Serge and Emili, Spanish guys

Emili and Serge, two Spanish guys who love traveling. They had been to many places, from Asia, SE Asia and Europe. They live in Lanzarote, Spain, beautiful place with many nude beaches (as i saw in their photos)....hehehehe. They're nice, polite and friendly. Emili is a teacher and Serge actually was just accepted as a highschool teacher that time. Emili is a talkactive person and Serge is a shy guy.

I picked them up at the airport and took them to their hotel. They stayed at Prawirotaman area, an area for tourists. Since they arrived at 3Pm, so they decided to stay at the hotel, had some rest and met me in the evening, for dinner.

We had a dinner at Malioboro Mall. We enjoyed our dinner and we talked about anything, their life and their travel experienced, and it's amazing. There're travel addict...hehehehe. It's fun to talk with them, both of them are expressive kind of guys.....i like them... :)

On the next day we went to Prambanan temple. We went there by Transjogja bus. We went there in the afternoon, coz it's the perfect time.....sunset time.... :) We made some pictures there. Actually we had a panic situation when we're there.... :( When we're there, we decided to split up, Serge and i explored the outer side, meanwhile Emili explored the inner side of the temple. Unfortunately we had a little missunderstanding about the meeting point, and what made it worst was that they didn't bring their cellphone.... :( So we looked for eachother almost for an hour, coz the area of the temple is so huge. But finally we could regroup again... :)

At night, we had a dinner together and after that we went to cafe, celebrating their last night in Yogyakarta. We had fun together, and they invited me to their home and they would love to take me around their city and to the nicest beach near their place... :) Thanks for the invitation guys and it's nice to have you guys here... :)
Hope we can meet again someday...

Anton Ledergerber, another nice Swiss guy.

He sent me message on the last minute. "Would you please help me during my trip in Jogjakarta?" he said. "Off course" i replied. I never thought that he's 19 years old....that's awesome!!! He's young, energetic and totally friendly... :) At the first time we met, he waited for me at the bus station which located near the airport. He waited for me around 15 minutes, coz i was working that time, sorry dude!!!

First destination...Prambanan temple!!! (again...hehehehe). It was perfect time...almost sunset...romantic...hehehehe...We made nice photos from normal photo till unusual photo... ;)

Nice shot, Anton! hehehe. Btw, Anton is a college student, and now he's doing Military Service in Switzerland...go Anton go!!! lolz. This friendly guy also love everything about aircraft engineering, which is same as me...hehehe. That's why we talked so much about it. And he always doing push up and sit up (since he's on Military Service) every night...even he's on vacation...i salut you, my friend!!! On the next day we went to Sultan palace, actually he went alone to the Sultan palace, coz i was working. So, i joined him at 2.30 PM...and we went to Water Castle and Ngasem bird market....oh ya and Yogyakarta fortress. I took him to drive "becak" and he enjoyed it!!! hehehe

His first "becak" ride...and he liked it... ;)

Tamansari..."hallo...im in Tamansari now...would u please stop calling me!!!"...lolz

Jogjakarta fortress pose...great bro!!

His "Spiderman" pose...it was taken on the ruin of the fortress

On the last night, i took him to Computer fair near my place, he was surpised by it's price. after we went home, we just talked and talked...he told me about his Military Service and so on. We talked till late at night...hehehe
After Jogjakarta, his next destination was mt. Bromo, East Java. I would love to have you here again, my friend...
Take care and enjoy your day...and be a good Soldier!!! ;)

Lukas and Silvan...the crazy Swiss guys... :)

This's the story of my guests from Switzerland, Lukas Minder and Silvan Hostetler. They are young but have a great adventures!!! awesome... Lukas, graduated from high school and he's going to the university this September. He's nice, friendly, a little bit crazy... ;) and he's 184 cm tall, and i felt so intimidated when i walked with him...hehehehe. Silvan, he went to the same high school as Lukas, but he decided to drop out of school. Then he started to work as a Postman. They live near by, that's why they're becoming best friends. They often go for a trip together. And Jogjakarta is one of their list.

