Malaysia, Boleh!

This is my second trip abroad after Singapore in 2009. Quite long time since my passport was lost and I just processed it back in 2011. It was accidental trip actually. We got promo tickets to Penang. And from many travel forums I found out that Penang had become a tourist attraction in Malaysia. Many backpackers have visited this place. So, I was wondering what was up there? It turned out Penang was famous for its UNESCO heritage site and also the culinary tour. So, here we go.

We visited two cities in Malaysia, Georgetown and Kuala Lumpur. Georgetown is the capital city of Penang. Overall, Penang is a small island. You can just go over the island in one day with bus. The bus goes all over the island, and is very cheap. If you love photography, you will find many heritage buildings here with cool spots to capture. I will admit that in this trip, I did not do much exploration in the historical sites. We just passed by actually. So, I cannot tell you much about that. On the first day we visited Bukit Bendera and also Batu Ferringhi.  Bukit Bendera is or is called Penang Hill is a hill with the height of approximately 800 M above sea level. It is pretty high and we can see Malaka strait on top of it. We went up to hill by train. Malaysians will have to show their IC and they just need to pay RM 8. Foreigner is charged for RM 30. The view above the hill is amazing. You can see the whole Penang Island, Malaka strait and also the bridge that connects Penang and KL. We made a lot of photo sessions back there. Batu Ferringhi is coastal area in Penang, it is like Anyer in Indonesia. Many luxurious condos and hotels are located here. The area is pretty quiet. I must say this is the high class area in Penang.

Penang’s main transportation is bus, it is called Rapid Penang. The rate is between RM 2 up to RM 3. There is also free shuttle bus to explore the heritage sites in. The buses are air conditioned and very clean. We spent very much time on the bus to explore the island. People here are mostly Indian and Chinese. Not many Malay race lives here. The city is not a busy one and life is pretty laid back here. We found out that at 10.00 PM, the road was quiet and many shops were closed already.

We did much eating in Penang. And the food is pretty cheap. The prices are ranged between RM 1 – RM 8. These were what I ate: Nasi Tom Yum, Laksa, Tea Tarik, Nasi Kandar, Nasi Lemak, White Coffee, Roti Canai, and also Murtabak I love Malaysian food; therefore I was pretty satisfied with the food experience back there.

Kuala Lumpur trip was not much told. We only spent around 7 hours in KL. We went there by bus and got back to Penang by plane. In KL, the Malay races are more dominating than others because Kingdom rules here. We found out that poor people in Kuala Lumpur are supported by King. Kingdom will find them a housing, monthly fee, free school for kids, and even they will pay for medical expenses. That is the reason why this country is pretty much developed. However, as Malaysia applies federal governmental system, every state has different rules. Not all states are supported by Kingdom. Other states might have to struggle for poverty by themselves. In KL we visited KLCC Twin Tower, Central Market, and Bukit Bintang. We did many shopping here. Backpacker rules slightly failed in KL.

Overall this trip was city sightseeing. Not much natural sites that we visited, because it was less indeed. What I love in this trip is that my friends who are joining this trip are all city lovers. I got the new experience like: we watched Puss in Boots in Georgetown and in the middle of the movie there was someone gasping three times so loud and so annoying. Instead of exploring the heritage sites, we explored malls and found out that it was so difficult asking for direction because Malaysians have various accents. Seriously, it was difficult to understand what they were saying. Even the English was also unclear. The funniest moment was when we would like to buy food for dinner in one of hawker food stall there. People stared at us and we were wondering why. And when we ordered, the seller said “It is all pork”. We all like “Oh I see”. We were quite ashamed, since two of us were wearing veil. And we also laughed when a taxi driver told us that there are three titles for a man. Young man is called “abang”. Middle aged man is called “uncle” (you can identify this by less gray hair). And old man is called “Pakcik”. Very funny indeed. Lastly I must say, a trip with the people you like is always a worthy trip. See you on next trip!

Penang International Airport

Nasi Kandar

White coffee, we can find many in Penang

Nasi lemak

Nasi tom yum                                                                                










View up above Penang hill

Magazine Road, Georgetown, in the morning

Old buildings are the main attractions in Penang

KLCC Tower in Kuala Lumpur

J'adore Sophie!

Ever since I knew Sophie Kinsella's books, I began to admire her talent. First, I read Confession of Shopaholic, then I could not stop. I have finished reading all her books by now. Here are the list:

Confession of Shopaholic

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan

Shopaholic Ties the Knot

Shopaholic and Sister

Mini Shopaholic

Can You Keep a Secret?

