Tour de Europe | De Oranje

Here comes the Volendam town; our very first destination located in the north of Holland. The town's architecture recalled my childhood memory of something that wasn't realistic; Doll's house, the scenes in one cartoon show, etc. The houses are organized well, and Volendam has cracked my perception about the view which I thought it's only existed in the toy land. 

Tour de Europe | Excursion Studies 2013

It has been almost two weeks since I got back from the excursion studies with my fellow colleagues. Excursion studies is a program held by the External Division of International Relations Student Association, with the purpose to have a brief trip for leisure and education. This year's destination was taken place around some parts of Europe with the theme: Exploring Non-Traditional Issues in International Relations. The countries are included the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Italy.  

This program has occurred for several years in this department, and the program itself has always been accompanied by the tenured lecturer within the department. Unfortunately, this year, our lecturer couldn't guide us throughout the trip due to some stumbling blocks related to the funding from the rectorate on the very last minuetes. At first, that is quite disappointing because the agenda to visit Universiteit van Amsterdam or the University of Amsterdam must be canceled. To have such official visit, we must have our own commensurate representation to the lecturer who was prepared to welcome our visit. Eventually, the show must go on, they say. The program was finally carried out by one tour leader, six program's committees, and nineteen participants (I am included in this group).

Here, I start off my own video documentation which is really amateur.. 

Since it was my first time to be out from the continent I've been living in, I had been documenting things quite excessively along the trip. I was supplied with two 32gb memory cards for the camera, brought notebook + pen wherever I went, some zipped plastic sheets, and an iPod for recording voices. And yes, to have  discovered a whole new world, I'm so grateful to have felt the breeze of a vibrant spirit inside of me that kept me awake of thoughts that fulfill my brain. Even more, when it comes to Europe; one relatively small continent that has bountiful both natural and man-made beauties, and it also has inscribed remarkable developed civilizations throughout history and remains a referral in many aspects until now. 

Bali | Day 4

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

Bali | Day 3

Went to Garuda Wisnu Kencana.

Bali 2013 | Day 2

This is my granny and I. We were at Beachwalk, Kuta. This place is next to the hotel where we were staying. After walked around for a while, we went to Tanah Lot. More pictures >> 

Bali 2013 | Day 1

About on the last last two weeks, I had the chance to go on vacation to Bali with my family. It's the fourth time I visited the Dewata Island, and for the first time to be on Air Asia. 

It was on 6am in the morning the plane took off. The weather is not really good, but then after I have arrived Bali welcomed us all with its best sunny weather! The photos above are for my documentation while I was on the plane. For breakfast, I ordered Nasi Minyak Palembang à la Farah Quinn, the famous female chef from Indonesia. I think the food was really delicious, and I also got shocked when I see "Cha Time" on their menu! It's like my current favourite bubble drink, it's like when I found their store wherever I go, I would always order one. I like it to be hazelnut chocolate milk tea, no ice, normal sugar, with pearls and regular sized. I didn't order Cha Time though, because my favourite menu wasn't served there and it's not certified as halal! Astaghfirullāh, I didn't know about that before. I didn't know if it's only on the plane that they're not certified as halal drinks and the drinks at their stores on the 'land' are already certified halal. But I prefer not to buy it now until I saw there's a halal certification for what they serve. 

Jogja 2012 | Day 2

Jogja 2012 | Day 1

I took the train that left Bandung at 7am on 26th June 2012 to Jogjakarta. That was a dream came true. I had been dreaming to have a journey on a train after so long I've never been on a train anymore. I really missed the train noises, the beautiful sceneries, and ate nasi goreng inside the train. And the place I was going was my dream journey destination; Jogjakarta. The last time I went there was on around mid 2010 when I joined my high school's comprehensive learning (study tour) program. But we only stayed for a while there. We only stopped by around Malioboro and bought some souvenirs over there. After that, we continued our trip to Bandung on Buses. Thanks Allāh to have given me this opportunity, to have come back again to this lovely city.

I went there with my mom, and three of her friends. Then, we arrived at Jogjakarta around 2pm. And for an hour we finally got reservations at a hotel in an alley nearby Malioboro street. Luckily, the hotel we got is placed close to the main road. It was really hard to find ones! In the holidays, the hotels are mostly fully reserved.

After that, we had an afternoon walk to get some foods. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful afternoon vibe I experienced there. I've never seen such thing on the road before (below). It's such an creative, artsy guardrail. It's Aksara Jawa written there which I don't actually know what it really means and moreover, I don't know how to read it. 

D.I.Y Trip

D.I.Y. doesn't stand for 'Do it Yourself', but it stands for 'Daerah Istimewa Yogjakrta', one of the special and amazing town in Indonesia!

Alhamdulillāh, this morning I've arrived from Jogjakarta after having a wonderful short trip with mom. I spent about three days there but in those period, I've visited and ate the central place to eat Jogja's special food; gudeg around Street Wijilan, visited Borobudur Temple, Affandi's Museum, Parangtritis Beach,  Kota Gede, dinner at Soto Kadipiro (they serve super delicious soto, masha Allāh!), used the transportation 'Trans Jogja' (the latest improvement of shuttle bus in Jogja), went to Universitas Gajah Mada, Plaza Ambarrukmo, Kraton, Taman Sari, and surely walked around Malioboro! Malioboro is a must visited tourist attraction to get souvenirs and some goodies.. Malioboro area has always been living up with a bunch of people with various activities! 

Since it's going to be a long post for the trip I had to be placed in just one post, I'm going to write them later insha Allāh. But now, I'm going to share what I got from Jogjakarta. I had some interesting buys!