Kalibiru National Park

It's been 4 months I live in Yogyakarta and I have no idea why do I still wanna travel more throughout this city and surroundings. I am maybe following the trends but oh who doesn't wanna go to Kalibiru when you're already in Yogyakarta? It was actually an impromptu no-lecture day, I decided to go to Kalibiru National Park with my college buddies. Kalibiru is located in Kulon Progo, the western side of Yogyakarta Province. It may take approx 1 hour or more to get there from the central Jogja.

Kalibiru View

When you enter the Park area, you'll be asked to pay the retribution (around 10k). You will have to ascend the sloped roads to the Kalibiru area. You'll be again charged for parking fee there. Since we went there on weekdays, not so many visitors came to the place. After parking our car, we have to somewhat climb to the ticketing area. After paying for entrance tickets, you will go up again to several spots provided. There are 3 spots for climbing and there are some spots for flying fox as well. By the time you reach your destination spot, I guarantee you'll get your thigh firm for having the uphill walks lol.

Queuing to see the view from tree house spot

You'll have to queue if you'd like to climb one of the tree house spots (10k per pax). When climbing the tree house, you'll be geared up with the safety equipment. The officer will take pictures while you're already at the top of the tree house. The view from the top is very green yet stunning, but it's also frightening if you're afraid of heights (including me). The pictures will be transferred via flash disk, android device (apple is not supported) or by email. Each photograph will be charged for 5k (minimum 4 pics taken). You can also ask your company to take picture of you without taking picture from the officers. 

At the top spot, but actually scared

If you wanna go there on Friday, mind the time. The officers will take a long break (Friday prayer and lunch) from 11 am to 1 pm. If you have spare time in the weekdays, that will be better. The visitors in the weekends may be much crowded.

Umbul Ponggok

As you know (from my previous post), we didn't have fun enough when visiting Sadranan Beach to do snorkeling. One day when one of our classes were called off, we decided to go to Umbul Ponggok. This place is located in Klaten, Central Java. It takes about 1 hour to get there, not as far as those southern beaches in Yogyakarta.

perfect light for swimming

Umbul Ponggok is a one-stop place for swimming, snorkeling, or even diving. It is a natural water-spring pond, filed with many colorful fish. Unlike the usual pool, the base of this pool is natural sands. Though it has many fish live there, the water is not fishy since the water spring keeps on flowing. 

swarm of fish

If you want to snorkel, they provide the snorkel gear with affordable price as well. The ultimate thing to do in Umbul Ponggok is absolutely taking picture underwater. The natural water spring here is so clear, so you might not want to miss the opportunity. Many photographic tools are also to be rented here. And oh, they also provide services for pre-wedding photos or any other occasional underwater photo purposes. The perfect time for visiting here is in the morning or afternoon, where the light is sufficient enough to take good pictures.

geared up?

Sadranan Beach

Sadranan Beach is one of the beaches located in the southern sea of Central Java. Southern sea is known for its steep coral beaches, therefore it is not suitable for swimming. After visiting Ngrenehan beach, I'm still curious about visiting any other beaches along Jogjakarta. One of my friends wanted to snorkel on the sea, so we decided to go to Sadranan beach, which is according to some information we got, it is the nearest beach to go snorkeling.

Realxing in The Hut

The path to go to Sadranan is the same as to go to Baron beach. It takes approximately 2 hours from Jogja to be here. Sadranan beach is located in Wonosari, Gunung Kidul area. Once you get there, there are many retribution layers to be paid. As soon as you get there, many huts are provided for rent. There are many seafood stalls as well. Since this beach is well known for snorkeling activity, there are many snorkel gear rentals. The price is quite affordable.

