Flores : Gili Lawa (VLOG)

I cant stop sharing about Flores. Seems like it was the best destination that i went to this year. Breathtaking views, enjoyable sea-swims, challenging tracks, life-on-board experience, and a bunch of crazy friends as a company. Indeed the most memorable trip of year.

Besides Padar island, one of the best sunset spot in Flores, Gili Lawa also offers a great place to enjoy the setting of the sun. The hike up is not as hard as Padar island, but the track is longer than Padar. We took about 45-50 mins to go up since our stamina was not as fit as the other trekkers. Haha.

Our tour guide, Mas Ovela lead us to less common hill for us to enjoy the sunset. Apparently there’s many spots or many hills to hike in Gili Lawa. You can choose which hill you want to hike, depends on your preference and your skills (of course).

Gili Lawa has different topography *speaking like im an expert. HAHA* than Padar island. Why? Because these hills has a lot of plain / flat areas for us to rest or just sit there and watch the view from above, where in Padar island, i cant barely remember if they have any flat areas during our hike to the top.

Gili Lawa is super recommended if you wanna stay on top of the hill and sip your beer while enjoying the sunset. If you’re lucky like us, you can whale-watching from above as well! Yessss, WHALEEEE.. you read it right! We were so lucky that time, that we can watch 2-3 whales spraying its water out from their blowholes. How awesome is thatt! And we also watched how people on their speedboat were chasing after them to get a closer look of the mighty creature of the sea.

Since we went during the dry season, most of the grass were already turned brownish. The colour just like the savannah in Bromo, Java area. The locals said, the hills will all turn green during the rainy season. Cant decide which on is better, i think i will love both. haha.

Gili Lawa separated two islands and two seas. Gili Lawa itself also consist of Gili Lawa Darat and Gili Lawa Laut. This hill is just so unique, every part of the hill uncovered different views, and you just have to visit this beautiful hill of Indonesia. ❤

Most photos are taken by Salam Ransel.

Hiking Padar Island (VLOG)

Back to Flores! Hopefully you dont get bored with the story from East Indonesia. ^^

As i mentioned before on one of my Flores VLOG, there’s only two major things that you can do in Labuan Bajo area, it’s either Go up to the Hill or Down to the Sea. Yes, i notice that i havent share with you the beauty of the down-under yet. Do Stay tune, i’ll post some beauties from the ‘nemo-world’ aka the open sea after this post. But maybe you have to wait for a while, cause ill be out of town for 3 weeks for my MC job. Gonna try my best to keep posting every week, but if i dont, im sorry. =(.. Hope you still love me~~ hahaha.

Okay, back to business people!

Padar Island.. Goshh.. It’s indeed the most beautiful place in Labuan Bajo! Even though The Hill is as steep as Kelor Island, and much more longer than Kelor, but the view up there is totally worth it!

The up-hike requires 40-45 minutes of your time (if you’re not a hiker like us), if you are a pro, the maybe you can reach the peak in 30 minutes time. Still the same field where the hills are very rocky and sandy, but i feel that this hill is much better than Kelor. At least there are some places where you can put your feet to the ground to stand straight and some rocks to sit when you are tired. Haha.

I was so tired after one full day of Hiking (Kelor Island in the morning, Rinca Island in the afternoon and this Padar island to catch the sunset). When we were half-way to the top, i was thinking to just stop there, since the view is already pretty enough. But luckily Ci Manda, a friend of mine keep cheering me up, reminding me that we are not here to only see the good, but to see the Best! #eaaa.. hahaha.

To see the best! Yes, that was my only motivation to keep on hiking to the top.. But too bad, when we were almost at the top, the sun was almost setting. And since there were too many people up there, we decided to stay in one place that’s almost at the peak to enjoy the beautiful sunset. Took many photos like no one’s business and singing our hearts out about never give up in chasing our dreams. Well, actually i am thankful that we didnt force ourselves to go up, cause i am sure if we did, we would not have our quality time there, just us and the beautiful sunset.

Really, the greatness of God’s creations over Padar island can make you forget all your burdens and problems. Somehow it’s just breath-taking, and you can only see yourself smiling all the way, thanking God that if HE can make such a beautiful places in the middle of ‘messy Indonesia’, i am sure that He will make our life ‘more beautiful’ than this in the middle of our ‘messy lives’.

After enjoying the great sceneries, our tour guides asked us to come down quickly as it about to get dark soon. If you remember on my Rinca Island’s post, some Komodos who ate human are exiled in Padar Island, so we must quickly go down before it gets too dark.

