Mainstream Tahun Baru

Hundreds people in my timeline talk about resolutions. They are busy with their wish.
Mainstream.
Sebuah resolusi tanpa rencana yang pasti itu percuma.

Kamu punya resolusi, tapi gak ada rencana dan tekad untuk melakukannya, gak bakal jalan lah!
Resolusi itu gak harus tiap tahun kok dibikin. Hari ini juga kamu buat resolusi untuk besok, atau untuk tahun depan atau bahkan untuk hidup yang panjang ya tetep namanya resolusi kan?
Gak ada batasan kapan harus membuatnya.

Dan..yang banyak terjadi, gembar-gemborin resolusi yang dibikin di social media, trus??
Berapa persen yang terealisasi?

Memang sih, sebuah rencana yang baik jika lebih banyak yang tahu kemungkinan besar akan banyak pula yang mendoakan. Tapi asal diingat aja, mereka semua itu saksi loh.. saksi kamu bikin resolusi. Bagi saya, saya bakal malu kalo resolusi yang saya gembar-gemborkan itu gak tercapai. Lebih malu lagi sama diri sendiri mengingat resolusi yang saya bikin gagal menjadi nyata akibat kelakuan diri sendiri.

Sejauh ini hal vital yang membuat beberapa resolusi saya gagal adalah MALAS!!!

Tapi saya gak kapok bikin resolusi, saya bikin sekaligus proposal hidup. Saya sisipkan harapan saya di sela-sela sholat. Saya targetkan, saya usahakan dan saya pasrahkan ke Allah.

Mainstream kedua adalah bertebarannya pertanyaan-pertanyaan seperti ini: "tahun baru kemana?" "tahun baruan ngapain?" Haduuuuuhhh.. sumpah ya, sebel dengernya.

Gak tahun baru juga kita bisa pergi-pergi, gak tahun baru juga kita selalu "ngapa-ngapain".

Come on!! Just go reflect your self to the mirror! atau silakan leyeh-leyeh bentar deh pikirin hidup..
Sudah melakukan apa saja setahun ini? Berguna enggak?
Gimana urusan sama yang Kuasa? Lebih baik? atau gak lebih baik dari hari-hari sebelumnya?

Selamat tahun baru, anyway..
Agak nyesel kenapa gak pas tahun baru hijriyah aja mikirin ini :(

My 2012

2012 menjadi tahun hebat bagi saya. Banyak yang terjadi tanpa diduga di tahun ini. Alhamdulillah!
Mari kita review satu tahun ini.

Januari
> Tanggal 4-7 saya ke Bali dengan gratis. Untuk bekerja dan sesekali ke pantai. Keliling kota pake motor, bareng sahabat dan bos yang baeeeeeeekkk banget.

> a week after that, I did a night trip again. To the beaches in Pacitan

> 19 Januari 2012. Tulisan saya dimuat pertama kali di Jawa Pos. Tulisan tentang Alas Purwo
Bangga banget bisa mengisi satu halaman full koran nasional tersebut. Alhamdulillah


Februari
> Tepat sebulan dari Bali, saya ngetrip singkat selama sehari ke Goa Cina dan Bajul Mati dengan beberapa teman baru.

> Seminggu setelah itu, saya melanjutkan trip yang tidak biasa. Ke luar negeri untuk pertama kalinya. Dengan gratis pula. Bersama orang-orang hebat di sekitar saya. Kantor saya, www.ksa-add.com memberikan reward kepada kami dengan liburan gratis ke Singapore. Meskipun tidak semua gratis, kami hanya membayar makan dan pengeluaran pribadi saja. Akomodasi, tiket wisata dkk sudah ditanggung. Kantorku keren!!!! Meskipun tidak di sana lagi sekarang, saya tetap menganggap mereka sebagai keluarga.
 
Maret
> 22-25 Maret 2012 dengan modal iseng membeli tiket promo Surabaya-Balikpapan seharga 79.000, akhirnya perjalanan ke Kalimantan terjadi. Destinasinya adalah ke Tarakan dan pulau-pulau seperti Pulau Derawan, Kakaban, Maratua, Sangalaki dan Nabuco tercapai. Ketemu banyak teman lagi. Senangnyaaaaa!!

