Karimun Jawa, I'm in Love

"Feel the wind.. Playing sand and jumping into a perfect blue ocean.. That's what we called 'life'.."

- Olly -

Currently in the mood of remembering my precious moment, back in my summer in Indonesia

When we were together... having a journey to Karimun Jawa island.

The unforgettable road trip, took a week for exact. Starting from Yogyakarta - Train Museum Ambarawa - Ungaran Swimming Pool - Semarang - Jepara - Karimun Jawa - and back to Yogyakarta again.

And so, here's the story :)

Photograph taken by all of us, not in particular order.

17 September 2010

Starting at Yogyakarta, road trip was begun with my dear Xenia :D

Beer cheers to begin the journey... *ps: the mineral bottle was only a camouflage :p

Full tank of fuel, full charged iPod with a playlist ready, full of laugh, full of spirit...

We were soooo ready to begin the journey

Arrived at Ambarawa Train Museum.

from left to right: Olly, Evo, Nikki, me, and Dedy

Genuine smile on our face were enough to explain the excitement of us.

playing with soap bubbles... seeing it flied somehow eased my feeling.

Olly took this one for me

"Bubble soap flies.
Wind blows it, she smiles.
For seconds it stays before splashes.
No more she cries.
For she now knows, nothing is forever last.
And there will be a time, when memory dries"

Ungaran Swimming Pool. It was said as the highest swimming pool in the southeast Asia.

Have to admit, the view was exceptionally beautiful. Too bad we came when it was almost dark. Couldn't spend too much time here...

Arriving at Semarang... Staying over at Mas Pitoet's place.

Here were us, with mac web id Semarang, having dinner at Nasi Gandul

with the best street musician ever!

Iwan Fals Night! And I sang along every single song.

They played about 10 songs and I gave them about IDR 20,000 without any second thought.

Have I told you, Iwan Fals was my idol since I was 4th grade of elementary school? ;)

18 September 2010

Ready to go :D

One good day at Semarang with @mynamestillolly, @deymaydey,

@BrownScoot, @nikksaw, and @maswahjo!

"So take the photograph and still frames in your mind

Hang in on a shelf, in good health and good time...

I hope you had the time of your life"

(Green Day)

Segitiga Erlangga. They had the best "Dawet Durian" ever!!!

We were all stuffed, happy, and satisfied

Made us wondering, why there are people who kill themselves, while indeed there is such a good thing called Durian in this life ;)

They who decide a suicide must be never trying things such as crab and durian before.

lol... that was our jokes.

Hypermart Paragon Mall... buying stuff for our Karimun Jawa journey.

Evo, Dedy, and Olly was joking around with the sales. Me, just able to laugh widely.

Remember.. Softwell or Autan? The sales girl tried hard to convince us that Autan was a better lotion than Softwell.

After trying hard for about half an hour, we picked up the softwell at the end =))

Poor sales... >.<"

At Mas Pitoet's place at midnight. Gear up and ready to head on to Jepara.

We would catch the ferry for Karimun Jawa, there.

Excited? Of course!!! :)

19 September 2010

Beautiful sunrise at Jepara, while we were all waiting for the ferry to leave.

I remember, the silence of this moment. Glancing gratefully to these amazing scenery.

I remember taking picture with no words...

And also I remember, wishing the time to freeze for a while, so I could capture this moment in time and still framed it on my mind.

Do you remember?

Starting point: 09.06 WIB from Kartini Harbor Jepara.

Ready to 6 hours journey to Karimun Jawa.

What Dedy took from my car... airplane bag. Just in case, if there were any of us would throw up because of the motion sickness.

Ferry VIP class, pretty comfortable seat, campursari songs, good friends next to you, and airplane bag. What else would you asking for, for this amazing journey?

A big journey had to begin with this one for sure!

Friends and cold beer in your hand...

I couldn't wish for anything better than this :')

*cheer everyone... it was a pleasure for me for having this journey with you.

Arriving at Karimun Jawa around 04.00pm.

Meeting the group from Bandung and heading to the first destination: Nirvana beach.

Nobody there but us, just like it was belong to us privately.

Can you imagine how happy we were?

White sand, blue sky, warm water... what a place!

I was so proud knowing that I just had to go nowhere.

It belongs to my own country!

But little did I know,

actually this beautiful beach was nothing compare what awaited us the next day.

20 September 2010

The first day of Island adventure was begun.

Tighten our life-vest, felt the sun shine, and enjoyed the tidal wave with priceless friends.

Here they are!

Meet Olly..

Our trip coordinator.

