China Tour

China main land is so big a lot places for you to go.... even for local Chinese, is taking long time for them to visit all those attraction....listed below as places i been....

Gui Lin- Yang Shuo 桂林 阳朔
Yang Shuo - Yu Long He 阳朔 遇龙河
Yang Shuo Li Jiang 阳朔 漓江
Gui Lin City  桂林 两江四湖
Long Sheng Long Ji Paddy Terraces  龙胜龙脊梯田

Travel Indonesia

Indonesia is neighbor of Malaysia... Travelling there is good that we can speck Malay, although is not totally same... And the low ticket price even we want to book ticket at last minutes.

Link below as places visited at Indonesia for references.

Bali: Ubud > Pura Ayun
Bali: Beratan Lake > Tanah Lot > Bebek > Spa
Bali: Kintamani > Pura Tirta Empul > Tegallala > Ibu Oka
Bali: Sukawati > Kuta
Bali: Kuta
Bali: GWK, Uluwatu, Blue Point
Lake Toba: Somasir Cottage, Tomok
Lake Toba: Samosir Island, Tuk Tuk, Ambarita, Panguruan

Lake Toba, Samosir Cottage, Tomok

3rd day at Lake Toba, I wake up at 6am to witness dusky view... just a step out from my room, i can see this from lake side and slowly setup my tripod...  

No more fried rice, this morning we have English breakfast... and coffee... we just realize that hotel didn't offer free breakfast to everyone... maybe we got special offer during booking...

 Potato egg.. and banana bread...

We drive to Tomok, morning market for local people, and jetty for ferry from Parapat.... a lot stall selling souvenir, but we didn't buy any... we stop by here... no idea what place is this... but this building attracted me...

We continue drive to Tanjungan, another scenic route, is not that far compared to yesterday... We stop at here for a scenery view...

After this, we realize that should be end of our check point for this trip... before noon, so we turn back to Ambaritta again... go to Stone chair again, buy some drink and food from convenient stall, and having our local lunch.

A lot of corn field here....

That guy is monitoring paddy field, make noise when birds approaching.... i feel that paddy field here is very alive, cause of how farmer here take care the field...

We go back to Samosir cottage, having our easy day, enjoy the sound from lake, reading, sleep...

A lot of fish... i try to put my leg in, and they come to me... like a free natural fish spa...

So why don't i jump in...

View from my room... while reading...

My room...

Lake side, where we lay down to count star... and shooting star...

Free pool for us to practice... and ping pong beside this room...

Before returning our bike, we drive around Tuk Tuk, go to others hotel, and stay that mentioned in others blog. All the stay here really have their own beach... just the matter of how they decorate it...

What to eat at Lake Toba, yes, we always eat fried rice, BBQ or grilled fish is also not bad... and also recommending fruit juice, fresh and worth....

On 4th day morning, we check out from Samosir cottage, leaving this peaceful place, with transportation of ferry, car and airplane...

Our initial plan to go shopping at Medan, to hunt for some souvenir, but our rude car driver drive banging a motorcyclist, so we stop for 2 hours in car.. watching how their handling this accident.... We ask other passenger in same car, they are saying "sedang diurus"... one of the lady so nervous that she need to catch a flight to Jarkata, 3 hours before my departure.

 Come to their police station for urusan... come' on!! time is tickling...  then i see this banner,
"Kami memang belum sempurna, tapi kami selalu berusaha" What do you think?

At the end, we arrive airport, that lady arrive at the time flight take off... hopefully that flight get delayed... poor girl... Luckily i still manage to catch my flight, but not able to go shopping... so grab some souvenir food at airport and hand gift... 

[This part of Indonesia Travelling]

New Zealand Working Holiday

What is working holiday? Is an holiday with not only travel, but working at desire location, and experiencing practical culture at your destination, experience that you can not gain from traveling. I put travel into 2 category, 1st is travel with $$, but no time, taking package with planned itinerary and destination, taking fastest logistic in order to go as much as location with limited time...