They stayed here for 2 days. On the first day, we went to Borobudur temple. And a friend of mine joined us that day, her name is Iding. And actually, she's in love with one of them... :) Ding, that's true, wasn't it! lolz... We left around 10 AM, and arrived on the temple at noon. After used a lot of sunscream, we started to explore the temple. That month was a peak season, so there're many tourists on the temple, both local and foreigners. We barely couldn't enjoy the temple, coz many local people wanted to take a picture of my guests... ;) Ahh....there's someone joined us as well on the temple, his a Dutch guy, his name is Chris Kubbinga. And he's very tall....194 cm tall.... :( Iding and i looked so small...just like a dwarf... hehehehe. Even we just met on the temple, but it feels like we've known eachother for ages, i think it's all because of our madness...hahahaha...yes, we're all crazy guys... ;) We went around the temple for 1,5 hours.

Chris joined us to Jogjakarta, coz he would meet his friend, somewhere around Bantul. We arrived at 6.30 PM, hungry and exhausted. So we went straight to the warung. And we ordered many foods...especially for Chris and Lukas. Both of them like to eat... ;) and that night they ate 2 portions of nasi goreng and a portion of mie goreng... :) while we had a dinner, Chris told us his story when he was in Bandung, and he showed us his pictures too. Funny stories and funny pictures, and we made a joke on him about his stories and girls...hehehe...Chris, you should stop making an "accident"...lolz. After that Iding drove Chris to his friend.

On the next day, we drove Lukas and Silvan to Tembi Village, Kasongan and Prambanan temple. My friends joined us that day. Sonny, Sansan, Kucing, Siska and Iding. Our first stopped was Tembi Village. Nice place with Javanese touch. It's located on Batul area, and it's surrounded by rice fields. So refreshing and green... :) We had a good time there, and made many pictures. Actually, Lukas and Silvan wanted to go there again for their honeymoon... :) After we went to Tembi Village, we went to Kasongan, handicraft place. We stayed there for awhile and after that we went to Prambanan temple. We made many wiered pictures there... ;)

Both Lukas and Silvan love to explore something new. For example, they asked me to take them to a food stall where they could eat firecracker food. It's a very spicy food, made of beef, and many chilis... :) That's why Jogjakarta people called it firecracker food... :)

Guys...can't wait to see you again... :)

Beautiful girl from Rusia

Karina Belova is her name, she comes from Rusia. And she's in Singapore for her study. She's a young, energic, friendly and pretty Rusian girl... :) She arrived in Jogjakarta in the evening by train. And the train was a bit late, about 15 minutes. Cos there was a problem with the place where she would stay, so i offered her my friend's house, and she agreed...great!!!

On the first night, we just went to a cafe where she had a dinner and had a cup of coffee. We had a great conversations on the cafe, and i realized that time that she's a wonderful , friendly and smart, and everybody would like her easily. We also shared our idea about business in here, and she gave me new idea about my business, that was awesome. After that, i drove her to my friend's house, Sansan. He has a dog, Golden Retriever and his name is Shi Fu, and Karina loves it. She loves dog.

On the next day, we went to Borobudur temple. The weather was so hot just like the other days...fuih... :( and i run out my sunscream... :( so, i asked Karina to give me some...great!! After went around the temple we sat down under the tree, we both were axhausted. The wind blew gently which made us fresh... ;) After had a break for awhile, we decided to go back to Jogjakarta. We felt a sleep on the bus...hehehe... At night i asked Karina to go to a local bar, and i asked Sansan, Siska and Bakoh to join us too, and they agreed. We had a really good time there. All of us shared our stories, experiences and everything. And we didn't realize that we were there almost 4 hours...hehehehe....yup, time flies...especially if you hang out with friends...good friends... ;) And it did stopped there, we went to Tugu Jogja and Malioboro street, Jogjakarta famous land marks. We made some pictures there...great!!! Thes're some pictures we made...

