Bandung, Paris van Java

During a business trip last Jun 2010 I visited Bandung, where people from Jakarta like to spend their weekend to enjoy shopping, dining and leisure. It’s quite crowded at that time, because it’s school holiday, so many domestic tourists came from other cities made Bandung full of cars and people. I’ve got a chance to enjoy lunch in Ampera restaurant, a traditional Sunda restaurant with beautiful view such as in the village with fish pool, coconut tree and some personal huts which could create more privacy room for any group who wants to gather with friends, relatives, etc.


It’s suggested by our driver to have lunch there, because the location (at Raya Rancabolang 1, Bandung, phone: 62-22-7510000) was near our office and they served traditional food. It’s really a great choice, I love the environment. When we entered the restaurant, we would be directed to go to a row contained of various food that we could select whatever we like to put in a plate. Some of them still needed to be fried, just pay right after finishing your selection, then the waiters would bring it to your table after frying. If you like chili, many kind of crush red pepper and dish of raw vegetables were available for free. You could select the seat location based on your preference, indoor or outdoor. The outdoor view was awesome, it seemed like in a village with some beautiful huts surrounding with fish pool. A big gazebo in the middle of the huts where you could sit on the chairs, sometimes a live music would entertain you while enjoying your meal.

From facebook I found an old friend from my hometown, she’s quite success as a branch manager of a foreign bank. We agreed to meet in Paskal - Hyper Square, Pasir Kaliki 25-27, Bandung. It’s a shopping area where you could find a factory outlet, some restaurants, cafes, and also a food market/court where Bandung people hangout. A daughter of my mom’s friend also met me at the same time. I was glad that we could met after a long time never contacted each other.

The foodcourt ambience was quite fun, so may stalls providing from light snack till heavy meal. One of my colleagues from Bandung’s office accompanied me that night.
I walked from start to end of all stalls to select foods that I like to order. The stand would give a coupon contained your order, you had to collect it and paid together in the cashier. The food would send to your table after you paid. I love light snack, so I ordered quite many kinds of food such as moon cake, fried banana, fried cassava, curry chicken prata, and the traditional mix ice which contains many kind of ingredient such as coconut, jelly, fermented cassava, pineapple served with syrup and coconut milk. If you like heavy meal, don't worry about it, so many variety food from Indonesian, Japanese, Malaysian, Vietnamnesse, Western, and others were available there.

At that night world football tournament was happened, they provided some giant screens for the visitors to see the match with their friends. The weather was quite comfortable, it's colder at night time, no mosquito :-), so the open air environment foodcourt was quite suitable for Bandung. I was interested in the lovely environment, so many young people enjoy the night, they went with their group, even brought a computer. I brought my new camera, I was attempted to take some pictures of the shiny night at Paskal foodcourt.

My friend and I were chatted about many interesting topics, until we didn't realize that the place was closed. The tenant had turned off all the lights around 24:00 o’clock, so it’s time for us to go home. At the gate of the foodcourt there was a garden with water fountain as my beautiful background picture to end the amusing night.

Read More ..

Magnificent Bromo Mountain

At end of April 2010, we had an Asia Pacific conference, for leisure Bromo was the destination for the foreigners to enjoy beautiful scenery in East Java, Indonesia. The trip from Surabaya to Bromo took quite a long time, about 6 hours, there were 3 buses full of the team. Around 22:00 o'clock finally we reached the hotel in quite cold weather. It's too late, so no many option in the hotel for dinner, just fried rice and fried noodle. We didn't have much time to rest, to see the sunrise we should wake up very early, at 03:00 o'clock in the morning, we would take jeeps from the hotel to Pananjakan. Although there was no aircon, inside room was very cold.


A queue of jeeps with the driver was ready in front of the hotel, there were 4 passengers in a car. It's so dark, but the driver was expert enough to drive on the sandy road and avoid the hole. Because it's dark, we could not see the environment at all, around 45 minutes in the bumpy car, we reached Pananjakan. We had to climb to the top, it took around 20 minutes walking distance, but the road was reclining and it's very cold, until I had to stop to take a long breath and recharged my energy :-)


At the top we're waiting for the sunrise, it's still dark, there were some benches to sit without any roof. Unfortunately it's so cloudy at that time, when the sun was rising, it only showed orange color on the sky, we could not see the sun. It's so windy and cold, the committee brought us some hot drinks such as coffee, milo and tea that could warm our body. If the weather was nice, you could see a beautiful scenery of Bromo and Batok mountains with the sun as the background.

