#FidaWrites

I am not a person who grew up having pets or close to animals. Unlike many of my friends who are animal lovers, I find it hard to relate how they are able to have such close relationships towards animals. But the older I get, the braver and more experiences I have with animals. I am also more aware of the kind of animals I am more fond of. For example, I prefer dogs better than cats. I am no where happy to be in contact with lizards, but the most random animals I grew to love are those who has huge bodies yet very tender. Yes, I have humongous respect and love for God's creation, the gentle giants.

Ever since their 'welcoming party' in late September, Hu Chun and Cai Tao have stolen the spotlight from many other animals existed in Indonesia. Well, those are actually the names of two furry fellows, the giant pandas that have been brought to Indonesia all the way from China!



The wonderfully fluffy and FAT animals are under breeding loan for about 10 years and have been treated special in Taman Safari Indonesia at Cisarua, Bogor. Like many other citizens in Indonesia, the existence of these two pandas excite me! As the virtuous opportunity approach to handle werk perks relating to these furry fellows, I obviously didn't want to miss out!

[caption width="3000" align="alignnone"]The Chinese folk story of how pandas got their black and white colors. Click to zoom and read, it's pretty amazing! [/caption]

As they got out after a month of quarantine and adaptation to their new habitat in Taman Safari Indonesia, Hu Chun and Cai Tao were ready to finally be exhibited! The wonderful Taman Safari have erected a new building, elevating at 1800 meters above sea level with the temperature and surrounding area similar to the gentle giants' old habitat back in Chengdu, China.



Istana Panda Indonesia-- as the building called--is where the two pandas going to spend their daily eat-sleep-play-repeat. Istana Panda Indonesia is three storeys high, designed similarly like a Chinese castle with strong bright pallete, symbolic to many Chinese buildings such as green, red and gold. Not only that the castle exhibits the pandas, it's also home to two other Chinese animals, Takin and Red Pandas.



Istana Panda Indonesia is also complimented with restaurant with awesome food choices and a merchandise store that is all panda related! On the third floor, it has interactive panda learning center that covers knowledgeable insights about Pandas and even a dummy exhibit of a panda hospital! A replica of their check up bed, where Hu Chun and Cai Tao is treated regularly by professional vets in Taman Safari.



This is also something you shouldn't miss when you come to this place: the many unique photo spots and framing with views of the large Gede Pangrango mountain! It will make you feel like you're actually in the uphills of China!

[caption width="2250" align="alignnone"]Breathtaking view of the Gede Pangrango Mountain from Istana Panda[/caption]



Taman Safari promise to keep these animals under a lot of care, as they use them to conserve and reproduce. Although pandas have very little mating period (1 week/year) and known to only have 2 days to actually mate to reproduce, we hope that they will eventually able to grow a family here in Taman Safari! 

Okay, enough now, here's a collection of adorable pictures of Hu Chun and Cai Tao in their new habitat at Istana Panda Taman Safari:





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14 October 2017

Gunung Parang via Ferrata
Challenge level: 8/10

Every year since 2012 I always try to reward my self a Birthday treap (treat+trip). Whether it is just a short out of town trip or a great workshop to attend to. This year thankfully was quite special and definitely a challenging activity to a sad realization of how old I was getting.

In conjunction to Hari Batik Nasional on the 2nd of October, I was invited to attend a Batik-making Workshop at Aston Marina Ancol, North Jakarta.

So I've never seen my dad so excited to be photographed before until we went to this place.

One of the best things the fortunates have done for the less fortunates.

The Colorful Village or "Kampung Warna Warni" is located in Jodipan Village, Malang city, East Java. It was first started as an assignment for a group of university students at University Muhammadiyah in Malang. The students were on CSR mission to clean up after the village. Due to the situational condition of the village that was close to the river, the students started the assignment from cleaning out the river as it was the villagers' everyday necessity. Heavily polluted, the river was finally cleaned and the villagers were educated about the harm of a polluted river if they kept on throwing trash away in there.

The answer to your "Kok lo jalan-jalan mulu sih??" question.

You know how Millenials today often go, "Hey, let's go get brunch!" and you stand corrected confuse on where you should have that once in a month meal that is the popular culture in today's society. Well, no need to think no further, because Aryaduta Hotel now offers a weekend brunch that's suited to your delight!

Recalled as one of the most famous Orang utan conservation and rehabilitation center in the world, Tanjung Puting National Park is another way to explore yet another mother nature's greatest creation, the flora and fauna.

