My Journey, My Stories

Lombok , is an island east of Bali and west of Sumbawa, very well known for its beautiful beaches and the mighty volcano Rinjani. Last October, I had the chance to visit a little bit of both, 10 days trip, including 5 days hiking the Rinjani. Yes, I know, I mentioned the Gili's but I will not discuss about the 3 famous Gili's (Gili Air, Gili Trawangan, and Gili Meno). Gili actually meant little island in Sasak.  There are 2 ways to reach Lombok, you can either take airplane to Lombok Airport Praya (LOP) or take a boat from Bali to Pelabuhan Lembar (Lembar Port). I chose airplane myself, as I was departing from Jakarta. There are plenty of airlines offering direct flights to Lombok, from the cheap to the expensive one. Day 1 - Between Delays and Rushing to Sekotong I have a habit of get everything planned and detailed, all the transportation and accommodation, timing, everything. But sometimes, things doesn't go according to plan and you have to adjust your timing and ...

It's been a while since the last time I updated this blog. This time I want to share about my trip to Banyuwangi , East Java. The Regency of Banyuwangi is located at the easternmost end of the Indonesian island of Java. It serves as a port between Java and the island of Bali. Banyuwangi is separated by Strait of Bali from Bali. Why Banyuwangi? I know it's not one of the main tourist destination, but apparently it has a lot to offer, i t is surrounded by mountains and forests to the west; by sea to the east and south, and not to mention cheaper accommodation compared to Bali. You can go to Banyuwangi using airplanes, or just like me go to Surabaya first and then drive around 5-6 hours to Banyuwangi. I used tour operator Amazing Banyuwangi for this trip, but apparently they are very unprofessional, they tricked us so we ended up had to pay more for the "All Inclusive Private" trip they offered on the website. Anyway long story short let me tell you about how gorgeous...

On the last post I said that I was going to Netherlands for crazy 2 weeks short short break, this trip is not so touristy like my usual trip. On the first week I traveled around NL to visit friends and family, those who are dear to my heart. I arrived on 05.59 in Schiphol, and took the train directly to Amsterdam Zuid, where my friend lives. I arrived on Sunday, the weather was quite nice, a bit chilly because it was windy. After I dropped my bag, we went to Amsterdam and do the "Rondvaart", I'll tell you about the details on the next post Monday evening, I went to my mammie cendol house, and after dinner we went to see my Opa. Tuesday night, I met up with my cousin who coincidentally on vacation in Netherlands. She lives in Naples (I went there on 2012 :D) Wednesday, I went to see my best friend Dani who used to live in Culemborg (where the witch lives), and then I had dinner with my friend Opa Herman (Bom) in Zaandam Tias & Pandu in Amsterdam ...

It's all started with my hobby to look for cheap plane tickets, and I found a really cheap deal 70euro return flight from Amsterdam-Budapest and Budapest-Eindhoven. But here's the catch, the flight is early flight (07.20am) on Friday, and our flight back to NL is around 10.00am the next morning. So, with my crazy backpacker mentality we (me and my partner in crime, this time is sisca and michelle) decided to sleep at the airport. We meet up at Schiphol airport around midnight, too bad the boarding area is already close by then so we have to wait until it opens again at 3am. So we decided to go to the 2nd floor and we found a little corner to sleep. Sleeping in Airport It took around 2 hours with the plane from Amsterdam to Budapest. We arrived at 9ish. Don't worry if you don't have a map or anything, you can take a map at the airport, and it's handy if you have your atm card, so you can go to the ATM to take your HUF, it's cheaper than going to money exc...

Every once in a year around from 17 November to 5 December is the happiest time for kids all around the Netherlands. Do you know why??? It's Sinterklaas (Sint Nicolaas, Saint Nicholas), you might be questioning why so early, it's not even Christmas yet. Well, Sinterklaas in NL is not Santa Claus (I mean the fat man with a red suit). Let me tell you a little bit about Sinterklaas tradition in NL. Unlike Santa Claus with the magic sleigh and flying reindeer. Sinterklaas sail to NL with a steamboat from Spain (altough originally Sinterklaas came from Turkey). I'm not gonna tell you a lot about the history of Sinterklaas, because you can just read it in wikipedia . I'm just gonna tell you my experience celebrating Sinterklaas day in NL on 2012. Okay back to Sinterklaas tradition, usually around 16-17 November (depends on when the weekend is), Sinterklaas comes to a city in NL on a boat, with zwarte pieten (his helper) who carries bags full of chocolate, kruidnoten, peperno...

"Den Haag.. Den Haag.. de weduwe van Indie ben jij..."   a Dutch-Indo song that always played by my grandmother resound in my head whenever I hear the word "Den Haag". Lots of Indonesian-Dutch family felt unaccepted and moved to Netherlands after Indonesia got their independence, and lived in Den Haag (DH). Den Haag is the seat of government in The Netherlands and the capital city of province of south holland. Funny fact about Den Haag is Den Haag has never traditionally had the city right (stadsrecht), so actually Den Haag is not a city, but only a village (dorp). However since the middle-age it has all the administrative institutions that a city have. A strong bond between Den Haag and Indonesia can be seen at Haags-Historisch Museum (When I went there, they have a special exhibition remembering when the first time Indo-Dutch people set foot in Den Haag). This museum also tells story about the history of den haag, like when and where gebroeders de witt (Johan an...

