Adventure With Bernard Lim
Dec 31st 2018
A friend of mine from TOFU Parkour Malaysia came to Surabaya on that day. His name is Bernard Lim. It's really nice to meet him again after LCG 2017 and PKMY End Year Jam 2017. After picking him up at Juanda International Airport around 03:00 PM, we took a rest for a while in my place.
Then, around 04.30 PM, we continued to train parkour at Skate & BMX Park Surabaya (Parkour Surabaya's regular training spot). There were also Farid, Fandik, Arsya, and Andreas accompanying us. We jammed as pleased as we liked until ±07:00 PM before continued to eat dinner and did some sightseeing in Plaza Surabaya, which is located right beside the skate park. Not long after that, Deddy and Yohanes joined us there.
Towards the New Year Eve, we all hung out around Gubeng Street, then chilling and chatting in front of my house while watching the fireworks. A few moments after the turn of the year, as soon as the other friends had left, Bernard and I immediately took a rest because on the next morning we would go to Bali by motorbike.
Our initial plan was to leave at 05:00 AM, but it turned out that we were still chatting up to ±02:30 AM. As a result, we were both late to wake up :)
BALI
Jan 1st 2019
After gaining our consciousness difficultly, we immediately took a shower and got prepared. The journey finally began at 06.30 AM (Western Indonesia Time) from Surabaya. Overall, the traffic was quite smooth, except on several roads area between Probolinggo and Situbondo. We were stuck in traffic there due to the new year bazaar/festival that made many people gathered to crowd the streets. And there was also roadwork/pavement at some other areas nearby that narrowing the road lane.
At first, the weather was quite clear and bright, until suddenly it started to drizzle as soon as we entered the forest after passing Situbondo. Getting to the east, the rain fell even harder so that we were held for more than one hour in Ketapang Port, Banyuwangi. As a result, the ferry boat had just arrived at Gilimanuk Port in Bali around 06.00 PM Western Indonesia Time/07.00 PM Central Indonesia Time.
The rain still fell so hard for the next 3 hours so that I couldn't drive my motorbike too fast due to the slippery road. It just slowly started to subside when we entered Denpasar. Not long after that, we finally arrived at the house of my friend from Parkour Bali named Widio (commonly called Yos). There was also Vio, his younger brother who also stayed there.
It had been already 10:30 PM. Bernard and I were so exhausted and looked shabby after a very long journey. But, apart from that, thankfully we could arrive safely without any accident/bad thing happened. So, after taking shower and tidying up our stuff, we spent that night by chatting and relaxing in Yos' house.
Jan 2nd - 3rd 2019
We spent these two days visiting various tourist attractions in Bali. On the first day, the three of us visited Blangsinga Waterfall. As stated in Yos' instagram post, honestly, it also represents my disappointment towards over-exploitation of natural attractions. It just slowly will destroy the sacredness/naturalness of the place itself. But apart from this thing, we still enjoyed our fellowship moment in this waterfall. Towards sunset, it started to drizzle so that we had to return to Yos' house quickly before the rain got harder.
On the second day, we visited Tegallalang Rice Terrace and Tirta Empul Temple. During our visit to Tirta Empul Temple, the rain fell heavily (again), made us take shelter for a while in one of the cottages inside the temple.
Once the rain had stopped, we returned to Yos' house to rest for a bit before continued to train parkour at Puputan Badung Square around 07:00 PM. Even though there were only three of us, but we really enjoyed our training session until it finished ±at 10:30 PM.
BACK TO SURABAYA
Jan 4th - 5th 2019
On our last day in Bali, we decided to visit Sanur Beach, which is located not far from Yos' house. We sat and chilled out for a moment in front of the beach while enjoying coffee from Infinity Coffee Sanur. We also tried Yos' favorite food called 'tahu tipat' before leaving the beach.
Then, on our way back to Yos' house, we spontaneously decided to stop by at Bajra Sandhi Monument (the Struggle Monument of Balinese People) for a little sightseeing and taking some pictures. In addition, Bernard also wanted to do his photography hobby there.
Finally, Bernard and I left Yos' house around 03:30 PM to continue our return trip to Surabaya. It had rained briefly in the middle of our trip to Gilimanuk Port, but thankfully the weather was clear again right before reaching the port.
We arrived at Ketapang Port around 08.30 PM Central Indonesia Time/07.30 PM Western Indonesia Time. Luckily the weather itself was clear until our arrival in Surabaya around ±03.00 AM Western Indonesia Time. After taking shower and cleaning up ourselves, we couldn't refuse the "sleep-call" from the bed anymore.
On the next day, we rested until noon to recover our drained-stamina due to the last night trip. We went out home around 03:00 PM after some Parkour Surabaya friends invited us to train in ITS (Sepuluh November Institute of Technology) until sunset.
In the night time; at first I, Bernard, Andreas, and Irfa (Andreas's wife) planned to go to Go Bounce Trampoline Park at 08.00 PM. But unfortunately, it was going to close right when we arrived at the location. So, the next thing we did was just hanging out around Kodam Brawijaya and looking for street food until near midnight.
MALANG
Jan 6th 2019
Bernard and I went to Malang at 05.30 AM to attend 'Car Free Day' event on Sunday morning. Meanwhile, Andreas and Irfa followed a few moments later. We met Play_On Parkour Malang crews there who were raising funds for the tsunami disaster that hit Banten on December 22nd, 2018.
