Bukit Bangkirai

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 not in Balikpapan for the beaches so we were just wandering around until we could check in at Samboja. Considering that the only places near the hotel are only this beach and Bukit Bangkirai, we decided to go to the beach first.

The weather kinda sucked and within the first few minutes of our arrival, it started raining, and we were only able to take a couple of pictures.

Pantai Tanah Tanjung Merah Harapan Samboja
The next destination was Bukit Bangkirai, Samboja. Bukit Bangkirai is a natural tourism area which is managed by PT. INHUTANI I Unit I Balikpapan, under Ministry of Environment and Forestry Indonesia. This place offers the charm of a tropical rain forest pristine, equipped with facilities and infrastructure such as restaurants, meeting rooms, swimming pool, as well as jungle cottage or cabin. In this area there is a canopy bridge strung along a 64 meters connecting five Bangkirai trees at a height of 30 meters. The bridge is the first in Indonesia, second in Asia and the eighth in the world.


We were lucky that it was sunny when we were hiking because it was raining so hard on our way here. And since Ayu is afraid of heights, of course she didn't join crossing the canopy bridge.



There were only us and the other couple, so it was very nice that this place wasn't overcrowded by tourists. 

How long distance relationship feels like
The trek wasn't so hard but since it started raining again, we decided to go back instead of continuing to the longer trek. We had lunch at the restaurant while waiting the rain to stop.

The cottage


Location: Balikpapan, Balikpapan City, East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Organizing Documents for CR-1 (Spouse) Visa Interview

Image
Immigration involves endless amount of paperwork, time, stress, money, and sheer force of will at times. I would like to share some tips on how to organize your documents to make it easier, based on my experience. Using 3 different color folders, I separated the documents based on their classification. Folder A - Interview Packet Our lawyer suggested to separate all the documents that are listed on the interview letter in one packet, so that's what I did. The first folder contains: Copy of the appointment letter Original unexpired passport and copy of the biographic page Two (2) color photographs sized 5cm x 5cm Confirmation page from DS-260 application for an Immigrant Visa submitted online at ceac.state.gov Original birth certificate, English translation and copy Medical examination results in a sealed envelope I put each of the documents in each plastic folder (see image below) and marked it with sticky notes. Folder B - Affidavit of Support P
Read more

The Road to CR-1 (Spouse) Visa

Image
It had been such torture to be left in limbo about our case. Our case was approved on July 1st, 2016 but we were still clueless about the result because the  USCIS has transferred the case to the  NVC .   E very day, w e checked the progress on their website in case there was an update but the result remained the same, " At NVC ". Our lawyer said it usually takes 2 months but it had been 3 months and still hadn't received any news.  Ayu read any thread and article she could find on Google and even made an account on VisaJourney   to talk about our case with people who were going through the same process . We learned people would call the NVC in order to get an update on their case and they did so every day, so we thought it was a good idea as well. Surely, it wouldn't hurt to try.  In the beginning of November, Joe made his first phone call to the NVC, and as people had mentioned on their blogs, he had to wait for at least 40 minutes until he got a chanc
Read more

Bali to Gili Trawangan

Image
Image source The Gili Islands are an archipelago of three small islands — Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air — just off the northwest coast of Lombok, Indonesia. Gili Trawangan is the largest of Lombok's Gili Islands and the only one to rise significantly (30 m) above sea level. (Source: www.wikipedia.org) This time we are going to share our trip to Bali and Gili Trawangan, Lombok. Day 1 We already had an awesome itinerary including seeing the dolphins at Lovina beach and monkeys at Ubud. We already booked everything, plane tickets with AirAsia, fast boat tickets to Gili Trawangan, hotels and rental car. We arrived at 17:55 lt and decided to just stay at the hotel because we were gonna have a very busy day ahead started in the morning.  Harper Kuta Hotel Day 2 The plan was to visit Lovina beach and see the dolphins, Monkey Forest in Ubud, Tanah Lot in Tabanan and wander around Kuta. We were so excited about it that we even went to sleep ear
Read more