The Amazing Belitung Island, Indonesia.

The first time my sister proposed the idea to visit Belitung Island, I was a little bit confused. Having planned for ages to visit Lombok or Padang (none of which were realized since 2007), I can’t help but doubt, is Belitung really that “cool”? So we looked up for pictures of Belitung and found out that it does have the most breathtaking beaches, with amazing granite rocks that you will not find elsewhere. So visit Belitung it is

Then my sis browsed some informations via Mr. Google, and found this very useful website that informs about traveling to Belitung. The guy’s name is Heru and we immediately contacted him to book our “weekend getaway”. Later on, surprisingly, some of my friends were excited to join us, so we extend the schedule into a 2 night stay.

The fee for the tour is quite expensive for a 2 night vacation (plane tickets excluded ~1.300.000 IDR; the fee for one way plane tickets vary from 300.000 – 750.000 IDR, depending on when you book them — search for Batavia or Sriwijaya Air), but it is worth it because you WILL need full service from the tour agent. They don’t have public transportations in Belitung, so backpacking without any travel reservations would be just a way to sacrifice your life to nature’s will.

People in Belitung are very nice and friendly. Some are overtly excited to see tourists visiting their homeland, the kids literally ran to us and asked to be photographed when we arrived at Tanjung Tinggi Beach on a shiny Saturday. They even sneak around (in groups or individuals) to at least get shot by our camera while we’re taking pictures!  This is because Belitung has not yet published themselves as one of the main travel destinations in Indonesia, unlike Bali. So the land is unspoiled, the people are unspoiled, and you better leave it exactly the same after you visit it.

One thing I learned from the Belitungese is, they always give more than we expect. Except for the hotel service where geckos run wild (they have outdoor bathrooms, which is a total nightmare for me), I was more than satisfied with every little service they had to offer. For example, one night the idea of sitting at the beach to celebrate our last night in Belitung just popped out of nowhere. So we impulsively stopped the car and Mas Heru the tour guide asked at some random people we met, asking for torches. To our surprise, he easily got two torches from those people. Just like that, for free. Which leaves us somewhat perplexed: Who are those people? How could they be prepared with free torches just when we needed them? 

So on our last night we just sat there at the beach, my crazy friend stole the bedcover from our hotel room so we can sleep there comfortably. Laying there enjoying the breeze and watching the incredible night sky, it just felt so surreal! I insisted to try taking pictures of the night sky, but to do so, we will need a big fat telescope, so I got over that thought and decided to just enjoy it in silence instead. And something happened for the very first time in my 23 years of being alive: a meteor crossed and I saw it with my bare eyes! At that time, everything just felt so magical I wanted to freeze and stop the moment to make it last longer. After some Astronomy lectures (it turned out that Mas Heru has a degree in Physics, and was eager to tell us all about the constellations up above), and of course some series of picture taking, we took off and went back to the hotel (the Lor In resort is located just across the beach).

Some highlights of the trip (ooh I love making these):

1. Since the airplanes that fly from Jakarta to Tanjung Pandan (the capital of Belitung) are small airlines, be prepared for an uncomfortable bumpy ride. The plane will dance around the sky before it lands and when it finally does land, it bounces. Not so funny when you’re already scared of flying in the first place, and even worse for the others: use gloves so they won’t scratch and injure your arms

2. The temperature in Belitung is hotter than Bali, or Jakarta. The sunlight is so immense that you will get perfectly tanned skin in only 10 minutes of sunbathing. But at night, the temperature is quite cold.

3. Fishes actually jump around while our boat was passing by, it was very entertaining to watch them.

4. The animals are just as friendly as the people. Geckos, cats, cockroaches, they don’t run when you shoo them away. Instead, they will come closer, curious and excited to get to know you.