Going down is much harder than going up. It feels like we, especially me, took forever in going down the hill. and it’s getting harder with minimum lights that we have.  Thankfully we reached the ground without lacking anything. Only dirty pants, since we needed to ‘slide-down’ at some areas of the hills. haha.

 ~ The Climb is Tough, But the View From Up There is Worth It ~

*Introducing You Ci Manda, the one who said we are only aiming to see the best. haha*

**edited by VSCO**

Most Photos are taken by Salam Ransel and the girls, all un-edited (except the one with VSCOCAM) *too busy VLOG-ing and too tired until i forgot to take my own pictures*

Exploring Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan

For those of you who think that Bali is over-rated and got enough of Bali’s traffic and crowd, you must try to explore Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. This two small beautiful islands located on the southeast coast, approximately about 15km of the main island of Bali. 

What we did in Nusa Lembongan 

Snorkeling and Diving

It’s a small island surrounded by the vast sea. That’s why Snorkelling and Diving is the most popular activities in this island. Where you can get to see the clear water with beautiful corals, huge varieties of cute tropical fishes and manta rays (if you dive). They have a snorkeling and diving package to choose from. as for me and my friends, we chose to snorkel to 3 spots : Crystal Bay, Mangrove and Gamat Bay.

For 3 snorkelling spots, they charged us Rp 150,000 / person, inclusive boat price and snorkeling equipment (like mask and fins)

As for me, the best spot to see the fishes is in Crystal Bay, the place is not to shallow, so you can see everything nicely from above. Mangrove offered the best spot and the prettiest for its corals reefs, but the place is too shallow for us to snorkel until some of my friends had some scratches on their legs. As for Gamat Bay, the current was too strong until we cant snorkel.. =( Well, we can snorkel, but it was tiring because you must keep swimming back against the current.

One of our friend got carried away pretty far by the current in this 3rd spot. He was out of breath cause he tried to swim back to our boat. He was panicked and thought that he would drown that time. Luckily there was a boat nearby to throw him a float. Finally, we must stop the snorkelling session, cause he was screaming for help and we asked the boatman to quickly go to his spot to rescue him.

**too bad my friend’s xiaomi camera wasnt capturing many photos that time, but it recorded video instead, and the video wasnt so nice as well, cause we thought it captured pictures. =( **

Devil’s Tear 

It’s the must see natural attraction in Nusa Lembongan. it’s located inside the Dream Beach. it should be a daunting showcase of huge waves crashing the cliff, but too bad the tide wasnt high enough that time, so we could not get the fantastic view that most people talking about. But nonetheless, it was still a pretty view down there. =)

Dinner at Sandy Bay Beach Club

The must visit restaurant in Nusa Lembongan. we went here for Dinner. Best if you do reservation, more over if you are coming in a big group like us. Some of the waitress have attitude problem, but the manager was very nice to us. The place is amazing, it has the rustic feeling, and so comfortable for hangout and drink beers. The food is nice, but it took quite long for them to serve.

Biking to Nusa Ceningan 

The motorcycling itself is considered the highlight of the day for us. It was 9 of us, so we must rent 5 bikes and convoy through the islands. 2 of my friends never ride a motorbike before, They said they can cycle well, so riding a motorbike shouldnt be that different. And so, they tried and luckily they succeed to get the girls a ride. Bravoo!

The route to Nusa Ceningan was very challenging. It took about 20-30 minutes from Nusa Lembongan. So many uphills and downhills, and road were very rocky and uneven. Some more, the bridge to Nusa Ceningan is very narrow and made from wood bars. So when we went through the bridge, we can hear the rippling sound. It was so scary, i imagined what if suddenly the wood bars fell off and the motorbike fell down into the river. haha..

**picture taken from udadias.blogspot.com**

** Let me introduce you my friend, Dewi. The only girl who can ride a motorbike amongst us.. isnt she cool or what? **

What to do in Ceningan 

Blue Lagoon

A natural beauty that you must see! the un-ending waves that breaks to the cliff makes the sunset time more dramatic. it seems like your problems tossed away in the ocean and withered with the wind. Such a great place to enjoy the beauty of the sunset. one of my friend said, it felt like in New Zealand. haha.

**this sunset really enchants me**

They used to have cliff jumping from this area. but the local said the tide is getting more and more unpredictable, so they decided to close the cliff jumping activities for now. For adrenaline seekers, it might be the best experience that you could have. you can try to find out whether they have re-open.