Belitung was not a foreign place for me, as it is my mother's hometown and basically the place where she and my maternal family grew up in. My grandparents worked and lived there for years, before moving to Jakarta. My maternal family even speaks the dialect in their everyday life, so it was very easy to get to know this place through their stories and from relatives that visits our home in Jakarta. Negeri Laskar Pelangi or the Land of The Rainbow Troops has become tourist-famous ever since a movie came out in 2008. The movie, Laskar Pelangi that came to life by Indonesian movie geniuses Mira Lesmana and Riri Riza was based on a true tale book by Andrea Hirata. The movie began as an eye opener of how beautiful Belitung is, as part of the Bangka-Belitung Province, east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.

I don't know when the trend started, but I'm guessing since Indonesia have been a lot more outspoken about their vast destinations, people started to follow the trend and wanted to be out in the wild and open. They don't want to miss out on the beautiful sceneries the country has to offer. Including those who prefers suitcases instead of backpacks.

[gallery ids="1615,1611,1597" type="rectangular"]

The weekend of March 25-27, I was in a suffocating need of traveling and grasping for fresh air. I had a plan to challenge myself to go on a solo trip to Batu Karas Beach in Pangandaran,

Suatu hari, satu Instagram Story post seorang teman kantor membuat saya penasaran. Post tersebut tertuliskan satu kalimat, "Ya Tuhan, ijinkan kami untuk berpasang-pasangan. Amin." Simpel. Sebuah kata-kata; doa, I must say, yang dapat relate kepada kami rombongan manusia quarter age life yang mungkin galau akan sebuah hubungan. Tapi kok lucu dan menarik, saya pikir. So I replied my friend's story, "AMIIIINN!! itu apaa?!". "Buku kaak!" she replied back. 

[caption id="attachment_249" align="alignnone" width="3456"] The view from a kitchen window[/caption]

East Nusa Tenggara province, or in Indonesian we call Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) is surprisingly huge! I've just probably noticed that since my recent travel to Pulau Alor (Alor Island) on the 10-12 December 2016. Alor, along with other big islands and regencies in the East Nusa Tenggara (Sumba, Flores, Lembata, Ende, Maumere, Kupang -- Yes, I finally know that they are still part of NTT) are home to many dive sites and beautiful marine wildlife with locals who may look and talk like nothing you'd find in large cities of Indonesia. They are the people of East Indonesia who many are descendants of the neighboring Papua, that inherits dark skin, curly hair in many ways. Different, I thought, and much to my surprise, I fell in love with this paradise.

After all the traveling I've done, this was my first time going on a trip to do a mission. Social traveling you may say. It was a mission to help expose the less-explored beautiful island in East Nusa Tenggara, Alor Island. Not many of you know, but Alor Island have actually been rewarded recently for having the most popular dive spots from Anugerah Pesona Indonesia Award 2016. So my curiosity was challenged when a friend posted about this social trip organized by Thank You Indonesia movement with a tagline,  "Jelajah Alor. Mewarnai Pulau," which basically means to explore Alor Island and paint them in colors!  If that does not sound promisingly fun, I don't know what else is.

[caption id="attachment_258" align="alignnone" width="1072"] Bright colorful houses of Pura Island now can be seen from across the ocean. Photo: Ina Ocktarina[/caption]

The mission was done in a small island off the coast of Alor, called Pura Island. There are about over 140 houses in a steep rocky hills with village locals who has deep intimacies with their culture and are very open for innovation. This social project is done to fully raise the awareness of this island to many Indonesians and obviously to the world. We helped paint bright colors to the houses in this island, starting in Harilolong Village, since they are the most visible from the ocean. The goal was one: to help many diver boats and sailing ships to notice this multicolored houses in order to pay a visit to Pura Island. So tourists won't only visit to explore the underwater heaven Alor has to offer, but also to meet many promising new friends and exposure to culture that are so rich, it will leave you in so much awe.

[caption id="attachment_248" align="alignnone" width="3456"] Lego Lego Dance to welcome guests[/caption]

The friendly and hospitable Pura Island locals who cherishes their culture will welcome guests in the coolest tradition. Dancing! Lego Lego dance, is a traditional dance where locals will gather hand in hand (pinky in pinky, actually) in circle, moving in specified steps, while singing and chanting followed by the traditional gongs and drums. Lego Lego dance is part of their way to enunciate gratitude for the guests that comes by. I was lucky to experience this awesome dance, being one with the locals who chants loudly and move with steps that are hard to process by the brain. (Even I who dances on a regular basis still got lost in their steps).