5. If you are not interested in blending with the local people, try your best not to visit during school holidays. Hey, it’s their homeland and they’ll play around if they want to

6. Dark clouds and rains come and go so easily across the island, so you will want to have backup plans in case the weather changes all of a sudden. Or do it our way: don’t make plans at all! It worked perfectly for us hehe…

7. You have to try their foods, they’re all so YUMMY: cah kangkung, gangan (it’s a curry of fish heads), mie kuah (i think they only have this in town), and of course the seafood. Allergic to them? Then bring your anti-allergy medicine already!

8. As a wise traveler, ALWAYS find complete informations before departing to your travel destination (tuh Win, Lur, Lung! haha)

9. And again, as a wise traveler, ALWAYS prepare cameras to capture all the precious moments that occur in paradise (tuh Lur, Lung! hoho)

some pictures of Belitung Island on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yuvinta/sets/72157619051043571/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ytse-jam/sets/72157601538474316/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhanif/sets/72157608706225104/

Another Version of the First Impression

If there is one thing to be remembered about Jakarta the first time I stepped my foot back to this country, it is the geckos. That’s right, geckos. They are these small, mushy, creepy lizards occupying almost every house in Indonesia (and other tropical countries of course). At that time, being an innocent little girl that I was, I really can’t help getting amazed: how can these people breathe and live with icky and noisy reptiles running around inside their homes?

We call them “cicak” here, and the truth is they are practically harmless. Some even think that they are cute and often play with them. Personally, I would prefer they never had existed in the first place.

• I wanted to post the pictures of this creature but it was just too horrifying, so instead you may check out this blog and maybe fall in love with them*

As time goes, my amazement towards Jakarta and Indonesia grows even bigger and bigger. The traffic jams, the beggars and homeless, the habit of the people cutting in lines everywhere, topeng monyet (the dancing monkey show) which I find very depressing, the heavily polluted environment, and so many other things my mind failed to comprehend. I believe I had an emotional distress considering the drastic drop of weight during the first years I spent here.

But as the saying goes,

“As I grow to understand life less and less, I learn to love it more and more.”

I guess that’s what happened between me and this city. Jakarta had grew on me, with all its madness and absolute imperfections. Everything that was once so bothering, has now became the things I would miss the most about this city. And no matter how bad it gets, no matter how much I curse and complain, there is nowhere I would rather be than home, here in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Hopefully this blog can be a media for us to share and learn more, about everything, from everywhere. Because even the sky is not the limit!

Cheers!

First Impressions…

Good Morning Jakarta by Tomiiboy (flickr)

There’s that saying by Robert Frost that says:
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” or a more common quotation that everybody knows: “Home sweet home…”
So that’s where the journey of “Djakarta Travelers” starts.
Home sweet home. Jakarta.

Having born and living more than half my life in Jakarta, I can say that there’s no place like Jakarta. 

Okay, I’ll start with a little historical education.  Located in the northwestern coast of Java island, Jakarta is currently the twelfth largest city in the world.  Jakarta is Indonesia’s core for economic, cultural and political development.  This metropolitan city is home for more than 15 million people, with a greater population than any other city in South East Asia, making it the second largest metropolitan area in the world.  Before officially retaining the name “Jakarta”, the city was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa (397–1527), Jayakarta (1527–1619), Batavia (1619–1942), and Djakarta (1942–1972), hence that’s where the name of the blog originated from.

To tell the truth, Jakarta is not the most impressive city in the world.  After spending 10 years of my life living abroad and then coming back home to Jakarta in 2001, I had to once again adapt with the drastic change.  The first thing that pops in my mind when I first landed in Jakarta is how densely populated and polluted the city is, horrible traffic jams, littered with trash and stinky smells that was sort of threatening to my personal hygiene.  After a few weeks I realized that the city does have decent facilities (although not in all places), great food, plenty of entertainment venues and very friendly people…  And not just in Jakarta, I also begun to realize that Indonesia itself is like a hidden treasure, a mixture between the modern development due to globalization and traditional and cultural values that is somehow embedded in every individual Indonesian citizen.  Being in Indonesia is truly a culture shock for me, but every moment here is bliss for every foreign on domestic traveler.

So, what are you waiting for?  Indonesia awaits…