I am so ready for 2011!!

I believe this year is gonna be a good one in terms of travelling. Some flights have been confirmed since last year, that means a lot of time to plan and prepare. I just can't wait to get the first one started by the end of this month. Praying and hoping it will be a smooth ride :)
A girl's gotta dream a dream.... ♥

Semarang-Magelang-Yogyakarta (Part 2)

This is the second in a two part series in which I share about my trips to Semarang, Magelang and Yogyakarta. Make sure that you don't miss reading Part 1 here! ;)

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Got to Dita's house we were greeted by Daniel a.k.a Iyel and Victoria a.k.a Vicky, 2 dogs with opposite personalities. Cute Iyel was very active, barked, and stalked Vicky at all times whereas old Vicky was very quiet and kindly let Iyel stalked her... oh, such an angel!:o3
Dita's parents were so kind to let us stay in their home. Her mother even cooked and prepared hot water for us (thanks so much Dita and family! >:D<).
Dita showed us around her hometown on the following day. So, where did we go on the first day then? Yogyakarta!

YOGYAKARTA

Taking a bus we went to Yogyakarta accompanied by a new friend, Bondan. Normally it only takes less than 2 hours, but due to the traffic jam it took us more than 3 hours to finally get there. #:-S
We also got caught in the rain twice, first when were looking around Taman Sari complex, and the second one when we were on our way back to Magelang. So, it was a "long" trip!

The province of Special Region of Yogyakarta (we simply call it Jogja), with its capital Yogyakarta City, is well-known for culture, tourism and education. It has a long history as the former capital of Indonesia and also home to a number of great temples. One of them is Prambanan which is one of the world's most beautiful Hindu temples. Javanese cultural heritages deeply entrenched in this province, such as Batik, Wayang (shadow puppet), Gamelan (Javanese orchestra) etc. Known as a City of Education because of its numerous educational institutions that attract people across Indonesia to study there.

The territory is ruled by a Sultan who lives in Keraton (palace). Our only destination there was an ancient relic named Taman Sari. We picked it because we'd never been there before (been to Jogja once and passed by a couple of times). What is the connection between the Sultanate and Taman Sari? It then functioned as a recreation garden, hideout, and hermitage place of the royal family. The complex is quite huge and divided into some parts.

the entrance

Taman Sari bathing pool

a big earthquake damaged some parts of the site

It was funny how we thought we had finished walking around the complex until someone told us that there was a separated part of the complex connected by an underground tunnel. But, to get there you have to go out first through the back gate, walk pass residential houses and  you will see the tunnel that leads you to get into the complex again, sounds complicated? Practically, it's located in the middle of residential houses! =D
This other part of Taman Sari looks older with a lot of relics. Unfortunately some are in a very bad condition due to the big earthquake hit Jogja a while back. 

Mas Bondan, Me, and Dita heading to the tunnel

rooftop! :D

I'm here, you're there, we don't know each other...

Taman Sari is easily accessed, it is located close to the heart of the city, Malioboro St. You can reach there from Malioboro by a rickshaw, which is ubiquitous, and don't forget to bargain the fare. Usually it's always less than USD 1.

MAGELANG

Surrounded by mountains makes this small city green and peaceful. The most popular tourism object in Magelang is Borobudur, the world's biggest Buddhist temple. Actually we had planned to go there, but the news on TV reported that it was being visited by huge crowds of Buddhist pilgrims to celebrate Vesak (holy day in Buddhism) that day. They came not only from the surrounding areas, but also from all over Indonesia and even overseas! We all knew that it was a public holiday that day, but we just  figured out that it was Vesak after watching the news. :))

Welcome to Magelang!

Ayam Kosek (chicken with chili paste) at Rumah Makan Panjiwo (Panjiwo Restaurant) is what I like the most from this town. The key that makes this food so special is its spicy sambal kosek (chili paste). They deep fry chicken, flatten it out and put the sambal on it while it's still hot. This is how the chicken will adsorb the sambal well and make it very spicy and savory. =P~ ^:)^
I'm not exaggerating but this is one of the most delicious foods I've ever tasted. The restaurant is situated across a mental health hospital which Dita often bragged about as the biggest mental hospital in South East Asia (I'm wondering if she was one of the patients there :-?).

