the reason why in the hell you should go backpacking in indonesia

 

this new video campaign by camel active 2012 really making the statement. loving it! great music and hot guys along with it :D

kaliandra: a hidden sanctuary of pasuruan

remembering dagpo rinpoche, i forgot to post about this place: kaliandra. beside having my first tibetan teaching here last december, i found an amazing sanctuary in the middle of pasuruan. pasuruan for goodness sake, in east java! it’s a vast 17 hectare of land at mount arjuna, organic farming, an amazing paladeo buildings and beautiful garden (or forest?) that makes you literally time travel to another world. it’s a little absurd experience but it’s completely unforgettable. the next pictures would speak for themselves.

walking path in kaliandra | the hidden paledeo with beautiful lotus pond | yeap, complete with the pool at the back | wooden villa | the outdoor bathroom | italian paledeo | view of arjuna mountain at the main garden| buddha statue in the middle of the pond

dharamsala #2: snow

me @ tsuglag khang temple after the snowy candle march night

growing up in a tropical country like indonesia, seeing snow is a rare opportunity. i was twenty eight years old when i saw my first snow and i was extremely happy to see it first time in dharamsala. it welcome us lightly the first morning and was raining hard at our first night in dharamsala. but the next morning was such a beautiful morning, the sun shine and left us the snow from last night. therefor i decided to share the snow of dharamsala in this post :)

snowy seat at ladies venture – mcleod ganj | the view of moonpeak from our room’s window | ladies venture | drying the yak blanket and our gloves, even our boots | icy pink rose | clear view of moonpeak

this is how we have our coffee that cold morning while wifi-ing at a nearby cafe

dharamsala #1: the candle march

the tibetan shops were all closed the first day we arrived in dharamsala. another monk immolation happened in tibet, the atmosphere of mourning felt all over the town. we went for an afternoon mass prayer and walked the candle march that night from tsuglag khang (dalai lama’s temple). the tibetan community of dharamsala were all out in the street and walk the march around town. snow was pouring hard.

i can’t describe my feeling. being among the monks and the tibetan people. among the chants, prayer and shout. i don’t know the language. but the language of the heart touched my very soul. i cry on the street of dharamsala and among its people. i understand this longing of going home to lhasa, i wish one day to be in lhasa and to be among those mountain once again in this very life. i thankful that universe brought me to dharamsala on that very moment. to cry among them.

never in my life i feel to be in such in a right place. that there is no coincidence like dagpo rinpoche said, where your wheel of life and karma brought you back to where you belong, to your home and you are born a new to the path of dharma. i walked myself among the march, lighting my own candle. my own very name: dian. the candle that would never die. that hope and goodness would never die.

om mane padme hum

the path to dharamsala

majnu ka tila, new delhi

the first step when we went inside majnu ka tila is to realized that we are not in india. it was raining and damp that afternoon. we took the metro and stop at the kashmiri gate. took an auto and drop around majnu ka tila, called lobsang to pick us up at the front of majnu ka tila alleyway. i can’t help to remember (again) that this area look like janti area in jogjakarta.

we went inside majnu ka tila and transferred to the world of tibetan. buying a bottle of water and getting stared at because i use english (i look local, oh well). drink our first yak butter tea. buy our first yak wool blankets which proof to be one of the most useful things in our trip.

we took our first indian bus ride at 6 PM. it would take us 12 hours to reach dharamsala. i prefer not to see how in the hell he was driving the bus to reach that distance in half a day. we had to stop two times to have dinner – a delicious chicken curry – and an early morning chai before going up to the mountains. we reach dharamsala when it was still pitch black around 6 AM, took a taxi of a nice old indian driver and settle ourselves at ladies venture, mcleod ganj. we slept at the kashmiri hotel, basically freezing until it was time for breakfast at 9 AM. being an island people surely needed time to adjust with north indian winter.

