Natural Beauty at Oyo River & Pindul Cave, Yogyakarta

Last Sunday, early Oct 2013, when I was in Yogyakarta, my cousin offered to visit Pindul Cave, at Bejiharjo Village in Karangmojo, Gunung Kidul. It's around 1,5-2 hours driving (50 km) from Yogyakarta. My cousin's husband hadn't been there, avoid getting lost, my cousin called the provider. They sent a person to meet us at the Wonosari gate by motorcycle, it's easy for us then, just following the motor cycle to the post. We arrived around 10:30, some options were offered for the tours, 2 of the options attracted us, e.g. exploring Pindul Cave (IDR 35.000,-) and rafting at Oyo river (IDR 40.000,-) which would take 45 minutes for each of the tour. It's included the equipment such as safety jacket, a set of tube also the guide and transportation to the place. As we didn't dare to bring camera as it'll be wet, we rented a photographer. It cost IDR 75.000,-/tour, you would get the photo recorded in the CD after the trip. The photographer said that he could take as many photo shoots as we wanted as long as the memory card had enough available space :-)

As I had to catch my flight back to my hometown at 16:00, we had to rush. The provider was dare to guarantee that we could arrive to the post by 13:00 following the 2 tours. They started loading the tubes to a pick-up car, after that all of us must went up to the car, standing beside the tubes holding the iron fence around the car. We passed white oil tree plantations, and rice fields. The road was very bumpy, we had to hold tight to the iron unless we be bounced from the car. We passed by beautiful green rice fields and white oil plantation.

Oyo river rafting was the first destination, five of us walking on the footpath carrying the big tubes, while the guide could bring the 3 big tubes together at once as one of our member was a 9 years old girl. The footpath sometimes was slippery so we had to be careful, near to the river, the footpath was steeper and rocky, until the kid fell down. We walked slowly and carefully hand in hand to help each other, we also had to pass a small river around 50 cm depth, the rocks were slippery.

Reaching Oyo river, we started sitting on the tube. The water was quite cold, it's refresh after quite a difficult walking journey. The photographer took our picture, he also sit on the tube, if he sat higher, he could take better picture for us. Starting going down the beautiful Oyo river, we really enjoyed its beautiful natural cliffs and karst rock. Drifting along the river, we could hold our friend's tube, there's a red band on the tube which enabled us to go together, the guide would swim to pull us. The kid would like to swim instead of sitting on the tube, but her parents were not allowed her.

A small waterfall was beautifully running down from the rice fields above the river. If we had enough time, we could stay longer here, some people jumped from the cliff to the river. It's quite safe as the river was quite deep. Some of them were swimming or just standing or sitting under the waterfall, feeling the sensation of the massage water :-)

Before end of the journey, we passed by a bridge, the guide was creative enough to take a beautiful picture of 5 of us from the bridge. He was very fast to go up and down of the beach although the cliff was quite steep. 5 of us looked like flower, lying on the tube with our feet connected to each other. Before end of the journey, the kid was allowed to swim, she was very happy.

Continuing walking to the second tour, the car was ready to take us. A small hut was available by the river, we could buy snack or drink. They know that people would be wet and no wallet or money available, the hut's owner already provided a small invoice to give to the guide to avoid from getting wet then submitted to the post later for us to pay. It's quite helpful. To safe time, the car has a privilege to bring us right in front of the cave's entrance while others had to walk on foot from the post.

When we had to go inside the cave, again we were floating on the tube. Enjoy many chambers that had many stalactite or stalagmite, the cave had 3 different areas. The entrance, the dark zone, and the light zone. There were some cluster of bats living in the cave, that's why they could not set up lights to show the natural beauty of the cave. The guide and photographer were only bringing flash to show the stalactite's shape or the bat. The bats could dig the cave creating some holes for their nest. Although there were some brown spot/dirt caused by the bat's pee on the cave's ceiling, it's not smelly at all.

In the dark zone, no sun light could go through, it's very scary if you had to go alone. In the middle of the cave, the guide hit the rock once, it produced voice similar to the "gong" sound. A magnificent white crystal stalactite was also available there, with the flash you could see clearly. Near the crystal, beautiful rocks to be enjoyed such as hanging curtain when you see it from your position lying on the tube.

