Meet and Greet with Yellow Rhinopias in Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi!

Lembeh Strait, located in Sulawesi, Indonesia is known as a critters heaven for scuba-divers around the globe. Divers can find different species of fish, unusual ones, that can't be found else where. It's definitely the place for those who love macro stuff and underwater photography!

I spent about a week diving in Sulawesi back in October 2009, which included a three days of diving in Lembeh Strait. And during those dives, I found many weird fish that I haven't seen before! It was such an amazing experience...

In one of those 'weird' fish that I encountered, there's one fish that I think was special. It's called rhinopias. What makes it special for me is not only the fact that it's rare, but also the look of the fish, the beautiful and transparent fins, the face, and also the extra-ordinary 'walking-style' it has!

Check out the video of yellow rhinopias that I recorded in one of the dives in Lembeh Strait:

So, what type of fish is it?

Rhinopias is actually a type of scorpion fish. It utilizes camouflage to blend in with their surroundings. This species of fish are rare, but according to Wikipedia, they sometime appear in the aquarium trade and being sold at high prices. So sad! :(

I personally don't support aquarium trade. Let these rare fish live happily in their original habitat and produce more babies to support their existence on this planet!

Komodo Dragons' Lunch Time!

Komodo dragons can be found on Komodo Island, Rinca Island and Gili Motang, Indonesia. Tourists who want to see these 'last dinosaurs on the planet' in their original habitat, can make their way to Komodo Island and Rinca Island - both located in Komodo National Park.

I've been to Loh Liang, the tourist concession area on Komodo Island, many times. That's because I was once hired as a consultant to work there. And in some of my visits to the site, I was lucky enough to witness the komodo dragons eating their prey, alive! One day I saw them eating a goat in less than 10 minutes! The other day I saw them fighting over a female dragon, standing on their feet and hitting one another with their hands and huge tails. Wow!! A pretty intense scene to watch.

This time, I'm going to share with you a scene of komodo dragons enjoying their catch of the day: a Timor deer!

FYI, no one is allowed to feed the dragons. This scene happened when I was chatting at the lobby of the entrance and suddenly the rangers called me, "Mbak Nila... quick... quick! A dragon just caught a deer!"

We rushed to the spot and saw a bunch of adult komodo dragons already circling the poor deer. The deer was laying on the ground, dying. Soon, the dragons started to bite and eat it alive.

Here's the scene. I have to put a disclaimer and warn each of you that it's not a pleasant scene to watch, if you're a kind of person who feels weak by seeing blood. And please, don't watch it with your kids. They might get a nightmare after watching this video!

Interestingly, komodo dragons don't fight over food. They will eat together, just like what you've seen in the above video. They only fight over women. Sounds familiar, eh? :P

Komodo dragons don't have to eat everyday. They only need to eat once a month. No wonder they still survive until now! And, the female komodo dragons are even more amazing. They can survive with fasting for 9 months! It happens when female komodo dragons wait for their eggs to hatch. That's why, the size of female komodo dragons are smaller than the male ones.

When do the dragons hunt for their prey?

Usually, they hunt for their prey around 3pm-5pm. So, guys, if you happen to be there around this hour, watch out! ;)

Blue Whales in Komodo National Park!

Yesterday, I decided to go diving in the morning and found that the dive schedules were: diving in the North of Komodo Island! Yeayyyy!!!

The Northern part of Komodo Island is my favorite dive place. Some of the gorgeous dive sites in this side are Castle Rock, Crystal Rock and The Quadrant. Each dive site has its own uniqueness. Castle Rock is always full of schools of fish, from groupers, jack fish, etc. Diving here is always mind blowing. This site has never let me down :). Try it yourself, then you'll see what I'm talking about ;).

Crystal Rock always amazed me with its gorgeous corals. Every time I dive here, I feel like being in a big colorful garden. The beauty of its corals has made this site a beautiful underwater garden. Full of color with different types of species living in it. Sometimes I smile (can you smile when you're underwater? of course!) and take a deep breath, when I think that all of these beauty is actually belong to my country, Indonesia. It makes me proud of being Indonesian. It always reminds me how rich my country is, in terms of natural resources. Yet, what have we done to preserve and protect it?


The first dive was in The Quadrant. Despite the beauty of the corals, I could see the difference with the dive I had around 6 months ago. I spotted dead corals now and it made my heart bleed :(. During the dive, I couldn't stop wondering... what would it be like in 2 years from now? Or even 5 years from now? :(

I LOVE Komodo National Park and I don't want to see it destroyed. And this would only happen if all of us, especially Indonesians, do something together to protect and conserve it. Some people say, that's how things work with nature. Especially when human beings already interfere with the nature. How sad is that??? I believe when all of us do something to protect our natural resources, it would make a big difference on this planet. And the effort has to start from ourselves... today.

Anyway, back to the dive at the Quadrant. As soon as we went up to the surface, the boat crew screamed, "Come up to the boat, quickly!! We saw 2 big whales swimming around!" WOW!!!

Divers are always crazy of big fish. Maybe some of you couldn't understand why we get so excited by seeing sharks, while we're taught since we're kids that sharks are dangerous. I think, our communities made us watch scary movies or movies that have made sharks as the bad "guys". In reality, not all sharks are aggressive and attack humans every time they see us. Reef sharks are pretty "tamed". Never once they attack me when they see me :D. Hehehe.. And actually, they're 'afraid' of scuba-divers and would swim away as soon as they see the bubbles from our regulators. Some reef sharks are 'ignorant', in the sense of: they don't care of our presence. They will just swim right in front of us, next to us, or above us. As long as we don't disturb them, they won't care :). Nice creature, right? ;)

So, if scuba-divers got excited 'only' by seeing sharks, could you imagine how excited we were when we saw whales??? It's like a dream of every single diver on earth to see whales. Be it sperm whale, orca, and... blue whales!