On the next day, we went to Prambanan temple....we tried to enjoy as much as we could, coz that day was her last day in Jogja... :( Karina you should come here! again!!! Siska and Sansan drove us to the airport. Karina you have to come here again....we gonna miss you.... :) And thanks for your advises.... :)

Short visit of Andrew Lillis

His name is Andrew Lillis, and he comes from Ireland, the country of a Boy Bands... :) He's a lawyer who works for American company which's located in Beijing, China. As a lawyer for a well known company, he spends most of his time in the office. That's why if there's a holiday, even just 3 days, he tries to spend it wisely.... :) travelling for example. And his short visited to Jogjakarta also part of it. He sent me an email that time and asked me to accompany him while he's in Jogjakarta, and i said yes. He stayed in Hotel in Prawirotaman region. He arrived around 1.30 PM and went straight to the hotel, and after that he sent me message and told me that he's arrived. I picked him up around 2 PM and it was dark and cloudy. That time was the month of elections too. We voted for our parliament, so there're many campaign of a party. It's so dark and i just drove him for 10 minutes and suddenly the rain dropped so hard. We moved aside and waited till the rain stopped. After 30 minutes the rain started to stop, and we continued our trip. Coz his shirt was really wet, i took him to my place and borrowed him my t-shirt. Our first destination was Prambanan temple. And he enjoyed his time there....and me too. We made really nice sunset pictures, the sky was clear....everything just perfect!!!

On the second day we went to Buddhist temple, Borobudur. We left at 9 AM in the morning and we arrived at 11 AM. And just liked my other guests, he's so popular there, many local people wanted to take a picture with him....just liked and artist or model!! and i was looked like his assistance....hehehehe... We stayed there at least for 2 hours, and then we went back to Jogjakarta. In the evening, we went around city center, Malioboro. We went to a gift shop too, he enjoyed his time there. And we didn't realize that we stayed there for an hour. So, we decided to have a dinner in the city center, we ate donuts and had a cup of coffee....finally....hehehe. And we had a great conversation while we had our dinner. He told me about his family, job, his friends in his office and his annoying friend too...hehehe...hope you get along now....hahahaha....

Come here again, Andrew....and i will take you to beautiful island, Karimunjawa. The hidden palace of Central Java....see you soon friend..... :)

Jogja Cultural Tour, explore Art And Cultural of jogja, historical discovery holiday operators

Jogja Cultural Tour, explore Art And Cultural of jogja, historical discovery holiday operators

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Radek Szpak, the friendly Polish guy

His name is Radek Szpak, and he comes from Poland. I met him when he traveled around Java. And Jogjakarta was his 3rd destination after Jakarta and Bandung. He is a such nice guy, polite and friendly. Always tries to make everybody happy. He just looked like Indonesian people with a different skin color and nose... :)

He stayed in Jogjakarta for 4 days. He never complained about everything, even when local people kept asking to make a picture with him....he just smiled and said "OK!", for me that's awesome. Some foreigners wouldn't act like that when local people keep asking them to make a picture with them. Yeah, coz they want to enjoy the objects instead of making photos with local people...and sometimes local people is also going to far and become annoying... :( they keep insist them even the situation doesn't look good...so, that's why foreigner refuse them. So, for you local people who want to make a photos with foreigners...just be patient and give them some space and respect...then, they will do that... ;)

My activities when Radek was here were great! We did almost anything. Visiting temples, Jogjakarta palace, Water castle, Lava tour, and souvenir places. I also asked him to play badminton with my friends, it was so funny. For a beginner, he's ok.... :), and when we were serious he's looked so desperate, and started to say bad words in Polish language, "kurva, suka" and more... :D. He's so surprised about prices in Indonesia....just like everybody else... :) "Everything is so cheap!" he said.

There's something else about Radek which surprised me, his Indonesian vocabulary.... :) when we met at the first time, he said to "Apa kabar Andry?, saya Radek dari Polandia", then i smiled and replied "Baik-baik saja, bagaimana dengan anda?". He said "Baik juga". And he knows some more even he just stayed here for a couples of days. Good job Radek!!! :) And he taught me some Polish words for sure.....bad words.... :) Radek loves business too, when he was here i took him to the traditional market, and after that he stared to think and mumbling.... :) "It costs you at least 5 Euros for this thing" he said. "This's good for business!" he said again. And i admitted that he has a good sense of business for sure. One thing that he couldn't make it when he was in Jogjakarta. Seeing the volcano, because there's no volcano in Poland, he becomes curious about it. And when i took him to the mount. Merapi, the weather was very cloudy so that we couldn't see it at all.... :( But finally he could make it when he was in East Java, he went to mount. Bromo....and he sent me his photos when he was there.  

