I really love travelling. I have a dream to go around the world to enjoy the nature and historical place. For now, I'm trying to fulfill it by travelling around Indonesia (my home country) and South East Asia.
My theme for travelling is always low cost, but memorable experience. Memorable for me can be happy or funny or sad experiences ^^ Below are some of my unforgettable traveling stories ^^
Singapore & Malaysia (2008)
Actually, I was really nervous. Because it was my very first flight experience and I just finished hospitalized due to dengue fever. My mom gave me a pain relieve patch on top of my stomach to prevent me from a fever. She gave me more patches for my trip from Singapore to Malaysia and Malaysia to Indonesia. My friends called me "Grandma" because of that patch I smelled like an old woman ^__^ It's funny and really unforgettable.
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| first flight experience |
Another unforgettable moment was when I was in Genting Highland, Malaysia. My friends chose to go shopping, but I really wanted to enjoy the First World Theme Park. I have to take my own picture about that moment by myself, because no one accompanied me. I enjoyed every ride by myself. I was really lonely at that time and that's why it's memorable >_<
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| took my own pictures... narcissism syndrome ^^ |
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| found someone who helped me took spme pics |
After that first flight experience, I was not afraid anymore and ready to take another flight anywhere ^^
New Year's Tour Around Java (2009)
To celebrate New Year 2009, I decided to travel around Java with my big bro and his friends. We decided to go off road from Jakarta - Solo - Malang - Solo - Jakarta. It's a real low cost touring, as we stayed in our friends' house around Solo and Malang. We wanted to enjoy Sagara Anakan, Sempu Island, Malang. Everyone said it's The Beach Indonesian Version ^^ So, it's our main purpose for this touring..
Sagara Anakan is unforgettable moment for me as it's hard to arrive there. We needed to hike and because it's rainy season, the road was slippery. On our way there, we met another group, they said about the steep terrain. It made some of our friends gave up. I, as a woman, was afraid, but luckily I have my big bro with me, so I calmed down and continue my journey to see Sagara Anakan. I needed around 2 hours from Sempu Island to arrive in Sagara Anakan.. I was tired, but it was not a problem when I saw beautiful scenery in there. The water is clear, I could see through the water...
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| Sempu Island... We're still happy as we didn't know what wait us there |
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| Sagara Anakan... Happy after arriving and completed the challenge |
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| Resting our tired body for a while |
Balikpapan, Indonesia (2009)
This was a business trip, but my principle is whenever I go and whatever the purpose, I should always find a time to enjoy the trip *symbiosis mutual-ism* ^^
In this company, I traveled a lot, so I wasn't nervous anymore when I needed to flight. Even now, I really enjoy it. Balikpapan was my first business trip. It is located in Kalimantan, Indonesia.
In Balikpapan, I was sick because (might be) I ate late and the food I ate was not fresh. That's what I remembered the most ^^ It was Sunday and I had a promise to meet my friend, she was willing to take me around Balikpapan. We went around to the famous beach, Melawai; ate in Ocean Restaurant; and shopped in a market named Kebon Sayur.
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| Melawai Beach |
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| Ocean Restaurant |
Satui, Indonesia (2009)
Satui is located in Banjarmasin, Kalimantan, Indonesia. I worked there for 7 weeks. It's my first site experience. I remembered it the most as I was scared to go to remote area alone, but in the end I've got new friends (even some is my best friends) and new experience I never forget.
Through this, I knew what mining looks like. I've seen the location, the equipment, the people by myself. I was impressed because the location has beautiful scenery, the equipment is BIG, and the people is nice and gentle. I even learned how to drive heavy equipment, even it's just through a simulator...
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| me with heavy equipment on mine site |
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| me learned how to drive heavy equipment through simulator |
I also met a lot of new friends and celebrated moments such as Indonesian Independence Day here. On site location, we work everyday from Monday to Sunday for 7 weeks. That's why we really enjoy holiday. When I was there, luckily, I got 2 days off as there's Governor Election Day and Indonesian Independence Day.
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| enjoying Satui site surrounding |
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| Independence Day Race: How to Put Chopstick in a Bottle |
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| Independence Day Race: Bakiak Couple |
Thank you Satui Team for every learning and smiling I've got there ^__^
Sangatta & Soroako, Indonesia (2012)
My last business trip with TCI. I went to Sangatta and Soroako to deliver training material. Sangatta is located in Kalimantan and Soroako is located in Sulawesi. As usual, I always enjoyed my business trip because I could always see beautiful scenery for free ^^
Sangatta is the biggest mine location for my company. To go there, I need to take a small aircraft. It was my first experience, that's why I was so excited and nervous at the same time. The passengers needs to be weighed, because the aircraft capacity is not too large. The passengers also needs to use earplug, because of the noise.
