Sketching Bareng di International Semarang Sketch Walk 2016

Jenis perjalanan yang paling saya sukai akhir-akhir ini adalah yang memungkinkan saya untuk mensketsa apapun yang menarik sepanjang perjalanan. Lebih asyik lagi kalau memang berupa sketch trip, yaitu perjalanan yang dikhususkan untuk mensketsa. Contohnya, waktu saya mengikuti acara Urban Sketchers Symposium di Singapura di tahun 2015, seperti yang diceritakan di blog Sketchwalkers dan di Steller story saya yang ini.

Sekitar seminggu yang lalu, saya berkesempatan lagi untuk sketch trip. Nggak jauh-jauh, di Semarang saja. Ada hajatan #ISSW2016 alias International Semarang Sketch Walk 2016 selama 3 hari (26-28 Agustus 2016), tapi berhubung saya belum bisa cuti, jadi cuma ikut di hari Sabtu dan Minggu.

Isi acaranya ada sketch walk dan workshop. Sketch walk itu biasanya peserta jalan kaki ke lokasi-lokasi sketsa yang ditentukan panitia, tapi di ISSW kali ini ada juga lokasi sketch walk yang lumayan jauh dan ditempuh dengan bus. 

Liburan di Bandung Untuk Bersantai Belaka

Pemandangan dari Puncak Bintang, Bukit Moko.

Bandung di masa libur selalu mengerikan. Penuh turis dan jalanan macet. Saya dan Diyan selalu menghindari Bandung di masa liburan, hingga akhirnya minggu lalu, ketika justru kami memutuskan untuk berlibur Lebaran di Bandung. Ceritanya, kami ingin liburan di luar Jakarta sebelum saya melepas status freelancer dan mulai kembali menjadi pegawai Senin-Jumat. Kami memilih Bandung karena ongkos ke sana relatif murah dan ada banyak pilihan Airbnb yang menarik. Pilihan Airbnb ini penting, karena kami punya banyak travel credit yang bisa digunakan.

Kami memilih Bright & Open Space sebagai 'rumah' kami selama tiga malam. Kami suka desain rumahnya yang unik dan keren, suasananya terlihat nyaman, dan keluarga pemilik rumah juga tinggal di situ. Lucunya, setelah memesan kamar, kami baru tahu bahwa pemilik rumah ini ternyata si Adi, teman kampus saya! Jadi rasanya semakin menyenangkan, seperti berlibur di rumah teman.

Update (Sept. 2017): 
Pemilik rumah baru saja punya bayi, jadi servis Airbnb-nya ditutup dulu, entah sampai kapan. Tapi masih banyak rumah keren lainnya di Bandung yang bisa jadi pilihan di Airbnb. 

Menangkap pernak-pernik dan cahaya di ruang tengah. Posted on IG.

Perjalanan Jakarta - Bandung di hari Lebaran kedua tidak seburuk yang kami bayangkan. Dalam empat jam kami tiba di pool X-Trans Cihampelas, lanjut naik taksi ke Airbnb di daerah Cimenyan, sedikit di luar batas kotamadya.

Rumah Adi merupakan salah satu hasil karya desain Dendy dari UNKL dengan tambahan ide-ide dari Adi dan Debbie, istrinya, yang sama-sama kreatif. Rumah berlangit-langit tinggi ini tampak makin menjulang karena berdiri di atas tanah yang juga sudah tinggi di hadapan jalan turunan. Bagian yang paling menarik perhatian adalah jembatan (atau lebih tepat disebut dermaga, ya?) besi di depan rumah, yang kerap digunakan Adi buat hobi astrofotografi-nya. Di jembatan ini saya dan Diyan mengamati matahari terbit di keesokan harinya, sambil duduk-duduk menikmati pagi hari di Bandung yang – sayangnya - sedang tidak begitu dingin.

Kafe-Kafe Asyik di Jakarta, Dalam Sketsa

Rumah Kongkow, Rawamangun.

