Spectacular Rainbow Mountains at Zhangye

One of the most interesting place which attracted me to join inner Mongol tour was the picture of Rainbow Mountains with its beautiful layering color. From our hotel we had to travel around 4 hours by bus to reach the place, we stopped by for lunch first in a restaurant near to the place, it's a set menu of Chinese food, served for 10 persons/table. The restaurant was quite crowded with tourists, so we had to wait for few minutes to get the meal. Lucky we still get tables at the ground, no need to go to the second floor. Our tour leader informed that the toilet was not good in the restaurant, if we could wait, the toilet at rainbow mountains would be cleaner and not smelly. I decided to follow his suggestion, although the weather was getting cold there.

I started worrying when coming out from the bus, I didn't expect the weather that cold. I didn't bring scarf, just wearing a thin sweater. It's windy and cold, definitely I need scarf to protect my neck. Lucky there was a seller right at the front of the restaurant, I asked my friend's opinion to select the best while waiting for the food was ready. After lunch, we rushed to the bus, I couldn't wait seeing the Zhangye National Geopark soon.

Arriving at the place, our bus was not allowed to go inside the area, the bus had to park at the parking lot, while we had to walk further passing through some stalls selling snack, souvenirs and others towards a building where the proper many toilet rooms available for the tourists, it's clean, not smelly, water flowing well. So many tourists were coming, we found a little bit difficulty to find our group member, then our tour guide asked us to make 2 rows hand in hand to avoid losing members to go to the bus terminal. A bad habit of most Chinese mainland, they could not queue properly, they would like to overtake any queue, so we had to hold tight to avoid separation.

The shuttle bus provided by the government to bring tourists among places in the park, it's good to avoid traffic and pollution. Unfortunately the officer could not speak English, so we couldn't communicate well with them, and most of them were quite fierce, maybe because of many tourists could not queue well. Our tour leader argued and complained him, as she would like to have all of us in the same bus, while the officer forced us to get on the bus based on the queue. Finally we could go in the same bus, giving a chance for the tourist after us to take the bus first.

There were 4 stops in the park, where we could explore the scenery. The first one was the lowest part while the fourth was the highest. On the way we already could see beautiful scenery with colorful layering rock as if layer cake. I tried to take picture, but it's rather bumpy and must take from the window's bus, so it's not too good, sometimes it's blurred and had shadow. It's still drizzle, people said that after raining, the red color would be more obvious. It's still cloudy when we arrived on the 1st stop.

After short briefing about gathering time, I ran to the edge of the area, where we could take picture with the layering mountains as the background, we had to queue as many tourists prefer to take picture from the same location. Based on the signage it's called "Returning Sail in The Sunset". We walked around and found a helicopter parked in the area. You could rent the helicopter to enjoy the aerial panoramic of the rainbow mountains. I also asked my friend to take my pictures on a bench. Finally our friends joined and we took picture at the end of the bridge, as we could not go across the bridge, it's closed. We also tried to jump while our friends' husbands captured the action, it's difficult to jump together at the same time.

As the time was not enough to explore each stop, Sunny, our local tour guide suggested us to move to the fourth stop, the last one, skipped the 2nd and 3rd one. It's a good decision, it's much better than spending short time in every stop, wasting time by queuing for shuttle bus to go to the next stop. The 4th stop was more amazing, the color was more obvious. This time our friend who stayed in Auckland encouraged us to climb to the top. The path was quite good, it's already built well with wood stairs and fence, so it's not too difficult to climb. I stopped many times to take a breath and take picture, till my roommate friend got a little upset waiting for me.

It's very windy, but to make the picture looked good, I took off my sweater & glasses while taking picture, it's quite troublesome, to take off and on again and again .... I really felt amazed and enjoyed Zhangye Danxia, the unusual colours of the rocks, as result of deposits of sandstone and other minerals that occurred over 24 million years. Wind, rain, and time then sculpted extraordinary shapes, including towers, pillars, and ravines, with varying colours, patterns, and sizes. Our friend from NZ already returned from the end of the path. They said that it's more beautiful there, my roommate insisted to go back as time to gather getting closer.