We continued the journey by jeep again to go to Bromo. We started feeling hungry, lucky that there were fruit in the car, so we could feel our stomach with either banana, apple or orange. We stopped by at the slope that we could take pictures of beautiful Batok mountain. The dissatisfaction of imperfect sunrise was healed here. No cloudy weather anymore.

The jeep took us to Bromo mountain through a very steep and small road, some of them were sag, it's very dangerous to drive if you don't know the environment. Only four wheel drive car could pass it then continues to pass the sea sand. At the foot of Bromo mountain, we took a horse to bring us to Bromo's ladder.

I was the last batch, there's not much horses left. I've got a small horse, I was afraid that I was heavier than the horse. My friend said that my legs were longer than the horse's legs :-) Lucky that we could reach the ladder safe and sound. The horse riding was not too easy, although it walked slowly, it had to climb a small path with some stones on it. It's quite slippery, but the horse was trained well already to pass the difficult path successfully.


To go to the top of the active mountain, you should climb a long stairs. It was cloudy so the crater view was not too clear. Anyway the scenery from the ladder was quite beautiful, you could see the horses at the bottom of the stairs who waited for their passengers and also the Hindu temple as the background. Batok mountain with its green color wall was on the other side of the scenery's background. We had a chance to take some group pictures from different angle at Bromo's foot and in front of the temple.

Bromo and Pananjakan had a beautiful scenery unfortunately the facilities for tourists were not good enough. Right in front of our hotel we also could see a picturesque Batok mountain, the concept of the hotel itself was quite good enough, unfortunately it's not maintained well. The proper accomodation, transportation, and other facilities should be improved to attract more tourist, so the excited feeling to enjoy the magnificent scenery won't be ruined with inadequate facility.

Read More ..

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.

Read More ..

Sunda Kelapa, traditional harbour in Jakarta

On early May 2010 at weekend, some of us who like taking pictures went to explore Jakarta oldiest part accompanying our friend from Lausanne, Swiss who's interested in exploring Indonesia. Departing from hotel at 09:00 we directly went to Sunda Kelapa, at present is an active and an inter island port in Indonesia. It's crowded with many trucks unloading their commodities.


Formerly Sunda Kelapa, better known as Pasar Ikan (meaning fish market) is located at the mouth of the Ciliwung River. The fish catch of the day was auctioned in the early morning at the old fish market. The harbor is still one of the most important calls for sailing vessels from all over Indonesia. The magnificent and brightly painted Makassar schooner called Phinisi is still an important means of transporting goods to and from the outer islands. This is one of the best touristm place in Jakarta.


We parked near the traditional big boats, it's rather cloudy at that moment, so we could not get a clean blue sky, anyway there were so many objects that're good to capture. An old man followed us wherever we took pictures, he kept offering us to ride a small boat along the harbour with Rp. 40.000,- for 3-4 persons/boat. There were 6 of us so we decided to take two boats.

There was no special ladder or stair to go down to the boat, so we had to climb the wall and jump to the boat carefully. The boat was not steady enough, so you had to maintain your balance avoid failing down to the water while you had to take care your camera too from water splashing.

Fisherman village was the first place we visited, the people were living on the boat and floating small house. Everyday they find fishes for their living, some fishermans were fixing their nets, cleaning the boat, tuning their motor boat to prepare for sailing. Some childrens were playing on the boats, or just chatting with their friends.

The water is not clean at all, it's muddy, sometimes oily from the boat fuel, I don't think that we could get a fresh fish here. Our sailor kept sailed toward the firth, it's quite a long journey. After around 30 minutes sailing, we could see a big wave at our see sight, the sailor didn't dare to go through the sea, because our boat was small and we didn't have any motor, it's only manual sailed. They were turning back, return to the way where we were.

All of us had taken many pictures, although it's cloudy, we still felt burning on our skin, so in the middle of the journey back, we decided to stop. We stopped the sailing and went through the gap in the middle of big boats who berthed on the piers. When we walked back to the car, we've just realized that it's still far from our destination. We're very thirsty, but we're satisfied of taking pictures and experiences the boat riding.

Read More ..

Journey to Senado Square Macau from Hongkong

Landing in Hongkong airport, I decided to buy Turbojet ticket to Macau, it cost HK$260. It’s quite convenience, you don’t need to go out the airport, even you don’t need to pass the immigration to take the luggage. Give the luggage tag to the teller when you buy the ticket, they would take the luggage for you and put directly to the boat free of charge, but at least you have to be an hour before boat’s departure. The boat to Macau from Hongkong airport is not every hour, so please see the schedule carefully to get the best time for you to depart.


