The trip to Workplace

Since my house now is quite far from my workplace, I now can enjoy the journey that took about 20 minutes motorbike riding. I just noticed that there is a shortcut from my house to the road near the hotel I’ve worked. The shortcut is much more quiter than the main road where I ussually pass.

On the main road, I have to pass 5 traffic lights, now I can avoid all the traffic light by using the shortcut.

The other thing that is so special about this shortcut is I have to pass the small road in a village and there are a beautiful view of the ricefield along the way. I saw some beautiful villa build among the ricefield. I enjoy most of my trip to work especially when I have to work in the morning shift, I can see sunrise from the distance... Bali dogs I saw along the way looks happy and I’m sure they have a good life with their master.



Its now summer in Bali, almost all flower are ready to bloom. The bougenville are everywhere. Blooming so colorfull. I can smell the dew from the grass and from the ricefield. Eventhough It is hard for me to wake up early in the morning, thinking about the journey and beautiful things I can see on the way to work could lift up my spirit to wake up.. (Still I need an alarm..)


The only things I don’t enjoy is if I have to work afternoon shift and get back home at 11 pm. The road is dark and there is only minimum lights from houses along the way. Plus the Bali dogs that are nice in the morning loves to bark in the evening when they see someone passing. Therefore my only option is using the main road with all the traffic lights....

Finally, My Own Dream House.

I wrote in my blog before about the house of my dream which is inspired by my friend’s house near the lake as you can read here. I always wanted a small house in a quiet area not far from the town and have beautiful view of nature.

Well the house is not exactly as I wanted but closer. Me and my husband bought the house half finished and have to refurbish it on our own. It was a terrible days finishing the house. Stessfull because of the rise in price for the material. Finally it is finished and we can move to this house eventhough the garden and the garage is not finished yet..

These days, I am so busy decorating my small house and of course gardening. Now I love shopping for home appliances, decoration and plants for my garden. Yesterday I just finished planting the grass in my front yard..

In my block I only have 4 neighbours and full view to the ricefield. I hope this area will not growing fast as the other area did. People buy the land and build houses and there will be no more ricefield. I like the ricefield just in front of my house, the sound of the chirping birds in the morning and frogs singing at night, so calming..

White Water Rafting

Recently, I experienced several adventurous activities like Buggy Drive and Surfing Lesson . This week I got invitation for white water Rafting arranged by Sobek. Off course, eventhough I am not an adventure person, I took the invitation excitingly and start counting the day for this exciting adventure on the river.

Sobek is one of the famous company for rafting in Bali and was a pioneer of White Water Rafting in Bali. We recommend Sobek for our guest in the hotel if they would like to go for rafting and now they invited me to know better about their company and experience the thrill of white water rafting.



Well, I am quite nervous and scared of rafting as I thought it is quite dangerous. But Mr. Tiger (our Rafting guide), who was very funny and friendly told us that it is very safe if we are following the rules. I was with one chinese family, a father, a mother and a child approximately 11years old in the rubber boat. Unfortunately they can’t speak english so it is difficult to start a conversation with them. After Mr. Tiger explained about the safety then we hop on to the raft and already my adrenaline rushed for excitement.


I forgot to mentioned that I went for rafting at Ayung River in Ubud. The River is famous for its natural beauty. Many first class hotel are taking the advantage of the river’s view for their selling point. The river is actually flat for those who seek a thrilling rafting, but Sobek also offered rafting at Telaga Waja which is famous for its Class III + rapids.


Anyway after a few meters of paddling on the raft I saw the towering cliffs that was carved from the bottom. The carving tells a story from Ramayana Epic I guess. The relief was so beautiful makes me wonder who did all this carving and how many days it took to finished it? Mr. Tiger told me that it was carved by the local artists that lived around the river.


After several raft in the river banks, we saw another rubber boat that stuck between rocks in the river. We laugh at them and splash them with water by using our oars, they were definetely wet. After few metres we did not realize that they were free from the rock and tried to catch us for a revenge. A very fun water splash war happened then. We laugh so hard. I feel like a child again, playing with water and feel happy.

