Japan Trip 24 Sept - 01 Oct 2013: Toshogu Shrine, Nikko

The Main Entrance to Toshogu Shrine (Nikko Heritage Center). It is a complex of shrines and temples.

My hotel (ryokan) in Nikko was only 5 minutes walk to this place. I made the right choice :p. Coming here is also very easy if your hotel is quite challenging for walking. There are buses every 15 minutes. You can buy 1 day or 4 days bus ticket to reach all tourist destination in Nikko. This city is on mountain hill. Really beautiful and recommended to visit.


The entrance to one of the buildings. Best to visit before 9 am as after breakfast time tourists will come and swarm this location.

Some buildings are forbidden, no entrance. This one, we can only enter from the right side. Taking off sandals and shoes. No camera is allowed.

I met Kikiyo. They are few of them. I wonder if they have power like in manga stories of female monks?

Couple dipercaya kalau memutari lingkaran ini sebanyak 3x, masuk dan keluar dalam formasi 8, akan berjodoh atau awet. Sayangnya aku sendiri, jd cuma bisa ambil photo aja. :p Next time maybe I can come with someone special here?

 Mungkin di pohon keramat ini Inuyasha disegel.

Tambatkan harapan, shio dan hasil ramalanmu di gantungan ini. Bisa di balok kayu ini atau yang berbentuk dibawah ini.

Unik bentuknya. Ikat aja ramalan yg sudah kamu beli scr random di byk box yg tersedia (100 Y) disini.

Tips: Didalam area ga ada yg jual makan dan minum. Bawa minum dari hotel. Diluar area tepatnya di parkiran baru ada. Kedua, tempat sampah jarang ada di Jepang terutama di public space. Karena kurang umum org makan sambil jalan. Menghindari "nyampah" juga. Jadi taruh di tasmu. Di main building ada juru photo jg yg sediain service photo.

Japan Trip 24 Sept - 01 Oct 2013: Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji Information Center. The leaves have started to change colors. Too bad I arrived a week earlier. It will change to full multi colors then.

Mas ganteng. Huaaaa.. He was sitting next to me during the full day trip but I didn't exchange name and contact with him. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!






Mount Fuji 5th Station. It was foggy and crowded. Very cold! I had to wear my sweater. But I forgot to ask someone to take a picture of me. Hehe... Souvenir shops are heaven to me!

 







Entrance to the shrine. Met other Indonesians. I didn't say hi. Maybe I was just pretending to be a Japanese like they thought I am. Anyway, it's so foggy we couldn't see the summit of Mt.Fuji. Tour guide said it means that we have to come back to Japan again. Haha.. nice catch!

Perth - Western Australia Trip, January 21-14, 2012

People here start the day late at 9 am. So when I walked out my hotel (Brittany at William), it was so quiet and surprised me.

Just 5 minutes walk from my hotel is Perth Youth Library and Museum. They park their bicycles so neatly. Love it.

In front of my hotel is this bar. Haha... No, I didn't go inside.








There are hop-in and hop-off double decker buses around city area. Free! The schedule is every 15 minutes. Don't worry of missing the bus. Get the next one. Best seat is on top.

I love watching the movies so I was intrigued to take the photos of Australia police car.

Wallabies, kangaroo.. mm what else...








Look how dandy this fellow Jack is.







This is how farmers harvest the wool without hurting their back.

Fun! The boat was speeding and the water splashed hard on us.







Sea lion, seagull and penguin as the main attraction of this Rottness Island tour.








At first I had no idea what this thing is. When I ordered food, the waiter gave it to me and told me to sit and wait. Few minutes later this thing made a sound and I learned that this means your order is ready to be fetch on the serving desk.

Cute! Parents can take their babies with them while biking around the island.

You can stay here. Many restaurants and rooms for rent.

Fuel in your boat by your self.

Singapore... finally

April 8 - 10 was a chaos.

