Travel — Tatter Scoops

Indonesia On My Bucket List

24 Jul posted by Maureen

Lately I’ve been having this itch to travel again, to explore…to soak up the beauty nature have to offer. It’s been awhile since I last travel so the itch is coming back full blown but this time I’m more interested in exploring more of Indonesia, considering my last trip was to Bangkok – which was super awesome.

With over 17,000 islands spreads across Indonesia, there are so many places that still holds its magical beauty untouched by commercial and greedy hands of developers trying to jack up the prices and pumped out as many dough as they can.

Here are some places that’s on my Bucket List to visit in Indonesia

Ambon: Not only because I’m half Ambonese and never set foot in the island where my father’s family originally came from, but it’s the fact that I grew up hearing so many songs about beautiful beaches of Ambon and stories about the Moluccas island that makes Ambon holds a near and dear spot in my heart. Seriously, Ambon have some magnificent beaches calling my name such as the famous Natsepa Beach with its white sands.

Image from here
Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi: Now I don’t dive but looking at the underwater photos from this area makes me wish I can dive! You can enjoy the crystal clear water around the island, or go on dolphin watching expedition which sounds amazing. Wakatobi is situated at heart of coral triangle centers from what I read and these are protected marine areas.
Ujung Kulon: Located on the southwestern of Java island – literally on the tip of Java, this area is within close proximity to the Krakatoa volcano again with beautiful beach surrounding it and small islands to explore. It’s a protected National Park, proclaimed as a national heritage by UNESCO, I’ve been dying to go to this place. To get there from Jakarta will take a pretty long drive in a car and depends on traffic. From what I read, it varies between 6 to 10 hours but I bet the views are well worth it.
photo credit: Bambang Suryobroto
Rote: Oh I’ve been dying with anticipation to visit this island in Nusa Tenggara Timur since last year. The trip was postponed due to the eruption of Mount Merapiand now it’s been rescheduled for early November 2011. Ever since I saw my mom’s friend’s photos from her trip there, I knew I MUST go too. Where the beaches are still very quiet…instead of loud tourists basking in the sun…you will see pig foot prints! Yeah, you read that right! Oh November can’t be here any sooner!
Photo courtesy of Aunty Henny
Tobelo: Situated in North Halmahera, part of the Maluku providence. Secluded with so many beautiful spots, I dream of exploring more of the Maluku island. The picture below is just what my city-fed-up soul yearns for.
Photo Courtesy: Rahwidodo
Raja Ampat: The area has been sky rocketing in tourism thanks to it’s vast publicity promotions and it really is a beautiful place. From what I’ve heard it’s a pricey US dollar tags tourist destination now – which is sad but I still wanna go there and climb up to see these views. One day I will get there!
Kalianda: Located in South Lampung – Sumatra this is one hidden gem that has became more famous in the recent years, also it’s close proximity to the Krakatoa volcanic mountain gives a dose of magical touch. It offers pretty good beach from the photos I’ve seen and since I never been to Sumatra, this place is on my list.
Image courtesy of Andre PD
Donggala: Somewhere in Central Sulawesi island there’s a really pristine beautiful place far from all the pollution of Jakarta. Tucked away with crystal clear water and white sand beach, I so plan to go there one day. Sulawesi does have some of the amazing beaches. In 2000, my family and I had a road trip to Manado and along the way we were surrounded by virgin beaches. So yes, Donggala, I will soak up your beauty soon.
Image courtesy of Arya Sadhewa
Komodo Island: To see the rare nearly extinct dragon like creature? Yes! That’d be uber coolness, don’t you think? Aside from the komodo dragons, the island alone is a beautiful place.
Image courtesy of Unearthing Asia
Tanjung Puting: Orangutans always have a soft spot in my heart and I would so love a trip down to see them at their natural environment in the deep jungle of Kalimantan. Will have to find out more about visiting this place but definitely on my list.
Image courtesy of http://www.orangutan.org

Until then, I will keep on dreaming, keep on ~~trying~~ to save to afford these dream trips. There are too many beautiful wondrous places across Indonesia, I will end up with a long Bucket List for sure.

