Looking for The First House Hotel

When we arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport, we did not know where to stay. We were still arguing. Emmy suggested in First House Hotel in Petchburi Road, where her uncle used to stay during his business trip to Bangkok. But, she had no idea where that place is. Only, one key word. Near the Indonesian Embassy. That's all. So we decided to have lunch. We were starving. The argument was still continuing. Due to this argument, it was to us to decide to take vehicle to the downtown. Finally, we decided to stay in First House Hotel.

The bus Number 12 brought us to the city. Left us in Ding Daeng bus halte. We still had no idea how to get to Petchburi Road. We met few people who can speak English, or at least able to show us direction. Fortunately, we me a guy, who would like to take bus to Pratunam. This place is near Petchburi Road. Here we goes.

Down from the bus, we still looked for the "Petchburi Road" We found it. But nobody knew where that HOTEL. So, we decided to get hotel in Pratunam District. Perhaps, this area is like Tanah Abang in Jakarta or Pasar Turi (now PGS) in Surabaya. People are coming here to buy some clothes. Clothes and other textile products are inexpensive. One that drove me to find hotel in this area was The Bayoke Sky Hotel. Emmy told us that the rate of this hotel is affordable. But, when we tried to check in Guest Information, that the rate reached THB 4.000! So it's around Rp. 1,2 million. Wow. We could not afford it. Emmy and I decided to find other hotels and left Bebe in Bayoke Sky Lobby to watch our belongings, hehehe. Bebe complained but we did not listen. :D

We went to several hotels, including Bayoke Boutique (I guess, this hotel that Emmy meant. The cheap one Bayoke...). Finally, we decided to stay in Khuranna Inn. We paid for THB 1.800 for three persons. Actually, they offered us THB 2.000. But Emmy did good job. She bargained!. The room was spacious, with 24 inch flat TV, and shower of cold and hot water. And yes, one more thing, two doors refigerator! This hotel was just renovated. We could smelled the paints.

We love our room. But, we were still curiuos with First House Hotel. Emmy search through the internet, and we found it. THB 1.500 per night for two persons. Emmy booked through her VISA. And, the next day, we looked for this place.

There is another hotel named First Hotel in Petchburi Road. Just crossed the road of KBRI (Indonesian Embassy). We thought, that here's the hotel! We were in, and asked a girl in Information Desk. We told her that we had booked the room, for THB 1.500 per night. She told us, it is impossible to release via website about the room rate. The actual rate was THB 4.000, just the same as Bayoke Sky Hotel. So, it's other hotel, she told me.

We kept looking that First House Hotel. Because we have booked it, and Emmy has paid with her VISA. Finally, we found this hotel, is such small road, or in Indonesia we call it "Gang". Yeah, Soi in Thai means Gang in Indonesia. The hotel was actually small and cute. But, it was an old one. We went to the room. We found that the rug is a little bit smelly due to lack of ventilation.

Emmy asked "are you guys, sure want to move to this hotel? The THB 1.500 is for two persons? But, in our hotel -Khuranna Inn-, THB 1.800 is for 3 persons, plus breakfast" We were discouraged. And, we decided to stay in our Khuranna and lost those THB 5.00 for internet booking. Hahahaha. But, at least we found it. That First House Hotel.

Jember Fashion Carnaval

Well, the 8th Jember Fashion Carnaval was held yesterday. I went there with three companions: Any, April and Ery. It's the first time I went there to see it with my bare eyes, mingled with the crowd of thousands of people. Under the hot weather. The sun hit me, but it's fun!

This event holds annually. Each year, the theme is always different. It was initiated by Mr. Dynan Faryz (picture left) in 2002. It's such wonderful idea comes from the man who lives in Jember. Brilliant idea is not always from people who live in Jakarta. 

The name of carnival itself spells in Indonesian, Carnaval. Some people say, that it's a fault adaption. They should have used "carnival". For me, it's interesting to use carnaval than carnival. It's just different. We don't have to use the same word or sentence to describe something. 

JMC's theme 2009 is The World Unity. It tries to combine all the world aspects such as animal, plants, cultural, social, etc. It divided into 8 groups. Each group contained one sub-theme. Such as in Animal Plant, we can see people dressed like animal creatures. Such as scorpion, butterflies, etc. In floral, we can see people became vegetables like carrot, chili, and other forms. Greens, reds, oranges, and many other colors. So colorful. 

According to local newspaper, Mr. Faryz using the idea of world unity as his concern to many crisis in the world; economic, politic, environment, war, hunger, etc, as well as the rapid increasing of technology. 

The paraded for 3,6 km, from alun-alun to Stadium. Streets as the run away. And, 600 volunteers acted like they are a pro- model.  