Nusa Lembongan and Ceningan are on the rise now, many tourist aim to go here for relaxation. All the snacks and food are a little pricy. But compared to Bali, this place is quieter and seems less touristy, eventho mostly are tourist.. haha.. Overall, i had a good time in this island, and looking forward to come back next time to dive here with the Manta Rays *hopefully i can go for diving lessons soon, so i can dive there. hahaha*

How to get There

You must take speedboat from Sanur Beach, Bali to Nusa Lembongan. The journey takes about 45 minutes to get to Mushroom Bay, Nusa Lembongan. You can buy the tickets at Sanur Beach. They have many boat operators over there that ranges from Rp. 60,000 – Rp 100,000 / one way.

I cant remember what operator that we were using, but we had it for Rp 140.000 for 2 ways. The speedboat can fit about 30-40 people. so we must share it with other people.

If you only want to go to Nusa Ceningan, you still have to go through Nusa Lembongan first, as they dont have direct boat to Nusa Ceningan. From Lembongan, you can rent a motorbike for about Rp 75,000 (half-day) and Rp 150,000 (full day). There’s no car in this two islands. Their main transportation is motorbike. if you cant ride a motorbike, you can rent the motorbike with the biker, but the price is much higher.

Until Next Time Beautiful Islands.. Closing this entry with our ‘remaja kekinian’ pictures. haha. Thanks for reading, awesome people! ❤

** Some pictures are taken from my friend (Yohannes) Olympus Pen camera**

ATV Ride in Cappadocia

My heart was aching when we know that we could not ride the Hot Air Ballon that time.

We only stayed in Cappadocia for 2 days 1 night, and only have that only morning to fly and see the beauty of Goreme, Cappadocia.  Everything has been booked for the balloon ride that morning. Samed from Koza Cave Hotel *a very pretty cave hotel* helped us to arrange a ride with Butterfly Balloon. 

we already woke up at 4am, got ready and waiting eagerly at the lobby by 4.20am. waiting for the driver to come and pick us up at 4.30am. not long after that, the driver come with a paper and talked with Samed’s father (the hotel owner) in some local language.

The hotel owner said that we could not go for the hot air balloon because of the bad weather. and the driver also added this statement

‘Go up Okay, Go down Problem’

haha.. very funny statement yaa..

oh yaa.. the people in Goreme are all very nice and helpful, eventho they speak little english..

me and amel was very sad to hear that.. there gone our wish to see beautiful sunrise in Cappadocia.. =(

But luckily few hours before the disappointment, we already went for the ATV ride.

Actually this ATV Ride was also an impromptu one.

we never plan to have any. only when we walked down to Goreme Open Air Museum, we saw people are riding and ATV and saw ATV rental around the corner.

we came to visit and asked how much does it cost, blablabla..

i cant remember exactly on how much we spend for the ATV, it was not that cheap too.. i think around 40 Eur if im not wrong for an hour ride.

we were lead by the local youngsters to see a sunset on a hill.

there’s an option whereby you can rent the ATV for a day and go around Goreme too.

riding an ATV was very fun experience.  it’s like driving a big motorbike with 4 wheels. haha..

The youngsters lead us to 3 places.

– The local church, a place where no one of wanted to go, because we must hike up. haha.. so we just stay there for a while and go again to the second sightseeing place.

– The Second place was a higher ground where we can see some valley from there.

 

*they gave us shower cap before putting on our helmet. haha.. so cute!*

– And the third last place was our final destination. The Sunset Place.

There’s a funny story.

Raimond found this place so pretty, and so did we.

so he go and ask 1 of the youngsters this question.

‘ What’s this place name?’

‘ My name is … ‘

‘ No.. this place, what’s the name?’

‘ Ohh.. Sunset Place’ *smiling*

hahahaha.. yahh kurang lebih gt deh ceritanya.. lupa2 inget. hahaha..

 

Yes, it is a hill for us to see the sunset, but we dont know what’s the name of the place until today..  haha..

Pretty, isnt it?

oh.. the one thing that i dont like while driving ATV was the sand that keep going in to your eyess.. gahhh..

i already wore a spectacles that time, cannot imagine if im using my contact lense.

and you can share the ATV if you want to cut the cost. hehe.. anyway, after a while your hands will get very tired, especially your right thumb because you must keep pressing for the gas. haha..

but overall, it was such a great great experience, something that you must do if you are visiting Cappadocia.