What’s on your destination Bucket List?

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Filed Under: Indonesia, Travel

Magnificent Temples of Bangkok, Thailand

12 Apr posted by Maureen

Visiting Bangkok, Thailand means you must check out their temples! And here are the top 3 temples you have to see. We did not use a travel agent service. Holiday Inn Staffs were super nice and wrote down the names of the temples in Thai for us to show taxi driver. We booked the taxi to take us to three places for 500 baht which is not a bad deal.

1. The Grand Palace:

Built in 1782, this place is huge with 218,000 square meters. It is the royal residence of Thailand’s kings. It have government offices as well as the famous Temple of Emerald Buddha.

350 baht or around 11 USD you will get your entrance ticket. Mind you please don’t make the same mistake I did…wearing a dress. I totally didn’t think much about it until we get there and saw the sign that says shorts/mini skirt is not allowed. There is a place where you can rent out a sarong like cloth to cover up. I didn’t do that since the lady at the ticket counter gave me a “No problem” after she saw my dress.

The Palace is packed with tons of people. It is one of the most visited place of Bangkok so be careful with your belongings.

The intricate patterns and design of the whole place mesmerized me. They have a small cafe in there for you to get some cold drinks after walking around the huge area, a bit pricey but it is to be expected.

2. Temple of The Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho):

Covering an area of 80,000 square meters, this place is also pretty big. This place is much smaller than the Grand Palace. Ticket fee is 50 baht (1.6 USD)

The main attraction of this place is of course the Reclining Buddha statue. You must take off your shoes, to come inside. The huge Buddha is really something amazing. First time that came to my mind was how they built that thing? It is HUGE!

3. Temple of The Dawn (Wat Arun):

Located right next to the Chao Phraya River, this temple is just as majestic as the others, built somewhere in 1809. Temple of Dawn, is named after Aruna, the Indian God of Dawn.

One suggestion: you might want to bring a hat because it can get really really hot there. Also be careful when going up the stairs. Some sides have railings but some doesn’t. Heights never give me fears but I must admitted that going down the stairs made my knees a little wobbly.

From Wat Arun you can easily hop into one of the many river tour boats. Remember to haggle! We paid ours for 700 bahts (23 USD) for an hour of river tour.

For more pictures from Bangkok, feel free to check out my Flickr account.

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Filed Under: Photoblog, Travel, Uncategorized

Star Treatment at Holiday Inn Bangkok

7 Apr posted by Maureen

It was Wednesday evening…a cold breeze welcome us as we stepped our foots outside Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport after a long trip to get there – we are finally in Thailand.

We didn’t get to our hotel The Holiday Inn Bangkok at Ploenchit road until around 10 pm.

Photo courtesy of Holiday Inn Bangkok

As soon as our cab pulled over by the lobby, two doormen quickly came out to help. One of them almost squealed when they saw Lil’ A stepping out. “Hey, I know you, boy!” – he said.

Confused, I smiled and asked Lil’ A to said hello.

They ushered us inside the lobby and boom…right there, on one of their wall is my winning shot! Displayed on an LCD like screen panel. WOW! It feels almost surreal.

Instead of checking in by their receptionist desk, we were directed to their Guest Relation Desk. I sat down, the lady who introduced herself as the Duty Manager asked for our passports and I handed them our gift voucher.

Someone came with two very pretty Thai style flower bouquet on a tray…they had been expecting us and we caused quite a scene I tell ya!

The Duty Manager told me that they had upgraded our room to a Suite, instead of two rooms as mentioned on my gift voucher. Can I get a triple WOW?! Yeah, it was such a shockingly sweet surprise. All these were recorded by their photographer who happily took our pictures.

Not only that, once checking in was done they wanted me and family to take pictures by the LCD screen with some of their staffs. Oh.my.God! I was tired, been up since 4am, had a long journey, no make ups on, hair pulled up. Wish we can do a do-over for that photo ops!

