Fantastic Beauty Halong Bay in Vietnam

Have you heard about Halong Bay? My friends and I have decided to visit it since November 2008, we've booked the flight on that month for flying on July 2009. There were 6 of us, we found difficulty to find Dong (currency in Vietnam) in Indonesia. Money changer seldom provides it, so only in black market Dong is available. The rate is not good either, Rupiah were valued less than Dong. My friend who works in Vietnam suggested us to bring USD and change it in Vietnam with much better rate, and she is right. In the airport we could get a good rate around 17500 Dong for 1 USD, even in the city you will get much better rate, around 18000 Dong for 1 USD.


Because we were blind of Vietnam environment and language, so we booked the tour from internet since we were in Indonesia. A nice van picked us up in Noi Bai - Hanoi airport, directly going to Halong Bay, it takes around 2.5 hours from Hanoi to Halong Bay. The driver could not speak English, so we should use symbolic language to talk. My friend gave a nick name for him "Mas Tek". Mas is Javanese language for Mr. He didn't mind we call him with the nickname. During the journey to HalongBay, my friend kept trying to communicate with him, unfortunately no luck, the communication barrier was still high :-) It's ok as long as we would arrive safely to the destination.

We arrived on the pier during lunch time, the scenery was amazing. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes decorating with beautiful modern traditional ships. With a small boat we crossed the sea to our magnificent lovely "Victory Star" ship. We were welcomed by the crew with a wet towel to refresh up. On the second floor, the key was submitted to us, the luggage were taken care by the crew. Entering the bedroom surprised us, the room was very nice, with air conditioning (AC), shower, toilet and wastafel, and you could look through the window for the magnificent scenery of Halongbay. There was a balcony outside your room with 2 rattan chairs and a table.

Hạ Long Bay (literally: Descending Dragon bay; Vietnamese: Vịnh Hạ Long) is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Quảng Ninh province, Vietnam. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. We stayed a night on the boat, so we could enjoy the morning on the sea surrounding by beautiful rocks. The bay consists of a dense cluster of 1,969 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, which rise spectacularly from the ocean

Floating fishing village was one of our journey visit, we went there by the real traditional boat rowed by a real Vietnamnese fisherman wearing the traditional costume, all of us as passengers were lent the ethnic cap for avoiding the sun shine, it's very hot. When we tried to row the boat, it's very heavy, we could not move forward, it moved backword or even went round and round at the same place until we gave up :-) My friend's mom was quite excited, she could row well quite a long time, of course she gots sweatening. There were hospital and school in the floating village. They made a living by maintaining pearl and fishes. We stopped by at the school, trying to feed the fish.

After visiting the village, we stopped by at a pier in the middle of the sea. The passengers were divided into 2 groups, I was in the different group with my friends. We were racing on the dragon boat rowing accompanying by the cheerful sound from the drum hit by a person at the head of the boat. The rower sat on 2 rows at the left and right side, all of us were very enthusiastic to win the race, luckily my team was the winner, what a lovely experience.

We returned to the ship for taking a bath, some of the passengers were swimming. The activity was continued with a cooking class, then we could take a leisure by enjoying the lovely sea view on the deck, chatting with others. Not a long time after a complete seafood dinner set which was served by the ship crews with colorful Vietnam traditional costumes, we tried to fish the squid, it's quite difficult. Only 3 kids tried to fishing, a large light was spotted to the water to attract the squid, unfortunately after an hour, they only got a squid. FYI in the ship, you could order various wine, meal was included in the tour but for drink including water you have to pay separately by yourselves. Anyway the ship was very nice and luxurious, you won't regret to have journey with it. Wanna make a try?

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Fun Carnival on "Dirty Thursday"

I visited my friend in Oberburen, fortunately on that day there was a carnival at 14:00 o'clock from the church yard to the school auditorium. Her children, Carina and Adrian would like to participate to the parade. Carina painted her brother face using a special paint that's not dangerous for the skin, he wanted to become a soldier. While she also painted her own face, but she just wore her sporty costumes.


