Danau Toba: the largest lake in indonesia

Last january, i got an wedding invitation from Ira in Medan. After short discussion with my travel mate, we decided to go to the event. Medan is the capital of the North Sumatra province in Indonesia. Located on the northern coast, Medan is the fourth largest city in Indonesia (behind Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung).





Medan have a lot of delicious culinary. Hahaha... since we went to Medan with Lani's little daughter so we're not doing "extreme activity" :P We just visited istana maimun, lake toba and doing culinary. Lake toba is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world. We went to toba by renting car (thanks to abang binsar, who helped us to find the car). It took 5-6 hours in the morning to reach toba.







Finally after 2 years, we visited toba! :)









Cheers!
NN

Karimun Jawa

Karimunjawa is an archipelago, approximately 80 kilometres northwest of Jepara. The best time to visit the islands is during the dry season, generally from April to October. I'm not suggest you to go during the monsoon since the islands are influenced by the northwest monsoon. :) We went to Jepara by using nusantara bus. The cost is only 120.000 and it took 11-12 hours.

There are few ways to tackle karimun jawa. The first option is using Kartini ferry that leaves from Semarang. It only take 3,5 hours to go there. The trip is quite fun aboard this modern vessel. Both the VIP and Business sections (there is no economy) are both air-conditioned.

The second option by using local ferry (Muria) that leave the port of Jepara (about 1.5 hours drive from Semarang).The Muria is a mixed vehicle, cargo and passenger vessel which takes approximately six hours to make the crossing and costs 32.000 rupiah in economy class. The economy section is open air and not really comfortable. It took 6 hours to reach karimun. T__T Since our trip is backpakers trip so we prefer to using local ferry.



There is no public transport around the main island of Karimunjawa meaning that if you want to visit some of the deserted beaches, you'll have to rent a motorbike for the going rate of 75,000 rupiah per day. The roads around the island are generally in good condition, but getting to some beaches requires a journey down a dirt track. From the port which is in the southern part of the island, it's 18 kilometres to the airport in the north and a further five kilometres to the northern tip of the island.



There are few guest house in KJ, but we prefer to stayed in "wisma apung" (75.000/night). Wisma apung owned by bapak joko, or familiar with "breeding shark". If you stay in wisma apung, you got free ticket to swam with the sharks, hahahaa... :D

Most of the islands in Karimun are blessed with sandy beaches that stretch along the shoreline. Imho, if you're looking for colorful coral reefs, i though KJ is not the best place. The underwater view is not amazed (oh wait, i wrote this after i visited NTT :P). But if you're looking for white sandy beach with clear blue water...then karimunjawa is surly recommend trying!

Quite interesting ya? surely! Lets visit Indonesia! :)


Cheers!
NN

Short trip to Jogjakarta

Ok, lemme start. Yogyakarta is a well-known tourist spot in Indonesia. It is a small, simple town. Less traffic jam as compared to Jakarta. It gets a little cool in the morning or night. And, everyone we met was friendly! :)

Since we're in tight deadline :p , we don’t have much time to cruise around. We just made time to go to places we wanna see. So we went to these places (padahal mah emang dananya aja yg mepet). Hahaha...

Gudeg Permata
Gudeg Permata is one of popular food in Jogja, people come here to have dinner with friends & family. The taste is dominant tasty, not too sweet with a spicy "krecek". (sorry i forgot to take the picture :D). The food and drinks are great...1 portion can be eaten by 1-2 person. Just make sure you share with friends :P Reasonable price for quite large food portion. Btw, don’t worry about food... Yogyakarta has a lot of traditional food that so delicious. :)

Bakpia 25
The original bakpia from Yogyakarta. They have so many taste for the bakpia, such as original – green bean, kumbu item – black bean, chocolate etc. Although they've so many taste, i still love the origional ones. :D Imho, the origional taste is the best taste from the others. You can find the outlets across Yogyakarta (behind Maliboro street/near from Muhammadiyah hospital).

Mirota batik
I loveee this shop! Everytime when i visit Jogja, i always come to Mirota batik. Lots to choose, price start from cheap to expensive... Btw if you want to shop for batik with bargaining styles, go to Pasar Beringharjo (across Mirota Batik). Make sure you bargain 1/2 or 1/4 of the price. I found beautiful outer with only 50.000. Hahahaha.. :P

Borobodur
Borobudur is the biggest Buddhist temple in the ninth century measuring 123 x 123 meters. It was completed centuries before Angkor Wat in Kamboja. Don't forget to bring your umbrella and sunglasses cause the air was hot. :D It takes 1 hour to walk around the temple. Kudil and Yuli took their pre-wedding photo in here. :P

Ratu Boko
Ratu Boko is located some 19 km east of Yogyakarta about 2 km from Prambanan Temple. Ratu boko is nice place to visit for those interested in historical and arceological places. The place is clean and it supporting infrastructure such as restaurant, parking space, restrooms etc is well maintained. The panoramic view of its surroundings is quite beautiful.

Mount Merapi
Mount Merapi, is an active volcano which erupted just few years ago. After driving through some twisting-turning roads, we stopped at an area to start walking up a jungle-like road. We were rewarded with a green scenery of mountains, woods and Merapi. The air was cooler here too.

Kota gede
In this area there's also many traditional food that in other place nobody made it anymore such as Kipo. This area is also had a lot of silver's shop. and a lot of traditional silversmith and you can get cheaper price if you buy it directly from them rather than from the big shop. Some place offer a workshop so you can spend your time here as silver ring or necklace designer or even maker.