Ms. K the manager lead us to our Suite on the 7th floor. It was a really beautiful room, big and spacious. Two bedrooms, one living room, two large bathrooms. Lil’ A was in heaven – well make that all four of us were.

The surprises doesn’t stop there…in the elevator again, I saw my picture being put on a display. Then when we entered the room, we saw postcards made out of the winning picture. It was on the beds…they gave us a handwritten welcome card from the Duty Manager, there were fresh fruit platters. It’s just so beautiful.

Lets say that we all went to bed really really happy that night…

Honestly…that was so surreal I had to step back and savor that moment. Hard to believe that MY picture…my winning picture is being spread all over their hotel…the Suite…the royalty treatment. It was unbelievable!

Their hospitality are genuine not only to us but to everyone. All of their staffs recognized Lil’ A and my brother who are both in the picture and they gave us such a warm welcome.

The hotel is not too big but to me they are perfect in size where you won’t get swallow by huge cold lobby. The staffs are super helpful and more than willing to chit chat with us, asking how we like our stays in Bangkok down to write down the names of places we want to see so that way we could just hand it out to taxi drivers.

One of their brilliant way to help their guests is the hotel’s name card along with small map, written in both English and Thai. Now that, can safe you a lot of hassles trying to find your way back to the hotel.

My favorite room of the Suite? The bathroom! Spacious…cozy, warm and perfect for a couple. It has sexy blinds which unfortunately doesn’t work for me but Lil’ A got a kick out of playing peek-a-boo every time Mommy went in the bathroom.

The little stuffed elephants made out of Thai silk were spread in the beds and tables and made a memorable souvenir of our stays at the Holiday Inn Bangkok. The pillows…aaah I can’t get enough of their Pillow Menus. They offer 13 kinds of different pillows that you can chose to your desire. Very neat I should say!

Holiday Inn Ploenchit is located in the heart of the city of Bangkok. Just a stone throw away is the BTS (Bangkok Transit System) which pretty much is a sky train. Traffic in Bangkok can be pretty bad much like Jakarta. But to have this option is very convenient and will safe you travel time to go places. Personally, to me this added more values to the Holiday Inn Bangkok.

Thank you Holiday Inn Bangkok for treating all of us so well and give us a truly memorable 3 days holiday.

PS: Click on the thumbs to see the short photo gallery of our stay in Holiday Inn Bangkok. I still have roughly 300 photos to edit.

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Filed Under: Travel

Bangkok, We Are Coming…Really!

28 Mar posted by Maureen

Remember my excitement after I found out I had won second place of the Holiday Inn Stay Together Photo Contest last year?

Well…I’m finally going to use the winning voucher to stay at their hotel. Air tickets are paid, the two hotel rooms they provided are confirmed…we – and by we I mean my two brothers, Lil’ A and myself – will be flying there this Wednesday, March 30th, 2011.

The voucher is actually about to expired – next month! But since I just started a brand spanking new job right after I won, I had to postpone the trip to Bangkok until now.

Glad to know the boss had given me an a-okay to take my leave for this even telling me to enjoy it and take lots of pictures. Yahooo!

One of my brothers was a bit worry about the language barrier and getting lost since their written language is not in Latin. Had to shoot down his worry wart self with jokes. If I can survive China for 2 months then I’m sure we would all be doing just fine for 3 days there. Armed with a calculator…haggling shouldn’t be a problem. Map and address to the hotel will help to track our way back after exploring the city.

It’s been awhile since I last travel…last time was our short visit to Singapore so this much needed short break would be just what I needed.

Can’t wait to see all those grand temples, tasting real authentic Thai food, and do just a little bit of shopping therapy.

My next posts would be about Bangkok and our adventures there so stay tuned!

photo credit: Terry Waller

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Filed Under: Travel, Uncategorized

How I Deal With Homesickness

4 Aug posted by Maureen

photocredit:caseywest

Was married to an American and having lived abroad, homesickness was something I had to dealt with a lot.

