24 August 2026

Napak Tilas Bojonegoro Day 1

 

So yes, I and my family went to. Ups, forgot. Jadi, saya dan keluarga sejak tahun lalu berencana untuk pergi ke Bojonegoro, Jawa Timur. Bojonegoro merupakan tempat kelahiran orang tua dari ibu saya, dan cukup banyak keluarga besar dari buyut yang masih tinggal di sana.

Saya sendiri cukup jarang ke kota ini. Mudik saat lebaran pun tidak pernah. #funfact (ini padanan bahasa Indo nya apa ya?) - ternyata ibu saya pun selama hidupnya tidak pernah mudik saat lebaran. Saya juga baru tau akhir-akhir ini.

Perjalanan Jakarta - Bojonegoro memakan waktu 9 jam perjalanan dengan Kereta Api. Berangkat dari Jakarta hari Jumat malam, kami sampai di Bojonegoro sekitar waktu subuh keesokan harinya.

Ohya, saya baru tahu bahwa di stasiun yg ada di daerah Jawa (butuh validasi di daerah mana saja sih), diawali dengan pembukaan berupa suara gending sebelum pengumuman disampaikan lewat pengeras suara. Keren!

Saya mencoba untuk menyelesaikan travelog Bojonegoro saat (long) weekend ini. Kita lihat saja 😂

Ohya, postingan di travelog kali ini, lebih mengutamakan ragam tulisan dibandingkan gambar. Jangan dibandingkan dengan sesi travelog lain ya 😁

Sebenarnya seri travelog yang ditandai dengan tagar #napaktilasbojonegoro2018 ini sifatnya lebih bersifat dokumentasi personal, tapi saya posting di ranah publik karena tidak tahu juga baiknya posting di mana.
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Sebagian memang sifatnya sejarah, yang saya tidak temukan di dunia maya setelah mencoba untuk googling, jadi tidak ada salahnya saya tulis di sini. Ohya, ini dengan asumsi kalau digoogling tidak ketemu, berarti informasi tersebut tidak/belum tersedia untuk publik di dunia maya ya.
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Tulis di Microsoft Words atau Google Docs sebenarnya bisa saja, tetapi khawatir akan menjadi sampah secara otomatis. Kalau saya tulis di sini, siapa tahu ada yang baca, walau bisa jadi hanya buang-buang waktu yang baca saja, hehe. Maaf ya.
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Oke, jadi hari pertama, setelah menaruh barang-barang di hotel, kami nyekar ke makam eyang buyut. Eyang buyut ini merupakan orang tua dari eyang putri.
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Nah, makamnya terletak di (ternyata ini tidak ada catatannya. lol. saya kira akan ada saran dari Instagram, tapi ternyata tidak muncul. Sudah coba cari di Google Map ternyata tidak muncul juga). Menurut saya, makam di sini cukup teratur. Tidak seteratur TPU di Jakarta, tetapi lebih baik dibandingkan TPU Cikutra di Bandung. Mungkin karena kontur tanah di Bojonegoro yang lumayan rata, sedangkan di Cikutra berada di daerah perbukitan, sehingga sepertinya ngaturnya sulit juga.
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Selain eyang buyut, di sini juga dimakamkan saudara kandung dari eyang putri, yaitu eyang Kanah dan eyang Tin (eyangnya @reziana). Eyang putri sendiri dimakamkan di TPU Tanah Kusir bersama eyang kakung. (ini macam tulisan blog anak SD ga sih? hahaha. gapapa lah ya).
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Ohya, ada beberapa nisan yang tidak ada namanya. Mungkin yang perlu dilakukan adalah memberikan nama yg jelas pada nisan yang tidak bernama (seandainya bisa tinggal mention sodara yg tinggal di sana 😆). Karena, saya bingung mengenali makamnya, kakak.