Basically he was the one who arranged everything about this trip for us and for me.

I remember one day, I told him and Dedy, I wanted to go to Karimun Jawa badly before I went back to Seattle.

And he promised me. And he fulfilled it.

Thank you!!!

Now gear up! Ready to go under?

Meet Nikki and Dedy...

Our so-called-pasangancintasepanjangmasa =))

I knew Dedy since two years ago, and I just knew Nikki for a while last year.

Before this Karimun Jawa trip, I spent quite a time with them,

but maybe it was true, that a long journey could reveal the true color of a person.

Meet Evo...

I just met him recently during my summer time at Yogya, but in the short moment of time,

I enjoyed my time with him.

Nice good, Vo!

Now get off from those boat, the perfect ocean was waiting for you!

Yeah, perfect... isn't it?

First water touched down.

Perfect sky above the perfect ocean with perfect friends, I just couldn't wish for more.

Tell me, have you been in the blue like this?

At least for once in your life, just try.

Landed to the first Island. Preparing our lunch.

Yes... fishhh :D 10 kg of fishes for 8 of us. And just guess how much we should pay?

Less than $3/person! Damn!

Our everyday lunch for 3 days...

Tons of fishes, grilled naturally with wood from surrounding, using butter and salt water only.

I tell you now, the taste was superb! I just can't enjoy grilled seafood anymore.

This Karimun Grilled Fish had leveled up my standard of grilled fish.

Found it's hard to find something that close to this taste.

See our happy face, as we had our lunch.

Yes, we couldn't finish it!

C'moon, 10kg of fish... Were you kidding me???

Full and stuffed... time to play on the beach. What you wanna do?

Swimming, taking photograph, or playing on the sand?

It's all up to you! Nobody's there... That's yours!

Enjoy your day to its fullest under this sunny day.

"Isn't life is beautiful?

I just can't find any reason for not being grateful"

And here it was, the pictures of the island where we've been that day.

Just in case you are wondering how it looked like :)

See? Am I exaggerating if I said... this is paradise!

I'm proud to be Indonesian :)

Quoting Olly's quote "God must been in the good mood when He created my country"

But wait until the next day, don't be amazed... the best view hasn't come yet ;)

Meet this blue starfish.

Wasn't he cute? You'll find a lotsssss of them if you come here.

I was on the date with him, right before I closed the day with the amazing sun ray on the sunset..

"Dear Starfish...

Do you think universe will grant my wish?"

21 September 2010

Another perfect blue sky on sunny day.

A cup of coffee and amazing breakfast, then we were ready for another adventure.

There, we arrived at the morning to this place begin our amazing journey.

Where was that? What were we doing here?

hehehe... well, you'll know when you see the picture below :D

....

yes... sharks ;)

We were on the sharks captivity. Nice place, eh?

Can you make a guess what we were doing there?

Feeding them? nopeeeee...

We were swimming with them!!! :D

Yes, they were small, but they were still sharks after all. The guide said they've been trained, but who can guarantee about their basic instinct?

So,it was all about handling your fear to experience something new :)

It's not everyday and everyplace you'll be able to get in touch this close with this creature, right?

Not only sharks there... but turtle as well.

You can touch them and play with them too on this captivity. Isn't it great?

Such a great place to begin the unforgettable day.

Then again, another Island adventure was started!

"The boat's sailing into the sea

Water everywhere, it's all I see

If I could ask one question to Thee

If you are here, why not with me?"

And so we arrived... Ready to go under?

Of course! There we go... just enjoy the amazing blue sea of Indonesia!

Have I told you, that going deep under the perfect blue water is the best feeling ever.

Accompanied by turtle, corals, and cute little fishes...

It's not a coral field like Hawai'i has... This is jungle... deep, wild, and free.

And again. proudly I will say... this is in Indonesia, and we have a LOT!

Please, try this... even just once in a lifetime...

Finished with underwater thing, we headed to the next Island called "Cemara Besar".

Would have our lunch there.

Yes... those 10kg fishes like before!

Preparing the fish. Yes, it was done by Mas Rusdi, our guide,himself.

He cleaned it up, set the fire, some magic and tadaaaaaa ... done!

Again we stuffed and couldn't finish it.

And remember I told you before, that the best view hasn't come yet.

So here some of them... wasn't it amazingly peacefully beautiful?

I tell you something.

The first time I stepped my feet on this island and saw this scenery...

I almost bursted into tears. Yes I did. It gave me a goosebumps.

White sand beach, perfect blue sky, gradient blue of the water, small waves...

