An Amateur’s Guide to Pangandaran Backpacking Trip

Tags

backpacking, pangandaran

Can you imagine a weekend getaway to a beach: sunbathing, swimming, surfing, tandem-bicycling, fishing, riding on a fisherman’s boat, exploring forests and caves, embracing sunrises and sunsets, having a seafood feast, ALL just for less than Rp200.000,00?? Well i’ve just done it. A couple of weeks ago (June 11th-13th) with 7 of my friends, starting point: Bandung. Here are some tips and tricks if you ever want to go for a low-budget Pangandaran-trip, too ;) :

1. Bring along your friends! Of course, right? Besides, you will be able to do ‘joint-venture’ (err..i mean: share all the costs together). 8 people could stay in a 2 rooms + a livingroom villager’s house that costs Rp250.000/night (meaning Rp32.000 each!!). More advantages below.

2. Make sure you’ll be there NOT on a holiday peak. For the many services’ prices will be higher, and the natural-conservacy (the exploring forests and caves one) tour guidance service will be time-slotted. You wouldnt want that since you would wanna have ALL day to explore the many forests, caves, and beaches there are.

3. From Bandung, take a Budiman bus that leaves at 7pm sharp (from Cicaheum port). Budiman is a quite well-known bus, yet the price is very reasonable. I suggest you go for the air-conditioned ones, NOT the vice versa. The ones with AC charge only for Rp35.000, just Rp3.000 higher than the ones which isnt.
Why at 7pm? Because thats when the last bus of the day is. AND, so that you’ll hit Pangandaran at 1am the following day. You’ll get much needed times to find a place to stay and TO REST before going to a beach to see sunrise at 5.30am =)

4. Stay at one of the many villager’s houses instead of a hotel/motel. It will save you a lot of money. I recommend Pak Haji’s house at Bulak Laut next to masjid Al-Islam. There are 4 rooms available only for Rp350.000/night (+ 2 living rooms, 2 TVs, 2 hot water dispenser, and 2 bathrooms). I and my 7 friends rented 2 rooms only for Rp 250.000/night (+ a living room, a TV, a hot water dispenser, and a bathroom). It only costed us Rp32.000 each. 6 of us shared 2 rooms and the remaining 2 shared a living room. It was comfy enough since we spend more of the time outside the house.

5. Other advantages of going in groups of 8 (based on me and my friends’ experience):

- Seafood feast (2 kg of ‘tongkol’ fish, 1/2 kg of sweet&sour-sauced shrimp, 1/2 kg of fried squid, unlimited baskets of rice, coconut fruit for dessert): Rp18.000 each

- Nature-conservacy tour (riding a fisherman’s boat to the site, exploring many forests and caves with a tour-guide, go to other beaches nearby, seeing native monkeys, witnessing reef ecology, seeing sunset while at the boat, etc): Rp30.000 each

- Tandem bicycling for 2: Rp5.000/hour each. Discounts available for longer rental duration.

6. More tips:

- One carrier/backpack only.

- Bring your camera. Period.

- Bring along with you a pangandaran site-map. Proven very useful to track down ways to the resort-market.

- Bring along your ipods. You’d wanna kill the long 8-hours trip on the bus.

***

Here are some photos from my trip:

Pak Haji’s house: front view

on a fisherman’s boat

nature-conservacy site map

to parat cave

down to lanang cave

monkeyysss

sunset while aboard

seafood feast

budiman bus

HAPPY BACKPACKING! =)

On Love

Tags

prose

Lets get philosophical.
Love. What about it?

So you’re searching for the one you love.
Seeking, full of hope, waiting, getting stuck, getting desperate,
and then you end up in bitterness.

So you think you’ve finally found the one you love.
For 1 month, 1 year, 6 years, 20 years, 50 years.
Blossoming, loving, making promises, trusting, compromising, bored, betraying, get betrayed, tired, giving up compromising, losing, dumping, getting dumped, breaking hearts, having your heart broken, or, tragically death come setting you apart,
and then you end up in bitterness.