We stopped at the waterfalls for a few photo shot and a hard shower under the water falls. We also swam in the river. What a view with a fresh air. I feel like I don’t want to leave this river. We continued challenging the river and sometimes saw an interesting trees, or local people along the river. After 2 hours Rafting, I feel tired and thank God it’s finished in front of Sobek restaurant where delicious Indonesian food served near the river. We ate on the terrace river café with buffet lunch while our clothes are still wet. After meals we take a quick shower and change of clothes. Our driver were ready to take us back to Denpasar… Ooowww..I don’t want to leave yet.. It felt like a very short adventure.

Bali Quad and Buggy Drive

Another adventure invitation from Bali Quad for us. This will be an exciting new adventure for me. I am just so glad that Bali Quad invite us to experience Quad Bike and Buggy in Ubud. They pick us up in the morning to go to Ubud. The place is in Marga Tengah Village, near Kintamani which is abpproximately 1,5 hours drive from Seminyak..phheewww what a long journey to start.

The Buggy and Quad Bike are specially designed Off Road vehicles that cope with all kind of terrain. First they give us a clear instruction and practice both Quad and Buggy before I decided to go with Buggy. Quad bike seems too difficult to handle and I am a litle bit scared in riding quad bike during our practice. Buggy seems more safe and easier to handle. like driving an automatic car.

The tour start to explore the off road amongst rice fields and traditional village. I drive carefully because there are lots of mud and pool of water on the road that makes my clothes get dirty when I pass it over. It is quite exciting to get dirty with the mud. things that I did a lot when I was a child. The track become a litle tricky when there are terrain that we have to pass. I am quite nervous driving this Buggy in a difficult track. Once I even hit the Quad Bike in front of me, which is happen to be our guide.. We laugh a lot. Luckily my Buggy did not turn upside down when I hit the Quad.

The track is passed a very traditional villages, where we meet lots of children waving to us with their smile. One child even gave me flower that she picked from her garden. So sweet.. I feel like this is the real Balinese village with their traditional ways of living. We also passed the rice fields and rain forest and have a short coffe and tea in a traditional hut with a view to the mountain.

The Off Road adventure with Quad Bikes and Buggy started to split because some people drive fast and some people like me drive slowly especially in a chalenging track, but the guide never leave us alone. They also split and keep an eye to us and show us the way. After 2 hours of adventure we went back to the place where we start and delicious lunch is ready to be served..

Surfing Lesson at Surfer Girl Surf S’cool

I got an invitation for the soft opening of Surfer Girl Surf S’cool to learn to surf. I saw a lot of surfer everyday and arrange lots of surfing lessons for my guests but never think that I want to larn to surf. It look dangerous and look scary. All the negative feeling always come to my mind first. What if the waves are strong, what if I can’t handle the board, etc..etc..

The invitation looks fun, so I call them if learn to surf is dangerous and what will they teach me and how will I do that. They told me that it is safe, fun and there will be professional instructors teach me to stand on the board. So I ask my friend if she want to accompany me to learn to surf, but everybody refuse. Too many negative feeling as I have. When I desperately look for company, the assistant manager pass by and I ask her if she want to learn to surf? And she said she’d love to. Then the next morning off we go.

First they ask us to change with rash suit that already prepared with very girly color available. Off course this school are only for girl. They also ask us to put safety helmet and a high SPF sunblock for our face, arms and legs. The instructors are female too and they are so friendly and 2 male assistant for back up.


The instructor give us the theory to read the waves, paddle to the sea and ride on the waves. Well I cant wait to practice it. When it comes to practice, we practice first on the sand then to the water. Well it is not to difficult, paddle and ride the waves. We are not stand on board yet. Just paddle and ride the waves but I feel it is so much fun that I wont stop.


