Climbing Mount Ijen and Bromo (part 2) - Ijen

Sorry for a little bit of postponement from the last post however here I am! As promised, I'll be continuing my post especially for the main part here; which is the climb of Mount Ijen.

On the last post, I left with the trip from Baluran National Park straight to the lodge that I'm sleeping in. It took us around 2 hours (or 1? kinda forgot) to our lodge; which was only 30 minutes away from the start gate of Ijen's climbing point. 

We're staying only for 1 day, as we slept mostly on daylight instead at night, and at midnight we go straight for Ijen climbing. We arrived around 10.00 am at the lodge, bathe and slept, and play around until it reached 01.00 am where we finally took off for the climb.

We were told that it was "only" 3-3.5 kms of trip to the top of the mountain from the starting gate, and we thought that it should be not that hard for us beginners to climb, but HELL I WAS SO WRONG. 

Yes, the distance were not as frightening as it sounds but the degree of the steepness in each hill were so excruciating. It took us several times stopping on the edge of the road just to catch our breath. Just after the climb we just knew that Ijen were quite famous for its 45 degrees hill steepness, which even quite challenging for experienced climbers. Not to mention that the texture of the road were mostly sand, making it twice more slippery than average wet soil.

It was a definitely a heaven-or-hell moment during the climb, but guess what? The view is so worth the pain. By the way it took us 3 hours plus hiking from the bottom to the top of Mount Ijen.

Below were a little glimpse of the sunrise we took before it was fully morning.

The gradation of the sky were so perfect. One thing which was unfortunate was that when we were there it was a little bit cloudy thus we can't see and catch the sunrise very clear; we only managed to take several photos and in no time it was suddenly bright morning. 

Actually, as most of you already know too (maybe), that in Ijen it was not only the mountain that's incredible in sight, however there are 2 more spots: the Blue Fire, which is a crate that fumes eternal blue-colored fire as a reaction from the sulphur combustion reacting with oxygen; and another one is the Ijen Lake, which is its famous acidic lake.

However since it took another 45 minutes to hike down the crate to see the Blue Fire and I kinda can't stand the sulphuric smell, I gave up on that one and decided to just wait on the top of the mountain waiting for the sunrise.

Below were the photo of the blue fire which I got from my friends who went there.

Can't see much since it was very foggy that day, and WORST we can't even see Ijen Lake just behind. Oh well.

From there me and one of my friends took several more photos while we wait for the rest to come back from the blue fire. It was quite freezing at the top (around 7-8 degree-ish celsius feeling) but hell yeah anything for the photo, we will endure!

The crowd within the road to and from Ijen:

Since the sun were fully risen and it was getting hot (and I heard that it was more dangerous to stay for long during the day due to the sulphuric smell), we decided to went back to the hotel (with another 1 hour plus for the hiking-down trip). Our guide took us several more photos for us before we go back to the gate and finish our Ijen round-trip hike.

The main gate at morning, as a closing for our trip:

Now, for overall impression on Ijen: it was VERY VERY SATISFYING, even for a beginner like me. The pain during the climb were totally incomparable with the satisfaction for reaching the top, rewarded with breath-taking scenery and vast skies inviting to be captured. It was even still very memorable until the point when I write this blog post. It was challenging, yet super rewarding.

The only thing that annoyed us very much were the way the sand and the sulfuric smell stuck in our clothes; it took us forever to clean those shitty little pieces. After finish cleaning up, we slept like a dead meat for a while and continued our trip (as in sleeping in the car) to the next lodge where we will stay for our next climb to Mt Bromo.

I think that's all for the Ijen's climb (before it gets too long), and I'll see you again on the final post of my mountain climbing trip which is about Mt Bromo!

Thank you for reading and see you on the next post!

Climbing Mount Ijen and Bromo (part 1) - Baluran National Park

This time I'll be talking about the trip that I had several times ago with my friends, which was a trip of climbing Mount Ijen and Mount Bromo, to be exact. Yes, this was my first mount-climbing experience and hell-yeah it was THAT fulfilling.

