Short Story: Dear Future Husband

(copied from my AskFM)

Dear future husband,

I don't actually know who you are now. I basically have no idea, we may be friends right now, or maybe we have crossed path in the past, or maybe you are still in the future and I haven't met you yet (but seriously I hope we have known each other by now because I'm not fond of the idea knowing someone else again), but wherever you are, I hope we are fighting in our way for a good future.

Probably I will question yourself why on earth you will fall for someone like me, and by that I really mean it. So please avoid answer because of my appearance, because seriously, that will be a major turn off. I want to be loved because of my personality, because appearance doesn't make you stay. I don't use make up daily and my fashion taste is average so seriously, you may want a better reason rather that how I look.

You know, there are people who are always searching for the best one. I don't. I search for those who can accept me the way I am. And may I remind you this, it's hard. So if maybe one day you feel like there's someone better than you in my surroundings, please don't be insecure. If I feel you are enough, then I mean it, I'm staying. Time matters to me. If we've been through things together for long time, why should I risk it for someone I don't probably know as much as I know you? I don't always want the best, I want what I need. And I really hope you feel the same way too.

And since you are marrying the only child of my parents, please understand if in the future, our child will be hijacked a lot by their grandparents. Hehe. And may I also remind you this, I'm not really the warmest person when it comes to children owing to have no siblings to grow up with. It's not like I hate children, seriously, but I simply don't know how to interact with them. If you are better than me in this field, I'm eager to learn. But if you're not... may God bless our child with extra skill of socializing.

I'm an avid traveler. Or explorer. I'd rather call myself explorer though. So please please please, don't be a lazy person. Exploring is fun. If one day I kinda force you into diving, well, please be prepared. And by the way do you know that what you see in the land is fewer that what you could see underwater? Ha.

I have a lot of friends. And I'm going to introduce you to every one of them, because it's really important for me to have both of you get along since you're going to see each other a lot in the future.

And finally -- though I still have much to say -- I have been living almost 21 years on my own. So please, don't march into my life and start organizing my life. It's not I avoid changes, or even against it, it's fine to advise me to change IF we agree it's better for my life, your life, and our life. But if you ask me to change a thing just for the sake of yourself, I hope you have known where the exit door is.

I'm running out of space here. So yeah, I'll see you soon!

Love,

yours faithfully

Diving Log: USAT Liberty Shipwrecked, Tulamben, Bali

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Disclaimer:

1. Gue baru beberapa kali nulis jurnal travelling sebelum ini. Jadi, don't expect something really informative because I write for myself (well, it's good if it can be helpful for you too).

2. I write in bilingual (bilingual bapakmu, Van). Gue kalo nulis nyampur-nyampur antara bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Indonesia, dan gue belum mau repot-repot memiringkan kalimat dalam bahasa Inggris, so yeah, good luck with that.

3. I don't do backpacking much, jadi ini bukan tulisan low budget yang mungkin kalian biasa temukan, but I'm trying to give you every informations I could remember, including price. And I don't do narrative story about the place, because I probably won't remember, or else, I don't know, here's some reading materials for you below.

Reading material about Tulamben:

1. Wikipedia

*****

Hello bello! Selamat puasa semuanya! Semoga puasanya berkah dan lancar hingga hari terakhir (jangan kayak gue yang baru hari kedua udah ambyar).

Ini pertama kalinya gue nulis diving journal karena basically disini juga gue pertama kali diving heuheuheu so this place deserves a special post.

Diving di Tulamben ini sesungguhnya sama sekali tidak direncanakan, ya gimana mau direncanakan wong dapet license aja belom, kepikiran aja ngga, namun tiba-tiba seorang teman menyeret kesini dan turned out it was one of the best experience in my life.

Tulamben sendiri lokasinya sekitar 3 jam dari Bali, jadi sebaiknya berangkat pagi-pagi lah dari Kuta, sekitar jam 7 pagi gitu. Saking lamanya, dari ketiduran sampe kebangun sampe ketiduran lagi, tetep juga belom sampe-sampe. Kudos to our driver tho.

Akhirnya sekitar jam 10 pagi kita sampe di Tulamben, tepatnya di Puri Madha, because kita akan menggunakan jasa dari dive center ini. Kenapa dive center ini, nggak tau juga, mungkin karena ada linknya kesini, tapi so far dive center ini tidak mengecewakan kok, udah gitu dengan baiknya mau menerima kita-kita yang belom licensed ini hahaha (sebenernya ga boleh loh kalo belom licensed, jadi kayaknya lumayan untung juga).

