Category: Tour Destination

6/22/2015 0 Comments

Yogyakarta, the enchanting city

Visiting Jogja always gave me a pleasant experience. I’ve been several times to Jogja and in each visit always mesmerizes me. A delightful feeling when you see all those heritage, architectural and cultural. I never get tired to see all the palaces in Kraton, the candi (temple), the culture: art, food, and the people, the nature that is so beautiful. Jogja have a lot of sites to see and I can never covered it all in one time visit. So there is always new places to see every time you come to Jogja even though I don’t mind to come to the same place several times.

We went to Jogja by car and took the pantura road. Pantura is short for pantai utara (north coast). The track was so awful because of the traffic. A side there was an accident of truck crashed, there were also lots of stopping because of roadwork, bridge repairing and asphalting. They are preparing for the mudik tradition on Eid feast day. Mudik is when people travel from big city like Jakarta back to their kampung to visit family just like family gathering on Christmas day.

All those soreness and weariness from the heavy traffic, suddenly gone when we arrived in Jogja. Excited can’t wait for morning to come and start to explore this lovely city.

First day, I visited a batik workshop “Batik Winotosastro” that is owned by a family of my friend for generations. As I enter the building, they have a batik shop on the front area and I was greeted by the shop manager or the front officer. I told her directly that I was interested to have a tour to their workshop. She led me to the back of the building and transformed in to a tour guide. She explained everything very well. They produces batik in 3 types: batik tulis (hand write batik), cap (stamp), and the combination of those two.

First step for batik tulis, to draw a motive on a material (cotton or silk) by tracing a model underneath the cloth. And draw the second time with wax using canting. And for batik cap, the first step is directly use the stamp with wax to the material. Using the stamp might be faster, but the trick is you need to be careful and make sure the motive on the stamp didn’t go overlapping or discontinue. It has to be precise from the last end meet the first motive of the stamp.

Then the material got their coloring. They using a cold water in this step with natural colors. Natural colors are from plants leaves and woods. Afterwards, the materials are hung to dry.

The motive that got waxed will be the white color or the color of the original material. The wax protect the material when it get dyed with colors. So after the coloring process, dried up, the material will be soak in to a hot water to remove the wax, also to see if there are any color that wear off and to test the quality of the material. So, when the end result batik cloth are going to be sew to be a dress or shirt, it will not get wrinkled. To have another color on the same material, it will repeat the coloring step until maximum 3 times. Because we don’t want to ruin the material when it has to be soaked in a hot water more than 3 times. If you still want to add color after those three times coloring, you can use brush. For the colorful batik that we see a lot in many batik vendor, they are using a printer directly to the material.

The wax that got off from the material in a hot water will be reuse. The waste of the workshop will be checked and will be processed until it reaches pH 7 then it is safe for disposal.

For batik tulis and cap, combination of two technics, after the stamp batik got colored, by using canting with an ink they adding motives. Usually the ink is gold for prada motive.

Many companies from overseas and local order their batik with their own design from Batik Winotosastro. The company will bring their drawing of motives, and batik Winotosastro will make the stamp model and produce the batik.

A walking distance cafe from the hotel where I’m staying, owned by a Belgian, called Viavia cafe and restaurant serves good food and coffee. I spent an afternoon there for a good conversation with an old friend of my husband’s family that coincidentally staying at the same hotel as ours. We also sightseeing the Food Festival on that same street where the Viavia cafe is on. Bought an ice cream from a cute shop, and turned out the ice cream was quite good!

When the night falls, we were getting ready for gudeg hunt. Gudeg is the local food of Jogja. And we heard this place sells a very good one. The thing is.. this place is not a restaurant, but.. a kitchen. The places’ name is ‘Gudeg Pawon’. Pawon means kitchen, hence the name. Yup, it is a small house in a small street, a lady cooks gudeg in her kitchen and people just queuing outside her kitchen to buy this Javanese cuisine. The kitchen opens at 10 pm and closes at 11.30 pm. The gudeg always sold out at closing time. She don’t even sells drinks, well.. her neighbor does. Because of this ‘quirky’ factors, I become more intrigued to come and try one. And believe me, it was worth it. It was worth queuing a long line, worth to visited late at night eventhough we didn’t know where the place was and had to found it through google map.