Suddenly 2 of her friends from Albania were coming, they were very beautiful. As not as creatives such as Carina, they asked for her help to paint their faces. Carina was quite confident to do it, she could draw a nice pink heart on the smaller girl cheeks, while the older sister only wanted on her forehead. It's still snowing, the weather was cold, although they were beautiful dresses, they have to covered it with coats to protect them from frozen :-)

On the way to the church, the scenery was very beautiful. I like the magnificent view of the village, it's peaceful and very wonderful, I could not stop taking pictures. I was wearing my sport shoes, it's very slippery, so I had to walk carefully and slowly. Many times I was almost falling down, lucky that my friend walked close to me, so I could put on my hand on her shoulder.

We were waiting on the street to see the parade. Most of the village's resident were participated to the parade, to make it cheerful. A marching band with blue and gold costumes were opening the parade, all of the band members were wearing blue hair. The children with various costumes were followed them, there were princess, some superhero such as superman, spiderman, also witches, or animal costumes such as tiger, lion, etc. They were very cute and almost all of them brought a bag full of cutting paper inside to throw them to each other, that's why it's called a dirty Thursday he..he.. The last row was a car with a big cannon on it to explode the confetti to the crowd. What amaze, it's like showering paper on the weddings or stages :-)

The parade was ended in the school auditorium, that was decorated with so many confetti, banners and balloons, masks, and colorful curtains. Snacks and drinks were sold, if the parade participants need something to eat/drink. The band went to the stage through the audiences, they played a few songs. After that the children were racing to go to the stage, to throw the confetti to each other. All of them were very cute, unfortunately nobody arranged them to perform, so the only performance was the band. I wanted to communicate with the children, it's a pity I could not do it, because their language was Germany, poor me. Anyway, I love to involve in the parade to see them, it's a very memorable event.

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Relaxing Ouchy Area in Lausanne

During in Lausanne, I was staying in Movenpick Hotel, comparing to Indonesia, hotel in Lausanne is much more expensive. The location is quite convenience, beside the hotel you could find Migros, a mini market where you could buy fruits, bakery such as croissant and brownies, and instant noodles as one of my favourite for breakfast he..he.. It's also close to the bus station and metro. The nicest things if you are a tourist, you could get a free pass to go around Lausanne by bus or metro. They were so punctual, only during a bad weather, sometimes bus is rather late just a few minutes. Some restaurants are also available around the hotel, just by walking distance.

People is also very polite in Lausanne, when they are driving, they will stop whenever they see any person would cross the street, although there is no traffic light. The walking people is also very discipline, they always try to find the zebra cross to go to the other part of the street. Bus also stops only on the bus station, traffic jam is very rare. Most people speaks French, but some of them could speak English too, especially in the office.

The most nicest part is across the hotel, it's a Lac Leman (Leman Lake), some people call it Geneva Lake. It is the second largest freshwater lake in central Europe in terms of surface area. 60% of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland (cantons of Vaud, Geneva, and Valais), and 40% under France (Haute-Savoie). The view is magnificent, the lake is surrounding by Alps mountain, whenever the weather is shiny, you could see the beautiful Alps with its white snow, such as pictures in the postcard.

I saw many family went for a walk along the lake, sometimes they bring bread to feed many kind of birds there, such as swan, sparrow, duck, etc. They are so tame, they are not afraid of people, the weather was very fresh and rather cold. It's around 5 degree celcius in the morning, it's nice to inhale a fresh weather in the morning, no polution at all. There were many boats were berth on the pier. Most of them were private boat. Only at weekend there is a big cruise for bringing people to other city, such as Montreux.

There is also come bridges with fountain to adorn the scenery. A wooden stairs were made for children to play. The first day when I arrived, my friend wanted to take picture with me, but nobody were around, so he used put his camera on the top of a small pipe, unfortunately the wind blew so hard, it made his camera falling down. Lucky it's not broken, we cancel to take picture together.

On the distance walk you could also find an Olympic museum, unfortunately I didn't get a chance to visit it, because we always worked until late, and the museum was closed already.

What amaze me is the tree, I never see this kind of tree in Indonesia, with a very big and thick branches, there was no leaves at all, because it's still winter time. In the picture you could see a car for cleaning the snow.

There were many benches provided in the area, it's wonderful, so people could rest after walking while enjoying the beautiful lake with its birds and ships. I enjoyed staying in Lausanne, it's very clean and peace. I want to go back again there someday.