Reaching the light zone, I started to swim. There is a hole on the roof of the cave, that's enable the sunlight went through. Unfortunately it's cloudy when I was there, unless you could see the sun beamed beautifully through the hole into the cave. The kid and me were swimming, we really enjoyed it, actually we would like to stay longer to enjoy the fresh water and interesting natural scenery, unfortunately we didn't have enough time.

This trip provided a different style of enjoying activity, lying on a set of tubes, drifting along the Oyo River and Pindul underground unique cave. It is perfect for those who love adventure traveling, be ready getting wet. The activity itself is relatively safe and can be enjoyed by anyone from any different age groups. Expert and experienced instructors are ready anytime to guide the participants through the journey. It was unusual interesting trip, we got a fresh sensation.

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Nature Splendour Quebec City

On the way from Montreal to Boston, we stopped by at the Gorgeous Quebec City, Canadian where has French as its sole provincial official language. Some of our tour friends went to Citadel, while the bus dropped us in the historic core of the city to walk around by ourselves before lunch time. The city was very beautiful during fall, the trees' leaves were colorful from green, yellow, orange and red. Unfortunately it's raining, so we had to wear a hat or an umbrella.

We didn't know the city map, so we've just walked around following our heart. Tourism is the 5th largest industry in Quebec, its European feel and its history, culture and warmth have made Quebec a favourite tourist destination. The beautiful Montmorency Park National Historic Site was our first destination. The public park which opened in 1898, changed name to Montmorency in memory of the viceroy of New France, Henri II, Duke of Montmorency, and the first bishop of Québec, Monseigneur François de Montmorency-Laval. The park at Port-Dauphin and Côte de la Montagne Streets was rather tarnish because of the rain, anyway we still could enjoy the beauty of the park. Located at the top of Côte de la Montagne, it is an urban park that forms part of the Fortifications of Québec National Historic Site of Canada. Some canons facing to the river and the defensive wall was the only remaining military infrastructure could illustrate its associations with military history.

From the wall we could view downhill towards the St. Lawrence river while at the opposite was the view towards the urban center. Montmorency Park also had several commemorative monuments, and several mature trees. One of the monument was the Cartier Monument, in memory of the politician George-Étienne Cartier, in Montmorency Park, 1984.

The Château Frontenac, a national historic site, was prominently located on a cliff overlooking the St. Lawrence River, within the Québec historic district, could be seen from the park. It's an imposing hotel with five brick and stone wings and a central tower erected in seven stages between 1892 and 1993 with its massive scale and fortress-like appearance. The hotel's picturesque eclecticism and rich polychromatic surfaces reflected popular taste in Victorian architecture.

As we didn't know the way, we followed the crowd to leave the park, went down to the corner of rue Notre-Dame, we saw beautiful mural painted (around 100 meters square)on the whole side wall of house located at 102 rue du Petit-Champlain using an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that depicted objects exist in three dimensions. It showed the history of the district during 16th-18th century.

Following the street down to ancient Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, a small Roman Catholic stone church at the Lower Town of Quebec City. Construction was started in 1687 on site of Champlain's habitation and was completed in 1723. The church is a popular tourist attraction within the city, as well as a place of worship. In front of the church was quite large square with a small garden & statue in the middle including benches to rest, surrounding by beautiful houses/shops.

Reaching the historic Petit Champlain district, we saw the Old Quebec Funicular which links the Haute-Ville (Upper Town) to the Basse-Ville (Lower Town). It is located in the district of Vieux-Québec–Cap-Blanc–colline Parlementaire in the borough of La Cité-Limoilou, near Place Royale. It is the oldest commercial district in North America. The streets was narrow, with beautiful neat shops at each side, it's very clean and nice. As the time was ticking we decided to go up through the steep Breakneck Stairs or Breakneck Steps, Quebec City's oldest stairway, were built in 1635. Because of wind and rain, my recurrent knee pain occurred, I had difficulty to climb the steps, so I had to hold the wet railing steps strongly to lift my body. It made my long sleeve shirt getting wet.

As we had a few minutes before lunch, we ran to the cathedral and city hall. The weather was not good, it's still raining and cloudy. We could manage to take the picture in front of the cathedral. Unfortunately the city hall was under renovation, we took some pictures on the yard which was decorated for Halloween.