The second lesson is about how to stand on the board. This one is difficult. We practice it on the sand. And I can’t even stand fast. The sun is already too hot (it is only 10 am) and I feel exhausted because I got too excited on paddling on the waves. When we have to practice it on the water, Oh my god , it is so difficult. The waves keep me down whenever I tried to stand. I even hit my friend while trying to stand on my board. On one occasion I stand…. Oh yes.. I STAND… I can stand on the board while riding the waves.. Yahoo..! It is only like 1 or two second before I fell again because I can’t balance myself on board. But I feel so happy. I can be a surfer girl someday…. Hehehe..


The lesson finished at 11 am. It is already 2 hours we were on the water. All of us look happy and exhausted. All keep telling each other how it feels when they stand on the board.. My friend even ask me to do it again next time so that we can really really stand on board and ride the waves like a pro..


The Surfer Girl Surf S’cool gave each of us a certificate with our name on it mentioned that we have ride waves and stand on board. They even gave us a goody bags full of Surfer Girl Stuff, like Surfer Girl calendar, Surfer Girl Keychain, bags and lots more.

Holiday in Ubud

One day me and my husband decided to have a one day holiday to run away from our busy life to a quiet and peaceful place. The choice is Ubud. It is only 1 hour drive from Kuta and we thought we should entertain ourselves sometimes, stay in a hotel, eat in the restaurant and enjoy the hotel as a guest. Since we are hotelier we only enjoy our hotel as a staff.

We went to Ubud early in the morning as we have to do some inspection to some hotel near Ubud center to fit our budget before we decided to stay.
The first hotel we went to is Tegal Sari hotel. Their room are nice, large and have a beautiful view of the rice field. The standard bungalow priced Rp. 350.000 per night including breakfast and tax, but unfortunately the hotel is fully booked. L

The next one is Panorama hotel. Their room is nice too, Deluxe room is only US$ 35 and standard room US$ 30. the room have a ricefield view too. I kinda like this hotel but my husband don’t. He don’t like the way some staff look at us like we are coming from outer space. Yes, off course I understand. We are hotelier, we know what they think about us and my husband don’t like it.

So we move to the next hotel, Green field hotel. This is a nice small hotel too. They have a new villa build in the middle of rice field. We saw the villa which is very nice Balinese style villa. The price is US$ 85. In Kuta or Nusa Dua area a villa like this could cost you about US$ 200. So this is villa is cheap with a 5 star facilities inside the room. However it is still too expensive for our budget. The receptionist then offered a standard room on the second floor which is cheaper at only US$ 25. We saw the room which is ok for a standard room and we have the rice field view too from our balcony. The room has aircon, minibar, shower, telephone, tea and coffee maker and a queen size bed. So I think this room is fine. We decided not to waste the time to look for another hotel again so that we can walk around Ubud center or just relax at the pool.

We have lunch at Warung Enak, just next to the hotel. We sat on the second floor to enjoy the view. The service here is like 5 star. They gave us a cool towel upon arrival and complimentary crackers for starter. We ordered our meals and enjoy the crackers. My husband even ask for more because the cracker is good. Eating here is cheap. For two plus drink we spent only Rp. 66.000 (about 7 USD). We decided just to stay in the hotel to relax, my husband have a nap in the room while I went to the pool to enjoy my spa. There were nobody at the pool except the therapist who was waiting for me. The therapy massage I choose is just good (plus cheap, only USD 10), the massage bed is open air and have the view to rice filed which is soooo relaxing.

At night we went for dinner at Bebek Bengil, one of the famous restaurant in Ubud for Balinese food. The restaurant is just perfect, set in a secluded garden and rice field view, plus torch light along pathway, make it look romantic. We sat in a private table and ordered their signature dish, Bebek Bengil. It’s a crispy duck served with rice and vegetables. We eat until we feel so full. The duck is crispy and soft and delicious too.