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Historic Jewel Monument - Chateau De Chillon

On the rainy day on Saturday, 3 of my colleagues and I decided to visit Chateau De Chillon in Montreux. Montreux is also known as the pearl of the Swiss Riviera. The place could be reached by boat or by train from Lausanne, unfortunately one of my colleague easily get drunk on the boat, and the boat was only sailed on Sunday, so we decided to take the train, it cost CHF 20.4 for round trip. While waiting for my colleague bought a local phone card in the train station, I took some pictures of the train station, there’s a big clock in the middle of two beautiful guardian angels with the wings.


The train strolled along the edge of the beautiful lake which is surrounding by Alps mountains. Around half an hour we had arrived in Montreux, unfortunately we could not see the chateau when we went out from the station. I’ve informed that we could just walk from the station along the lake’s shore, because the castle is at the lake side, and you could see the castle right away. I didn’t bring any brochure or map about it, I think we would find it easily as informed. Unfortunately we could not see any castle, so under the rain and strong wind, I tried to find a person to find a person to ask the direction and any transportation needed. The worse thing that most people in Montreux speak French, they could not speak English. Lucky that I have written the place name, because when I pronounce it, people there could hardly understand it because of accent difference. Lucky that I could ask a girl at the bus stop, I tried to speak English with her, it seemed that she didn’t understand me, so I showed her what I wrote. Thanks God, she told me to go across the street and go down through the stairs that you could find many buses there. We didn’t know which the way, accidentally I saw a sign for tourist information office, I ran there to find the info.

The office was not too big, a girl at the receptionist desk gave me a very clear info with a map, she’s also so kind to give me coins change to ride the bus. It took 45 minutes to walk along the lake, while just 10 minutes by bus. I was confused to find my colleagues, none of them presented in front of the office. It’s very windy and chilly, I had to wear my gloves to avoid the chill breeze. Alas, finally I could find them at the lake shore, taking photos. Not taking along time for me to join them taking some pictures  Then, quickly we went to the bus stop, it cost CHF 3.2, we could see the castle when we step down from the bus.

An architectural jewel located in the most beautiful setting imaginable, between the shores of Lake Geneva and the Alps, this monument with over 1,000 years of history, has always inspired artists and writers, from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Victor Hugo and Lord Byron, from Delacroix to Courbet. Excavations carried out from the end of the 19th century, in particular by the archeologist Albert Naef (1862-1936), affirm that this site has been occupied since the Bronze Age. Entering the chateau costs CHF12, and additional audio guide (iPod) rental costs CHF6 with French, German, English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Chinese and Japanese language. It takes 1.5 to 2 hours to go around the place.

In its current state, the Chateau De Chillon is the result of several centuries of constant building, adaptations, renovations and restorations. The rocky island on which the castle is built, was both a natural protection and a strategic location to control the passage between northern and southern Europe. We didn’t rent the iPod, but we could go through the chambers because they provide numbers in each place, so the visitors could explore on the subsequent way, although they don’t understand exactly what’s the story behind each chamber. I met with cute children during the visit, I got a chance to take pictures with them. From the window of some rooms, you could see the lake with its beautiful scenery.

Unfortunately we could not finish visiting all rooms, because we’re starving. After taking the bus back, near the train station we stopped by an Indian restaurant, its chicken kebab was very delicious.

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Unforgettable crispy bebek bengil

When we had a business meeting in Bali, we decided to extend for weekend by personal account expenses. My colleague’s brother were kind enough to bring us to go around Bali. One of the most exciting place to visit was “Bebek Bengil”, in English it’s called “dirty duck diner”. Why is it called dirty? As the owner said during building the restaurant a flock of ducks ran quacking and squawking into the restaurant and across the floor and tables. They left muddy webbed footprints all over the place. They were their first guests - those dirty ducks.