> Dua minggu sebelum itu, beli tiket iseng lagi. Dem!! Isengnya keterusan gini.. Dan keisengan kali ini adalah beli tiket Surabaya-Medan untuk 9 HARI karena hasutan teman dan planning pergi dari rumah dan kerjaan lebih dari seminggu yang belum teralisasi. Iseng, sumpah iseng. Jadi, saya mengajukan cuti kerja seminggu donk untuk April 2012.

>Selamat dari kecelakaan. Diserempet bus marinir dan black out di saat terserempet. Fortunately, I still alive. Alhamdulillah

April
> Setelah menahan diri gak kemana-mana, ternyata gagal. Awal april saya buka dengan pergi ke Dieng bersama teman-teman baru. Murni teman baru. BPI (Backpacker Indonesia) Regional Surabaya. Baru bergabung bersama mereka H-2 sebelum berangkat ke Dataran Tinggi Dieng, Wonosobo, Jawa Tengah. Perjalanan ke Dieng ini memberikan keseruan tersendiri bagi saya. Saya ngetrip bareng komunitas untuk pertama kalinya :D

> 27 April hingga 5 Mei. Sumatera Trip terlaksana. Meskipun hanya beberapa bagian Sumatera saja, Surabaya - Medan - Sabang - Aceh - Medan - Bukittinggi - Medan - Surabaya. Perjalanan yang cukup panjang bagi saya. Ada sukanya, ada dukanya. Ada cerita lain di dalamnya. Gak bakal lupa dengan trip ini!!

Mei
> Seminggu setelah pulang dari Aceh dkk, saya langsung ngetrip lagi. Berasa trip marathon. Kali ini hanya trip sehari. Keliling Mojokerto-Jombang. Ke candi-candi di daerah sana. Sayangnya, trip ini tidak saya tuliskan :D Maklum, nulisnya sesuai mood.

> Traveling bareng beberapa travelmate baru --> Trip to Baluran National Park

> Memutuskan untuk mengurangi trip di bulan-bulan berikutnya kecuali gratis dan diperlukan :D

> Hemm..rencana buka usaha gak jalan-jalan :(

Juni
>Menang lomba blog Piyoh :D

> Terpilih jadi kontestan Ijen Festival 2012 swenenggg banget. Trip gratis lagi, teman-teman baru lagi, dapat keluarga baru, pengalaman baru!

> Hey.. tulisan saya termuat lagi di Jawa Pos. Tentang Sabang. Judulnya Sudah Pernah ke 0 KM Indonesia? Iyeeeeaaayyy!!

Juli
> Satu pesan kuat di bulan ini --> Yang baik belum tentu baik dan yang buruk belum tentu buruk.

> Puasaan berdua with lil brother. Gak pake kakak-kakak, adek2 yang lain, dan tanpa ayah-ibuk.

Agustus
> Dapat trip gratis lagiiiiiii!!!! ke Hongkong, Macau dan Guang Zhou. Selama seminggu puasa dan lebaran di negeri orang. Merayakan hari Kemerdekaan di negeri orang. Pertama kali lebaran tanpa keluarga besar, tapi menyadari beberapa hal penting ketika menjalankan trip ini. Seminggu itu saya gak murni ngetrip, tapi ada tujuan lain. Bahkan sempat dapat bayaran karena itu. Alhamdulillah

> Menyampaikan resign ke atasan. Keputusan yang berat! banget!!! :(

September
> On 26th I'm 24 yo. Alhamdulillah

> Mencapai Ranu Kumbolo for the first time. Dan bakal ke sana lagi suatu hari, hingga ke puncak Mahameru. Naik gunung pertama kalinya, bareng teman-teman BPI seIndonesia.

Oktober
> Trip dadakan ke Gili Labak, Sumenep, Madura. Seru! Seru! Seru!!

>Terinspirasi untuk ke Wae Rebo sesegera mungkin.

> Siap-siap resign :(

November
> Resign. Sebuah pilihan hidup yang harus saya ambil. Gak bisa dipungkiri, sedih rasanya. Hampir 2 tahun bersama orang-orang hebat.

> Got a great surprise. Terpilih menjadi salah satu dari 20 agen Idtravellers 2012
Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah

> Tepat 2 hari sebelum bulan ini berakhir, berhasil membuka BasMie, usaha kuliner yang saya jalankan.

Desember
> Saya namakan bulan ini adalah bulan peralihan hidup saya. Keluar dari zona nyaman untuk menggapai hidup yang lebih nyaman.

