Last week I went to Bali with my family. By family, I mean not only my mum and brother, but also my cousins and aunt. In total, there were 3 families that went. My family, my cousin and his wife, my aunt, another cousin with his wife, and little daughter. We used to go on a family holiday at least once a year when our dads were still alive, back when we were kids. But as we grow up, we rarely go on a holiday together due to various reasons. So, this holiday was the first in many many years. We were so excited!
Tag: indonesia
Mau Lurus Jadi Repot
Wah, saya sudah lama juga ya nggak cerita apa – apa di Selasa Indonesia. Minggu ini saya mau curhat aja ah. Akhir – akhir ini, saya sedang ketemu beberapa hal yang bikin saya repot, padahal menurut saya nggak penting. Setelah saya ngobrol dan curhat ke R, kita sepakat, hal – hal begini kejadian di kita hanya karena ada oknum – oknum yang tidak bertanggung jawab sebelumnya.
An Afternoon in Bandung
The date was December 24th – Christmas Eve. I woke up early, and rushed to catch a bus to Bandung that was scheduled to leave at 6 AM. I managed to get to the station on time and jumped into the bus. Not long after the bus departed, I fell asleep but only to woke up again not long after due to the uncomfortable seat. Repeat for about 10 times until I finally made it to Bandung.
24 hours in Bandung
Last weekend me and my friends went to Bandung. There were four of us and we’ve known each other since we joined the same company back in 2011. Though now two of us don’t work there anymore (including myself!), we remain close friends and occasionally travel together. This trip was special because it’s the last trip before one of us left to Melbourne to study. So it’s like a farewell trip too :’).
Mesmerised by Lombok – Day two
Back then, all I knew of Lombok was only its beaches. Well, only 1 beach to be exact – Senggigi beach. Then I heard about the Gilis. Of course I have heard of Mt. Rinjani, but had no interest – so I practically knew nothing about it. Then on my recent trip I was told that part of the itinerary was going to the village underneath Mt. Rinjani which is called Sembalun. Unlike my first day in Lombok (read the story here) which was full of beaches and blue sky.. the second day was about adventure and greeneries!
Since our hotel was located in Mataram area which is located in the west part of Lombok, we had a long drive to reach the north-east part of Lombok, where Sembalun village is located. I remember it was around 3 hours, including some stops here are there to buy snacks and to take pictures because really, the view was just spectacular!
With views like those, surely being on the road for around three hours was not so bad at all. Without me noticing, we arrived at our first destination – Sembalun village. We were greeted by nothing but greeneries, I found it so refreshing to my eyes! @debucung our trip planner then drove the car to a small alley and after parking the car, he told us to walk for a while. Without knowing where were we going, I walked and was greatly surprised when I saw this view after a little hike to a small hill…
Seriously I have never seen anything like that before ;’). After spending some time in the hill, we continued our trip to a nearby village and parked our car there. We then continued our journey using a motorcycle for each of us with a local guide. The journey was around 20 minutes and it was not smooth at all! Whew! quite an adventure for me! After 20 minutes on a motorcycle, we then reached another “pit stop” and parked our motorcycle there. From here – the journey was on foot. All was to see three waterfalls – Kuda Sembrani, Mangku Kodek, and Mangku Sakti.
We walked for another 15 minutes with views like these…
Until we finally reached the first waterfall – Kuda Sembrani. We had our lunch there, picnic style.. and it was a memorable one. It’s not everyday you got to have lunch with a view like this, right?
After lunch we spent some time just playing in the waters, relaxing after a long journey. Without we realising, it was almost dark! So we quickly made our way to the next waterfall.. Mangku Kodek.
Now, this is an interesting one. To be able to see the waterfall, one must actually go through the waters which was around the height of my waist. The tide was quite strong (well not that strong but I could feel it enough), so we really had to be careful when walking. It wasn’t far though, but still quite an effort. But when I saw the waterfall, it was worth it. Although it’s not that big, but the atmosphere was so pretty, I haven’t seen anything like that before. I also managed to “climb” a rock and spent some time admiring the beautiful view.