Diving spot paling terkenal disini adalah reruntuhan kapal USS Liberty (lupa karamnya tahun berapa, kalo ga salah dari tahun 60an deh), and let me tell you, it was EPIC. The wreck was HUGEEEEEE. And the fishes were also HUGE, I mean, they were gigantic. Probably the foods around were good (I mean the planktons) but seriously they were kinda abnormal.

Tulamben sendiri merupakan shore dive, jadi harganya cukup murah karena ga perlu nyewa kapal hehehehe. Visnya cukup baik, meskipun susah diperkirakan berapa meter (hei I'm not that expert), and btw gue ketemu hiu disana! Padahal masih di pinggir, mungkin kedalaman 5-6 meter, tapi tiba-tiba ada hiu kecil melintas. This must have been a sign.
Spot kedua adalah Sea/Coral Garden (gatau sumpah namanya apa). Jaraknya sekitar hmmm... mungkin 100 m dari USS Liberty, jadi kita diangkut pake pick up dulu kesana, baru descend di shore juga. Tempat ini cukup unik karena banyak reruntuhan reruntuhan aneh gitu, ya ada patung Budha lah, patung Dewi Kwan Im lah, ada juga entah sangkar sangkar gitu. Lumayan banyak schooling disini, karena lebih lapang mungkin yak.

Please do note this was my first try on diving, I didn't even understand a single thing about buoyancy, heck I didn't even remember doing any inflate or deflate (but hey I'm getting better!). And also, we came here on bad weather, so I bet it's better when you come when the sun shines through the water.
Tempat ini membuat gue jatuh cinta dengan diving, so yeah, definitely gonna come back the moment I have the chance. Until later!

Travelling Journal: Goa Jomblang, Yogyakarta

***

Disclaimer:

1. Gue baru dua kali nulis jurnal travelling sebelum ini. Jadi, don't expect something really informative because I write for myself (well, it's good if it can be helpful for you too).

2. I write in bilingual (bilingual bapakmu, Van). Gue kalo nulis nyampur-nyampur antara bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Indonesia, dan gue belum mau repot-repot memiringkan kalimat dalam bahasa Inggris, so yeah, good luck with that.

3. I don't do backpacking much, jadi ini bukan tulisan low budget yang mungkin kalian biasa temukan, but I'm trying to give you every informations I could remember, including price. And I don't do narrative story about the place, because I probably won't remember, or else, I don't know, here's some reading materials for you below.

Reading material about Goa Jomblang (Jomblang Cave):

1. Yogyes.com

2. Tripadvisor

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Heiho!

Setelah absen selama kurang lebih 4 tahun, akhirnya kemaren dengan randomnya gue ke Jogja lagi selama 47 jam saja. Sebenernya tujuan awal hanya ke Purwokerto untuk menghadiri pernikahan teman, namun karena dirasa dekat, akhirnya sekalian ke Jogja, meskipun sendirian saja (the most solo-est trip I've ever done).

Gue ke Jogja dari Purwokerto naik bis yang ugh sayangnya kena macet jadi ngabisin 5 jam sendiri (meskipun bisnya pewe sih), cuma next time kayaknya akan percaya sama kereta aja dibanding nemu macet-macet ga jelas di jalan.

Sebenernya ada beberapa tempat lain yang gue datangi di Jogja, yakni Goa Langse dan Merapi (yang Lava Tournya tapi), but this place deserves its own post because OH MY GOD.

So, Goa Jomblang adalah goa vertikal yang terletak di daerah Gunungkidul, sekitar 1 jam setengah perjalanan dari Jogja kalo pagi dan 2 jam kalo sore. Jalannya searah sama Kalisuci. Mungkin kalo kalian pake supir, tempat ini ga seterkenal Goa Pindul atau Kalisuci atau destinasi Gunungkidul lainnya, jadi bilang aja ke arah Kalisuci, entar ada belokan kecil di sebelah kanan ada plangnya juga. Jalannya agak geradakan, jadi kalo mobilnya Avanza mungkin bisa dipertimbangkan untuk ganti ke Innova atau apapun yang agak strong dikit.