"Free WiFi". Tulisan ini sering saya lihat di kaca-kaca jendela kafe atau restoran. Sekarang, wifi gratis menjadi daya tarik besar bagi para pengguna smartphone atau mereka yang ingin bekerja dengan laptop. Ada pro dan kontra tentang hal ini.

"Masa' datang ke restoran langsung nanyain wifi? Nggak menghargai kokinya banget, udah susah-susah nyiapin makanan!"
"Loh, 'kan tergantung tujuan. Kalau memang freelancer kayak gue yang kerja dari kafe, ya iyalah, gue perlu wifi-nya. Abis itu, baru deh, pertimbangan makanannya enak apa nggak."

Kira-kira begitulah pertentangan yang pernah saya dengar mengenai wifi di tempat makan.

Bagi saya sendiri, restoran atau kafe dengan wifi gratis itu bisa menyenangkan kalau sedang perlu, bisa menyebalkan kalau koneksinya lelet, tapi bisa juga tidak penting sama sekali kalau tujuan saya bukan untuk numpang berkoneksi.

Traveling to Europe without passport : Europe On Screen

Sorting out the films I want to watch.

Europe on Screen is an annual event that consists of European films screening. It’s held mainly in Jakarta, along with a few other cities in Indonesia, which are Bandung, Yogyakarta, Medan, Surabaya and Denpasar. The 2016 Europe On Screen is the 16th of the series and only in a few years back it has gotten my attention, possibly since the glory of JIFFEST (Jakarta International Film Festival) started to fade.

Growing up watching either Chinese Kungfu series or Hollywood movies, with a few Indonesian films in between, a lot of these European films come across as "alternative" to me. The lineup consists of films from major studios and smaller studios with less known actors, but quite a lot of them have unusual plots and endings, if not bizarre. Admittedly, some are too bizarre for me to comprehend. But it's nice to have options in what I consume as entertainment slash food for the soul.

TRAVEL N BLOG 2, Bandung - Loadsa Fun!

Hooray! We've just done another event, moving forward from the first one, but this time was in Bandung. The event was held in 2 days; Day 1 was the travel-blogging workshop, and Day 2 was the photo competition.

Day 1: #TravelNBlog2 Workshop

A workshop for any blogger who wanted to enhance their skills in travel blogging. Once you're deep in blogging, you'll see why there are some certain knowledge and skills you need to know about specific kind of blogging. There are cool fashion bloggers, craft bloggers, music bloggers etc out there, but we could only share what we knew, travel blogging. 

Betung Kerihun National Park

10 days of Mumun's and my trip to Betung Kerihun National Park in West Kalimantan have passed. It was definitely another new and challenging experience. We went into the tropical jungle, the lungs of the world, met so many nice and helpful people, and I proved my expectations about Dayak people to be inaccurate.

We're thankful to G+ who have sponsored our trip, along other travelers who chose different destinations of Indonesia. I think it's a great campaign to show people (mostly Indonesians) the variety and awesomeness (along with not so great reality) of this huge archipelago. A lot of us chose the coastal destinations, I'm glad that I chose the forest.

Traveling Solo in Bali

I've never been fond of traveling solo, though it is much better than traveling than someone that you just can't click with. When traveling solo, I just feel it's not fun because I don't get to goof around, discuss about what we see and experience in the journey and, well, having a travel mate means I can share some cost.

However, this time it feels a bit better. I'm in Bali on my own, and it's my 2nd day now. Yesterday and this morning I bumped into some random things and people that somehow got me feeling happy and interested. I'm excited to welcome whatever will happen in the next few days!

I posted some on Indohoy's Instagram and now here.

Enjoy.

colorful kites with playful shapes, I found hanged on the side of Monkey Forest road.
Bali is known for its kite festival, so maybe making these kites just came natural to them?

Free Activities in Indonesia: To the Parks!

