Indonesia Trip: Quick Sightseeing at Blitar

Actually this I had this trip back in 2013. At that time my college friend, T, contacted me and asked me to come to her wedding in Blitar. At first I didn't think to come to Blitar since I've never been there and had no idea how to get to a wedding party in there. But when I heard that my other college friend, R, who lives in Jakarta told me that she wanted to come along, so i decided to come to Blitar with her.

We took a night train named Gajayana from Gambir train station to Blitar station. The train departed at 18.20 and we arrived at Blitar at 8.00. For our arrival, T had asked our college friend, H, to picked up us at the station. Using his small car, H drove us around Blitar and he took us to Bung Karno Museum. 

It was early in the morning so the carpark was still empty. H said that we can put our bags inside the car. H's windshield is transparent, so people can easily see what's inside the car. With the mind of Jakarta's people who quite paranoia of the theft or robbery, I asked H wheater it's safe to left the bags that way, and he said it safe. He even left the car with the windshield open. I was not sure if i can trust him or not, but it's his city anyway.

Bung Karno or also known for Soekarno, is Indonesia first president. He was norn in Blitar. So if you come to Blitar, you can see how Blitar people really idolize Soekarno. They also commercialize his name in the local's souvernir.

In Museum Bung Karno, you can see Soekarno's statue, old photos, and several items that ever been worn by him. Besides the museum, we can see Soekarno's cemetery. At that time, many peoples gather and praying at Soekarno's cemetery. 

me and R in front of Bung Karno painting

Soekarno statue

Soekarno without his fez

view from the museum to Soekarno's cemetery gate

Soekarno's Cemetery

many people still come and pray for him

view of the museum from the cemetery gate. there's a sentence on the museum roof "Bung Karno untuk Indonesia" which means "Bung Karno for Indonesia"

After visit Bung Karno's museum, H drove us to T's house to meet with the bride. We say hallo to T and then we dress up for the wedding event. T's wedding reception was on a restaurant nearby her house, so we only need to take a pedicab to take us there.

T's wedding reception

Finish with the wedding, R and I still had 3 hours before out train back to Jakarta depart. So we decided to visit Soekarno's house. This place also well known as Istana Gebang. It's located very bear to T's house so we can reach it by walk. This house is opened for tourist and it became one of Blitar's main tourist attraction.

When we're in Soekarno's house, a guide came to us and explained us about the house. She explained us about which one is Soekarno's bedroom, Megawati's bedroom (Soekarno's daughter who beame Indonesia's 5th president), the living room, and so on. The house accessories and interior were still complete. Even Soekarno's cars were still in the garage.

the house front

Soekarno's bedroom

the family's car

his other car

inside the house

Soekarno's huge painting in the living room

After visiting Soekarno's house, we took a little walk around the area, visit a random park, and then buying some souvenirs for the peoples in Jakarta. Finished with souvenirs, we walk back to T's house to grab our bags and went to Jakarta. Then T's and her new husband kindly gave us ride back to the station. 

a monument in the park

R is happily walking in the park after the rain

the train to go back to Jakarta

The trip was so quick, not even reach 24 hours. But I guess I've covered most Blitar tourist attractions. Yes, it is that small. 

XOXO,

The Tourist

Indonesia Trip: Ogoh-Ogoh Museum and Taman Ayun

Before ending our Bali trip, we managed to visit Ogoh-Ogoh Museum and Taman Ayun. This two places are located close to each other, so you only need to park your car once and then you can walk to visit these two tourist attractions.

The first one is Ogoh-Ogoh Museum. Every year there's a festival name Ogoh-Ogoh which is held prior to Nyepi eve. For that parade, every region prepare their Ogoh-Ogoh, a huge puppet which looks like monster, which made from styrofoam. Even though the Ogoh-Ogoh seems scary, but i honestly amaze with how good these people made the Ogoh-Ogoh and how creative they are to make these 3D version which looks very real. The parade itself have purpose to hinder human from negative element that can disturb human's life. 

Ogoh-Ogoh

the other Ogoh-Ogoh

During the parade, the owner of Ogoh-Ogoh Museum observed the best Ogoh-Ogoh and then he offered to buy the Ogoh-Ogoh and put it in his Museum. Every Ogoh-Ogoh has story and most story coming from the Ramayana and Mahabarat stories. Since the museum owner really loves Ogoh-Ogoh, i can see his excitement when explained us about the story of each Ogoh-Ogoh. 

dad with the museum owner (left)

Besides Ogoh-Ogoh, there's also a huge litter that usually used for Ngaben Ceremony (Funeral Ceremony in Bali).

with the litter for Ngaben ceremony

Museum Ogoh-Ogoh view from Taman Ayun

Finished with Ogoh-Ogoh Museum, we continued our trip to Taman Ayun. Honestly i don't know the connection between the name and the place. Ayun means "swing", so i wondered what things that was swinging in this place. Nevertheless, this place is beautiful, it's like a temple complex, but we can't see it clearly since it covered by wall. All i can do is climbed a stair and see the full view of the complex from there. 