Next day, after breakfast we’re off to visit Ullen Sentalu museum. It’s in Kaliurang, Sleman area, north side from the city Jogja. After over an hour we arrived at the museum. It is a big area, I can see the owner (private owned) have a dedication in preserving the history of Java royal family. It is very detail and very personal collection they have. All those private letters and the exquisite paintings of the royal family member. I love the paintings! Amazing!

We had lunch at “Jejamuran” restaurant. The place is unique because they serves mushroom in all types, but for those who doesn’t like mushroom.. don’t worry, they have other menu such as fried or grilled chicken. Good food, but the service was a bit disappointing.

Next stop was Kotagede to do some silver shopping. Kotagede is famous for its silver crafting. But if we go further back, like 16th century, Kotagede is the first capital of Mataram Sultanate. That’s why I saw the remains of the royal cemetery while we’re passing by the streets in Kotagede. Such a pity I didn’t get pictures of the old part of Kotagede. But I found something old just in front of this silver shop I visited. It was an old colonial house that turn into a restaurant. The place is called “Omah Dhuwur”. The house was a textile factory back in colonial time. Take a look at the pictures, isn’t she lovely..?!

We visited a chocolate factory in Kotagede, called “Coklat Monggo”. It is a local product with a Belgian as the owner. They use a cacao from Sumatera and Sulawesi. Such a pity there’s no one there as a guide to explain the process, eventhough they already have big windows for visitor to see the activity in the workshop.

Kraton is a place that you never get tired of for sightseeing. We stopped by at “Puro Pakualaman” it is the castle of Pakualam. We were greeted by a gatekeeper, and explained to us which area that we can and cannot stepped in. It is a lovely house. Enjoy the pictures.. :)

Continuing the Kraton sightseeing, we dropped by at one of the house owned by prince Joyokusumo where the front area got turn into a restaurant called “Gadri Resto”. They even permit the guest to walk around the house to see.

We headed to see underground mosque next to Taman Sari Water Castle. But such a pity it was closed. The local people, one of the Kraton officer I guess, try to show a back door to enter the mosque through residences that surrounding the Water Castle but we didn’t have the luck. It closed also. Well.. there’s always an excuse for next visit to Jogja.

We end the day by doing some shopping at Mirota in jalan Malioboro. I make some time to visit the colonial buildings in jalan Senopati that are now become office buildings of banks and post office.

Last day in Jogja, we’re off by taking not the pantura but the middle road. Surprisingly, the view is amazingly breathtaking. -SK-

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2/17/2015 0 Comments

Negeri Laskar Pelangi, only an hour away

"The sign in the airport welcomes passengers to “Pulau Belitung, Negeri Laskar Pelangi”. All over the island, visual reminders of the book and film are appearing. Houses and power-poles are painted in rainbow colours and the government has recently built a souvenir kiosk painted in rainbow colours, at the filming location of the old school house, which is in danger of falling down. Part of it already has.

At Tanjung Tinggi Beach, the beautiful, moody and brooding beach with massive ancient and dark rocks in the shadows of the trees, another sign placed there by local government informs people that this is the location of filming of the film “Laskar Pelangi”. "

- Cynthia Webb, Journalist, Australia -

A quote on the above explains the power of writing. Belitung island become far more knowledgeable by the world, because of a novel that was published in 2005 written by Andrea Hirata, rather than only the biggest tin mine in the world that already discovered since the Dutch colonial and still producing up until now.
Let's discover this beautiful island that only one hour flight away from Jakarta!

Bangka Belitung islands is a province in Indonesia that lays on the east side of South Sumatera, separated by Bangka strait. Previously part of South Sumatera province, but became separate province in year 2000. Kepulauan Bangka Belitung consist of 2 main islands: pulau Bangka and pulau Belitung, that surrounded by hundreds of small islands.

Courtesy of kaskus.co.id

Courtesy of Pelly Sianova

Belitung island consist of 2 regencies; Belitung and Belitung Timur (East). Bangka island consist of 4 regencies; Bangka, Bangka Barat (West), Bangka Tengah (middle), Bangka Selatan (South). The capital of Bangka Belitung islands province is Pangkal Pinang located in Bangka island. And Tanjung Pandan is the capital of Belitung regency.

