Welcome to Our World...

It is always exciting to go to a place that we both haven't visited yet. It was our first time in Kalimantan and we chose to visit Balikpapan because Joe has been really wanting to see Orangutans since last year. We just arrived from Pahawang Island, Lampung the night before and took the first flight to Balikpapan the next day. We had already contacted the car rental ( Global Rent Car ) in the city previously so when we arrived at Sepinggan International Airport, Balikpapan, there was already a driver who picked us up there, so that was pretty convenient.  We decided to rent a car (plus the driver) because the cost was cheaper than reserving a transport from Samboja Lodge. Renting our own car also means we can go to several places first before we check in. Though, we only went to places around Samboja to save time. The first destination was Pantai Tanah Merah Tanjung Harapan Samboja. Mr. Amin (our driver) said that there are a lot of beautiful beaches in the city but we're...

Here are some pictures that we took during our time in Pahawang Island, Lampung. It's Joe's favorite past-time. Wonderful Indonesia!

Our Adventure in Lampung  Day 1 We had just returned from Cirebon to Jakarta by train and hopped in a taxi to rush to the place our group was supposed to meet before starting off on our trip to Pahawang Island, Lampung.  Jakarta traffic is bad, it took us almost 2 hours to get to the place which is only 8 kms away from the train station. For your reference, we joined  Langgeng Wisata Tour and Travel   for 2D1N Pahawang Island trip for Rp. 630,000 each ($48). We were lucky that the tour guide was willing to wait for us as we were a half an hour late. And since we had brought a large luggage case for both of us, we had trouble packing everything in the van as there was little room for storage. In case you're wondering why we didn't use backpack, we had a full week of adventure to 3 different places, we thought it would be convenient to both of us to bring the luggage instead and we were wrong. We essentially had to squeeze it in the backseat with us and t...

Day 4 (Komodo Island) If you're familiar with the Game of Thrones series, then going to this place will make you feel like you're a Khaleesi. Except these dragons are not yours and they don't breath fire. #valahd The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae. It is the largest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of 3 metres (10 ft) in rare cases and weighing up to approximately 70 kilograms (150 lb). ( source: wikipedia.org ) This island is really big and you will not only find komodo dragons here, but you will also see humans (they sell food, drink and merchandise), boars, crows, chicken, deer and other living together in one island, almost side by side. There are 4 different treks which is short, medium, long, and adventure trek. We chose the medium trek. We were accompanied by three rangers who are very experienced and they know their job so you don...