Technically, I had left home since I moved to Jakarta for High School when I was 15 years old so homesickness is not something that I never feel before. But when you live thousands of miles away – in another continent, homesick feels a lot stronger and here’s how I deal with them:

Communications, communications, communication…

Back then I – or sometimes Mr. X – always made sure I bought enough calling cards to call my parents on every weekend. This was before we got Vonage who gave us the best international call rates!

During the weekdays, chatting online helps too especially the video chat kinds as grandparents can see their grandson.

With how advance our communications technology these days, it is a lot more easier and cheaper to maintain communications back home.

Cooking…

Did that got you frowning? Yeah, so was I! But believe me when you feel homesick some native foods will ease that feelings at least a bit. If you lived in the middle of no where like we did back in Dothan, where there’s no Indonesian restaurant unless we drive 6 hours to Atlanta, then you will just have to do with slaving down in the kitchen yourself!

Cooking isn’t exactly my passion but to fulfill those craving for Indonesian foods, I who had never cook anything more than fried rice before – had made some pretty cool stuffs myself from recipes that I found online. Who knew I could made this:

Sate Babi

The power of Community

There will always be communities of people from your country in just about every country unless you live in a really remote area. Yet, if you have access to the internet then it is easy to find these types of community.

My first time in Upstate, NY. Indonesian community there invited me to a gathering to celebrate Eid and that was great opportunity to meet other Indonesians. For some reasons, when you’re far away from your country you will feel this certain bonds with fellow ‘immigrants’. This at least is true for me – not for my Mr. X but that’s another topic!

I joined several Indonesian communities back then and made friends with lots of people. What started from online forums became real life friendships. Talking with these friends over the phone in Indonesian language also helps to ease out the homesickness.

If you live in the same town as some of your communities, do try to make the effort to join them on their events. Independence Days usually is the time where communities group held their biggest event.

Here in Jakarta, we went to American Association Halloween Party last year and it was fun as that was the first Halloween party Lil’ A had.

So, don’t underestimate the power of communities groups.

The News…

Following news from your native country also ease out the homesick feelings as you feel up to date with what’s going on there. Even catching up on TV shows from your country is easier these days.

So how do you deal with being homesick?

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Filed Under: Mix Marriage, Travel

12 Unique Facts About Indonesia

20 Jul posted by Maureen

Being Indonesian, let me introduce you to 12 Unique Facts About Indonesia

With over 17,000 islands – approximately 6000 of them still inhabited, Indonesia is the largest archipelago country in the world.
Over 580 languages and dialects, Bahasa Indonesia is the formal language (I only knows several traditional languages and dialects)
Rice is the main food staple in Indonesia. That’s why most Indonesians will say they haven’t had their meal before they had rice even after they had eaten pizza or hamburger!
Indonesia is home to one of the previous 7 Wonders of the world – The Borobudur Temple. It’s the biggest Buddhist temple in the world built in 9th century. Still one of the huge tourism spot in Indonesia. Sadly, on the new 7 Wonders of The World, Indonesia fell off the list.

The only dragon in the world can be found in Indonesia at the Komodo Island where the Komodo dragon resides.
One of the largest Muslim population in the world but Indonesia IS NOT a Muslim country. The government only recognized 6 religions here: Islam, Protestant, Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu and Konghucu.
One of the world’s unique funeral procession takes place in a Toraja, a small town in Sulawesi island. Funeral procession will took around 7 days and cost a fortune. That’s why families usually save up their money for years before they can buried their loved ones. Where do they keep the body? In their house! Traditional embalming involved.
Bali has been famous for years but Lombok is the most happening place among others beautiful places in Indonesia. Remember, being a country with so many islands there are plenty of beautiful beaches scattered all over Indonesia.

photo credit: java tourism

The Dutch (or was known back then as the Dutch East Indies) colonized Indonesia for 350 years. That’s why many older Indonesians speak fluent Dutch and plenty of Indonesian word derived from their language.
Java island where Jakarta is situated is as big as New York State
Indonesia is home to the largest flower in the world called The Rafflesia aka The Corps flower. Reaching 5ft high and 4ft wide, it only blooms for 3 days and for 8 hours of these 3 days, the flower gives out the rotting flesh smell.

Rafflesia