2012 In Review

Finally, 2012 has elapsed. There were so many events we had experienced. Some of them would be always remembered. Some of them were considered momentous because of the popularity for people in the world. I myself have some preferences to be considered as an important events for 2012:

SPORTS:

1.      Some of my favorite teams were successful to be a champion of season 2011/2012: Real Madrid (Liga BBVA), they even broke a record to be a team with most goals scored and a team with most points of all time in La Liga. Ajax Amsterdam (KPN Eredivisie) finally was a champion after they finished in 6^th position in half-season.

2.      Manchester City (MC),champion of FA Premiership, had better luck than Manchester United (MU) in this season. After beating MU in both leg 1 and leg 2, MC  finished with the same point as MU; 89. But MC had more goal scored than MU.

3.      Juventus made a new record as the only invincible team in Serie A and finished as a champion with 84 points. Dortmund showed their supremacy of Bayern Munich for two years in a row after grabbed a Bundesliga title. Dortmund even succeeded in achieving both Bundesliga and DFB Pokal trophy.

4.      Congratulation to Montpellier! They could grab a French Ligue 1 title vigorously. It’s not easy to be a champion because there was a great competitor with  full ammunition; Paris Saint Germain.

5.      Chelsea, grabbed their first trophy in UEFA Champion League 2011/2012 after defeating the host, Bayern Munich! It made them as the first team from London who can win this competition. But then, they lost their power after Atletico Madrid (champion of Uefa Cup) beat them 4-1 in UEFA Supercup.

6.      Spain grabbed their 3^rd title of EURO CUP after defeating Italy 4-0. They also made a new record as a team who could be a champion twice in a row.

7.      Zambia gave Ivory Coast an unforgettable nightmare in Africa Cup final stage, February this year. FYI, Zambia was a new champion in this competition.

8.      Chorintians, a champion of Copa Libertadores 2012, beat Chelsea 1-0 in a tremendous final stage of FIFA Club World Cup 2012.

9.      Mexico claimed gold for Men Football in 2012 London Olympic after smashed Brazil 2-1.

10. United States, claimed a gold medal for Woman Football cup in 2012 London Olympic.

11. Singapore succeeded in making them as a champion of AFF Cup with most trophies after drowning Thailand with 3-2.

12. Sriwijaya FC was successful in grabbing both Indonesia Super League and Indonesia Inter Island Cup 2012.

13. London 2012 Olympic was the best Olympic to me although Indonesia claimed no gold medal this year. The US was the best team in this Olympic followed by China. Don’t forget about Jamaica! The country ruled the running track.

14. Michael Phelps was considered as the most successful Olympian of all time with 18 gold medals.

15. Miami Heat was a champion of NBA for this season.

16. Sebastian Vettel  was considered as the youngest F1 racer who could be the number one in a season three times in a row.

image source: ausmotive.com

17. Jorge Lorenzo was the number one of Moto GP 2012.

18. Lance Armstrong’s scandal brought him to the   fall of his career. His previous title were removed.

19. Indonesia retrieved their gold medal this year in All England. Tontowi/ Liliyana made it!

INTERNATIONAL:

1.      Syrian crisis along this year seemed not to come to the end.

 image source: vovworld.vn

2.      Norodom Sihanouk, former king of Cambodia, died at age of 89 years old

3.      Barrack Obama was elected to be the president of USA for a second time.

 image source:photo-bugs.com

4.      Neil Armstrong, the first man walking in moon, died at age of 82 years old

5.      Windows 8 was released this year.

6.   The Dark Knight Rises Premiere in USA was attacked by a gunman and killed some people. There was also an Indonesian wounded.

7.      Sandy storm attacked Manhattan several days before president election.

8.      Bopha storm in Philippines killed hundreds people.

9.      Newsweek released its last print issue due to the developing of technology. Newsweek will focus on digital edition next year.

highsnobiety.com

10.  Euro crisis and the increasing of unemployment rate in some countries (especially Spain) colored the world’s economic condition.

11.  Francois Hollande was elected as a new Prime Minister of France.

12. North Pole had the worst shrinkage this year and threatening most animals there.

13. Psy’s Gangnam Style influenced the world by its phenomenal dance. Its video recently had been the most-viewed-video in Youtube with more than 1 billion viewers.

14. Palestine finally got their new status, that is a non-observer country in the United Nations (UN). In a voting held in UN headquarter, New York, only 9 countries said no including Israel.

