Road Trip to Padang: More than a week of amusements and a week before the tragedy

Day 1: The journey begins
This year holiday of the Idul Fitri 1430 H, September 2009, has been wonderful to me. My wife’s family decided to go on a road trip to their hometown in Padang, West Sumatera. It was such an offer which I am happy to oblige. Actually, it was the first time for me going to Padang but the second time going to Sumatera Island. The first one was way back in college, 7 years ago, with my fellow college friends from Petroleum Engineering Department, class of 99, Institut Teknologi Bandung. We went on a Field Trip to one of the oil field in Prabumulih, South Sumatera which is operated by P. T. Ekspan, now has become P.T. Medco Energi.

This year is different though, aside from the fact that I am already married now and have one beautiful baby girl, I got the chance to visit Padang city which I’ve heard that it has many spectacular view and scenery. We will get to that point later on.
The journey began from my house in Pondok Pinang at 8 p.m. after we broke our fasting during Ramadhan month. We arrived at the Pelabuhan Merak at 11 p.m. and went straight to Pelabuhan Bakaheuni in Bandar Lampung by using a Ferri boat.



The traffic of going in to the boat was not too heavy because it was not the peak timing of “mudik” yet. We arrived at the Pelabuhan Bakaheuni at dawn, and went straight to the Jalur Lintas Timur to proceed with our journey.

Day 2: Long way to go
It took about 36 to 40 hours of driving from Lampung to Padang passing Palembang in South Sumatera, Jambi, and straight to Solok, that is where my parents-in-law hometown, so we occasional change the driver’s seat position. It was the first time for me driving in Sumatera and what an experience it was. During the Jalur Lintas Timur, cars were moving so fast at high speed unlike in Jakarta where traffic hinders them in doing so. We took some time to rest during the way and spend the night somewhere in Jambi.



Day 3: Home at last
After a long and tiring yet exciting road trip we successfully arrived in Solok at 6 p.m. just in time to break our fasting. Solok is a relatively small city but I found a big and strong atmosphere of Islamic tradition and activity. Perhaps it was because my mother-in-law’s house is located just across a mosque. We were so tired at that time hence we spent the rest of the night trying to get some sleep and rest.

Day 4: A quick visit to Padang
Early in the morning we went to the nearest rice paddy field in Solok, not only to look at the beautiful scenery but also to donate some money to the needy in the area. Well it was actually my brother-in-law who donated the money, I and my wife had done it back in our house, and we called this Zakat Fitrah and Zakat Maal.




Not long after that we went to Padang; the duration from Solok to Padang is about two hours passing the Gunung Talang. After we arrived in Padang, my father-in-law took us to his hometown in the city to visit his parents’ cemetery. Afterwards, we made a small trip around the city while making our way back home to Solok. We arrived in Solok at night and spend some big-family time in one of our relative’s house. It was Malam Takbiran actually, yet the atmosphere is quite simple because we did not hear any fireworks only the sound of Takbir to pray our Allah SWT.

Day 5: Idul Fitri @ Solok
After one month of trying to get hold of our passion and fasting, the day of victory has finally arrived, Idul Fitri 1430H, a time to reflect our self and praying to be a better person in the future. Early in the morning we went to the mosque for our Shalat Ied ceremony and not long afterwards comes the time of asking forgiveness to our family and also visiting our relatives. Thus the whole day was spent in doing this activity.








Day 6: The Beauty of Sikuai Island
Whoo Hoo.. the next morning we prepared our self to go to the Sikuai island. We arrived at the port in Padang at 9.30 a.m. and make our way to the island by using a Ferri for about 1 – 2 hours. We took the one day tour package that cost us 250,000/person. The idea is to spend the day in the island and we will be picked up back at 4 p.m.




As soon as we arrived in the island, we were amazed on how beautiful the island is. White sands and coconut trees are everywhere. And if you look at the water you could see small fish along with the coral and reefs below. So the next thing that I did was to get the swimming googles and spend 2 hours of snorkeling at the heat of the sun, it was 1 p.m at that time. Luckily it was not raining and the weather was just perfect.





My baby girl took her first step lesson there with her mom while I was busy snorkeling. After some times, I asked my wife to join me snorkeling and it was her first time, so she was excited as well and really keen of doing that again sometimes.




