Japan Day 1

Welcome to Japan🙆

Let's begin this #rjapantravelog with this tree. Why? Since I don't know the name of the tree, but definitely it's a unique one. The same thing will happen in many photos in this travelog: I might not be able to provide proper caption, because I alread

From Kansai Airport, we went to the accommodation to put our bag, then headed to Nara.

That was my very first time seeing sakura, so I was pretty excited to see them. Although the sky wasn't clear, but the ambience was very nice.

Five-story pagoda of Kōfoku-ji.. Kōfuku-ji itself is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, in the city of Nara, Japan. The temple is one of the eight Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

According to local folklore, deer from this area were considered sacred due to a visit from Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto, one of the four gods of Kasuga Shrine. Killing one of these sacred deer was a capital offense punishable by death up until 17th century. |wiki

Nandaimon, or The Great South Gate is the main gate of Tōdai-ji. It is the largest temple entrance gate in Japan, suitable in scale to the Great Buddha Hall.

Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex, that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples. Its Great Buddha Hall, houses the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha.

Unfortunately I came very late, and didn't get any picture of the Buddha statue nor the hall.

Still in Nara

Although it was a cloudy day, but a pretty sakura is still pretty.

Sumba, NTT Day 5

 Dashing thru the sky. Well, we're (still) in Day-5 of #rsumbatravelog 😅

On our way to Tanggedu waterfall, we had a short stop at Puru Kambera. Later we would be back here to enjoy the sunset.

Trip to Tanggedu perhaps was the most tiring and difficult one compared to trip to other locations that we visited.

It's like in the middle of nowhere, and perhaps we only encountered 1 car in every 15 minutes. Sometimes we went thru a road that's not sufficient to be called a road. Phone signal did not exist at all.

A sizzlin hot noon at 10:51, around 2 hours from Puru Kambera, we finally arrived a village where we could park our car.

For me, it's such a relieve that we could arrive at the destination. I mean, at times the driver seemed to take uncommon routes, and saw no other cars. Although he's pretty sure of that, but I wondered whether we got lost.

After almost an hour of trekking with difficult route, we finally arrived at this place. Well, we haven't reached the waterfall, though. But seeing this crystal clear river is definitely satisfying.

Alternative caption: this day is so freaking hot and there's no shelter around and we cant swim in the river and I'm hungry and I'm tired. .

Actually, I wanted to caption this vid with Tanggedu's facts that I thought I'd get it easily somewhere. But unfortunately I was wrong.

Since this waterfall is a unique one that I haven't seen anything like this in Indonesia. Many small streams here and there.

Well, can't say that I'm an avid waterfall visitor though, so there's a chance that quite many other waterfalls look like this.

If I drag the previous video a bit left, this'd be the view, the main waterfall. Actually, you could jump from the top into the plunge basin below.

The rock formation perhaps what's make it kinda unique, since usually what I see around a waterfall is black-ish river rock.

After having a nice lunch, plus immersing ourselves inside probably the most natural bath tub we'd ever been in, we went back to the parking lot. If only we could just snap our fingers and teleport ourselves. Hot day at its finest.

Could you see the waterfall?

As a matter or fact, I couldn't, and perhaps still can't (a bit), comprehend on how on earth we would find a waterfall in the midst of very dry yellow hills (see previous photos). I usually found it among green thick rainforest trees.

Even when we were already parked our car, prior trekking to the waterfall, I still wondered, "Are we on the right place?"

But yes, we could find the waterfall in the what it seems unlikely place like this. God is great.

From Tanggedu Waterfall, we went back to Purukambera. Too tired to swim, and we're (read: I was) hungry as well. So, we just sat and did nothing. Well, better if you bring your own hammock or mat, and have urself some snack and drink.

And just like other destinations in Sumba, it's almost only me, myself, and I in that place. No shops, no food stalls, but thankfully there's phone signal here. The beach was also safe for swimming.

Golden ray of light in the savannah. Actually, I longed to see herd of horses running on the field. Since I heard that's one of the main attractions of this spot.

But well, couldn't find them. What we got is their excrements lying everywhere. So, better watch your step.

Motionless, sort of. Even the clouds seemed to love being standstill. Timelapse mode didn't help much. .

No, I'm not in Sumba, and I'm running out of caption idea right now. And yes, I used filter prior uploading this photo. Well, I'm not good in editing photos.

Confession: we brought along with us a bubble gun, from Jakarta. Well, from Bandung actually. Nevertheless, it's not easy to use it to accessorize photo. We don't think we'll bring it again next time :p.

Our driver surprisingly picked us up when we strayed too far in the midst of savannah. Lucky us, since we didn't need to walk back to where we started. Sorry, it's 2018 and I'm still posting photos from Sumba :p.

Staying in traditional house of Sumba.

Day 5 of #rsumbatravelog, basically our last day in Sumba.

We spent our last night in Sumba not in a hotel. We found this place via #airbnb and wanted to give it a try due to its rave reviews.