We don’t eat any dessert because we want to try another restaurant. We have our dessert at Lotus Café at Ubud center. The restaurant is surrounded by Lotus pond, lots of Lotus. The ambience is very nice but I think the food and the service is just so so.. nothing so special.. My husband don’t like it, me too. We wish to have a drink at the bar, but most bar seems empty so we decided to go back to hotel.

The next morning, we have our breakfast served at their restaurant. With a full view to the ricefield that is so calming makes our breakfast special, because we usually eat breakfast in the rush at home with no view. After breakfast we take a walk to Ubud art market before checking out from the hotel. On the way home I thought, what a short vacation. I need to do this more often, beside I don’t have to go to far, we have all we need for holiday here in Bali.

Bali Fashion Week

Bali is raising on the fashion industry. I saw lately there are so many new boutique around Kuta and Seminyak area. One of my friend is just graduate from Fashion Design school and she is now entitled for the title Fashion Designer. Since she my best friend and often we hang out together, I could understand a little bit about fashion industry.

She design mostly for resort wear or beach wear. Yes, because we are on the beach area and her background is the same with me, tourism industry, therefore she choose to design resort wear.

During Bali Fashion Week, we are participating by watching the show and the exhibition… hehehe… maybe it is not participating only watching..
For my eyes I saw the costume was weird. They make clothes out of garbage, bottles, etc.. I was thinking who’s gonna wear that creepy clothes.. While my friends saw the design based on the detail and the art, she said that this is a free expression of the designer… Well ok, for me it is still weird.

She enjoyed watching the clothes and the design while I enjoy watching the models and my surrounding. The models are young and some of the male models are handsome, this I enjoyed much! LOL… There are lots of people watching. From their style, I understand that most of them are from outside Bali, a local tourist. Maybe they are participating in the fashion industry, maybe they are a fashion schools student from Jakarta or Bandung, or maybe just coming to watch the show. I can see it from the way they dress and put lots of make up in their pretty face. So far I know, Balinese don’t really put complete make up in their face except during ceremony. Balinese loves to keep their face natural or maybe because in Bali are so hot, if they put too much make up, they’ll be sweating and their make up will be melting..

We watched the fashion on the street along the way to Kuta beach. This is about the same as Kuta Karnival but are focusing only on the fashion. Some young street dancer also joined in this carnival and show up their talent. The busy street along Kuta Beach become a catwalk for the models to show up the colorful and attractive costume.

I got a chance to take picture with some of the models with their costume…

Martapura, The City of Diamond.

All my friends said, when I am about to go to Kalimantan, don’t forget bring a souvenir from there. I asked what they want me to bring. most of them said: Diamond!
Helloo… Excuse me diamond are expensive..

My husband take me to Martapura that day. We went to the central of Diamond and precious stone in this city. My mother going crazy when she saw there are so many shops selling many kinds of precious stone and they’re cheap too. I know nothing about precious stone nor diamond. I thought that they’re just a colorful stone. The one that I saw there looks like fake. But it is not. The truth is the fake stone looks like the real one. That is why, people who knows nothing about precious stone are not aware of the fake or the real one. Just like me..

My mother starting busy choosing and bargaining some precious stone for herself, for my father, for this, for that and for souvenir. The price for one set precious stone is started as low as Rp. 30.000. I think that is cheap. Because, even the fake bracelet with fake stone priced higher than that in Bali. Me and my husband are just looking around while moms busy with the stone. I saw my mother tested all the stone with the testing machine that she borrowed from the seller. Yes that is important, to know if the stones are real one.

My mother asked me if I want to buy a diamond for my pendant, I said no. I already have the fake one for my white gold necklace. She insist to buy me one. After a long bargain and testing and asking for the clarity, carat, etc.. She ended up with one medium sized diamond in a triangle pendant. I kinda like it too.. So when I asked about the price, the seller said he already gave a huge discount plus guarantee certificate to my mother. Well now I know that Diamonds are girl’s best friend. I never have a diamond before, but when I wear it, I feel like it just fits me well. It’s sparkling on my neck. I thank my mother for the diamond and she said ok! She asked me to consider it as my wedding gift..
Oh my glad, I am so delighted!

