visiting 2 places. First was the traditional house of Belitung that was made entirely of wood. And our last destination was the Kaolin Lake where plenty of sky blue lakes were surrounded by white sand.   (Kaolin Lake)

From this trip, I learned that I’m lucky to be an Indonesian with all our magnificent nature waiting to be explored. I would rather travel around Indonesia rather than going abroad. So my wish is to visit as many places in Indonesia as possible. How about you?

Ps: check out our vlog (part 1 and two) by clicking this link!! http://youtu.be/3zTEG-nWTec or visit Youtube.com/vaniadesideria

Family Time – Pangandaran Beach

This super long holiday (3 whole months!) excites me. But sadly, I spent half of it doing nothing interesting (super bored). So I was so glad when my big family decided to visit Pangandaran 2 days after Lebaran, 20th July to be exact. We left at night and it took about 11 hours (including resting and we got stuck in traffic) to get there. We stayed 2 nights at Melia Beach Hotel for Rp 3.500.000 (holiday season so prices went up) and   it was a walk away from Pangandaran beach. So whats interesting about Pangandaran is:
The attractions

1. Pangandaran Beach

Located just across the hotel, this beach is filled with people and shops. It has a no swimming sign cause of the huge waves but forget the rules cause people just dont care and wanna swim (without thinking about the danger). But overall, its a nice place to sit around, eat and enjoy the view (especially when the sun sets).

  
2. Pangandaran Sanctuary (Cagar Alam)

There will be alot of people offering a tour around the island with the price of Rp 250.000. You could hop on the boat from west or east (near the sanctuary) Pangandaran Beach. From the boat, we could see the view of the sanctuary and its white beaches from the sea. There are also a couple of houses in the middle of the ocean called “Rumah Bagang” that is used to catch shrimps and fishes. At night, it shines a light in the ocean to attract planktons and eventually attract alot of fishes and shrimps. We also saw a giant rock that is shaped like a sail called “batu layar”.    Rumah Bagang  Batu Layar

  Me and my brother at the boat

Finally, the boat stopped at the beach where a group of monkeys and deers were peeking through the trees.
We visit a small cave that was known as the place where Dewi Renggani bathes. The special thing about the water is if you wash your face with it, it will give you eternal youth . The scientific explanation is the ph here is neutral because the water was absorbed by the hills through the limestone until it drops inside the cave.   

The next cave is called Parat Keramat. It is dark inside so I suggest you to bring a flashlight with you or rent one for Rp 10.000. There are lots of rocks such as batu gajah that resembles an elephant, batu jodoh that has a legend that if you took a picture there you could find your soulmate faster and my favorite one, batu gamelan that if you hit the rocks it has different sounds that sounds like gamelan cause of the difference resonance.

 Batu Gajah  Ando and Iko seeking for love at Batu Jodoh

2. Green Canyon

Pangandaran is famous for its green canyon. But wait, this canyon is different from the grand canyon. It is basically a greenish blue river that is surrounded by tall trees and cliffs. The water is really clear, you could see fishes and small crabs inside. There are 2 ways to explore this place, by boat or by body rafting. A 45 minute boat ride cost Rp 150.000 for a maximum load of 6 people. But the exploration is limited cause of the narrow river. So I recommend you to try body rafting for Rp 200.000/person cause you could explore further, but you have to have a good endurance cause to get to the river you have to ride a truck and walk quite far. Sadly I didnt get to try it cause I woke up late, so you have to go there at the morning.

3. Batu Hiu Beach

This is a beach with huge waves and a cliff. Its just beautiful and really clean. I spend most of my time here just staring at the ocean, relaxing.   

4. Snorkling

It cost Rp 250.000 for five of us to snorkle for an hour near the sanctuary. Cause Ando is afraid of water, he waits in the boat while the rest of us (Rido, Maya, my mom) jumped into the water. The water was clear and we get to feed the fishes with bread. It was cool to see different fishes gather around us the waves pushed us further from the boat so we sometimes have to swim towards the boat. The surprising thing is there are jelly fishes in the water! I have to be careful not to touch their tentacles but after 30 minutes in the water I felt a slight of pain on my feet. I decided to finish snorkling, assuming I was stung by a jelly fish (but it turns out that the sea water manage to get into my skin).

  
5. Night cycling
There are alot of bikes for rent here. The unique thing is that some of it was shaped as a cart and vw beatle (my favorite) with neons and music. These things definitely cause traffic but it doesnt stop me to rent a beatle bike for Rp 150.000/hour. It fits 4 people but there were 7 of us so we cramped inside it and Maya stands at the back of the “car”. It was really heavy to cycle but its just a fun thing to do at night! 
The food

The seafood here is fresh, delicious and relatively cheap so this is my main menu here. There are also food like bubur ayam, ketupat tahu and their friends. I also tried a popular noodle (I forgot the name). Oh yeah, and I love hanging out at Bamboo Cafe that is exactly infront of our hotel. They got free wifi (so important cause the reception there was bad), good food and live music (the menu said “party all night” LOL)
I began to notice how beautiful Indonesia is and cant wait to explore more! So why sit around at home when you have the energy to travel and do other useful activities?