Ullen Sentalu
This museum located in Kaliurang. a lil bit far from the city, but worth it. You can see many of painting, stories of Kraton Yogyakarta, pictures, sculpture. You can learn more about Jogjakarta History. They also give you a welcome drink from a traditional drink, which taste good. Sadly, you can't take picture inside the museum. they only allow us to take picture on the way out. Btw, You can feel cool air and hospitality from the guide here. Really loves it!

Water castle (Taman Sari)
Taman Sari also known as Taman Sari Water Castle. Is a former royal garden by Sultan Yogja. Some of local photographer doing prewedding session in here...

Kraton
The keraton is a palace of javanese king or sultan. its a simple house with many room for the soldier and servant. The javanese philosophy is for sure the base of the architecture.

Bakmie pele
If you're one of noodle fans. During your stay in Jogja, you should come to Bakmi Pele. The location is just only 10 minutes stroll from Malioboro, near from Alun-alun kidul.

Angkringan Lek Man
Angkringan is food stall selling rice, side dishes and drinks at very cheap prices. Angkringan Lik Man, serving special drink, namely Kopi Joss or Coffee Joss. This place located at the north of Tugu railway station. The main menu is sego kucing that consists of some rice and stirred-fried tempe and tiny sea fish cooked with chili. Other food such as fries and fried jadah (made of sticky rice) are also available.

Angkringan pendodo ndalem
Imho...this place is quite unique, honoring the court building with a strong ethnic Javanese. Since the building is a part of Yogyakarta Palace area, it is very easy to access several historical building and cultural tourism attraction in Yogyakarta from this restaurant, such as: the main Yogyakarta Palace, The Taman Sari Water Castle, Malioboro etc, all within the reach of 10 minutes walk. The food and drink just so so. They do serve in big portion. There are drinks so big even they said it’s only 1 portion but group of 5 can drink it.

If you wanna try the real Yogyakarta transportation, try to ride the Becak – trishaw. Just sit back & relax. Make sure you bargain for the price. If you want to save money, from Yogyakarta, it is possible to utilize public transport (Trans Jogja bus) to Prambanan/Ratu Boko. There is an internal shuttle from Prambanan to Ratu Boko (vv) if you come not too late in the afternoon. To go to Borobudur by public transport will take long time and uncomfortable ride. Rent a car becomes an ideal choice for the travelers who want to explore Jogja. I recommend pamitran transport that owned by one of my best friend. Pamitran offers cheaper rental car that enable you to have a lower cost travel and you can enjoy the trip more. For more information, you may contact Arya (081326951923).

I hope my review about Jogjakarta will guide you in your journey to this place. Well, I enjoyed my stay and I don’t mind coming back again the next time! :)

Cheers!
NN

Kerja sambil ngetrip ke Singapore

Finally setelah 2 taun menanti akhirnya ada juga yang namanya HR gathering se-south east asia... Yeah setelah 2 tahun baru saya bertatap muka dengan om dan tante boss di regional office. :p Bulan Juli 2012 kemarin berangkatlah kami ke Singapore. Lucky me,this is my first time came to xin jia po atas biaya dinas pulak. hihiihi... :p Hari pertama dihabiskan dengan shopping ke mall terdekat (ah maap saya lupa namanya), dinner bersama my ex-colleague (May Chen), keliling naik MRT dan berakhir di esplanade. Buat saya yang anak gunung, senang sekali jalan kaki berjam-jam. :D kebalikannya dengan para senior yang baru jalan 30 menit nggeus pararegeul kalo kata orang sunda mah. Saya suka dengan lalu lintasnya yang ga macet macam di jakarta, ga ada orang yang buang sampah sembarangan dan MRT yang super tepat waktu (compare with our lovely "KRL").

Hari kedua dihabiskan dengan meeting, meeting dan meeting di hotel. Dari sekian banyak agenda di hari itu yang paling seru adalah bagian games! Kebayang dong 1 kelompok terdiri dari 6 negara dengan aksen bahasa inggris yang berbeda-beda... :) Malamnya ada dinner dan semua peserta diwajibkan tampil dengan lagu sesuai bahasa negara masing-masing. *ealaah opo ikiii :)) Alhasil kami berempat dari Indo pun membawakan lagu selamat ulang taun dalam bahasa Indonesia (ga ada yang ngerti juga sih). :P Yang paling friendly menurut gw team dari Filipin...mulai dari boss sampe anak buahnya super ramah. Bahkan mereka nyiapin oleh-oleh khusus dari filipina loh.

Agenda hari itu diakhiri dengan begaul ke clarke quay (tenang saya cuma pesan orange jus kok) sampai jam 3 pagi dan alhasil besoknya saya telat masuk kelas. T__T

May dari team Vietnam...katanya kalo nanti saya liburan kesana bakal dianterin jalan-jalan. yeaayy!

Daftar ekspektasi dari rakyat jelata ke country HR manager! :)

Gladys si "super aktif" dari filipina

Warm greetings from PH HR team. Love it! :)

My lovely team from regional office. :)

Agenda hari ketiga lebih banyak review, DISC test dan sedikit games. So happy to met you guys! And surely i'm gonna miss those moment...

Setelah si big boss nutup acara, masing-masing country bebas mengatur jadwal kepulangan. Sesuai rencana awal,kami dari Indonesia akan extend 1 malam di sebuah apartemen di daerah orchard. Ekspektasi awal saya yang namanya apartemen adalah bangunan yang lebih cihuy dari rumah kostan saya di jakarta...dan ternyata setelah sampai di lokasi. Eng ing eng....bahkan rumah kostan saya di jakarta jauh lebih cihuy! hahahahah... Menurut saya dengan harga 120SGD rasanya sangat tidak sebanding dengan fasilitas yang diberikan. Sisa waktu di negeri singa pun kami manfaatkan buat menjelajahi sentosa, china town dan ga lupa mampir ke universal studio.