Before we proceed, I want to truly apologize for the lack of updates, as I think I didn't have much interesting updates after all from April (besides numerous business trips that I didn't wanna discuss in here, not that interesting anyway) and the most exciting trip that I have during that long period were only this trip; that's worth to be written on the blog. Blame the corporate jobs; or me, for postponing the posts for so long.

Anyway, back to the topic.

This time the trip were quite short and cheap, surprisingly. It took me (us) only 3 days and 2 nights to go to Baluran Park as a side trip, Mount Ijen and Mount Bromo as the main trip. The total cost were roughly IDR 4 million, including round-trip plane from Jakarta-Surabaya, and accommodation: hostel, jeep, climbing guide, driver, everything! FYI we book the tour from the internet; there were so much Bromo-slash-Ijen tour like this available on the net, you can search for it and pick it up based on your needs. Usually it was all in and fuss-free. Please try and happy hunting!

Continue to the post; for the first spot, we went for a night departure from Jakarta, arriving around 12.00 am morning in Surabaya and we took around 6 hours trip via Pantura Line until we arrived at a National Park called Baluran.

Baluran is a quite famous Indonesia's savanna, which park area covers around 25,000 hectares of North Coast of East Java; or so Wikipedia says. And it was very true, as whenever we look on each corner of the park, it was.. savanna. A beautiful one, of course.

Below were the photo I managed to catch just after the dawn, the sky gradation were so pretty.

After the sun were fully rise, it was blazing hot and the sunlight were insanely blinding! The photo didn't do justice on how crazy the sunlight were.

We played around near one landmark around the area and took several photos too.

See? We struggled to keep our eyes open even during one quick shoot! 2 of us brought sunglasses though. Good strategy.

Unfortunately we didn't managed to catch lots of animals there (as what our guide told us it should be). We only catch a herd of deer that moved together from one spot to another, and we couldn't take a good photo of it as it was quite far away from allowable entrance spots.

We only found several wild monkeys playing around, especially on the beach area.

The beach were not quite done yet; it was still under construction by the time we was there. Wish it was done sooner before we reached; too bad that maybe we wouldn't come here again for quite a long time.

Overall, it was a very satisfying view, although as a side note, I feel that this park could have much better maintenance as one of the main attraction around this area. We found that the road to the main spot of the savanna were heavily damaged and not smooth at all, and the rest of the facilities were not as clean as it can be. I hope that they will somewhat improve the condition in the future so that it can attract more both local and international visitors. Finger crossed!

Finish with Baluran, we continue our trip to our hotel to take some rest after a very long and sleepy journey...

The next trip will be directly into the climb of Ijen and Bromo. We do all the climbing around dawn, to catch the sunset around 4-6ish in the morning. It was always quite cloudy at that time we were there, so we couldn't catch a very clear sunset. However it was a beautiful scenery nevertheless. 

As I will definitely post more photos for Ijen/Bromo trip, I need to cut the post here so that It wont get too long and will update the next post very soon, and hopefully no more postponing!

Thank you for reading this one and see you again on the next post!

READLIFE Coffee

Short review on a hang-out place near my house! I've been wanting to visit this place since several months ago but it was just realized last Sunday :)

READLIFE Coffee

Mall of Indonesia, Ruko Italian Walk blok C 46

Jl. Boulevard Barat Raya, Kelapa Gading, Jakarta Utara 14240

As for the concept, it was a simple but stylish coffee place with the touch of Japanese concept. The Japanese concept mainly can be seen as they have one spot with "zakka" or miscellanous goods on the back side, and several touch of book shelf and everything simple-decorated inside the shop.

As for visitors type, don't be surprised that quite a lot of Koreans visit this place, maybe mainly because 1) lots of Koreans stay on this apartment area, and 2) somehow this coffee shop style is a little bit Korean-ish too. And so they put on Korean songs all the time..

