Love me not,
coz I will break your heart
Leave me not…
coz I will break apart
by : Me
Daily Archives: October 10, 2014
Harapan Island – Thousand Islands Cluster
September 12 – 13, 2014
I took a deep breath. My mind was full-over-loaded with work. Work has taken its toll on me. ‘I need to get away’ I screamed in my head. I checked my money over internet banking, shoot!! there’s only a few IDR left, where should I go with this minimum money furthermore I have to survive for the rest of the month lol. Oh yeah Thousand Islands. I searched another island that I haven’t went yet. I was going to join an open tour at Guspan Island, but.. pfffttt… if I went there, I won’t survive until payday. So I tried to find another alternative that is more budgeted. I didn’t want to go to the same island unless I had no choice :p I found Harapan Island (Hope Island) 😀 ‘Okay!! I’m going!!’
Woke up at 5 am, packed a couple of clothes, jumped onto my scooter. Got to the pier at 6 am, asked around which boat who could take me to Harapan Island with no trouble. Jumped in the boat full of people who wanted to getaway from the city. It took 3 hours sailing to get there.
10am, stepped my feet on the island. I started to panic lol…. I didn’t prepare anything such as where to stay. I walked hesitantly toward a food stand, ordered food for breakfast meanwhile I was asking the madam who was serving my food about a place to stay. She was a little surprise why did I go alone without any preparation, at least I should have taken joined a tour :p She said she can help me to find a guesthouse but it would be too expensive if I rented the guesthouse alone.
I took a deep breath calming my self. ‘Hey, Rina, you’re still around Jakarta and yet you’re afraid? What if you go abroad alone?’ I said to my self.
Thank goodness, I had a good signal for my cellular phone. I browsed some open tour package and tried to call them if there’s 1 more room left for me. They were all surprised that I already on the island and can’t help me in such a short notice.
Browsing for another option, found a local people’s number, Mr. Salim. I called him and lol he also shocked I was already on the island. Yet he became to be a big help for me. He joined me with another group of people who also did not joining any tour to share a guesthouse. Nice!! My problem solved!! 😀
We shared cost for the guesthouse, rented long tail boat for hoping island. Oh… Forgot, it was 6 of them, Yause, Zakkir, Pepy, Novi, Unui and Henti. They were very nice. Well let me tell you a little about them.
1- Yause, The Organizer : He arranged things, negotiated price… lol… He’s really a great guy
2 – Zakkir, The Guardian : He guarded the girls :D, especially Novi.. lol
3 – Pepi, Little Sweet thing : She’s very young and sweet
4 – Novi, The Hearty : She’s very kind, understanding and warm-hearted
5- Unui, The Hottie : She’s fun, hot, easy-going and genuine
6- Henti, The Calm : She’s very calm, sleepy, and pretty
After discussing about renting a long tail boat for our water activities with Mr. Salim, they had their lunches and had some rest. I put my backpack down to my room. The room was not a luxury one but it was descent and clean. I had no air conditioner in the room, only fan, but it was good enough. We would be playing out on the sea all day anyway. Then I took my time to explore the island.
As I walked t
rough the alleys, I saw some houses were reconstructed. Since city people started to come to Thousand Islands cluster for holiday, local island people started to renovate their houses to be guesthouses.
On weekend, local fishermen stop catching fish and renting their boats to tourists for water activities like island hoping and snorkeling. It’s a good thing because it increases the local’s economic.
Some city people took advantage from it too. They work together with locals, invested money to help locals to do the renovations.
Some invested their money on boats and snorkeling gears. They shared profit from it.
My fee
t took me to a farther steps, I arrived at a long road. As far as I can see, it was too 
far to walk to the end of the road. Both sides of the road was the sea. Apparently, Harapan Island is connected to another island, Kelapa Island (Coconut Island), by this road.
Never thought this island could be so big. Too big to be explored in 1 day. :p
I looked around as the sea was so clear and blue. I saw some fisherman’s boat hanging by the sea. I really enjoyed the view, the blue sea, fresh air which was really rare in the city. People smiled to me as I passed by. Well, I was getting tired, I decided to go back to the guesthouse and prepared my self for island hoping and swimming and snorkeling and everything… 😀
The sun was rising high, we were waiting for the boat who will take us for all the island’s activities. After sometimes, finally, the boat arrived. Row… row… row your boat, … with motor engine… lol 😀
We arrived to the snorkeling spot. There were already boats parking on the sea and other people who’s also snorkeling. I just went down to the sea as soon as our boat stopped. The snorkeling spot was just behind the Tiger Island, the island I was visited before. Great spot!!
The others jumped in after me. We lost track of time as we were amazed with the view under. The corals and the fishes were very pretty. I could never be bored with this magnificent sea view. The boat man reminded us to get going. We still have island to be visited, an island with beach 😀
We played on the beach for a while afterwards we headed back to Harapan Island.
JUMP!! BE FREE!! 😀
On our way, the sun slowly set. My eyes was astonished to this wonder of nature. Unspeakable.
When we arrived, it was already dark. All of us went straight to the lodge to have a shower. There were 2 bathrooms, 1 was in my room and the other was in their room. We had to wait in line to have a shower. The salty seawater was very itchy on our skins.
First 2 person was already freshen’ up, there went the next 2 to use the bathroom. After a minute, we heard a shout telling us that the water was stopped.
Crap!! We had no water to clean up. hiks… 😥
30 minutes later, still had no signs of the water, we started to panic. We texted Mr. Salim and called the guesthouse’s owner for the issue. We were very uncomfortable with this wet salty clothes still on. No answer from both of them.
After 1 hour, a guy came over, said sorry for the inconvenience and turned the water back on. We were relieved. 5 minutes later, Mr. Salim was rushing to us with his motorcycle and asked about the water. We said it was already back on and thank you. He’s really a thoughtful man although it was not his responsibility :p
He said sorry and explained why everyone was not answering our calls and texts.
Somebody passed away yesterday and that night everyone went to the family’s house to send prayers.
I took a shower afterward, and just found out Novi was sick. She had a light fever. Zakkir took care of her, ran to buy aspirin and dinner for her. I checked on her for a little bit. She should be fine by the morning if she took the med and ate something. I went to grab dinner after that back to my room.
Texted my love for a little bit then fell asleep instantly.
Good morning!! It’s still 5 am, still dark outside. Everybody was already woke up. Shortly, we were getting ready to go to the pier to see the sunrise. 🙂 Because Fenti and Unui was still sleeping, so only 5 of us were going.
Almost 6 am, the pier was already full of people who wanted to witness the wonder of nature. The sunrise started to peak behind the white clouds. Slowly but sure, the sun gave its morning smile to us. And… the photo session started. I could not wait to capture this beautiful morning.
TOUCHING THE SUN
Well, we went back to Jakarta at 10.00 am, and it’s a very sweet memories.
See you guys in the next adventure!
itjustinme 