Sadranan Corals

Once we were ready, we went snorkeling at 13.00. the water there is quite cold, so you don't have to mind the hot whether, but please put on your sunblock before swimming lol. Actually the edge of the sea is not too deep. I didn't use any life vest when snorkeling there. The are little number of fish, so don't expect to have an incredible experience of snorkeling here. The corals are rather steep and sharp. My friends were wounded by the corals. Me, who wore long legging was also get bleeding since the sharp one went through the fabric. We only swam for less than one hour, since knowing it is not too nice to snorkel here.

Snorkel Gear Rental

Beautiful Sadranan View

So our curiosity had ended. We went home by 3 pm after sipped some coffee there. Before going home, we stopped by at Bukit Bintang to have a supper. The view was not so good that time, since we got there before night. Thank God we finally had our stomach full after such an unsatisfying journey haha. But in the end, the beautiful view of the beach didn't disappoint us.

Supper at Bukit Bintang

Taman Sari Water Castle

Taman Sari is one of the cultural heritage palaces of Keraton Jogja, which is a former royal garden of Sultanate of Jogja. It is a place where Sultans took bath, swam, had fun with his mistresses. The location of this bath is in the central of Taman Sari. It is considered a World Heritage Site, but unfortunately when Yogyakarta having earthquake in 2006, some of the authentic ruins were stolen. The maintenance of Taman Sari was abandoned after Sultan Hamengkubuwono I died, mostly because the elaborate hydraulic works were so difficult to maintain. The pond now is left blank in every morning, but the committee fill the pond with water every afternoon. This place is really crowded, especially during weekend. The tourists are not only from domestic area, but also many foreigners are attracted to this place. There are many good spots to take picture here but once again, not during weekends.

Pond/Pool Area

Private Pool of the Sultans

The Gate

When you enter the area, you will smell kemenyan during you seeing. Particularly, Taman Sari is divided into four areas. The first area is the artificial lake Segaran which is located in the west side. The second area is the bathing complex in the south of the Segaran lake, called Umbul Binangun. The third area, where now is completely gone, is the Pasarean Ledok Sari and Garjitawati Pool, located in the south of the bathing complex. The fourth area is the east side of the first and second area.

  

 

 

 

 

Upside Area where Sultans watch his mistresses dance

The Ruins Left

Kampung Taman Area

Besides the pond and the heritage buildings and ruins, you can also see any other things here. There are many kepel trees growing in this area. It is known to be the natural perfume for sultanate family. Once you eat it, it will give you nice and good scent from your body. You can also visit Kampung Taman surrounding this area, where you can buy souvenirs from Taman Sari, which is occupied by the local residents there.

MUSINGAPORE

I was rather shocked when some of my friends told me that muse were going to perform in Singapore on September 26. Actually I was confused whether I've to attend the concert or not. Since it was gonna be held on weekend, I decided to buy the standing-area ticket. It was 2 days after Eid Adha, so I didn't have enough time to exchange the money and so on. All I could think was my friends would be there so I didn't have to worry. The only flight straight to Singapore from Jogjakarta is Air Asia and it only has 1 flight each day back and forth.

My flight was in the early morning. By the time I arrived, I met my muser buddies at the airport and we went to the hotel first to pray and putting our carriers. We went to the concert venue at Singapore Indoor Stadium at 2pm and the queue was not really long (around 3 lines to be exact). We made 2 groups divided to tag a queuing place so we could have lunch first. Around 5pm, we were allowed to get in the inside queuing area. We just couldn’t wait any longer so we made some random jokes and trash-talks to break the ice. We were allowed to enter the standing area approximately at 7pm one by one. Finally the ticket was scanned, after 2-layer queuing before that wasn’t scanned at all lol. Our group ran so quickly (but still look for each other) to get into the front row and we sure made it on Chris’ view front row. Unfortunately, there was a couple kissing next to us along the concert and we were like, ughh… Inside the stadium, we had to wait again for the opening act, which is The Ruse to perform at 8pm.