The best way to get to Bangka Belitung islands is by plane that only took 1 hour long (Jakarta-Tanjung Pandan, Belitung). From Jakarta, there are some airlines that fly directly to Belitung island, such as; Garuda, Sriwijaya, Citilink, and Lion air.

Tanjung Pandan have several tour sites, the traditional house of Belitung, colonial building, museum, and of course the beach. In this traditional Belitung house, you'll find the bride and groom traditional clothes with the decoration and traditional music instruments.

Tanjung Pandan city. Courtesy of Rio.

I always fond of colonial architecture, so whenever I go traveling I always look for old houses or old buildings. In Bangka Belitung, all the colonial buildings are protected by government and use for government offices. Just like the picture below on the left. But coincidentally, I think I found the earlier time version of the same building (on the right). There's a bit change in the layout, the entrance and the right side of the roof, but you can see they are similar. Don't you think?

Other colonial buildings in Tanjung Pandan...

Make time to visit the traditional market in Tanjung Pandan. You'll discover the multi-ethnic of Belitung people. The Melayu and Chinese ethnic. Assimilation of cultures shows in their culinary and lifestyle, which you'll discover in the next paragraf. Ow.. The lontong (rice cake) in Belitung are wrapped with Simpur leaves and in a form of cone (picture below). Different with the one we have in Java, which is wrapped in banana leaves and in a cylinder form.

The population of Bangka Belitung islands are mostly Melayu ethnic. Other ethnics are Chinese and Javanese. The local people loves to eat fresh fish. They have this yellow fish soup as their special culinary by using the head part of the fish, called Gangan. The fish they are using for this particular dish is ikan Ketarap. A bit similar culinary in Bangka island, also a fish soup, called Lempah Kuning, but they are using ikan Tenggiri. And both of them have different method of cooking.

Tanjung Kelayang beach. Courtesy of Pelly Sianova.

"Gangan". The yellow fish soup of Belitung. Courtesy of Rio.

Martabak Bangka is their special street food. Martabak manis or sweet martabak can easily be found in Jakarta street food, where usualy the street vendor starts open in the evening. The martabak manis we knew now, has come a long way from Bangka, which (the original recipe) have a thin crust and filled ONLY with sesame seed (Picture on the left, but minus the chocolate). As time goes by, martabak has been evolved, as the crust become thick, and the filling have more variation and rich. Starting with the mix of chocolate (jimmies), cheese, condensed milk, sesame seed, and peanuts, until.. new variations where they change the chocolate jimmies with Nutella, or Toblerone, or Ovomaltine. The original martabak Bangka also called martabak Hok Lo Pan, invented by the Hakka Chinese (Khe) people when they came to Bangka Belitung islands in colonial era.

There's this noodle place if you are a noodle lover and looking for culinary adventure. They wrapped the noodle with simpur leaves and cook on an old charcoal furnace. The soup is like using a seafood seasoning, like ebi (dried shrimp). The taste is wonderful.

The people of Belitung like their coffee very much. Even there is no coffee plantation in Bangka Belitung islands, they got their coffee greenbean from Robusta Lampung (Sumatera). They roast them by themselves with their own special recipes. The coffeeshops are not fancy, you may say it's a very humble place, but the coffee.. is something that you should try if you call yourself a coffee lover. That’s why in East Belitung regency, A city named Manggar, have a popular nickname: “Kota Seribu Satu Warung Kopi” (One thousand and one coffeeshops city). The men, usually hang out at the coffeshop in the morning around 8 am, where they can gather and gossip, exchange information, or make a business deal. The coffee shop is packed with men in the morning. But when the clock shows 9 am. Suddenly the coffee shop is empty. All the men goes to work. It is funny, if you’re around and observed the local’s culture in a coffee shop in the morning. Men also gossip. :)

Courtesy of Rio

I think this kitchen's window of a coffeeshop, where they put their pots / kettles become an instant photo studio. Many tourist are posing on this spot. Hahaha.. It's kind of funny. [Pictures below are courtesy of Rio].