Trip to Jogja

This trip is quite long ago. Yeah.. about 3 months or so during my work trip for Monev. The followers: Nadia, Sofie, Any, and me. No more joined us. Even though Nadia has published this holiday thread to Facebook. Many wanted to join, but, could not make it! Many reasons, since "mbulet" has been our trade mark for long times.

I join the team in Caruban. Since I had spent a week in Ponorogo. It is better to meet them at the middle than back to Surabaya. We had wonderful journey. As usual, Nadia was behind the wheel. During this trip, Any proclaimed that she was on diet. We laughed. Did not believe on her plan to diet. We were really sure, that dieting would be in pain. As we know, culinary is part of every journey, either in or out of town. It was our holiday since one in Singapore and Malaysia last 2006. Actually, Any did not join us. Judith joined us instead. I was really glad. Finally, we could make it! HOLIDAY!

We stopped in Solo for Dhuhur in Dewi's place. Dewi is Nadia's younger sister. She studies Medical in Universitas Sebelas Maret. We were in Solo for about an hour. Then, decided to have lunch in Kartasura. Nadia told us that there is a really nice stall (aka warung) of fried duck in Kartasura, named Pak Slamet. Unfortunately, it was sold out. We took another warung's. But, the taste was really good. The service was also good and the warung was also clean. Any broke her vow! She ate fried duck with jerohan. Sofie and I ate chicken instead.

We spent our first night in Motel Sala 4 in Dagen Street. My girl friends, complained about the hotel. Since I recommended this motel, for sure, they complained me! They said, about XXX hotel, hehehe. I just laughed.
I said, "I guess, you're guys want a cheap holiday. Some kind of backpacking..."
They answered, "No way... We work. We want a better place..." But, we already paid that motel. So, we had to stay. Fortunately, we just booked for one night. As I remembered, I used to stay in this motel when I visited Jogja. It was clean and tidy. But, when we stayed that night, this hotel was untidy, the sheet and the cushion were smelly. Weeeekkk...Like million years not being washed. Fortunately, I brought my jarit.

In our first night, we went for the most complicated dinner we've ever had. We wanted bakmi Jogja. Nadia recommended bakmi Kadin, on the other hand Dewi - who finally joined us - and I recommended bakmi Ketandan. I read about this warung from Umar Kayyam's Mangan Ora Mangan Kumpul (MMOK). Ketandan street is near Malioboro. We looked for this street, we found nothing. After an hour here and there finally, we found this street. We found dark street, with no sign of well-known warung bakmi was there! We stopped and ask someone. He said, that there was not warung bakmi around the street. Nadia and the rest asked me, where did I find the name of the warung. I answered, "Umar Kayyam's book..." They burst into laugh. Oh Gosh, Umar Kayyam lived years ago, Any said.

We, finally, headed to the other warung bakmi. Bakmi Kadin. It is well-known bakmi restaurant in Jogja, Nadia said. It has special way of cooking. By boiling the bakmi in arang, and by using duck's egg. Since it lies near Kadin office, it is then well-known as Bakmi Kadin. The restaurant was very crowded. It was not Saturday evening. But, the next day was holiday. We waited more than an hour until our food was served. The waitress said, that two of their rombongs had been booked for the wedding of Noe, the vocalist of Letto, and also the son of Emha Ainun Najib.

According to our opinion: the bakmi was plain. Not as the promotion, everywhere, in blog, mostly. It was less spicy. We did not eat them up.

The next morning, we ate the delicious Nasi Gudheg Yuk Jum, near Gadjah Mada University. It is well recommended. After that, we're heading to Baron Beach, in Gunung Kidul District. Dewi did not join us. Since she had class at noon.

It was Friday. At first, we had decided to use GPS in my mobile to find that beach. But, the price of GPRS was too high. So, we decided to use other GPS (Gak Pake Suwe) a.k.a our ability to ask direction. Mates, we don't live in Europe or San Francisco, we do not need maps, because asking people direction is better than anything. The villager knows many things, even if it is miles away from him/her.

We found Baron at mid day. The route was very fantastic. Sometimes, we just found houses. Sometimes some plantation or rice field. Sometimes, we found forests.

Baron actually has beautiful cliffs. He also has fish market. But, the beach is average. The beach line is not too long. We decided to have lunch there. We ate seafood: lobster, octopus, and some other fishes. After that, we went to Kukup Beach. It has more beautiful beach than in Baron. The cliff is also magnificent! The coast line is long... and we saw many people were looking for small fishes (ikan hias). Kukup Beach reminded me to Tanah Lot. They have the same structure. The air was fresh, and the sky was really blue. The sand was also white. We played in the sand. Oh, I felt the air of freedom!