Setelah nyekar dari makam eyang buyut, kami iring-iringan pergi ke Desa Ngringinrejo.
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Ngringinrejo adalah nama satu desa di antara 25 desa (itu data tahun 90-an, sekarang 16 desa) yang ada di wilayah Kecamatan Kalitidu, Kabupaten Bojonegoro, Provinsi Jawa Timur.
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Desa ini terletak lebih kurang 7 kilometer di sebelah barat kota Bojonegoro dan di sebelah timur kota Kalitidu. Oleh karena letaknya yang strategis, di antara dua kota Bojonegoro dan Kalitidu, dan hanya setengah kilometer dari jalan besar Bojonegoro-Cepu, desa Ngringinrejo terbilang mudah dijangkau.
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Walau kalau dilihat di video ini, dimana kami melewati Bendung Gerak, berarti lewat jalan memutar sih. Mestinya bisa jauh lebih cepat.
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Oya, di desa ini, tujuan kami adalah langsung ke rumah buyut, dimana sanak saudara sudah cukup banyak yang menunggu. Yang kami lakukan begitu tiba di rumah buyut adalah, tentu saja makan siang, hoho.
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Makanan yang disajikan sangatlah beragam. Sebagai penutup, kami disuguhkan makanan buah kenitu, yang jujur saat itu baru pertama kali saya memakannya. Teksturnya dan rasanya mirip sawo, namun warnanya putih.

Di pekarangan rumah sudah ada tenda dan juga kursi. Ya, hari itu memang akan diadakan pengajian untuk mendoakan para sesepuh desa.
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Menurut beberapa informasi, desa ini baru terbentuk sekitar tahun 1911, dua tahun sebelum eyang saya dilahirkan. Sebelumnya, di lokasi itu (Ngringinrejo sekarang) terdapat dua desa yang bernama Mejayan dan Ngringin.
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Kedua desa ini, oleh Kartoprawiro (eyang buyut), kemudian digabungkan dan diberi nama: Ngringinrejo. Dengan demikian, tidak berlebihan jika eyang pernah mengatakan bahwa ayahnya merupakan "cikal bakal" atau pendiri desa Ngringinrejo.
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Pengajian dihadiri oleh perangkat desa dan para tetangga. Acara berlangsung khidmat.

Rumah eyang buyut berada di sebelah masjid yang pembangunannya dahulu diinisiasi oleh eyang kakung.
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Di sebelah masjid, terdapat Balai Desa Ngringinrejo, dan juga satu kompleks dengan tempat Karang Taruna beserta perangkat desa lainnya.
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Malam tersebut, terdengar lantunan campur sari dari pendopo yang berada di dekat balai desa. Saya sangat senang mendengarnya. (Tadi mau tulis 'I loved it', tapi saya sedang mencoba untuk secara konsisten berbahasa Indonesia. Cukup sulit ya ternyata).
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Memang, saya sangat senang mendengar suara alunan alat musik tradisional, walau bukan berarti playlist (ini apa bahasa Indonesianya?) saya berisi lagu tradisional.
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Waktu sedang tinggal di Bali, saya juga begitu senang ketika jam 6 sore muncul suara alunan musik dari pura tempat orang sembahyang. Terkesan organik saja, beda dengan alunan musik dari Spotify atau iTunes yang menjadi andalan biasanya di Jakarta (ya iya lah).
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Malamnya, kami pergi ke rumah saudara kami yang berada di desa Pungpungan.
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Ohya, menyenangkan juga ya memiliki rumah di sebelah masjid. Jadi, kalau adzan, hanya sepelemparan batu ke masjidnya.


23 August 2026

Day 10 of #rflorestravelog

 Day 10 of #rflorestravelog.


We didn't go anywhere, from hotel we went directly to the airport. Actually I wanted to see the Soekarno's Ende Expel House (cmiiw for the term), but because one thing and another, I couldn't go there.

This photo also marks my last "official" photo of flores travelog series. FINALLY, after 154 photos! Now I can post random pics in any sequence I want.
Lol.

Alhamdulillah, Flores treated us really kind. It's just effortlessly drop-dead gorgeous in every single corner. Even this photo was taken from a random spot. How about going to Flores again? Definitely ain't say no.




