HANZKY

Postingan kali ini spesial banget nih karena nulisnya dari...Prague! Prague atau waktu gue masih SD taunya Praha. Hari ini hari ke empat di Praha dan hari ke 16 di Eropa. Lama yahh kali ini liburannya :D. Terakhir liburan lama itu Desember - January 2015/16 di mana kami liburan sebulan di SF & LA. Sejak saat itu jatuh cinta sama yang namanya slow traveling.

Sejak tahun 2015, kalau traveling bersama keluarga, berempat, pasti saya menginap di airbnb. Kenapa? Ada banyak alasannya, antara lain....

• Jibran sekarang umurnya 14 tahun, udah masuk kategori dewasa menurut hotel. Susah kan cari hotel 1 kamar yang bisa menampung 3 orang dewasa + 1 anak kecil. Nggak mau juga maksain pakai ekstra bed karena pasti akan sempit dan berantakan. Solusinya harus sewa 2 kamar, atau ya yang levelnya suite mungkin? Tapi mahal kan. 

• Lebih murah! Dengan harga yang lebih murah dari hotel bisa dapat apartemen bagus, 2 kamar, ada dapur untuk bikin breakfast atau nyimpen makanan di kulkas, mesin cuci dan juga fasilitas gym serta kolam renang.

• Senang karena berasa kaya orang lokal, nggak berasa turis. Biasanya kan daerah apartemennya bukan di daerah touristy ya, jadi bisa melihat kehidupan orang-orang lokalnya. Salah satu hal seru adalah belanja di supermarket deket apartemen trus pulang nenteng2 grocery, haha. Trus karena saya juga lumayan suka interior desain jadi happy aja liat apartemen bagus, bisa untuk inspirasi dekor rumah.

LA
2 lantai, 2 kamar dan 2 kamar mandi. Waktu itu sepupu saya datang 2 orang dari Florida dan masih cukup banget dong tempatnya. Dapurnya luas dan lengkap banget seperti layaknya rumah sendiri. Memang apartemen ini sebenernya masih dihuni yang punya, tapi dia lagi ada kerjaan di negara lain kalo nggak salah, jadi apartemennya disewain. Untungnya sih barangnya dia nggak banyak, hanya ada 1 sisi baju2 dia di lemari dan beberapa foto-foto. Paling enak sih sebenernya sewa airbnb yang memang khusus untuk disewakan aja, jadi experiencenya lebih kaya hotel. Furniturenya juga lebih baru dan mereka biasanya pake agent juga, jadi semuanya sudah dikelola secara professional.



LONDON 2016
Senangnya bisa tinggal di apartemen khas London. Kalo dulu pas ke London cuma bisa ngintip-ngintip aja kalo lewat akhirnya bisa ngerasain juga. Ini lantainya yang di basement jadi kalo buka curtain keliatan kaki-kaki orang lewat :D. Apartemen ini mungil sih, cuma 1 kamar, tapi di ruang tamu ada sofa bednya. Oh ya di belakang kamar ada pationya juga, tapi nggak pernah dipake duduk-duduk juga  karena dingin! Karena waktu itu sempet melipir ke Manchester dan Liverpool, jadi pas balik ke London lagi kami nginep di Airbnb yang berbeda. Tapi itu fail sih karena nggak sama dengan yang di foto! Kalo hotel kan ya enaknya, at least you'll know itu kamar akan berbentuk kotak/persegi panjang standard. Nah apartemen kan beda. Bisa aja pas di foto bagian kamar dan ruang tamunya keren-keren aja. Tapi ternyata kamarnya itu ada di bagian belakang dan harus ngelewatin lorong panjang yang gelap dari ruang tamunya. Atau kamar mandinya pas di foto sih ok-ok aja tapi aslinya gelap dan kecil banget.  Jadi sebaiknya pilih yang segala sudutnya terlihat di foto, deh.



LONDON 2018
Sama seperti apartemen di London sebelumnya, neighborhoodnya enak banget sih ini. Tinggal jalan kaki ke Hyde Park. Trus cuma 1 blok aja dari keramaian dan hampir semua toko ada deh kaya Whole Foods, Boots, Coffee Shops dan segala per shoppingan. Apartemen ini kayanya baru di refurbished karena masih terasa baru banget. Kalo gak salah pas kami sewa memang belum ada reviewnya deh saking barunya. Trus karena di lantai 4 dan banyak jendelanya, jadi terang banget. I love the kitchen and its island. Sempurna sih apartemen ini buat kami, kamar dan kamar mandinya juga ada dua.

PARIS

For me, India is not a country where you can just hop on a place and Google your way around when you get there. I've been to a few countries where I didn't make itinerary before hand but trust me, you shouldn't be so adventurous when it comes to India :D. So here's a few tips from me:

• Visit in the winter!

I was there at the end of November to first week of December and the weather was just perfect! It was sunny but breezy. A light jacket is all you need. Nggak kebayang sih kalo ke India pas lagi musim panas. Pasti bikin cranky banget. Karena lagi winter juga jadi rasanya udaranya sedikit lebih bersih dan orang-orangnya juga nggak bau bawang :D. I would love to go back to India, as long as it's during winter.

• Private Tour

Let's be honest, even though I find India an interesting place, it's never been on the top list of the countries I want to visit. But one day, an invitation came from US Embassy to attend the very selective Global Entrepreneur Summit in Hyderabad at the end of November. So of course I wanted to go and browsed more about the country. And the more I read the more intriqued I became to visit other cities especially to Taj Mahal. I mean, if I'm already there, might as well, right?

