A Tour Guide Talent 4

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Me and The Bules

The Journey Begins

The next morning, I got up a little bit early since I'v got an appointment to take Jessica to the Bus Ticket Booth somewhere in Bandung. According to our plan, once we get back to the hostel we would go to Ciwidey right away. The thing is, It wasn't only the two of us, the trip members expanded from 2 to 12 people, and yes, they are our hostel mates which each of us were having our own travel group.

I met this guy named Rafal, I thought I heard Rafael when he mentioned his named, I really thought that he said it in his polish accent. Which I never met a polish bule before. So we sat in the same table, he was with his wife. After short introduction and a little bit of chat, came to the part where we talked about our plan. I said that me and Jessica was going to The Kawah Putih (white crater) in Ciwidey. 

Then he said "Owh great, Can we join? coz we got nothing to do here, it just happend that we landed here after the train couldn't bring us directly to Jogjakarta". I replied "Of course man, how many of you" "Me and my wife Magda" he said. Then there were these two girls near to our table "Are you guys going somewhere?" one of them asked. "Yes, we are going to the Crater, Fritz can you show them the picture?" Rafal said to them. I spontaneously showed them the pictures from the internet. "Wow, it looks beautiful, can we join too?" one of the girl named Simon asked us. "Yeah, why not!" I said. Considering the more the trip members are, the cheaper the cost will be if we go by rented car.

It was like from 2 trip members suddenly became 6 trip members, how wonderful is that. I said to Rafal that me and Jessica need to go to the bus ticket booth first then we'll go. Once I got back to the front of the Hostel, I met Rafal looking for me. He already prepared a letter addressed to me telling that if by 8am I were not back, He would leave me with his own group, which now expanded again to 12 people. Well, luckily I got there on time. Rafal has got a way to get the rent car.

That time was like a mutualism symbiosis, a win-win relationship. I needed them coz I need to travel in cheaper cost, they needed me coz they needed somebody who can translate Bahasa Indonesia into English, and of course automatically became a tour guide. Sort of...

On our way, we talked almost about everything out of curiosity. It should be common to me talking in English to some foreigners before, but yes, I felt amazing talking to them. We even joking around and laughed a lot. Which is very strange to me, coz neither of us, except for Jessica, uses English as our mother language. Which sometimes, we said things or hear things not in a proper way, which become a joke to laugh at. For example when I said the word "Snack", and Rafal heard it as "Snake". We didn't actually joke, but these kinda thing made us laugh. Jessica was mostly sleeping, maybe she thought that these multi-nations European against local guy did not know what they are saying. LOL.

The funny thing I remembered was, when Rafal asked about Jessica. He said "So Jessica, what are you? Are you like American Chinese or what? cos I thought you were Indonesian Chinese, I've seen a lot of Indonesian Chinese." I said to myself "yeah, that's very true mate!" Then Jessica replied "No, I am not a Chinese, I'm actually a Korean by blood, my parents are from Korea but I'm an American" "Owh I thought you were a Chinese too" I said. "Fritz, I think I told you that right?" Jessica replied to me. "No you didn't" I said "I was even scared to asked you, coz I thought that would be a racist question" I added. Then we laughed again.

It was a very long journey, the normal hour to reach the destination was 2 hours. It was already 4 hours and we just reached the Ciwidey area, and the driver said that we need another one hour to reach the White Crater. We stopped by to Indomaret, to have some drinks and snacks, and of course to pee and stretching our numb mucles. Everyone looked exhausted by the long journey. Luckily this place has Indomaret.

Another 1 hour drive ahead and we will reach the destination. Once we were there, I was acting like a tour leader, or you can say it a tour guide, the free version of tour guide. I searched for information, which is very similar to the internet research. We had to pay for a shuttle car for Rp 20.000,- for Indonesians and Rp 50.000,- for foreigners, luckily Jessica happen to look like Indonesian Chinese that she can pay in local price as long as she could keep her mouth shut. The rest couldn't lie with their faces.

We rode Ontang-anting, as they called the modified vehicle, to the nearest spot of White Crater (Kawah Putih). Then we enjoy the place. Kawah Putih is one of the crater of Mt.Patuha, one of numerous volcanoes in Java. The epic scenery is so amazing. The white and tosca colors of the crater lake is from the sedimentation beneath. It is a sulfuric water that is still be heathen up from below.