Dita only had not even half a day to show us around her town as we had to be at the bus station by 5pm to go back  to Jakarta. :(
We went to a hill located not too far from her house named Bukit Tidar (Tidar Hill) where people usually come on a pilgrimage to the graves of Muslim figures there. It's not too high though.

Tidar Hill

Not even halfway to the hilltop #:-S

Say Hi to this little buddy!

Okay, as I said previously it's not too high, but reaching the top of it was not an easy thing  for us. We had to stop to take deep breath for several times (girls, we need more exercise!). I was expecting something spectacular up there say a lake hehe, but when we finally managed to get there, there was nothing  to see but a big flagpole in the middle of it. After taking some steps, one thing drew my attention... a huge Banyan tree! Girls, let's do one or two Tarzan swings! :D

swing... swing... swing...

local children who watched our "show" ;))

Next location, a park called Taman Kyai Langgeng. This is a one huge park, children playground and also a mini zoo where you can see some animals like monkeys, snakes and crocodiles. However, we were not interested to see those animals, we prefered to spend our limited time around a river on the park. It took some time to reach the river since it's located far behind the park. 

How I wished we had spent more time in Magelang. But we had to race against time to come back home. Quoting Aulia, "It's not a matter of where you go, what matters is how you enjoy your time", if I may add "It's not a matter of how much time you spend but how you spend". :) Crazy friends made this trip a fun and wonderful experience although it was just a short one.
By the way, we arrived in Jakarta at 8 am and I had to work at 1 pm. (:|

Semarang-Magelang-Yogyakarta (Part 1)

Travel period: May 27 - 30, 2010

Location: Semarang, Magelang, Yogyakarta

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One day after finishing a photo shoot with Dita and Aulia, we came up with an idea of travelling to Dita's hometown in Magelang, Central Java. After adjusting our schedules we finally agreed to travel from May 27 - 30, 2010 and decided to stop by first in its neighboring city, Semarang. But the initial plan changed soon after we arrived in Magelang. Realising that Yogyakarta situated near Magelang, Aulia and I asked (insisted? :-") Dita to take us to Yogyakarta also. >:)

Route: Semarang-Magelang-Yogyakarta-Magelang

Itinerary:

• May 27: Jakarta-Semarang by bus
• May 28: Semarang tour (Girinatha temple, Cathedral Church, Lawang Sewu, Spesial Sambal restaurant, Great Mosque of  Central Java, Tay Kak Sie temple)
• May 29: Magelang -> Yogyakarta (Taman Sari) -> Magelang
• May 30: Magelang (Tidar Hill, Kyai Langgeng Park).... and coming back home to Jakarta

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We intended to take a train to Semarang as it's faster and cheaper than bus. Unfortunately, the tickets already sold out (never again travelling on holiday season!). There was no other choice but bus (no need to mention airplane as it's unfriendly to our pockets), and  lucky us there were only 3 tickets left! See, it was our destiny to take bus! And for Aulia, you did a very good job hunting for those tickets, girl! 

At Lebak Bulus bus station, on beautiful Thursday, May 27 2010, we began our journey. This is one of the largest bus stations in Jakarta located in South Jakarta servicing inner-city and inter-provincial routes. Be careful with the ticket scalpers! They're everywhere at the station and very aggressive to grab your attention. One of them even yelled at us "MONYET!" (=monkey, a common mild swear word in Indonesian) just because we didn't respond him at all. That made me wanna punch him in the face! >:/ b-( 

Our bus, Ramayana, was full but comfortable enough. The driver was very professional and didn't speed up like others. They also gave each passenger a box of snacks and a glass of mineral water. As always whenever I'm on the bus, no matter how long it takes, I always keep awake. But my travel mates are sleepyheads, whenever and wherever they can close their eyes, they will fall asleep right away. After being on the bus for 10 hours more or less, we finally arrived in our first destination city, Semarang! Yay! <:-P

I-) (read: sleepyhead) queens' happy faces just got off the bus

Semarang is the capital of the province of Central Java. Semarang Atas (higher ground) and Semarang Bawah (lower ground) makes it very unique geographically. If you happen to pass by at night, Semarang Atas night lights will make you amazed. They're beautifully twinkling like fireflies seen from far! @-) If you're into history and architecture, you have to include this city in your must-visit list as they've got a lot of  heritage buildings.