We discussed about everything, politics, business, religion, and girls..... ;) And it's fun coz he's an open minded person. And yeah....it was a great moment when he was here....Radek, don't forget our business agreement..... :)         

New Project... :)

Actually, sometimes i feel so bored with my daily job. That's why i try to make an activity in my leisure time... I made a property business with my brother 3 years ago, and now, since the situations getting worse, i mean about the crisis, our business doesn't go really well... :( I had to make a new business. So, it was started 3 months ago...when a friend of mine who came from Singapore arrived here, in Jogjakarta. She's a project manager for a company in Singapore.

"I love doing tourism" : i said to her. She smiled and replied : "good, maybe you should try to make a business based on it". Since that, i kept on thinking... :) I had to make something different, something new, not an ordinary tourism... :) Usually, they only provide an ordinary tour, i mean, they will only take the guess to the tourism objects and then take the guess back to the hotel, that's all. And for me that's not "COOL"... :) I have to be creative.

Then, i started to call my friends....and then there're 5 persons. I explained to them about my idea, "NATURAL TOUR COMBINE WITH CULTURAL TOUR WITH THE TOUCH OF JAVANESE HOSPITALITY"...hehehehe. So, these are the ideas :
1. I'll manage and handle all the guess a whole month,
2. Provide them a nice and comfortable guest house with local atmosphere,
3. Serve them breakfast and dinner
4. Give them lesson about our cultures such as learning Bahasa, learning traditional dance, learning traditional music, batik course, yoga course and cooking class.
5. Take them to 25 tourism objects,
6. And transportation.

And, they agreed with me and supported me. We started to arrange and arrange everything since. The guest house, the place for courses, the tourism objects. And we did it, the guest house is nice and comfortable which has AC and hot water with Javanese atmosphere, then i've made a deal with a University to teach Bahasa, traditional dance, batik painting and traditional music. I also found a place to learn Yoga. And the cooking class would be held in our house.....so that the guess will feel like in their own home.... :) And now about the price... :) I also asked about the price to my Russian friend, Karina Belova. I asked her an advise. We had a discussions about it and share my idea, and we made a deal!!! Just great!!!...hehehehe

So, with pays some money, the guess will get :
1. Nice and comfortable guest house which has an AC and hot water,
2. Breakfast and diner,
3. Several courses (Bahasa, traditional dance, traditional music, batik, yoga and meditation, and cooking),
4. 25 tourism objects around Jogjakarta, and
5. Transportations.
All in family atmosphere.... :)

So, if you're interested, you should visit our web page and join us....www.jogjaculturaltour.com and feel the different!!!!

Rinata Ibragimova and Eva Zemaityte, two Lithuanian girls.

It was Friday afternoon when my friend from Jakarta phoned me. "There're two Lithuanian girls will visit Jogjakarta, would please handle them?" : she said. I replied quickly : "OK!" :) actually one of them were sick that time. My friend told me about that, she said that one of them has a sensitive stomach, that's why she doesn't eat rice.

I met them in a hostel, in the city center. Their name is Rinata Ibragimova and Eva Zemaityte. And yes, Rinata was sick, she got fever and diarrhea. I asked her about her sick and she explained to me that she tried to eat spicy food at first, when she was in Jakarta. And after that she started to go to the toilet repeatedly and she got fever too. After she explained her condition to me, i asked her to see a doctor. But, unfortunately the doctor wasn't at home, so i took her to the hospital. After several examinations, she got prescriptions from the doctor. The doctor told me that she would be just fine. "Just take the medicines regularly, OK!" : said the doctor. We went no where at the first day she came. We let Rinata took a rest till the next day or at least felt better.

