Stunning View of Iconic Tulips at Keukenhof Garden

Last month on the 3rd May 2019 at the last day of our tour, 5 of us (my mom, my sisters and my brother-in-law) visited Keukenhof after checking out from our hotel. It's the most exciting place we would like to see, people say the best to see Tulip in mid to end of Apr. Arriving Keukenhof around 09:00 o'clock, the weather was quite cold around 10 degree Celsius, so we wore our coat to protect us from the wind and weather. We had to walk from the parking area to the gate, the bus was not allowed to drop us in front of the entrance. While waiting for our tour leader bought the ticket, we took some pictures on the gate which already had beautiful colorful blossom Tulips. The Tour Leader (TL) only gave us around 2.5 hours to explore the garden, and he informed that the meeting point would be right in front of the gate.

Passing through the entrance one by one I asked a map from the guard, they said that free maps were available in different languages on a stand just a few steps after the entrance. The map was important, it's good to help us to see the whole area allocation, and discover the way during our journey. A beautiful girl with traditional clothes was standing next to the map location, she didn't mind when we asked her to take picture together. The area was quite huge, 32 hectares, while the time was limited, so we had to decide which part to be visited. Our TL suggested to go to the windmill area first by turning to the right direction from the entrance, but my family decided to go the other way (left side) to split from the group, 2 couples were joined us.

The 1st part visited was quite amazing already, so many beautiful tulips planted in the area. It's planted in square for different color and type of Tulips. Some of them already bloomed a lot, such as the "Yellow Sun" Tulip with its beautifully ruffled golden yellow blooms. Deep lilac Passionale tulip was attracted us, its color was stand out among others. Our friend was kind enough to take our family picture. Botanical Tulip (Giuseppe Verdi) were also beautiful with its lovely bright gold, wide red stripes on the inside and carmine stripes on the outside. We spent quite a long time there taking many pictures there, till we realized that there were still many other location to be visited in the garden.

We crossed a white bridge, taking the footpath to continue the journey. On the left side of the path we could see 5 big round pots surrounding a smaller pot, the pots dominated with red, pink, yellow and white color of flowers, very few leaves shown. At the right side we could sit on benches with background of Tulip to enjoy the garden, bi-colors tulip and fringe tulips type planted here. Unfortunately we could not take picture in the middle of the flower such as the previous place, they put ropes to avoid people step on the grass. Wandering the garden here was quite shady as some big trees were sheltering us.

Arriving at "Irene" pavilion, we saw a big organ displayed as the decoration. A small pond with its tree fountain was as the main attraction in this area, beautiful purple prince tulips were planted on a big pot at the edge of the pool. Some of us taking time to go to the restroom as the weather quite mild and we didn't know how long we could find another restroom again in the garden. While waiting for them, we kept taking pictures with beautiful rows of Tulips under the high trees. Queen of Night tulip which its color almost black was found near to the river stream.

We remembered that our TL had mentioned around the big pool is very beautiful view with many Tulips. We were rather lost track as we passed by many big trees with no flowers, we decided to turn and tried to find the shortest path to the big pool as the time keep ticking. After walking for a few minutes... finally we could find the right track. We found so many Tulips surrounding the pool, it made us very excited and speechless. Taking pictures from any angles were beautiful, it needed no photography expert to do it :-) They arranged the garden beautifully decorated with different colors Tulips. Combining with purple small flower (looked like Lavender) on the hilly contour had created an amazing view. We didn't have enough time to go around the big pool with its fountain, as our next destination to Windmill was far at the other side of the pool. I'm very fond of the combination of flower, water and blue sky, it's refreshing our soul.

We passed by small hut with Keukenhof signage, it's beautifully decorated with Tulips at the front, while the background big trees with green and red color such as during fall. Next to it was "Wilhemina" pavilion with a small cafeteria, unfortunately we didn't want to waste our time for drinking or snack time as we still had many places to explore. I wish I could have time to sit down admire the garden while having your coffee or tea, maybe someday I'll be back there with more time to explore the whole garden, not in a rush.

At the edge of the pool we could find some colorful beautiful ducks, unfortunately I didn't have bread to feed them. Near another bridge to pass by, there was a small garden with white horse and its jockey statue. We asked the other visitor's assistance to take our group picture, as we didn't go with our TL who often helped us taking group picture :-) The garden also had a white statue of Tulip bulb as the symbol and decoration. I kept taking many pictures while others kept walking, I was almost always the last in the group then I had to run to catch them.

