I've got friends

When you're down and troubled

And you need some loving care

And nothing, nothing is going right

Close your eyes and think of me

And soon I will be there

To brighten up even your darkest night

You just call out my name

And you know wherever I am

I'll come running to see you again

Winter, spring, summer or fall

All you have to do is call

And I'll be there

You've got a friend

If the sky above you

Grows dark and full of clouds

And that old north wind begins to blow

Keep your head together

And call my name out loud

Soon you'll hear me knocking at your door

You just call out my name

And you know wherever I am

I'll come running, running

to see you again

Winter, spring, summer or fall

All you have to do is call

And I'll be there, yes I will

You've got a friend..

Now ain't it good to know

that you've got a friend

When people can be so cold

They'll hurt you, yes, and desert you

And take your soul if you let them

Oh, but don't you let them.

"you've got a friend" song by Carole King

Dedicated to my best friends... Love ya to pieces!!

Great Experience with Bali then.. and Now..

After eight years, I finally stepped in this island again, the land of paradise, that’s what everybody calls it.  Well, it’s fair enough since Bali is the most famous tourist place in Indonesia.  Who doesn’t know Bali?  Everybody knows Bali!  In fact, some foreigners don’t recall Indonesia unless if you mention Bali.  Pretty disappointing I guess.  Well, perhaps Bali is nearly perfect.  Who wouldn’t enjoy sitting by Kuta beach, breathing the air from the sea, drinking beer while suffering from the heat and humidity as the sweat streaming down to every inch of your tanned skin.  Not to mention the crowd around the beach where everyone is busy with their activity; surfers hitting their board against the tide, a couple alternately putting sun block lotions on, a family giggling happily watching their kids swimming with their dog by the beach, some kids working on sand castle, and all that.  The atmosphere just fits perfectly when you want to enjoy a vacation, business, and even just an escape from a bored city you’re living in.  

The last time I was here, was in 2002, eight years ago.  I used to come here with family, at least twice a year and we would spend 5 to 6 days here.  We usually stayed in one place where it has everything, such as Nusa Dua area.  This area is almost complete.  Nice-clean-private beach, awesome swimming pool, the hotel provides boogie boards, kayaks, parasailing, surfboards; they even have play ground and baby care.  Of course, it’s not for free.  Shopping center and nice restaurants are pretty close to each other. 

Since everything was a walking-distance in Nusa Dua area, we hardly went downtown or other places.  Well, we would go downtown once and that made me unfamiliar with downtown except Kuta beach.

Now that this year I had been gone to Bali twice, I became familiar with some places bit by bit.  First time was in January, flew there for the weekend just the three of us, Alex, Nikki and I.  Since Nikki was visiting Indonesia so I thought I’d take her there even if it was only for a really really short time.  Since Alex goes to Bali once a year, so he knows Bali by heart.  He took us to Tanah Lot and we went to see Barong dance – a traditional dance performance, these are new for us. 

 Barong dance - photo by Alex Arso

Tanah Lot is famous with its spectacular view especially at sunset, and the sacred temple that’s placed in the middle of the sea.  According to its story, the great erosion of the ocean tide that happened many years ago formed this tiny island.

 

 Tanah Lot - photo by Alex Arso  

We walked around Ubud, this place was also new for both Nikki and I.  many cool shops along the street.  We went into a store called Kou Cuisine, this store sells home made jam. 

One of the famous restaurants in Ubud is called Naughty Nuris, so we went there for lunch.  Naughty Nuris is well known with its pork rib barbeque that we had to queue for quite awhile to get in.  The owner is originally from Java who married an Austrlian man.  Interesting, yes!  I may say this is the best pork rib resto in Bali.  

 

Naughty Nuri's - Photo by Alex Arso

Lake Batur and Mt. Batur - Photo by Alex Arso

Second time was in May with some friends and they go to Bali once a year.  They took me to new places like Kintamani, we went there and saw Batur lake and mount Batur.  Batur area was formed by the collapse of an ancient volcano many years ago.  Mount Batur with a height of about 1700 meters is located next to Batur Lake.  Some native said that the volcano is still active.  What interest me was there was a village near Batur area that’s called Penelokan and there was people selling the same stuff such as bracelets, necklaces and other accessories.  Normally, if we said ‘no’ they would walk leave us alone and walk away, but these sellers here were different, they were so persistent.  “I know you said ‘no’ but you know actually I had already loss some because I came up to you and chase you around trying to sell my stuff, so at least buy something”, said a lady.  I was like WOW!!  That didn’t sound like a friendly seller.  I just rolled my eyes and walked away. 

