windy, sunny day: traveling

East Java - Bali Roadtrip (ending)

by Wahy - 9:56 AM

Day 5

No! I didn’t want to check out from Pondok Umalas but we ran out of money so we need to check out that afternoon L.

I finally met his sister and his cousin. They both were so cute!! His cousin was having her 19th birthday so we bought her a cake at the harvest. Everybody has already known that their cake are so good right?

After visiting his family, we decided to extend our vacation. We want to spend one more day at Seminyak. Since we were driving our car, it was a bit difficult for us finding a place, which has a parking lot, to stay. We didn’t do anything special at there, just wandering around, going to Kuta Beach, that’s all.

Leaving Bali :(

The sunset we enjoyed in the ferry

Day 6

Kawah Ijen

We left Bali and went straight to Kawah Ijen! As usual we use google map to lead us going there. At first it was normal then an hour later, the road was getting worse and worse. It was really dark because there were no street light. There were a lot of big rocks on the road, poor poppy L. On our way back from Ijen, we found out that google map showed us a shorter way but the worst way ever. Actually if you follow the sign and follow the road, my experience will not happen to you.

Kawah Ijen’s sky was so great! There were full of stars, I couldn’t stop saying “whoa” and couldn’t keep my head to stay inside the car. It was so cold at night though. Make sure to bring a thick jacket, gloves, something to cover your head or ears and a proper shoes. The wind also blow badly.

We catched for a quick sleep before going to the top of Ijen. At 2 A.M we woke up, got ready, then bought the ticket. We need to pay Rp 5.000/person and Rp 10.000 for a car. We need 3 hours of normal walking to reach the top of Ijen.

At the top of Ijen the wind blow worse, as there were no tree to block the wind. We went down to see the blue fire clearer, however we couldn’t see it well because of the fog. We stayed there to catch our breath. Before we catch our breath, the scent of sulfur hit our nose, we couldn’t breath well! Boyfriend and I immedately went up again. I was a bit afraid at there. But somehow human’s ability in an urgent situation can blow my mind. I went straight up just took less than 30 minutes, but it took more than 1 hour for us to go down hahaha.

On the top of Ijen we enjoy the sunrise. It was so great! It was worth the pain.

The best pic of blue fire we could get :(((

Remember when I told you the wind blew really badly?

On our way from Ijen to Baluran

p.s. my suggestions are

1. Make sure you work out a bit before going to Ijen, like 15-30 minute jogging everyday for a week, will be helpful. You will thank me later.

2. Bring enough drink and chocolate on your way to the top of Ijen, I felt better after chewing some chocolate on my way to the top.

3. Do not go to the top of Ijen too early, you won’t want to wait to see the sunrise, on the top of Ijen when the wind blows badly.

Taman Nasional Baluran

After visiting Kawah Ijen, we went to Taman Nasional Baluran.

Taman Nasional Baluran opens from 8 am to 4 pm. After 4 pm they will not allow you to come inside, because the ticket stall will be closed. The ticket price only Rp 5.000/person and Rp 10.000 for a car.

On our way to Savanna Bekol, we saw two foreigners walking. I remember that day the sun was shining too brightly! We felt sorry for those foreigners, so we asked them whether they wanted to join us or not, and they said yes. So we got accompany for this trip, they were Clara and Vero. They told us they already walked for 2 hours! I couldn’t imagine the torture.

After one hour (or so) of driving, we finally arrived at Savanna Bekol. We wanted to buy a drink at there, but there were no drink stalls at there. We took a few pictures then continued our journey to Pantai Bama. It didn’t take a long time to reach Pantai Bama.

There was a canteen at Pantai Bama, we catched a break bought some ice tea and had short conversations before exploring Pantai Bama. We wished, we could have swum, but there were too many monkeys at there. We were a bit afraid the monkey would attack us, luckily it didn’t happen.