And, apparently, it was my lucky day. I saw 2 pair of BLUE WHALES swimming and jumping around about 50 meters from our boat! WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

OH MY GOD! All of us on the boat were so excited. We tried to come near them, but they're much faster than us. We tried to follow them, but I guess they didn't want to be near us. The blue whales always swam away... sometimes they disappeared and then popped out again in a totally different direction and far out from our boat. Smart whales they were!!!

At one point, one of them swam right below our boat! All of us were all well-prepared with our snorkel gear and fins, ready to jump in anytime to snorkel with the whales. And when we saw the blue whale swam below our boat, some of us jumped into the water right away. A German guy said, "It's soooo big! And it went down so fast!". I didn't manage to jump as I was too late. But, I was lucky enough to capture some pictures of them :)

What is blue whale? Blue whale is actually a marine mamal. It's the biggest living creature on this planet. The size can be as big as 33 meters in length and 180 metric tons or more in weight!
As for its speed, blue whales can reach speeds of 50 kilometers/hour. No wonder we couldn't keep up with them!


In the past 40 years, blue whales were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until protected by the international community in 1966. A 2002 report estimated there were 5,000 - 12,000 blue whales worldwide. The IUCN Red List has put blue whales in its "endangered" list.
Apart from hunting, blue whales face threats from orcas. Although the orcas are usually unable to kill the blue whales rightaway, but the whales will suffer from the massive wounds and probably died afterwards.

A scientist mentioned that usually blue whales sightings will be followed by orcas sightings. At first, I didn't understand why? But the above info has explained it well. And guess what, the day after we saw the blue whales, a group of divers saw an orca in Komodo National Park! My friend even swam with it!!! Wow! Too bad I didn't go out diving on that day.... arrrggghhh!!!

Another threat that blue whale might be facing is the global warming. Considering the blue whales migration are based on ocean temperature, changes in this circulation, which moves warm and cold water around the world, would be likely to have an impact in their migration. And the change in ocean temperature would also effect the blue whales' food supply.

We had no idea where the blue whales and the orca were heading to. But, I was so happy to know that blue whales and orcas passed through Indonesia. I just wished that no one would disturb/hunt/kill them during their journey elsewhere. Let us all respect other living creatures on this planet. Be it blue whales, orcas, sharks, manta rays and the beautiful corals who live below the water...

Frogfish Taking a Walk :D

During my dive trip in Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi, Indonesia, exactly a year ago, I spotted several frogfish. A type of fish that looks like a frog, just like its name ;).

Frogfish is actually a type of anglerfish. In Autralia, they are known as anglerfish, while 'frogfish' refers to a different type of fish (I don't know what kind of fish Australians referring to when they're talking about frogfish!).

This time, I'm going to share with you a scene where I found a yellow frogfish taking a walk... :D So cute!!!

As you can see, it takes time a while to walk from one point to another. Frogfish do not move very much, in general. They prefer to lie on the sea floor. They eat crustaceans, other fish and even each other (yup, they're cannibals!). When catching its prey, they will open their jaws and pull the prey into the mouth along with water. Once I saw a tiny frogfish opened its mouth... and I was quite surprised to see that actually the jaw could stretch pretty long! Wow!

And not only that, this unique fish can also expand their stomachs to swallow its prey up to twice their size!

I've seen during my dives in some places: Phi Phi Island (Thailand), Similan Islands (Thailand), Raja Ampat, Papua (Indonesia) and Komodo National Park (Indonesia), but the place where I encountered frogfish the most was in Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi (Indonesia)!

I really love Lembeh Strait for the muck dive and all the weird underwater species living there!

If you're a scuba-diver and wish to witness the critters yourself, you should definitely make your way to Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi, Indonesia! I highly recommend it! :)

This blog is Featured in Chic Magazine Indonesia :D

A few days ago, my colleague said, "Hey Nila... do you know that your blog is being reviewed in the latest edition of Chic magazine?"

I said, "Oh really? I didn't know that".

She said, "Yes, I've read it. You should check it out!"

So, I ran to a bookstore during lunch hour and found the magazine there. I flipped through the pages and found this:

Apparently, the magazine wrote a piece about this blog at their "Blog Review" page! It is a very nice review and the article discusses not only the content of this blog, but also it says that this blog inspires other people :).

Wow!!!

Thanks to Chic magazine, a lifestyle magazine for teenagers and young adults, for such a nice review! ^-^ You've just made my day!

Black Manta Rays in Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia

I LOVE MANTA RAYS!!!

I can never get enough of them! They always make me happy every time I see them (of course, who wouldn't?!!). They're so elegant, calm and beautiful!

Very little facts known about manta rays. What I know, it is the largest species of the rays. The size can be up to 7 meters across! I think I've seen mantas of 4-5 meters. Yes, they're big! They can weigh about 2,300 kilograms!

What do they eat? Mantas eat plankton. So, they won't bite you ;) hehehe...

I've seen manta rays quite often in their cleaning stations. Cleaning stations? Yes, it's a place where small fish swim in the manta's gills and over its skin to feed. These small fish serves as a beautician, cleaning parasites living on mantas' skins as well as cleaning dead tissue.

Mantas are often curious of divers. And that's why I love them, because they can get so close to me! So damn close until I could even touch them! But of course, I didn't! NEVER EVER TOUCH MANTA RAYS or any living things you see underwater! Have some respect of their habitat, please!

In the dives I did in Raja Ampat, Papua, I encountered several manta rays. And on one dive, there were 2 black mantas swimming around in pair. So cool! Check out the video that I recorded for you:

As you can see, someone tried to touch the black manta!!! I got sooooo pissed off with my friend who attempted to touch the manta. As soon as we went up to the surface, I yelled at him. "Why did you touch the mantas???!!! It's so uncool!!! You should have not done it!"

It really pisses me off to see scuba-divers that have no respect whatsoever to the animals and living inhabitants underwater. Divers should know that if we touch manta rays, for example, it would hurt them. Touching mantas will remove some of the mucus coating that protects them from infection.