For the food, I ordered the latte and fried banana set for 50k, and additional fruit tea for around 58k. 

Can't say much about the coffee as I'm not an avid coffee drinker but it was very acceptable on the taste side. It was not bitter and a very mild latte. Fried banana was nice and sweet, plus point for lots of crunchies on the plate.

The fruit tea was very nice though! It was mixed with slices of lemon, lime, mint, and apple. Minus point is that it better be finished asap as the more you let it be, the more the water heat pull out the bitterness from the lemon and lime skin. Other than that it was great!

See those stylish pot ~

Very small cup by the way. But since it was pretty, it's ok. Haha.

Overall, it was a pleasant visit and nothing to be complained about. The service were nice, ambiance is nice too, recommended to go at night maybe (?) to avoid crowds. And since it was very near my place, I will definitely come again some other time!

That's it for today's post (told ya it was gonna be short) and will see ya on the other one!

Yolanda

Where Do You Put Your Faith On?

Note: This time post's talk will be heavy on Christianity. Do pass or read if you're interested :)

I had a direct hit on my point of view today, as I was being reminded about my faith.

I went to my church today, and the one that tell us the sermon was not the pastor, however it was one of us, a senior that often shares some light sermon if there were none of the pastor were available that day (I attended teenage community service, not the main Sunday service thus explains the pastor's abstinence once or twice in some period).

However one thing funny is the words from my senior is somehow far more impactful rather than the usual sermon.

Today's talk is about faith, starting from the story of Lazarus, who was brought to life by Jesus. There are 2 major points that teach me a lot today.

First point that hit me hard was this verse from John 11:40, which state ”Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 

Somehow we as human believe something AFTER we see some facts, and based on the facts that appear in our eye, we conclude future events that come after it, thus we believe that future events will happen. 

For example we have studied so hard and we believe that we will pass the test.  

We see, then we believe. However, Jesus told us to BELIEVE FIRST, then we will SEE (His Glory). That's the whole point of faith, believing something that didn't even appear in the human eyes. Worst talk, even some people who have seen the miracle of Jesus who brought Lazarus to life again, didn't believe in Him and even planned to kill Him (verse 53)

This point continues onto the second point of the sermon that is significant to me.

Continued from the first point, my senior tell us one story, that her workplace is an organization that focuses on taking care of people with disability, which most of them usually can't talk and can't walk. One day, there was a visit from teachers from Malaysia which they come to do some studies and sharing, and during their prayers together these Malaysian teacher said that "they have faith that all of this people with disabilities will talk and walk again someday!". However surprisingly my senior's teacher (Indonesian) were skeptical about that statement and said that that statement as "cliche".

So, her question is, which one of the teacher shows more faith? I thought it was so clear, the Malaysian teacher has the most faith, isn't it?

However she said that, the faith between those 2 teacher was very different.

The Malaysian teacher faith was on WHAT: she believe that the disabled children on that organization will walk and talk. It was the result they focused on.

However, the Indonesian teacher's faith were focused on WHO: they believe that Jesus, is The One that will make the condition of the disabled be a tool to glorify His name, even though maybe they will not walk and talk at all until the end of their life. 

It was a simple comparison yet it changed my whole point of view about faith.

BLIND DEVOTION to God is something that we have to shift our point of view. I realize that most of the time I put my faith in results; like, I believe that I will get a better job someday, will be more stable financially someday and blah blah, however I often forget to believe that God will make my life to be the tool of His Glory despite of any sh*t that happens in my life. Again, it's not WHAT we put our faith on, but WHO. Believe, and we will see, not vice versa.

And that's the end of the sermon session.

Confusing topics, I know, but I just have to write it.

I hope the short summary about what my daily bread today will become an eye opener to you guys who took some time to read. I knew I'm not the expert of re-writing sermons onto a short blog-style daily devotion, but at least I can share bits of life-changing moment to whomever find this, well, life changing too.