To cross the pool there were also step stones on the water, close to the fountain. Some people taking this path, actually I would like to try and ask others to take my picture. As I was the last, nobody could help me, so I just took the picture of the view. We still found bunch of Tulips on the way to Willem-Alexander Pavilion. It's an indoor museum where you could find display of Tulips and various flowers other than Tulip. As we ran out of time, we just saw at a glance while we passed, we didn't explore the museum. The museum surrounding by small pool, surrounding by a green field with Tulips. Our young couple friends took a nice picture sitting on the green grass field next to the Tulips.

Finally we reach the windmill area, there was some straw piles as the bench for people to enjoy the park, it's cool, unfortunately all seat had been taken although it's under the sunshine. There's also a high small hut with shelter contains of a person, you had to climb the wooden ladders to sit on it. While taking picture, lucky me there's a straw pile leaving by persons, so I took it over fast to take picture alternately with my sister and my brother-in-law. Some food sellers on the cart were available here. You could shop for souvenirs too in the store next to the windmill. We didn't have a chance to go up to the windmill, anyway taking picture with tulips as foreground and windmill as background was quite satisfying.

Near the windmill there's a boat on the river, you could go by boat trip, no time at all for this. The time given had been finished, so we had to go to the meeting point at the entrance gate. Walking to the entrance we pass through a big green field, picnic area where there's a playground for children. I took some flying pose of my sisters and friends there, while for myself, I ran to the other side of the fields attempted with many colorful Tulips. I took selfie with the Tulips as my background, then a kind woman brought SLR camera was helping me to take my picture using my iphone.

We still stopped by some places to take beautiful pictures. My brother-in-law was able to take a good picture of my sisters on the square long pool with Tulips at the left and right side of the pool. Some cone form trees were also decorated beautifully at the side among Tulips and flowers. Dogs are allowed in Keukenhof as long as they are leashed, we met some dogs with their master. We saw a cute white and grey hairy dog was walking on the garden with her master, we stopped by to greet and caress the cute long fur dog. The dog was very friendly, unfortunately she's quite old, 11 years old already. The dog enjoyed our meeting even her master welcome us to touch the dog.

Running to the exit, we could not find other participant anymore at the entrance gate meeting point, then we checked our WhatsApp group, in fact they were already in the bus at the parking lot, we were the last participants arrived. We still would like to explore more the beautiful scenery and flowers at Keukenhof, unfortunately the time was not enough unless we'll miss the bus. If you visit Netherland in Apr or early May, don't forget to stop by Keukenhof at Lisse, wander the beautiful fields, pavilions and flowers of Keukenhof is very worthy, relaxing and interesting. Weekend is quite crowded, Mon to Wed is less busy while for the hours before 10:30 is better. Free wifi is available around pavilions in the park, you could borrow wheel-chair free of charge (just need deposit which would be returned later) if needed.

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Fenghuang, China most beautiful old town

In Sep 2018, 15 of us majority friends from Kediri with my mom as the eldest among us joined tour to China, Fenghuang was one of the city we visited. It’s quite a long journey to Zhangjiajie using flight, train and bus, from Surabaya – Hongkong – Guangzhou by flight then staying overnight in Guangzhou. The next day riding around 3 hous bullet train to Changsha, then continuing by bus for 6 hours to Fenghuang with distance about 400 km.

Finally almost dark we arrived at a bridge decorated beautifully with phoenix bird lighting at the left and right of the bridge. It's Fenghuang, at the Southwest of Tujia-miao Autonomous Prefecture of Xiangxi in Hunan, we checked in to Fengting hotel, having dinner before start exploring the city. During dinner we also celebrated my mom’s birthday, the birthday cake from our tour agent was beautiful and yummy, I preferred eating the cake than the main course :-). The main attraction in Fenghuang (Phoenix) ancient town, is the traditional house decorating with beautiful lighting at the edge of the Tuo Jiang river. It’s not too far from our hotel, just went across the street, then going down to the river bank. Although it’s raining, it didn’t stop us for enjoying the scenery. I brought a small umbrella, but it’s difficult for me to take picture while bringing the umbrella, sometimes my mom or my friend helped to hold the umbrella for me.

I didn’t bring a real camera, just using my smartphone (iphone 8), the quality and zoom feature were limited comparing to SLR camera. Anyway I’m quite happy with the result as the actual view was fascinating. I kept taking countless pictures of the magnificent scenery traditional house and bridge decorating with colorful light that illuminated to the river. Using iphone, the face of persons were too dark, if I use flash the beautiful background could not be captured well. Our tour leader was creative enough, she turned on her smartphone lamp to light up our face while our friend taking the picture.