Time passes real fast if you were doing something that you like because it turns out that it was already 4 p.m hence we rushed back to the boat to leave the Sikuai Island yet the beauty lingers forever.




Day 7: Istana Pagaruyung, Danau Singkarak and Bukit Tinggi
The next day, we leave early in the morning from Solok to go to Istana Pagaruyung and Bukit Tinggi. We passed the big and famous Danau Singkarak on our way there. There are 3 big lakes in West Sumatera, Danau Singkarak, Danau Maninjau, and Danau Kembar (Di Atas dan Di Bawah). My wife told me that each lake has a different fish inside, but they are all delicious.
We arrived at the Istana Pagaruyung at 2 p.m. This palace was burnt by fire not long ago therefore the reconstruction is still in progress at that time. At the entrance of the palace you will see a videotape of recording during the fire tragedy which is quite sad when you look at it. We got around the palace and guided by one of our relatives who is one of the employee in the reconstruction committee.




It is quite a huge palace and mostly made from wood, which has a unique sign or “ukiran” on it.
After spending one hour there, we went to Bukit Tinggi to spend a night there. Bukit Tinggi is famous of its cool weather, just like in Puncak area in Bogor, and also of its Jam Gadang which is located at the heart of the City. At night, we went to the Jam Gadang and luckily it was still during the festive season of Idul Fitri, hence there were fireworks everywhere. Although the sound was noisy but my dearest baby girl still managed to fell asleep, perhaps she was just too tired.




Day 8: Danau Maninjau and Kelok Ampe-Ampe
The next morning we went to a market near Jam Gadang to buy some souvenirs, and at noon we went back to Solok but this time we took a different route to pass the Kelok 44 (Kelok Ampe-Ampe) and go to Danau Maninjau to have dinner there.



Although I consider myself as a good driver but after seeing the Kelok Ampe-Ampe I just let my father-in-law who does the driving, they called it Kelok Ampe-Ampe simply because there are 44 U-turn from top of the mountain going down to the lake. It was a crazy street, and it takes more than skills to pass it. You might need many prayers and luck on it. Luckily there were not many trucks or cars at that time, so we finally arrived at the lake-front restaurant who serves great foods and have our dinner there.






At 8 p.m. we went back to Padang to visit one of our relatives and spend the night there. Yes, we went again through the Kelok Ampe-Ampe and yes it was not me who drove the car. Unfortunately due to the heavy traffic from Bukit Tinggi to Padang we ended up at 3 a.m at our relative’s house, normally it only takes 3 – 4 hours of driving.

Day 9: Crusing around Padang
Next morning, we cruised around Padang to buy some souvenirs and traditional food such as Kerupuk Sanjay, and we stopped by at one of the most delicious Ice Durian in the city, I forgot what it is called, something like Durian Gantung restaurant?? Anyway it was one perfect way to feast you thirst during the middle of the day. We arrived at Solok at 2 p.m, took same rest and prepare our self for our journey back to Jakarta
At 10 p.m we start our road trip to Jakarta and again luckily the traffic was not too heavy.

Day 10 – 12
After spending 2 days at the road trip and one night staying at Palembang, we finally managed to get back to Jakarta in a safe condition. This holiday trip surely was filled with amusement and excitement and I would not mind going back there again sometimes and repeat the whole thing. But one week after we arrived in Jakarta, I’ve seen the news on TV that there was a big earthquake and landslide that hit Padang city and surrounding. Thousands were dead plus hundreds are perhaps still missing at the landslide or building rumbles. Hundreds or thousands of houses and building were destroyed due to the magnitude of the earthquake. I could not imagine what would be the catastrophic situation at that time. Some parts of the house that belongs to one of our relatives in Padang, the one that we spent the night, was destroyed and fortunately they were alright and also our relatives in Solok. Nevertheless, my biggest and sincere condolences go for all the victim of the earthquake and natural tragedy in Padang. Hopefully, in a period of time you would all be strong and even better. Amien…

Java R&W team Away Day @ Bandung (Dec 2008)

