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!

Hello Sabang !

August 1st, 2014, we left Medan starting our trip to the west point of Indonesia, Weh Island.
i was pretty excited cause it’s been ages since i last went to a beach.

A Beautiful sunrise i catch on the bus

August 2nd, 12 hours on the road, and we finally arrived at Banda Aceh and luckily we didnt have to wait at the Ulee Lheue Port to cross to the Weh Island, cause we arrived there right when they’re filling the boat.

The weather was quite nice. After about 45 min floating on the sea, we finally arrived. After having a quick rest, we went straight to the beach. We stayed at Sumur Tiga Beach area and it was so beautiful i was just so blown by the beauty that my eyes catched.

 

Just casually waiting for da bae. haha

i really love it there cause the beach doesn’t have big waves, it was just a perfect place for swimming or snorkeling. After 7 hours playing on the beach - don’t judge - , we’re back to hotel and spent the night at Casanemo Restaurant to chill. funny thing, not long after we got there, around 10pm they closed the restaurant. i was confused like with place like this, why do they close so early? the next day i ask the other restaurant what time do they close and they say it’s 10pm. then i realised, huh, i get it, it’s a moslem area after all, hahaha

The next day, we plan to get a little city tour before we went to Iboih to snorkeling. The driver was super super nice, he took us to places like The Japanese Fortress, where it gave us such a magnificent view of Anoi Itam Beach and Malacca Strait. Oh! and did i tell you i'm obsessed with Coconut trees? i went cray cray there. i think i took more coconut trees pictures than my self.

We also went to Sabang Hill, it’s the first ever hotel build in Sabang. The view was amazing. We also stopped by at Gapang Beach, it’s nice, but we didn’t spend much time there. After that, we headed to Iboih Beach to went across to Rubiah Island.

There’s a funny thing i ‘just’ found out there at the beach. When me and my sister were changing our clothes, she said, ‘you should cover up your body. i saw ‘No Bikini’ sign here’. well…………. That is why i didn’t see a single native people on the beach?? HAHAHA i didn’t know that before we headed there? so.. warning everyone! you should definitely not want to get shade on people's eyes there, literally ;D
We finally crossing to Rubiah Island. it was really beautiful there, no kidding. If only there were less people when we got there, haha.

View from Rubiah Island

that wasn't even deep

Fahmy, our guide, he was about my age, was really nice. he took me to the pretty underwater spot which less people there know, and i was completely blown away. i know it’s not as beautiful as the diving spot but, for a snorkling spot it was amazing, like literally, watching natgeo channel live. too bad our camera battery’s already dead before i got there. and by the way, it was pretty deep actually. i could feel the water suddenly turned colder and colder as i swam, and there’s a moment where i got goosebumps cause it was so deep and finally asked Fahmy to get back.
After we got off water,  we ate the Octopus Satay - cause you’re not going to Sabang if you don’t eat Octopus Satay, specially in Rubiah, they say - it was realllly good.

After we crossing back to Iboih, it was about 4.30pm we headed to the 0 km Monument. Yep, the west point of Indonesia. we actually expected to see a pretty sunset there, but the weather wasn’t cooperate with us, so, better luck next time?

The next morning we left Sabang and spent a day full in Banda Aceh with our friend, Putri. cause it’s also the first time i’ve been to Banda, she took us on a city tour before we headed back to Medan at night.

it was a super nice trip. I'd definitely wanna go back there someday.

toodles!