Before getting dark, we left Baron. This night, we stayed in awesome hotel: Indraloka Hotel in Cik Di Tiro Street, near UGM. This hotel is actually a house that is designed as motel. It consists only 8 rooms. Four in the downstairs and others in the upstairs. We felt like home. It also has internet access to the room. In upstairs, it has library and also pantry. It is designed like many motels and hostels in abroad, for backpackers. We loved this place very much!.

Monday Morning: Holiday!

Hi there. This morning, I went biking with Nancy. We drove for about 10 kms from Karangmenjangan to Mulyosari.

We set aboard at 5 am. Hmmm..still freezing outside. I woke up at 4.30. I walked to Nancy's. It's about 750 meters.

You know, it's very long time not to ride any bikes in Surabaya. I have no bike. I'd like one. But, still think to buy the portable one. Honestly, I wanna B2W or Bike to Work. But, I have no ideas, which route I should take to the office. Since, I live in Karangmenjangan, and my office is in Ahmad Yani Street, just outside the town. There are lot of buses, motorcycles, cars, etc. And, there are even no pedestrian in Ahmad Yani. It's about 10 kms from home. I can imagine my face becomes blackened by the ashes. Weeeee... And, I think it's not good idea to take bike to the office. Well, but I still wanna a bike!

Surabaya in the morning was quite quiet and calm. No cars' horn. No people drive their cars very fast. Everything was so perfect. Other people also cycling. Some are walking with friends and families. They are joking. Some, doing some Thai Chi. Everyone enjoys the time of morning.

I smell of life in the morning. It's the smell of hope. So, Happy Holiday everyone!

X-Trail Naikkan Derajat

Sofie terkejut saja ketika Mas Nd jemput kita di pool Bali Megah Wisata (BMW) dengan mengendari Nissan X-Trail. Sejak kapan dia ganti kendaraan. At the end, mobil ini akan menjadi kendaraan kita selama di Bali. Kita mikirnya, akan dapat Piccanto. Enak juga pakai X-trail. Sayangnya, CC nya besar. Kalau tidak salah 3.500 CC. Jadi, tidak sekedar boros bensin, tapi juga kayak kencing saja pakainya bensin. Sangking cepatnya habis. Enaknya, entheng setirannya. Apalagi Nadia yang bawa. She is the best woman driver in my class!

Nah, di hari pertama kita tiba di Bali, setelah sarapan di depan Hard Rock dan dropping bos di Bali Pasadena. Tujuan pertama adalah Pecatu. Lokasi pantai Dreamland. Surga selancar yang kini telah disulap Tommy Suharto jadi "Kuta kedua." Ada juga Cafe Klapa. Yang peresmiannya sempat bikin Keket ribut sama Andi Soraya, rebutan Sang Pangeran Cendana.

Areal Pecatu, sudah dikuasi sepenuhnya oleh Pangeran Cendana itu. Bukit tandus itu, telah disulap jadi real estate, padang golf, dan hotel. Tapi, di bukit disana tetap tegak berdiri. Yang aneh, bukit itu adalah bukit kapur. Tapi, diatasnya bisa tumbuh pohon-pohon. Mirip hutan gitu. Konon, dulunya tidak ada yang tahu kalau tanah bukit itu adalah kapur. Sebenarnya, kurang masuk akal kalau di atas tanah kapur, pohon-pohon bisa tumbuh sesubur itu. Lihat saja Gunung Kidul atau Tulungagung. Daerah-daerah kapur, umumnya tandus. Sehingga sering sulit air. Tapi memang benar, Tuhan Maha Besar.

Ketika kita sampai di pos satpam, melihat kita mengendarai X-trail dan plat nomor kendaraan B, satpam langsung menyapa kami dengan ramah. Seraya mengatakan kalau di Klapa sedang ada pertunjukan DJ Lives. Kita, khas anak Ngibul, bilang "Ya, terima kasih!" dengan pede-nya. Habis itu cekikikan. Wah, dikira anak pejabat dari Jakarta.... Makanya, orang itu super ramah.

Ternyata, kita memang tidak jadi main di pantai. Pertama, masih panas. Dan, beberapa agak anti panas. Aku sebenarnya tidak, masalahnya agak masuk angin gara-gara campuran antara kopi sama mangga. Hasilnya, perut diaduk-aduk. Apalagi, paginya aku pupup telat. Kedua, takut dekat-dekat dengan para bule yang asik bermain di pantai gara-gara virus Flu Babi. Akhirnya kita hanya duduk-duduk di resto kecil di pinggir pantai, memesan makanan sederhana. Sofie dan aku pesan sate. Nadia pesan spagetti dan Any pesan steak. Sebelum makan, Antis dulu.... Masakannya lumayan sih. Pelayanannya mas-mas Bali berkulit gelap. Ketika aku pesan coklat panas dikasih es coklat...