Three years has finally come for me to join the last team away day with my department which is Java Reservoir and Wells. This time, I am one of the event committee whose job description is to manage almost the whole thing from accommodation, activity, safety concern and also leisure time. After hard discussion with the rest of the committee member, finally we have come to an agreement to spend our team away day at Bandung for 2 days-1 night activity. As for accommodation, we choose the Beverly Hills town House which is located at Cisitu area. The place is wonderful where there are around 10 – 20 townhouses which could occupy 4 – 6 person each. We arrived there at 10 a.m. and went straight to a short team meeting for one and a half hour to discuss our achievement in 2008 and our plan for 2009.
Afterwards, we went to the Bumi Sangkuriang area for lunch and then followed by games and outbound activity such as Flying Fox, Balance Stick, Japanese Samurai and also Crazy Doughnut.



Personally I had a huge fun and “excitement” on the latter game, where our team became literally crazy due to our in-capability of moving that doughnut to other place using a long stick after several attempts.





And after us finally able to move it, we were just so desperate enough to know that there was not only one doughnut but four of them. But hey, it is supposed to be a Team activity right? Hence with our new spirit and strategy we were able to move all of them and managed to be the number two spot during the day.
At 5 p.m. we went back to our townhouse to clean our self and get ready for a nice dinner at Sierra restaurant. The menu is okay but the ambience and the view were superb. It was a clear night sky at that time thus we were able to see the city lights from Bandung city, accompanied by a wonderful slow music.



In the morning, we were divided into two groups, Shopping group and Adventure group. The idea is to spend the rest of the morning and be back at the townhouse at 11 a.m.



So here we are the Adventure group getting ready for the Offroad activity and then followed by Paint Ball activity at Cikole area near Lembang. The former was the first one for me; it was fun and exciting actually, where we go on a modified-Land Rover to a very muddy and tranquil street in middle of the the forest on our way to the Paint Ball arena in Cikole. For sure, paint ball game is one way of having fun, especially in the middle of the forest. It felt like you actually went to a war with the entire wardrobe minus the real bullet.



Unfortunately, our team lost to the other team, perhaps due to the excitement of making many strategies but some of them did not happen at the actual execution.
On our way back to the townhouse we choose to go at the main road not the Offroad anymore because it was already 11.30 a.m. and yes we were already late. So at 1 p.m. we left the townhouse for lunch at the Arisan café which is nice actually, the food is great (supported by our huge hunger at that time) and the restaurant is simple yet classy.
Having our stomach filled with nice foods, our group went back to Jakarta, exhausted and excited. Well, once again Bandung has never disappointed me.

How to get there:
Bandung: from Jakarta, take the Jakarta Cipularang (Purbaleunyi) toll road, exit at Pasteur for an easier access to the main city, but could be very heavy traffic especially at weekend, and long holiday. You could take an alternative route, exit at Buah Batu toll gate. Toll fee for Jakarta – Bandung is around 50,000 rupiah and normally the duration of going there is 2 – 2.5 hours, it depends on the traffic at the toll road. Sometimes it could get you up to 3 – 4 hours during heavy traffic.
The price for each of the Beverly Hills townhouse is ranging from 700,000 to 1,500,000/night and the outdoor activity (Offroad and Paintball comes as one package) is around 150,000 to 300,000 rupiah/person

Tantre and The Brondonx (Oct - Nov 2008)

“Okay boys, I’ll see you tomorrow at 6.30 a.m at Ragunan sport center!” Tantre said. She is the leader of our group called Tantre and The Brondonx. There are 10 of us in the group. Tantre stands for Tante, an Indonesian word describing a classy and dignified mid-aged woman and simply because she is the eldest among us. The rest of us were boys and girls from 23 – 28 years old.



This group was created in order to join a sporty and healthy competition within our office which is called Run-A-Muck. This is a one month program where we got to be very healthy and sporty and competing with 10 – 15 other groups. Therefore during that one specific month, Tantre and The Brondonx has made some what so-called sporty event every week such as jogging around at the office park during lunch break wearing nothing but a short pants, jump suit and T-shirt while spreading away some flyers containing healthy way of living to the passerby.






Not only that, we also went to Monas on a lovely Sunday morning and luckily there were some kind of a sport event being there at the same time which is the-10,000-foot step for a stronger bone held by one of the dairy products producer specialized in Milk for the stronger bone.





