Destination: Carstensz Pyramid..

Posted by Ismawan Ismail on December 3, 2017
Posted in: Travel, Trekking. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment

Carstensz Pyramid, 4,884m asl.. (photo by Cecep Lutfianto)

Bintang bertaburan di langit yang cerah, ketika seluruh anggota tim bangun di pagi dini hari untuk mulai mempersiapkan pendakian hari ini. Seketika itu juga tenda-tenda di basecamp Yellow Valley yang terletak di ketinggian 4,250m dpl itu dipenuhi oleh aktivitas tim yang merupakan bagian dari Ekspedisi 28 Gunung. Keenam orang yang sudah ditunjuk sebagai anggota tim summit sibuk mempersiapkan peralatan pendakian mereka, sementara anggota tim pendukung membantu mempersiapkan perbekalan yang akan dibawa oleh tim summit. Hari ini, tanggal 28 Oktober 2017. Target: summit attack puncak Carstensz Pyramid..

Continue Reading

From Senaru With Love..

Posted by Ismawan Ismail on November 16, 2017
Posted in: Travel, Trekking. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

Segara Anak, from Senaru trail…

It’s late afternoon at Lake Segara Anak. We quickly finish our lunch, pack up and get ready for another long trek, and this time it’s going to be a steep one. Our next destination is Plawangan Senaru. So, from the caldera lake, we’re going to climb back to the crater rim. From 2,010 meter asl up to 2,640 meter asl. So we brace ourselves for a difficult and tiring hike..

Continue Reading

A Prayer At Segara Anak..

Posted by Ismawan Ismail on October 1, 2016
Posted in: Travel, Trekking. Tagged: , , . 1 comment
Hindu worship rituals, Segara Anak lakeside...

Hindu worship rituals, Segara Anak lakeside…

The mist begins to fall in that late afternoon. It starts to get cold, even though the sun is still shining brightly on the horizon, still an hour or more before sunset, illuminating part of the mountain slope and the peak of Mount Rinjani on the East side of Lake Segara Anak. While his hand chiming a small bell, a pedanda (Hindunese priest) leads the worship rituals and chants prayers. Suddenly, mystical atmosphere is on the air, with the mist falls and the cold wind breezing. I put on my jacket, before continue taking pictures of the worship ceremony, held by the lakeside..

Continue Reading

Rinjani Trip – Torean To Peropok..

Posted by Ismawan Ismail on September 11, 2016
Posted in: Travel, Trekking. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

The porters negotiate their way through the Torean trail..

It was nearly midnight when we reached Senaru. Tonight we stay at our porter’s home. Suma and his little brother will come with us exploring Mount Rinjani for the next four days. Bale-bale in a Beruga – a traditional gazebo in Lombok people houses – in the front yard is our place to rest tonight. A short break, and should be utilized as well as possible, because in the morning we had to be ready to set off on foot up the hill through the Torean trail path..

Continue Reading

Sanger Coffee, Only In Banda Aceh..

Posted by Ismawan Ismail on April 27, 2016
Posted in: Travel. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment

Sanger coffee, anyone..?

One tasty combination and very popular among people in the city of Banda Aceh: a mixture of coffee and sweetened condensed milk. A variant of café latte? Not really. I’d rather call it milk coffee instead. But still, in Banda Aceh there are two variants of such coffee + sweetened condensed milk. The first one is a regular milk coffee with a composition of 3 to 1 between coffee and milk, while the second is a mixture of coffee with a composition of less condensed milk. The coffee must also be the coffee filtered with a typical Aceh coffee barista filter, not using a coffee machine, or other usual coffee filter we normally find at other places..

Continue Reading