So, divers, please... have some respects to the fish and everything we see underwater! We go to their habitat, so we should respect and leave them alone. Don't take anything, don't touch anything.... all we can do is enjoying their beauty and helping the nature to preserve it.

Taman Bacaan Pelangi on The Jakarta Globe newspaper

The Jakarta Globe, the second biggest English daily newspaper in Indonesia in terms of circulation, contacted me a few days ago and asked for a one-on-one interview for their "My Jakarta" page.

Zack Peterson, the journalist, spent about an hour to interview me and we talked about many things, including the Taman Bacaan Pelangi (Rainbow Reading Gardens) project in Flores, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia.

The article is published today. If you want to read the full article, please click here or click http://bit.ly/9HLDc0

Thank you, The Jakarta Globe! :)

Palau, Micronesia: a Sharks' Haven

Palau, Micronesia is one of the places on my wish list that I've always wanted to visit . Not only because of the beauty of the islands and pristine water, but mainly because of its fame among scuba-divers around the globe!

I remember two years ago I bought a book titled "Passport to diving the world: Limited Edition" by Australasia Scuba Diver and saw some photos of grey reef sharks that were taken in Palau, Micronesia. I flipped through the pages and marked some pages with my yellow sticky-notes. Those pages with the sticky-notes would be my next scuba-diving holidays targets :D .. and Palau was one of them! :)

And here I am... in Palau, Micronesia! Yeahhh!!! I spent a week in this beautiful place and spared a few days for scuba-diving. Among some of the famous dive sites of Palau that I went: Turtle Cove, German Channel, Sias Tunnel, Blue Holes, Blue Corner.... Ulong Channel was my favorite. I had such a great diving experience in this dive site!

Do you want to know why? Watch the video I recorded in Ulong Channel today:



See? Lots and lots of grey reef sharks!

Visibility was around 20 meters, water temperature was warm - 30 degrees Celcius. We went down to 21.4 meters below the surface and marveled around. At one spot, we hooked on a big rock and watched the 'show'. Here's some quotes on my log book:

"So many sharks!!! Wow!!! I LOVE this dive site! :)
Lots and lots of grey reef sharks, white tip and black tip sharks. Probably around 30 sharks or so. They're just cruisin' around...
We put our reef hook and enjoyed the show. That was really cool! The sharks were EVERYWHERE. It's like watchin' a TV show. Reminded me of the dive at Castle Rock, Komodo National Park, Indonesia. But this one was better since there were lots of big grey reef sharks!

I couldn't even decide where to look. I looked to the left, but suddenly there was a shark swimming right above me :D. It was such a really cool dive. Loved it! So many small fish, too. At one point, they looked like a big cloud and so tiny compared to the sharks who swam in between them! So damn cool!!!"

I loved grey reef sharks. Their size is bigger than black tip and/or white tip sharks. They look fatter :p. But sadly, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has assessed grey reef sharks as Near Threatened. Why?

Sharks have a slow reproduction cycle. A shark will need 12-15 years to be ready to mate!
And with this slow cycle, sharks have to face a lot of threats. The biggest threat is being hunt by humans and used for various products, such as shark fins soup! Bummer!!!

By the way, do you know that Indonesia is the main supplier for sharks fins for the world's demand, such as Hongkong, Singapore and China? How humiliating! And it is also known that Indonesia catch the most sharks compared to other countries in the world. In 2004, Indonesia caught 122,000 sharks! OMG!

What can we do to protect them?

If we're not sitting on the fancy chair in the authority and don't have the power to change the policy of this nation, perhaps we can start by telling everyone to stop consuming SHARKS FIN SOUP and other sharks dishes!!!

Anyway, back to my amazing dive in Palau, Micronesia... swimming with plenty of grey reef sharks, I only wish that none of them got caught and ended up in a soup bowl at a fancy restaurant... *sigh*

Swimming with Stingless Jellyfish in Palau

Stingless jellyfish?

Yep. This animal does exist! And there are only two places in the world known as its habitat: Palau, Micronesia and Kakaban Island, Indonesia :)

The scientific name of the stingless jellyfish is Ornate Cassiopeia. They live in a close environment, thus, they do not have any threats from vertebrates. That's why they don't need to stings to protect themselves :).

On my trip in Palau, Micronesia, I spent a good half of day swimming with these cute stingless jellyfish at Stingless Jellyfish Lake, located at the Fifth Island, part of the Rock Islands. To reach the lake, we had to go by boat and walked in a forest on a dirt and rocky path. The path could be slippery, so be careful! But, what we experienced after walking up and down the dirt path was something that I would remember for the rest of my life...

I recorded some videos of the stingless jellyfish. This one is for you :)



Once you're there, you wouldn't want to leave the place. It's so magical! Swimming in a green lake, surrounded by beautiful nature in the middle of nowhere... it was soooo peaceful! And... having to witness the stingless jellyfish lake that only live in two places in the world was indeed something special and memorable... :)

It was amazing to see thousands of jellyfish swimming all around me. Yet, they're not harmful! Ohhh... sooo cute!!! I loved it especially when I did 'free-dives' -- in which, I took a deep breath, hold my breath, and dove a few meters down. Suddenly, I felt like I was in a dream world. So surreal. Everything was green, with jellyfish dancing all around me.... It was indeed like in a fantasy world and I was there 'free-diving' happily like a five year old girl...

However, when I was observing the jellyfish, I spotted one or two of them heavily injured. One of them didn't even have a full body! And the other only had half body left! Ouch. I wonder why?

Then, I noticed that tourists are allowed to use fins when swimming in this lake. I don't think it's a good idea, since these jellyfish are very fragile. If we snorkel and use fins, it would be hard to control our fins as there were thousands of jellyfish all around. It would be impossible not to swipe them with our fins!

So, I think, putting a sign: "Please Do Not Touch The Jellyfish" is not enough. The authority should also consider banning tourists from using fins in order to protect the stingless jellyfish.
I could imagine if the number of tourists going to this lake were increased, how many stingless jellyfish got kicked from the snorkelers' fins per day?