Since I like culinary, so they took me to few different restaurants.  Menega Café is a seafood restaurant located in Jimbaran beach.  This restaurant has an extraordinary taste.  Even though there were many seafood restaurants along the beach but none of them could beat the taste of Menega Café.  Its favorite meal is barbeque shell.  I have to admit that the shell is really good, in fact I’m not a fan of shell but they use special spice that is ‘musty’.  We went there twice in a week and never felt enough of it.  

Menega cafe

Menega Cafe - crabs, calamari and shell barbeque - photo by Alex Arso

Native Balinese told us that there were few good zoos in Bali but what interest me was to see forest monkey, instead.  This forest was pretty big.  I think there were few hundreds monkey live there.  They were so benign IF you treat them nicely.

monkey forest - photo by Alex Arso

Trying on new cuisine is one of my favorite things to do while traveling, cause that’s part of a culture.  Since I was visiting Bali so local cuisine is my preference.  According to tourists, Bebek Bengil (dirty duck diner) restaurant is the best local food in Ubud area so I decided to try and people were right about how tasty it was.  Yummm.. :)

Dirty Duck Diner - photo by Alex Arso

To me Bali then and now is a LOT different, well maybe because I was there eight years ago and like I told you before I never had a chance to see other part of Bali.  Since I have seen other beaches in other islands of Indonesia, so in my point of view Bali beaches aren't as nice anymore.  Compare to Tidung island or Ujung Kulon, Bali beaches are average.  In other hand, I have to say that in terms of atmosphere, of course Bali is better.  It's got all the hype, and it's tourist destination.   

Meanwhile, Tidung and Ujung Kulon are more into wilderness atmosphere to those who loves such a great adventure.  After all, Indonesia islands are amazing!  I hope that I get a chance to see other great islands in Indonesia.  

Indonesia, saya cinta kamu selamanya!  

Journey to Ujung Kulon

It’s only a week ago that I went to visit Ujung Kulon, and I already miss that place. Ujung Kulon is located at the western-most tip of Java. It includes the volcanic island group of Krakatoa and other islands including Handeuleum and Peucang. I fell in love with this place!

 Ujung Kulon - Picture captured from google image

On Thursday the 27th of May the journey begin. There was 40 people who came along, and about 75% of it is a whole bunch of teenagers, and they were all boys who I’m guessing had never done a road trip or such. So, the rest of the percentage was adults, and let’s just say that I belong to adult group ☺ Anyway, that’s not the story I’m going to write and tell here. That night we all went the bus that took us to the destination – Ujung Kulon! Of course, I was excited since I’ve had been waiting for this trip! I had everything ready and luckily it was a long weekend so it was just a good time to escape the atmosphere of big city.

Before midnight, the bus started its engine and took off. We spent the night on the bus. I practically just sleep throughout the night – well, there’s not much you can do while you’re on the bus, is there? It was 7-hour drive to our destination and by sunrise we arrived at this village called SUMUR. We all got out of the buss and walked to the small harbor waiting for the boat to come. Apparently we had to wait for couple hours for the boat. To me, it wasn’t a problem at all since there was a coffee shop nearby where most people had a cup of black coffee while I prefer hot tea instead.
Couple hours had passed and there came the boat. It wasn’t just a boat. It was an extra ordinary boat – well, just imagine all of us (about 15 people) sitting on an open deck. Three hours of breathing the fresh air of the sea, enjoying the high wind, I DIDN’T MIND. AT ALL. I looked around and all I saw was the sea, as far as eyes could see.  We arrived at a first island called Peucang.

  Peucang Island - Photo by Alex Arso

Of all the places we’ve had been in Ujung Kulon, this place is my favorite, and why is that? Well.. Quite beach surrounded by rain forest along the shore, white sands as soft as flour, and the water was just as clear as crystal. This island is so pure. I could see the fishes swimming freely, as if they welcome us to their home. There was some deers and wild boars. Surprising how they were friendly and docile.