The sun shone brightly that time. I went to the hostel to pick them up and wanted to know how's Rinata. And thank God she's better. So, we decided to go to Borobudur temple. The sun is so hot that time, and i forgot to bring my sun cream... :( but luckily Eva brought it, so i asked her... :p While we went around the temple we had a nice conversations. Actually Rinata and Eva are friends since they were in Junior high school. They went to the same school, after they graduated their high school, Rinata went to Germany for college and Eva stayed in Lithuania. And now Rinata takes her post graduate in Germany and Eva works as a marketing manager for a company in Lithuania and she also runs her own business. Rinata also loves photography.

The weather was not really nice, the sun shone brightly in the morning but suddenly changed... :( On our way home the sky was so dark..."it's going to rain" : said Eva. And yes, suddenly the rain felt down so hard...:( fortunately Rinata was better. After we arrived in the hostel we didn't go anywhere....we just set down and drank some tea, poor us...:( Since Rinata doesn't eat rice...we decided to eat pasta...horay... :) we ate pasta, pizza and bread. I was so "Western"...lol.

On Sunday we went to Kukup beach. I asked friends of mine to come with us, and they agreed. We went about 09.00 AM in the morning. The scenery along the way to the beach is so beautiful, many rice fields and forests. Rinata took many photos of it. After we arrived on the beach Rinata and Eva didn't waste their time to see the beach. "It's beautiful beach" : they said. And yes, it's beautiful beach, it's looked like Kuta beach in Bali. Many vendors and food stall on the shore. And Rinata bought a souvenir from there. Too bad that on our way home, the sky was so cloudy and the rain felt down very hard, so that we couldn't go to next destination, yup we couldn't go to Prambanan temple to see sunset... :( I'm sorry girls....

Rina, Eva, you should come here again if you wanna see Prambanan... :) I'll wait for you girls...

Herve Menge, my funny friend from French

Herve Menge, the French guy. He is an outspoken person, funny and sometime gets little bit silly. He's very open minded person, maybe it's all because of his journey... :) He's been traveling around the world. He loves exploring other cultures. And he made a document about that, just great!!! There's a moment which i barely couldn't speak, the time when i took to the temples, Prambanan and Borobudur. He explained to me about Buddhism and Hinduism, and he almost knew about the relief on the temple's wall. I was so amazed that time... :) He told me about Hindu and Buddhist mythology. What's the different between Hindu in India from other countries, and much more. I listened to him carefully, coz it's new for me... ;) He has many experiences about anything. He speaks French (for sure), English, Japanese. But, he definitely speaks bad words in many languages... :) he also asked me about Indonesian bad words...hahaha, and i taught him some words, and he likes it.

There's a funny moment when we were in Borobudur. We went to Borobudur at 9.00 AM in the morning, and we arrived at 10.30 AM. We went around the temple for 2 hours. Then we had a rest under the tree. And then the funny moment happened, there're several monks on the temple that time. One of them walked through our sit, the monk carried a big bag, a good camera, a good handycam, and wear "NIKE" shoe. Then, Herve said : "i think that he's a fake monk!", "How you can say that?" : i replied. "Look, he's a rich guy! if you are a monk you shouldn't be like that!" : he explained to me. But, suddenly the monk turned his head and looked upon us and said : "you should take a look at yourself before you say that". I was so shock and couldn't say anything that time. And then Herve said : "why should i? i'm not a monk and i'm not a Buddhist". Then the monk just walked away....after that we saw each other then we laughed.... :) It was so funny and scary too.

Then we went back to Jogja. The next day we went to the lava tour and kuning river. But, unfortunately he didn't like Lava tour... :) because we couldn't see mont. Merapi, it was so cloudy. So, we decided to go to kuning river. The river is located under the cliff. We went down and discover the river. The water is so fresh and cold. We played and had some rest for awhile. We wanted to swim at first, but the weather was too cold...so we just played with the water... :) made some photos, like you can see it on the photo above. We went there with Sonny and San-san.Herve also taught me some French words, but it's quite hard to say... :) French language isn't phonetic language, so it's quite difficult.