For tourist, it’s not too easy to find the place, because it’s in the village in Padang Tegal, Ubud (phone: 62-361- 975 489), there was no clear address with number such as in the city. You could not park in front of the restaurant, but you have to park in the open air fields then walking to go to the restaurant. It’s rather inconvenience to walk under the rain. The ambience was very nice, rice fields just right behind the restaurant, of course there were some ducks were playing and finding food in the fields. Some separate bungalows or rooms were provided for visitors, you could sit on the chair or just sit on the floor such as in traditional Japanese restaurant. It’s raining, we had to close the curtain to avoid the water dropped to our tables, we could not see the fields from our table, but the weather became nicer and colder.

All of us were ordered the special bebek bengil, it took quite a long time, because all of us were starving :-), the time was already over the lunch time. The dish served in a big plate with complete garnish. A half of very crispy and yummy duck was the main course. We didn’t wait any longer to eat and enjoy the food. If you like spicy and hot food, they provide many kind of chilly to complete the taste. I really like the duck, although I don’t eat the chilly, the taste was still very delicious.


After finishing eating, we were lucky, the rain was almost stop, it's just a drizzling rain, we need to bring an umbrella to go back to the entrance. The scenery were beautiful, so I could not avoid the temptation to take pictures. To get better picture, I didn’t mind leaving the umbrella and pose under the rain :-), you could enjoy some of my photos here he...he… There were some pools with lotus and other plants, and also some ethnic Balinesse statues with the ducks.


I plan to go back there someday, whenever I visit Bali. If you like duck, please spare your time to visit the place, it’s very worthy to enjoy the food and the ambience.

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Awesome Montana Ski Resort

Do you want to experience white Christmas? You should visit Switzerland for it :-)
It’s unbelievable, everywhere I saw incredible scenery, such as in postcard. Today is Sunday, this morning it’s snowing, of course it’s freezing, but we plan to go to the mountain to see the ski resort. After breakfast, our lovely friend picked up us at Movenpick hotel, Lausanne at 09:00. On the way up to the mountain, I could not stop enjoying the scenery, I took many pictures from the car. The weather was not too good, it’s foggy, but sometimes the sun shone quite strong, so that I could get some good pictures.


It’s a nice surprised when our friend brought us entered a house in the resort area, hola.. he had a nice house there. It’s very hommy and comfortable with very beautiful scenery through all the windows. His family was there since Saturday, we had coffee while his family prepared for going skiing. They love skiing, his youngest daughter is 12 years old, but she could play ski well. It’s time for going to the ski area now, unfortunately I only wore a usual sport shoes, my friend was kind enough to lend me his daughter’s boot. Lucky that my feet could fit in well  We had to walk to the higher place to the cable car station, I never do any sport activities, so I was very tired and I could not breath well because of climbing and cold. Everyone had to slow down because of me, it’s quite embarrassing.

At the cable car station, there was a long queue for buying the ticket. What made me more amazed, most of them are family, even with very young children around 5 years old. They were very cute with the complete suits for skiing. The cable car took us to the top of the mountain, the beautiful ski resorts could be seen clearly from the cable car, it’s very gorgeous. The real Christmas trees were there, you only need to add light at night for celebrating Christmas and St. Claus flying on top of the trees , I could not stop admiring it. We arrived at the top, there were some activities for racing, the skiers were even dare to jump and split on the air. Most of them were experts already, it seemed easy but I’m sure that they had to practice it many times. Just a few minutes on the open air made us shivering, so we decided to have lunch at the restaurant.

Wine was one of our selection to warm our body, the wind and snow rain was getting worse while we were in the restaurant, but amazingly people kept skiing. My friend ordered fondue, while I ordered steak. Fondue was one of the popular traditional menu in Swiss, I tried my friend portion, it tasted good, I like it. The fondue served on a pan that they put on the small fire on the table. The bread must be torn by hand, then you put it on something like a fork but smaller and longer to be dipped on the cheese (fondue) in the pan. It tasted almost like pizza.

After having lunch, we took some pictures under the snow rain in front of the restaurant. Then we went down by cable car, because we’re afraid of the bad traffic jam back to Lausanne if we’re staying too long. On the way to the house, we stopped at an open area where we could play with the snow or taking good pictures with beautiful background. It’s very difficult to walk on the thick snow, our feet always sank on the snow, we could not step as stable as on the land. Thank God that I wore the boot not wearing my usual sport shoes. Actually we want to stay longer enjoy the fresh environment, unfortunately we had to return soon avoid the traffic jam.