After visiting places in Tanjung Pandan, Belitung regency, now it's time to move to the second regency, East Belitung. Let's begin to discover the regency where 'Laskar Pelangi' made Belitung's name echoed to the literature world.

The beauty of Belitung island's nature has attract so many local and international tourist, but the booming of its tourism was started in year 2008 when a famous Indonesian movie “Laskar Pelangi” (Rainbow troops) was released. The film was shot in East Belitung regency, exposes the breath-taking pristine beach and nature of Belitung island. Travel agents even make a ”Laskar Pelangi” tour package, where they takes us to places that were in the movie scenes. Laskar Pelangi is a movie based on a novel titled “Laskar Pelangi” by Andrea Hirata. Since this movie been released, Belitung island has a nickname "Negeri Laskar Pelangi" (The land of rainbow troops).

Some of the casts of Laskar Pelangi movie. The background is the school house same as the picture above.

Tanjung Tinggi beach with granite rocks is also one of the shooting location of Laskar Pelangi movie. Courtesy of Gerard Tambunan.

The Laskar Pelangi with their dedicated teacher, miss Mus, on the granite rock.

Tanjung Tinggi beach. Where they shoot some scenes for movie "Laskar Pelangi". Courtesy of Rio.

Not very far from the old school house, like a 15 minutes drive, Andrea Hirata open his ‘Museum Kata’ a Literary Museum in Gantong, East Belitung in 2010. The lay out of the museum was based on figures from his novel, Laskar Pelangi, and what’s inside the mind or character from each figures. He didn't put any fee entrance sign, but it is a pay-as-you-wish thing. Andrea encourage children of the local people to write.

What amazed me most about this Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow Troops) and Kata museum was, all the fame that Andrea got from his novel and the movie based on his novel didn't make him forget to the people from his hometown. He built this Kata museum also to accommodate the children in his village to learn to write and learn English. I knew about this from a friend of mine, Cynthia Webb, a journalist, who happens to be a regular guest in our guest house at Shraya Residence whenever she come to Jakarta and also a good friend of Andrea Hirata. If I may quote few paragraph from her article about Laskar Pelangi:

"Andrea operates a free English School, and there are 23 enthusiastic teenage students.

Andrea said, ‘I feel amazed because I am myself still struggling with English. But there is a feeling that it’s better to do something, anything, rather than nothing, to help the children for their future. It is not easy to find English teachers in this remote place. I am so encouraged seeing them making good progress with their confidence and now they disclose their aspirations and have started telling us their dreams. At first they were so shy they could hardly talk to us.’

They have been having these extra-curricular English lessons with Andrea for about nine months."

- Cynthia Webb, Journalist, Australia -

And this is what I like most from Cynthia's article. It was a message from Andrea that motivates people:

‘When I was a child I saw in the news that a person from Belitung had done well in sport in Jakarta, and I just couldn’t imagine that it was possible for someone from here to become famous,’ he said. ‘So now I have the motto in the Museum display, Do I Inspire You? I hope that people will realise that if I can do it (succeed) then so can they. It is so isolated here, even now.’

- Cynthia Webb, Journalist, Australia -

'He encourages everyone to speak, sing, say a poem.. The place (Museum) is a centre for music, and encouragement, for fun and belonging. It's very inspiring. Andrea shows amazing love for all the people in the community where he grew up. He is still amazed by what has happened to him, and realises that any one of these people might be the next ones to be national, or international successes' This is what Cynthia described about Andrea's doing at Museum Kata in her email to me, when I asked her for an opinion about the place. She explained it all. Very inspiring indeed!

In Museum Kata, there is a room that has interior like an old setting of traditional coffeeshop. All the equipment very traditional by using the charcoal furnace. This rustic ambiance is to replicate the activity in the afternoon of the tin mine worker or labor or coolie (kuli) after working hours and have a break in a coffeeshop, hence "Kupi Kuli".

Courtesy of Pelly Sianova

Got lost is a common thing for a traveler while discovering the mainland of Belitung island. There’s no ojek (motor taxi) and taxi was just started operating so they are running without meter. And most Belitung people have their own transportation car or motorcycle. So, there's a very limited public transportation, I would suggest to use a travel agent service. Although, getting lost sometime can be fun.

