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!