Then we rushed to the 1640 restaurants, the oldest restaurant in the city. The environment and decoration were nice, also the foods were delicious. We had a complete set, my mom and I selected pork for our main course while my younger sister selected salmon, and my other sister preferred beef. The yummy strawberry mouse was closing our lunch also ended our visit to Quebec. Someday I would like to return to Quebec as we hadn't got any chance to explore other part of the city.

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Magnificent Dramatic Cascade Niagara Falls

Four of us (my mom, my two sisters and myself) joined US East and Canada tour on 11-19 Oct 2013. Our main destination was Niagara falls that could be enjoyed from US side and Canada side. On the 5th day we arrived at Niagara Falls State Park, as the oldest state park in the US, established in 1885 as the Niagara Reservation. Unfortunately we had taken the optional tour to see the Old Fort Niagara, so we had to go further than the falls across the recreational park. Starting with a small museum to show some pictures, weapon and soldier uniform, we continued walking around 10 minutes to inside of the fort.

The green yard was beautiful surrounding with the walls right next to the sea. Shooting attraction by a funny young man was one of the entertainment before we explored the building where the soldiers had activities. The building had two level divided by some functional rooms such as for saving foods or meeting, and a dwell available in the middle of the building. We finished the visit while the sun still shone.

Back to the Niagara falls around 15 minutes later by bus, we were dropped in front of the mall across the falls. We were hurry went down to the falls through stairs. One of our friend informed that it would be better to go directly to the bridge under the observation tower to enjoy the panoramic view of the falls. Passed through an empty locket next to visitor center, we went directly to the bridge. It's awesome to see the raging white water of the wild cascades Niagara falls with its sound. After taking some pictures, we asked helped from other visitor to take our picture together.

The Niagara Falls are renowned both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power, generating 2.4 million kilowatts—enough power to light 24 million 100-watt bulbs at once! This low-cost electricity saves the state's residents and businesses hundreds of millions of dollars a year. We stayed for a while on the bridge, taking some picture of the Skylon tower and the rainbow bridge. As informed the light at Niagara would be turned on at 20:00, so we hurried to go back to the mall to have dinner. Two level building contained of a foodcourt and shops selling US product for souvenirs, the price was quite expensive both for food and souvenirs.

At 19:45 we went back to the falls, unfortunately the fence to the gate was closed, so we had to go down to enjoy the falls. It's beautiful with colorful lighting. It's difficult to take picture with the crowd there. Anyway we were able to take some photos, lucky that we could watch it while there's still sunshine.

On the next day was more attractive, starting with watching movies at the giant screen Imax theater where they showed the Miracles, Myths & Magic produced by filmmaker Kieth Merrill. The myths was about a very beautiful native girl named Lelawala who refused marrying an appointed man as her husband, so that she had to leave her village. She rowed a boat to the Niagara falls and never found after that, but people said that she became the savior for people in that area. Another event about a captain who dared to bring his boat, named "Lelawala", on the Niagara falls and he could survive landing on the river at the bottom of the falls. Jean Francois Gravelet who performed the first tightrope walked over the falls between the Canadian and American side. A talkative granny, Annie Edson Taylor, with her cat also survived to flow through Niagara in a big wooden tub. Lastly a girl and a boy who could survive after accidentally their boat plunged over the fall. The amazing Niagara Falls Daredevil Exhibit was available next to the theater.

The next destination was the most interesting one, joining "Maid of The Mist" boat ride adventure. It's a very long queue, they replaced our entrance ticket with blue raincoat. The boat had 2 storeys, we went to the upper deck to enjoy the falls. My mother and youngest sister stood in the middle of the boat while myself and my sister were on the fence of the boat. It's very windy so we had difficulty to maintain our raincoat on the proper place. The boat sailed near to the falls, the first one was a calm part, the American and Bridal Veil Falls. It's amazing to feel the splash of the water and see the big falls closer. Then the boat took us into the dense mist of spray inside the curve of the Horseshoe Falls, also known as the Canadian Falls, we got really wet here till I had to hide my camera under the raincoat, but all of us really enjoyed it. It's so fresh air and water, made us feeling relax. The price US$34.5 was worthy.