Taman Bacaan Pelangi (Rainbow Reading Gardens) Now Have a Website!

Dear readers,

For those of you who want to know more about Taman Bacaan Pelangi (Rainbow Reading Gardens), small libraries that I set up in remote areas of Flores, Indonesia, please click here or visit our website at:

http://tamanbacaanpelangi.com/

We thanked our friends at Dag Dig Dug who have donated the website for us and also Andy Harvey for designing the website!

Thank you sooooo much!!! GBU yaaa!

And oh... you can also connect us on social media. Please join us at Facebook by clicking here or our facebook group here. And, don't forget to follow us on twitter @pelangibooks

See you there, guys! :)

Yangon, the city of Shwedagon Paya

Yangon, the city of Shwedagon Paya, as Lonely Planet called it.

It is so true. Visitors who come to Yangon would not miss the chance to visit one of the world’s most impressive Buddhist temples: Shwedagon Paya (Paya means Pagoda). It was actually my first reason why I decided to go to Myanmar. One day, I flipped through my friend’s photo album on the Internet and found a gorgeous picture of Shwedagon Paya. I was so impressed with its beauty and could not stop thinking about it ever since…

Shwedagon Paya’s dome is considered as the most sacred Buddhist site in Myanmar. It is made of gold and rises 322 feet above its base. Legend says that the stupa is 2,500 years old, but archeologists believe that it is built in between the 6th and 10th century. It is still old, anyway… and the fact that it is very well preserved and so beautiful really impressed me.

The locals believe that when one walks inside the Shwedagon Paya complex, one should walk clock wise. Otherwise, it will bring a bad luck. At first, I forgot this “rule” and I walked the other direction. People stared at me with a strange look and I was wondering why. Then, I realized that I've made a mistake! Ouch! Of course I didn’t want to get any bad luck! Soon after, I was circling the stupa in the “right” direction, hoping that the good spirit “forgot” that walked in the wrong direction before :p. Hehehe..

One would need a couple of hours to marvel this stunning temple. Shwedagon Paya is not only big in terms of size, but also very elegant and pretty. The stupa itself is decorated with all kinds of jewels and gems. What a beauty! Around the main stupa, there are many Buddha statues and halls for praying. It is hard to not fall in love with the place. I even visited this place twice during my trip in Myanmar!

What also makes this pagoda beautiful is the fact that the locals still come from miles away to pray here. This pagoda attracts not only tourists, but also the locals. They come here to pray, some of them come here to meditate. The whole complex is always busy, yet it is so clean and spotless! Unlike many other temples where the floors are dusty, Shwedagon Paya probably has the cleanest floor, considering the huge size of the whole complex. Again, this small thing impressed me. I must admit that whoever manages the temple, really pay attention to the details :)

Like it or not, foreign visitors who wish to marvel the beauty of the Shwedagon Paya has to pay USD 5,- for entrance fee and another USD 5,- if one brings a professional camera (SLR). It is free of charge for the locals. And, thanks to my Asian look, I managed to get in free since the staff thought that I was Burmese! Yeah!!! If the money goes for the temple’s maintenance, I would not mind paying – of course, but according to my guide book, all the tourists’ entrance fees in the whole country will go straight to the military generals’ or government officials’ pockets. And, as a responsible traveler, of course I did not want to support such system! So, I was so happy that I managed to fool the government officials during my visit to Shwedagon Paya… twice! Ha!

If one does not want to pay entrance fee but still wish to visit beautiful Buddhist temple in Yangon, he/she can visit Sule Paya. The temple is located in the heart of the city, thus, after visiting the temple, one can start exploring the surrounding areas by foot. When I was in Sule Paya together with a German girl whom I accidentally met, two Buddhist monks approached me and said something in Burmese, which I didn’t understand at all. They were surprised when I told them that I was from Indonesia :). They have never met an Indonesian before... One of them asked me, “Do you want to be our friends?” Oooww… how sweet!

Apparently, they confessed that they’ve followed me since they saw me walking down the street. I was surprised. “Why did you follow me?”, I asked. They said, “Because we want to practice our English and you seemed like a friendly person. We thought you’re a tour guide of this German girl”. Hahaha!

So, I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon (of my first day in Yangon!) chatting with a German girl and two young Buddhist monks! We sat on a damp wooden chair, under a tree in a beautiful garden not far from Sule Paya. Win Win, a 175 cm tall with 2 silver teeth shining every time he smiled, spoke with broken English. Sondra, 28 years old, very skinny and tiny, spoke better English than his pal. We chatted about everything… from family, culture, monk’s life, rituals, and hobbies.

“Why did you decide to be a Buddhist monk?”, I asked Sondra

“Because of my Mom”, he said. He explained to me that one day, his Mom said, “If you want to make me happy, you should become a Buddhist monk. Monks life is good for you. A normal human life is not good for you. It is a hard life because you have to worry about money all the time, work very hard to live. You won’t be happy”.

Little Sondra wanted to make his mother happy, so he followed his mom’s advice by devoting his life for Buddha and live in a Buddhist monastery ever since.

“If your Mom didn’t ask you to become a monk, what would you actually want to be?”, I asked.

He was silent and smiled, “I don’t know. There’s no way that my Mom wouldn’t want me to be a monk. That’s all she’s ever wanted”.

Wow. This conversation made me think of how big his love to his mother is. He’s made his life decision based on his mother’s request. He didn’t even have his own will. Or maybe I should put it this way: his mother’s will has become his will?