Floating Market

I have already put this place on my agenda as a must see! I know that Kalimantan is very famous for its floating market. I saw it a lot on TV. We went very early in the morning because the market only opens in the morning. It’s about 6 am, I woke up in the rush knowing that I am quiet late to visit the market.

We went there by traditional motorboat named “klotok”. It look the same as “ jukung” in Bali. Only different name. The river name is Barito, one of the most famous river in Kalimantan. I know that this river is huge but I don’t know that it is as wide as the sea. I saw lots of big ship taking lots of wood logs. The journey took about 15 minutes to reach to the floating market. It is actually can take only 10 minutes if the motorboat is not having a problem. The motor is stopped, I don’t know, by something in the water. It took five minutes to fix it and the current of the river took us backward.

I saw the floating market full of another smaller and bigger “klotok” The seller yelled offering their goods and the buyer paddle their boat from one seller to another. Me and my mom are excited. We saw a “klotok” full of traditional cakes. Some other “klotok” are surround it while buying cakes and enjoy it with a hot coffee or tea. The seller gave us a stick with a small hook on the other edge. While I am confuse what is it for? He told me that I can use that to pick the cake I like from his boat. Oh..that is interesting.. I pick one cake that looks delicious with that stick and ordered a glass of hot tea to accompany.

I sat in the front of the boat enjoying my tea and my cake. There is no cold wind, eventhough it is early in the morning.. The sun is already risen up but still not hot yet. My mom, my mother in law and my aunty in law sat in the middle of the boat enjoying their cakes and hot tea while chatting. My husband are busy photographing everything he saw

Some local tourist like me passing by and smiled (I know they are tourist, because thay bring camera and their face is just as excited as we are). I smiled back and waive my hand. They waived back to me too. I am glad to know that Indonesian people are still friendly. Smile is a polite manner to say hello.

My eyes catch a small café on the boat. It says” Soto Banjar”. Well that food is also on my list for must eat!. So I told my husband that we have to go to that Café Boat after looking around. The floating market is so busy, just as busy as common traditional market in Bali, except we are on the water not on the ground.. We bought some bananas, my mother in law said it’s for the monkey we will visit on the way back.

We have our breakfast at the Café Boat. I feel dizzy because this Café is keep on rocking. I could not enjoy the food so much because of the boat swinging. I think I got seasick, oh no, it’s riversick. I finished my meal fast and back to our “klotok”. I feel more comfortable here.

As my mother in law said before that we will visit monkeys. I was wondering where is that. We passed a small land in the middle of the river. It is looks like a small island raised above the water. The boat stopped there, and closer… I saw lots of monkeys, maybe hundreds of them. They are occupying the island. We throw the bananas from our boat and immediately they began to catch it. The monkeys are friendly so we step into the ground and gave the bananas to them.

On the way back, it’s about 8 am. The floating market was quiet. Only few boats around. I am wondering how wide is this river. My husband said it’s about one kilometers. He said he will bring me to see the bridge across this river. The name is Barito bridge. The same name as the river itself.

Banjarmasin Traditional Wedding Costumes.

Well..well..well..
I really have no time to write on my wedding day because I am just too busy with my wedding plus busy exploring the city.. I don’t know what to say. The traditional wedding costumes is just very different from my place. I am wearing so many flowers that have strong scent, from Jasmine, rose, cananga. Plus my head is so heavy with all these flower.
The thing that interest me is the flower bouquet. It is just really different from others. It is made of Jasmine and roses and some leaves, it doesn’t look like a hand bouquet.
I am just too exhausted. The reception start from morning till evening. I changed my dress 3 times and still have to smile to all the guests.

When the time is up. I am so glad that I want to put all the flowers that crown my head. I am glad to be the queen of the day. I just now realize that it is hard to be the queen, especially on the dress, make up and the hair do..