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| a small aircraft |
After Sangatta, I followed a training in Balikpapan and then continued to Soroako. To go there I need to take 10 hours bus trip from Makassar. I wouldn't forget that ^^ The bus was quite comfortable and we could adjust the seat. It's almost the same with bus from Singapore to Genting.
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| bus interior |
If I said before that Sangatta is the biggest mine project, then Soroako is the smallest construction project. It is famous for beautiful lake where we can swim and even snorkel. It is also famous for the seafood and pasta night. I even asked the chef to cook us crabs and organize a pasta night only for us ^^
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| a lake behind our mess |
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| Pasta night and crabs with chef |
Gili Air - Lombok, Indonesia (2013)
Gili is one of the best destination islands in Indonesia. There are Gili Air, Gili Trawangan and Gili Manuk. Many tourists usually go to Gili Trawangan and Gili Air is a location for lovers ^__^ The islands are best for diving, snorkeling and surfing.
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| Gili Air beautiful scenery |
My family decided that Gili Air is our destination for this year vacation. I booked the tickets in 2012, because there's good offer from Garuda Airlines. I asked my big bro to arrange the schedule as he's the one who has been there. One of our plan is diving and that was the unforgettable moment.
Diving was my first (and might be my last) experience ^__^ I can swim, but I couldn't do it well enough. Before I took my diving lessons, I learned to get close with the sea by snorkeling around the island. Wow!! No wonder if tourists like to come here, Gili Air has a beautiful underwater scenery. I spent hours in the water.
On our last two days, my brothers and I decided to take diving lesson. My big brother has already known our coach, because he has been coached by him last year. Our coach is an Australian man. He was nice and patient. In the other hand, I wasn't a good student, as I was afraid being in the deep water and bringing a heavy equipment. We learned for 2 hours by watching a video and directly practicing in a swimming pool.
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| diving lesson |
After lunch, we dived in.
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| ready to dive |
Phuket & Bangkok, Thailand (2013)
This was a journey between my two best friends (Ria & Ryan) and I. It happened when Ryan said she wanted to go with me as I was always succeed in arranging a low cost trip. We planned to go to Phuket, Bangkok and Ayutthaya. Below was the pictures of our one week trip.
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| Phuket |
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| Bangkok |
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| Ayutthaya |
From this trip, I really couldn't forget about a time when Ria & I couldn't find Ryan in agreed time and place, and at the same time we needed to go to airport as soon as possible for our flight back to Jakarta, Indonesia.
In our last day at Bangkok, we had some hours of free time. Ryan had her own business in Indonesian Embassy. We agreed to meet up at MBK's food court at 3 PM. It's actually a miss-communication. Ryan couldn't reach our mobile phone, while we also couldn't reach hers. We were panicked, we're afraid that there's something bad happened to her. It's Bangkok and we remembered Hang Over movie. We gave time limit. If Ryan didn't come until 4 PM, we'd come back to hotel and decide what happen after that. She still didn't come.
When our way to hotel, there's a traffic jam. Beside worrying about Ryan, we were also afraid we'd miss the flight... Luckily, when we arrived we found Ryan in hotel and we're in a bad mood to talk about our miss-communication. So, we spent our time in silent as we went to airport.
The stressed situation was not over. At the airport, we're hungry and guess what, we only had no more than hundreds baht. We collected all our remaining baht, then calculated what food and beverage we could buy. Yeah yeah, we spent much of our money for shopping ^^
Overall, I enjoyed this trip.
Bandung, Indonesia (2013)
Bandung is located 3 hours from my home town, Jakarta. It's a weekend trip with my best friend, Nani. We planned to go there during Fasting Month, because we hoped Bandung was not full of tourists. We made arrangement about where to stay, where to go and what to eat. What I couldn't forget was what we ate in Bandung.
First, HDL Seafood Restaurant. It's a good restaurant, except for the service. The food was great. The taste, the portion and the price were suitable for us and others (as the restaurant was full of people). Unfortunately, it took quite a long time for them to serve our order. Nani and I waited more than 1 hour, and we only ordered crabs. We wasted time, but at the same time, we were also curious about it. That's why we didn't leave the restaurant ^^
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| Crabs made in HDL Restaurant |
Second, Addict Tea. I was really curious about this tea shop. It's located near the seafood restaurant. We went there the day after we go to restaurant with public transportation and continued with our feet. I found this tea shop through some website. It stated the address. However, I didn't know why, we couldn't find it. We asked the local people, they knew about it and they said that we're in the right street. Our curiosity was increased. We walked from end to end of the street, but still we couldn't find. Finally, after 1 hour walking and it's in the middle of the night, we gave up and decided to go home with taxi >_<
Until now, we're still laughing at it and (of course) wondering where Addict Tea is.
That's all my unforgettable travelling stories. Many more experiences I had in the past that I couldn't explain one by one and many more experiences I will make if God let me. Hopefully, I could win this competition so I have a chance to enjoy South Korea with Korean Air ^^