The Undomestic Goddess

Twenties Girl

Remember Me

I love the way she writes. Her novels are all easy to read and funny. It is like when you unfold one page, you do not want to stop. Her main characters are all women living in London. Oh yeah, I begin to love London once I read her books. She always pictures about how a career woman in London copes with her job and relationship. But the bigger picture is, she is trying to say that women can cope well with all that problem. That after a huriccane always comes a rainbow (this one is Katy Perry's lyrics). I describe some of her heroines below:

Becky Bloomwood (Shopaholic The Series): working as a financial journalist, she does not quite fancy her job, and is trapped in credit card debts. She manages to change her career path into TV news reporter, personal shopper in Barneys New York, and the last one is still as personal shopper in The Look, London. Her passion is on shopping and fashion, she finds out finally. She is also described as a wife and a mother in later series.

Emma Corrigan (Can You Keep a Secret): an assistant marketing in a sport drink company, she has colleagues who like to underestimate her and rarely listens to her opinion. And she does not have a courage to struggle for her promotion. Finally she finds a way to get her ideas acknowlegded by her company and get promoted into Marketing Executive

Samantha Sweating (The Undomestic Goddes): she is a high-powered lawyer in London, working 24/7, has no home life, and cares only about partnership. One of her colleague bertrays her and she then loses her job and becomes a maid in a rich family. When finally her former employer finds out the truth and is willing to hire her back, she makes the biggest decision in her life, stays working as a maid, for a more laid back life.

Lara Lington (Twenties Girl) : a struggling headhunter, she is partnered with her best friend, but her best friend finally leaves her off for holiday. Lara then struggles to build the business by herself.

Lexi Smart (Remember Me): She was once a staff in a carpet company. One moment had changed her life and so she became very ambitious and finally got promoted to be a director. As a director, she is a hard one. She acts like a big boss and loses her best friends because of her attitude. After an amnesia happens to her, she finally realizes her mistakes and changes her attitude.

I love how Sophie Kinsella describes the career complexities. Every career woman must have experienced one of those situations. Sophie is able to drag us into such a situation and also give a problem solving for her character.

One thing I love also from her books is there is always a perfect man for every of her characters. It may sound cliche, but somehow the male character completes the female characters. Just like Becky Bloomwood who is so spendthrift. She gets Luke Brandon, who is financially well managed. Emma Corrigan who is a doubtful one meets Jack Harper, which is completely determined person. Samantha Sweating who is so serious is matched with Nathaniel (I forget the last name), who is so laid back. Lara Lington and Ed Harrison who completes each other, Lara is funny and is always entertaining Ed, who is boring and plain. And Lexi Smart, who is so well driven, and the one who can balances her is Jon Blythe, who keeps her on track.

However, my most favorite male character is Luke Brandon. What makes me love him? May be because Sophie has described him in detail since he is single till he becomes a father. So, I kinda know him very well in person. Secondly, he is not as perfect as other male characters. He is having middle age crisis. He is not close with his parents. He sometimes puts Becky aside of his business. But he always loves her as well as her daughter, Minnie Brandon. There is one quote of him that melts me down: "You don't need to change one hair. One freckle. One little toe. And if it is me that's made you feel you should do this..then there's something wrong with me". Gosh, I want to have a husband like him, please! If only he is real!

Thank you for Sophie Kinsella who: have made me love London, have opened my eyes to see that woman can strive for the best in her careers. The most important thing in life is not making big money, but doing what you like, following your heart. There is also one quote of Samantha Sweating I will always remember: " Sometimes you don't need a goal in life, you don't need to know the big picture. you just need to know what you're going to do next!”

PS: I wish I could meet Sophie in person. I am imagining myself having tea time with her and talking about how she gets the ideas of writing her novels. Then we stride along London street. We shop in Harvey Nichols or Harrods together. We buy souvenirs for each other. We get to know each other well and become best friends. J'adore Sophie!

Green Canyon, Not Grand Canyon

Have you ever watched The Beach? For you who have, you must recognize the scene when Leonardo DiCaprio jumps from a canyon and swim on the waterfall. That’s my first impression when I come to this place called, Green Canyon.