dharamsala welcome us that morning with a light snow. exactly at the moment that we have our breakfast outside in the lodging patio. the first snow of our lives.

abmi first yak butter tea | prayer wheel by an old tibetan lady in the bus | dalai lama picture at our bus to dharamsala

i had dream this trip to dharamsala over and over. and i can’t help myself to feel i am at the right place. it felt that i’ve been away for so long, walk so many path, passing so many journey and finally come home. something fulfill my heart and i can’t explain it to anyone. accept that i’m here, in my right place, in my own heart and i don’t need anything else.

delhi #dayfive

sarojini market, new delhi

it was a shopping spree day at sarojini market. where everything is super cheap but good quality. how in the hell in the world you could find a good zara winter jacket for only a dollar. all out in the market. we managed to get basically all the winter clothing requirements for a colder temperature in dharamsala. we went with mia, constanz and danish. all of us went mad with the shopping, we basically fill an auto with our shopping. because of this, i basically say if you go to india, don’t really bring clothes, just buy here because it’s super cheap! sarojini totally rocks!

we joined the light surgeon guys to head to old delhi. mia was to be our guide of the day. we join ben in the front of mcdonald’s in chandni chowk. we had the best street food and eating the best food too. i think i would post about those food in another post.

my first impression about old delhi was that the street remind me of jakarta in the 80s and the way it’s packed with so many people like in the old fashion PRJ festival. for some people it would have to be the most packed experience ever. that india really consisting a billion people kinda experience. but yeah, i can’t help to feel mostly nostalgic despite the constant honking in every corner we go. the constant need to keep on walking among the stream of people. and feeling you’re losing yourself in those stream.

we went to jama masjid but had some unpleasant experience with people guarding at the entrance. the remains of moghul beauty somehow dies because of such a discriminating attitude. i never before in my life when entering a mosque to be repelled with such unwelcoming attitude, just because i’m a woman (which they think need to be covered with a bright color silly kimono kinda cover, we’re in our winter clothing for godsake) and i’m with my foreign looking friends. abmi tried to convinced the guard that she is moslem, but because we are with our friends they judge us to be kafir and have to respect their weird made up “custom”. we also have to pay extra 200 rupee each while other people enter freely just because they look local and look moslem. i was disappointed with this experience and fail to engage at the beautiful sunset entering the mosque afternoon prayer. which they shooed us like birds to the gate outside just because people are going to pray. in my heart i prayed for any shallow minded people that thinks that people with different beliefs would not respect them in their prayer. i hope someday they will open their heart somehow.

thank god a dinner at karim made the incident become more bearable. i would not complain over the most satisfying lamb curry i ever had in my life. despite the chaotic visual of old delhi, in some ways it was inspiring. abmi made some little videos when we were walking in the market. i would try to upload them to share those feeling of lost in translation.

mia morikawa selecting clothes in sarojini | bidi and cigarette sellers at sarojini | getting out from chandni chowk metro station | chandni chowk | walking through old delhi market | man pouring sacred drinking water in the middle of the market | jama masjid | afternoon market around jama masjid | biscuit and cracker seller | afternoon market at old delhi

why eastern indonesia is one of the world’s gem

kakara island, north halmahera

do i need to say more?

the journey we start, the journey we end

pic from almostfearless

no matter how lazy i am to blog my trip. which suddenly after india, i rather become fearless to take the chances of traveling again. with or without my son. but what i know deep in my heart is i always have the urge and the need to travel from time to time. trying to settling myself down since my mother sickness and death in 2006, does not really become a personal solution for me.

i realized i heal through my journey. that every path taken had their blessed meaning. that in my wandering i found myself. it is very important for me and i shall not loose it anymore.

i found silence when i’m taking a trip. no matter how far i walk, i know i’m a home for myself. i am after all a nomadic by heart.