After walking for almost an hour from Djakarta Theater to Monas, the distance is only 500m, (too much photo session involved during the walk), we spent the rest of the morning eating Ketupat/Lontong Sayur, Nasi Goreng and Bubur Ayam at the food stall around Monas area. It was a perfect way to end the day.





On the last week of the month, as she said before, we were supposed to gather at Ragunan sport center at 6.30 a.m, all of us managed to get there around 7-ish in the morning. Of all my 28 years of living in Jakarta, this is the very first time I visited Ragunan Sport Center, turns out that it was not bad at all, you will find jogging track which is like the one in Gelora Senayan, plus there is a football field, swimming pool, badminton and volley ball court and many others.



Luckily the jogging track was not too crowded at that time only some local athlete who were doing a routine in the jogging track. Thus we spent an hour of exercising and jogging plus another one and a half hour of photo session. Hehe..
This is another reason why our group, Tantre and The Brondonx, was selected as the Best Group of the Year, it is simply because we were very consistent and cooperative doing some sports and photo session.





As a reward, each of us was awarded an IPOD by the committee and a fancy dinner plus Karaoke as a special treat from our beloved Tantre. Sadly, now Tantre and The Brondonx has been separated by work condition, I have moved to a different company and some others as well, even there is one of us who is working at East Kalimantan but we believe that the sporty and cooperative spirit will remain strong deep within ourself.






How to get there:
Monas: just take the the Busway from Blok-M to Kota, stop at Monas, or if you want to walk, you can park your car at the Djakarta Theather and walk or ride your bike to Monas for about half an hour. It is a good way to spend your Sunday morning especially when there is a car-free day which is usually held on the last week of the month. You could call the Traffic Management Centre (TMC) for the exact date of the car-free day.
Ragunan Sport Center: take the Busway from Kuningan to Ragunan, stop at the Ragunan Busway Terminal and walk to the Sport Center which is only 400 m from the terminal. Or you can always take your car with you, go to the Departemen Pertanian intersection at Jl. TB Simatupang, turn right if you were coming from Pondok Indah, go straight until you find the entrance to the Ragunan zoo, do not enter the zoo, make a left turn at the corner of the entrance, or you could simply ask the street vendor for direction.

2009 Year End Blessing

You may call it lucky or anything., but with this announcement has somehow made me a better person and been a year end blessing for me. You know what? It is one of the reason why i created this blog at the first place.. hehe..
Hopefully plenty more with come afterthis..

Talisman Indonesia Writing Competition Winners!!!
Thanks to everyone who entered the writing competition. We have some really creative minds! Congratulations to our winners:

First place - Dodhy Wijayanto - "Sipping Every Moment" - winner of 500.000 Rupiah
Second place - Yurizal Firdaus - "It's Like Having A New Baby" - winner of 300.000 Rupiah
Third place - Rajasa Utama - "untitled" - winner of 200.000 Rupiah

Well, here is the winning article:
P.S. I'm planning to buy a very special homemade combro for my colleagues with this.






Sipping Every Moments




It was 5.45 p.m on Thursday afternoon after I spent half an hour of interview with Pak David and a short meeting with Pak Ron. I walked outside the building through the corridor on my way to the motorcycle parking lot. I looked up once again to the IDX building Tower 1 where my office would be.

The atmosphere and ambience of that specific afternoon felt so right, where the sun was almost set, and the wind blew smoothly and I was totally transfixed to the situation and scenery.
Previously I worked in Southern part of Jakarta, Arkadia office building, and having that moment I kind of felt like a person who is just migrating from a rural village to the very heart of modernization in Jakarta with skyscrapers building, malls, where people are wearing nice suits, moving fast, and seemed very busy at all time or panic knowing the heavy traffic ahead of them.

The very first day I joined Talisman, 1st October 2009, was even better, I got a cubicle that could see straight to Sudirman Street and the golf course. Seeing the sun rises and sets every day is another advantage. People here in Talisman are just fantastic, very supportive and friendly. Everywhere in IDX building, I got to see people wearing suits, shirts and ties, beautiful ladies wearing lovely dress everyday, unlike before where you could wear jeans, khakis, polo shirt, and even sneakers. Therefore I guess my personal WP&B for 2010 would be buying trousers, shirt, ties, and perhaps an executive briefcase but I get a strong feeling that the AFE would not be approved by my regulatory body namely my wife..hehe.