Green Canyon, or in Sundanese is called Cukang Taneuh, not Grand Canyon. If Grand Canyon is located on a deserted area in California, USA, Green Canyon is a name of a river surrounded by canyons in Pangandaran, West Java, Indonesia. I become a part of one of the most adventurous experiences in my life, body rafting. Speaking of rafting, you might imagine yourself on an inflatable boat, paddling and trying to keep the balance to pass the stream. In body rafting, no boat and paddle are provided. It is only your body protected by life vest, helmet, special shoes, and knee protector, floating on the water, and passing each stream of the river. You want to know the sensation, MAGNIFITO! We are of course guided by some experts to avoid any accident. They guide us the way to pass each stream in a safe way. The technique is this way, you lie on the water, keep your body straight; put your hands on your chest, then, woozz, off you go. You can come up with some bruises in your clothes or skin, though, during the rafting. So, make sure your clothe is thick enough so it is not torn apart.

The starting point is from Gua Bau, with the total distance for approximately 10 KM. It takes about 5 hours to conquer this river. During the journey, you will see very wonderful views. High canyon surrounds the river and the green grasses stick on it, group of trees above the canyon, wild roots hang on each side of the canyon, some woods range on the river, and we feel like some beavers trying to make the nests. You feel a peaceful moment there, no voice except birds singing and some crickets chirping. At some areas where there are high rocks, we jump and have fun,…..or fear, does not matter. Green Canyon, everybody, a must visit place in Indonesia!

This is why it is called green canyon!

Floating and floating. Passing the stream.

Full team

For You, Leo!!

"We’re walking by the Revolutionary Road where The Beach and Shutter Islands lie ahead like a Blood Diamond. We both witness the Inception of a Total Eclipse just like a Romeo and Juliet who fall for each other. Oh time, The Aviator of life, Catch Me If You Can for you are the sinking Titanic that brings The Departed to afterlife"

Good Life

"When you're happy like a fool, let it take you over

When everything is out you gotta take it in

Oh, this has gotta be the good life

This has gotta be the good life

This could really be a good life, good life"

What’s gotta be a good life? For me, good life is when I find a situation as follows:

-When I wake up in the morning, and realize that I do not have to go to work. No alarm bugging me to wake up, take a bath, get dressed, and go to office

-Enjoying the first gulp of cappuccino

-A very smooth and steady internet access

-Conference chatting with my best friends, talking about trips to plan. Well somehow, it ends up with whining about soul-mate thingy.. :))

-Karaokeing alone in my room, playing my favorite songs. And karaokeing with best friends too. The point is "singing out loud"

-Getting the cheapest airfare to one place. Even the airport tax fare is more expensive than the ticket

-Winning a bid in eBay. Especially for the items priced high in the market, but the price I get is much lower

-Getting on Transjakarta bus no more than 5 minutes waiting

-Trip by train or plane always excites me

-When my food order in Solaria takes no more than 15 minutes to come

-Finding green colored stuffs in supermarket. I am a green lovah.....

-Getting my hair creambathed and “totok” on my face

-Finding a very soft and mild scarf with a cheap price

-When my order from Wholesale Dress and Buka Buku finally come

-Eating out at Malaysian resto. I am always looking forward to eat Roti Canai, The Tarik, and other Malay food

-Finishing an itinerary and budgeting for my trip

-Listening to Jason Mraz, Coldplay, The Script, and The Band Perry

-Someone compliments me that I am getting slimmer

-Getting lower size clothes which fit in me at the factory outlet

-Everytime my treadmill hits 600 calories per hour

-Jakarta Great Sale. No point of explaining, I do love shopping

-I look good when I am photographed

-Buying a lot of DVDs in Ambassador Mall or Poins Square. Watching them the whole weekend night

-When I am able to swim in a cool, quiet swimming pool. I do not like water boom. Swimming is about relaxing mind, so I need a cozy place

-Uploading my trip photos on Facebook and people envy me of my recent trip. It’s like “Haha, I’ve been there, I am cool” :D

-Having an inspiration to write and update my blog :p

So, what’s your good life, then?

Karimun Jawa, The Islands of Crystal Clear Sea Water

Swimming in Karimun Jawa is just like swimming in big giant pool. The tide is very low and the water is so clear. This is the most delightful experience I ever have. Whether you trust me or not, I never swam at the sea before. It was because I was not allowed by my parents. So, when I went to Karimunjawa this May, this was like the premiere of me swimming at the sea. Okay quite exaggerated, actually.