We thought that it would give us unique experience that we couldn't get if live in hotel. and it's true! Definitely no regret and would like to spend another night here.

Sumba, NTT Day 4

Welcome to Sumba Day 4👋

Let's move to day-4 of #rsumbatravelog. Fortunately from our accommodation's backyard, we could see sunrise without hassle.

Perhaps for most people, observing clouds is uninteresting. For me, they're mesmerizing. .

Wailara Hill. Well, I couldn't even find the location of this place in Instagram.

We agreed that Wairinding had a better view. The scenery in Wailara was still amazing nevertheless, countless hills under the blue wide sky. Perhaps other previous spots had set the bar really high.

Heading to Tarimbang. Not every trip to Sumba put this in their itinerary, since it's located quite far in the south, and in some parts, the road condition was pretty bad.

Nevertheless, your eyes would be entertained with scenery like this. I guess this very spot even nameless.

Tarimbang Beach

There's no one else visiting this place that time. Felt like in our own private beach. Beautiful secluded beach.

Tarimbang's very own landmark: The Tree.

If you search for this place, most of them would have this leafless tree as their object. The tree that stands alone, between pureness of white and calmness of blue.

The waves gently kiss the shoreline. Water sprinkles and mixes with sand, gingerly stroking my toes and feet.

In this isolated beach, no internet connection is available. Even there's no phone signal at all. Perfect place to really connect with your surrounding, and yourself.

For me, road trip in Sumba offers compelling experience. Well, sometimes we should go thru long and bumpy roads to reach the destination.

Can't deny that it might be boring at times, but I tried to enjoy the panorama that perhaps very difficult to find in other places in Indonesia.

Waiting for sunset, or not.

Since sometimes, after he had had a good day, he held it with both hands and didn't wanna let it go. He wanted to keep the good things going.

Well, earth revolves, life goes on. Bad things, and also good things, are just ... things. Need to let them go, surrender them to the one who has them all.

Actually, I wanted to imitate, or recreate, the iconic dancing trees photo in Walakiri. But well, I guess the skill and the tool just weren't there 😅.

Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories ...

Actually, this tourism object is one of the most "civilized" spots that we visited during the trip. I mean, in the other locations, the chance of finding food seller is the same with locating water in the moon.

In here, we could view the sunset while enjoying our Indomie and soft drink below the coconut trees. Phone signal was strong as well.

Having said that, it doesn't mean this place is packed with tourists. Not at all.

Sumba, NTT Day 3

Day 3 of #rsumbatravelog. Praijing Traditional Village is located in Tebara, Waikabubak. In this village, there are 38 traditional houses -it was 42 previously, but there was an accident in 2000 where few houses were burnt.

It frustrates me when it's so difficult to find the historical fact about this village, eg the age of this ancient site. Perhaps I'm just dumb in picking keywords so I couldnt get the right article.

The Living Megalithic Culture - That's what some archeologists say about Sumba. Since very few places in the world still practice this culture, while it remains preserved in this island.

The megalithic tradition in Sumba could be traced back to 500 BC, or some even say 4500 BC.

Unfortunately, almost no information for tourists is provided, no booklet, no info board. Thousands of years in age, pretty sure it has abundant stories kept in the shelf.

Anyway, if you want to know more about socio-historical aspect of Sumba, perhaps you could read http://passagetoindonesia.com/files/West-Sumba---The-megalithic-tradition-.pdf, a 52 pages long essay. Don't worry, I don't read em all.

Lapopu Waterfall - #rsumbatravelog Day 3

From Praijing Village, we went to this waterfall. For you who like to swim, this is the perfect place to satisfy your desire.

Enjoying pristine clear water in the cool temperature is pretty relaxing, esp for those living in dazzling big cities.

I know the angle of this photo is not very good, but, well. 

To go to this waterfall, it's relatively easy. From the car parking lot, we only need to walk around 15 mins to reach the waterfall.

Well, you need to bring your own lunch if you go here. and if you want to enjoy it while seeing the beauty of the waterfall, don't forget to bring it when you get off from the car. Well, we had our lunch at the parking area back then :/.

It's said that Lapopu is the highest waterfall in East Nusa Tenggara, with 90 meters in height and, unlike most waterfalls, boasts a unique stair-shape.

Next stop: Wairinding Hill. Well, but we're still stuck in day 3 of #rsumbatravelog. Sorry.

At that time, we were wondering what those kids feel when they can enjoy this kind of scenery everyday, anytime they want.

We were also wondering what they thought of us, busy taking pics in their playground.

Well, few minutes later, we asked them (politely) so they could move from where they sat. Why? Since we'd like to take pic on that very spot 😅#shamelesstourist. .

The hills are alive with laughter and joy of the kids having fun with their friends.

Sun glancing over them, slowly falling down into the horizon

Located in Pambota Jara village, about 30 minutes drive from downtown of East Sumba, the hill offers a stunning view with a broad pasture vegetation.