Finally we had lunch at the revolving restaurant in Skylon tower cost CAD$42,75. The lift glide smoothly brought us to the 775 feet above the falls, that faced right to the falls just in 52 seconds. I selected salmon which was much better than my mom's selection, well done beef. It's really overcooked, it's not nice at all. Lucky that the salad as appetizer and ice cream as dessert were yummy. Contrary to the food quality, the scenery was very beautiful, we could see from the bird view of spectacular Niagara falls, also the landscape of Toronto city and Buffalo, New York.

We could go to Indoor/Outdoor Observation Deck as a favourite Niagara Falls attraction, just two levels above the restaurant. The outdoor floor was wet, it's only opened for the Niagara side, not for the city view. We could get better picture here as there was no glass covering the view as in the restaurant, anyway it's very windy so it's difficult to get a good picture of you with good hair style :-)

From indoor observation deck you could see the falls complete with the info about it on the bottom of the window. A souvenir shop was also available there. As we missed our mother and our youngest sister, we hurried to go down to from the tower. Lucky that they were already downstairs, so we didn't miss the bus.

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Helsinki the Most Liveable City

We went to Helsinki, Finland by Allegro high speed train from St. Petersburg. Comfortable chairs with folding table for writing or eating and potable drinking water were available for each carriage. Internet wifi was provided, power plugs were also available to charge your devices under the wide landscape windows to enjoy the scenery during the trip. Three times passport checked by immigration officers from Russia & Finland.

Arriving in Helsinki train station we didn't meet the local guide and porter, so we had to lower the suitcases from the train by ourselves while our tour leader trying to find him. My 29" suitcase was broken, one of the back wheel was lost, it made me struggle to bring it to the platform. Almost half an hour we waited, suddenly the local guide came with the porter and the small car to bring all luggages. He said that he waited on the wrong side, it's a pity that he's the local guide but he lost in his hometown train station, it's ridiculous.

Directly we went for dinner then check in in the Radisson Blu hotel in downtown, unfortunately no shops opened anymore, as people were going home to prepare Labor (Vappu) day on the next day. The streets were very quiet, it seemed that there was nobody stay in the city. I only went out for a while, to take some pictures of the environment around the hotel. It's windy, so my mother and I went back to the room to take a rest.

On the next day, we visited The Helsinki Cathedral the most prominent building and symbol of the city. The sky was very blue, it's next to the Senate square where people provided a stage and playground to celebrate Vappu Day. Carl Ludvig Engel (1778–1840) designed several neoclassical buildings in Helsinki. The focal point of Engel's city plan is the Senate Square. It is surrounded by the Government Palace (to the East), the main building of Helsinki University (to the West), and (to the North) the enormous Cathedral, which was finished in 1852, twelve years after C. L. Engel's death. We took a group picture at the Senate Square with Helsinki Cathedral as the background

Continue the trip to Havis Amanda, a nude female bronze statue symbolized as the rebirth of Helsinki, was sculpted by Ville Vallgren in 1906. My sister's name is Amanda, so the tour participant teased her about it as if it's her statue. The statue was standing in the middle of the fountain surrounding by sea lions. It's next to the Market Square, we were bustling with people activity, vendors selling fresh Finnish food and souvenirs, also available ferry service by The Helsinki City Transport. It seems all people in Helsinki populaton, 610.601 persons were going to the recreational places, Market Square was one of them. We bought Gelato ice cream there.

Temppeliaukio Church was our next destination, quarried out of the natural bedrock. The church was designed by architects Timo & Tuomo Suomalainen, opened in 1969. Due to its excellent acoustics the church is a popular venue for concerts. In the church you could find religious good words as bookmark in many languages including Indonesian, it's free. Nice music was played to accompany people to pray, it's very peaceful. Next to the church, there was a souvenir shop, the only place where we could shop in Finland, as others were closed.

On the way to the Sibelius Monument park, we passed by many people who went to the park. The cars were park along the way by the beach, it's very long. Most of them were wearing white hat like a sailor, our friend would like to buy, but my local guide said, it's only for the graduated. Sibelius Monument park built by Eila Hiltunen to memorize the famous composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). Recembling organ pipes, is made of welded steel over 600 pipes with the bust of the composer on one side. The monument is 8,5m high, 10,5m wide, 6,5m deep, and weighs 24 tons.

The park were full of people, we still had time to enjoy the park, then we went across the street to enjoy the beach. There were some wooden benches on the beach, although the sun shone, the wind was still cold. The time was up, it's time to go to the pier, some of our friends bought ice cream, they could not bring it into the bus, so we had to wait for them to finish it.

