destination: the gilis, nusa tenggara barat, indonesia

my friend laura came to visit from sydney and we went on a 4-day trip to the gilis, a group of islands on the northwest coast of lombok (the island east of bali).

we flew from jakarta to mataram (or sometimes listed as ampenan) which took about one and a half hours. we then took a taxi from mataram to bangsal to catch our boat to the gilis. i must say that being at the bangsal harbor is a little uncomfortable as there were people agressively offering us boat tickets as soon as we entered the premises. not to mention luggage porters that will snatch your bags and overcharge you for bringing it on to the boat. but anyway, if you are ever in bangsal, make sure you 1. buy your ticket the counter and 2. hang on to your own bag, and if your luggage is too heavy, you need to agree on the fee first, before you give your luggage to the porter to carry. no need to worry, the people in the harbor are harmless, they are just desperate for some work (and money). you can also catch a private boat from another harbor, but that will cost up to $35. considering our budget, laura and i settled with going by the public boat and we only had to pay less than US$ 1 per person. we got to gili trawangan, safe and in one piece =).

the gilis (gili means island) consist of 3 little islands, gili trawangan, gili meno, and gili air. gili trawangan is the biggest of the 3 and that's where we stayed. there are no motor vehicles in this island, so you either walk, cycle or take the horse carriage (or rickshaws?). how's that? clean air, soft sand, blue sky and crystal clear water. days in the sun do not get much better than this =)

my full set of pictures is here

bali

bali dec 2007-jan 2008.

see more pictures here

lawang sewu, semarang, central java

photo: my sister in front of lawang sewu building, by chare

The name Lawang sewu means Thousand Doors, but among the local Javanese the name conotates an eerie haunted house with a tragic history. This Dutch colonial building was built in 1863 by C. Citroen. It was the branch office for the Dutch Indonesian train company but when the Japanese invaded in 1942, they used it as a gruesome interrogation headquarter where they jailed and killed a lot of Indonesians. Long standing reports of multiple ghost sightings in this building has turned it into a local destination for young students & tourists who would make their visit on weekend nights to experience this legendary haunted house.
source: www.tripadvisor.com

see more pictures here

meulaboh, aceh, indonesia

picture: "after it's all gone" by chare

more pictures
i went on assignment to meulaboh.

Meulaboh (or Moulabouh) is the capital of West Aceh Regency, Indonesia and located about 245 km southeast of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province.
Meulaboh is among the hardest hit areas by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Being just 150 km from the epicenter of the earthquake, Meulaboh was hit by tsunami, leaving the estimated deaths of 40,000 people out of 120,000.

source: wikipedia

tureloto beach, nias island, indonesia

another trip i went on for an assignment (i'm the one in pink). more pictures

after we finished our fieldwork in lahewa, we made the time to check out the local beach called tureloto. the locals said that it was nice and they were right.
because of the tsunamis in 2004 and 2005, the coastline of nias shifted and left some of the land (including trails of coral reefs) exposed out of the ocean. in the picture, we were standing on top of the reefs that used to be completely submerged.

here's a bit about nias island

Nias is the largest of the islands off Sumatra that are part of North Sumatra province. This area consists of 131 islands and Nias Island is the biggest. The population in this area is about 639,675 people (including Ono Niha - the native inhabitant of the Island, Malay, Batak, and Chinese).

Nias is an internationally famous surfing destination. The best known surfing area is Sorake Bay, close to the town of Teluk Dalam, on the southern tip. Enclosed by the beaches of Lagundri and Sorake, the bay has both left and right-hand breaks. As they wait for waves, surfers can often see sea turtles swimming below. There are also two consistent, world-class waves in the nearby Hinako Islands, Asu and Bawa. Many lesser-known, high-quality surf spots with low crowds await adventurous travelers.

Nias was part of the famous Hippie trail of the 1960s, particularly traveled by surfers, which lead to Bali. Some claim that the waves at the southern beach of Sorake are better than the ones in Maui. It has been the site of several international surfing competitions in the past, particularly before the 1998 Indonesian Reformation Movement.

On December 26, 2004 the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake struck a few kilometers north of the island, creating tsunamis as high as 10 meters. 122 people were killed and hundreds more rendered homeless.

On March 28, 2005, the island was again hit by the 2005 Sumatran earthquake, initially presumed to be an aftershock following the 2004 quake, but now regarded as the second-most powerful earthquake in the world since 1965 and twelfth-most powerful ever recorded. At least 800 people are reported dead, with the possibility of more than 2,000 casualties. Hundreds of buildings have toppled, and many thousands have been made homeless. In 2007, almost two years after the earthquake, there are still tens of thousands of internally displaced persons living in camps throughout Nias.
source: wikipedia