The trail along the river bank was not smooth, we had to be careful, the path was made from stones and quite slippery while raining. I tried to guard my mom, walking hand in hand slowly, it’s quite embarassing when I was the one who slipped and falled down when stepping down stairs. Lucky nothing was hurt and my smartphone was not broken, just getting wet on my pants and a little bit dirty of the dust. After that my mom didn't trust me anymore, she preferred walking by herself and refused me to hold her hand. We've got a chance to take some pictures together on the colorful light bridge on the river with glittering houses belong to Miao ethnic as the background.

It's getting late, almost 22:00 o'clock, our guide asked us to rush as she was afraid that the shops would be closed soon, they were located around 20 minutes walked from our starting point. Passing by the seller either on the street or shop, we were not allowed to shop as she would like to show us the landmark of Fenghuang first.

The 21-meter tall Wanming Tower stands at the foot of Qinglong Mountain, on the north bank of the Tuojiang River was our destination. It’s very beautiful at night with yellow light surrounding the tower. We queued to take picture in front of the tower. Diaojia Building the landmark previously was home of the richest man in Fenghuang facing directly to the river and near the beautiful rainbow bridge. There were some traditional boats which could be rent for sailing along the river, we didn't take it as we still would like to explore the village.

The 2 storey rainbow bridge art building was built in 1368 AD, we didn’t go on top of the bridge, just admired the charming lighting decorating the bridge from the river bank. Illumation of yellow light on the arc of the bridge created an awesome scenery. Sometimes a traditional boat decorating with lights passed under the bridge. Under the bridge there were some bronze statues showed people activities.

We stopped by at a shelter where we could take the picture of Wanming Tower and the river from the other side. There were a service for taking picture wearing the traditional clothes. My couple friend rented the clothes and took pictures from different angles with colorful light scenery as the background. She looked beautiful like the local people as she has a fair skin and small eyes.

It’s free time after that, so I kept walking to explore the shops with my mom and my friend from Jakarta. Some restaurants, coffee shop and bars were also available along the road. We tried to find souvenirs for our relatives and friends, this is one of Indonesian people habit when traveling. Some pastel colors pashminas were attracted us, we bought some soft beautiful pashminas in the store. We passed by a fruit seller on the street, the fruit was yellow with some small bulges, we didn’t dare to buy and taste it, do you know the name and the taste?

As it’s getting late, and we’re afraid of getting lost, we decided to turn back to the hotel using the same way, actually we could go by taxi there, but I still would like to take some pictures of the river and stroll the narrow alley. On the way back, my friend accompanied my mom to go first as I often stopped taking some pictures. We also got a chance to stop by at the seller on the street to buy imitation silver bracelet, necklace and beautiful hand embroidery paintings. You could bargain to buy stuffs both on the street and in the stores.

The next morning, after breakfast I rushed to go down to the river again. It’s already the time to check out and go to the bus, as I saw some of our friends were still not there, they were not check out yet, I asked my friend to accompany my mom so I could run to the river to see what it looked like. My tour leader said that the picturesque night scenery is much more beautiful comparing to the day scenery.

Quite surprising I met my couple friends from Semarang at the river bank. I saw 3 women wearing traditional clothes taking picture, they have difficulty as it’s drizzle, making the stairs and footpath were wet while their dress was quite long, so they had to manage it well avoid the dirt. From my opinion, the day scenery still looked good with the traditional house and beautiful form of the bridge with the mist pervades the scene, only the water was not too clean, the colour was brown at that time and the houses were looked rather gloomy. It's different from the night scene which looked brighter and shining.

Lucky my friend was there, so we could help each other to take picture. We didn’t dare to go further as we’re afraid the group will leave us soon. Some pictures were able to take to capture day scenery in Fenghuang. In front of our hotel was nice too, we could see the mountains covering with cloud at that morning.

Although the journey to reach Fenghuang was quite a long time, we’re quite happy with the amazing night view with it’s traditional unique wooden houses built on stilts, settled by Miao & Tujia ethnic, the minority tribes in China. The natural beauty scenery which well-preserved more than 300 years looks like traditional Chinese paintings.