Clara and Vero wanted to have lunch, but boyfriend and I haven’t felt hungry, so we just stayed at the beach. As I remember boyfriend and I fell asleep for 30 minutes, then Vero and Clara came. Then we explored mangrove forest. Boyfriend and I were a bit dissapointed, because there weren’t much to explore at Pantai Bama.

Anyway we back to Savanna Bekol, we went to the view spot. It was so beautiful up there, We stayed there for an hour, just watching the view. I was right there with my boyfriend, meeting new friends, enjoying the beautiful view, feeling the wind. I could say it was a beautiful moment to end my road trip.

Savana Bekol

I saw you monkey!

The Mangrove Forest

p.s. People said it’s better to visit Taman Nasional Baluran in dry season, so you will know why they say it’s Africa of Java. They also said the animals will go out from the forest to look for water.

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East Java - Bali Roadtrip (part 4)

by Wahy - 10:12 AM

Day 4

I think it becomes a habit, that we always check out, a minute right before the check out time. Though we had planned to check out at 9 am or 10 am, but we would check out at 11.30am. This hotel was too great to be left early anyway.

Today boyfriend had a plan to visit his little sister and his cousin at Denpasar then go to Pantai Suluban. To be honest I was a bit nervous to meet his family. Just kidding! I am not nervous, ha! I am so fucking nervous! I kept thinking “I am so dead!”

Befor going to his sister place we check in at Pondok Umalas. That place was a-ma-zing! I wish I could just stay at there all day long. Anyway I couldn’t, We have somewhere else to go. Before going to Pantai Suluban, we wanted to pick up his sister and his cousin first, then they texted him saying he couldn’t come with us because they need somewhere else to go. Then we went to Pantai Suluban.

It was so hot at the beach! The only shady place is the cave and it was already taken by people, so we let our skin getting darker. It’s a vacation anyway! Oh, maybe if you go to right side of the beach, you can find another shady places. Some people also had another fun by surfing from this side. Or if you just want to enjoy the sunset, you can hang out at the bar.

In the night, boyfriend and I decided to enjoy the villa. Anyway, he was more interested to watch the tv for the politic news, which was important at that time, rather than went out. We ordered our food at La Casetta. We knew this restaurant because they have La Casetta's menu in the vila. We ordered ravioli ricotta e spinaci and gnocchi ala genovese. It didn't take a long time for them to deliver our foods. Thank God they also came in big portion. I really love my gnocchi ala genovese!! Since I am not really a big fan of fresh tomato taste, I didn't really fancy the ravioli ricotta e spinaci.

Ravioli Ricotta e Spinaci & Gnocchi ala Genovese

p.s. if you enter “blue point beach” on google map, you will enter the beach from Blue Point Resort, and you will pass a lot of cafes and souvenir stalls, if you enter “pantai suluban” on google map, you won’t find any cafe to go there. It’s just stairs and stairs and stairs and trees. It’s more quite.

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East Java - Bali Roadtrip (part 3)

by Wahy - 3:09 AM

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East Java - Bali Roadtrip (part 2)

by Wahy - 7:49 AM

Day 2

We finally arrived at Bali around 12 am. We have no idea where should we stay! We didn’t plan anything for this. Then we decided to go to the North Area of Bali to find a place to stay. It was a bit difficult to find a place to stay because it was really late, and everyone has slept already. After 2 pm we finally found a place near Lovina Beach. We called the guest house keeper, and thank God he woke up (We were really sorry for bothering your sleep, but we need to have a sleep either).

