SINGAPORE, HAVING A NEW FAMILY IN THE FINED COUNTRY

I am 29 years old and this is my first time traveling overseas? Yeah, shame on me! But my previous job didn't give me a lot of time off and I was a little bit busy traveling inside my country, Indonesia, so here I am traveling overseas for the first time. But better late than never, right?! J

So after a hectic week trying to arrange a trip and finish the job at my office, here I am standing at Changi International Airport with my best friend, Irma (her full name is Nur Hidayah), and my co-worker, Ichi (full name Mirah Kharisma Ayu Pratiwi), while drizzle falls outside. I feel a little confused because this is the first time I have seen so many information boards in English in a day. LOL.

MT. SEMERU TRIP: HIKING TO THE HIGHEST PEAK IN JAVA ISLAND WITH 13 BOYS

Planning a trip to Mt. Semeru was not easy. Lots of obstacles and problems plagued us, but finally 13 guys and I were going to the highest peak on Java island. We went to Malang, East Java by Matarmaja train. This is an economy train, and being on it for almost 18 hours makes the body stiff. We were so bored because this train is also very slow.

After arriving at the Malang train station, we then continued to Tumpang, a village in the Semeru valley. We had a woman named Rani help us rent a jeep. We stayed a few hours at her house while waiting for the jeep to come. After that, we continued the journey by Jeep to the climbing office Ranu Pani. The jeep was pretty small for 14 people and 13 big bag packs. But considering that's the only vehicle that exists in this area so yeah..whatever!

SUMBA ISLAND, THE BELIEF OF MARAPU AND THE TRADITION OF PASOLA

The small house in the middle is a place for Rato, the highest priest of Marapu religion, to pray

I got a chance to visit this island because my office sent me to cover a story about a local religion, or according to the Indonesian government, a local belief called Marapu. The preparations to visit this island are crazy because information about the place is really limited on the Internet. I didn't know the name of the airport on this island; I don't know whether they have a hotel or not (because this is such a small and remote island). I don't even know whether they have a real road or not. Seriously! 

After doing some research, my friend, Syarifah Nur Aida and I finally, chose an afternoon flight from Jakarta to Denpasar in Bali, stayed at a Hostel at Kuta beach for a night and then got another flight to Waikabubak, the capital city of West Sumba region, the next morning. After getting a hotel at Waikabubak city for IDR 200.000/night (approximately USD 20), the journey (or the work, LOL) began.

DUDE, THIS SUMBA, NOT SUMBAWA!

In the middle of May 2012, I got a job assignment to cover a story about local religion at Sumba Island, East Nusa Tenggara (Lesser Sunda). Preparing everything to visit this island is already making me stressful because it's such a secluded island and the information about this island especially in Indonesia language is extremely limited.

I have to search on all flight website that exist in Indonesia, even the small and private ones, just to find is there any flight to Tambolaka airport at West Sumba or Waingapu airport at East Sumba region. After looking for almost 2 weeks intensively, finally I found out that there were only 3 flight company has a schedule to this island, Batavia air, Lion air, and Merpati airlines. Too bad, a few month ago, Merpati airline were bankrupt so right now there were only Batavia air and Lion air.

Tambolaka airport at West Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara Province

BETWEEN THE SKY, THE STAR AND THE CITYLIGHT

Here i found the light that I wanted

Light in the sky, Light in the earth

And I was in the shade of mother nature

which embrace me under the cold air flow

A burst of light in the eastern horizon

Spilled the grains of gold

As a greeting to the morning sun

(Mt. Sikunir, Dieng Plateau, Central Java, July 2012.. While waiting for the golden sunrise)

THE GLORIOUS MOMENT OF BONTANG CITY CARNIVAL

To celeberate its second birthday, Bontang city at East Kalimantan province, Indonesia held a carnival named Bontang City Carnival at 13th October 2013. This is some of the pictures I was capture during those event.

The preparations.. 

LEARNING ABOUT PUPPET AT PUPPET MUSEUM IN JAKARTA

Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia and has a lot of things to see. If you are museum enthusiastic, Jakarta got dozens of museum to see. One of the museum in Jakarta was a Wayang or Puppet Museum. This museum is located in the Old City area of western Jakarta.

Puppet Museum Building

The Puppet museum building was once an old church building which was built by the VOC, the Dutch East India Company, in 1640. At that time, the church building was named "De Oude Kerk Hollandsche" and was used as a place of worship until 1732. 

BEST MOMENT OF 2013

The year of 2013 bring a lot of moment and memories for me. So what is the best moment of 2013??? Here is the recap.

FEBRUARY

Step on Sumatera island for the first time. I chose Pekanbaru at Riau province as my first city to travel.

KIDAL TEMPLE: THE OLDEST TEMPLE IN EAST JAVA

When visited Malang city at  East Java for covered some story, beside visited Jago temple, I also took time to visit Kidal temple. Just like Jago temple, the Kidal temple signpost name has also been seen by me when going to hike to mount Semeru.

Kidal temple was located about 7 km from Jago temple. From Tumpang market there is no public transportation to these temple, so you must took a motorcycles ride called Ojek for a of Rp. 15,000 (around USD 1 - 2  and you could bargain the price with the driver) .

Kidal temple was located on the left side of the road. Unfortunately, these signpost name was not visible because there are so many signpost around that area. So take a look carefully at every signpost name on the roadside. Do not miss the signpost of "CANDI KIDAL".