A loose top and a legging is a comfy combination for a park time. 

When you’re on a long trip, sometimes you just need to look for activities that don’t require spending money. Yeah, been there done that, even for shorter trips. Even if Indonesia in general is cheaper than your country, I bet it’s relieving for you to find some free activities in Indonesia. Am I right or am I right?

The first thing that comes to my mind when asked, “What are the free activities in Indonesia that you’d recommend a traveler?” would be, “Go to the parks!” Parks (or “taman” in Indonesian) are obviously free – I’m not talking about amusement parks, but you can still be amused with the various activities you can do in the parks.

5 Ways To Enjoy Jakarta, Indonesia

To tell you the truth, I used to be a Jakarta hater. Having lived in (then) much cooler Bandung and (then) traffic-free Bandar Lampung, Jakarta felt like hell with all the traffic jam, long distances, heat, humidity, and high expenses. But Jakarta has a lot more options of job that I was looking for as soon as I finished college, so I chose to stay. 12 years later, I’m still here. I still can’t say that I love this metropollutant city, but I hate it much less and I can enjoy Jakarta a lot more now. And it’s not without effort.

If you are a Jakarta hater, or still trying to see the goodness of this 487 year-old city, let’s have a tour with me. A slow paced tour to enjoy Jakarta’s often overlooked spots that actually fostered my appreciation toward the city little by little.

So here are my ways to enjoy Jakarta:

Enjoy Jakarta at the park with husband's unisex Dork backpack*. 

My First AirBnB Experience!

That, on the picture, was our welcome card to our first AirBnB guest. We were so excited and nervous at the same time. We made sure everything was in place, the bed was made up, the water jug was full, and the travel guides were displayed in the shelf. We had the air conditioner fixed just the day before, hopefully it doesn’t leak again. Okay, let’s see what else.

“Do you think Sameer would prefer peanut butter or chocolate spread to go with his bread?” I phoned Diyan who was at work, as I was shopping at the supermarket across our place. “Or orange?”

Tugu Kunstkring Paleis

Hola!!!

This time I'm not traveling far from where I live. Still within Jakarta, lies a beautiful and awesome restaurant & gallery. Tugu Kunstkring Paleis, as a part of the Tugu Hotels group, has a long history since almost a century ago.

I visited the place out of curiosity and am in progress of writing it for Indohoy. Just you wait. But for now, enjoy the pictures I took.

"The Fall of Java" painted by Anhar Setjadibrata, the owner of Tugu group.
The complete painting is 9x4m in dimension.
This is just about 1/4 of it in the picture.

Stamps. The Window of the World.

Stamp collecting is a lot like being a scout. It’s something that most people did in their younger years and was like a hip thing, and now thought as something lame and geeky. I’m one of those people, and now I’ve accepted the fact that I am somewhat a geek. After all, I blog.

Recently there was a huge philately exhibition held in JCC building in Jakarta. Despite the banner ads that said they’re displaying stamps of IDR 20millions worth of money (that’s about USD 2.1 millions), I was eager to see the exhibition. I wanted to see stamps from around the world. I wanted to see stamps.

The first thing I saw at the exhibition

10 Days in Bali

10 days in Bali, mixing work, leisure, and Indohoy coverage. I'm not gonna lay everything out here because I'll do that for Indohoy . But I can't not share anything at all, so here's some of what I experienced in the trip, which ended only a few days ago.

Isn't she cute? (or was it a he?)
@ Bali Safari & Marine Park, Gianyar

Beaches of Lampung, Sumatera - The Hidden Gems

Born and raised in Lampung doesn’t make me an expert on it. In fact, I am far from being one. I spent the first 13 years of my life in Bandar Lampung, the capital city of Lampung province, at the southern tip of Sumatera Island. But on holidays, my parents used to take the whole family to Jakarta, Bandung, Bali, or Padang. Never to the other parts of Lampung. So, now is the time to explore this province, which houses, surprisingly, jaw-dropping natural sceneries. I never realized the beaches of Lampung were totally worth visiting! And this entry is about my first Lampung exploration in April, 2011. More to come in my next trips, still in planning.