Delft a city in the province of South-Holland, well known for canals and historical story of Dutch Royal Family (House of Orange-Nassau), a city where Willem van Oranje got killed. Delft is also well-known as student city (Delft University of Technology), and home of the famous Delft Blue Pottery. There are lots of interesting things that you can do in Delft, like visiting museums, boat tour, or just even walking around the city and enjoy the view. I've visited Delft a couple times, the city it self is not so big, so a day trip would be enough to explore Delft. One of the most interesting museum in Delft is Het Prinsenhof . This place used to be a monastery and where Willem van Oranje used to live. This museum tells you story about Willem van Oranje and his role in creating Dutch republic, and you will also see the most important figures of the Netherlands Revolt. This place is also the place where Willem van Oranje got killed. You probably wondering who Willem van Oranje is. Will...

Nope, I didn't mistyped. It's Hoorn, not horn.. Hoorn is a city in the north part of Netherlands. It is located on the IJsselmeer, 35 kilometres north of Amsterdam, and acquired city rights in 1357. The area of the municipality is 52.49 km² (32.62 km² consists of water, mainly the Markermeer), and consists of the following villages and/or districts: Blokker, Hoorn, Zwaag, and parts of Bangert and De Hulk. Yup, here's the town where Jacob Blokker in 1896 open his first Blokker store. Nowadays Blokker has 600 store throughout Netherlands and 220 store in Belgium. Hoorn was an important home base for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and a very prosperous centre of trade, which is another interesting fact. So the boat that came to Indonesia long-long time ago, was started from Hoorn. My visit started from the train station, we walk across the city to reach the city center, it was Sunday, so all stores were closed. The city looks like typical dutch city, with old buildings ...

Day 2 Brussels and Dinant After tired of walking almost 12 hours the other day, we decided to take it a little bit slow. Well, it doesn't mean that we're gonna wake up late, it's a big no no when you only have 2 days to travel. We woke up around 8ish, get some breakfast and catch the 9.30 train to Brussels. I'm not gonna tell a lot about Brussels, because I think I've explained enough on my previous post about Brussels. But I saw something that I haven't seen on my previous visit to Brussels, something special. Yup, I saw the King of Belgium and the royal family. The Cathedral in Brussels was very crowded that day, and there are some people bringing Belgium flag, so we asked the people around, and they said that the King is here. To be honest I didn't know which one is the king (Sorry....) but I managed to take some pictures of some people that might be important 1 2 3 4

Running out of money? Don't have much time to travel? Well that's what happened when I only got 1 week of summer holiday instead of 3 like I got last year, and limited budget. This summer I went to Belgium, visited 4 gorgeous city of Belgium. I've posted some story about Belgium before, so I don't think I need to explain about Belgium anymore in this post. In summer, Belgium railways have a special "Summer Deals" which able you to pay only for 7.50euro per trip to go to everywhere in Belgium. This time I use the opportunity to go to Gent, Bruges (Brugge), Brussels, and Dinant. I only spent 22.50 for ticket in total (Essen-Bruges, Bruges-Dinant, and Dinant-Essen). How about Gent and Brussels? Well to go to Brugge you will pass Gent, so you can just as well stop there and walk around for a little while. Day 1 - Gent & Brugge This time I'm not travelling alone, I have my partner in crime Stephan with me. We took 9am train from Etten-Leur to Gent, and w...

Prague, the capital and largest city of Czech Republic. It's also the historical capital of Bohemian proper . Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its larger urban zone is estimated to have a population of nearly 2 million. The city has a temperate oceanic climate, with warm summers and chilly winters. Not much people know about Prague, that's why they questioned me why I would go to Prague all by myself, well after this post I'm sure you will love Prague as much as I do. Day 16 - Finally Prague After a sleepless night at Milan Airport, and a morning flight to Prague. I finally arrived in Prague, one of my favorite city in Europe.    Oh yeah, you don't have to change the currency (EUR to CZK) at the airport, you can just use the ATM, and take money from there (It's cheaper considering the fee they asked in airport). But since I didn't know it before I get a pretty good rate at Milan...

Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece, also known as one of the world's oldest city. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state. A center for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, it is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC in later centuries on the rest of the then known European continent. People said that I'm crazy to go to Athens alone, especially after the crisis in Greece, well I call it experience, I'm sure it's not that bad there, and I might get the chance to meet new people and have new friends (One of the reason I choose hostel). Day 10 - Arrived Safely in Athens After 3 hours sleeping in the plane, I finally arrived in Athens. You can get the x95 bus to the city (syntagma square). The ticket cost 5euro one way and you can buy the ticket i...