Sudden Trip to West Side of Java

hi!last week i had 4 days off and i had this idea to go on a little vacation with my family. i had no idea where to go so i google from ‘Destination near Jakarta’ to ‘Destination in Java’. yes, i was desperately wanted to get the hell out of Jakarta, and ofcourse, to see my stress healer, beach.
so i got some lists and sort out places that we could possibly go, and also not too far from Jakarta cause we seriously had no plan.
So after sorting out my list, i picked Ujung Kulon. i had no idea what’s there so i googled it and it showed Ujung Kulon National Park and so we had a plan.

Thursday Morning i asked my uncle to go there and with just an hour of preparation we decided to go. with no expectation what we’re gonna see or even where we’re gonna stay.

So during our trip we’re discussing to visit Tanjung Lesung instead of Ujung Kulon. i was like, okay, as long as you take me to a beach i’m totally fine.
And so we arrived at Tanjung Lesung Beach Club. still had no idea where to stay the night.

 

While chilling on the beach, we talked to a tattoo maker there and ask about going to Ujung Kulon National Park (UKNP). and thank Lord he told us about this place named Sumur, and told us it’s easier to get to UKNP from there, plus! the beach is prettier there. and so we got another place to go.

while going so Sumur, i told my uncle that to go to UKNP we had to report and got a permission first. and we stopped at this Balai Taman Nasional Ujung Kulon at Sumur. it was already dark, around 6pm. and we met this lovely super kind guy that God has sent us, mas Entis, he explained us EVERYTHING. to be honest, i thought i was gonna see Rhinos walking around in the National Park but i had no idea it took forever to even see one. See?!! we were this blinded before we met him! he also told us there are few islands at Sumur and i was like, ‘… but i didn’t see any island on the google map?’  he told us that it took more than 2 hours on a boat to Ujung Kulon National Park and the boat costs kind of expensive for 6 people only, so we need more people to get there.
aaaanyway, he took us to a homestay, and we got another information about this island across this place we stay, it’s Umang Island, there’s a resort there and most people go there. After another discussion, and because of our lack of preparation, we decided to go this Umang Island the next morning.

see that little island on the back? that's Umang Island

The Next Morning, we walk outside and had a breakfast at this small stall. while talking to this lady who owns the stall, she told us that there’re also 2 islands beside Umang Island here. ……….. i didn’t expect to have this much surprise on this unplanned trip??
There’s Sumur Island (which can be reach by walking while the water receding) and there’s this Oar Island where there’s no life there.
and so i said, Let’s go this freaking Oar Island!

Turns out this island is a secret heaven. A secret heaven that i didn’t even expect to see, i didn’t even know it existed.

And so it was my super sudden trip. it was a perfect one to end this wonderful year.

Sometimes you just gotta pack and go. Based on my experience, most planned trips don’t work in the end.

toodles!