[caption id="attachment_247" align="alignnone" width="3456"] Joined in the circle to dance Lego Lego[/caption]

I was in so much envy from where these people live. I mean, climbing those steep rocks everyday, only to find endless panoramic beauty by the window of your house is definitely an eye pleaser. The view of neighboring island in full lush, the ocean in the middle with the knowledge of fresh resources underneath the surface of the ocean only made this island so precious.

[caption id="attachment_242" align="alignnone" width="3456"] Painting Papa Max Namaboling's house[/caption]

Okay, so the mission started as for us to paint the villagers' houses in bright colors. My friends and I was set out in groups to do one local's house. We were assigned to do a house of Mr. Max Namaboling, a name very unfamiliar for many of us who lives in the capital. It was a tough yet cool name to remember. Papa Max (as many people here would call in familiarity) lives uphill almost in the steepest top of the island. We were climbing those rocks and steep trails drenched in sweat to get to his house. But alas, the scenery we saw after we got there, left us...speechless.

[caption id="attachment_243" align="alignnone" width="3456"] The view from Papa Max's house[/caption]

I was already picturing myself on the set of a movie based in Greece, Mammamia when I got there! Bougainvillea flowers bright atop his roof, overlooking the sea and the neighboring island. Gorgeous! Lucky man. But it was not only him, almost all of the houses in this island have the same exact view. Aren't you envious? After spending time painting bright blue color on the side of his house, we were offered delicious bunch of mangoes, fresh from the trees! Villagers of Pura Island are all-rounded farmers, fishermen, agriculturist of many. So no wonder they'd have supplies of fresh fish, veggies, fruits, even their own traditional gin made fresh from the Lontar tree. Late afternoon talks with the locals only made us fall in love over and over with their tranquility of innocence and willingness to exchange life stories. Their heavy Eastern Indonesia accents and language is very unusual, but that doesn't stop the fact that we'd still be able to communicate. Still, with those heavy accents, the beauty of Bahasa Indonesia that unites our conversation as one is what made me proud of being an Indonesian.

[caption id="attachment_244" align="alignnone" width="3456"] Papa Max Namaboling with his niece[/caption]

There are so many places to explore in Alor, not only in Pura Island itself, but the beaches and other wonderful adventure-filled sites in Alor that is waiting for you to notice. I myself would also love going back here, not only to see how the locals' been treating their island, but also to dive all the way underneath their beautiful ocean! I want to write so much more about this beautiful place, because what I experience through out doesn't seem enough to put in writings. Go and explore it yourself, I dare you. Again, thanks to Thank You Indonesia movement for organizing such wonderful social trip and leaving us all mesmerized by the beautiful Alor.

[caption id="attachment_245" align="alignnone" width="3456"] Sunrise from the house window[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_241" align="alignnone" width="3456"] Local Mamas of Pura Island[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_250" align="alignnone" width="1072"] Photo: Ina Ocktarina[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_254" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Under the sea[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_255" align="alignnone" width="3456"] Sebanjar Beach, Alor[/caption]

As seen on Style.com Indonesia

Daerah Bintaro, Tangerang Selatan mulai dipenuhi dengan rangkaian tempat hang outdengan pilihan seru. Setelah merasakan rangkaian menu dan tempat nyaman di Lot 9, timStyle.com Indonesia kembali meng-explore daerah yang sama dan menemukan kafe baru bernama Shake Me Up!

24 – 26 October 2014 marks the latest, quickest yet the most stretched backpacking trip to East Java I’ve done. Stretched and quick because in only 2 nights, I can be in several places enjoying the view and the physical challenges faced. We didn’t even have a proper place to sleep. We relied on the transportations to comfort us sleeping.

Here was the route:

From 2010 to 2014 I found myself turning the camera 360 degrees with my face in it during my travels. Well if it’s not inspired by this guy, I wouldn’t have made it. This is only a few of the trips I did over the 4 years course of traveling. Will definitely update it all the time. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp59L3gFU7g

I am speechless. The trip had happened almost 4 weeks ago and I am still in awe in the amazing sight that I experience.

Derawan Islands, East Borneo (Kalimantan) of Indonesia is by far the most beautiful place I have ever been to in all my life. Well, I understand how I am easily amused at breathtaking views, and every trip has its own perks, but this one. This one, I fell in love. The whole Derawan trip consist of traveling to places and islands such as: Tarakan, Maratua, Kakaban, Sangalaki, and Derawan. Derawan Islands, located among 2°15’36.9″N 118°34’22.4″E of the Celebes Sea, has the most amazing eye-relaxing treatment of traveling ever! I started this journey feeling very excited knowing that this is going to be my first time stepping on the infamous Borneo Island. The largest island in Asia that’s divided among three different countries; Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and 73% territory of Indonesia. This time I landed on Juwata International Airport in Tarakan, one of the major oil-producing city in East Kalimantan. With their famous rainforest and wildlife (orang utans and proboscis monkey to name a few), landing in this small city we were welcomed by quite a different aerial sight: greens divided by veins of flowing river. My breath was taken away.



