Pangandaran, Mini Bali

Udah lama sekali kami tidak pergi ke Pangandaran. Entah mengapa pertengahan tahun lalu muncul ide tempat wisata yang menyenangkan untuk dikunjungi oleh keluarga besar suami. Eh tidak jadi pergi dengan keluarga besar (padahal informasi sudah dicari), akhirnya dijadikan tempat outing anak2 kantor. Kebetulan di kantor, temen-temen cukup excited juga pergi ke Pandandaran. Kami berangkat lebih dulu beberapa jam dibandingkan dengan teman-teman kantor, sekitar jam 4 sore kami sekeluarga berangkat dari Cipinang. Namun ternyata jalan tol bekasi macet sekali, sehingga kami tertahan cukup lama disana. Selebihnya jalan relatif cukup baik. Tol cipularang, lanjut Tasikmalaya, Ciamis, Banjar dan akhirnya mengambil rute Pangandaran. Jalan cukup mulus. Sekitar jam 2 pagi, kami tiba di penginapan langsung tidur. Jam 5, teman-teman kantor tiba langsung mereka check in dan istirahat. Jam 9 kita semua berangkat ke Gren Canyon. Semua kegirangan bermain di air di Gren Canyon, apalagi suasananya beramai-ramai. Kami memakai sekitar 6 perahu yang isinya sekitar 6-7 orang. Dari Gren Canyon, kami makan siang di Batu Karas, suatu obyek wisata pantai. Setelah itu kami balik ke penginapan, berganti baju dan melanjutkan berjalan-jalan di daerah Cagar Alam. Karena kami kesorean (kelamaan mandinya), maka di Cagar Alam, kami dan rombongan memilih rute yang pendek. Dari Pasir Putih di daerah Cagar Alam, kami lengsung naik perahu menuju pantai Pangandaran. Menyenangkan sekali melihat sunset disana. Besoknya pagi-pagi sekali, saya menuju Pantai Timur untuk hunting foto kegiatan nelayan di pagi hari. Sekitar jam 10 kami berangkat kembali pulang ke Jakarta sambil mampir di daerah Rajapolah untuk wisata belanja.

Hong Kong - Part 2

Our trip to Lantau Island started from Tsuen Wan West MTR station. We changed to other MTR route (Tung Chung route) at Nam Cheong. We visited Ngong Ping 360 around Tung Chung. It is not far from the MTR station, just across the mall and we arrived at the cable car station that brought us up to Ngong Ping Village. The cable car ride took about 20-30 mins. It was a long cable car ride. The scenery is very nice, we can see Hong Kong airport at the distance. From Ngong Ping village, we came back to Tung Chung MTR station and took MTR to Sunny Bay (1 stop from Tung Chung). We would visited Disneyland. The MTR from Sunny Bay to Disney is very nice, all with Disney ornament. We visited Disneyland until it is closed in the evening. Before closing, they had fireworks entertainment. The kids are very happy.

Shenzhen, China

I did not tell the girls when we visiting China this time ..... once they knew, they said "oh China again .... and again ...." well girls China is soo big and it was another place anyway than our last visit. This time we went to Shenzhen. We took a train from Hong Kong (Hung Hom Station) and directly went to Lou Wu or Lou Hu at the border. It took about 45 minutes then we were out of Hong Kong immigration, then we just walked to China immigration. It was very easy. In Shenzhen we went around to see the city. The city is relatively newly built during the last 20 years. There are a lot of high rise buildings nowadays. There are 2 theme parks in Shenzhen, they are the Chinese Cultural Centre and Windows of The World. The Chinese Cultural Centre is a China in miniature, and Windows of The World is the world's miniature. Shopping in China is much cheaper than Hong Kong. There are a lot of artificial of "branded bags" (Super A bags) which is currently difficult to find in Hong Kong (because it is against the proprietary law) One thing that the girls always complain, wherever you go in China you have to be prepared with a dirty and smelly restroom.

Hong Kong - Part 1

After a long time not visiting Hong Kong, it's time again to return to this place. One thing that I like about Hong Kong is the transportation system. It's wonderful, comparing to the transportation in Jakarta. I don't think people need car anymore if they have such a very good mass transportation system, even tourist feel very comfortable traveling with the public transport .... very easy, very clear instruction and convenient. Just buy an Octopus card in the MTR station, so we can travel easily without a hustle of preparing coins to pay the MTR or bus. We stayed in Tsuen Wan and easily went to Central in Hong Kong Island, just 5 mins walk from the Hotel to reach Tsuen Wan West station and take MTR, change after 1 station to other MTR line to reach Central. In Central we went to Victoria Park and Madamme Tussaud Wax Museum. Shopping Centres are scattered around Hong Kong, though Tsim Tsa Sui area is the heaven for shoppers. Being around in the area, we visited The Avenue of Stars. It is a very

neat path along the seaside where we can see Hong Kong Harbour. In the evening there is a light show, what they call Symphony of Light. It's nice to walk along the Avenue of Stars or just sit on the bench to see people passing by and the harbour and the light in the evening. A very nice view.