I say: Love, had it not handled with Godlike caress, would most likely only do you harm.

But then ‘Godlike’? What human could ever reach such state?
We hope to be forever and ever, yet goodbyes are inevitable.
We give and we hope to be given in return. We love and we hope to be loved in return. Even if only in a slightest gratuity.
If the mutual condition failed to be achieved, love left us alone in wretchedness.

Are we the brave? Or are we just plain stupid?
To let us jump in the game, already knowing the many grief consequences it could bring.

5 Mistakes I Think I Made On My First Year In My College (ITB) Which I Hope Everybody Else Wont Make

Tags

itb, tips, tpb

I’ve been meaning to write this stuff for almost a year already. I want to publish the Bahasa Indonesia version so that probably more of the 2009 freshmen might take benefit from it, dont you think? Maybe post it as a note on Facebook? But that would definitely make me looked like a cocky know-it-all, i guess. So, maybe not. By the way, heres the list:

1. Slightly underestimating the campus-orientation program held by ITB student body.

First of all, I proudly participated on the program. But being a fresh highschool graduate who thinks that every orientation program was held only just for fun pranks, I thought ITB was going to do it the same way too. I laughed on how the field commander (danlap) must refer themselves as ‘aku’ instead of ‘saya’. I hated the way the security guard (divisi keamanan) should set their facial expression (intimidating expression).
I simply didnt know the meanings, the essentials, behind it all. Now i know, and im 100% supportive, even with the least i can do.

2. Not joining even one of the many units there are in ITB.

I say, its a major loss. One of my lecturers at TPB once encouraged their students to go ahead and get participated on the many student activities because he thought that ITB is a place where brilliant people meet. I actually had the intention to join the student choir but i had only little motivation. So when i found out that the club holds twice-a-week orientation-program gathering, i quit. And now i still feel very sorry.

3. Not taking part on one of the many ITB events that are held.

Same as the explanation above, i guess.

4. Choosing an optional P.E. subject on the 2nd semester out of curiousity, and not out of what i think i could do best.

I chose tennis over basketball. I thought, had i chosen basketball, then I’d be playing basketball for the rest of my educational years. I’ve been playing basketball since i was on the 3rd grade of elementary school. My father told me the other way around: choose basketball, its what you do best, your priority is to get high scores. But i didn’t budge. I chose tennis out of curiousity, and I got C for it!! Damn. I should’ve chosen basketball over tennis =.=

5. Not keeping up quality relationship with highschool-mates.

Now this is the most major loss. Cant help it im such a socially awkward person when it comes to things like this.. I find myself very comfortable in my comfort zone that is me being solitary. But thats not good, right? Go out and meet someone new, keep someone from your past times too.

Quote of The Day

Human error is tolerable. What i dont tolerate is abandonment of responsibilities. I believe that it is every lecturer’s responsibility to elaborate each and every single point that we, their students, have earned. That is to say, not just giving out the final point indexes. I demand my rights.

I humbly think that i deserve higher point for my micropaleontology subject. I reaaally wanna know what went wrong. But since the lecturer only gave out the final point-indexes (the A, AB, B, etc), i simply cant know why. Its a growing agony. I know its lame just to throw out criticism like this, without doing any further acts to probably make any betterment of the circumstance. I just wanna let out the bitter feeling in my heart =(

The quote above, i wrote and posted it as my facebook status. And then, one of my friend, Hardika, made a comment that came up with a solution:
Next semester, the students must persuade the lecturers to make such a learning-contract including making clear of the lecturer’s responsibility to elaborate points just like i’ve quoted above.

Untill next semester, then.

Pangandaran Preparation

Tags

green canyon, pangandaran, reunion, tpb

If you go here, you will read a story about me and my TPB-mates having a farewell party at Anyer. (TPB: first-year grade at my college) And tomorrow, untill Saturday, we are going to go for a reunion party at Pangandaran. Both places are beaches. Anyer, i’ve been there quite a lot. But Pangandaran, its going to be my first. Im so excited! Not that im gonna do a lot of water fun there, though. Im excited for the beauutiful scenery im about to witness. Im packing my digicam, of course.