Gak hanya itu saja yang terjadi di 2012, banyak pelajaran hidup yang saya dapatkan. Resolusi yang hampir 100% tercapai. Pengalaman yang mengagumkan, pelajaran yang gak ada habisnya dari ayah-ibu, keluarga, para sahabat, teman-teman.
Alhamdulillah. Always say Alhamdulillah!

Semoga besok, hari besoknya lagi, lagi dan lagi.. hingga tahun-tahun berikutnya saya bisa lebih baik. Amiinnn!

Some Places You Have to Visit in Surabaya

Most people complain about how "hot" the weather is, I keep calm with that. I don't care.. I still live in Surabaya. Hey..Wait, this is Surabaya, it will sounds strange if you say Surabaya is cool. I growth in Surabaya. I love my city. Even in this 24 years, I still don't remember the whole name of the streets, at least I know some places that you must visit and take a photo in it.

1. The icon of Surabaya

Suro and Boyo sculpture

It is located on Wonokromo Street. In front of Surabaya Zoo. About 4Km after entering Surabaya gate. The sculpture describes Surabaya Legend. It is Suro and Boyo fish which fought each other.

2. Surabaya Zoo

In front of the Zoo

Surabaya Zoo was become a biggest zoo in south east Asia long time ago. From year to year, it didnt show the improvement. It worst. But still, the kids still love the zoo. Sometimes we have a picnic there. We still hope the animal are treated well and the facilities will be better.

Yeay! We did picnic in a zoo!

Looking for the real one? Just go visit the zoo :)

3. Surabaya TIC (Tourism Information Centre) and Balai Pemuda

Surabaya TIC in Balai Pemuda

Its better to go there first before you go anywhere. They will help you to show the destination, how to get there and about the history of Surabaya. The reason why it is called Balai Pemuda is the location itself is on Jalan Pemuda. Beside, the building have been used by the youth to show their talent, most of them are about art. Balai Pemuda is an old building in Surabaya. It is a part of the history. In the colonial era, this place was a place where the dutch colony dance and got a party. The animal and native was no admittance to get in here.

a small monument that show the rule in colonial era

Animal and native are not permitted.

the tourism map from Balai Pemuda

4. Balai Kota Surabaya
Not far from Balai Pemuda, you will see Balai Kota. The government office of Surabaya. We also call it as Taman Surya. Along this way you also see a lot of colonial houses.

Balai Kota Surabaya

You also can reach Balai Kota from Balai Pemuda by foot :)

 5. Submarine Monument (Monumen Kapal Selam)
From Balai Kota, you can go to Submarine monument through Ketabang kali street. While you pass this street, you will see the park and a big Ship behind it. It is the monument. It takes only 5 minutes from Balai Kota to this place. Hmm, just pay 5 thousands rupiah to feel the experience of the submarine.

A view from Ketabang Kali. Kali is a river in javanese. See, there is a river along the way.

Sorry, I can't capture the big of Ship because of my fixed lens :D

The gate of Submarine monument

 6. Heroes Monument

Iyeeeeeeaaayyy!! You can jump in front of the monument!

It is a must destination when you visit Surabaya. If Jakarta has Monas, we have Heroes Monument, a monument that become a symbol of November 10th 1945 tragedy. There is a museum in it. You can see many diorama of Surabaya history. Pay 2.500 IDR to get in there. The museum and the monument are open daily on 8 am to 4 pm.

Entering the area, you will found this statue first

"Freedom or Die!!!" Bung Tomo said while November 10th war.

7. Red Bridge (Jembatan Merah)
The location of the bridge is on old Surabaya area. Industry area. Its called Red Bridge because on that bridge there was a big war on November 10th 1945 and a lot of blood in it. Walk around there, you will see a beautiful architecture colonial.

Jembatan Merah on Kembang Jepun street

A view from Jembatan Merah, a chinese town.

8. Kembang Jepun, Chinese Town
Its known as Kya-kya. A few years ago every night in this street became a food street area. Basicly, this is an industry area, and many chinese live here.

The Gate of Kya-Kya

one of Jawa Pos office beside the Kya-kya gate

9. Ampel, an Arabic town and religion tourism area

Sunan Ampel gate

Enjoy the blocks of Ampel. Get lost for a while in it. See the people, the houses, the shops and feel it.
Don't forget to try the foods. They have some special food such as Roti Maryam, Nasi Kebuli, Kambing Oven, teh tarik, and many more.