Turun ke Goa Jomblang gabisa mandiri, karena harus vertical caving sedalam 80 meter, jadi kalau mau kesana sebaiknya booking dulu ke Pak Cahyo (+62 811 117 010), yang punya Jomblang Resort-nya. Tiap hari cuma dilakukan sekali caving sekitar jam setengah 11an, karena emang gua nya cuma sekali sehari dimasukin untuk dapet cahaya yang bagus, jadi sebaiknya udah di TKP dari jam 10 pagi. Kemaren karena hari biasa aja jadi gue maen langsung dateng dateng aja, untung sepi jadi bisa turun. Dan kalau mau kesini pastikan dirimu bukanlah pengunjung satu-satunya, kalo ngga nanti dicharge double harga, Biaya sekali turun untuk turis lokal itu 450 ribu, tapi gatau deh kalo turis asing kena berapa, kemaren ga nanya-nanya.
Outfit yang disarankan sebaiknya celana pendek atau celana kargo (jangan jeans), dan pakai kaos siap kotor (JANGAN PAKE KAOS PUTIH I'VE DONE THAT AND I REGRET), sepatu apapun no probs karena nanti dikasih boots dari sana.

Penampakan goa dari atas

Sebelum turun, nanti kalian akan dipasangin alat-alat standar caving dan bakal turun berdua-dua. Btw, kemarin gue turun sama 4 orang Malaysia dan 3 orang Taiwan (seriously pribuminya cuma gue), tapi akhirnya gue turun sama mas-masnya.

Panik dooooong liatnya

Dudududududu I believe I can flyyyyy~~~~

Anyway proses turun membutuhkan sekitar 3 menit saja, dan insya Allah ga akan kejungkir, kebalik, turun bebas, ataupun yang lain-lainnya karena pengamannya double jadi lumayan safe. Anyhoo setelah sampe, gue musti nungguin yang lain lagi turun karena nanti masuknya bareng-bareng.
Setelah semua sampe, rupanya guanya masih ada sedikit di bawah, jadi kita musti jalan lagi dikit, dan OH MY GOD IT WAS SLIPPERY LIKE ROAD TO HELL dengan segala lumpur-lumpur bertebaran I mean no shit. Siap-siap kotor aja. Ga ada gunanya berusaha bersih dengan tidak memegang apapun kecuali kalian mau jungkir balik disitu karena sok-sokan bisa jalan sendiri.

Look at the road, look

Whoa that was big

Anyway, kalian tau kan Goa Jomblang ini terkenal dengan apanya? Wkwkw maapin lupa ditulis di kata pengantar dan latar belakang. Jadi, Goa Jomblang ini terkenal dengan "cahaya surga"nya, yang dimana cahaya mataharinya masuk ke dalam goa karena goanya lobang di bagian atas. The moment I saw pictures from this place, I knew I had to come no matter what.
Setelah jalan di dalam kegelapan selama sekitar 7 menit melalui berbagai medan (ga deng lebay, cuma agak licin lalu kemudian terjal aja), akhirnya kita sampe di yang namanya Luweng Grebeg (atau Brebeg? Something like that lah), tempat si cahaya itu masuk. Disini ada spot foto yang asik, seakan-akan ada batu yang sengaja diletakkan disitu buat foto foto, hahaha.

We are close!

God take me to Your heaven~

Climb climb climb

I'm here!

Ya Allah dimana jodohku........

Anyway, berhubung gue dateng kesini sendirian, jadilah foto-fotonya kurang mumpuni karena (1) tidak ada teman yang bisa diminta fotoin jadi cuma bisa pasrah ke mas-masnya, (2) lupa ngatur settingan kamera karena udah terlalu excited liatnya hiks. Mungkin ini pertanda harus kesini lagi nanti sama teman teman yang skill fotografinya lebih mumpuni.

I mean no shit

Kasian di Taiwan sana ga ada tempat kayak gini

Bucketlist #1: crossed!

SIAPA YANG GA PENGEN BALIK SIH

Udah udah kebanyakan naro foto gue jadi pengen balik kesana lagi. Akhirnya petualangan berakhir sekitar pukul 1, dan jam setengah 2 kita semua udah di daratan normal lagi. Jadi emang kalo kesini musti ngorbanin literally 1 hari karena abis itu ga sempet kemana mana lagi, BUT. IT. WAS. WORTH. VISITING.
Until later, Jomblang!

TL;DR
1. Prepare your cash. Ga ada ATM di sekitar sini, dan resortnya juga ga menyediakan gesek kartu. 450 ribu udah termasuk makan siang juga, nanti dikasih pas kita udah naek lagi.
2. Mereka punya kamar mandi yang cukup proper, jadi bawalah baju ganti dan beberapa tetes sabun untuk menghilangkan noda-noda membandel.
3. Kalo mau bawa kamera kesini, bawa sama tasnya juga. Save your camera before yourself, I say.