The weekend was very unforgettable and remarkable, I never forget it all of my life. Thank you to Giorgio who are kind-hearted to bring us there, I really appreciate it.

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Solo Kingdom - Keraton Surakarta

It took around an hour from Yogyakarta to Surakarta by car, there were 5 of us with a driver, so we jostled in a car with our luggages :-). Also known for Solo, is a small town which is famous of its historic kratons and local craft-making places. One of our destination was Surakarta Royal Palace, a palace ex Kasunanan Surakarta Hadiningrat Kingdom (1755-1946) which was build by Susuhunan Pakubuwono II at 1744. Now Indonesia government is acknowledge Surakarta or Sala or Solo as one of the city as part of Indonesia, no more as a kingdom.


The traditional ceremony is still happened during special event, some history stuffs are kept and maintained in the kingdom which becomes one of the interesting places to visit for any visitors in Solo. We had to park the car outside the area, buying an entrance ticket, then walking to the building along the streets. Some guides are available at the building entrance to accompany the guests explaining about the history. It’s very hot, so my colleague bought a batik wood fan for all of us. The guide showed us the hierarchy of the dynasti family before exploring the place.

The Sri Manganti complex is quite big, to enter from north, there is a gate called “Kori Kamandungan”. Two main buildings were exist e.g. Bangsal Smarakatha at West and Bangsal Marcukundha at East. Bangsal Smarakatha was used to held promotion for senior official staffs, now it’s used for traditional dance practice or puppet show while Bangsal Marcukundha was used to held promotion for junior official staffs or punish vonis for sending sentence for member of monarchy kingdom, now it’s used for “sunat” (circumcision) the kingdom family.

At southwest Bangsal Marcukundha is Kedhaton yard with the gate called “Kori Ageng” built by Susuhunan Pakubuwono IV at 1792. When we arrived there, the guide asked me to put off my sandals to enter the yard. I’m not used to walk on bare feet, so I refused to do it and preferred waiting on the bench outside the yard. My colleagues forced me to join them walking on the yard, I reluctant to do it, but I felt uneasy while all of them were waiting for me. Apparently the yard has no gravel at all, it’s covered with black soft sand from south beach, people were not allowed wearing sandal to keep it clean and sacred. Even people said that it could cure some illness. 76 rare “Sawo Kecik” trees (Manilkara kauki; Famili Sapotaceae) grew beautifully in the yard, it made the weather colder and visitors could walk comfortably under the trees’ shade. Some beautiful European statues were also adorned the yard.

Three main building in Kedhaton yard are Sasana Sewaka, the most important building to save heritage stuffs; Sasana Handrawina for gala dinner VIP guests; and the tower Panggung Sangga Buwana for the king meditation place and monitor VOC fortress, it’s an octagon tower around 30 meters height. The fairy tale said that the tower is for the king to meet the spirit of the queen (Nyai Roro Kidul) from south beach, only the king is allowed to enter the building, it's very sacred.

After enjoying the zephyr yard, we went to other part of the area to see the museum, where we could see king’s carriage that was used for important ceremony. Some historical stuffs, such as keris (Javanese weapon), a cannon, a giant row that people used to sail through the river from the ocean, also a giant umbrella, miniature of the buildings, etc.

At west side of Kedhaton is close for public, nobody is allowed to publish it so nobody knows the actual activities in the area. It’s for the formal resident of the king royal family, and it’s still used until now. At the other area called Sitihinggil Kidul with its small building, the area is used to maintain the heritage stuff e.g. an albino buffalo called “Kyai Slamet”. The buffalo was sacred and adored by people around Solo. During certain ceremony, there will be procession of the buffalo with many people greeting it along the street.

It’s noon time, lunch time, all of us were starving and could not stand the hot weather. We stopped the exploring to go back to the car and of course our next destination was the famous restaurant called “Adem Ayem” at Jl. Slamet Riyadi. They provided traditional menu, such as gudeg, timlo, fried chicken, mix rice, soto, nasi langgi, nasi liwet, etc. I selected 2 portions, timlo and nasi langgi for my menu, it’s quite nice, and it really made me full :-)

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