    The Deer and Ari - photo by Alex Arso

As soon as we got to the dock, we gathered all our belongings and had lunch. Very simple lunch if I must say. After-lunch agenda was to go to a snorkel spot and spent almost an hour enjoying the sea creatures under the water. Nemo and Dori were there. And so was Patrick the starfish.

snorkeling - photo by Alex Arso

Late afternoon we all hiked to Karang Copong where giant cliff was located and we could see beautiful sunset here. It was a 45-minute hike to Karang Copong. The path in the forest wasn’t rough at all. We saw some deers running and watching us while we were passing through. Unfortunately, when we got there it started to rain. Heavy rain. Stormy. Black clouds covered the sunset. I didn’t care. I sat on the ground and enjoy the view and pretend that it wasn’t raining and the sun was setting beautifully. It was worth it.  We hiked back to Peucang, cleaned up and had dinner. We spent the night in Cidaon – another island just across Peucang. We set up our tent and camped there. I guess that’s where we ended our first agenda on day 1.

Day 2 – we were up very early and walked to Padang Pengembalaan – it’s a savanna where we could see hundreds of rhinoceros. We spent almost an hour there but we saw none of them, instead we saw one wild bull. I guess the tour guide was just exaggerating the numbers of rhino. Nonetheless, I enjoyed being there, seeing everybody approach motionless to that one rhino just for one or two pictures.

A Rhino that's not like a rhino - photo by Alex Arso

We headed back to Peucang for breakfast. Snorkeling was in the agenda again, but this time in a different spot. I decided to stay and just swim on the beach. I have to say that I’ve never been to heaven where people go to when they died, but this place is nearly heaven. Swimming in quiet water, no wave, clear water, I could see beautiful fishes and corals. I could lay my back on the shore where the white sands spread out along the beach. I could say the beach was mine since nobody was there except me and some friends. I was so content! Without realizing, a lizard had been watching, it was about 4 feet long, and slowly approach to our place. Nervous yet curious, that’s how I felt. Apparently, the lizard smelled a dead fish somewhere in the water. All the sudden, there was two lizard were eating the dead fish.
After lunch, we headed to another island called Cibom and hiked to Tanjung Layar. It’s a place where Netherland building had collapsed. There was nothing much we could do since the beach is surrounded by giant rocks, and there stood a giant cliff by the savanna. The savanna is a bit hilly and covered by green grass all over. Reminds me of a movie called Sound of Music. Shameless, my friends and I made a move and sang a song exactly from the movie. We could see the lighthouse from where we stood. I think Tanjung Layar wasn’t as exciting as Peucang, but what made it exciting was the challenge to hike through muddy path. It was about an hour walking with mud, must keeping the balance and try hard not to slip or fall. It wasn’t our lucky day to see sunset again because when we got there it rained.

 Sunset at Tanjung Layar - photo by Alex Arso

 Sunrise at Tanjung Layar

Day 3 – waking up early again, and still in Tanjung Layar. Went for a walk to the hill to see sunrise. I have to admit that I’m not a morning person, hate waking up early so much. In other way, I have to admit that I’m glad I got up that morning – felt the morning breeze, smelled the dew, and inhaled fresh air. I wish there is a place like that in Jakarta, I’d be a morning person.

After breakfast we hiked back to Cibom and sailed back to Peucang Island - our tour guide needed to do a quick administration so we all just stayed on the boat. We sailed to Handeuleum – another island where we canoed. Since there was only four canoes available, some of us didin’t really want to queue. So, some went canoeing and some stayed in the island. I decided to stayed in the island and explored. Handeuleum is simpler than Peucang. I think people came here just for canoeing or just chilled in the cottage. There’s no beach. Many coconut trees and mango trees so we ended up drinking coconut drink and pilled off some mangoes, had them as our snack before lunch. I guess the deers could smell the juice from mango so they approached us. We fed them some mangoes. It was just so amazing being so close to them without fear and worry as if they could understand when we said we won’t do any harm. After having a late lunch we continued sailing to the main harbor, Sumur then heading back toJakarta. 

So, that’s how I spent my long weekend. On the sea. In the wilderness. Being unite with the nature. Full of happiness. I’m so glad I came and got to see one of beautiful islands of Indonesia and glad to share a great story and experience. Whoever read this and haven’t been to Ujung Kulon, well please do so and prove it yourself.

Cidaon island harbor - photo by Alex Arso