Taman Ayun entrance gate

the door to the temple complex

inside the complex (taken from behind the walls)

another view of the complex

me with the complex as background. I had to climb stairs to get this view.

One of my favourite in here was seeing eggs craft. I believe it wasn't real egg, only wood or stone that was being shaped like egg and then painted in beautiful colors and pattern. The seller said that the price for one egg was IDR100k, well that's quite pricey in my opinion, especially when i brought limited cash at that time :(

the creative eggs

Nearby the exit gate, there was some statues representing "adu ayam" or chicken fight. I believe this was one of the local peoples' favorite show.

chicken fight statues

Finally we've reached the end of my family trip to Bali. It was short but fun. When we're leaving Taman Ayun, we saw a long row of women walking while bringing basket on their head. It's nice to have a chance to see this rare scene :)

XOXO, 

The Tourist

Indonesia Trip: Danau Bratan Floating Temple

On the last day in Bali, I wanted to go to a place that I've been curious since i was a kid. This place often appear in the local tv when i was a kid, the place name is Danau Bratan or Bratan Lake It also well known for its floating temple, since the big temple is located in the lake, so it looks like as if its floating on the water.

Danau Bratan is located in Bedugul, which takes about 80 minutes from Kuta beach (in where our hotel's located). Even though it is a lake, but it's located on a hill so the road to Bedugul is ascending and circling the hill. Off course the weather is cooler in here due to its uphill location.

After paying for the entrance ticket amounted IDR10k, we entered the location. The garden for this place is quite big, and after we followed the walking path to the edge of the lake, we can see the temple clearly. 

the view of the garden

the floating temple

it looks as if it floats, isn't it?

The temple's door was closed at that time, I guess only certain people who can enter to that temple. Near the temple, we can see a vast green field, my sister was so happy to see the place and asked me to take her a picture in that green field.

the vast green field

Besides temple, there's also a Buddhist temple in the same area. The existence of this Buddhist temple is unique since the floating temple is a place for Hindu people praying. 

the Buddhist temple

After finished walking around Bratan Lake, then we continue our journey to the other tourist attraction nearby.

XOXO, 

The Tourist

Indonesia Trip: Holy Bath Place in Tirta Empul

At the second day in Bali, we visited the holy bath place named Tirta Empul temple located in Gianyar. Our driver said that the it is the place for the Hindu people to do purification.

in front of the signage

At that time, my sister and I was wearing shorts, since it was a holy place, so we were asked to use these cloths. Since my hair was long, the local required me to tie my hair, because you have to look neat when entering the praying place.

When entering the temple, there were two giant ponds with lots of water showers. The source of the water was from the water spring in the higher ground near the praying place. A local guide said, if you're taking a bath there, you should not use the most right water spray in each pool because it's usually used for funeral ceremony.

one of the ponds

After visiting the ponds, we walked to the praying place. During our walk, we could see Tampak Siring Palace besides Tirta Empul temple. Tampak Siring Palace the Indonesian President Palace whenever he visited Bali.

the palace is above there

When arriving at the praying place, I saw a family just arrived at the place and then they prepared for praying. They're all looked matching with the white Bali traditional outfit. Since the place has already become a tourist attraction, there was a line to separate the praying place, so the tourists won't disturb the holy atmosphere of the Hindu peoples who're praying there.

the family were praying together

Finished with the sightseeing, we walked to the exit door of the temple. And just like other famous temple in Indonesia, you had to walked through the long souvenir stalls before you can really exit the place. But since I needed to find a Bali Magnet to be hanged on my office cubicles, then I spent a little time there.

the souvenir stalls

The funny thing was, some of the sellers think that me and my sister came from Malaysia, so they offered us accessories in Malaysian Ringgit. We just laughed and then left with smile.


XOXO,
The Tourist

Indonesia Trip: Pandawa Beach, Bali

Last January, me and my family had a short trip to Bali. My sister plan all the itinerary, so I just enjoyed what she has planned. It's been a long time for us since the last time we visited Bali. Nowadays, Bali has more malls and shopping center. I am not sure if Bali goes more modern or just more crowded.