I said I would like to continue, she could go back first if she would like to. Then continuing to the end of the path alone, I met our tour leader from Indonesia, it's safe, as he just arrived, so I won't be left by the group. It's true, it's very beautiful, so I took some more pictures, I really would like to stay longer, unfortunately we didn't have time anymore. Then I returned to the bus stop, on the way I met some of our friends who just went up. I informed them that it's beautiful to continue to the end of the path, so they ran to reach there.

There were some wishing bells hanging on the ceiling of the rest area next to the bus stop. It's good to become our shelter from the strong wind. We sat and chatted while waiting for the remaining of the group. We took photo group picture before leaving the The Amazing Rainbow Zhangye Danxia Landforms which became a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2010. The area has become a top tourist attraction for Zhangye. A series of boardwalks and access roads have been built to help visitors to explore the rock formations.

On the way to the parking lot, some of our friends still managed to buy snacks at the stalls decorating with animal statues like cow, camel, etc. The snack was quite unique too such as crispy mushroom and other type of mushrooms. I thought it's rare, so I didn't buy. I only tried sunflower seed from the real big sunflower, when my friend and I tasted it, we canceled to buy as it's still wet & tasteless, the cooked one is better with its savory and salty taste. Anyway if you like mushrooms, the price was cheap here and the quality was quite good, some friends bought many of them. If you'll go to Inner Mongolia, ensure to stop at Zhangye Colorful Danxia Scenic Spot, it's very amazing and unbelievable natural scenery.

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Artistic Pohsarang, Pilgrimate Site in Kediri

Last Sunday, 27th Dec 2015 I went to Pohsarang with my family (mom, sister and brother's family). It took around 30 minutes driving from Kediri city (10 km), located on the slopes of Mount Wilis with altitude of 400 meters above sea level. It's drizzling when we arrived, so we brought umbrella. It was the first visit for my cousins to the Catholic Sacred Place, Pohsarang, all of them looked very eager and excited.

Pohsarang church complex presented the Christian faith and Catholic places of worship in the local culture. The beautiful buildings is unique and a monumental work that deserves to be preserved and maintained. It's build by Henri Maclaine Pont who cared about the environment, so the building is very sustainable with the surroundings. All aspects including local cultural and religious philosophy incorporated in the form of architecture with highly aligned. Unfortunately there was no mass when we arrived, so the church was closed, anyway we still could see the altar from the fence. There was a cross ventilation on the ceiling which could make the sun shines through the room.

At the right side there was a set of "gamelan" to accompany the choirs during mass. My cousins racing to climb the stage to try beating the gamelan to provide sound. They were enthusiastic to try different tools, anyway we forced them to go down, as it's in sacred place, not for playing around.

We continued going down to the bigger mass area, where there was also an altar with bird form ventilation on the roof. It had bigger space for the people to join the ceremony, there was a podium made from wood to read the bible and for the pastor giving a sermon. My little niece was very cute, she was carried by her father to reach the high podium, closing her eyes and clasped her hands to pray seriously.

Mary cave which was popular as "Gua Maria Lourdes Puhsarang" as the main destination to make devotion to Mother Mary, people often praying with rosary. To reach this place we had to go through a path which has many stores on the left and right side of the path. Most of them were selling spiritual accessories, some of them also sold food or souvenirs. If you don't bring any bottle for the sacred water, you could buy jerry can in the store. Also candle for praying, all praying tools are available. Some benches were available at the park.

The Mary statue height was 3.5 metres, it's imitation of Mary statue in Lourdes. You could lit the candle right below of the statues and kneel or stand in front of them. My cousins liked to blow the candle as if the candles on the tart cake when they had birthday, so I had to keep them far from the candle, and informed them that it's for praying not for birthday cake :-) Beside the statue there were some water holy water which would come out based on motion sensor, anyway there were some normal taps if you would like the easier way. The water was very fresh and clean, it's nice to drink and wash our face with the water to refresh. You may also keep some of them in the water or jerry can to bring home. Most people believe that the holy water could heal diseases.