There were a lot of other tourists enjoying the place, most of them were locals with very few foreigners, except for our group. Kawah Putih is less famous compared to Bromo or Kawah Ijen or other volcanoes related tourist destinations in Indonesia. 

We took photos, and a lot of them in turn, and in groups which the rain suddenly fall. For me it is a good opportunity to take a selfie with beautiful background with nobody around. Everybody fled to places with canopies to avoid the rain.

Enough with the selfies, I look around for the guys and told them to regroup, coz I thought it was the time to go to the next destinations. We canceled the Lake trip since it was already sunset. So we decided to go to the nearest tea plantation. Once we were there, another photo session begun. Then we ate at the nearby warung (traditional foodshop). Luckily the Nasi Goreng (fried rice) we ordered were delicious, I was afraid that it would turn to be the opposite, even Rafal got two plates of Nasi Goreng that time. I tried other than nasi goreng due to the time of cooking, and the prices were very cheap. The foodseller even gave me discount for my food since I brought a lot of Bule guests.

So, another long journey back ahead. We got to Braga Street at 09.00 pm sharp. I collected the rent car payment which was Rp 150.0000,- each, I thought it's not a bad price for such experience.

        

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A Tour Guide Talent 3

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Me and Jessica

The Night in Bandung

That evening when I got home from the trip with the two bules (westerners) Robin and Cedric. I met Jessica. I thought She was a Chinese tourist from China, coz she spoke in English. She does look like common Indonesian Chinese, but why Indonesian Chinese would do that if they can just speak in Bahasa Indonesia. 

I was talking to Cedric on the hostel's lobby, when the receptionist guy gave me this "need help" eyes. He didn't say anything, but looking at me like a cat looking at a person with food, you can imagine that, can't you? I knew that he is having problems with English, that the girl standing next to the receptionist table could only speak in English. So I just responded quickly and start to talk to the girl.

More or less, she was wondering if she could get a bus from Bandung going to Jogjakarta for the next day. So I told to the receptionist guy to find the bus for her, or at least the contact and the address of that particular bus so that she could buy ticket for herself. 

Me and Jessica started to talk about other things. She said she is going to the Kawah Putih (White Crater) in the south of Bandung city. I replied that I would go there too. Only that I planned to go alone, coz nobody is with me that time. Then we agreed to go together for the next morning. We also agreed to hang out that night, just to get a fresh air.

After I had dinner with Robin and Cedric, I met Jessica at the Hostel's Lobby. So I took her for dinner. She ordered "Sate", a barbecued chicken in sticks with peanut sauce. She said "Wow, it is delicious". So I said "I'm glad that you like it Jessica". I thought she wouldn't like the food, but she said that she already heard of some delicious Indonesian food from her friends before. And I started to tell her some of other  food that she should try while in Indonesia.

Then we walked on the street towards the Asia Africa Building, a historic building where our first President, Mr.Sukarno gathered many Asia and Africa nation leaders, which just gained their independence from the colonial power an to go against the colonialism and imperialism that lead to the formation of a Non-Aligned Movement. Which an organization of Asia and Africa countries that did not aligned to any Super Power countries which were the Soviet Union on the East and the USA on the west during the cold war era.

We talked a lot during our night walk, she told me that she was wondering why the muslims in arab countries are fighting to each other, while here the muslims, which is the majority, could live side by side even with the non-muslims. So I answered in a simple way, I told her that it is because the nations characteristic. We, Indonesian, could live peacefully regarding our differences, whether you are muslim or not, whether you are Javanese or Sundanese, it doesn't matter. Our founding father had set the base of the nation as the Unity in Diversity. I said " I am a Javanese by etnic, maybe you are Sundanese and the other guy is from other sub-etnic group, but still, we are all Indonesian". "I have a lot of non-muslim friends, and we actually can be a best friends"

About the Arab countries that have been fighting to each other, it is because they still have tribal way of thinking. That the tribe is above everything. And they are common with violence. That is why our Prophet Muhammad SAW was sent down among them. Because they use to be the worst people in terms of morality. Muhammad SAW was nothing like them, he was pious and considered as a role model of a good person, and he was sent down to fix the morality of human being. 