The first destination was Pandawa beach which is located in Pecatu, on the south of Bali island. The driver said that this beach is newly opened and become a new tourist attraction in Bali. From Kuta to Pandawa beach was not quite far, it took us about an 30 to 45 minutes. When we almost arrived there, we saw a limestone hill was excavated to create a road to the beach.

the view of the hill from the parking lot

The road was declining from the limestone hill to the beach. When we arrived at the parking lot, we can see from below how much part of the hill that was excavated. Then we walk to the beach. At first I though the beach will be quite and peaceful, but the reality was different. It was Saturday, so the beach was crowded and honestly I could not really enjoy it.

yes, it was packed with people

another view of the beach

Even though I didn't interested with the beach, but I was really attracted by huge statues that were craved in the limestone hill. There were six statues actually, but the main statues was only five. They are the statues from Five Pandawa story, which consists of Arjuna, Bima, Dewi Kunti, Nakula, and Sahadewa statues.

five pandawa statues

me and my sister in front of Bima statue

The view of the beach from the statue's location was great. There were also a parking lot in here for people who wanted enjoyed the beach from higher perspective.

we can see the beach from here

view of Pandawa beach from the higher parking lot

XOXO,
The Tourist

Indonesia Trip: Arjuna Temple, Sikidang Crater, and Telogo Warno Lake in Dieng

Before went to my best friend wedding in Wonosobo (see the early story in the previous post), me, my sister, and my travelling partner, decided to stay at Dieng first. Dieng is located not far from Wonosobo. The route was so simple, we only need to follow Dieng street from Wonosobo to Dieng. In the middle of the route, we met a retribution post, where we had to pay for entrance fee.

There were many tourist attractions in Dieng, but we chose three most favorite place to visit. The first one was Arjuna temple. Actually it was a temple complex, so we could see many temple at once.

When we arrived in there, the rain was falling and it was almost afternoon. Since we didn't know where’s the ticket booth, so we went straight to the temple. There were 5 main temples in the Arjuna temple complex, they are: Arjuna, Puntadewa, Srikandi, Sembadra, and Semar temples. Compared to the other 4 temples, Semar temple was more look like a stone house compare to a temple. Even though the complex was quite small, but the variation of each temples made this place interesting.

Semar and Arjuna temples

left to right: Srikandi, Puntadewa, and Sembadra temples

me, in front the 5 temples

Since it was almost evening, we decided to go to a homestay nearby to take a rest and continue our journey the next day before going to the wedding.

On the next day, we went to our second destination, which was Sikidang Crater. Sikidang crater was located near Arjuna temple complex, but you better use car or motorcycle since it will sweat you if you go there by walk (like what I did when I went here at the first time).

Actually you only required to buy one ticket to enter to Arjuna temple complex and Sikidang crater, but because we didn’t buy ticket to enter Arjuna temple complex, so we had nothing to show when the officer asked us about the entrance ticket. Then we have to bought the ticket for IDR 10k/person.

When arriving in Sikidang crater parking lot, the sulfuric smell was everywhere. Some sellers then approached us and offered mask to reduce the smell. They sold it around IDR 3k each. Other seller also offered us to buy some local foods.

the view of Sikidang crater from parking lot

From the parking lot, we had to walk about 2-3 minutes to get closer to the crater. We had to be careful while walking since there were some sulfuric smoke coming out from the crack in the land. While walking I saw some sellers also offered a horse rental to take the guess to the crater.

the horse rental

The crater itself quite vast, almost three-quarters basketball field. Local people said the temperature of the water in the crater is thousand celcius, but my partner didn't believe if it was that high. Near the crater, smoke was everywhere, but since we stood from where the wind blow, we didn't trapped by smoke.

Sikidang crater

While I was in there, there was a group of people cycling to the crater. They had cycled from Blitar, East Java. That’s really far from Dieng. Well, I don’t think my calf could afford cycling that far.

the cyclists (with standing applause from me)

Finished with the crater, we continue our journey to the third tourist attraction, which was Telogo Warno lake. The name Telogo Warno (Color Lake) is coming from the color or the water. This lakes has two colors, which are turquoise and dark grey. Another lake in the Telaga Warna lake is Pengilon Lake. The water in Pengilon lake and Color lake have different color, but since there are no separator between the two lakes, so the colors were blended. The water in the color lake is calm and you can even see the reflection of the hills around the lake in the water. Just like mirror.

Telaga Warna (Color Lake)

Pengilon lake

the area map

Ticket entrance to this place was so cheap, only IDR 2k/person. There was a small island in the middle of the lake. In this island, you can also see some meditation caves. There were 4 caves: Semar, Sumur (Well), Jaran (Horse), and Pengantin (Bride) caves. Each of the caves has mystical history that attracts people who believe in mysticism. Some people also said that Indonesia 2nd president ever meditated in one of these caves.

Semar Cave

Bride Cave

Sumur Cave/Well Cave

Horse Cave/Jaran Cave

After done with color lake, we went back to the homestay to dress up for the wedding reception and then continue the journey from Dieng to Wonosobo. Even thought we went to Wonosobo at 11 a.m, the fog already come down and made us really cautious.

the foggy road

XOXO, 

The Tourist