Stations of the Cross contains of 14 stops. Golden human-size statues at every station describing how Jesus suffered long time ago from death punishment until buried. In every station you could lit the candle in front of the statue. The place was hilly, many stairs to go, my cousins loved to run up and down, we were afraid that they could fall down, we had to warn them many times to be careful. Many big trees available, we could walk under the shade of the trees to avoid sun shine. A mausoleum provided for passed-away pastors, and a columbarium to keep the ashes of cremated Catholic bodies. If you would like to stay for meditation or praying, there is also some lodges around the area. This beautiful place is not only good for praying, but it's also a good place to reset the mood as they still keep maintaining the natural green place. Not only for Catholic people, but now it becomes the popular tourism place for public in Kediri.

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Delicious Food in Bandung

I went with my mom and sisters to Bandung, one of the goal was enjoying the food. After driving more than 3 hours from Jakarta because of the traffic jam, we decided to have lunch at Mie Naripan at Jl. Naripan 108 which opens from 07:30-20:00. The location was at the corner of the street, always full of people, lucky that we could get the parking lot. The restaurant was so simple since 1963, still in old fashion home model, no aircon, just using the ordinary fan. The taste was so good especially for the fried meat ball. You could order the original noodle or the sweet noodle called "mie yamin", fried wonton also available to accompany your main menu.

Next destination for afternoon tea was Cisangkuy yogurt at Jl. Cisangkuy 85 was opened since 1976 at 06:30-20:30. It's next to "Pasar Cisangkuy", it's very crowded, difficult to get the parking lot. We had to park on the edge of the street under big trees, it's rather far from the restaurant. The restaurant atmosphere was nice, an old Dutch building with shady trees, so many food-stalls at the front of the restaurant sold many kind of food. My mom and sisters ordered the famous lychee yoghurt and fried sausages accompanied by French fries. I don't like milk or yoghurt except the frozen one such as ice cream, so I ordered strawberry juice. While waiting for the order, I checked the food-stall and interested in trying "serabi" similar to pancake, it's made of rice flour not wheat flour. I ordered two flavor for the topping, one was banana chocolate, while the other one was choco cheese. We were allowed to eat them inside the restaurant, you even could order it through the waitress's of the restaurant.

For dinner we went up to "The Valley" restaurant, where we could see the city lights from above. We got lost for a while as the signage was not too clear, and it's quite dark already. The road was quite narrow and steep, especially when we arrived at the restaurant Jl. Lembah Pakar Timur 28 (Dago), Bandung, phone 62-22-2511450, we had to park at the top parking area with quite steep road right after almost 180 degree U-turn. I was quite afraid, lucky that my sister was quite calm and she could manage it well guidance by the parking man. The evenings at The Valley Bistro Garden was very amazing, there was indoor and outdoor table, unfortunately the one at the edge of the cliff already reserved. The restaurant was decorated with many lights, it's very beautiful especially when you have dinner there. Some people even use it for pre-wedding photos. The restaurant was quite dark, only a candle in the middle of the table became the light when you read the menu. If you have an SLR camera, you could get an amazing view. I only had pocket camera and iphone, I didn't know how to set manually for the pocket camera, so I only used the automatic setting. The result was not too good, too many noise, and the detail it's not clear. The waiter was so nice, they didn't mind helping us to take our picture.

The food menu was very various from European, Japanese & Oriental cuisines, filled with flavour and elegance. As we were still quite full, we ordered some menu to be shared. We ordered spaghetti and meat platter, we also ordered the dessert, poffertjes, chocolate cake (contain cashew nut) with ice cream and banana cake with ice cream. The food presentation was very beautiful, the portion was quite big too. The spaghetti came complete with small lasagna and other condiment, while the platter was including the big grill shrimp. A live music was accompanying the guests to eat, it's quite warm & relaxed ambience. The weather was nice, it's quite mild and clean, far beyond the crowded traffic in the city. The food price was rather expensive, but it's worthy with the service and view they'd offered.