Something I Should've Done in My Teen Years Or Early 20's

Blindfold Trip Around Solo, Central Java

I’m back from Solo, Central Java, people! Woohoow! It was only a 3N2D trip in the weekend, but it was one helluva trip! Why? Because it was the first time I (and my travelmate, Vindhya) decided the destination right in the train station! So, this is how it started, summarized in an imaginary dialogue based on the true fact.

Vindhya : I want to take a trip by train.

Me: Where to?

V : I don’t know.

Me: Ok, let’s just decide in the train station. We point a finger, with eyes closed, to a Java map. And whatever is pointed, then that’s where we go.

V : Yeah, let’s do that!

Me : Ok, let’s limit our budget to IDR 300,000 / pax.

V : That’s too little! Make it 500,000.

Me : Really? Okay then. Who else is coming along?

FRIENDLY HABIT - A NOTE FROM SULAWESI TRIP

I just got back from my 17-day Sulawesi trip 11 days ago. Overall, it was one of the best trips I’ve had so far. Many of the places I went to were amazing, some turned out to be lower than what I’d expected. But for me personally, the most highlight of this trip was that I (along with my travel mates Mumun & Reno) mingled with other travelers as well.

lunch at Karebosi, Makassar
with Jaap and Marlies from Holland

I don’t know why, but this was actually the first time I talked quite a lot to travelers other than my own group. In my trip to Vietnam and Cambodia last year (with Mumun & Renny) actually we met a lot of travelers as well, but somehow we preferred to keep conversations only among ourselves. Like, I would hesitate to start a conversations with others, afraid that they’d feel bothered, with a thought in mind that westerners in general are more private people.

Beautiful Places in Yogyakarta, Among Others

We started the day with a big breakfast at Soto Kadipiro, continued with visits to beautiful places like Ullen Sentalu Museum... 


SOTO KADIPIRO

This day we’re gonna go to Kaliurang, a district north of Yogyakarta city, to attend my good friend Koko’s wedding. In the morning, Tante Tung, Windy’s aunt next door, took us for a breakfast at Soto Kadipiro, on Wates Street. The menu was chicken soto (soup-like dish), mainly consisted of shredded chicken and vermicelli, and you can also plunge your steamed rice in it or prepare it in a separate plate.





What made the diner interesting to me is not the food – chicken soto is always just an okay to me, never been my first choice of food, but it’s just something personal, no offense to the soto – but the decorations. They’ve got pictures of wayang (Indonesian puppetry), vintage stuff like bottles, photos of the first president of Indonesia Republic showing so much respect to his mother and other oldie photos, and then there’s a sign that says “Please smoke cigarette as much as you like”.



That’s wrong, I know, but it's kinda crazy and you wouldn’t see that anywhere else.


KALIURANG

Kaliurang is actually reachable by bus, but I didn’t feel like it cos I wanted to look fresh at the wedding :D I’ve phoned a car rental service previously, they could rent us a 7-seater for Rp 500,000 including the driver for a day (contact us for the rental phone number). Luckily Kania got us a way cheaper rent through her friend, so we only had to pay Rp 300,000 including the driver, for 12 hours.

We rented the car from 9 AM, which means we got in Kaliurang at about 10 AM. The wedding didn’t start until a few hours later, so we visited Ullen Sentalu museum which is only across the wedding area, Wisma Kinasih.


ULLEN SENTALU MUSEUM



Ullen sentalu is a Javanese art and cultural museum. They’ve got lotsa pictures of the Javanese royals, paintings and crafts with historical themes (some are considered as mystical), old musical instruments like gamelan, and a collection of handmade batik which the princesses had to fast for days before making them. Batik at that time was something sacred, every pattern has meaning, and they should be worn for the right purpose. For instance, there’s a pattern for wedding, for giving birth, for funeral, for royal events, etc.