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Magnificent Scenic Natural View Wulingyuan, Zhangjiajie

In Sep 2018, my friends, my mom and myself created our own group of 15 people to go to Zhangjiajie which is famous for its unique natural scenery and abundant tourism resources. It's a long way to reach there from Surabaya, we went using CX transit in HK, continued flying to Guangzho. The next day took a 3 hours bullet train to Changsha. Bullet train was very lovely, very clean toilets, that you seldom find in China :-) Hot water was available free for passengers to make your own tea/coffee or instant noodle, an electricity plug also put at each passenger seat to charge your smartphone, with it's convenience soft chair to sit. Although the train speed was up to 350kms/hour, we didn't feel the movement at all, it's very stabil and punctual, more convenience than flight :-)

Zhangjiajie is located in the northwest of Hunan province, about 400 kilometers away from Changsha, capital of Hunan, covering a total area of 9,563 square kilometers most of them are mountainous area. Total population of 1.62 million, 72% is minority ethnic minority tribes e.g. Tujia, Bai and Miao nationalities. After lunch we went to Yuanjiajie, the bus driver drop us near to the market. We walked a few blocks to the beautiful gate with high tower and mountain background. Based on our local guide info, our bus could not go inside the area, we had to queue to ride on their shuttle transportation.

I sat at the back of the shuttle, along the way we could see beautiful scenery, I would like to record it, but difficult to take from the middle seat, so I swapped seat with my mom in the middle of the trip. Lucky the car's window could be opened, so I could take some pictures well although the car moved quite fast. We dropped at the 1st stop, the view was amazing, we passed by a bridge with clean water called golden whip stream. The scenery was amazing, the bridge, river, a valley of freestanding, shrub-and-tree-clad towers surrounded by a wall of massive sandstone blocks.

There was a wide open space where we took a photo group of Yuanjiajie which became more popular as the Southern Sky Pillar inspired the floating mountains in the Hollywood blockbuster Avatar. We still liked to stay longer there, but our tour leader mentioned that there would be better scenery from above. We had to wait for the other shuttle bus to bring us to the place where we could take the lift to the top of the mountain.

To take the lift, it's quite a long queue, we often experienced local people tried to overcut our lane, it seemed that they were not discipline enough in queueing. Bailong lift space was quite big, all of our group could go in together. As it's very crowded and I was the last, I could not get a good picture during the movement, as the glasses area facing to the lift's door. It was the highest and fastest elevator with the maximum loading capacity, only took around 2 minutes to reach the top with 326 meters height. The lift looked like a giant dragon which is built onto the side of a huge cliff. Open in 2002, then Guinness World Records recognized as the world’s tallest outdoor lift in 2015.

Exit from the lift, we could see amazing views, peaks and pillars there are nearly at the same height, which makes Yuanjiajie Scenic Area a great mountain platform. Fields and gardens in the Air will come into view, the mountain trail invited us to walk around the area and taking pictures. All of us were shocked at the sights before eyes. All the mountains you have seen at the foot of them stand in arrays at your feet at the moment. Lucky it's not cloudy, so we could enjoy the scenery well.

Our tour leader was tired reminding us to continue the tracking, as my friends still took picture around lift area while others already waiting including my mom who sat on the wood bench near a souvenir shop. We kept walking through the path, we saw amazing scenery along the way. Our tour leader was kind enough to help us taking picture, we took a beautiful picture on the stairs with the marvelous background of the pillars karst stone garden.

Walking further we found the Hallelujah pillar or the “Southern Sky Column, which was stretched 3,544 feet into the air. Avatar, the famous Hollywood movie, used photographs of the pinnacle as inspiration for the floating Hallelujah Mountains of Pandora. It's one of the successful attempt to bring more tourists into the national park to discover the real world of Pandora.

Some food stalls were available on the way, then we crossed a bridge that enable us walking on the cliff and seeing the scenery from different angle. People was very crowded, so it's not easy to take picture in the middle of the bridge. I also wonder why Chinese people often open their shirt showing their stomach in public area, even they didn't feel ashamed about it although they didn't have a six pack stomach :-). The track was going up and down, it's tiring, but worthy with the views we could enjoy. Finally we reach the end of the path, waiting for the shuttle to bring us to the next destination.

Helong park our next destination, the only huge human landscape of the whole Wulingyuan area, we had to go down the stairs for around 15 minutes, my mom was tired already. One of our friend decided not to go, so I asked her to take care of my mom. Lucky that my mom didn't join us to explore it, I almost could not breath well, very tired climbing on the track. We could see the bronze statue of He Long (a militarist and the marshal of the republic of China). Tourist floods here to recall the history and great feats of the elder proletarian revolutionist.

Our tour leader showed the original steep path of the stairs before they built the shortcut, it took more than 4 hours to reach the place using the track. Continue following the track to Yunqing Rock, it's also stunning, to go back the stairs were very challenging. I had to stop to get more energy and take a deep breath. The Imperial Writing Brush Peaks covering 4,810 ha, one of several national parks within the Wulingyuan Scenic Area. Zhangjiajie is a green treasure house, the forest coverage rate is above 98%. Within the park, there are altogether more than 8,000 cliff mountains, towering into the sky like a dancing group, with various physical appearance and grand force of character.