Happy Sunday, may God always be with us and see you on the next post!

Yolanda

Solo Korea Trip DAY 8 - Stroll Around Ehwa University and Back Home (plus Budget Breakdown)

Finally reaching the last post of my Solo Korea trip which is the 8^th day where most of this day was spent with just strolling around Ehwa University (several stops from Hongdae Station) and moving myself back to the Incheon airport to go back home to Japan.

I have looked at several photos of the Ehwa University and area around them from websites, instagram and other people's blogs, and I expected it will be a very lavish and luxurious area, however damn I was so wrong! (or, am I?)

The only luxurious area was only the entrance to the university, the rest of it was just a normal store that sells indeed so many cheap clothes targeted on university students. Overall it was a very normal neighborhood.

The famous big pink ribbon shoe statue.

In the end Karosukil and Samcheongdong was still on my top list of great and stylish shopping environment in my opinion. After I had quick lunch on the area, I went back to my room in Hongdae, take all of my luggages and off to Incheon directly.

And with that, I officially wrap up my first solo trip to Korea last year!!

In my private and honest opinion, I can conclude several things about my trip:

1. Korea is quite safe for a solo trip both for male or even female, however, If you travel solo, it may be quite hard for you to search for a proper place to eat that serve personal serving on each meal. Especially if you want to eat things such as meat barbecue, and other “sharing food”, they only serve starts from 2-3 people. That’s why I’m relying on fast foods, convenience store and food stalls most of the time. Save money, though.
2. Bring at least one company to Korea. I realize that Korea will be much more enjoyable when you go with friends or families, as everything somewhat were made based on togetherness. Compared to Tokyo with bar seat for single customer in almost every store...
3. People in Seoul was nicer towards foreigner, I feel. When I went to Busan, I got several uncomfortable treatments from locals, from simplest thing such as seats on Bus, there’s this grandma that didn’t like me for sitting beside her, and other stuff that I don’t want to talk about. Geez, chill out man.
4. Don’t go mid summer. Just, don’t.

And finally, my budget breakdown! I won’t include my shopping, flight and staying expense here as everyone has their own preferences on those three subjects. However I will try to include all of the expenses that I spend in Korea for 8 days for 1 person, just for you to get the image.

Somehow in the end of the day I feel like I spent quite a lot too even though I feel I saved enough in several aspects (ha!). I think the major minus point for solo travel was the accommodation expense which will be your burden alone, unless you want to save more by spending the night in very budget hostel/backpackers places; which have a lot of risks being bothered by drunken roommates, and maybe bed bugs. (Happened to me when I went solo trip to Hongkong.) That’s when I learn that you better pay more for comforts rather than in the end making your traveling a big disappointing experience. And come to think of it I think that's the main reason why I don't like Hongkong as much as I like Korea now.

I bet some of you think that either I’m splurging my money too much or too tight on my budget, but I can say by that expense which I wrote above, I can enjoy my trip with no problem. It means that I didn’t have to go very strict on my food, I can buy snacks whatever I want whenever I want, and have some spares for unexpected expense that I have to take out if needed.

With this budget breakdown, I’m ending my posts of my Solo Trip to Korea this time! I hope it was enjoyable and informative, and if you want to follow my itinerary, please do! I can say I’m pretty well organized and confident with my plan as I build my itinerary based on the research of the area, which means that each day I spent must be at least on the same area, making it easier to travel to or even cheaper as you can just go walk within those range.

Kindly share this if you want to and please do tell me about your trip too if you have ever been to Korea before! The more the merrier ;)

Please click links below to see which day you want to browse! (Will update the link one by one with every new post that I’ve uploaded)

See you on the next posts!

Solo Korea Trip DAY 6,7 – Centum City, Back to Seoul (Hongdae), Shopping Day in Karosukil, Sinsa-dong, Myeongdong (Again!)