Karimunjawa are islands located in the north part of Java islands. We can reach there from two places, Jepara and Semarang. There are two ways, which are by fast boats and also ferry. I recommend fast boat because the ferry which is going there is only once a day, therefore, it is always crowded and it takes a longer time, which is 6 hours. Meanwhile, if you're on fast boat, you can save 3 hours. When I got there what I amazed was that the island is so clean and the people there seem quite have a good economic life. The houses are well-built. Most of them offer their house as home stay for tourists. The promotion of Karimun Jawa as tourist destination started from 2005. The government employed the young people to organize tours. That's basically the source of the income of the people. However, the visitors coming there are mostly from domestic tourists. Rarely we saw foreigners joined the tour. Perhaps, it would need more support to promote this place in a larger scale.

Here, the activities were all playing water, of course. We were taken for islands hopping. There are some islands there, such as Pulau Geleang, Pulau Menjangan, Pulau Cemara, Pulau Kecil, Pulau Tengah, Tanjung Gelang, and many others. We snorkeled in those spots and did some swimming. The coral reef were all wonderful. They were all well preserved. There is such an agreement that if one of the tourist steps on a coral reef and destroys it, the tour must be canceled. So, all the guide are very concerned and firm with these rules. We were also not allowed to take anything from the sea and threw any rubbish in every island. They guide would directly warn us if we did so.

Nature is our valuable treasure. That's what I learn from Karimun Jawa people. If we destroy our nature, it means that we can also destroy our life. The Karimun Jawa people preserve their nature in order to preserve their income too. That's the true symbiotic mutualism between human and nature.

Island In The Sun

When you’re on a holiday
You can’t find the words to say
All the things that come to you
And I wanna feel it too

On an island in the sun
We’ll be playing and having fun
And it makes me feel so fine
I can’t control my brain

hip hip
hip hip

When you’re on a golden sea
You don’t need no memory
Just a place to call your own
As we drift into the zone

On an island in the sun
We’ll be playing and having fun
And it makes me feel so fine
I can’t control my brain

We’ll run away together
We’ll spend some time forever
We’ll never feel bad anymore

hip hip
hip hip
hip hip

I recently love this song so much. And I keep playing it on and on like I am never bored :D. And sometimes I dance too, with the clumsiest style, I have. Haha, secret revealed!

This song attracts me to one kind of feeling, FREEDOM! Yeah, how I love that word. Something I always find when I am traveling to a new place. Traveling has become the greatest escape of myself. My routine works allow me to become stressful and depressed. So, whenever I get the chance to runaway from the work, I'll do that with my pleasure. Indeed there is a good effect of it. I have a gastritis problem. It is getting worse when I am on a level of stress. But I am wondering why whenever I am on a holiday, I never feel this problem. It's like disappearing from me. May be it's because of the psychological effect that creates this health problem. So, I promise to myself that I have to keep "escaping" regularly to heal myself. It is the joy I have, when I am visiting new places. New spirit I have to face other bulk of works ahead. And again, this song brings me to think of the places over there, which are awaiting me to come......

Me and my water bottle

Since college I am thrilled by the idea of saving environment. I joined debate and the motion that captured my most attention is environment. I like the idea of saving the world from global warming by many kind of ways, such as reducing plastics, minimizing, the use of cars, and even paying countries which can reduce carbons. It feels like we can become heroes on earth if we can do little things to save the world from global destruction. This whole idea affects me so much even after I go to work. I read an article saying that we should watch out our plastic use in our daily use. Plastic is the element that is very difficult to degrade. We should minimize the usage of it. There are three simple ways to do that, which people do not seem to care. First, burn the plastic garbage. Second, avoid using plastic bag for shopping. Third, minimize the buying of bottles of mineral water. I am interested on the third idea. This is true indeed. Don’t you know that mineral water that we buy is just the same as tap water? I mean it is coming from recycling. So, no point that it is purer. In addition, we can save our money from it. All we need to do is buying a gallon of mineral water and pour it in our own bottle for our daily activity. It is much cheaper to compare.