Still in Gantong, there is a batik home industry called Batik Simpor. It is perfect for souvenir and took place in a house of Purnama family, the house of Basuki Tjahaya Purnama, the Governor of Jakarta. The family encourage housewives in their neighborhood to be productive and create this beautiful batik clothes.

We heard there is this oldest and biggest temple in Belitung island. They say, it was first discovered in 1747. I can imagine the beautiful of its oriental architecture. So let's go to Burung Mandi village, still in the East Belitung regency, to visit Vihara (temple) Dewi Kwan Im. This temple have a lot visitors every day. People come to pray or just to enjoy the art of the design.

Dewi Kwan Im temple have three area for pray. First area, called Shimunyo. And if you go to upper level, you’ll find the second area, called Sitiyamuni. Another further to upper level, you’ll find the third and the biggest area for pray, called Kon Im.

Every celebration day such as Chinese new year and Vaisak, this temple is packed with people from inside and outside country. They all come to pray at the temple. They believe if they pray inside this temple, their wishes and prayer will come true.

Having hundreds of small islands surrounding Belitung island, of course you don't want to miss out island hopping. All those exotic beaches.. Nope. Gotta go. By renting a boat from Tanjung Kelayang, or Tanjung Binga, or Tanjung Tinggi, you're off to visit those beautiful islands. Below are several pictures of the islands.

Pulau Batu Berlayar. Courtesy of Rio.

Pulau Burung. Courtesy of Rio.

Pulau Lengkuas with the Lighthouse tower. Courtesy of Rio.

http://suzannita.com/memanjakan-mata-di-belitung/

Pulau Lengkuas (Lengkuas island) is one of the beautiful sites among hundreds islets surrounding Belitung island. The main attraction is a lighthouse (mercusuar) that was built by Dutch colonial government in 1882. The lighthouse is 65 meters high, has 18 floors, and 313 stairs. Until now, the lighthouse is still well-function as the ship traffic guide to come and go from Belitung island. The amazing scenery with the unique granite rocks spread all over the beach, white sand, and a very clear water makes this island a must visit island when you come to Belitung. Lengkuas island is a very small island, you can go around it in 20 minutes, and can be reach by rental boat from Tanjung Binga (30-45 minutes) or Tanjung Kelayang (20 minutes) in Belitung island.

[Pictures right below, is the view from up on the Lighthouse]

Lengkuas island is not only beautiful above the water, but also very lovely underwater. You can go snorkeling or diving. There are some interesting diving spots and there is an Indomarine wreck. The Lighthouse caretaker also raise a green turtle.

Tips for visitor: Please bring your own drink water and always bring back the plastic bottle or litter in order to maintain the cleanliness of the island and the ecosystem.

Ooops.. What do we have here? Look at this little fellow. He also wanted a tan, sunbathing among us Lengkuas' visitors. He's handsomely cute. [Pictures right below, courtesy of Rio]

Kepayang island have a turtle and coral conservation and diving center. They also have lodging accommodation.

Belitung island offers its beautiful nature for tourism. To get the best scenery, we would suggest to visit Belitung from April to November. December to March is the rain season and will not be the best time to enjoy their lovely beaches.

Courtesy of Pelly Sianova

So... imagine your hectic days in a busy city like Jakarta with routines that leaves nothing but exhaustion. You only have few days or weekend for a short break vacation, away from the city. For only 1 hour flight, Belitung island is a perfect relaxation that you need. -SK-

Lengkuas island, Belitung. Courtesy of Pelly Sianova

Big thank you for our contributors:

Ms. Pelly Sianova
Advertising and Promotion at lifestyle retail company
Twitter: @MissSianova
Instagram: @pellysianova

Mr. Gerard Tambunan
Architect
Instagram: @gerardtambunan
Website: www.wahanaarchitects.com

Mr. Rio Ramdhano
Owner of travel agent Bangka Belitung Tour
Instagram: @bangkabelitungtour
Website: www.bangkabelitungtour.com

Ms. Cynthia Webb
Journalist
Website: http://cynephilia.com

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Yogyakarta, the enchanting city

Negeri Laskar Pelangi, only an hour away

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