The next day after visiting Kawah Putih tourism place, you could find the story in another article in this blog, we had dinner at the delicious "Sate Maulana Yusuf", at Jl. Maulana Yusuf 21. The lamb satay was very tender, there was also chicken satay, we ordered it with rice cake. While waiting for the seller grilled the satay, we ordered fried tofu called "tahu pletok" and "tahu aci", it's fried with starch and onion. You could eat it with its special sauce, but I prefer to eat them with the satay peanut sauce :-)

Ma Uneh was also visited, it's a Sundanese restaurant at Jl. Pajajaran Gg. Terasana No.132 Bandung, phone: 022-4202568. We had to go through a narrow path to reach the restaurant, I don't think I could find it by myself, no signage. The restaurant providing all cooked food displayed for the guests. We only need to order by pointing the finger to the food, then they would cut in small pieces and serve it in the small plate to be delivered to our table. The rice was served inside a bamboo basket, the plain tea was served free of charge. I like the tongue stew and fried lung, you need to go to the cashier to pay after meal. I heard that they started from small stall, now it becomes bigger, cleaner and more modern with ceramic floor. Although the place inside the alley, so many visitors come, it's already popular for the delicious food taste, so people don't mind walking to reach it. The service was quite professional, no need to wait for a long time to be served although it's crowded.

Kingsley Batagor Jl. Veteran 25 Bandung, phone: 022-4207104, was also one of the place we visited. Batagor stands for "Bakso Tahu Goreng", meat ball and fried tofu and dumpling with peanut sauce. The complete portion was quite big, as we've just had lunch, I could not finish mine. The restaurant was quite big and new, unfortunately the service was not too good because it's too crowded. We had to remind the waiter many times and still wait for a long time to get our order. The other table who came later than us even served earlier than us. I also ordered the popular mix ice called "es Bungsu" contains of young coconut, fermented cassava, fermented black sticky rice, and pomegranate seeds.

The last place we visited for culinary was D'Jadul Restaurant at Jadul Village resort & spa, Jl. Terusan Sersan Bajuri no. 45 Lembang. Although it's near Bandung, to go there at weekend really needs a big effort. Anyway the place was very an exotic relaxation amidst rich heritage atmosphere, the food was also very delicious. Interior was decorated with antique collection, the signage for female & male at the toilet was unique. The 2 levels restaurant had a bar at the first floor with some couches. We took the second level to enjoy the scenery while having lunch. The stairs were made of wood while the railing was from bamboo. We ordered different menu, then trying to taste each other, the chicken teriyaki was nice. D'Jadul also had 21 villas and a museum, the lush garden around the villas were very amazing, ponds full of lotus. There were also beautiful ponds contained many Koi, another pond contained the alligator fish. To go around the big areas, they provide a golf cart, so old people still could enjoy it.

To buy snack, we also stopped by at Ny. Yong, Jl. Setiabudi 144 to buy the very delicious Gepuk (sweet & savory beef), it's quite expensive cost Rp. 14.000,-/pcs. You could ask them to pack 5 pcs/box or 10 pcs/box, it's included the sauce in the package. It's frozen, so you could bring it home safely, just fried a while when you would like to eat it later. Prima Rasa bakery & cake shop, Jl. Kemuning 20, the big snack shops in Bandung was full of people. It's very fun to shop here, so many variety snacks, from cake, chocolate to cracker. They also provide some tester for some snacks to be tasted before buying. If you go by flight, don't worry how to carry it, they would help to pack your shopping in the cartoon box. Bawean was the next cake shop we visited, it's popular for its Nougat Roll. As the oldest bakery restaurant since 1946, they still kept maintaining the high quality with traditional recipe. The shop was very nice, including small café inside to eat the cake or gelato. The snack packaging was very nice, anyway the price was quite premium. The guests were not as crowded as Prima Rasa, and less variety of snacks.

That's my culinary in Bandung, it's quite a lot I think. Just remind myself not to go to Bandung too often unless my diet would fail :-)

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Ethnic Show Phuket Fantasia

On the first day in Phuket, after having a few hours city tour, we checked in to the Patong Tower apartment. My friend was kind enough to offer me the very competitive price using his membership. The apartment was quite spacious, the main room was big with king size bed and a bathroom. In the living room another king size bed was available also another bathroom. A dining room with kitchen and refrigerator was available for you to cook including a dining table. It's suitable and convenience for family staying a few days in Phuket at Patong beach area. The view from the balcony could be to the city or to the beach. Just 5-10 minutes walking distance to the popular Patong beach.