We missed the airplane to Jakarta, forced us to buy new tickets that cost us 750rb. Anton was trapped at Singapore Custom for more than an hour, leaving me waiting outside with thousands of butterfly in my stomach. We didn't get the 12.30 ferry and the next, from Harbourfront to Batam Center so that we must take Sekupang alternative at 3.50 just 30 minutes before our departure to Jakarta, risking another flights. Cost us S$47 and rapid heartbeat.

April 8 - 10 was an amazing holiday.

This was our first trip to Singapore and planned since February. We booked the hotel 2 weeks before the date. 1st night was in Chinatown, 2nd night was at Carpenter St. very near to Clarke Quay MRT (mass rapid transportation). Funny how we spent almost 3 hours a day inside the MRT station.

We had the famous Char Kwee Tiauw for our dinner, it appeared to be the same as the one in Indonesia. For breakfast, we went to Little India and ordered Roti Prata. Weird.. how we ate bread with Gule Kambing. hahahaha.. Then I bought souvenirs in Chinatown.

Our favorite drink during our stay was Teh Tarik for 80 cents. And for the last dinner we met Denny at Suntec City and ahead to Lau Pa Sat, one of the famous food center in Singapore. We had Pokpiah, Clamp Fried Rice, and Carrot Cake. Strange that there was actually no carrot at all. Thank you for the amazing dinner, Den.

The Famous Merlion

Fully loaded, we walked and took some pictures in front of Merlion and Esplanade Theater. I barely could not feel my legs, but we enjoyed it much. In nutshell, I admired the cleanliness and efficiency of Singapore, thanks to the discipline attitude of the residence and regulation of local authority. Hope Indonesia someday can be like that.

Journey to Bogor - Kota Hujan

Liburan Paskah, aku dpt libur panjang in total 5 hari. So aku nemenin Anton pulkam ke Bogor selama 4 hari. This is my first time. Waktu kami habiskan mostly u/ wisata mall dan wisata kuliner. Terpengaruh oleh Bondan, si Mak-nyus, kami berburu bbrp makanan yg dipromosikannya.

Seperti MP/Makaroni Panggang, Nasi Bakar, Nasi Gila, colenak, Laksa Bogor dan Martabak Air Mancur. Sebagai oleh2, aku beli Roti Unyil dan Asinan Buah khas Bogor. Sygnya aku gak ambil photo krn lupa bawa digicam kantor. hehehe.. aku gak punya dan gak menggilai taking pictures. So aku cuma bisa pake kamera hape. Hiks.. pdhl byk bgt tempat mkn yg asik2 dan aneh2.

Tentang kota Bogor sendiri, sebenarnya bagus. hihi.. maksudnya Bogor itu terletak di perbukitan dan ditengah2 gunung spt Gn.Salak dan Gn.Gede-Pangrango. Jadi hawanya sejuk dan viewnya keren. SAYANGNYAAA..tata kota'nya padat dan semrawut seperti Jakarta. jalan2 tertentu selalu macet dan hampir semuanya berlobang, becek dan bau. Banyak pasar sayur dan buah. Banyak angkot, dgn kode nomor spt 06, 15 (Surabaya dgn kode huruf spt G, JK dll). Jalanan naik turun krn di Bogor itu kota bukit (sangar, bok). Air mandinya dingiiinn.

Berkeinginan u/ ke Kebun Raya Bogor ternyata gak kesampaian, karena tnyata tempat itu ada ditengah kota dan kami melewatinya tiap hari jadi aku hilang interest. Apalagi ke Puncak; jalan Padjajaran sbg jln utama itu macet bgt, padat sangat merayap.

Kota itu banyak terdapat mall, sm spt Jkt and Sby; lebih dari 6 aku kunjungi. Bukannya aku cewek metro, tp dari sebuah mall kita bisa mengetahui taraf ekonomi, ciri khas dan pola hidup penduduk suatu kota. Dan gak lupa pasar tradisionalnya. (Di Kalimantan dan beberapa kota lain aku juga mengunjungi kedua tempat itu.) Sepatu, tas dan aksesoris tnyata didatangkan dari Jakarta.