15. Marvel’s The Avenger was the most successful movie this year followed by The Dark Knight Rises.

16. Walt Disney bought “Lucasfilm”. As we knew, Lucasfilm was known for its Star Wars.

17. “Innocence of Moslem”, a film by a Jewish, rose moslem’s rage over the world. This film was supposed to insult Prophet Mohammed.

18. Rohingya conflict in Myanmar made a number of moslem evicted from there.

19. US “Fiscal Cliff” had been the most popular economic issue this end of the year.

Well, I hope this 2013 everything will be better. I have some plans this year and I hope I can make them happen. Last, I wish the world would be more peaceful and I wish there would be more people aware of environment issue.

MATARAM, THE CITY WHERE TOMMY WAS BORN

He is the craziest backpacker all time, he has a good sense in traveling somewhere, and he is the real Indonesian; Ahmad Bastomi. Well, this time he will take us to his hometown, Mataram. Mataram is the capital of West Nusa Tenggara province, it's located in Lombok island, western Lombok exactly. When you look at the map, you can find Lombok lies next to Bali (rightside Bali).

And how can we get there? There are several ways, one of them is by Selaparang airport/ Lombok international airport. This airport serves us some international direct flights such as from Australia. And if you are from Bali, you can get Mataram via Lembar Harbour. On the contrary, if you're from Sumbawa you can reach Lombok via Labuhan Lombok. There are also many buses for the budget-traveler.

Let's talk about the tourism destination. Mataram is  located near coast and it has a beautiful beach called Senggigi. The white sand of the beach is the main tourist attraction. If you want to stay there, there are many hotels, inns, and cottages with varied price.
If you are a mountain hiker, there is a very famous mount named Rinjani. It's famous for the lake in the top of the mount. We all know that Mataram is one of Indonesian's tourist destinations, so why don't you just have fun in this city.

image source: rinjaninationalpark.com

                     indonesia-beautiful-view.com

                     infopublik.kominfo.go.id

SEMARANG, THE CITY WHERE I WAS BORN

Semarang is the capital of Central Java, a province in Java. Province is just like State in USA. It's located in the north of Central Java and of course, it has a beach. Wikipedia said, this city has an area of 305.12 km2 with a population of 1.5 million.

If you come from abroad, you can reach this city both by air and water. This city has an international airport named "Achmad Yani", it has direct flight to Singapore. If you want to travel by water, there is "Tanjung Mas" harbor. 

Semarang offers you several tourism destinations such as Marina Beach, Simpang Lima town square, The Haunted House Lawang Sewu, Sam Poo Kong, etc. There is also Semarang old town which is former Dutch East Indies' offices .If you wish to have something like religious trip, Semarang provides us good experience by visiting "Masjid Agung" for moslems and  Semarang Cathedral for Christian.

Well, I'm quite  proud  I was born here and it's a coincidence that both my parents were born here, too. My family live here either, they say that Semarang is a cozy place. Unfortunately, flood sometimes attacks this city. But, don't worry guys, the mayor is now trying to overcome this problem, so just visit this city and enjoy!

THE CRAZIEST BACKPACKER ALL TIME

 

Introducing the craziest traveler all time. His name is Ahmad Bastomi, born in Mataram, NTB, Indonesia, December 7th 1992. He has the sixth sense, sixth sense in deciding where the best place to visit is. He found his ability since he was in High School. At that time, he was a professional event organizer. He directed all of our class' touring event. And now, he is the leader of our traveling group. By the way, he had an unforgettable experience when he was traveling in Solo. He lost his money when he ate at the restaurant! Not only did he loose his money, he also got bad itch caused by a bug, somewhere in TARU JURUG Zoo. He had stomachache, too. He p**ped twice a day, guys. Luckily, everything went better. Should you have any question about him, just contact him via facebook: Ahmad Bastomi.

CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF WHITE SAND OF SUNDAK BEACH

Do you think Parangtritis is the best beach in Yogyakarta? Not anymore! You'd change your mind if you come to Sundak Beach. You'll be welcomed by the clean white sand, beautiful blue ocean, and nice wave. No big wave here, so you can swim safely. Your trip would be more joyful if you come together with your friends, family, or colleague.

Sundak Beach was located about 1 hr and a half from Wonosari. Sundak is one of the must-visit beaches in Gunungkidul, a region in Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta. The location is next to Baron beach. If you want to go there  by public transportation, there are a lot of buses with Sundak Beach as the main destination. You have to buy a ticket to enter this site. It costs about Rp 5.000,00 for one person. I think it's cheap enough considering the beauty of the scenery you'll get.