Morning sunlight creeping in inside Mbaru Niang. No grid electricity available, relying on sunlight is unavoidable.

22 August 2026

Day 9 of #rflorestravelog

 Day 9 of #rflorestravelog



We departed at around 3 AM from Moni Village -the closest village from Kelimutu- to try to catch the sunrise.
Thankfully, it was cloudless.


(3/3) Sunrise at Kelimutu


(2/3) Sunrise at Kelimutu



(1/3) Sunrise at Kelimutu


Kelimutu Volcano (1,639m above sea level) contains three striking summit crater lakes of varying colors.

Tiwu Ata Bupu (Lake of Old People) is usually black-ish and is the westernmost of the three lakes. .

Perhaps ppl not very often taking the pic of this side of crater lake, since the view is less compelling compared to the other two.

And, taking pic in the early morning was also challenging since the lighting wasn't optimal yet.



Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai (lake of young people’s souls); and Tiwu Ata Polo (lake of evil spirits) - on the top right- are situated close together. .


I always wondered how Kelimutu looked like from the visitor's view. I mean, would we stand in the very narrow edge of the crater like in Bromo?

Apparently I think this is a very nice one. Ample space for the visitors, where they could look around and see 3 mystical crater lakes. To reach here, we only need 30 minutes walk from the parking lot in a neat pavement, accompanied by sound of birds singing and chill (or cold) breeze.

Many informative signboards are positioned everywhere. I'm actually surprised, since this national park is very well-managed although its location is far from the capital city.


I always love the moment when the sun and the moon are at the same sky (you know what I mean). While the sun gradually rises and smiles on the east, the moon slowly falls asleep on the west.


Skew to the right - actually I've no idea that the guys in front of me were coincidentally form the similar pose with the trees. And I'm just aware of that when I want to upload this pic, lol.

This is otw to the parking area. And it's already quite warm. On 4AM, I bet it's below 10 degree celsius, freezin!



From Kelimutu, we initially a bit willing to go to Koka Beach. However, quite few people said that it'd be anticlimax since what we'd seen so far were better than that object. Plus, all of us were already running out of batteries, so we headed to Ende.

In Ende, we tried to find souvenirs at the market. I actually don't know the name of the market and randomly picked that offered name to be put on IG :p

Similar with Larantuka, many shops in Ende also have their own unique working hours. Usually they are open from morning til 1 PM, then close until around 4-5 PM, then reopen until 8-9 PM.



Soekarno Contemplation Park.
In this park, stands a big breadfruit tree where under it, Soekarno often sat, working on political ideas to lead Indonesia to independence.

Okay, it seems I took a wrong tree as the object, since apparently it's not a breadfruit tree. Lol.



A statue of Soekarno. Story says that in the very spot, he often sat and contemplate, looking at the sea and also the sunset. I bet the view was gorgeous back then years ago. But not today.

The soothing ambience might become his inspiration to invent ideas that contributed to the opening of Pancasila concept, which is now the state philosophy of Indonesia.

I tried to do the same pose but invented nothing. Maybe I should not have smiled.

21 August 2026

Day 8 of #rflorestravelog

 Day 8 of #rflorestravelog 

After the very chill Bajawa, the heat was back in the game. Yes, we went to Riung, a national park that rich of marine life ecosystem. .

Since it's a national park, you should pay a certain amount of fee for entrance ticket.



Crystal clear water of Riung National Park



Could you see the little dots above the trees? Do you know what they are?




Flying foxes of Ontoloe Island

Thousands of flying foxes were forced to wake up, and I feel very bad. Sorry bats.

 

You know what? I just realized that the coral reefs even could be seen from the surface. Yes, we did snorkel here. Corals on some of the spots unfortunately were already bleached. But overall, it's still good.

and God is The Greatest. .


After snorkeling, we went to an uninhabited island called Rutong Island. Basically, in this island, you could see "nothing", but perhaps that what makes it beautiful. You still can get phone signal though, which was only a dream in most of islands in komodo national park.