On lunch break, my boss asked me to join him at Pacific Place. The food there is just special just like what we have here in IDX building. Here, I could find all sorts of food from breads, bubur ayam, Japanese food, Thai food, pizza, burger, soto ayam, siomay, Chinese food, and the famous Combro (if we are lucky enough).

Still fascinated by the wonderful sceneries, beautiful ladies and delicious foods that I had on that day, I realized that it was already 4.30 p.m again, when I looked outside my window, smiling and said to myself…This is going to be fun!!

Rafting @ Citarik (Dec 2009): First time but definitely not the last

It is quite unusual actually, for me at least, where now due to the small team member in my department (there are only nine of us, 4 expats and 5 national employees); we got the chance to go rafting at Citarik River as our Away Day event.


Normally, in my previous company where there were fifty-ish person, an Away Day event would be a regular outbound activity, not that im complaining though, such as Flying Fox, outdoor games, Paint Ball, or Offroad, followed by fancy dinner and then straight back to Jakarta but now something new to me, “rafting”. I’ve always wanted to go rafting since in college but my Mom always told me not to do that knowing that it would be very dangerous and most of all she still remember that I could not swim and would be drowned eventually, well that was true 10 years ago, now I could swim Mom, hehe.. Thus, I always keep that craving deep inside of me until now, my 28th years of living.
I was picked up very early at 4.30 a.m on Thursday morning, 17th December 2009, and the plan was to get there at 9.00 a.m. for a short team meeting. The traffic to Sukabumi was very heavy, even in the morning and it is even worse than the road to Puncak with only two lanes each for going up and down, not to mention the big trucks and the sophisticated “angkot” driver. Hence, we arrived at Caldera resort (one of the rafting provider in Citarik river) at 9.30 a.m, went straight for breakfast and at 10.00 we started with team meeting to have a brainstorm for our 2009 performance and achievement and decide the 2010 objectives.
We had lunch at 12.00 a.m and soon afterwards we get prepared for rafting. Personal PPE is provided by Caldera such as helmet, life jacket and of course “dayung”. After 20 minutes of riding a truck, we arrived at the upstream part of the Citarik River, this 20 minutes journey itself felt like an Offroad, where the road was very bumpy but it was fun.


Not long after that, the instructor divided us into 2 rafts and gave a brief instruction of what we are supposed to do during rafting. It turns out that there are some words, codes and instructions that normally used during rafting but all I could remember was “Boom-Boom” where you should bend your head and body in upward position and hold on to Dear God tightly because there will be a bumpy raft, waves or even rocks in front. Although there were no rocks or heavy raft in front, our instructor sometimes yelled “Boom-Boom” intentionally just to see our reaction and his amusement.

The 2-hours-rafting felt so short and the stream was not very rough at that times so none of us got injured or drowned, only one of my expat colleague flipped over at one of the raft.
There are 10 – 30 rafts along the river ranging from easy rafts until rough rafts and you could go rafting for 2 up to 4 hours, it depends on your preference but of course the price would be different. We took the 2 hours package that cost us Rp 180.000/pax.
It was quite an experience for me going rafting; we left from Caldera at 4 p.m. and due to the crazy traffic going down from Sukabumi to Ciawi, I arrived at my house in Pondok Pinang at 10 p.m.
Next time rafting would be the 4 hours package at the rainy season.
Mom, wish me luck..!!




Infos:
There are 4 provider of rafting in Citarik River: Caldera, Arus Liar, and two others. Minimum is to have 4 people for one raft. If there are only two of you then you still should pay for 4 people.
How to get there: take the JORR, exit at the Ciawi toll gate, pass the market and just follow the roads going up, after the 2nd or 3rd gas station (in your left side) there will be a right turn going up as well, follow that road you will then see the tea trees and palm trees plantation and when you see the Caldera/Arus Liar billboard sign, turn left. They are located next to the Citarik River.
Traveling time would be 3 ~ 5 hrs (depends on the traffic) Don’t forget to bring an extra shirt and short for rafting, toiletries, and sunblock.
Photos would be taken care by the provider with an extra cost for it.