The architecture of the museum is awesome, made of stone walls and it’s labyrinth-like. The main building is built on a lower level, it’s like you’re going into a cave. There’s also stairs and narrow pathways with fences connecting the buildings. Too bad they don’t allow visitors to take pictures at all in there.


(Click here to take a peek of what the inside is like and the complete story about the whole museum.)

The prohibition is only applied in the museum. In the gardens, restaurant, and souvenir shop you’re free to take as many picture as you want. And here’s us in the colonial-styled Beukenhof restaurant.




The entrance fee is Rp 25,000/pax, including a complimentary drink once we got out of the museum.


THE WEDDING

Getting out of Ullen Sentalu complex, we went directly to Koko’s wedding. I loved how he decorated the yard, and yes he and the wifey Deni arranged everything by themselves, he even bought the symbolic doves himself the day before the wedding.



The food was great. Our main dish was Salat Solo, which is the usual salad dish modified with addition of potato and sweet-soya-sauced meat (or known as semur).



AFFANDI MUSEUM

Affandi Museum came next. Located on Laksda Adi Sucipto street, the entrance fee was Rp 20,000 / pax. Affandi is Indonesia’s well known artist, mostly known for his expressive abstract paintings. He passed away in 1990, and here’s the official website of the museum, galleries, and about the respectable man himself: http://www.affandi.org/index-en.html

Gallery 1 only displays Affandi’s works, while Gallery 2 displays others’. We didn’t go into Gallery 3, but I think it also displays other artists’ works.

Galley #2

The graves of Affandi & wife in between galleries

Across Gallery 1, which would be on your right side when you just enter the gate, there’s a café where we hung out for a while, sipping some bottles of Teh Botol (my favorite bottled tea, especially when served cold).


Next to the café, there’s a caravan-like bamboo building that now functions as mushalla, a prayer room for Moslems. It was initially built by Affandi for his private room with his first wife who passed away before he did.





PHOENIX HOTEL

When we asked the driver to take us to Phoenix Hotel on Sudirman Street, he was confused. Luckily we remembered where it was, cos we just went passed by it the night before and were impressed by its exterior. Turns out that he knew the hotel by another name because it used to be named Mercure.




And why did we go there? Obviously not because we stayed there. The cheapest room rate there was Rp 750,000 / night, definitely out of our budget. Well, we just wanted to see what the hotel was really like, what facilities they’ve got, what their rates were, for, you know, just in case next time we got richer. Plus, they must’ve had nice bathrooms. I really wanted to go when we were still at Affandi Museum, but I didn’t like their bathrooms. So to Phoenix we went.. Tee hee…



But hey, staying at this hotel does make a to-do point in my travel list. I loved the design of it, classic yet with a modern touch.


PARANGTRITIS BEACH

At that time, I didn’t know much about beaches in Yogyakarta. Parangtritis was the only beach I had heard of. And I didn’t bother to find out because I wasn’t in the mood for snorkeling or anything that would get me soaked. But it would be nice to relax a bit at the beach.. haha.. inconsistent me. My friends agreed to go to Parangtritis, while we still had a lot of time to use the car and too tired for any shopping, it was already almost 5 PM.

An hour ride was the length from Sudirman street to Parangtritis beach. Too bad when we got there the sun was setting and we weren’t really at the right spot to view a beautiful sunset. And I didn’t realize that the beach wasn’t as beautiful as I had remembered. It was brownish sandy beach. Or was it because already almost dark? I guess I should go back there again one day to make sure about the beach :P

The interesting part was that I bought these fried undur-undur (ant-lion) at some stall on the beach. It’s a kind of small animal that’s seen a lot on beaches. And from the name of it, I guess they do walk backwards? ‘undur’ has a similar meaning with ‘mundur’ which means going backwards. The fried undur-undur cost Rp 2,500 / box. Taste-wise, it was too salty for me. But it was alright, I was starting to get hungry anyway.