2nd is travel with time, but no money, with self planning, risk taking, and time consuming, i will say you need to have right expectation. Imperfection equal to adventure, is not a bad thing, that could be the one enlighten your memory or experience that no one else have.

I join New Zealand Working Holiday, or NZWH, apply visa offering anyone between 18-31 an opportunity to work legally at New Zealand, experiencing kiwi's life... and funding yourself for travelling during holiday.

List below with my sharing on all destination and experience...

Intro and Preparation

Introduction

Before Departure

Photo Album

Visa Application

Internet Survey, Preparation

Farewell and wishes...

Help Exchange

Trip Preview

Route on Zealand Map

North Island

Auckland

Halensville and Macadamia Work Exchange

Tepuke- World Capital of Kiwi Fruit

Tepuke- Diary

Tepuke- Working and Salary

Tepuke- Friendship Around the World

Tepuke- Farewell

Rotorua- Geyser Village

Rotorua - City with Geyser

Waikato River and Taupo Lake

Tongariro National Park

Cafe, Lodge, Living Hall at Tongariro

Palmerston North

Willington - Victoria Walk

Willington City

New Zealand Library 图书馆

Stand In Black

Arahura- Path to South Island

South Island

Picton - Adventures Tramp

Hitch Hiking

Havelock

Port Ligar - Working Exchange

Port Ligar - Saturday Night

Port Ligar - Shand Family

Port Ligar - Opossum

Port Ligar - Cowboy

Port Ligar - Timbering

Port Ligar - Hunting or Hunted?

Port Ligar - Trained Dog

Port Ligar - Green Shell Mussel

Port Ligar - Mail Boat

Nelson - Helper, Cleaner

Center of New Zealand

Rent car at Picton and drive to Kaikora

Kaikora- Mountain Meet Ocean

Arthur Pass - Mountain, Rock, Snow

West Coast Greymouth

Franz Josef - Icewalk

Southern Alps

Queenstown - Skiing

Milford Sound - World Heritage

Invercargil - World Southern Most

Dunedin - Europe Style

Oamaru - Penguin Encounter

Tekapo - Romantic Lake

Christchurch

New Brighton Pier

Christchurch Departure, NZ Departure

Lake Toba, Samosir Island, Tuk Tuk, Ambarita, Panguruan

Day 1:  
Penang, Malaysia to Medan, Indonesia   - Air Asia, 1 hour
Medan to Parapat, Lake Toba   - Share Taxi, using Toyata Innova, local name it Kijang.5 hours drive, that taxi company is doing delivery as well, and he turn to few places before our destination at Parapat, and luckily we manage to arrive before last ferry depart at 6pm.... Before depart, we purchase return ticket, and having our dinner, fried rice is most secured order to meet our expectation, our have lunch in taxi, with some cookies that brought from Penang.

Parapat to Tuk Tuk, Somasir Island - Ferry, we book our stay at Samosir cottage, they can drop you at place that you stay, just need to tell when you pay for ticket fee...

Tuk Tuk is where all tourist found all the accommodation, all the hotel is located at the lake side, and they have their own mini jetty for ferry to drop passenger.

After arriving at Samosir Cottage, relaxing at restaurant with a cup of banana hot milk, completed our long day with transportation on sky, land and lake....

Day 2: 

Having our free breakfast at cottage, fried rice again... after that we get a map from counter, and rent a bike to start our day...
We pass by Ambarita, suppose to look for stone chair, but we didn't see it from any road sign, so we keep moving...

Simanindo
First attraction to visit here is Museum of the Batak People.

Motorbike
One good thing about driving motorbike is not moving so fast, experiencing country life, paddy field and i can stop or turn to any place i want.... Samosir Island is an island inside Toba Lake... and about the size of Singapore island...

Gift of god that every place is a scenic view as long as you see it...

Panguruan
Administrative center of the Samosir Island, we arrive here at 11am... so we have our lunch at one the stall here... after a long hour drive with bike... Nasi Goreng again...

Hot spring
Here there are several private swimming pools, we walk up to the hill, to see the source of the hot spring....