The street was so crowd, we saw a lot of guys in a creepy costumes and make up. They are the cosplay artist who dressed like the ghost characters in some horror movies. The most attracted people to have picture with is the one with Valac costume in the Conjuring 2 movie. There was food stall too in the nearby alley, we agreed to checked it out, maybe there's something that we could buy. So there was actually nothing we would wanna buy. Then we move back to the hostel to get some rest.

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A Tour Guide Talent 2

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The Bules and The Asians

The Braga Street

In the next morning, there was nothing to do but to move to the hostel I booked last night. Since it was Hari Raya which is a public holiday, there would be less people staying in the city, shops closed and it was hard to find food around. Luckily on the Braga street there were few shops and mini market were open. So I just ate there after I checked in at the hostel.

I thought, "where should I go after this". There were some options to do, first is to walk around the city, second, find some tourist attractions in Bandung which the thing is they are quite far from the city, or third I would go to sleep all day long. No, it's a vacation, I should not go to sleep all day during my holiday, especially when I'm in different city.

I decided to walk around, hoping to find some nice places to hang out. But it's already hot outside. That's weird, coz I heard that Bandung is a chill city like Malang in East Java. It was only 09.00 am and it's already hot. Anyway, it didn't stop me from doing what I was doing. I just walked around through Braga street, it was quite nice though. All the colonial buildings reflected the sun ray, makes it look strong and firm and shaped beautifully. Some of them having the Art Deco style of architecture which gain it's fame during the early 20th century.

 Of course I didn't forget to get some pictures of mine. I was like a tourist, I dressed like a tourist, I walked like tourist and I took pictures like them. I'm a local that having vacation in another city in the country. But totally feel like strangers. Here the people speaks mostly in Sundanese, coz unlike in other regions of Java island, the people here is not called the Javanese, they are called Sundanese. A sub-etnic group that mostly live on the western part of the Island, West Java and Banten provinces. They have their own local language that's far different from both Javanese and Indonesian language.

Once I get back to the hostel, I met this two Dutch boys, they are both Dutch but from different countries, Robin is from Netherland and Cedric is from Belgium. They said they were going for Saung Angklung Udjo, the famous Angklung Performance in Bandung. Angklung is a traditional Sundanese music instrument made of bamboo. Each has its own tone. So that if you play a music using Angklung. You have to play it in group like an orchestra.

Just in seconds I decided to join them, only that I didn't know it's closed that day due to the public holiday, so disappointing though. Then we decided to go to other place, the choice was Gedung Sate, the icon of Bandung City. We couldn't enter the building yard. So we decided to circle around the building and took some pictures. I started to talk with the guys about Indonesia during the Dutch colonial era, they said they are glad that we have common history. I told them how Indonesian gained their Independence, and how it differs from Malaysia in gaining their independence. They were amazed by my story.

It was almost dark when we return to our hostel, Cedric was ready to go to Jogjakarta. He was going to stay and work part time there as he told me, and when the night fall I went around the Braga street again to enjoy the nightlife of Bandung.

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A Tour Guide Talent

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Kawah Putih

The Tourism Ambassador

I remember when I was in college, how enthusiastic I were in promoting my country's tourism. I even put some postcard pictures of Indonesia's beautiful places such as Bali, Prambanan or Borobudur temple and many others on my room's wall. I felt like I have to take my foreign friends and introduce Indonesia to them. Therefore, I could bring two of my Turkmen friends to visit Indonesia each in different time.

You see, I did my study in Malaysia as a scholarship earner from Petronas. The university called Univesiti Teknologi Petronas, a semi-government university that was initiated by Petronas Holding Company. Located in the town of Tronoh, approximately 1 hour from Perak state capital city, Ipoh, and also 4 hours away from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's center for business and economy.

There were a lot of foreigners studying in Universiti Teknology Petronas (UTP). That makes English as the educational and community language. This make me able to speak English fluently, which of course not in a perfect manner. This also benefit me long after graduation and returning home later when it comes to speak with foreigners or tourists.

It happens a lot when I do traveling around my country, some Bules or western tourist often becomes my traveling partner since I was the only one they can speak freely in English. As we all know, there are only around 10% of Indonesian that could speak English well out of 275 million people living in Indonesia. Luckily I am one of them.