And then we also bought grilled corn on the cobs, costing Rp 2,500 each, sold by a lady who sits her equipments on a mat on the beach.



There were quite many visitors on the beach that day. I guess because it was in the weekend, and around the school holiday. Lots of cars and buses parked about 15 meters from the shore line, and a lot of commercial stalls were built. I remember going there with my family some 18 years ago, and we went on this horse carriage (delman) ride, it was lovely. I wonder if they still have that kinda service for tourists.


CAK KOTING DUCK


Alright, being on a dark beach when you’re not equipped for it is just not fun. Plus, our tummies started to growl… so it was time for another hint from the culinary guide book. Cak Koting Duck on Dr. Sutomo Street, across Mataram Theaters was our next destination. Another one hour ride.


I had the grilled duck which cost Rp 20,000. It was yum yum. But of course they also provided other menus such as fried duck, pigeon, tempeh, and a lot more. The ‘restaurant’ was these tables and chairs arranged on a sorta like parking lot, open aired.

Lesehan in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

In June 2009, my girlfriends and I had a vacation in Yogyakarta for a few days. Like eating hot dog in Manhattan, you don't want to skip the experience of lesehan in Yogyakarta. 



DAY # 1

GETTING THERE

Mia & Kania checking in for us at the Soekarno Hatta Int'l Airport

We arrived at 7 PM at the Yogyakarta’s Adisutjipto International Airport by Lion Air, costing us Rp 600,000 / pax, there and back.

One taxi for the ladies, please

Taxi airport to Agus Salim street Rp 55,000, ordered the taxi at a booth just outside the exit door. What’s on Agus Salim street, by the way?

FREE LODGING

We were so lucky to have a friend, Windy, who has an unoccupied house in Jogja (short for Yogyakarta). And although she couldn’t join us in the trip, she kindly let us stay in the house instead of having to pay for hotel rooms. The house is on Agus Salim street, a quiet neighborhood with strong Islamic influence and located in the Kautaman area, near the Keraton (the sultanate palace). Definitely we couldn’t pass such a generous offer like that.

Sultan Agung street - this pic was taken in the morning of Day #2

A rocking chair in Windy's room. Classic!

LESEHAN DINNER

After putting our stuff at Windy’s house, we went walking to have dinner at Malioboro street at some random street stall. The walk to this main avenue of Jogja took about 30 minutes, no rush, passing by the Alun-alun Kidul (South Square) while enjoying the relax atmosphere of Jogja.

The food stall was typical of Jogjanese style, lesehan, that’s where you sit on the matted floor with your legs crossed, and food is served on a low table.

Lesehan stall on the side of Malioboro street

The menu that we chose:
Pigeon, fried Rp 19,000, grilled Rp 20,000
Duck, fried Rp 12,000, grilled Rp 13,000



BECAK AND TRAFFIC

Too tired to walk home, we took becak about Rp 5,000 – Rp 7,500 / vehicle, max 2 adults. Becak is a very common way of transporting in Jogja. For me who lives in Jakarta where becak is banned due to the traffic convenience, riding a becak wherever I could is such a joy. You should try it, but don’t haggle too low. The heavier you are, the harder the becak driver works, means the more energy they have to put out. And many of them are old.

As for the most common private transportation in Jogja is motorcycle. Before experiencing the streets of Vietnam, I thought Jogja had the most awful traffic because they have soooo many motorcycles on the streets. I don’t have anything against motorcycles, but it’s how they’re ridden that can be so scary. Because they’re small, slim, and can go fast enough, they can sneak up on you, suddenly show up so close to you from the right, left, or behind when you cross the street or – in the typical cases in Indonesia – when you have to walk on the asphalt because the sidewalks are occupied by street stalls.. or where there’s no sidewalk at all.