The monks took us sightseeing and said goodbye just before the sunset. Yangon city could be as dark as an underwater tunnel at night, especially when the government decided to turn off the power in the whole city… Shops and food vendors closed at 7pm, I didn’t even know where to go for drinks in the evening. Local bars were full of men. Seriously. There was no a single woman in the bars. I wasn’t sure whether it was because of the World Cup or women didn’t go out at night.
And walking in the darkness, Sondra’s voice echoed in my ears, “I want to live as a Buddhist monk for the rest of my life…”

…

I felt very safe strolling down the streets of Yangon by myself. People were so nice and never disturbed me. There were a lot of Indians, who have sharp and scary looks but appeared to be very friendly and sweet, selling some snacks in the food vendors on the streets. You would not have to worry of feeling starving here. There were plenty of snacks to nibble in every corner of the city! Spring rolls, samosa, fried vegetables (tempura-like, but without the soya sauce, we call it “gorengan” in Indonesia) were some of the locals’ favorite snacks. Someone had warned me that the Burmese food was oily. But being an Indonesian, I was so used to oily food. In fact, I loved it! :D

One day, I visited Chaukhtatgyi Paya, a home to one of Myanmar’s most beautiful reclining Buddhas. The huge reclining Buddha smiled peacefully. Despite the impressive size of the Buddha, not many people visited this temple, surprisingly. The complex was not packed, there were only a few people sitting down in front of the humongous Buddha statue, praying and meditating… Some women fell asleep in front of the Buddha statue. Perhaps they were taking a break in between their meditation.. :)

The compound was very peaceful and quiet. There were a number of monasteries, housed for around 300 monks. I got a privilege to visit some of the monasteries in the area of Chaukhtagyi Paya and chatted with the monks there. Even though most of them didn’t speak English, the kept on talking to me in Burmese language, hoping that I would understand them, somehow.

I met a young monk who spoke very good English, better than any monks I met during my trip in Myanmar. He’s 30 years old and lived in one of the monasteries attached to Chaukhtagyi Paya. In his “room”, located on the second floor, he kept all his English books. I was surprised to see his books collection! He has a glass-bookshelf full of thick books on “How to Learn English”. Wow! He explained that he learned English by himself, from the books and also from a series of English-language CDs. He was so determined to master English language, so that he could study abroad. He wanted to study in Thailand, if he could. Then, after getting his degree, he wanted to return to Myanmar to teach English to others. As a monk, or not, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t think I asked him this question. I was too impressed with his English and his books collection!

According to him, the government didn’t like it when monks spent time chatting with tourists. Perhaps the government worried if monks/locals shared stories on how bad they treated its people. I heard many tourists were followed by a spy. But during my stay there, I didn’t feel that anyone followed me. Apart from the two Buddhist monks I met in Sule Paya! :D Perhaps even the spy thought that I was Burmese. Hihihi…

If you’re into shopping or want to buy some souvenirs, the perfect place to go is Bogyoke Aung San Market. This market has everything you need for souvenirs, from long-yi (Myanmar’s traditional sarong), scarf, bags, t-shirts, etc. The building is also clean and cool. I thought it has an AC to cool off the whole building, but apparently it hasn’t! Apart from the shops, it is actually a perfect place to escape from the Yangon’s heat.

Like in many other countries, Myanmar also has a Chinatown. A Chinese Buddhist temple stood elegantly by the street, with the rooftop decorated by dragons’ statues. It is also worth to visit this temple if you have enough time in Yangon. When I was there, some elderly Chinese locals gathered together in two different roundtables, right after the huge red entrance door. They all spoke in Burmese language :)

For those who love spending holidays in big cities, Yangon might not be the right place to go. Even though Yangon is considered as a big city in Myanmar, it is far from the image of big cities with skyscrapers, modern buildings, fancy restaurants, cinemas, and all those modernization thingy. Yangon is a very down-to-earth city, with old and cramped apartment buildings, food vendors scattered in each side of the main streets, and abandoned old colonial houses all around. The city is not pretty, but the streets are surprisingly clean. And don’t forget, the people are nice. Even when you’re in a shopping mood in the market, they won’t push you to buy their stuff. They will leave you alone, as if they don’t even care whether you will buy something from them or not! :D And oh, when we bargain for the price, they will only smile at you if your bid is too low and won’t even try harder to make you buy their stuff. Funny!

Getting around the city, one can hop on a “smurf” car (small pick-up car in blue), rickshaw, crap taxi (yes, the taxis are all crap and falling apart), and/or public bus (always packed and the drivers imposes crazy driving style!). I tried everything and my favorite was taking the rickshaw! Even though I felt bad for the rickshaw driver at times :(.

So many stories, so many impressions, so many temples. I’ll try to share a bit of my experiences with you in my other posts about Myanmar… the land of monks and gorgeous Buddhist temples…

24 Days in Myanmar, the land of the unknown...

(Myanmar trip, June-July 2010)

Myanmar, a country where freedom of expressions is non-existent, the fear of the people over the government’s regime dominates the air of their breath, a place that is untouched by any means of modernization -- be it in the form of iphone, blackberry, Starbucks, Mc Donald’s, skyscrapers, etc, and yet… a place where sincere, genuine and warm smile of the locals can be found in every corner…

I spent 24 days there.. going from one place to another, spending time chatting with the locals, marveling the beauty of some of the world’s most beautiful Buddhist temples, making friends and hanging out with Buddhist monks, being invited to sleep in Buddhist monasteries and wake up very early in the morning, sipping uncountable cups of hot green tea served in every tea house, people’s house and monastery, witnessing traditional festivals that have been around for years, and.. the most important was.. spending time with myself, trying to listen to my heart with lots of distractions from my crowded mind…

In those 24 days, I spent a week in Yangon and Kyaikto Mountain, a week in Mandalay and ancient cities around (Sagaing, Amarapura, Inwa, Pyin U Lwin), five days in Inle Lake and five days in Bagan. It was nice and perfect. Of course it would have been nicer to spend more time in Myanmar, but the tourist visa only allows visitors to stay 28 days maximum in the country and I had to fly to Indonesia to open 3 more “Taman Bacaan Pelangi” (Rainbow Reading Gardens) in three remote villages in Flores… So, even though there were still many places to explore, I had to say goodbye to the lovely people there. But, I would like to use the the idea of “haven’t explored the beaches in Myanmar” as an excuse to return this interesting place…

I learned many things about life during this trip. I learned about patience, flexibility, the art of giving, happiness, and also trusting my inner feelings. It is amazing that I learn more things about life in such a short travel journey than a-two-months of living in a big city and sitting in front of my laptop in the office. I am also always fascinated by the fact that so many things happen when I go on holidays compare to the same amount of time I spent in the office. I think when we work full time, time passes by just like that *snapping my fingers*. We wake up early in the morning and before we realize it, it’s already bed time. We do not have enough time for ourselves to contemplate, to listen to our inner self, to listen to our heart that it is unnecessary to buy those material things that we do not actually need, only to buy a “temporary happiness” to substitute our dissatisfaction, etc etc… We are too busy to even sit still, do nothing and think, “Where am I in this life? In what stage I am now?”