Chris side front row team

This Canadian band brought like 9 songs that were unknown for me to be honest. They are actually good, but just don’t match my genre. At 8.50pm they finished performing and the audience started to ignite again. Muse’s crew came up for some details, and I assume they will perform at least 30mins later. My legs were actually aching, so I decided to sit instead while everyone was still standing for muse to come up (avoiding that kissing couple as well tho). I finally stood again at 9.30 and muse still hadn’t showed up. We chatted for seconds and the lights were suddenly off.

Matt Bellamy on Psycho

a Chris' must-shot photo

I KNOW IT WAS MUSE!! I screamed like nobody cares, and then the sound appeared, it was Psycho that came as first single to be played when I heard Drill Sergeant intro. Then Reapers turned up. I couldn’t be more excited. This is definitely one of my favorite tracks from The Drones album. The last part was such an epic. Here Come The Drones!!! Muse never waste their time. Plug in Baby was next. The guitar riff said it all. I wasn’t particularly aware anymore with the surroundings. I didn't really notice what the band had done on the stage actually, for I just couldn’t handle this excitement no more. Plus, my view was always Chris and I had no ability to look at Matt or Dom’s side from where I stood. They continued the show with Resistance, a deep song that was played magnificently. There came the epic track, Unsustainable, one of the unusual tracks of muse. I followed the news anchor talking until the mind-blowing part came. Next they brought the deep yet sexy Dead Inside. The drum part was totally graceful, at least for me. The Interlude part of Hysteria was slowly heard after. The crowds were screaming as well for Hysteria. Probably it is compulsory for the band to put this song on every gig. The bass conquered the audience, until my favorite track of all time was being played. Yes, it is CITIZEN ERASED, the one with 7-string guitar, and with piano part at the end. I didn’t sing it loudly, but screamed at each lyric instead. I didn’t want this song to finish soon, though it is the longest track of all muse singles. They also played citizen erased at previous muse concert I’ve seen in Jakarta. Thank God I got it played at each concert. Next one we got the covered Feeling Good. This song calmed me down for some times. Dominic and Christopher started to punch the stadium with drum and bass solo. Eventually it was a starter for Madness. This song gave me a break to jump around and scream, except that one last part. Mostly each song that has official lyrics video will come out with the video at the background. Supermassive Black Hole came next, and I actually didn’t really spend too much energy on this, just sang the backing vocal part lol. Even worse, I didn’t sing at all when muse brought their all-time song Time is Running Out. Yeah, blame me for not being too muser. I thought maybe when approaching their last minutes, the tracks will be slowing down. This happened again in Starlight, when I was only humming for several times. Since I no longer have sufficient energy, it was an opportunity for me to rest a bit. Then Uprising came up. The tempo raised the goosebumps again. Many big black balloons were released in this part of the song. The audience, mostly in standing area snatched to stab the balloons which are filled by confetti. It was an incredible moment of a life-time.

full team from my view

I know this is not the end of the show yet. The setlist is completely the same as in Bangkok. The encore part didn’t really take a long time. Muse came again with Mercy, the touching one. On the halfway to the end of the song, the confetti was launched again. I felt my body was warm enough to be covered by these so-called cut-papers. Do you know what could be more ecstatic? Yes, it is Man with a Harmonica by Chris Wolstenholme. This melody was given as an intro for Knight of Cydonia. I didn’t stop moshing and head-banging over and over again along this song, AND I CAN’T. This beyond excited feeling, amusing sound, crowds’ hype, I couldn’t resist no more. This song is really a good booster to end the show.

And so it was. The show ended. As usual, they lack interacting with fans but it doesn’t matter. The security asked us to leave the indoor stadium. It was actually annoying but in the other hand they gave us drinking water during the concert for two times if I’m not mistaken. We took several pictures together before leaving the area. I was not just hungry, but already starving (every breast-feeding mother problem).

Indonesian Musers

I went to Jogjakarta the next day, with a post-concert syndrome. I mean, it is unlike other bands I’ve seen, there’s a feeling of wanting more and more. I can't distinguish whether it's an objective or subjective review if it comes to muse so I'm giving point to this concert 9.5 out of 10.