It was unforgettable memories...funny, challenging, inspiring... ;) I really hope that someday we will meet again.

Friends

Friends, for me they are very important people besides my family....yup! Family comes first. Since i stay far away from my hometown, so friends also my second family... :) I spend many times with them. Most of us have the same interest, such as watching movie, hang out in the cafe and traveling.

But, there's something unique in our friendship. We have a different background, very different... :p Myself, i work as an engineer, Sonny, he runs his family business, Nenny, we call her Ding-ding, she is a teacher, our sinyo, San-san, he's a college student. He's the youngest among us, Jefry a.k.a Japrax the businessman and photographer, Bakoh the basketball player, Henri and many more...sorry for who's unwritten... ;) If we're together, many crazy things will happen and some times it's too much, but we all like it...strange... :( But like i've told you before, we all love traveling. Just like on that photo. That photo was taken when my friends and i went to several temples, actually Jogjakarta has many temples, either big one or small one. Some of them were made by Hindu's kingdom and some were made by Buddhist's . Sonny, Dind-ding, Aditya a.k.a Kucing and Cik Wenny and i went to discover those places... :) That time we went to Sari temple, Sambisari temple, Prambanan temple and Boko palace, we also tried "Dawet Ayu", one of Javanese food, according to my friend, this one is one of the best "Dawet" in Kalasan district. Besides temples, there are many beautiful places around Jogja and we have to see them all. . Coz i think that we should explore our own place before we explore other places or countries, am i right! :) That's why we decided to explore Jogjakarta first.

I also like this moment. That picture was taken in Pandawa Waterboom, Solo Baru. We went there when that place was newly opened. So, we're one of the luckies visitor, not only because the place less crowded but also we only paid half price... :) We tried many different slides, from the usual slide to the challenging one, and it's all great, we got sunburn all over the body. We went there from 10 AM till 04.30 PM...and it's worthed, tired but satisfied.

We just try to enjoy lifes..."Life is not a job"...don't you think so...! That's why i try to make my life "LIFE".... :)

My first experience... :)

I love travelling and meeting new people around the globe, especially foreigners... :) May be it's all because they have a different cultures and i only know it from TV. That's why, i want to proof it by myself... :) For me, they have a unique and unpredictable characters (according to the movie i've seen).
They're looked selfish, arrogant and independent. But, i'm an open minded people, i don't judge people, i'm just curious about them... :) That's why i want to proof it and at the same time want to learn about them, their cultures and customs.

Sven Dominic Huber, the Swiss guy. He was my first experience... :) I knew him from a friend who stayed in Jakarta. He stayed in Jogjakarta for 6 days, i took him around Jogjakarta, to the most possible places to see. I was so nervous that time... :), exited and scared, all mixed up. But everything became just fine after we had conversation. He's a nice, polite and funny guy. And he had many travel experiences. He had been travelling to several countries, Prague, Poland, Egypt, India, Thailand and more. We had a long discussion about everything and he also shared his travel experiences with me. I asked him about everything. Questions which has been running inside my head all a long. He was so surprised too, he said :"wow" :) He answered all my questions nicely. He also gave me an advise about what i should and i shouldn't do or talk to foreigners. It was like enlightenment for me that time... :) He introduced me to a website which i might meet with foreigners from around the globe. "Great" it was my first answer. He just laughed to see my reaction. Not only me who asked him about everything, but he did the same. Mostly he asked me about Javanese cultures and religion. "Why there're many superstitious in Jogjakarta?" that was on of his question. He was surprised hearing my explanations. Most Javanese people believes on it. That's why you will see many ceremonies in Java.

Since my first met with Sven, i'm obsessed with foreigners... :) in a good way of course. And i hope someday i will marry foreigner girl... :)) Sven and i becoming friends since. We exchanged our email address, our messager account and even facebook... :) Actually he's the one who introduced me with facebook...thanks dude!!!
He also invited me to his place, in Switzerland. "I would love to be your sponsor, Andry" he said. I was so glad that time. And i'm dying to do that... :)

Over all experinces were great.....really great!!!