The last destination of that day was Mangku Sakti waterfall. From the three, this one was the biggest. But we did not stay long there because the sun’s was about to set. So we used all the time we had left to take pictures and just enjoy our surroundings 🙂
And that wraps our second day in Lombok. Our journey back felt like it happened in an instant, I don’t really remember. All I remember was feeling so tired (but happy!) I even slept in the car hehehe. To be honest, it really has been a while since I last spend time in the wild. It was really refreshing, especially that I am normally more of a beach than mountain person.
What about you, which one are you – beach or mountain person?
‘Til next posts! 😀
Mesmerised by Lombok – day one
Lombok is a small island in East Indonesia, next to Bali. Unlike Bali, it only became popular as a tourist destination around 5 years ago, mainly because of the much-talked-about Gilis. Yep, a lot of people mainly associate Lombok with the three Gilis – Gili Trawangan, Gili Air, and Gili Meno. But you know what, there are just so many pretty things in Lombok island other than those three Gilis!
I went to Lombok last week in a group of four, my friends from work. We booked a private tour with a local instagrammer, Ingga – widely known as @debucung. He does private tours for a living and let me just say it straightforward… he will take you to AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL places! No joke. So what places did I went to? read along and follow my journey! 🙂
Day one
We flew Batik Air from Jakarta’s Soekarno Hatta to Lombok international Airport. I remember it was rather hard to fly to Lombok, around 5 years ago when my friends first went to the Gilis – they had to transit in Bali first. But worry not, nowadays it’s getting easier to fly to Lombok from Jakarta (and I believe from other cities too?).
We arrived around noon and met Ingga – our trip planner straightaway. He then took us for lunch and went straight to our first destination. It was beach day today! First stop was Mawun beach in south of Lombok.
It was love at first sight. Though it is not too big, but it has white sands, clear sea, plus amazing hills in its surroundings. Yes, we went there during dry season, so the hills were not green… but imagine if we came around April, it must be even more beautiful! It’s not crowded too, there were only several foreigners and although there are some food stalls/vendors but I still found it serene. Too bad I did not jump into the water because I haven’t got my swimsuit and all that ready since I just arrived from the airport. Hmph. Lesson learned, always keep your beach wear handy for places like these!
Second stop was nearby Selong Belanak beach.
Selong Belanak is as pretty as Mawun, but less crowded. There were barely anyone except us and few locals there. We did not stay long there, but I surely spent enough time to capture some images, and just enjoyed the stellar view. It was such a refreshment for my eyes!
From Selong Belanak we went to Semeti Beach and Mawi Beach in Central Lombok, which happens to be located next to each other. Semeti beach is not as famous as the first two, there is no Trip Advisor page about it yet! It took us over 30 minutes drive from Selong Belanak to get to the area,which was rather deserted and it made me feel like we were in the middle of nowhere! The road was not smooth either, but the view was really pretty ..
Compared to the first two beaches, Semeti to me was more of an ‘adventure’ beach rather than a leisure one. why? because we climbed these rocks!
The rocks were hard for me to climb because, well, it has been awhile since I last been outdoor! 😦 I haven’t been very active nowadays and to be honest I didn’t expect that kind of “trail” to climb. But seeing that my friends started to climb already motivated me… until I managed to make it to the top! YEAH! I got a wee bit emotional up there because the view was spectacular!
After Semeti, we went to its neighbour – Mawi, which was also our last destination for the day. Similar to Semeti, Mawi beach also does not have sandy beach, instead the beach is full of rocks. During broad daylight it may not look as pretty as the other beaches I’ve been that day…
But it’s a complete different story during sunset! It was rather cloudy so we did not get that spectacular orange, but still.. the view was quite something :’)
So that concludes my first day in Lombok. Afterwards we went for dinner and then to our hotel in Mataram area.
I actually wanted to write all of my stories in one post but here I am just finishing day one with over 700 word count already.. hahaha. So I guess I’m going to separate the stories in several posts. I think day two will need a separate post for sure as we went up north to the villages underneath Mt.Rinjani!
So for now, here’s a sneak peek of my day two adventure.. until then! x
Christa Bercerita 