PS: I didn't take any proper shots so pardon my lack visual captures

Ngrenehan Beach

Since August 2015, I officially moved to Jogjakarta. I got a double-degree scholarship so I'll be living here for at least a year and moving abroad by next year. I took my daughter and husband as well. Luckily he also got the same scholarship scheme. Jogjakarta is well-known for its travel destination. As a new comer, I have to go places here before departing somewhere else hahaha. There are many fabulous beaches in Jogjakarta. My friends and I are excited to go one by one wandering them. The first place we visited is Pantai Ngrenehan or Ngrenehan beach. We went there by car, toward Wonosari. You'll be going through many winding roads to get there.

 the bluish Pantai Ngrenehan

When you enter the area, you'll be charged by the local commission for Ngrenehan and Ngobaran beach. Since Ngobaan beach can't provide water sports, we decided just going to Ngrenehan. We were already hungry so we decided to eat at one of the food huts that was available in Ngrenehan. You can directly see the beautiful scenery of the beach through here. Ngrenehan beach is a fisherman's beach. All of the seafood and fish in the hut restaurant are still fresh. There are many fish to be auctioned as well to be taken home if you are interested. Since I don't eat seafood (I have this allergic thingy FYI), I only ordered stir-fry vegetables with rice. My friends told me that the seafood has no any seasoning added, just the natural salt but they tasted real good and fresh. The price is also very much affordable.

 lunch in a hut

Travel buddies

After having lunch, we went to the shore and rented a boat to have fun. This shore is a bay-formed beach. Once you get there, you will see so crystal-clear sea water with its beautiful bluish color. At first I thought the boat would run usual but it actually went real fast. It drives your adrenaline and off course it was fun. I'd like to do it again. You can also swim and snorkel there. If you'd like to change clothes, bathrooms are available anywhere but don't expect for such a clean ones.

Meet the boys of Boyzone

At first I didn't know that these guys were gonna take a concert in Jakarta. My sister in-law told me that they'd be holding a show at May 22 this year. Boyzone is one of my favorite boybands when I was a teenager. I looked for the tickets but it turned out we run out of presale tickets (yea off course, you were late to know the news as well so yeah) so I had to look at kaskus forum to get the tickets. Luckily I found the buyer who sold the tickets as affordable as the presale ones. Yeayy!!

I went to the Istora Senayan at 6.30 pm. The crowds were already flooding. It is funny since the audience who watched the concerts share the same age with us hahaha. Probably they also wanted to reminisce good old days as we did when they were in the 90s. We already got into the venue at 7 pm and the show started soon.

Boyzone brought several new songs and many old songs as well. The show went into sorrow when they sang several songs that were sung together with the late Stephen Gately. Unlike their golden era where Ronan Keating dominated most of the singing parts, now they share equal parts of singing. They brought like 22 songs, including 2 of Ronan’s hits Life is a Roller Coaster and When You Say Nothing at All. I, and probably most of the audience just couldn't go back to the reality that we missed those good old days in the 90s after attending this very concert. I rate this show 7.5 out of 10 since they still maintain good vocals and are still solid.

 me and sister in-law

Setlist:

Love Is a Hurricane

Picture of You

Love You Anyway

Baby Can I Hold You (Tracy Chapman cover) 

Everything I Own  (Bread cover) 

Ruby

Words (Bee Gees cover)

You Needed Me (Anne Murray cover)

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going (Billy Ocean cover) 

Gave It All Away

Every Day I Love You

When You Say Nothing at All (Keith Whitley cover)

The Tracks of My Tears (The Miracles cover) 

Reach Out (Four Tops cover) 

You Can't Hurry Love (The Supremes cover) 

No Matter What

If We Try

Love Will Save The Day

Who We Are

Encore:

A Different Beat

Love Me for a Reason (The Osmonds cover)

Life Is a Rollercoaster (Ronan Keating song)