Tele
After a long drive on no man, windy hill road at the valley, we arrive to peak of hill, where there is a tower, we climb up to the tower, for panoramic views of Lake Toba and Samosir Island.... Entrance fee is required... Scene here remind me on the scene from Port Ligar....

Leaving Tele, we are short of petrol... luckily we still manage driving back to Panguruan, go to the only Petrol station on island... other than this station, you still can find people selling that along the road side, in a small bottle... Is another few hours drive again, experiencing serious numb on our leg, butt and sun burnt...we drive to finish whole tank of petrol... not sure how many litter...

Along the way, we stop by Vegan cafe for a break... enjoy home made ice cream...

Ambarita
We pass by Ambarita again, and this time we ask people and we found Stone Chairs, where King Held Conferences and beheaded criminals. There is a lot souvenir stall beside the place with stone chairs...  Only 2 place with market selling souvenir and here is one of that...

We go back to Tuk Tuk on evening, yet to sunset... so we drive to another side of Tuk Tuk, and stop by a restaurant, and having our dinner there... Satay, BBQ fish, and fried rice again...

[This part of Indonesia Travelling]

Taiping Lake Landscape Photography

Taiping lake located at Perak, Malaysia, to go there, you can follow North South Plus Highway, turn out at Taiping Zoo exit, this lake is just beside zoo, this is a place famous with man-made lake, which used to be site for tin mining... Breathtaking scene that granting local a nice place for relaxing, morning walk, and photography....

 Nice lake and landscape...

 Branch and sunlight

 Special trees along the road... and lakeside...

 nice walking path...

more peaceful view with mirror lake... 

Used to have a red bridge here... which make the scene more contrast... 

 Trees....

Famous "S" walking path... 

 Shoot of the day... with trees, hill, sky, and lake...

Long Sheng Long Ji Rice Terraces 龙胜龙脊梯田

Today we going for day tour to visit LongJi rice terraces Long Sheng, 龙胜龙脊梯田, few hours drive from Gui Lin, we took tour package from tourism agent at Gui Lin, we survey few agent, compare on itinerary price, we choose the one optional to watch cultural performance at cultural village, long hair village, 瑶族长发表演, but even though we didn't watch that performance, that bus still stop at that village, and we need to wait whole bus of people, as we are the only one didn't join... we hang around the village, and visit those resident, is open for visit... not bad though, to experience their life... off course have to be caught by some sourvenior salesman, forgot if we bought any....

Different with Bali, you need to walk for some distance to reach viewing point, some photographer stay here few day to capture fantastic view... bit tough walk for some senior citizen, and there is service  provide to carry people up, with man power... 

We need to walk through a farmer village, and a lot is transform to restaurant, and hostel... we stop by this place for our lunch.... Famous local food is rice and chicken cooked in bamboo 龙脊竹筒饭, 土鸡... taste good... original....

 Finally come to highlight of the day.... bird view on rice terraces.... All the mountain and river seem so far for pass few day is gift of god... natural scenic... but this view is effort of men... used to be the one who try to avoid from wars that always happen at flat landscape... Less competition at the mountain become a heaven for those who love peace.... but they need more effort to turn these challenges into their opportunity... Determination and passion that we should learn... nothing is impossible...

A lot name for many spot... i didn't name all... In order to ensure attractiveness for tourism, government is subsiding and controlling harvesting timing of those paddy... especially during golden holiday of China, during first week of Oct, cause color of paddy that time suppose to be brown, or gold color... and right time for harvesting....

We go back to Gui Lin at evening, this will be last night for this trip, as farewell to Guilin, we choose this luxury restaurant for our dinner, at Ah Gan restaurant that we always walk pass for few days... order some new taste and food that we like at Gui Lin... Gui Lin is inland which far from sea... fish that we eat for few days is from river or lake... and the "structure" of bone is so special in Y shape.. need extra careful while eating... wonder if this is same issue for local chinese....

After dinner... we go for some walk... i back to City in garden, garden in city, to snap photo on this glass made bridge... with different lighting effect...

This should be the best shoot... a lot photographer is beside me that time....

Art underneath a bridge... with some cultural and historic introduction... this city is planned well....

[This is part of China Tour]