The car was waiting for us changing clothes to go to the next destination, Phuket Fantasia cost 2200 baht for the admission fee including the buffet dinner, show and transportation. We had to rush as we need to get there at least at 19:00 to enjoy dinner before the show would begin at 21:00. Arriving at the place we were welcome by beautiful girls wearing traditional Thai clothes. A photographer took our picture, then they would sell it during and after the show would be finished.

The place was very nice, it's an entertainment park was a beautiful pool with some statues full of light decoration. There were some artists performing music, acrobat, dancing, etc. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to enjoy all of them. We had to rush to the dinner area to catch the show.

Entering dinner area, called Golden Kinnaree Buffet Restaurant. The restaurant looked pretentious, it's painted with golden colour surrounding with fountains. Going inside, it's very huge area with many long tables capacity around 4000 persons. The ceiling decorated with Thai's picture and story was inspired by 7 half-bird half-angels called the Kinnarees. Various kind of food set just next to the wall against a background of the legendary Himmaphan Forest, guest wouldn't need to have a long queue as they always refilled the food.

After dinner we went directly to the show area, "The Palace of the Elephants" around 20:00. It was a unique creation inspired by the ancient stone palace of the pre Sukhothai era. We're not allowed to bring camera, smartphone, etc. which's possible to record the show, all of them must be deposit in the locker, that's why it took a long time for entering the theater which's capacity for 3000 people. The "Fantasy of a Kingdom" was a spectaculer Thai cultural show, provided in both Thai and English which last around 90 minutes. The stage was over 37 meters wide with extendable side stages to 24 meters on each end. With cutting-edge technology and special effect element, the 4-dimensional stage could be changed dramatically from rice field to river to village including the traditional house, etc. to describe the journey of the Prince of Kamala in discovering and learning to be the perfect Thai person. It was very amazing show some angels also flying on the stage, big population of the real animal such as elephants, sheeps, chicken, etc enliven the show. After the show ended, we were queing again to take our camera and went out the theater.

No street performance anymore, the park was closed already, so we only could take some pictures with shiny beautiful light decoration. All your welcome pictures were set near to the gate, you could buy if you like it. I was not satisfied with the photo result, so I decided not to buy it, unfortunately the beautiful girl showed a very unfriendly face when she knew it. I think, she should treat the guest well whatever the condition, it's not an obligation for the guest to buy, so she should keep behaving well, with her friendly attitude as Thai's girl trademark.

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Picturesque panoramic view of OIA - Santorini

After a long journey from Jakarta, around 16 hours without counting waiting time during transit, transit at 3 airports in 3 different countries (Jakarta-Singapore-Istanbul-Athena-Santorini), finally we reached Santorini around lunch time. A bus picked us up in the airport, it's quite small for 16 of us with big luggages. The bus baggage could not store all of the luggages, so the last row of bus passenger seat had to use for piling up the luggages. Bus went directly to the hotel to drop all of us there. The hotel looked great with white walls and stone pathway to the lobby. We were waiting quite a long time to check in, the hotel lobby was not big, but it's quite nice, it could give us shelter from the hot weather outside. After getting the room key, we only got around 30 minutes to fresh up.



My sister and I took a bath in rush and change clothes, so it's very braces. Others had waited for us for lunch. We crossed the street in front of our hotel, Al Greco which has 4 swimming pools. A beautiful scenery of Santorini beach with its island and some small boats passing by were welcoming us. The layering rock on the beach with houses above it was complementary to the scenic scenery. Walking under the sunshine was very tiring especially when we were hungry. It's a pity that the bus didn't drop us to the nearest place to the restaurant.


We went through old town where we could only pass through by foot, or sometimes by riding donkey. The road was narrow, sometimes up and down. So many stores at the left and right of the road selling souvenirs, clothes, hats, bags, etc. A Malay restaurant that providing Chinese food was our destination for lunch after almost an hour walk.

After lunch by bus we went to OIA, exquisite small town, to see the best scenery of Santorini. Santorini is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion, destroying the earliest settlements on what was formerly a single island, and leading to the creation of the current geological caldera. During the trip to OIA, we saw that the land was very barren. Most of the building were painted white with no roof tile but concrete roof. There were many small chapels with bells as private belonging, but public may use it along the way to OIA.