If you want to stay here for several days, there are a lot of boarding rooms you can hire. They cost approximately Rp 20.000,00-Rp 50.000,00 per night. The security is well-guaranteed since the inhabitants are the owner of this site. Enjoy, guys!

NOT SURE IF THIS IS SOLO CITY OR IT'S SURAKARTA CITY?

February 5th, 2012. Me, Ahmad Bastomi, and Adnan Rachmawan, as always, were traveling in Solo City. Wait! Were we really in Solo City or Surakarta?  It had no difference. Some called this city as "Solo" and others called "Surakarta". Surakarta is located in Central Java. Klaten, Boyolali, and Karangayar are its neighbors. Surakarta has strong culture of Java and is a part of Mataram kingdom. The city is good and we like the public transportation. Many big streets here that congestion is almost impossible to happen.
We went to Surakarta from Yogyakarta by train, "Prambanan Express" was name. We spent Rp 10.000,00 to buy the ticket. We arrived there via "Stasiun Balapan". That was one very crowded night. It was because there was a Sekaten Fair in city square. We didn't have a chance to photograph anything for it's crowded as hell. People attended the fair with their family, engagement, or someone else. There was a big mosque called "Masjid Agung" near the city square. But, it's not as clean as I imagine, the bathrooms were dark and very nasty. Nothing was interesting here.

"Sekaten Fair" was not our main destination. State University of Surakarta and "Serabi Notosuman" were the place we wanted to visit. As a student, we were interesting to pay a visit to the biggest university in Surakarta. And we think, State University of Surakarta was the real green campus. There were a lot of trees here, made fresh the air in the morning. People usually did jogging here in Sunday morning. There was a big pool there, but it's too dirty to drink :)  Well, Visiting to this university was an unforgettable moment for us.

Before we went home, we bought a typical food of Surakarta, that is "Serabi Notosuman".

That's all what we did there during our traveling program. We are going to travel somewhere and post the story to this blog so you can read our unforgettable trip.

AMAZING PANORAMA OF KETEP PASS

When you are in Magelang (Central Java), don't forget to enjoy the amazing panorama of Ketep Pass with your family. Ketep is one of  destination site to escape from daily routine. Located in 1200m above sea level, you can see the greatness of both Mount Merapi and Mount Merbabu. Chill air will spoil you and of course, the view of the mountains will fascinate you. According to Wikipedia, it's 30km away from Magelang, far enough but it's worth your trip.

You are charged Rp 7.000,00 per person to enter this site. There is a mosque inside so you can pray in time. There are some motels to stay and there is "volcano theater" where you can watch the volcanic activity of Mount Merapi. But the fare is expensive enough, it costs Rp 30.000,00.

By the way, there is a beautiful site under Ketep Pass, called Kedung Kayang. Waterfall is the only attraction there. The fare is very cheap; Rp 3.000,00. There are 2 pathways to choose, whether you want to be above the waterfall or beneath the waterfall. But, Kedung Kayang is a little bit dangerous. Steed hills and big stream of the river is the danger. So, never say you've ever been in Magelang if you've never been in Ketep!

The Beauty of Prambanan

Saturday, August 13, 2011. Me, Ahmad Bastomi, Adnan Eraceha Rachmawan planned to go round Yogyakarta. At last,we concluded to pay a visit to Prambanan. Yes, we  founded our traveling group there. We chose Prambanan because Prambanan gave us an inspiration.

Prambanan is located in Yogyakarta and it's the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. Candi Prambanan is including one of UNESCO world heritage. By the Way, Candi Roro Jonggrang is another name of this site. You can read for more information in wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prambanan).

Well, there is a charge to enter Candi Prambanan. For domestic visitor is charged for Rp 23.000,00 and there is special charge for foreigner.

So, let me continue my story. There, we met a tourist from India named Mr.Subayu, he's been working for XL in Jakarta for three months and he took vacation to Jogjakarta. We hoped the Indian tourist treat us to enter Prambanan, unfortunately he just went straight away to the counter. But,we could still enter Prambanan freely by going through the "secret path". We did it! We entered Prambanan freely and the security didn't see us at all. Afterwards,we went to Klaten on foot, it was damn Exhausting! But it's OK,better being tired than paying Rp 23.000 to enter Prambanan. When you are in Yogyakarta, don't forget to visit Prambanan. You go there by Trans Jogja, a bus with a comfortable service.

Just always pay attention guys, because there will be more trip after we founded our traveling group.