This is why I love traveling so much. And traveling alone enables me to explore more of not only the places, the people, the culture, but also… myself.

And with regard to my trip in Myanmar, I also learned that the dictatorship of the government regime, the cruelness, the meanness and the inhuman treatments practiced by the military officials to its people do not make the people of Myanmar lose their sense of humanity, their sense of loving every living being on earth, and their sincerity and purity… Every people I met during my trip there has been so kind, greeted me with their innocent smile and treated me with their warmest heart. Despite the ill treatment they received from the people who hold the power, the people of Myanmar continue to live their simple life with a big heart, continue to be friendly to everyone who crosses their life paths, while keeping their hope that one day everything would change. They’re looking forward to the day when they could breath the air of freedom. And I wish that their flame of hope will always glow… even though sometimes it is only a dim… but at least it is still there… Again, this trip taught me a lesson on how to keep my hopes alive… no matter what the circumstances are…

Just like one of Bon Jovi’s songs… “Keep the faith!”. My heart goes for the sweet Burmese people out there… keep the faith, keep the spirit, and keep your hope alive!

Always The Real Thing: Coca-Cola Supports the Rainbow Reading Gardens!

Coca-Cola is now running a campaign, titled "Happiness Goes Around". This campaign relates to the "Expedition 206", in which three bloggers (Tono, Kelly and Tony) will travel to 206 countries in the world in 365 days! The good news is... they will also visit Indonesia on May 4th, 2010!

Coca-Cola wants their visit to Indonesia to be meaningful and help spread happiness to others.


And, for Indonesia, the campaign "Happiness Goes Around" will be dedicated to our Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi)! Yayyy!! How does it work? Coca-Cola asks everyone to share their happiness others by:

1) Submitting your happy faces pictures (you can submit more than one picture) through Facebook on their facebook wall here
2) Or submit the pictures through twitter and add hashtag #jktx206 or through Tumblr at
http://jktx206.tumblr.com/submit

For 206 pictures that Coca-Cola received, they will donate 100 books for Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi) in Flores. Yiippeeeee!!!

So, let's contribute to this campaign and help us bring more books for children in Flores!
Deadline for submission is Monday, May 3rd, 2010.

As "Buka Semangat Baru" wrote on their facebook page: by contributing to this campaign and share your happy faces, your happiness will also be happiness of the kids in Flores! Your smile will be theirs soon! Yayyy!!!

Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi) thanked Coca-Cola and everyone who has participated and will participate on this campaign for the support and good will to help our little brothers and sisters who live in remote areas in Flores, Indonesia. Big thanks and let's spread our happiness around!

Rainbow Reading Gardens is on TV!

The Autralia Network (or known as the ABC News) runs a story on Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi) and the news airs today ;).

Kerri Ritchie, the journalist who works for the media, interviewed me on April 23rd, 2010 at Pasar Festival. We decided to meet there at a book fair, a perfect set for running a news about books and education.

I also gave her some video footage and photos that I took of Rainbow Reading Gardens in Flores, Indonesia. Apparently, she used some of them! Omigod... the kids would be so happy if they saw their happy faces on TV! I also got a lot of responses from my friends around the globe, such as in Singapore, Australia, also Indonesia, who happened to be in front of TV and watched the Australia Network channel when the story was on. They said they felt touched to see the kids' faces and thought that this Rainbow Reading Gardens project was a great idea.

Curious to see the news? Click here or check out the news at http://australianetworknews.com/stories/201004/2882687.htm :)

Rainbow Reading Gardens Now Open in Rinca Village and Papagarang Village, Flores (Part 2)

- The Opening of Rainbow Reading Gardens in Papagarang Village (Papagarang Island - Komodo National Park) -

We continued our journey from Rinca Island to Papagarang Island, both located in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. It took us around 45 minutes to 1 hour on a slow boat. It was an enjoyable journey because the wind breeze made the temperature cooler a bit and the beautiful scenery of the National Park all around have successfully spoiled our eyes :).

Papagarang Island looked very dry compared to Rinca Island. The village itself (Papagarang Village) has a big problem in getting fresh water. The people have to buy water from Labuan Bajo every day. Even for taking a shower, they usually just dip themselves in the sea! Some of them rinse themselves with fresh water afterwards, but most of them don't. Life is a bit tough when you don't have access to clean water, isn't it?

Same as the location in Komodo Village and Rinca Village, Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi)'s location in Papagarang Village is also located under a local's traditional wooden house. Bapak Is has voluntarily giving a space under his house for Rainbow Reading Garden. Bapak Is is a member of a community group called "Pencinta Lingkungan Hidup" (PLH), in which, the group has agreed to manage the reading garden considering that I don't live on the island myself. Again, this reading garden has to be sustainable, thus, we have to engage with the local communities in managing the books and the system.

As soon as we stepped our feet in the village, the kids came to us with curiosity, especially seeing us carrying big and heavy boxes.

"Apa itu isinya?" ("What's in there?"), asked a young boy, bravely.
I replied, "Buku cerita" ("Story books")
He screamed happilly, "Hurraaaayyy!!!", then ran right away announcing the good news to his friends.