Tarakan

In Tarakan, we started our tour to Proboscis Monkey (Bekantan) and Mangrove Conservation Park as well as Pantai Amal. It was a different experience to check out “Dufan’s” icon in real life; a pot-bellied monkey with a huge nose. What was that about?! God is amazing, mashaAllah. Pantai Amal was also something because I get to see such vast wide blue sky that I have not seen in a long time. Topped it off by gulping devotedly on young coconut fruit (kelapa muda) by the seaside. Awesome! By night we were taken to eat the well-known seafood Kepiting Kenari at Mr. Crab. Two plates of large black pepper and butter sauce crabs and one plate of sweet and sour prawns later, our tummy were numb but happy. Best dinner yet!

 

Stayed one night in a motel in Tarakan, the next morning we headed out to Pelabuhan Tengkayu (Tengkayu Jetty) which was only three blocks away from the motel. The jetty was busy with travelers and workers roaming around scattered, trying to start their day at sea. Speed boats, small ships and fancy yachts were in sight. Leaving with our backpacks in towed, we took the speedboat for 3 hours to the island. Maratua were dropped-anchor first.

Maratua

Maratua, what can I say about this one. PRECIOUS. This beautiful island made up my most God seeking sense. I couldn’t stop saying Subhanallah for its beauty. We stopped at Maratua Dive Resort first and explored the resort by taking photos, watching how crystal clear the water were and for me personally, I was checking out the Dive Center with one of the other divers on the trip, Mas Fanto. We wanted to know how we could explore the beautiful island in depth. From the top of the wooden platform where we stood, clearly seen a lion fish roaming freely, swimming slowly in the water as if it was trying to show off its veil-like fins. It was like watching straight from a fish pond, except this was an open sea. IMAGINE IT!



After having lunch, we were out to explore the island in much detail. Snorkeling! The speedboad took us to a few sites to snorkel, including Reef and Turtle point. This is where I was so mesmerized. TURTLES! I saw them live in the ocean! How often does one sees that kind of sight? Definitely very rare for me! I used to always see turtles in the aquarium like Sea World and out of the ocean like in their conservations, but this. Watching them swimming slowly around like flying in the middle of the deep ocean freely? It was amazing.



After snorkeling, we went back to Maratua Dive Resort to watch the sunset. Once again it was magical. Watching the orange light sinking deep through the sky surrounded by clear swimming pool-like water, it was surreal. I can’t remember that happening beautifully anywhere else.

 

Headed for shelter in Maratua Island, Bohe Silian village was chosen as our rest area. A vast village with quite well-off residents of fishermen became our host for the night. Scattered with 100 or more houses, Bohe Silian has the most friendliest residents I have ever met. Each house could occupy about two to four people at a time, so our group were scattered along a few houses in the area to stay the night with the locals. Men in the village are mostly fishermen, while wife stays home to nurture kids and children goes to school in the nearby village of Payung Payung.



Morning risen, Bohe Silian village was lighten by sunrise that was up super early. By 6 am that we woke up, it was bright already. At this day, we have a plan to hike to Goa Simbat — a lake-filled cave inside a jungle. After having breakfast at one of the local’s house, we headed up to start our hike. It was about a 20 minute hike up and down the coral pebbled jungle from the back of the village’s houses. Interesting thing about this hike was we were taken by the younger locals. Talk about 8-12 year olds leading us up the jungle towards a cave. WOW? They are amazingly brave. What was even braver was when we saw the cave’s deep walls, locating the dark blue (even deeper) lake in the middle, and with no fear they started to climb down and a few JUMP down the over 10 meters deep cave cliffs. I was frightened to see them! But they were so gnarly that I was tempted to try going down to the lake. By then there was over 10 local kids jumping and climbing back and forth swimming into the lake. They came up saying “It’s really cold!” but with smiles and grins on their faces. I was shaking but challenged! Amanda burst the fears out of everyone and told that she wants to go down..so did I. So we went down (the wooden stairs-not cliff jumping) with a few of the guys. The lake was chilling and amazingly deep, I was told it was around 12 meters deep (whoott?!). Great experience ever!