After CFD was finished, around 10:00 AM we continued to train parkour in UM (Malang State University). We explored almost all of the training spots there as pleased as we wanted until afternoon. Then, the rain fell right after we finished our training so that we had to take shelter and chilled out for a moment.
BROMO - JENON
Jan 6th 2019
It's been already 04.00 PM; I, Bernard, Andreas, and Irfa immediately continued the trip from UM to 'Speck Adventure' basecamp, a place for renting jeep car along with the guide for Bromo tours. We had dinner there and rested for a while before starting our Bromo trip.
Jan 7th 2019
The adventure began at 01.00 AM. As soon as we woke up, while still in drowsiness and cold, we immediately left basecamp to Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park using the rented jeep car.
The jeep finally arrived at the location around 03.00 AM, then we decided to stop by for a while at one of the food stalls to have a meal and a little bit rest. After almost one hour, we continued to walk to the top of the hill where most of the visitors used to take pictures of sunrise there.
Slowly but sure, a glimmer of bright-orange light began to appear in the dark-night-sky that studded with stars. Shortly after, the sun finally had risen up. The expanse of beautiful scenery was clearly visible. Even though I had visited Bromo for the umpteenth time, it didn't dampen my admiration for its natural beauty.
Once we had done of taking pictures, videos, and enjoying the sunrise moment itself; then around 06:30 AM we immediately returned to the jeep to go back down. The weather was gradually warming up.
The next thing we did was climbing Mount Bromo and enjoying the view of its crater. After a few moments on the top, Bernard and I took time to do parkour jam a little bit around the foot of the mountain area.
From there, the four of us continued to visit Teletubbies Hill, which is located not quite far from Mount Bromo itself. We took pictures and videos for a while before returning to the basecamp where Andreas and I parked our motorbikes.
After took a rest a little bit in the basecamp, we headed to Brex's house. Just info, he is the founder of Play_on Parkour Malang. There were also Teguh and Bruce who were chilling out in his house. So, as usual, almost every guest who visits Brex will obviously be invited to Sumber Jenon, a natural spring pool in Tajinan area, which is only 15 minutes away by motorbike. Unfortunately, Brex himself couldn't join swimming at that time due to his busyness.
So, at last, there were only four people who went to Jenon: me, Bernard, Andreas, and Teguh. We swam there as pleased as we could for the next 1.5 hours. Once we felt satisfied enough, at ±04:00 PM the four of us returned to Brex's house again.
BATU - KEDIRI
Jan 7th - 8th 2019
Bernard, Andreas, Irfa, and I immediately left Brex's house around 04.30 PM to Batu City. We stayed in Reddoorz Guesthouse located near Batu City Hall. We rested for a while in the hostel as soon as we checked-in due to our exhaustion from Bromo activity.
In the evening, the four of us decided to take a walk around Batu square. There're a lot of delicious snacks and street food there. We tried to eat sticky rice and 'tahu telor', then afterwards we continued sightseeing until ±11:00 PM.
On the next day, after checking out, we continued our trip to Kediri City, which is located 2 hours western from Batu. The reason we came here was to visit Andreas' mother and two younger brothers. Soon after taking a short rest in Andreas's house, every one of us decided to take an afternoon-walk at Simpang Lima Gumul.
Later in the evening, we did culinary tours around Kediri square and some other places. We tried various street food there until felt satisfied and full. What a memorable day for every one of us.
BACK TO SURABAYA
Jan 9th 2019
Finally, the four of us left Kediri around 10.00 AM to return to Surabaya. Because that was Bernard's second-last day in Indonesia, we had to make every moment left became memorable. So, as soon as we reached Surabaya, we immediately went to Go Bounce Trampoline Park.
Bernard, Andreas, Ijoe, and I played trampoline there as pleased as we liked until ±06:00 PM, then afterwards the four of us continued to train parkour in Skate & BMX Park Surabaya. There were also Bagus and Fandik who joined us later. Indeed, we admitted that we were so exhausted physically, but we were so happy mentally and psychologically. We don't feel as 'fellow parkour practitioners' anymore, but we have already felt like a family.
Finally, we ended that night by eating together at Mie Setan Restaurant located not quite far from the skate park.
Jan 10th 2019
As the saying goes: there is a beginning, there is an end. It felt like Bernard had just arrived in Surabaya on the previous day and trained parkour together with us, and it turned out I had to drive him back to Juanda Airport on that day because of his return to his hometown in Penang, Malaysia.
After eating lunch together in Ayam Goreng Nelongso; I, Bernard, Andreas, and Irfa immediately went straight to the airport. Bernard's flight would depart at 04.30 PM, and we had arrived there since ±02.00 PM. So, in other words, we had a lot of free time for waiting and relaxing, while looking back these last memorable 11 days that felt so quickly passed.
It is true that time feels so fast if we really enjoy every moment of it. If only I could turn back time between Dec 31st 2018 - Jan 10th 2019 and repeated it over and over again... That was one of the most beautiful memories in my life.
However, of course I have to move on and not just merely staying in the past, whether they were good or bad memories. I have to go back to reality and start saving money again for the next trip, which seems will happen soon...
to be continued...
Comments
Post a Comment