It took around an hour from Hongkong to Macau by the speedboat, no drink is available on the boat for the passenger, please be ready to bring water before you go on to the boat. Arrived in the Macau harbour, I didn’t have any map or clue how to go to the hotel with our big luggages, my friend and I decided to take a taxi. If we didn't bring luggage, bus riding bus was the best option. We also saw some ricksaws park in front of the harbour.

We were hurry going to the taxi queue, it was quite long, it took more than half an hour to get a taxi. We showed the hotel name and address to the driver, unfortunately he didn’t understand English, lucky that he had a book contained hotel list in Macau. I appointed London, because it’s the most similar name with Ole London, but I was not so sure whether it’s the correct hotel, so on the way I called the hotel using my Indonesian number, and asked her to talk directly to the driver. To avoid paying an expensive roaming, I was in hurry when giving my mobile phone to the driver, it’s not a proper time at all. At that time he was taking a U-turn while receiving my phone, and a big bus was right behind us, fortunately he was quite agile to avoid the accident.


Not taking a long time we arrived safely at the hotel, it’s a budget hotel called Ole London Hotel (Praca de Ponte e Horta 4-6 Macau City, phone: +85328937765) cost HK$400 without breakfast. The hotel reception was very welcome and friendly, the room was clean and simple with modern style, equiped with plasma TV, king size bed with nice and clean soft bed and white bed cover, a sophisticated shower. Shortly it’s quite comfortable to take a rest. The hotel location was quite strategies, just a distance walk (10 minutes) to Sedona square.


Along the way you could find many small restaurants which open since early morning, so you also could have a breakfast. It’s around 18:00, we decided to stop by at a small restaurant having dinner before exploring Macau. My wonton noodle portion was quite big, so I asked my friend’s help to finish it, the soup and thin yellow noodle tasted good. The weather was quite cold, around 14 degree Celcius, it’s a good food to warm our body.

Senado square was crowded with many tourists, it’s the central city where people gathered for relaxing. There is a fountain in the middle of the square with a metal globe in the middle of the fountain. The street was built from small black and white wavy pavement. Pastel-colored neo classical buildings surrounding the square created a consistent and harmonious Mediterranean atmosphere. Institute of Civic & Municipal Affairs was built in 1784 decorated with magnificent blue and white Portuguese tiles. A magnificent building with yellow and blue light was used as tourism information center at the left side of the square.

Many food stalls were available at the aisle of the main street, where you could find fruits, fried snacks, peanuts, etc. If you like to shops, on the main streets are available various shops such as Giordano, Bossini, Bauhaus, Sasa (parfumes and cosmetics), Body Shop, Mac Donald, etc.


Walking along the street we met a beautiful St. Dominique church with yellow wall, unfortunately it didn’t open at that time, so we could not go inside. I heard the Maria statue inside is very beautiful. My friend brought SLR camera with wide lense, his camera is much better than mine to get the whole building from a near distance while mine, pocket camera only could catch half of it. We ignored the crowded, tried to get a good angle and pose, to take the picture we had to sit on the street.


Continue strolling Senado area we arrived at The Cathedral of Macau (re-built in 1937) at Largo de Se, Macau. The church was quite beautiful and shiny connected to pastor dormitory. It has two solid towers and massive doors and fine stained-glass window. It’s very difficult to get the whole area using my camera, so my friend was kind enough to take my picture with his camera to capture the beautiful elegant Catholic church. This is the end of Senado square area, so many benches available on the park beside the church, people were sitting there enjoy the mild night.

Read More ..

Popular James Bond Island

Have you heard about James Bond Island? The original and local name is Ko Tapu or Nail Island because it’s used for making James Bond movie (The Man with the Golden Gun), now it’s more popular as James Bond Island.



Two of my friends and I joined tour to Phang Nga Island for reaching the island last March 2010. A long tail boat was taking us to the island passing by mangrove for around 45 minutes rides. The tour won’t provide water or soft drink, so you have to prepare by yourself. Each row could only contain 2-3 passengers, it had more than 10 rows. During the trip we could also see some beautiful stones or hills in the middle of the sea. If the boat run too fast, all of us got wet by the sea water as impacted from the wave.