(3/3) Rutong Island



(2/3) Rutong Island


(1/3) Rutong Island


In Rutong Island, there's a hill where we could climb up to get aerial view of the surrounding. Can you see a silhouette of a guy on top of the hill?




Me in red shirt
📷: #goprohero4




Lunch @ Rutong Island

Actually we were given option to choose the tour package: with vs without lunch, and we picked the lunch-included one.

The taste of the fishes was just awesome! So yes, take the lunch package.

However, if you want to explore Rutong in more than a day, you could just choose the no-lunch package and bring your own food. It'd be cheaper.




Off from Riung to Ende. Since we still had some other destinations in our itinerary (yes, this #rtravelog still goes on 😜), so we couldn't spend our full day in Riung. After lunch, we then continued the journey.

I fell in love with the landscape along the road trip. Near Ende, there was an area where we could easily find blue-ish stones.



Had a short stop at Ende, and I found this eatery named KQ5. I should say that for Flores scale (except Labuan Bajo maybe), this spot is quite chic.



20 August 2026

Day 7 of #rflorestravelog

Day 7 of #rflorestravelog 

Our room was on the second floor, and this was the view from the porch. Happy with the luscious green everywhere and mini yellow flowers embellished the garden. .

Foggy nature of the area made me wonder (and worry) whether it's possible to get a photo with clear sky.



When you wanna replace the previous photo with another photo (that you think would be a better one). But ...


We had our breakfast --- among the clouds. .


The place also had a nice yard with thin trees (I don't know the name) standing tall.



This colorful pavement leads to our room on the second floor. The host named this path lovers lane. #terusbaper



(3/3) Filler photo - because dihapus sayang (bahasa inggrisnya apa ya? 😅). Mount Inerie as the background.



(2/3) Filler photo - because dihapus sayang (bahasa inggrisnya apa ya? 😅). Mount Inerie as the background.



(1/3) Filler photo - because dihapus sayang (bahasa inggrisnya apa ya? 😅). Mount Inerie as the background.



Bena, a village that was built 1200 years ago, is situated about 16km from Bajawa at the foot of Mount Inerie. It is the most famous and also most visited village in the Ngada district. .



A quiet village

There are 45 traditional houses in Bena, six belonging to each of the nine clans that live there. (I know it doesn't add up, I just copy it from somewhere and too lazy to find other sources, sorry)

The houses are made of wooden walls, reed roofs and bamboo floors.



Among dozens of standing stones lies a large dolmen which resembles a dining table.

This is where the name Bajawa comes from: it means ‘plate from Java’.


If you look closer at the houses in Bena, you often find them decorated with skulls and horns of water buffaloes and pig jaws which were sacrificed at different ceremonies. .



Suddenly I hazily heard the voice of kids came from afar. I thought that there was some kind of ritual being held in the village, so I walked to find the source of the voice.

Apparently, it came from kids walking back home from their school. They marched in such a high-spirited fashion, love it! It's very interesting, I guess the same thing doesn't happen in Jakarta, perhaps like, ever?


Soa Hot Spring

From Bena Village, we went to the next destination: Riung. This object actually wasn't in our initial itinerary. However, we had quite ample time and decided to visit this spot. .


Green-ish Mangeruda Hot Spring. 




Mangeruda Hot Spring. .



From Mengeruda Hot Spring, we continued the journey to Riung. It's around 2 hour journey with very bad road. From 6 days of land trip, the road condition was definitely the worst.

In our room in Riung, there's a mosquito net hanging above the bed. It's interesting, since in LabuanBajo (and East Flores), the hotels didn't provide that stuff.

Some locations in Flores is mosquito-borne disease endemic area. Although it's been getting better nowadays, preventive actions like using mosquito repellent and mosquito net are suggested.

N.b. I like how they folded the towel into boat-like shape as depicted in the bottom part of the pic. (Yes, it's towel, and toilet paper)





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