So, I implement this simple idea. I bring a water bottle for my everyday’s routine. I bring it to office, to gym, to restaurant (so I don’t order water anymore) or even when I am traveling. Sometimes, the water wets my bag. Therefore, I buy the more expensive water bottle from that one famous brand. It is safe now, no water is pouring in my bag. The thing is, I am a forgetful person. Once I take my water bottle out of my bag, I sometimes forget to take it back in my bag. It happened that I left my water bottle in a cab in Singapore! I realized it when I got down. I felt bad, but hey, my bottle is now staying in Singapore! :D. Then I had the other one, I tried to keep it very well now. But the incident happened again. When I ate noodles at one stall, I left it. I remembered it in the morning. Luckily the stall is near my boarding house. And thanks God, when I came back, they still keep it. It was like I found my lost treasure. Okay, it’s exaggerated! Then it happened when I was at my friend’s house. We ate bakso in one stall, and I left it there too. I knew it was missing when I was on the bus. I texted my friend to come back there and save the bottle for me. Thanks God, she is my best friend. She kept the bottle! It was a funny little experiences indeed. But now I can say, I cannot live without my water bottle. There’s something missing when I do not bring it. This has become a part of me. Just like if you cannot go without Ipod, MP4, or even blackberry. It is not me, without my water bottle :D

J-Town

Yesterday I had a chat with someone in Facebook. I did not really know who he was actually. The friendship just came from mutual friends without I knew in person. He asked me where I live. I said I live in Jakarta. Then he told me that he has never been to Jakarta. I was kinda amazed. Like, seriously? I am not wondering if Indonesian says that he or she never goes to Bali. But Jakarta? Even an old women or men in my village have ever been to Jakarta. For the reason of working, visiting families, or even just sightseeing. May be the exception is for people outside Java. But my friend is coming from Central Java! It's like just with one touch you can arrive in Jakarta.

This is a common sense that Jakarta is a place for finding fortune. I once rejected the idea of working in this city, as a reason of the crowd, the traffic jam, the hard people, and many more. But when I graduated I faced the facts that all job scope were provided here. So, I finally moved into the town. Indonesians have love and hate relationship with this city. In a way they love the city, because they can pursue their dreams, earn a living, and become a well-being/ well-acknowledged person if they want to. There are also so many amusement places, malls, and shopping centers. It is true that consumerism is growing well here. The hate relationship is that indeed many people are aware that this city is the most inconvenient city compared to other cities I had ever visited. Almost no free space here. People fill in every blank space of the city. The result is too much of disturbance, annoyance, and inconvenience. It needs a strong heart to stay in the vibe of the city. However, this is the result of centralized government. In which there is a very little room for development for other regions in the country. So, you'll see people keep coming and coming to this town.........

The Reviving Bromo

Ever since college, I was having a thought that I should visit one wonder of East Java, which is Mount Bromo. I was very jealous when my dad told me that he had traveled to this mount. Moreover, every travel show on TV keeps telling that Bromo is so beautiful, especially the part when you hunt for  sunrise. That view is amazing.

Therefore, last year, I and my friends planned a trip to Surabaya, including Bromo. It was very luck indeed that we got cheap tickets of Mandala Air. Dude, it’s only Rp. 38.000,- return ticket from  Jakarta to Surabaya. It felt like finding a precious treasure. However, we got really shocked when one month before our departure, it was announced that Mandala Air was grounded. No more operation of this airline was allowed until they solved their internal problems. Sadly, we chose other alternatives of transportation to Surabaya. Because we expected a low budget travel, we finally chose to go to Surabaya by train, economy class. We got in Kertajaya with the ticket price of only Rp. 43.500,--. It was our first experience going by economy class train. The journey took 15 hours. We really could not imagine how we could bear with this long journey. The economy class train had no fan inside. The air was only coming in from the window. Seating position is 3-2, leaving a very small aisle space. The passengers were very crowded. They sat on the aisle and even some of them used the toilet to sit or even sleep! Disgusting indeed. It was very very hot in the train. I really could not sleep at all. There were some cockroaches passing on our seats so we have to kill them. Moreover, I was very disturbed with one stalker guy who kept sitting next to me and stared at me all the time. It was so not comfortable. And I promised I would never have this kind of transportation again for a long journey. Later we decided to book flight tickets back to Jakarta.

We were very happy when finally we arrived at Pasar Turi train station. We were picked up by our best friends whom we stay with there. In the afternoon we began our trip to Bromo. Bromo is located on the north part of Surabaya. It is in Probolinggo Regency area. It took around 3-4 hours to get there.  We arrived there in the evening and we went directly to Cemoro Lawang. Cemoro Lawang is top location on Bromo. It is near Penanjakan II. The trip to the top was pumping our adrenaline. We just realized that there were not many lighting along the way there. There were also fewer borders between the road and deep ravine. It needed extra carefulness to pass the road. We prayed to be safe to top. My God, none of us are married yet!