Soon after, we're already surrounded by many many kids! They followed us all the way to the location of the reading garden :). Soooo nice!!! Most of them walked barefooted, made me wonder whether they felt the heat on their small feet or not. Or maybe they got so used to it, so they didn't feel it anymore.

We also invited the school's headmaster to join the fun. He gave a speech which basically told the kids to take a good care of the books. And my "speech" was more of telling them the good news that now they have a small library where they can read good story children books and hope that they would enjoy the books :). Also a short message on the excitement of reading and how important it is.

After telling them the good news, now the fun part. Giving out prizes to whoever brave enough to perform songs, poems, dances, etc. And oh my God, you wouldn't believe how excited they were!!! All of them were so enthusiastic wanting to sing and deliver poems! Brave kids, they are!
The girls were a bit shy, but some of them really enjoyed singing and performing in public. Perhaps they would be a bunch of rock stars in the future! ;)

It was very nice to be among such brave and energetic kids. They also got excited over small presents that they got after performing. I wished I had presents for everyone! Ah well... maybe next time!

The kids couldn't wait to read the books and when we left, they kept asking, "Can we read the books now? Can we? Please.. please.." Oh.. such a sweetheart!

Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi) would like to thank everyone for all the supports and contribution given to this good cause. Without you, Rainbow Reading Gardens would not grow this fast. We now have six reading gardens in six different villages in West Flores, Indonesia! Three of them are located in the mountains area and the other three are located in the sea (islands of Komodo National Park). Thank you, lovely people!!!

Let's greet the kids in Flores with good story books and make them smile and smart!

Rainbow Reading Gardens Now Open in Rinca Village and Papagarang Village, Flores (Part 1)

- The Opening of Rainbow Reading Gardens in Rinca Village (Rinca Island - Komodo National Park) -

After opening 4 reading gardens in 4 different villages (Roe, Melo, Nampar Macing and Komodo) in West Manggarai, West Flores, we decided to open more reading gardens in other remote areas of West Flores, Indonesia.

This time, we decided to open reading gardens in Rinca Village (on Rinca Island) and Papagarang Village (on Papagarang Island). Both of these villages are located in Komodo National Park.

So, now, all the kids who live in the villages in Komodo National Park (Komodo Village, Rinca Village and Papagarang Village) can enjoy reading good children story books at Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi). Yipppeeee!!!

Today, me, Katherine Demopolous - my friend who works as a journalist in Jakarta, Junaidi - my best friend in Flores, William, Wawan - an English teacher who volunteering in another area of Flores, and a group of band members (Hendry, Berto, Oday) went on a small boat to go to Rinca and Papagarang Islands. We're on a mission: opening 2 reading gardens on these islands!
We filled the boat with big boxes of books for kids who live on these islands. We're all so excited!

Our first destination was to Rinca Village on Rinca Island. Do you know that you can see the famous komodo dragons on Rinca Island? There's a tourism concession area called "Loh Buaya", in which, tourists can go for trekking to see the komodo dragons, accompanied by a ranger/naturalist guide. Rinca Village itself is located not far from the tourism concession area and as you may guess, sometimes, the komodo dragons also go to this village for a walk.

When we got to the village, we're greeted by the kids and without knowing, we're already surrounded by tens of them! Some of them said hello, some of them said, "Halo turis!" (hello, tourist!), "Halo Miss!", etc. I replied, "Halooo juga... tapi saya bukan turis" (hello to you, too... but I'm not a tourist) :D

We walked to the location of the reading garden. For your info, the locals live in traditional houses made of wood. We call it as "rumah panggung" (stage house), with the below part of the house is used for "bale-bale" (wooden bench) to relax during the hot and steamy day, or for a little snooze. Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi) uses this space to put a bookshelf and books in, also for the kids to read the books. We asked a community group called "Kelompok Pencinta Lingkungan Hidup" (KPLH) to manage the reading garden, because it has to be sustainable and the local communities should be involved in managing the books.

The Rainbow Reading Gardens in Rinca Village is located at Bapak Mohamad's house. He lives in a strategic location, right at the heart of the village and far away from the bushes where the komodo dragons often be seen. So, the kids will be save from the risk of getting visitors in the form of giant lizzard while they're enjoying themselves reading books!
Pak Baco, the leader of KPLH, has prepared a beautiful bookshelf in blue color. It looks so cute and neat! As soon as we got into the location, we opened the boxes and put the books into the shelf right away. Done!
The kids who have been waiting unpatiently got even more excited after seeing the books displayed. They tried to grab the books, but was told to be patient and listened to the briefing first. I smiled when seeing the excitement and feeling their happiness :).

We invited the school's principal to the opening. We told him about our objective in opening the reading garden outside school area, trying to make him understand that the children can learn not only in the school, but also outside. And that having a small library outside school area can provide the kids with an alternative place to learn and a more comfortable place to read the books. Hopefully, by providing a comfortable place and good story books, the kids' interest in reading would grow. The school's principal nodded. I only had one wish: hope he understood the whole point, because I found it a bit difficult to introduce a new concept to areas who are still very conservative in terms of education system.

Anyway, it was so great to tell the kids about this good news. They were all looking at the bookshelf with shining eyes. I was so thrilled.

After telling them the good news about "Taman Bacaan Pelangi", we took a group photo together. Then, in the crowd, my friend whispered to me, "Nila... someone wants to talk to you, but he's a bit shy".

Apparently, this guy was a school principal in a small village next to Rinca. It's called Kerora Village.
With shy, he said, "Ibu Nila... I'm just wondering, could you also please open a reading garden in my village?"
Aawwww... how cute!
I asked him, "Sure. Would love to, if that's possible. How many students you have in your school?"
He replied, "Only 45 kids, we only have 1st-3rd grade, then jump to 6th grade".

Wow! How come? Where are the kids at the age of 4th-5th grade? A generation gap or what? Only Heaven knows.