Reaching the island from the front, we could see directly the mascot of the island, a stand alone rock right in the middle of the other rocks. We went around the island to embark on the other side of the legendary rock. Our long tail boat had to queue, as there were many tourists arrive in the island. Everytime only a boat could put a shore their passengers. How the sailor stroke their long tail boat in a very limited space was very interesting. They could forward and reverse the boat to be closer to the pier horizontally.


Tourist would be welcome by adjoin stalls selling souvenirs made of seashells, sarongs, magnetics, etc. Bargain was a must here, they would give very high price, you had to bargain to get the best price. Some of them were kind, but some of them were also fierce and impolite to tourists when the price didn’t match their expectation.


The guide gave us 30 minutes to enjoy the island. We went to the main attraction of the island, the stand alone rock to take picture. My friend and I posed as if we carried the rock. It took many shots to get the best one. The other tourists were kind enough to wait for us, lucky us :-) You could play with the water, but it’s not too clean, I just put my feet under the water while taking pictures. The sand beach was not too soft here, you’d better wearing sandals.


After satisfied taking some pictures from different position, I was wearing my friend's hat, she was kind enough to lend it to me, because she has bought the brown one which were matched with her blouse. We explore the stalls to find any interesting stuffs, the good and nice one with reasonable price :-) I found interesting bracelets, after selecting from many options, I decided to buy 3 of them, 2 made of seashells while 1 made of white pearls. Because the color was matching with my blouse, I directly changed my bangle with the new one.


On the way back to Phuket we stopped by for lunch in Koh Panyee village. It’s a moslem floating village with houses, restaurants and markets. They had provided a set lunch for our group, the service was quite fast and efficient, they also provided water and soft drink with ice. It’s very suitable with our condition after hot journey on the boat under the sunshine. The toilet was built with ceramics as if on the land. I could not imagine how they could get the water and build the buildings. After lunch we still could have a chance to shop again, the price here was quite reasonable, although you still have to bargain. The trip was quite satisfying with enjoying the scenery, taking pictures and shopping.

Read More ..

Spectacular Sparkling Night at Macau

My friend and I finally reached the central of light, the first hotel we visited was Grand Lisboa, it’s built as lotus, the symbol of Macau. A big dome was built from mirror crystal that could shine with colorful light. The lobby’s very luxury with crystal chain and sparkling golden interior, so amazing. There were some good quality statues made of gold, wood, jade, etc, also some big porcelain jug.


A shallow pool inside the hotel was decorated with lotus, bird, eagle and sparkling chandelier, it’s very beautiful. The lobby was decorated under hanging beautiful crystal chain. I’m sure the decoration inside the hotel casino is also luxurious, but we didn’t try to play gambling. We just wanted to see and enjoy the beautiful night in Macau with its light.




The next hotel was just next to Grand Lisboa was Lisboa Hotel, this hotel was the old version of Grand Lisboa. After visiting the extravaganza Grand Lisboa, we felt that this hotel was not too interesting. It’s much less modern and sophisticated comparing to the new one, although it’s still big and shiny.


Firework was attracted us after leaving Lisboa. It seems that the source was very far away from our place, but when we crossed the street, we saw the river, and that's the good spot to enjoy the attraction. Some people already sat on the wall at the edge of the river to enjoy it, we joined them. With the white bridge cut across the river giving a good background for the show. Every good firework performance, all spectators gave applause by clapping hands. The show had last around 15 minutes.


In front of Wynn hotel, there was a big pool, which played dancing fountain every half an hour. While waiting for the show, we entered the lobby dominated with red and golden color interior, we could see the beautiful swimming pool guidance by a couple of camel through the window in the lobby. Many high-class boutique, such as LV, Dior were available in this hotel. The beautiful dancing fountain was played accompanying with music and light. Fire effects were also taken part during the show. We were very tired, although we still wanted to visit Venetian Hotel, but we had walked since 7 o’clock, almost 4 hours long, we didn’t have any energy to go across the island (Venetian hotel is on the another island)

On the way home we passed MGM hotel, it seemed the backside of the hotel, because it’s not crowded and not too luxury such as other lobby hotels that we had visited. Although tired, I still had a chance to take picture in front of the golden bear statue.

Macau is very amazing at night, although you don't want to play gambling, you still could enjoy the sparkling light. You should stay overnight to experience it. So many hotels are available depends from your preference and budget, from the competitive (budget) hotel price to the most expensive one.

Read More ..