The room was fine. The guest house was sea side, but we couldn’t really see what was outside, since it was 2 in the morning. When we finally woke up after a long sleep, the view from the guest house is beautiful!! The guest house itself was really beautiful. Although I got a backache because the bed was a bit hard, anyway it’s worth the price. (I couldn’t remember what the guesthouse’s name, sorry)

Campuhan Waterfall

We checked out at 12 pm. We went to Campuhan Waterfall, which is located in Buleleng. It wasn’t really hard to find this waterfall, since the sign can be seen from the street. As like any other waterfall, we need a long long loooong way to walk before enjoying the waterfall. Just kidding, we only need 15-30 minutes to reach the waterfall. Since it’s located up on the hill, we also enjoyed the amazing view during walking. We were actually already starving, but we couldn’t find a stall which sells food. They only sell souvenirs and drinks. We don’t need drink since we can drink water from the waterfall. We need fooodddd!

Anyway we finally reached the waterfall. The waterfall was oh-my-so-be-a-u-tiful!! Masya Allah. I couldn’t even get over it until now. We also couldn’t help our self not to get wet. We swam in the waterfall! Somehow I was afraid to get drowned if I swam further, since my feet couldn’t feel the bottom, so I just swam across the edge.

We also couldn’t find a place for changing our clothes. Actually there are some toilets at there, but that day the toilets are locked, so we just changing our clothes in the car.

Ticket price: Rp 20.000/person

Aling-Aling Waterfall

After going to Campuhan Waterfall, we wanted to go to Aling-Aling waterfall. We should have gone to Aling-aling waterfall first, because we passed this waterfall before going to Campuhan Watefall. It’s located in Bulalang, Sambangan Village. Anyway, we finally found a stall which sells food before going to Aling-Aling Watefall. We met a nice guy whom explained us what we could do at there.There are some waterfalls besides Aling-aling waterfall. He also said that we couldn’t go to Aling-aling waterfall by ourself, we need a guide who would show us the way to go to those waterfalls and he offered us to be our guide. We thought we could do just fine, so we said that we were fine.

After eating we continued going to Aling-Aling Waterfall. We finally arrived at Aling-aling Waterfall parking area. There are some foreigners who also want to visit aling-aling waterfall. There are a lot of local guys at there kind of hanging out or ‘working’, not really sure. One of them approached the foreigners, when no one is approaching us ._. .

We went to them asking how we could go to Aling-Aling Waterfall, they started explaining like the 1st guy we met on the stall. Then when we asked how much we need to pay for their service, he said amount of price which made us thinking for a loooong time. The price was much higher than the 1st guy had offered us. It was 2 or 3 pm, which means we didn’t have enough time to really enjoy all of the waterfalls before dark came. It would be such a waste if we pay high amount but we couldn’t really enjoy all of them. We saw the foreigners left, then we had this thought “If the foreigners mind to pay, then so are we” (you know that dollar is higher than rupiah. foreigner has dollar, we have rupiah = foreigner has more money than us. Someone who has more money mind to pay that much, what about us who have less money). Or maybe foreigner also has to pay higher than us.

I was super duper uber saaaaaad ~

Before going to Aling-Aling Waterfall || After 'going' to Aling Aling waterfall

Somehow we decided to go to Ubud. We don’t know what to do at Ubud, but we just went to ubud and stayed over at there. At 7 pm we arrived at Ubud. We stayed at Pondok Kecil Bungalow. It was another nice place! It was really close to Monkey Forest Street. Only 15 minutes walk to reach Monkey Forest Street. However it was close to the center of Ubud, it wasn’t noisy at Pondok Kecil Bungalow. The owner also really nice to us, her dog also really cute! At first it was a bit difficult for us to find a place to park our car, but then we just parked our car outside the alley, on the street.

At night we went to Monkey Forest Street to see what are up at there. There are so many stores selling everyhing at there, clothes, jewelleries, foods, etc. We stopped by at KOU Cuisine. They sell jams, Kusamba sea salt, Jenggala and Ate Table Ware. After tasting the tester we finally decided to buy Milk Caramel Jam. It was really good! The fruit jams also taste fresh, they’re just so great! We also found many good cafes and restaurants at there. It was around 8 pm but some stores were already closed. Then we just walk around Monkey Forest Street, exploring the street.