10. House of Sampoerna
Sampoerna is the name of a success family in Surabaya. They have some big cigarette company in Indonesia. In Surabaya, they has a suboffice which is located about 400 meters before Jembatan Merah. They has a program for the tourists to get around Surabaya. They name it Surabaya Heritage Track. You just book it by phone before the day you will visit. Its free. Every tour take 1,5 hours. After that, you can sight seeing into the museum.

Surabaya Heritage Track Bus

Hey, they have an Indonesia map in museum

You are permitted to take a picture in it :)

11. Grahadi, a Governor Office
Not every person can enter this place. It is restricted. Only invited people can explore this place. There is a ceremonial in every 17th of the month, to celebrate our freedom which is on August 17th. Across this building is a Gubernur Suryo Park, the first governor of East Java. We also call it as Taman Apsari. This office is located about 50 meters before Balai Pemuda.

Grahadi on Night

Gubernur Suryo statue and his speech

an old post office beside Apsari park.

12. Kenjeran Park
Hemm..it is far from the center of town. But once you go and take photos in it, you wont believe that it is in Surabaya.

Pagoda Matahari

Love the door

The four faces budha

One of four elephants which keep the Budha

 

Yin and Yang in Sanggar Agung

14. Suramadu Bridge

A beautiful bridge which connecting Surabaya and Madura Island without a voyage. Read my story here

15. Jalasveva Jayamahe

Jalasveva Jayamahe Statue

Dewa Ruci Ship

You can enter freely when they do an open house or celebrating something.
There are still many places that I didnt mention in this post. I will complete it soon.

The last but not least.. Do not forget to have culinary trip in Surabaya. See my review about some of them on Eat and Fat label or contact me directly.

Enjoy Surabaya :)

Komodo Eats Komodo

It just like a man betrays his friend. Not good enough to hear. But, this is life.. Everything is possible. Even in the jungle. I found that moment while trekking in Rinca Island, one of the big population of Komodo. One komodo ate the other Komodo. There is rule in the jungle. One who have more power, he is the winner. Its a wild life.

A group of Komodo. Taken by Udin

We see so many komodo lay down on the ground. After walking about 15 minutes, we saw the great moment that so rare to happened. The rangers said they also never see this kind of moment as long as they become a ranger. What is the epic moment actually? We just saw a komodo walked toward us. Its female. She slowly stop and we just realize that there was another komodo there. But the komodo was dead. That’s the reason why we smell something like a corpse. A ranger said that dead Komodo dead may be because she was injured while against her victim. She was blind. She has suffered in a few weeks and didn’t have any power, the she died. The other komodos ate her. The komodo eats everything which has a meat. They eat a wild pig, water buffalos, deers, the wild ox of Java, or even komodo itself. They never eat the bones because the process of the food is so fast. Hap! Komodo bites the meat and suddenly it is in their stomach, without chew it. After that, they didn’t eat for three months.

Komodo Nest

Komodo has a long enough time gap to eat because the food secretion process take much time. So that, they don’t eat a bone. They leave the main bones of their victim, but some of them, the little one, were ate and become a white dust on their feces. It colors white because it contains of calcium.

Komodo has easy way to kill their prey.

They just bite a part of the body then leave it. After three days, the poison of their poison will be spread. Its from Komodo’s tongue which has Lesteria bacteria. A 3 meters Komodo has 90 kg weight. It can eat 80% meat of its body. A female Komodo is rare than the male, it makes the males fight each other to get the female on April-Septmber, a Komodo’s wedding season. The woman keeps their eggs up to nine months without leaving their nest. The fact is, after the egg opened and the baby come to the world, they will crawl to the trees. If they don’t do it, the mother will eat it and it will happen again, Komodo eats Komodo.

This is a wild life, man!!

An Epic Moment. Komodo eats the other komodo. Taken by Udin

The main predator of little komodo are hawks and the other komodo. A big Komodo can jump into you up to 50 cm from the ground. But they have a good smell. They can smell something fishy for 5 Km. Due to they eat each other, their population is stagnant. Their number increase only 5-6 per year and not more than 10 Komodo. Based on the observation three years ago, Komodo had spread to four Island in Komodo National Park. Rinca Island and Komodo Island are the biggest population among four island. Rinca has 1336 Komodo and Komodo island has 1227. The rest are in Gili Motang island and Nusa kode which number is around 60 komodo. We all hope Komodo National Park will be long lasting and Komodo will always be a unique species and can attract people to visit Flores, Indonesia.