Sempat juga aku terharu waktu mengetahui susu kesukaan Maxi dulu yang sering kubeli tnyata berjualan dikomplek rumah ortu Anton. mungkin kalian masih ingat lagunya " susu murni ..nasional". Spontan aku lari dan beli yg rasa Strawberry. harga, design bungkus dan rasa kurang lebih masih sama. Spt kembali ke masa lalu waktu masih kuliah dan hidup tidak serumit sekarang.

Next post aku akan coba menjelaskan ttg bberapa makanan yg sempat kuincip. Keep reading ya. Thanks.

Lombok, Maret 6-9, 2008

It's a long holiday since it's Nyepi or Tahun Baru Saka(Caka) 1930 for Hindhu people, we went to Lombok from Bali by ferry. All 11 persons rode 6 motorcycles. First day to Pantai Kuta. Second day we directed to Gili Islands and stayed for 2 days. We snorkeled, rode bicycle around the island (no motor vehicle allowed there) and had fun. After a minor accident (one of us got hit and gave her a broken finger), we managed to went home safely at 00.00 on Sunday.

While snorkeling around the Gilis, we got stunk by many tiny jelly-fish. it was like hundreds of them floating around the surface. and it made me loosing my interest. i swam and snorkeled only for few minutes and went up to the boat almost all of the time. The rocks and fish are half from what i saw in Padang Bay. The view of surrounding mountains are similar to what i found in South Borneo. The food are the same with Seminyak. The hotels are the same with Legian. One thing i like is the horse transportation, called CIDOMO. In total, i will give score to Gili Islands = 7. But i enjoy the trip quite much. Won't mind to go there again.

While for Lombok, it's a small and quite island. Mataram itself is well-known as "City with Thousand Mosques". You can find a mosque every 1 kilometer. There's a lot of dogs too. Moslem is the dominant religion. In Nyepi Day, balinese people there do the same ritual. They blocked the entrance of "gang" and "kampung". And the did Ogoh-Ogoh ceremony as well.

For more pictures, visit my multiply gallery.

Kintamani - Toya Bungkah (Hot Spring)

Sampelah kita di penginapan yg sering anton pake bersama tmn2 GMSI sblmnya. Sewa 40 ribu, plus 10 rb kl include breakfast nasgor. Lovina namanya kl g salah. persis didepan pemandian air panas Toya Bungkah, tinggal nyebrang jalan kecil. View depan kamar adalah Gunung Abang, sebelah timur danau Kintamani. Penginapan itu juga ada restorannya. Menu andalan, yg kami pesan 2x buat mkn mlm n siang, adalah Fried Mujair with Sambal Matah khas Bali seharga 13 rebu. Penginapan itu punya 3 anjing kintamani cewek, badannya kekar2. G pernah dimandiin krn mereka suka turun ke danau u/ mandi sendiri dan makan ikan2 kecil yg terdampar. Aku suka anjing kecilnya, yg lsg men"dempet" manja dipunggungku.

Bedugul - Kintamani

Bedugul, februari 9.
Denpasar- bedugul naik motor less than 1,5 hours. lewat mengwi, luruss aja jalannya dgn petunjuk arah yg jelas. brkt sabtu jam 9 pagi, di bedugul bawah kita berhenti mkn bakso sambil potret2 pinggir danau. trus ke bedugul atas byr u/2 org plus motor 17 rb. cuma 30 menit disitu, kita lsg ke kintamani. nekat dgn berbekal peta dari brosur suatu hotel di legian.



Kintamani, feb 9-10.
nah dr bedugul ke kintamani ini yg jauh. bisa dari singaraja ato balik ke ubud. also >1,5 jam. petunjuknya lewat tapaksiring, eh nyasar lewat tegalalang luruss tiba2 dah sampe kintamani. masuk area byr 4rb/org. kena sial mkn buffet total 151 ribu. kapok dah! yg mahal viewnya restoran kali? next kita turun ke danau dibawah u/cari penginapan krn kabut dah turun jam 2 siang itu.


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