These are the list of things i’ll bring along:

• carrier
• digicam
• toothbrush, facial wash, towel, extra clothes
• lots of instant noodles
• snacks
• 2 liters of mineral water

We’re backpacking, anyway. If you havent noticed yet, im a student of a faculty of earth sciences and technology. I really want to build up the-passion-for-exploring-the-earth in me. I think, this kind of holiday is the best that suits my college-life. One of my lecturers once advised his class

not to separate, or draw lines between, college-life and real-life.

I couldnt be more agree. Same goes for the words below:

Some picts of Pangandaran:

Green Canyon. I dont know if we could visit it, but i really, really would like to.

And, oh, have i mentioned that this is my first ever backpacking experience? I hope that everythings going to be just fine. Oh, excitement! x)

Holiday: Day 4

Tags

ak.sa.ra, periplus, qb, times, toms, wrap boots

I dont really know what day is actually my college holiday starting. I havent checked the academic calendar. But since my last assignment was due to June 5th, so i guess lets just count it there on in. (Is there even such a phrase: there on in?) And now shall be  my holiday day 4. The first three holidays i spent those on just being home, mostly alone. Geeking all day long in front of my laptop, sulking around (drama), constructing a gift-blog for a certain celebration, and last but not least, assisting my lil sister studying for her final exam.

So i guess today im just gonna go outside. Im planning to go hunt some books (i still dont know of which kind), some wardrobes, and most important of it all, go to the dentist!

My lil sis, Shania. You might wanna wish her goodluck ^^ Heres her plurk

Wrap-up boots from Toms. I kinda like it. What do u think?

So thats it. I hope today walkabouts will do me just fine (i do feel a lil agoraphobic sometimes).

Have a nice day, too, everyone! =)

=====

P.S.: Anybody knows the main differences between Times, Periplus, QB, and ak.sa.ra? Which one do you prefer, and why?

I Thought I Lost You

Tags

undo blog deletion, wordpress

You’re back! My dearest greenish baby you’re here again. Your link is alive again.

http://risatriandari.wordpress.com is back on web again.

I thought I lost you.

*sobs*

WP admin rocks the satan out of me. Thanks, you guys! =)

Rendezvous

Tags

craig david, music

I want you to know that i personally think that Craig David’s music is AWESOME.

Its been long since i last played his tracks, though. Thanks for some excursion routine, on the way back to Bandung, at the bus, me and my friend Rainy we felt bored and somehow we just sang and sang and sang through the remaining trip. Starting from some random national song to R&B hits. And Craig David’s! It was FUN.

His 1st album. A big hit. But then his lack of media-personality kinda wears him out.
He should really win that Brit Award thing, IMHO.

You’ll fancy his work if you’re into like Jason Mraz’s Butterfly, i guess.

Frustrated. Insecure. Neurotic. Emotional.

Oh dimit. I got this certain problem that keeps tangling in my mind, running chaotically through my brain since yesterday.

And so i thought i’ll just browse around hoping to get any pictographs that actually represents the way i feel now.

But i got none.

But this one, is always a good one:

source

Yeah lets just move on, shall we? =)

Cheers to me.

Today’s Babbles

So whats up with me today?

Breakfast at McD Dago, sedimentology excursion report, reunion with my fellow friends from a-certain-organization-at-my-college at Hokben Merdeka, go to Riau street to accompany Fendi to grab some fried rice there, and move to Dago street to have a quick roasted-corn feast.

And whats for tomorrow?

Assigning the sedimentology report, accompany Fendi to a service center to fix his car’s honk thats been muted for an unknown reason, shop at the Salman flea market for some pair of socks, aaand repairing my aquarium set!

Ok. Things been listed. Now go. to. sleep.

Have a marvellous day, everyone! Even if you dont, just pretend that you do have. Smile. And be grateful =)