Menggapai Puncaknya Para Dewa, Mahameru

Pertengahan Desember 2013 lalu saya memiliki kesempatan untuk menggapai puncak gunung tertinggi di Pulau Jawa. Sebenarnya trip ini merupakan alternatif dari tujuan utama saya, karena pada awalnya saya dan teman-teman berencana untuk mendaki Rinjani di Lombok. Yup, gunung Rinjani yang terkenal dengan keindahan alamnya hehe. Tapi berhubung waktu itu harga tiket pesawat lagi memuncak, dan walaupun ada harga tiket yang cukup murah di Traveloka, tetapi jumlah kursi dengan harga tersebut sangat terbatas sehingga kami mengurungkan niat dan memutuskan untuk menjelajahi gunung yang lebih dekat dulu. Mau tau gimana serunya mendaki puncak abadi para dewa di Jawa? Yuk kita simak ceritanya di bawah ini ya.

Berbekal persiapan fisik dan mental selama 1 bulan sebelumnya, saya mantap untuk mendaki dan juga menikmati Gunung Semeru.

Ya, Gunung Semeru namanya, gunung tertinggi di pulau Jawa ini memiliki puncak yang bernama Mahameru.

Dalam pendakian ini saya membawa sahabat dan juga teman satu kampus yang biasanya memang sering pergi bersama untuk mendaki gunung. Sejujurnya, saya sangat tidak sabar akan pendakian ke puncak Mahameru ini karena konon memiliki pemandangan alam yang indah, kata orang-orang yang pernah mendakinya

Untuk menuju ke Gunung Semeru, kami terlebih dahulu harus menumpang kereta Matarmaja jurusan Pasar Senen-Malang dan dilanjutkan lagi menuju Pasar Tumpang. Dari pasar tumpang kami melanjutkan dengan menyewa jeep untuk menuju desa ranu pane tempat dimana kami memulai pendakian. Sesampainya di Desa Ranu Pane, kami segera mengurus Surat Izin Masuk Konservasi (SIMAKSI) agar pendakian kami bisa secara resmi diketahui oleh pihak Taman Nasional Bromo Tengger Semeru (TNBTS). Setelah selesai mengurus simaksi, kami memutuskan untuk makan terlebih dahulu di salah satu warung yang ada di sekitar. Selesai makan kami segera packing ulang dan kembali mengecek kondisi fisik dan juga hal-hal lain yang diperlukan selama pendakian. Setelah semua persiapan dirasa sudah cukup, kami pun memulai pendakian ini.

Fasilitas Air-to-Sea di HKIA dan Macau Airport

Untuk menjadi satu dari sepuluh bandara terbaik di dunia, memang yang namanya fasilitas penunjang harus punya yang paling top. Tapi fasilitas yang satu ini sepertinya cuma ada di Hong Kong International Airport; namanya Skypier Air-to-Sea.

HK Airport to Macau

Singkat cerita bayangkan kita punya hari yang sedikit untuk berlibur dari Indonesia ke Hong Kong dan Macau. Tentu salah satu hari harus dialokasikan untuk main ke Macau. Nah, sekarang jika kita ingin menuju Macau dulu sebelum masuk ke downtown HK, normalnya adalah harus melalui clearance imigrasi HK lalu naik bus/train ke Kowloon atau Sheung Wan untuk melanjutkan naik ferry ke Macau, dan perlu sekali lagi lewat imigrasi HK.

Fasilitas Skypier Air-to-Sea fungsinya untuk skip imigrasi HK dan menghemat ongkos transport ke terminal Ferry di dowtown ini. Caranya sangat mudah, begitu kita mendarat di HKIA jangan menuju imigrasi, tetap di area transit dan mencari papan petunjuk menuju counter Air-To-Sea ini, atau mencari papan bertulisan Transfer to Mainland P.R.D (Pearl River Delta) or Macau.

Apparently Telkomsel still has huge stocks of iPhone 3G

Just a quick press: today Telkomsel announces new price for Apple iPhone 3G 16GB, for only Rp 7,500,000 (and 0% 6-month installment facility).

This is a sign that they still have lots of this iPhone 3G stocks, while they are not ready to sell newer iPhone 3GS in …

Javamilk site is running again

Hi All, just a quick press to let you know that you might be experienced my JavaMilk.com website had been down for 3-4 days during last weekend. It was because my hosting provider 3fn.net had been shut down by US government for some reasons.

Now JavaMilk.com has …

Buying Used Books

Buying used books? Why not. It's a cheap way to afford a book not by its cover but its content.

Living in Indonesia, usually we are accustomed to buying brand new books, glossy cover, and white color paper. Although paper is cheap here, but sometimes we need to think about saving money as well as saving the earth. We are not ready yet for buying second products, books in this case.

Local produced books are always cheaper than imported books, but you only get about half the knowledge because local writers don't have time and effort to write hundreds of pages book. If they write 200+ pages, editor will kick their ass and ask them to trim into less than less than 100 pages. Yeah, thick books don't sell well in Indonesia.

For online book shopping, we can use Gramedia Online, pay with credit card or transfer, and it will be shipped within 3-4 days to any Indonesia address. This online stores in not comprehensive, not all titles available as they are available in Gramedia stores in malls.

Now, if you are interested in imported books (a.k.a English written books), the most famous one is Amazon.com. Not only they sell books, they sell everything from electronics to house related things. And may be you don't know this, Amazon also sells used items.

Just like this example, a brand new book of DK Eyewitness London is sold at USD 16.50, while used books (if available) can be purchased only with USD 5.00. That's a great saving!

Smart Internet Unlimited

Tired of using lame Indosat 3.5G Unlimited, I searched for alternative and cheap Internet mobile solutions. Tried Telkomsel Flashvolume based (300MB for IDR 100K) it worked pretty good aside from its price.

Since May 1st, 2009, Smart Telecom launches new Internet unlimited packages with affordable price. Smart nge-Jump Unlimited Internet is their full name. Wow, I should try then... FYI, Smart Telecom is a CDMA mobile phone carrier therefore its Internet feature requires CDMA mobile phone or CDMA Modem phone to operate, in short:you cannot use GSM-based modem like Huawei E220.

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Smart Jump Packages

Smart Internet Unlimited has some packages to choose:

Those packages are available for postpaid and prepaid customers. For prepaid, even there are 1-day, 7-day, and 1-month packages.

Travelling to Iceland

As one of European counties, Iceland has ben ranked as one of the most expensive destination for Americans and rest of the world. No wonder usually Iceland is not included in people's itinerary.

But recently as its economy collapse in late 2008, prices in Iceland have been falling up to 50 percent from normal.

(image from www.smh.com.au)
What is Iceland capital city? Prepare your tongue to spell Reykjavik. It is quite big at you need several days to explore it. Car rental which started at USD 200 last year now is less 30%, not to mention lodging and hotels.

Let's eat some balls - an Okirobox food review

A small shop to visit when you come to Senayan City is to try some foods at Okirobox. It is located in food court, in the middle of the court. I tried it several months ago, just remember to post it now.

First thing, don't expect you will be full by eating Okirobox foods. All items should be categorized as snack or side-dishes (although prices are not). You know, japanese foods tend to satisfy eyes and tongue, not stomach.

Takoyaki (Octopus balls)

This snack is made of some eggs I believe, can be filled with Squid / octopus or other meats as you like. One box contains 4 ball. Prices vary from IDR 14,000 to 20,000 per box. Try it and you may like it. Taste sweet and yummy with mayo cream and salmon fish filament topping, unfortunately only 4 balls per serving. By googling a bit, I found how to make takoyaki from here.