I told him that I'll try to arrange something for his village. The types of the books would be different, considering the kids are mostly on the 1st - 3rd grade. At the same time, I felt flattered and happy, because apparently, people started to think the importance of having libraries and providing reading books in their village. Good!

The sun was getting high and it was time to go. We said goodbye to everyone and they greeted our hands one by one. So cute! We walked back to the jetty to continue our trip to the other island. Half way, we noticed, it sounded so quiet. Where are the kids? Then we realized that the kids couldn't be bothered to walk us back to the jetty because they're all already busy flipping through the books! :D

Our boat left Rinca Island when the sun was shining right above us. It was mid day and burning hot. We felt like jumping to the clear water, but had to remind ourselves that we're still on a mission: go to Papagarang Island to open Rainbow Reading Gardens for the kids there!

check out our story in Papagarang Village in the next post :)

Launch Event of Rainbow Reading Gardens for Kids in Flores

Saturday, 13 March 2010

It was a beautiful morning in Melo Village, Flores, Indonesia. Kids had gathered in a nice garden overlooking the hills and the view of Komodo National Park, some guests had arrived on time and mingled with each other, the morning breeze comforted everyone and whispered them to enjoy the happy moment. It was a special day. What's going on?

It was the day when the Rainbow Reading Gardens ("Taman Bacaan Pelangi") was officially launched!

I've been writing about the Rainbow Reading Gardens in my previous posts. So, please read them first to get a better idea of this project. Click here.

I must say, the launch event of the Rainbow Reading Gardens ("Taman Bacaan Pelangi") held in "Panorama", Compang To'e cultural group's center, was a big success! A number of guests, starting from the local governments, head of villages, school headmasters and teachers, local communities and NGOs, and also.. students from the villages.. attended the event.

Students from SDK Roe performed some traditional dances, such as "Tek Tek Alu". They also performed poetries and made my tears dropped at some point :P. Not only that, students from SDK Melo also performed traditional dances and some songs. Omigod.. .they're sooo cute!!! I didn't expect they would perform such things! I felt so touched.

The best was a "Caci" dance performance by SDK Roe. "Caci" is a whip fight between two rivals. Usually, it's performed by a group of adults. So, it was very interesting to see a "Caci" performance carried by kids!!! And they're so good, too! Everyone loved their performance!!!

The Deputy Head of the Parliament said that he supported the presence of "Taman Bacaan Pelangi" in West Manggarai District, Flores. He hoped that "Taman Bacaan Pelangi" could also open in more villages in West Manggarai district, Flores, so that there would be more kids have the access to good books!

Wow. Thank you for such a good support. Everyone who came to the event also expressed their supports to "Taman Bacaan Pelangi". I felt so happy and excited!!!

At the end of the event, we saw another "Caci" performance, but this time was performed by "Compang To'e" cultural group.

Since that day, the "Rainbow Reading Gardens" was officially running in four villages in West Flores, which were at Roe Village, Melo Village, Komodo Village and Nampar Macing Village.

We thanked everyone who has been supporting "Taman Bacaan Pelangi", for all the donations and moral supports given, too. These reading gardens wouldn't establish without your supports. Personally, I thanked everyone from the deepest of my heart.

March 14th

March 14th.

This date has a special meaning for me. This date reminds me of two of my loved ones who were no longer with me, but still close to my heart.

March 14th, 2010.

17 years ago, my Dad passed away. I was almost 17 years old by then. Wish I could be with him longer. Wish he could see me growing up. Wish I could make him happy and take him around the world. Wish we could spend more time to chat about life

March 14th, 2010 is Morgan’s 40th birthday. He could have been 40 if he’s still around today. Wish I could celebrate his birthday together and see him smiling happily. But I’m sure he’s smiling happily… from up there, above the sky… above all the stars and clouds… As he told me once in my dream, he said he really loved it there, in his new place. I could see his face shining vibrantly. “He’s happy”, I said to myself. He said that he loved the surf there. And I’m sure it must be nice to surf in heaven. Surfing the sky… in between the clouds...

March 14th, 2010. I picked up some flowers from the neighborhood where I stayed in Labuan Bajo, Flores, as there’s no florist around. It was actually much nicer this way. I never picked up flowers for someone or any occasion myself as usually there were always some florist shops around. Anyway, it felt really nice to be able to pick some flowers in the garden. Especially when we knew that those flowers were for our loved ones :)

After having enough colorful flowers in my bag, I walked down to the beach to scatter them. It was sunset. The sky was pretty. And there I was… praying for my Dad and sending a birthday prayer for Morgan. I prayed for them a peaceful life in heaven. I prayed to God that He would take care of them and let them have a good time in his Kingdom. I prayed for their happiness in heaven… and said that I missed them so much.

March 14th, 2010. I was having brunch at my terrace overlooking the sea when there were two white butterflies flying circling my body. It reminded me of what my Mom said when we cremated my Dad. There was a white butterfly flying around her when she was praying at the crematorium. The white butterfly flying & circling her body until it laid on her hand. When she finished her prayer, the butterfly flew away…

It also reminded me of what happened on...

March 14th, 2007. Me and Mom went to the sea in the North of Jakarta to scatter some flowers for Dad & Morgan. I cried a lot. We sent our prayers for them. After that, our boat started to sail back to the shore and that's when I saw 2 butterflies flying… at the back of our boat… And those two butterflies followed us until we reached the shore.. as if they guided us til we arrived safely to the land… (read the full story here)

A few weeks later, I was in Sydney, Australia, sailing with Morgan's good friends. The sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly. At one point, I looked up to the sky and there I saw... a butterfly flying around the sail, in the middle of the sea! Wow. Was it a coincidence?

March 14th, 2010. Would these white butterflies be my Dad’s and Morgan’s spirits wanting to drop by & say hi to me? Maybe.

March 14th, 2010. I felt mellow and I thought of them a lot. I missed them dearly. And I wished them a peaceful life in heaven…

This was how the sky looked like on March 14th, 2010.


Simply beautiful :)