The bus stopped, we had to continue walking to reach the cliff. The main pedestrian street connects its ends accross the top of the cliff, with many local branches. There was a church right on the edge of the cliff, we took some pictures in front of the church and the beautiful scenery on the cliff. OIA is famous for its imaginary sunset and its narrow passageways get crowded in the evenings. The most popular spot to watch sunset is by the Kastro walls. Before reaching the castle, there was a small way to the other end of the cliff where we could see the beautiful scenery at the right and left side.

It's very amazing, I took many pictures there. Some professional models were also taking pictures at that time, so the place was closed just for them. After another half an hour, they finished and we could take pictures from that side. While waiting for the sunset, my sister and I were sitting on the wall, enjoying the scenery. We didn't want to walk further to the castle, because from that place we could see the panoramic view of Santorini with its unique characteristic view of white buildings and blue dome for the church contrasting with the deep blue of the Aegean Sea in the background. Houses, paths, churches built up skillfully on the northern part of the island, with low-lying cubical houses, made of local stone and whitewashed or limewashed. From where we sat, we could see donkey go down and up the hill riding by tourists. I could not imagine if we stayed in the hotel there, it's very heavy and difficult to bring the luggage because you had to walk on stairs, no escalator, no lift :-)


During the beautiful sunset, we could not see the circle sun, but the red color sky before sunset was beautiful as the background of the OIA panoramic view. On the wayback to the bus stop, we passed by some stores selling cute souvenirs, restaurants, clothes, jewelry, etc. We often stopped to take pictures, because the store design was beautiful especially with its light at night. I bought sweet roasted pistachio nut with sesame, because the seller offered tester and I like it. It's difficult to bring back to Indonesia because it's easily break and they didn't have a good package to avoid the damage.


OIA is beautiful, an ideal place for those seeking peace and quiet. It's very windy, so prepare your jacket, especially for protecting the cold at night.

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East Kalimantan Beautiful Jewelry

It was the third time I visited Balikpapan on early June 2010. We had lunch at Kemala beach, the sand is light yellow and very soft. It’s located near the city area. The restaurant seemed similar to Jimbaran restaurants in Bali, you could see from the restaurant signage, also from the decoration with black and white square sarongs coverage the pillar and also at the ceiling. There were some stands providing different foods. You could eat inside under the roof or outdoor on the sea sand. We preferred eating indoor, as Indonesian people we don’t like sunbathing, our skin is already too dark :-)


While waiting the food, I went to the edge of the beach to take some pictures. I took off my shoes to feel the soft sand. Based on my colleague’s info, there are sport activities on the beach, such as banana boat, parasailing, etc. At weekend Balikpapan people like to have entertainment/leisure there while enjoying the beach and watching the plane flying on the upper of the beach. The plane seems very close because the airport is very near to the beach.

At night we went to the middle of the hill at Pertamina houses area to take pictures of the eternal flame from the oil drilling with its oil refinery site as a revitalized center of petroleum production. It’s very beautiful shining in the dark of the night. My friend, the professional photographer suggested the proper measurement for getting the good result. It’s very satisfying to see the wonderful picture, as if I’m professional already :-) I only used pocket camera, so the result was not as detail and excellent such as my colleague taking it with SLR camera.

On the next day after working, we got a chance to stop by half an hour in the popular market called Kebun Sayur. You could find beautiful accessories, gemstones, ethnic souvenirs, jewelry made of combination of gemstones and silver, crystal, handicraft, etc. You should good in bargaining so you could have a very competitive price, you have to pay cash, no credit card or debit card.

My friend bought Dayak (tribe in Kalimantan) souvenirs while I bought many colorful and beautiful bracelets made of silver and gemstones, some of them made of glisten crystal. Although it’s very short time, I was happy that I could add my accessories collection with beautiful ethnic ones.


We reached the airport an hour before the flight took off, there was a place that you could see the airport area in front of a restaurant. We should pay Rp. 3.000,- per person to go inside the place right on the top of Sepinggan airport. It’s very windy, it’s good to see the plane landed and flied. The airport is just next to the sea, you could see the sea as the background of the airport.

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