Thank you again for keep visiting my serial post of my Korea trip! One more post and it will end soon. Time is indeed passing very fast when you're on holiday..

FYI, please note that this time post maaaybe will be more enjoyable for girls (oops), as places which I visit were mostly all the cute themed stores plus talking mostly about shopping. Just so you know :)

For my 6^th day, actually there’s not much that I can write since I spend the day very relaxed compared to other days that I had in Korea. The day was spent on exploring Centum City, one of the biggest shopping mall in Busan, waiting for my KTX to go back to Seoul, and checked in to my new Airbnb stay around Hongdae area.

I didn’t take much photos when I’m in Centum City either. I realized that my first photo of the day was my unique and stylish room in Hongdae.

The minus point was that it was quite hot since it was located on the basement. But all in all it was a nice place.

I went to stroll around Hongdae area too looking for a good place to dine in, 

however since Hongdae was full of drinking place, I decided just to have a cup ramen brought from convenience store, ate in my room and take a good rest and prepare my energy to finally shop on the next day!

My itinerary for the 7th day was literally to visit several shopping area, to shop and cut my hair!

Places that I managed to visit first in the morning were areas in Karosukil goes along to Sinsadong.  I didn't found anything much in Sinsa-dong, so I just walk through to Karosukil. This is some of the photos of how Karosukil looks like:

There are 3 main shops that I wanted to visit here: first were Moonshot (makeup brand by YG Entertainment), second was Line Store, third was 3CE Cinema, and plus one was a cute café called Banana Tree.

I didn’t take photos of Moonshot Store as I didn’t spend longer than 10 minutes inside. I didn’t found it as interesting as I expect it would be, plus some of products were a little bit overpriced as they try to sell the brand with the image of their artists too. Can’t argue more.

And then I just walk down the lane directly to Line Store which is much cuter than the one in Japan in my opinion!

They even have Line Café inside!

See the cupcakes!!

Too bad I can’t stop here as I have one to-go-list café near that area too.. Satisfied with browsing their stuffs and taking pictures, I'm taking myself to the next spot.

The next shop that I visit was 3CE cinema, a cinema themed makeup store. 

Full stop it was the cutest store ever and it managed to make me impulsively buy some of their makeups. Say sorry for my budget!

After all of the shopping spree, I went to this café called Banana Tree which I knew from one of the travel book of Korea that I read in Japan. Although the cafe itself were quite small, it was very cozy and comfortable.

Pots on the fridge ~

Their theme was a garden style dessert; I ordered their signature pot cupcake and the Eggyffogato which literally vanilla ice cream with espresso topping served in an egg-like bowl.

Look how cute was that OMFG. The scoop for the spoon. The taste was so-so though. So I guess it was true that taste can’t be communicated well through appearance..

And here goes my lunch for the day.

The rest of the day I didn’t take photo much anymore as I literally only went shopping and brought several stuff as souvenirs for my colleagues back in Japan. During the shopping time finally I went back again to Myeongdong as hands down; every brand can be found there and it can be literally considered as one stop shopping for all the makeup that you need.

The last thing that I did was cut my hair in one of the salon recommended by my friend (again!!) called Juno Hair. Too bad I didn’t take any photos of it but I liked the result very much. I haven’t got any haircut again until now, to be honest; struggling to find one good salon here back in Jakarta. 

Finished with my haircut, ate quick dinner around that area and then went back home to repack all of my stuff to prepare for my trip back home to Japan.

It was quite a fast-moving day back to back overall; since I appointed this day only for shopping and cutting hair. I didn’t manage to get that much photo too especially during my 6^th and 7^th days here. However it was so good knowing that all my checklist finally crossed off and can take my time to do the packing, and preparing myself for my last day in Korea.

Stay with me for my last post as I will make simple breakdown of my expenses too there!

Please click links below to see which day you want to browse! (Will update the link one by one with every new post that I’ve uploaded)

See you on the next posts!