Karena masukn angin semakin parah, aku ingin pupup. Sayangnya, toilet ada di atas. Lumayan jauh. Yang paling dekat adalah di Klapa. Yang tepat ada di atas pantai tempat kami nongkrong. Hanya tinggal naik tangga dari marmer. Sumpah, aku hanya ingin toilet! Dengan susah payah aku naik (karena menahan mules). Sesampainya di anak tangga paling atas, seorang satpam berdiri gagah di depanku. Berkata, "Balik saja ke bawah sana... Jangan ke atas.." Oalahh... dia mengusirku, saudara. Mungkin karena tampang kereku. Yang hanya pakai celana pendek warna merah dan kaos oblong. Tidak membawa apa-apa. Dan, muka memelas karena menahan sakit perut.

Tanpa berpikir panjangk aku lari ke toilet sebenarnya. Pakai antri lagi.... Duuhh...setibanya di dalam toilet, aku tidak bisa pupup. Dan, perut masih saja mules, dan sendawa terus.... Oh masuk angin, please, don't ruin my holiday!

Pesan moral dari cerita ini: orang memang masih menilai semua itu dari kulitnya saja. Di bawah, ketika mengendarai X-trail. Status kita naik. Di atas, itulah sebenarnya kita. Yang belum kelasnya kalau ke Klapa, hehehe.

Danau Batur: Surga yang Ternoda

Kata web benar. Kalau Kintamani atau Danau Batur, memang menawarkan pemandangan yang indah dan udara yang sejuk. Benar juga, kalau di lokasi itu para pengunjungan "diganggu" oleh reseknya penjual barang-barang souvenir. Mereka menawarkan barang dengan memaksa. Meskipun sudah ditolak, tetap membuntuti kemanapaun kita pergi.

Tanda-tanda tidak enak itu sudah mulai dirasakan ketika kita sedang foto-fotoan di pinggir jalan raya. Kita sudah ditawari pemandian air panas dan sewa boat ke Trunyan. Tapi, kita sudah menolaknya dengan halus. Bapak yang menawarkan itu, paham, dan segera pergi dengan sepeda motornya.

Gangguan yang sesungguhnya ada di pinggir Danau Batur. Begitu kita datang, langsung ditawari jasa pencucian mobil. Nadia menolak dengan halus. "Itu bukan mobil saya, Pak.." Orang itu juga langsung cabut. Yang resek justru ibu-ibu. Mereka menawari kita souvenir. Aku langsung saja sok sibuk dengan kamera, foto sana dan foto sini. Nadia, Sofie dan Any, masih sedikit shock dengan "jalur maut" yang baru saja kita lalui, masih diam saja. Mereka didekati dan dipaksa oleh ibu-ibu itu. Satu anak, satu orang ibu penjual souvenir. Dari kejauhan aku dengar mereka ribut sekali. Nadia sampai hampir bertengkar sama ibu itu. Komen si Ibu itu salah satunya gini "Teman Mbak ini, jahat sekali.." kata si ibu kepada Any. Any, yang memang tidak tegaan, terpaksa membeli cincin yang katanya perak. Setelah Any membeli, si pedangan cerita ke Nadia "Sebenarnya, saya jual ke teman Mbak itu rugi..." Dijawab Nadia, "Lho, kalau rugi, kenapa dijual?" Si Ibu tambah marah. Dan, Any melancarkan nasehatnya ketika si penjual bilang kalau barang dagangan dia sepi dari pagi. "Makanya Bu, jangan ribut sama tamu. Mereka tidak nyaman. Akhirnya, tidak mau beli..." Si Ibu dengan pede jawab, "Lha, siapa bilang sepi, dari pagi tadi sudah ada 15 bis..." Any melongo, katanya sepiii....

Kalau kasus Sofie beda sedikit. Dia tidak mau membeli souvernir dengan alasan dia capek dan tegang gara-gara salah jalan. Eh, si Ibu malah menawarkan pijat. Sofie meneruskan aksi "sok bodohnya". Tidak suka pijat, dan tetap bertampang sok tidak mendengar....

Tidak sampai setengah jam kita ada di tempat itu. Sebenarnya, sayang sekali. Kalau tempat indah itu, harus ternoda oleh pedangan-pedangang souvenir yang bikin orang tidak nyaman. Bukannya kita membeli, malah kita cepat-cepat pergi dari tempat itu. Tanpa menikmati keindahan Dana Batur dan Gunung Batur.