Finally, we took the bus again to the last destination, the Tianzi Mountain Cable Car, located in the center of Wulingyuan. The queue was not too long anymore, because it's already 17:15, it's almost close. We still have to climb more stairs to the cable car station. Inside the cable car could contain up to 6 persons, low at four sides and high in the center. The view, a large forest and spectacular scenery was very amazing from the cable car, it's not too long but it's very impressive. Looking from the top, the magnificent view stretches with distinct layers, so that it is an ideal spot for viewing Wulingyuan peak forest.

I'm very satisfied with the most beautiful scenic view, you should visit the magnificent Zhangjiajie. Its unique geographical features make it as popular tourist destination. You should be ready wearing comfortable shoes to walk and prepare a good stamina to explore quite challenging track path.

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Natural Tegenungan Waterfall, Gianyar

I went to Bali at the last week of May 2018 unplanned, I took a leave as there were 2 national holiday in the week. Lucky I had a friend in Bali who kind enough to lend me his HRV car same as mine in Surabaya. Frankly speaking I never drove in Bali previously, so I was quite worry of getting lost. Few days before departure, I asked some friends who know Bali about the tourism places that would be visited. I would like to ensure to get the best and most effective route. All of my friends were kind enough to help me arranging the itinerary, so I could book the hotel based on the route arrangement.

My mom and her friend were accompanying me, none of us knew Bali a lot, I used google maps in my smartphone to show the way. Arriving Ngurah Rai airport at noon, we decided to find lunch first nearby airport, also bought water and snacks in a mini market to prepare for the journey. Our hotel that night would be in Ubud, we would stop to Tegenungan waterfall before check in.

From lunch place, I set my google map to Tegenungan, Gianyar, I didn't know the way at all, just follow google map direction. I was worried getting lost, but it didn't happen at all, I could reach the destination smoothly. There was no traffic jam, arriving at the destination, we saw many stalls along the alley to the waterfall, selling food, souvenirs and others. The entrance ticket cost IDR 15.000/person. the weather was quite mild.

Passing through the entrance gate, we walked few steps only, where we could find a couple Balinese statue welcome us, with the waterfall far behind them. "Bale bengong" or small hut to sit was available for people to enjoy the scenery. We took some pictures here, we had to wait for others taking picture to enable getting good picture. As I forgot to bring my selfie stick, I asked another visitor to take our picture then I helped him taking picture in return.

We continued going down through stairs to go nearer to the waterfall. Along the way we met with people who went up after visiting the waterfall, most of them were struggle and having a deep breath, sometimes stop a while to rest. We were afraid of continue our steps, but our desire to see the waterfall encouraged us to go on. After around a hundred steps, I saw a nest on the tree that could be used for photo spot. I challenged my mom's friend to climb to the nest, she took the challenge. After taking her pictures, she struggled to go down as there was no stairs or rope to support her body, finally she could succeed to get out from the nest, but her finger were hurt caused by the sharp tree branches.

Kept walking down the stairs, we stopped resting on the a small hut where we could see a tiny waterfall, there was a heart frame as photo spot. While my mom and her friend sitting there, I took some pictures of the stairs, tiny waterfall and the heart frame. After few minutes we walked again through the stairs, we met a temple with some water fountain that enable people to pray and soak their body. I didn't go inside it, just peeping from its gate. From there you also could see the river stream from the waterfall.

I was interested in the river, my mom's friend and I went down to the river, my mom preferred to stay there and took some pictures of us from above. What made me amazed, there were many rock balancing arranged along the river, I loved seeing that arts. I heard it previously in the television and news, but that was the 1st time I saw by myself.

Finish exploring rock balancing, we went down through some stairs, no more stairs anymore, only dirt road to the waterfall which's quite steep. We decided to stop there, as we didn't plan to get wet (wearing shoes), the path was too difficult, and it's getting late. We was quite satisfied taking picture from there as the waterfall looked much bigger than from above, it's around 4 meters height. I felt quite surprised as I still could upload my picture to social media from the place, the signal was good enough.

The tough part was going back up to the parking lot, around 700 stairs were waiting us to climb. We stopped many times before reaching the top. I'm quite proud that my mom and her friend which had >70 years old still could complete the trip. Before leaving the area, we bought some souvenirs on the shop, beautiful pink hat for me, and cute dress for my niece.

The first place to visit was accomplished perfectly, we continued to drive to our hotel in Ubud. If you love nature, you should visit it and prepare for clothes if you would like to get wet and play with the waterfall, I'm sure it would be fun.

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