The thing is...India is not a country where you can just roam around solo if you are a woman! But guess what, suddenly Nopai & Amal decided to meet me in Delhi to travel around the Golden Triangle! And Riana also decided to come at the last minute. Yayy!!



So we all meet in Delhi on December 1 and here's our itinerary:

Day 1 - Delhi
-- Arrived at 11am
-- Lunch at Lazeez Affaire (recommended!)
-- Drove around to see India Gate and the Secretariat Building Houses
-- Old Delhi to see Jamaa Masjid and Rickshaw ride around the huge market called Chandni Chowk. Di pasar itu seru banget sih, tapi mesti naik becaknya ya karena di situ serunya dan nggak akan sanggup ngelewatin semua distrik sendiri. Our tour guide took us to the 4th floor of an old apartment building in the spice market district. It's a nice spot for taking picture and to see the old Delhi from the top.
-- A bit of shopping, I don't remember the store name but it's in quiet a nice area and sell good quality scarves.


Day 2 - Delhi/Jaipur
-- We went to Humayun Tomb at 8am. Recommended banget sih untuk ke sana pagi - pagi disaat masih sepi banget.
-- Stopped by at Khan Market to get Forest Essentials and Kama Ayuverda. Bisa beli oleh-oleh juga di sini.
-- Qutb Minar
-- Lunch at McDonalds & grab Starbucks on the way to Jaipur (5 hours drive)

Day 3 - Jaipur
-- Started the day with a visit to Amber Fort. Ini besar banget so expect to spend at least 2 hours there. Since it's located at the hop of the hill, you can take elephants on the way to the top. There is a water/lake palace near Amber Fort but it was closed for renovation when we were there.
-- Stop by at a jewelry store. Jadi Jaipur itu pusatnya gemstone sourcing, trading, polishing di dunia. Trus kebetulan yang punya tokonya orang India yang pernah tinggal di Indonesia jadi dia lancar banget bahasa Indonesianya.
-- Lunch. Lupa nama restorannya apa, semua restorannya udah dipilih sama tur guidenya.
-- Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, City Palace (very close to one another)
-- Shopping! Lupa nama tempatnya tapi di satu tempat itu kita bisa liat pembuatan karpet, bisa beli juga, baju-baju, scarf, pajangan2.

Day 4 - Jaipur/Agra
-- Stopped by at another gemstone store :D (harusnya pagi-pagi ada Yoga but it's 5:45 dan setelah dicheck di Google tempat Yoganya biasa aja..haha).
-- Lunch
-- Leave for Agra dan mobil kita hampir nabrak babi! Pas udah deket Agra juga nabrak mobil depannya. sigh.
-- Stopped by at a little area/masjid/palace called Fatehpur Sikri

Day 5 - Agra/Delhi
-- Well, Taj Mahal of course! We got there at 7am to beat the crowd.
-- Back to the hotel, breakfast, checkout
-- Grab McDonald to eat on the way to Delhi
-- Dilli Market in Delhi. Ini heaven siihh buat belanja. Tempatnya bagus dan terawat, outdoor macam di pasar seni gitu, masuknya juga bayar tapi harganya murah-murah banget. Jangan sampe kelewatan!
-- Airport










So do I like it? YES! In fact, it's exceeded my expectation, maybe because I went there with a very low expectation then I was surprised to see the beauty of it once we can look beyond the hills of trash on the side of the road, the non stop honking, the chaos, and everything. India is indeed beautiful, I find the country to have two sides of everything, it's full of contrast. It houses many grand palaces, but on the other side the slum is the worst I have ever seen. It's a country full with beautiful vibrant colors yet there are trash and stinky smells everywhere. Some people/stores are so high tech they use app to charge our credit card but then we can also see how primitive they can be when it comes to living their daily life, for example in Jaipur we still see horse, camel as a mode of transportation dan bukan kaya delman di sini yaa tapi kuda untuk bawa barang bangunan misalnya.



Another reason why I love my visit is because it fulfills my spiritual need as a muslim. I've always wanted to go Umrah again, or visit Spain again only to explore the area where the muslims have strong presence in the past. But for now, India feels the void. It has the 2nd largest Muslim in the world after Indonesia. There I learned about the history of Islamic movement in India, discovered about the Mughal dynasty, Islamic arts, visited many old mosques and witnessed how religion and culture can be blended in harmony. I also witness the beauty of tolerance between different religions, something that I'm worried the most about Indonesia.

Now I totally understand why Martin Luther King said that 'To other countries, I may go as a tourist, but to India I come as a pilgrim'. 

So will I go back? Of course. I want Oki and the kids to experience what I experience as well and visit other other cities in India. There are a lot to offer from the country and if you are into photography, it's heaven. Just be ready to go back home with gigas of pictures :D.

Next post I will share more tips to go to India.

 

4. Padang-Padang Beach

Made famous by Eat, Pray, Love, the movie and the only beach visited where we had to pay for entrance fee. I don't remember how much but it wasn't that much, maybe around IDR 15,000? The entrance is quite nice though as we can also see many monkeys around. And to get to the beach, you have to pass a tiny alley. So tiny that it can only fit one person, we had to take turn with the people who were leaving the beach. The beach itself is not that nice though. It's small and filled with sellers, so there's no place to lay your beach throw and leave your stuff. It's also quite dirty, although when you swim towards the middle, the water does get cleaner and really nice to swim in because there's no wave.