Bromo, 10 May 2007

Just two days before the SITIA Conference at ITS Surabaya, a crazy idea popped up into my mind. The conference schedule was compacted into one day, and I got another day free. Then why shouldn't I use it for something unusual...something that I've never done before. And of course, it should be able to charge my spirit.

Bromo soon came into serious consideration. It matched with my requirements, and more importantly, this time is a perfect time to visit the infamous mountain since I would be travelling alone without my family. I know that the journey would be difficult and harsh -- something absolutely not for family. Then I booked a car for local transport to Bromo from Surabaya. Rp 300.000 (plus petrol) is fairly cheap for 24 hour rental period.

The car owner told me to depart at 11.00 pm. Okay...no problem. The driver was stunned for a moment when I told him I was travelling alone :) He must have thought I was a bit weird...

We took almost 4 hours to reach the last stop of the car. This small village is actually still a few kilometers from our destination. From here normal vehicle cannot proceed due to the very narrow and winding road. So I rent a 4WD old Jeep to continue the journey. First, we went to Mt. Penanjakan and stopped at a lookout shelter. We wanted to watch sunrise from this spot. Unfortunately the sky was not too friendly...too many clouds. However, the other side of the spot offered a breathtaking scenery! The view of two mighty mountains: Bromo and Butak. Both of them stand proudly in the middle of sand sea. Bromo is easily spotted by its greyish volcanic rock composition. Butak, on the other side, has a perfect symmetric shape, with greenish colour. The two mountains, side by side, seem to tell me that two contrast characteristics can still go together, hand-in-hand in harmony. The quiet and chilly morning added some further sensations. My soul was like to surrender completely... subhanallah...

From Mt. Penanjakan, we descended down to the sand sea and crossed it to reach the slope of Bromo. There is a Hindu temple close to it. The temple is used for Kesada ceremony. Our Jeep stopped near the temple, and I took a horse to climb Bromo. The horse didn't really bring me up to the peak, but stopped near 250 stairs towards the top of the mountain. When I saw the stairs, I thought...oh, this should be easy. But when I started climbing about 30 of them, my knee started trembling and I suddenly could hear my heart pumping very hard. Oh boy... it was not as easy as I thought... Finally with hard struggle, I managed to get to the top, and I was rewarded for my effort with another fascinating natural phenomenon. The Bromo crater is not big, but it continuously blows heavy smoke with strong sulphuric smell. And when I looked down, the temple and the surrounding sand sea offer another great view...

I didn't stay long at the top of Bromo since the smoke was also itchy to my eyes. From here, the Jeep driver brought me to another side of the Bromo's vast caldera, to a plain land full of bushes. Local people call this place "padang rumput" (savanna). I quickly remembered an old film, A Little House on the Prairie... this savanna was just exactly like that shown in the film :)

On the way back to our car stop, the driver brought me to the center of the sand sea. He called the place "pasir berbisik" (whispering sand). Whichever direction I saw, I saw sand and small stones. Oh...people said that this place is also famous for being used as a scene spot of Dian Sastrowardoyo's clip.

At around 8.30 am, we drove back to the car stop, and after I paid the Jeep driver (the cost of Rp 450.000 was a bit to expensive, I thought -- I should admit I'm not a good bargainer), I went back to Surabaya.

What a charging experience... the only thing I felt sorry was that I brought a wrong lens for my camera. I brought my 70-300mm tele lense, which was perfect for zoom pictures. However, I had difficulties to capture the breadth of the scenes. Unfortunately, the grandness of Bromo can only be captured through wide, panoramic views. So it seemed that I would rely on Photoshop to fix things...

Singapore, 30 March - 1 April 2007

A present for MTI crew members after very hard and dedicated work: a trip to Singapore. Since none of the guys and girls has been to Singapore before, I had to assume role as a "tour leader" :) So many things to prepare, including briefing pak Muji and mas Purbo what to tell other people if they asked about our absence :D

So... the trip started from Batam since we wanted to save fiscal cost. On the first day, our destination was the NUS campus. We met with a Vice Dean of MBA program and discussed about program development. I was almost sure that most of us didn't concentrate on the discussion... their mind was already on the tour plan after visiting NUS :)

I don't want to tell about details of our visits to interesting places. Just enjoy some of the pictures...

Dieng, 18 - 19 March 2007

This time we wanted something new. The holiday theme was 'into open air'... Furthermore, we didn't want to go very far. So Dieng came into our list. It is close to Yogya, it has open air, and we haven't been there for long time. But there was one problem: where should we stay ?

The Internet proved to be an invaluable tool in such a situation. My browsing provided me with an interesting option: the Tambi tea plantation guest house. At first I was in doubt, is it a good place to stay ? But I took the risk and made a booking. One million rupiah for a big bungalow with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms was fairly a good deal.

The plantation location is about 14 km north of Wonosobo, on the way to Dieng. From Tambi to Dieng is about 11 km. The premise was perfect. It is cool, clean, and quiet. One problem was food. It was not easy at all to find food in the complex. Fortunately the management offer lunch and dinner for Rp 25.000 per person. Not bad for hungry people ! We didn't have much activities on the first day.

I started the second day with a short stroll just before sunrise. I walked around tea trees, watching villagers going to tea fields or tea factory. Those peaceful and friendly faces...

Later in the morning, there was a short tour. Going around tea plantation area, the guide explained about tea and the production process. I was not interested, so I took photos, practicing with my Canon 400D.

After taking bath, we packed and proceeded to Dieng. The road is very steep. We went to Telaga Warna, whose colour can change according to the climate. We also watched a film about Dieng at the Dieng Plateau Theatre. Finally we visited the Sikidang crater. Unlike Tangkubanperahu crater, we could approach very close to the crater and felt the burst of its mud.

The Dieng experience showed me that even small places that we often overlook hide magnificent beauties...

Medan, 19 - 20 September 2006

I was invited by PTPN III, a state plantation company based in Medan to deliver a speech about IT implementation in their company. The flight from Jakarta was quite smooth. The B737-500 practically flew quietly, no turbulence whatsoever.

I stayed in the Emerald, a 4-star, Chinese-style hotel. The hotel is still new. My room is clean, with a standard size. However, it seems to cost a bit dearly. The published rate is > Rp 800.000 for superior rooms. I don't know the exact price since PTP III takes care of everything.

During the stay, I was taken to different restaurants. Medan is really a big city with so many choices of food. We went to steak and Padang restaurants. The food is above average. But in general, I prefer Javanese food to Medan food, which tends to be very hot.

Lembang Area, 26 - 27 May 2006

A family trip to West Java. Destination: Lembang. My wife wanted to go to a cool place this time. We chose Lembang because we haven't had any chance to go there. The trip was pleasant even with baby Izna was on board for more than 9 hours. Apparently, he is just the same as our older children: he loves to travel :)

We stayed at an old hotel, the Grand Lembang. The room was spacious but a bit dark. We didn't care much because we were to tired to complain for that.

The next morning was a trip to Tangkubanperahu. The mountain is famous for its crater. The sulphuric smell stinked when we approached the top of the mountain. Unfortunately there is no way for visitor to descend down to the crater... well, there may be one, but surely I wouldn't try to find it :)

We didn't stay long at the top. We then approached Ciater, the place of a hot water spring. It is said that the spring water is good for skin health. I don't know whether it is true or not, but surely it was relieving when I put my legs into the pool.

On the second day, we plan to go to Bandung, but early in the morning I got a shocking phone call: there was a big earthquake in Yogyakarta. We then rushed back home, and alhamdulillah everyone in the big family was safe.