I had my holiday vacation in Bandung last 2016 'Hari Raya' or Islamic holiday. My friend invited me to come to his place which is 1 hour away from Bandung. I had been to Bandung, but that was ten years ago. I almost forgot how it looks once I step my feet on the city. Only that he left me for having Hari Raya celebration with his family at home.

So I was alone spending a night in the small cheap motel's room. I couldn't stop but to think that I should not stay in this shit room. I decided to walk around and looking for interesting place in Bandung city. Fortunately, the well known Braga street was not too far form my hotel, it is only 1 km away, so I decided to walk there by myself.

I could only see dark road which is actually in the middle of a traditional market with it's unique smell. The street got wet from the rainfall few minutes ago. Several street holes that filled with dirty water becomes familiar to me, "Oh yeah, I'm still in Indonesia babe!" I said to myself. I walked straight and there's nobody was there on the street. It creep me out a little bit. After crossing several crossroads, I finally got to Braga Street.

First impression was not much. I thought Braga street is a place for the youth to hang out. It was nothing like that until I reach the central part of the street. There are a lot of cool Cafe's and places to eat there. There is also the mini-mall called The City Walk at the center. A lot of iron made chairs on the street side, so that people can chill while watching the street view. The street light were another attraction beside the colonial buildings that all over the place. They show the antique accent, makes us feel like we are living in the past.

Enough with walking around, I stopped by to a hostel called C'est Bon Hostel. So I look around and decided to book for tomorrow night. The hostel is quite nice, it's clean with separated rooms between boys and the girls, they are in the different floor. And on top of that most of the occupant are Westerners.    

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"Intro to East Java"

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"Welcome to East Java, Indonesia"

Map of East Java, www.sukamade.com

East Java, formerly, was the capital of 14th century South East Asia's largest empire, The Majapahit Kingdom. Its territory expanded from the Sumatra Island on the west to the west coast of Papua (current Indonesia territory). It also included the Malaya Peninsula (Malaysia), Island of Tumasik (Singapore), and the southern Thailand's territory.

East Java lies on the eastern part of Java Island, Indonesia. It is the place to find natural wonders such active volcanoes, beautiful white sand beaches, pristine tropical islands, wild jungles, enormous waterfalls and many more.

East Java has four major National Park on the central and eastern region namely Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, Baluran National Park, Meru Betiri National Park and Alas Purwo National Park. Each with their own unique land characteristic and naturally preserved.

The local cultures of each region in East Java are mainly customs from the era of Majapahit Kingdom. Here we can see attractive performances such Reog Ponorogo, Jaranan, Bantengan and many more. The traditional dances are also another cultural attractions likeTari Remo from Surabaya and Tari Gandrung from Banyuwangi.

Humble and friendly are two main characters of East Java people, despite of their straight forward attitudes. Which make them as honest and respectful people. Once you make a step on this land of paradise, make sure to put an alarm for going back home, because you might forget about it.

Surabaya, a historic city.

www.skyscrapercity.com

Surabaya, known as the City of Heroes, is the capital city of East Java. A historic city where the Battle of Surabaya taken place. In November 1945, the allies troops (represented by British soldiers) attacked this harbor city for the attempt of helping the Dutch re-occupation on the new nation named Indonesia.

It was the beginning of the Independence War between Indonesia's newly and inexperienced soldiers and the Dutch colonial troops that happened within four years until 1949. With the independence spirit, arek-arek Suroboyo (youth of Surabaya) fought the Allies troops to maintain the city from being re-occupied by the British and Dutch military soldiers.

It was the largest attack of the Allies (the winner of World War II) after World War II. A Monument established in the center of the city to commemorate the event, and every 10th of November is known as the Day of Heroes to Indonesians. Though we have lost in the three weeks battle. It was proven that the Battle of Surabaya could encourage many of Indonesian in other regions to fight back the Dutch aggressions and maintain the Nation's Independence.

Surabaya, as the 2nd largest city in Indonesia, has many interesting places to visit. Suroboyo Carnival Night Market, Surabaya Town Square, The Monument of Heroes and world class heritage of European Colonial Buildings are few spot to enjoy the city, not to mention its unique local culture and delicious culinary experience, will make your stay even more than perfect.

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