Finally we took an over night ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm called Silja line, we had to wait in queue an hour before gate open at 15:30. The cruise capacity was 2852 passengers and 450 cars with 13 decks. Helsinki panorama view from the deck was very beautiful. There were islands next to Helsinki, it made the view more beautiful. There were public area for entertainment on the 7 level of the cruise such as Promenade, Pub and Stage Performance, while on the 6th floor there were a restaurant and Duty Free Shop.

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Grandeur and Majestic Peterhof at St Petersburg

The second city in Russia we visited during the tour was the beautiful St. Petersburg. One of its most famous and popular visitor attractions is the palace and park at Peterhof which means “Peter's Court” (also known as Petrodvorets). The bus picked us up from Pulkovo-1 domestic airport, where we flew from Moscow. It's noon time, so we directly went to the restaurant in the Peterhof area called "Dorado". I like the restaurant ambience, it's hommy and beautiful. The traditional Russian meal was served, it's very delicious especially for the main course. It's started with fresh salad as the appetizer, continue with beef stroganoff then closing with yummy apple sharlotka.

After lunch we relaxed outside the restaurant. The weather was very nice, fresh, cool with the shiny sun and very clear blue sky. We liked to sit on the bench in front of the restaurant while waiting for our friends to wait their turn using the restroom as it's only available one for woman and one for man.

Just walking distance we could see the palace, unfortunately the palace & museum were under renovation so we could not enter it. St. Peterhof, built in the 18th century by Peter the Great was one of UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lucky that the dome was not covered with the renovation activity, so we still could take beautiful picture of the palace. Anyway we still could enter its huge beautiful park.

The lower garden called Nizhny Sad, at 1.02 km² comprising the better part of Peterhof's land area, are confined between the 16 metres height cliff and the shore, stretching east and west for roughly 200 metres. We could see the lavish of Russian emperor's lifestyle, also understand the monarch's wealth and taste for luxury. The park was full of beautiful golden statues with many fountains and green grass. Fortunately we visited on the spring, when the famous fountains are in operation (May to early October).

The main attraction were the Grand Cascade and Samson Fountain, it was very elegant and artistic. The Grand Cascade is modelled on one constructed for Louis XIV at his Château de Marly, which is likewise memorialised in one of the park's outbuildings. The most famous ensemble of fountains, the Grand Cascade, which runs from the northern facade of the Grand Palace to the Marine Canal, comprises 64 different fountains, and over 200 bronze statues, bas-reliefs, and other decorations.

The fountains of the Grand Cascade are located below the grotto and on either side of it. Their waters flow into a semicircular pool, the terminus of the fountain-lined Sea Channel. In the 1730s, the large Samson Fountain was placed in this pool. It depicts the moment when Samson tears open the jaws of a lion, representing Russia's victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War, and is doubly symbolic created by Mikhail Kozlovsky. When taking picture near the fountain, we had to be careful as the water splash could wet the camera's lens.

As we didn't have enough time to buy souvenirs, we stopped by in a small stall in the areas as my sister and mom were interested to its stuffs. We didn't have any Rubel, lucky that the friendly woman seller would like to accept Euro, so we could start bargaining to get the competitive price :-)

After getting the souvenirs, we walked to the shore, as we didn't have enough time to explore it, we just stopped in the middle of the way, taking pictures on the bridge where we could see the shore and the palace on the opposite site. As time ticking we returned to the cliff, anyway we still stop by to take picture on the small forest, unfortunately no much leaf at that time as spring just started, some benches were available for guests to enjoy the environment and taking a rest.

The same cliff that provides a setting for the Grand Cascade houses two other, very different cascades. West of the Grand Palace is the Golden Mountain, decorated with marble statuary that contrasts with the riotous gilded figures of the Grand Cascade. To the east is the Chess Mountain, a broad chute whose surface is tiled black and white like a chessboard. The most prominently positioned fountains of Peterhof are 'Adam' and 'Eve' which occupied symmetric positions on either side of the Sea Channel, each at the conjunction of eight paths.

The beauty of the gardens, the charm of the fountains, and the luxury of the palaces all make for a memorable experience. Actually we need more time to explore the whole area as we haven't visited the museum, the shore and the upper garden.

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