Somewhere far from home..

Hi guys!

I'd like to share some pics of me from my trip to Pelabuhan Sunda Kelapa and Kota Tua at Jakarta. Previously I went and met up with a soon-to-be professional photographer friend Ronaldo Bennedictus, he has some photographs to take in those locations. Since I'm trying to appear more in photographs now, I volunteered myself to join him and his friends.

As soon as we reached Pelabuhan Sunda Kelapa, Ronald immediately got busy getting photographs while I looked around for interesting things. Yes I tend to analyze my surroundings, I'm kind of aware of almost everything that happens around me. Beside I'm not really familiar with his friends yet, so what was I suppose to do then...

Then this guy that owns a sampan (flat-bottomed wooden boat) offered us a ride around the coast for Rp 40.000,- (4 people). We got on the wobbly surface and sat down slowly..

The sun will come out.. Tomorrow...
Photographed by: Ronaldo Bennedictus, Bic jR

It was around 3pm then, and it was scorching hot from the sun. Not long afterwards we decided to head to Kota Tua nearby, it is a famous tourist site in Jakarta which has lots of old buildings and local Indonesian attractions. But since it was a Sunday the site is packed with lots of people, local and tourists. There was almost no spot for me to take a good pic, so I decided to climb up a wall with windows beside it and Ronald took some good snaps for me.

I was holding onto the pipe for balance, otherwise I would fall. And it was pretty high from the ground..
Photographed by: Ronaldo Bennedictus, Bic jR

Totally uncalled for laughter, but it turned out great! =D
Photographed by: Ronaldo Bennedictus, Bic jR

Then in the evening we decided to head back, there was traffic everywhere I almost couldn't feel my butt riding the motorbike. I also accidentally fell asleep a couple of times knocking my helmet to Ronald's and had him laughing..

Reaching home I changed my clothes and crawled into my cozy bed to get a night's sleep. =D

My adventure to Pulau Tidung!

Hey guys,

I have returned from an office vacation to Pulau Tidung. All I can say is... it was AWESOME!

Day One:

On our way to Pulau Tidung from Pelabuhan Ancol, Gate 16.

 
I have always been a terrible swimmer, I can swim freestyle, frog and mermaid but I can't last for more than 6 meters far. And as I have mentioned before, I have a shark-phobia even though I'm only swimming in an indoor swimming pool.

I have too high an imagination. Which brings me to my concern for our schedule in Pulau Tidung includes a 3 location trip of Snorkeling! I have been worrying, but seeing that I'm not the only one terrible at swimming I took my chances.

When I jumped down the ocean, my first thought was 'DAMN this water is damn salty' hahaha.. Of course before jumping down I really prepared myself. I started with a vest to help me stay floating above, but it's hard to control seeing the vest follows where the current goes. Some of my colleague came swimming without any vests and it seems easy for them to do so, so I tried taking off my vest and turns out it was sooooo much easier swimming in the ocean than in the swimming pool with all the salt in the water that makes your body mass lighter. I took some flippers and started swimming and diving.

Tadaaa!! I'm wearing my tosca leopard bikini. The goggles makes my nose look so big..

Got some hair stuck on the goggles..

It wasn't easy getting an underwater photograph that works, holding your breath is the tricky part since you have to expel plenty of the oxygen in your lungs to be able to dive and holding your breath for a reasonable amount of time with little oxygen supply to get a good picture. But I tried..

I tried diving as deep as possible, but my ear drums can't handle the pressure.

My shark-phobia? GONE! Hahahahaha...

It was an amazing experience, and I can't wait for another trip that involves snorkeling (not really real diving).

At night we went barbequing at a beach, people were drinking beers. But I'm not really fond of beers, I prefer not to drink any because the tastes doesn't feel right for me. So instead I brought some Mix Max Classic!

Sponsored by Mix Max? Erm.. Not actually..

We had our foods, drinks, talks and laughs. It was a great night!


Day Two:

We woke up early before the sunrise to get to Jembatan Cinta and hunt some sunrise pics, too bad the bridge wasn't completely constructed. I took the risk climbing up anyways to get a silhouette photograph.

What do you guys think?

3 people took pics of me jumping twice, and this was the best

Later in the afternoon, we went to play some water rides. The most common one is Banana Boat, but my personal favorite is the Doughnut ride!

I literally fell 3 times! It was a real adrenaline rush.

It was a fun vacation, and I'm looking forward to more exciting adventures ahead.
See you guys......

Already History

Dear readers,

From my previous posts, I may have promised you updates of my vacation trip to Bali. I have been very busy with work these couple of weeks, so I'll probably just cut to the chase.

Here are some pics from Bali:

I forgot the name of the beach, but it was somewhere along the beach of Kuta.

Strawberry Cafe at the Strawberry farm somewhere near a lake beyond Bedugul.

There are more pics, but most of them are scenery of Bali's culture and food.

If you like culinary adventure, try out Babi Guling Pak Malen at Jalan Sunset, Kuta. It costs Rp 25.000,- per portion of rice served with pork and pork only. Yes only pork, but they prepare it in various small portion of pork servings such as: Crispy Pork Skin, Grilled Pork, Pork Saute, Pork Soup, etc. so you can get a taste of every pork dish available in just 1 portion.

There are many places selling Babi Guling in Bali, but I do not particularly recommend Babi Guling Pak Dobil. For one, they charge a very expensive price of Rp 35.000,- per portion. And the portion itself isn't very much compared to Pak Malen's, not to mention the standard pork dish doesn't get my taste buds tickling. Nope.. I do not recommend Pak Dobil's.

Then there's this Warung Tahu somewhere on the way to Bedugul, they have very reasonably cheap prices and various menus all made out of or with tofu.

Last but best! Is the so called Siobak Babi at Denpasar.

Siobak Babi is kind of like a chinese 'nasi campur' with all sorts of pork dishes too (kind of like Babi Guling), but it's served and tastes more oriental compared to Babi Guling.

You can see my pork intake during this vacation has been awfully much, but I can't say I regret it. It was amazing! So back to Jakarta and I have to start my diet all over again, and I have a bikini tan. LOL!

Next post: My adventure to Pulau Tidung!