Get back to our trip, we stopped by a friend's house, Nia, to take a rest for a while before exploring the city. We had a very nice first impression of the local people by the hospitality that her family showed us (terimakasih, Nia dan keluarga! >:D<).
Another new friend, Biyan, came over and joined us.  And then we picked up another friend, Restian (he's so good at photography).

With a rental car we travelled around the city all day long visiting an old building, Lawang Sewu, and some houses of worship such as a Hindu temple named Pura Girinatha, Gereja Katedral (cathedral church), Masjid Agung Jawa Tengah (Great Mosque of Central Java), and Klenteng Tay Kak Sie (Tay Kak Sie confucian temple). Apparently I was surrounded by "narcissistic" young Javanese people (although Aulia is not a Javanese, but I'm always amazed at her great capability to switch her accent easily following the ethnicity of the person she's dealing with... ROCK ON, GIRL!!  ) Yeah, we spent that day taking tons of pictures! Thanks to Restian we had cool pictures... Thanks a bunch, brada! :> 

taken from Girinatha temple... how beautiful!

beautiful girls with beautiful temple ;)) (photo by Restian)

there is always time to pray (photo by Restian)

Buddha statue under a Banyan tree at a Tay Kak Sie 

Tay Kak Sie

inside Tay Kak Sie

Aulia at Masjid Agung Jawa Tengah

keep smiling although they're being so mean to me :)>-     

We spent a little longer at Lawang Sewu. Lawang Sewu or literally means "a thousand doors" is a remarkable three-storey heritage building located in the heart of downtown Semarang built by the Dutch colonial government. The name of  Lawang Sewu refers to the number of doors there. Our guide said that the doors were less than 1000, but he wasn't quite sure about the door leaves. According to him, with such  tropical climate, the Dutch wanted to make sure that everyone in the building would feel comfortable by setting up a good air circulation, hence they built it with so many doors and windows. Make sense! Actually, almost all old buildings I've been to in the old towns in main cities in Indonesia have a lot of doors and windows, so it's a very typical construction of the Dutch colonial rule. 

Lawang Sewu

picture of Lawang Sewu inside the building

the right side

some parts are being renovated

the hallway

The building itself has a long history. Initially it was built as the headquarter of  the Dutch railway company in Indonesia. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in 1942 - 1945, they converted an underground of the building into a dungeon and massacred Indonesian prisoners there. In the period of Soeharto's reign (second president of Indonesia), his rich family was interested to buy it to turn it into a hotel.

It's undeniably beautiful but unfortunately not very well-maintained. Musty... dust was everywhere... and we could even smell bat droppings! Old and empty, people often associate it with horror. For me, yes, it's already spooky during the day, let alone at night?!:-SS 

But you might want to test your adrenaline by taking Lawang Sewu Night Tour. My two girl friends who took that tour lately said that there was no light at all, let me repeat: no light at all in the such big old building! Brave enough? (~~)

complete formation striking a pose at Lawang Sewu

our humble poses (photo by Restian)

Done with Lawang Sewu we had to deal with our rumbling stomaches. I thanked God that my crazy new friends took us to a highly recommended restaurant for spicy food lovers, Spesial Sambal. 
This is the best place where you can find heaps of different types of sambal (chili paste), such as Sambal Ijo (chili paste made of green chili), Sambal Teri (anchovy chili paste), Sambal Jamur Merang (mushroom chili paste), Sambal Terasi (shrimp chili paste) etc. Be careful with it, when you order the spiciest one, they will make it very spicy, I mean it's utterly spicy! #:-S
If you don't like spicy food, no need to worry because you can still order other food.

desperate faces waiting for the foods :-w

Hooray! We're full but the super spicy food almost killed us!

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I hate it how fast time flies when we're having fun. The multireligious Semarang is such an interesting place to explore more, but we had to get on with our journey to Magelang before it was getting darker. It may be enough going around Semarang within one day, stopping by at some places, but exploring it? You definitely have to spare more time! :)

Biyan and Nia drove us to Magelang and we arrived 2 hours later... 

To be continued to Semarang-Magelang-Yogyakarta (Part 2)