Overseas trip on 2009

It was started out thanks to AirAsia for their low budget ticket and to my friend who's the pioneer on backpacking with minimum budget to outside the country. Within cheap ticket around IDR 240,000 I had for SUB-JB round-trip at the end of year. It was booked on mid 2nd month of the year, so there's 9 months to go to get immigration stamp on my passport :p

9 months was passed, the day we've been waiting for has come on schedule 27-30.11,2009. Even this destination was a classic destination for backpackers but it means a lot :D The itinerary trip plan was going to Singapore from southern side of Malaysia, that's Johor Bahru city since our round-trip ticket SUB-JB. With 4 friends of mine who like to go backpacking, so that's the time I'm at trans-border of my own state.

So from this trip, some of decided to get immigration stamp by backpacking to countries near border then our passport book will be full (notes: will be overseas yearly,lil bit difficult to achieve). One of the dreams that I thought it should be written somewhere so that we will never forget and it remains as the dream will be achieved. I think everybody will have one of those in their dreams to go overseas with minimum budget :)

The plan trip only away for 4 days, since the public holiday on Friday and we had only one on weekday off. Our first day came to Malaysia from Johor Bahru, called the border city gate to Singapore. After immigration clearance, we looked for a bus station to catch the only land transportation entering to Singapore. 

By afternoon we reached Singapore, stopped on bus terminal at North Bridge Rd then we continue our walk as the backpackers do on their way to our hostel.

Our sightseeing plan as well as the destination, so classic that only goes for 3days in Singapore. For cheap shopping, go around on Mustafa, Chinatown or Bugis

For luxurious shopping view, you may visit to Orchard then across the famous island to Indonesian tourist that's  Sentosa with the famous attractions was Song of the Sea :))

MRT was the only main land transportation while you're in Singapore until the last day went back to Johor Bahru by bus and stayed one night before flying back to our state.

 

Indonesia's surfing development for PON

Kim Bradley
Kim Bradley was known as the surfing sport activist in Indonesia, specially Bali at the 70's and now he talks about the government support of the development of surfing in this country. Kim believes that if surfing in Indonesia was to progress and it must have support from the government. In the past, former Bali governor Ida Bagus Mantra said “ Surfing is just in Bali” but now surfing is all over Indonesia because all areas have waves suitable for surfing.
Now that it is recognized that many provinces in Indonesia have waves good for surfing Kim believes that each province should have a surfing club or association that also coordinates with the tourism department to promote surfing. If every province had a surfing club it would be much easier for surfing to be recognized as a national sport which could then be included in the National Sport Competition (PON)
The government has started supporting surfing now as seen by competitions such as the Bupati Cup held at Canggu last year. The Quiksilver contest at Dompu was also supported by the Bupati as well as several other contests. As we concluded our chat Kim said “ 30 years ago there was noone surfing in Indonesia and now everyone ‘dances on the waves’, hopefully surfing can be recognized as a national sport and be included in National Sport Competition (PON)”

Bli Kacrut
This local Balinese senior surfer also talks about support from the government for the development of surfing in Indonesia that has the same idea with Kim Bradley. Surfing in Indonesia has developed rapidly, as seen by the number of contests now held in Indonesia which is also a contributing factor. Support from the government is also vital as the main supporters of surfing at the present time is the Surfing Industry. Bli Kacrut thinks that surfing must be included as a sport in PON (National Sport Competition) because there are now 7 provinces in Indonesia with waves suitable for surfing competitions. Almost all areas in Indonesia have waves good for surfing and clubs could be formed that report back to the national sport organization, so that they can be recognized and develop more like they have in Bali. Surfing also adds to the tourism potential in all areas. Perhaps surfing will be more recognized in Indonesia this year because Bali is hosting the “Asian Beach Games 2008” for the first time in October. Indonesia
has also chosen several athletes to compete in the games.
Bli Kacrut hopes that next year surfing will be included in Pre PON and he said that Indonesian people, especially surfers, love the beach and ocean so much. It’s feels just right to include surfing in the National Games Event like PON (National Sport Competition)

The Cape Town

From Devil’s Peak (Afrikaans Duiwelspiek), the site of the legendary smoke-off between the devil and the Dutch colonial, you can see forever. Van Hunks, as the story goes, unwisely accepted a pipe smoking challenge from a cloven-hoof stranger, puffed up an enormous cloud of smoke and was never seen again.
Looking out from the peak, just to the left, you’ll notice the harbor, the sea a sheet of blue made stern by the industrial gray of ships and cranes. The city bowl, its center a neat grid, lies between the harbor and the mountain. Straight ahead, as far as the eye can see, you may trace the beginnings of the Winelands, the outline of a distant mountain range.

You probably won’t dwell on the dull bit to the far right—a muddle of buildings that appear to be the size of Monopoly houses on a vast expanse of sandy land: the notorious Cape Flats, where gangs carve up the streets. And tucked beneath the mountain, the leafy suburbs—deep green in an otherwise yellow-brown picture—attest to Cape Town’s micro climates: the weather may be fine in town, drizzling in the suburbs, howling with wind on the fringes of the city bowl.

The Cape Town best view was not an easy place to know. Like a jigsaw puzzle that doesn’t quite fit, the pieces together form something incongruous; a city that is more than the sum of its parts. When its imagine which always recasts the familiar in a different light, seems an illusion: the mountains, the sea, the almost embarrassing prettiness of it all. Table Mountain—the city’s iconic symbol—no longer blends into the background: It demands to be admired; the great stony mountain face, the impressive regularity of the tabletop flanked by peaks on either side.
But Cape Town’s beauty is pockmarked. Sunsets seen from the white sands of Clifton are underscored by the iron sheeted shacks that line the road from the airport. Lush forests are punctuated by buildings with peeling paint in the Main Road, or by the laundry suspended from the wire fences along the highway where homeless people sleep beneath a bridge.

Living in Cape Town entails a tacit knowledge of an environment that doesn’t quite make sense. It’s like seeing your face as a Picasso painting, or being inside a Buñuel film. It’s a temperamental city; there’s always something different around each corner, a sense of never being entirely certain. Always color, always light. This changing landscape—geographical and cultural —combined with an extraordinary natural beauty that even the locals never tire of, makes Cape Town an unusual destination. In Cape Town, you’re always somewhere between the mountain and the deep blue sea. That was an interesting town to visit in Southern of Africa which also known for its best waves in J-bay (Jeffreys bay).