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Indonesia On My Bucket List

24 Jul posted by

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

  1. 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
  2. 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. 
  3. 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.  Fishing boats resting..
    Creative Commons License photo credit: Bambang Suryobroto
  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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!
  7. 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

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. 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?

 

14 Comments
Filed Under: Indonesia, Travel

Magnificent Temples of Bangkok, Thailand

12 Apr posted by

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:

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.

Grand Palace

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.

Grand Palace

BKK 066

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)

Wat Pho

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!

BangkokD90 106

BangkokD90 100

3. Temple of The Dawn (Wat Arun):

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.
Wat Arun

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.

Bangkok River Tour

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

 

2 Comments
Filed Under: Photoblog, Travel, Uncategorized

Bangkok, We Are Coming…Really!

28 Mar posted by

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!

ThailandCreative Commons License photo credit: Terry Waller

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Filed Under: Travel, Uncategorized

Bangkok, We’re Coming!

29 Sep posted by
HIContest

Yes, yes, yes…we are going to Bangkok, Thailand!

Edited: I had decided to remove the winning picture until I got an okay from them to post it here.

 

On Monday, I was super excited to learn that my picture had actually made it to the top 20 Finalist on Holiday Inn Stay Together Photo Competition. Last I checked before the voting closed on September 12, we were on the 7th position. The judges will then picked the winners. There are two categories, Public and Employees.

Since I was up by 4 AM to go to a job interview (by 8:30 AM) that Monday, I was actually started to fell asleep in my mom’s bed that afternoon when my brother knocked my leg excitedly saying “Yen, Yen, we won!”

It took awhile to register what he meant and jumped to the computer.

There it said:

Later that day I got their e-mail with details that I really did won second place. Shocking because this is the first time my picture ever win anything, it took me two days to actually believed that I did won and our prize were a 4 days and 3 nights stays at the Holiday Inn Bangkok plus $1,200! Holly molly! Thank YOU, Jesus!

With a job possibility coming my way and my brothers schedule…we still haven’t decide when to go but no worries the vouchers are good until April 2011.

Thank you guys for voting too, we wouldn’t even make it to be the finalist if it wasn’t because of the votes.

This is my Wordless Wednesday submission – well not exactly so wordless but you get the point, right? Now, head over to Project Alicia to join in the fun. :D

28 Comments
Filed Under: Photoblog

How Eat, Pray, Love Will Not Ruined Bali

20 Aug posted by

With all the hype of Gilbert’s book turned into movie starring Julia Roberts, I came to read one article on why the book will ruined Bali.

As some of you who had read the book or had catches a glimpse of the movie’s trailer, Gilbert did take the Love part to Bali.

Personally, I wasn’t very impressed with the book when I first read it 2 years ago. I skipped most part to read the last chapter simply because it have Bali on it. I was biased when I read the book – somewhat turned off after finding out Gilbert already had the book deal under her belt prior to do all these ‘life-changing’ journeys. Alas, it could be one of every writer’s dream to secured a deal then ventured out to write yet to me it feels like it tainted some of the authenticity of the story.

Yes, she did experienced everything written on that book but personally, I think a genuine memoir would be better when it first written before a book deal.

Regardless, I can’t wait to see the movie and gulping down as much Bali as I can since I love that island.

Anyway, the article I mentioned before said she’s ruining Bali by ‘opening the gate’ to middle aged women invaded Ubud, Bali, looking to emulate Gilbert’s enlightenment.

Really?

If you know more about Bali and how it’s living breathing from tourism then you wouldn’t think so!

The movie may failed in the critics eyes, the story lame…whatever but if the movie means that it will boost tourism for that island then so be it.

Last time I was there in 2004, remains of two major bombings were still too vivid. The island suffered tremendously almost in a comatose state after the bloody bombing attacks. Economy suffers. Simply put, no tourists means some people just can’t bring the dough to feed their families.

So now when everything is pretty much back to normal, some highlights in Hollywood movie will definitely bring more incomes to the local Balinese, to its tourism industry.

You will get obnoxious tourits everywhere regardless and I really couldn’t care if they are middle aged or hippies surfers. They are tourists = income to the local communities.

If crowds really isn’t your thing and believe me it can get pretty crowded down there in Bali then feel free to explore Bali’s neighboring island, Lombok for example. There are plenty of ‘hidden gems’ in Indonesia.

So I say let them middle age-caftan wearing-soul-searching-love-hunger women comes to Bali any day!

26 Comments
Filed Under: Musings

I Dream Of These…

18 Aug posted by
Bali

What I would give to be lounging here…

Sipping something like this but preferably either Margarita or a smooth Tanqueray No. 10

Then admiring a view like this

But here I sit with a poor sick boy…yet my mind keep coming back to Bali.

This has been Wordless Wednesday entry and I cheated because all pictures were taken by my brother Reggy, who went to Bali last week for a business trip oh and he works in a hotel and they went for a photo shoot in Bali. How I envy you, brother!

Hop over to A Beautiful Mess to link up.

31 Comments
Filed Under: Photoblog
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