Kakaban

After saying goodbyes to the amazingly humble locals of Bohe Silian we headed out again to Kakaban Island. This one, I really can’t wait. NON-STING JELLYFISH LAKE YOW! The thought of me being stung by a jellyfish when I was 8 years old in Aceh challenged me to enjoy every bit of experience here, because they don’t sting! Evolution over the years in Kakaban waters made them lose their defense mechanism and survives solely through the sun rays that blast into the lake, subhannallah. We snorkel here and play around with the jellyfish, touching it, holding it in our hands, watching it dance around through the sun rays, it was like a show. It was amazing.

  

Sangalaki

Next stop after Kakaban was we will have lunch at Sangalaki island. This is one stunning island too. There were resorts and dive resorts here too. When we arrive towards noon, our boat couldn’t move all the way to the shore because of the low tide, so we had to walk up to the shore for about 30 meters. However the view was stunning! The walk was only 30 meters short, but the photos we took in those 30 meters were hundreds! Imagine being on low tide where you only see sand and water, here you can see a Nemo and Patrick (clown fish and starfish) sitting around in the corals nearby and we were able to take their pictures from the top of the surface! Whatt! We didn’t forget the clear blue sky surrounding us too, so that was overwhelming with amazement.

  

After having lunch by the shore and resort in Sangalaki, we went back to the boat (that some of the guys unfortunately needs to help push because of the lowest tide) and head off to Manta Point which are still in Sangalaki area. Manta Point is a snorkeling point where one could see Manta rays flying by through the surface, and I mean GIANT manta rays. Unfortunately, when we got there the current in the middle of the ocean was surprisingly so strong that when the boat stopped, it rocked really hard, most of the people in the boat were starting to felt seasick (ironically, including the boat crewman!). Some of us stayed in the boat and some went to the ocean to hunt for the Manta sightings. We weren’t able to find any. However when we were still in the boat, we saw a large shadow of it from the top. It was ginormous! So that was still freakishly awesome!

Before heading back to our final island stop of the trip, Derawan, we went to a Gusung. A Gusung is a large sand island that was formed as the waters went on a low tide, but everything else surrounding it was deep water. Of course we stopped by here for photos!



 

 

Derawan

Arriving at our last destination, we stayed at Danakan Losmen in Derawan Island. This was by far the fanciest sort of resort-y accommodation we stayed in. Well, minus the stolen pricey items we find out in the morning, this resort was quite fancy with colorful blocks of rooms on top of wooden platform that goes down straight to pool-like sea water. At the back of the resort, there lived a whole other life of the island, the local houses and business district. Business districts consist of mostly diving center, warungs, souvenir shops and the locals’ houses that turned into homestays for travelers alike. The village was lively at night. After dinner some of the gangs went to see the night life in the village, we saw children mobile mary go-rounds (odong odong), souvenir shops that sell overpriced items (due to the fact that Borneo is just solely expensive with difficult logistics reasons), tourists and travelers roaming around shopping, eating as well seafood tents. It was lively and beautiful.

The next day, I booked a log of scuba diving down the Derawan waters with some of the brave people in the gang. Luckily, Danakan Losmen has its own diving center with skilled dive master named Putu. He was very knowledgable and calming through out the trip. Being the only licensed diver, I had to pay Rp. 300.000,- for 1 log (about 1 hour in the water), as my other friends who are brand new to diving and went for a recreational dive had to pay Rp. 450.000,- per log. The price was worth it as we explored such amazing underwater with far visibility due to the crystal clear ocean. We saw turtles, cuttlefish, scorpion fish, eel, clown fish and parrot fish were everywhere. There were hydraulics, corals, fan-like seaweeds and most of other underwater creatures I’ve yet to figure out. I was in awe. Mostly I was amazed at how incredible my diving partner was, a fit strong young 53 year old woman, Mba Anita. She was the best.

   

The whole trip ended that day after lunch as we head back to Tarakan. A few people head back to Jakarta that night and the rest of us stayed another night in Tarakan. Let me just conclude that last night was the total highlight and I had a blast. We karaoke-d until 1:30 AM and walked back to the hotel for a bout 1 hour, not forgetting to stop by to eat some grilled chicken. It was a great finish to our trip. We felt closer like a family and we spent a really good amount of time just getting to know each other really well.



OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE TRIP:

– Dangdut House Remix Boat

– Feet wounded by corals and rash from hydraulics

– Woke up for sunrise at Derawan

– Photoshoped family pictures in local houses at Bohe Silian

– Spicy sambal in Bohe Silian made from lime (nom, I’m drooling)

 

Derawan, East Kalimantan 17 – 21 April 2014