It's so windy up here! and in case if you're wondering whether it is difficult to reach this area, the answer is 'not at all'. Only 5 minutes walk from the main island road.

Sumba, NTT Day 2

 #rsumbatravelog Day-2. Actually, it's not a beach

This spectacular turquoise tidal lagoon sits 20 metres from the sea. If you do some googling, it's so easy to find much better photos than what I posted here.

Nowadays, quite often the actual condition of photo objects just doesn't live up to the hype. Mostly because quite many photos in socmed are heavily retouched. But this lagoon is just soo exquisite

This lagoon is around 2-hour drive from Tambolaka, if I correctly remember :p.

From all of the objects that we visited on the island, this one was the most crowded one, by far. Although Sumba's crowded is much much less packed than Jakarta's, or let alone Java's.

And perhaps since we went there on Sunday, so many locals were around. Bet it'd be much more vacant on weekdays. .
Few little girls jumping to the crystal clear water, repeatedly. They seemed to love and very familiar with this place. Such a scenic playground they had.

Actually I have a video instead of photo to be posted here. It's 3 secs video, taken using Boomerang. But I can't post it here since Instagram identify it as less than 3 sec. Weird!

It's been more than a decade since the last time we stayed here. In the past, we occasionally spent our holiday here since we do love the cottage concept.

I mean, staying in a cottage gives you more privacy, and of course it allows more ppl to occupy (Indo banget!). Well, not many hotel/resort in Jkt offers bungalow/cottage type of room. I think that's the unique selling of point of this mermaid cottage.

My impression: no significant change compared to >10 years ago xD.

True view - well, basically I (sometimes) want to post photo or video that might comprise even corners and angles not preferred by most ppl. .

Half an hour drive from Waikuri, we arrived at Mandorak Beach. The sky wasn't as clear as we hoped it to be, but the view was still gorgeous. The cyan-ish water was pretty astonishing.

@mpokella and @sitamanda gave comment that this kind of scenery was similar with a beach in the other part of the world - which I had never heard of it and now forgot its name. Got very knowledgable friends around me, eh?

There was a small hut in this beach (our driver said that it's owned by a French), and we had our lunch there. But that doesn't mean you could buy any food there. In here, or basically in almost all tourism objects in Sumba, you could find no seller or store. So we had to buy our food in the city prior doing the trip in the morning. Otherwise, we would be starving.

Anyway, this secluded beach is good to visit, although personally I'd say that you might skip it if your time is limited.

Plus, there were some mendicants in this beach, who actually made me uncomfortable. Since they always followed us everywhere. So basically in Sumba, Mandorak and Ratenggaro have mendicants issue.

I just realized that this beach has quite interesting form of beach line. I mean, looking at this photo, I try to remember from which spot I did take this pic. It wasn't taken from a boat, but the beach side was on my opposite.

The previous photo was taken from that side.

The World of Ghibli Exhibition. .
Well, actually I'm not that fanatic of Ghibli, like some of my friends (eg @nonajumi). I do really enjoy their movies though, their creativity is astounding.

Knowing that the exhibition was in town, I didn't immediately willing to go. But some ppl said that several exhibits in Jkt even are more detailed than what they'd seen in Japan.

For me, this exhibition doesn't disappoint. The models are made with intricate details that it's hard to not admire them. Tho some exhibits (eg mononoke forest) is a bit dull for me.

Music: The Path of The Wind (OST My Neighbor Totoro)

Still on #rsumbatravelog day-2 (yeah, it's still day-2 😕). So from #Mandorak beach, we went to another beach: Bawana (some say Buana, Bwana, etc), which took around 1 hour drive.

Getting off from the car, we couldn't immediately see the beach, since we ought to do half an hour trekking to get to this spot.

Actually, at first I was a bit sad knowing that the sky wasn't cloudless when arriving at this beach. Simple-minded, I always thought that cloudless sky equals to good picture.

However, this time I couldn't really complain. I mean, even with tad cloudy sky, the beach is still majestic. Or perhaps because of half clear-half cloudy sky, it embodies balance, depicting juxtaposition of feeling and emotion.

The view of the opposite side, when the sun was sliding down onto the horizon.

Perhaps the view of giant hole is much more popular, nevertheless this scenery made us fall in love with this beach. Well, This pic doesnt do justice.

With soft and moisty sand, misty shore in afar, wide beach with grand cliff standing with its audacity on the right side, golden light kissing the sea water that gliding onto the land. It's like all elements of nature did their job amazingly at time.

This tranquil beach gave so many magical moments that left us in awe

Knowing that there's soothing warm golden light at the place we're heading to, is somehow reassuring. 

Stuck on day-2 of #rsumbatravelog 😅.

Well, even video cannot really show the wholeness of the ambience, like the air that we breathe, the texture of the sand that we put our feet onto, the gentle breeze caressing our skin.

Well, actually I need to upload this vid since my cellphone starts running out of storage capacity xD. See you on day-3!