And I just had to go nowhere :').

I didn't need to go aboard to Hawai'i to find a paradise...

A MUCH better paradise waited for me here, in my dear motherland Indonesia.

Such a paradise on my own country... How can't I be grateful?

And as that wasn't enough,

it almost nobody there but us to do whatever we pleased.

Damn, a paradise for our own!?

Yeah, it was ours for a day...

For us... me, Olly, Evo, Dedy, and Nikki.

I'm glad I was having this amazing journey with you, guys

Magnificent moment in magnificent paradise with magnificent people

*priceless :')

Remember our theme song that we all used to sing during our moment in Karimun Jawa?

I think we sang it billion of times, friends :)

"Do you hear me, I'm talking to you

across the water,

across the deep blue ocean under the open sky.

Oh my, baby, I'm trying..

Boy, I hear you, in my dreams.

I feel you whisper across the sea...

I keep you with me in my heart, you make it easier when life gets hard!

Lucky I'm in love with my best friend,

lucky to have been where I have been, lucky to be coming home again.

...

And so I'm sailing to the sea, to an island where we'll meet

you'll hear the music fills the air, I'll put the flower in your hair.

Through the breezes through the trees. Moves so pretty, you're all I see

As the world keep spinning round, you hold me right here right now"

(Lucky - Jason Mraz)

Then moved to another island. Having a coconut, while enjoying sunset, after a whole day swimming on the ocean. We were ready to close the day.

A still frame of our coconut, to remember the feeling of the evening.

22 September 2010

It was rain on the morning as we sailed to the sea, but nothing could stop us for enjoying our last day in this paradise!

No blue sky, but sure it would still be another exciting adventure.

Well, as for now, we started with fishing!

No need to use some hi-tech equipment, we just needed a string, hook, and squid as a bait.

You even could try to do fishing while swimming.

And what we got, would be our lunch :D Wasn't it fun?

Not in the mood for fishing? Well, I just jumped on, swam to the nearest terrace,

and laid on the chair, looking to the amazing scenery.

And as I did so, I just couldn't stop being grateful for having a moment like this.

I felt completely blessed.

Done with fishing, using a small boat, we were heading to the nearest island for lunch, which you can already guess what it was...

Yeaaaaa... (tons) of fish... as always.

This was the last time. Gonna miss this Karimun grilled fish badly.

Then we all just enjoying our last moment of sunset in this amazing place...

Last group picture :') Too bad, Nikki couldn't join us that day.

And as for you, Olly and Dedy... Hope you enjoy the day!!!

As this third day trip was, actually, all for both of you :)

I couldn't pay you as a professional when you helped me before in the production.

Hope this little treat enough to show you

how grateful I am, having a great person like you

as friends and as member of production team.

Meet again someday... work together again someday, promise?

The sky was getting dark and so we closed the last day on this paradise.

As we sailed back,there was a moonlight smiled gently beyond the dark cloudy sky.

A cold night wind, the boat, and the wave of the ocean whispered a farewell for us.

We sat next to each other in silence.

None of us could say anything... but still framed the moment and the feeling dearly on our mind.

"Purnama. Karimun Jawa. Cerita. Cinta. Kita"

It's definitely one moment of life, that I would treasure forever.

"Looking to the night sky, leaving me wondering why?

Accepting, I still fight to try...

No, already I said no more cry. Only wanna say good bye"

23 September 2010

There we were, ready to go... Every good time always have its own end...

And so we went back, to our life.

But memories will be remained still. Good bye, I'll see you somewhere, someday.

Them, sleeping on the ship deck... tired of our journey.

Me, couldn't close my eyes, looking carefully at each of them...

Kinda sad and hard to let go.

Hey, by watching you all slept like a sardine on the can,

4 days of togetherness, 12 hours on the way, and Karimun Jawa Island

... how can I forget?

Please let me keep every single smile of you and each second of our togetherness.

I'll treasure it dearly...

Though I might forget about the world that once I knew,

I swear I won't forget you :')

Thank you for giving me such a memory like this. Thank you.

Yeah... Thank you friends...

As I wrote this post, every single memories are recalling back.

Yes, it made me miss them all...

And so, I dedicate this blogpost for them... for Olly, Dedy, Nikki, and Evo :)

To let them know, how much I grateful for having a amazingly beautiful journey with them.

Magnificent moment in a magnificent paradise, with magnificent friends...

I'm completely blessed :)

And as for you, Karimun Jawa... I'm in love :)

Thank you for making me falling in love with myself, my life, my friends...

and my own country..., all over again.

Thank you :)