Northern Nias - a place for serenity

Berbeda dengan Nias Selatan yang lebih terkenal dikalangan wisatawan yang berkunjung ke Nias, Nias Utara lebih tenang. Tidak banyak pendatang atau wisatawan berkunjung ke area ini. Hotel dan rumah makan pun relative tidak ada. Masyarakatnya pun lebih tertutup karena jarang bercampur atau melihat wisatawan.
Namun demikian jika dilihat potensi wisata, Nias Utara juga memiliki beberapa pantai yang cukup menarik. Quite and serenity begitulah kira-kira yang bisa kita jumpai di pantai-pantai Nias Utara ini.
Masing-masing pantai menawarkan ciri khas yang berbeda-beda.
Apabila kita berjalan dari Gunung Sitoli menuju ujung Utara Pulau Nias (kecamatan Lahewa), maka di jalan setelah kita keluar dari Gunung Sitoli kita akan menemukan pantai Banuagea. Jalan lagi ke Utara, di daerah Lotu, kita bisa melihat pantai Walo dan pantai Pasir Berbunyi yang unik karena sepanjang garis pantainya banyak ditumbuhi pohon pinus.
Sesampai di Lahewa, kita akan menemukan 'Pink Beach' serta ada lagi yang namanya pantai Walo (menurut info, Walo dalam bahasa daerah artinya cekungan ...... pantes aja dimana-mana ada pantai Walo).
Ada lagi pantai yang begitu tenang, sehingga seperti kolam renang raksaksa yakni pantai Turigalogo.
Pantai-pantai tersebut menawarkan keunikan yang berbeda-beda. Namun satu hal yang sama yakni menawarkan ketenangan dan kealamian, karena tidak banyak orang yang berkunjung sementara masyarakat di sekitar pantai tersebut melihat pantai adalah hal yang "biasa-biasa" saja, karena sudah menjadi bagian hidup mereka.

Southern Part of Nias Island, Nias Selatan

Nias is a small Island located on the Eastern Coast of North Sumatra. Therefore if you want to reach the island, you have to fly to Medan, the North Sumatra province and from there, take another small aircraft to the Island.
One you step down from the aircraft, you can feel the tranquility and peace .... the air is still fresh and not too many vehicles on the street,
From the airport, we went directly to the South of Nias.... where it is famous for the surfing site. Unfortunately during Dec, waves are not high enough therefore not many people surf.
It took around 3 hours (because we stop by at Genasi Beach to buy drink and take pictures) to reach the Southern Part of Nias. We had our lunch at Teluk Dalam, then we visited 2 famous beaches: Lagundri and Sorake. People said that after the earthquake in 2004, the waves is not suitable anymore for surfing at Lagundri. The sea formation is changed because of the natural disaster. But still my kids like Lagundri better than Sorake.
We stayed at Sorake Beach Hotel, the best hotel in the area but unfortunately very poorly maintained. At that day, we are the only guest in that hotel.... well no wonder that the owner can not maintain the hotel well.

We spent a night in that hotel, the next day we continue visiting traditional village, Bawomataluo. No entrance fee for visiting that village. However, the guys who offer a stone jumping show asked around Rp 250,000.- for only 2 jumps. Besides the jump, they showed us the traditional house belongs to 'the king'. No legal fee was announced.

I think local government should seriously manage the tourism area, if they like to have more visitors. Otherwise, it just like the Hotel ..... can not afford the maintenance of the tourism objects. Nias government should learn from other tourism area in Indonesia. How they serve tourist .... they should learn 'the service mindset' as well.

Soon it will be Christmas

Rasanya bulan Desember adalah bulan terpendek dan tersibuk yang pernah ada. Setiap tahun awal Dec adalah masa penantian untuk maju budget meeting. Jadi persiapannya semakin ketat, bahkan awal masa Advent pun tidak terasa. Setelah selesai budget meeting, 2 minggu waktu untuk follow up apa yang didiskusikan di dlm ruangan saat meeting, terasa sangat pendek ...... Terengah-engah ..... Tidak terasa sudah tanggal 20-an baru rasanya tersentak, hey natal sudah di depan pintu. Mendengar lagu-lagu Natal di mall, rasa damai dan haru .... Bertekat tahun depan saya harus mempersiapkan diri dengan lebih baik. Bukankah Advent artinya kita harus introspeksi diri sambil menantikan kedatangan Sang Pebyelamat. Rasanya tidak ada persiiapan yang saya lakukan untuk menyambut kedatangan Nya. ... Yang jelas tahun depan saya harus lebih baik, menyiapkan diri bukan hanya terbenam di dalam hal duniawi.