We do understand that since 21 December 2010, Mount Bromo keeps erupting. When we arrived in Cemoro Lawang, on the right side of our home stay, we saw the black smoke coming from Bromo crater. There was also thundering sound we heard at night. It was scary indeed, but the local people there told us that this place was safe. There was none evacuated from Ngadisari village, the nearest village from top of Bromo. We stayed all night hearing the thundering sound, or normally called tremor. The temperature there was very low. It was only 2-10 degree Celcius. So cold that when we washed our hands or feet, it felt like frozen. The outfits that must be used were gloves, hat, sweater, scarf, socks, and thick jacket.

4.30 AM, we were waken up by our guide. It was the time to hunt for the sunrise. We went by jeep to Penanjakan II. There were two places to see the sunrise, Penanjakan I and Penanjakan II. Since eruption, Penanjakan I is closed, because the location is really near with Bromo crater. People are only allowed to visit Penanjakan II. Climbing up Penanjakan II was a very hard struggle. The distance is approximately 2 km. We had to struggle the exhaustion and the cold. The local people there kept offering us to rent their horses. From their first offering of Rp. 100.000,- return till Rp. 10.000,-- return, when we almost on top. I refused it. I wanted to prove to myself that I could go up without any help. I had done treadmill for 3 times a week with elevation 13 for preparing this. I could not fail it. And yes, finally I reached the top of Penanjakan II. It was my happiest moment ever for being able to accomplish my own dream. Bromo and Semeru were standing there beautifully. We could also see the sea of sands surrounds them. It was like when these mounts were created, God took some sands, poured it into two bowls, and put them together perfectly side by side. The result was the perfect and unique landscape. There were many people on the top, most of them were foreigners. They also would like to witness the sunrise itself. Unfortunately the sunrise was not very clear to see, because of the smoke from Bromo crater.  Never mind, we still take many pictures there with the background of Bromo. It is an Indonesian’s habit, being narcist. 

The Bromo packages included sightseeing around Bromo. We were taken to Pasir Berbisik (Whispering Sands), Savannah or usually called Bukit Teletubbies (Teletubbies Hill), and Ranupani Lake. The trip could only be taken by motorcycle, because the access was difficult. Our guide gave us masker to prevent us from the ashes and smokes. Our first destination was Pasir Berbisik. All we could see was a large view of sands. It was astonishing. If Egypt has Sahara desert, we have this. This place is well known for many film or video clip shoot. Pasir Berbisik itself is a name of one movie casted by Dian Sastro, a famous Indonesian female artist, taking this location as the set. Because of the popularity of the movie, people named the place after the movie. Bromo is a unique mount. If other mount is surrounded by forests and waterfall, it has sands and savannah. We did not see any groups of high trees there. It was just bushes and grasses. The savannah was wonderful. We could see many local people hunted for grasses for their animals. After eruption the savannah is less green. It was known as Teletubbies Hill because it was once very green. Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Lala, and Pooh on kids’ TV series are leaving on a very green green hill. So, people was once compared this hill with these kids’ idols’ hill. 

Moving up, we visited other part of Bromo, which is Ranupani area. This area was less affected by Bromo eruption. The farm land was still green. Still we could see many local people take care of their plants. We then arrived at Ranupani Lake. It was a quiet lake. The lake was also still very clean. No rubbish seen there. It was still virgin resort and I hoped it could be preserved as it is but with a little improvement on facilities, such as toilet. The view is breathtaking too with the background of Mount Bromo. If you had ever seen Lake House or The Notebook movie, it was also the same. The difference is there was no canoe to cross the lake. I would be much good if there was canoe rent available. 

This adventure that I’d take was not cheap but was very satisfying. This was the greatest adventure I’d ever done in my life. Going up to the top beating the cold and exhaustion, struggling with smoke and ashes just to get to the sea of sands, and visiting a very quiet and beautiful lake, is a mixture of adventure to find the beauty of earth. Yes, Bromo is reviving but is worth to see. 

Don't tell me how educated you are tell me how much you have traveled

Let's wander and get lost!

Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken. Traveling to some places have become my excitement. If some people use up money for buying gadgets, investment, and etc, I don't mind spending money for visiting new places. New places mean new experience, new adventure, and it simply lengthens my vision and conversation. I love the idea of how people find some new spirits and energy when they travel. Therefore this is the first idea this blog's created. To capture some memories I'd have while traveling. To share my spirit and excitement after I manage to travel. There will be so much experience written here. Guess what it will be such a challenge for me also for pointing out some more destinations just to fill out this blog. So, let's get this blog started!

What am I doing here?” – Arthur Rimbaud, writing home from Ethiopia