i still owe this blog another series of the indian trip, a couple more days in delhi and an amazing week of dharamsala. i owe post of my recent rembang-lasem trip. but for now i’m signing off for a trip (a job really) to halmahera for two weeks. wish me luck :)

delhi #dayfour

i can’t help myself to compare haus khaz village with kemang area in jakarta or maybe also cikini. but this is new delhi. it’s a complex of so many beautiful things thrown together. buildings, houses, artist studios, boutiques, shops, galleries and restaurants. it’s unbelievable to find it here. that is my impression coming to hauz khas village the first time. the auto (we call them bajaj in indonesia, which actually stand for the indian brand) would just drop us in the entrance, cars are not allowed to enter the complex. and yes, indian auto have meter on them like taxi but often they don’t work and you have to haggle with the driver. all the time. me and abmi look local, that often we got auto driver who we realized cannot speak english (“no english, madame”) in the middle of our trip and we had to use body language to tell the way.

it is not really recommended to shop in this area, although the temptation is very high. like kemang, the price is quiet expensive. try indian market instead :D will have them in another post. be patient.

i end up cooking in the afternoon at the grey garden restaurant for indonesian special menu night. it was avinash idea and mia help us providing the things we need in the kitchen. i cooked yellow chicken, three version of sambal matah bali, made salad and classic nasi goreng. the nepalese kitchen crew are the best. and the restaurant manager, santanu is the loveliest. he made sure we are not running out of chai, wine and beer while cooking. we enjoy such a great time in the grey garden that we forget to take pictures together. we were to busy sharing drinks and cigarette kretek with the kitchen crew. oh how i miss cooking with them. i’m starting to think to open my own restaurant someday and have friends coming to be a cook in residence :D

mia took us to the night club after dinner time. a nice one because the sky is the roof. avinash had a vj-ing session there. i sort off forget the club name but it was a great place. loving new delhi for sure!

haus khaz village entrance – grey garden sign | an art/cultural center around haus khaz | flats and restaurant | beautiful shop sign | yodakin – independent bookstore/press | painted door | tunnel going down to grey garden | semi underground feel | way to grey garden | grey garden patio | club scene | view from the rooftop | mia’s hand | surrounding floor of the club

delhi #daythree

our third day in new delhi. we spent such a long day and experience so much. we had our mobile numbers. it’s quiet easy and a little hassle, but avinash driver took us through and we’re suddenly connected. make sure you always bring photocopies of your pasport and visa, and always have extra passport size pictures everywhere. it makes things easier to do things.

we walk around connaught place and janpath market. went to our first indian bookstore, which we did not manage to took picture because we were too excited. can’t help to notice that in a big city like delhi there are still so many birds around. we bought a couple of books and had lunch around connaught.

we walk to british council for the afternoon, spent time smoking in the garden and rehearsing for our performance. i scribble my short story and make it into three chapter. you can read the text here. so it was us two in the garden at the back, rehearsing with wooden keris and our batik cloth. the performance went great. it was my first short story reading in english to english readers. we were overwhelm with the responses and give copies of our short story anthology to our new friends and some of the audience. we only brought 15 copies, so it was special:)

the night end watching antariksha sanchar as part of UNBOX closing at max mueller bhavan. avinash’s mother do the modified version of bharatanatyam dance with the students. her studio is just in the basement where we’re staying. such a fantastic night. very beautiful and memorable :) we went home with auntie and avinash’s niece. she cook spaghetti in the middle of the night. talking until late again, avinash father had to stop us. the exact way my father would done when i was a teenager and having sleep over at my house. funny to be reminded having another family again :_)

walking around connaught place | abmi at the local STD ( we call them wartel in indonesia) | vintage building in connaught | british council at the front | upcyle 1 – recyling beautiful stuff | upcycle 2 – lovely ceramic table | kalamarica reading performance | light surgeon presentation | installation at max mueller | the bar at the closing | visual installation for antariksha sanchar | antariksa sanchar dance performance 1 & 2