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!!!