Pangandaran has dark sand beach. It is located in a small peninsula which makes it has two side of the beach. One facing west and one facing east. West beach is more famous because it has amazing sunset view, big surfing waves, and long wide beach line. When the east beach is actually the traditional fishermen beach with also nice spot to enjoy the sunrise and to experience the fishermen activities. But the beach here is not for beach activities since it’s narrow and full of coral rocks.

There are several sad stories in Pangandaran beaches when somebody lost their lives. So you might want to pay very good attention to sign and border for section that you may swim. It’s for your own good and safety.

Nowadays, more and more non-permanent huts are built by the beach. They built the hut for traditional restaurants and shops. But all these huts ruin the nice view of the beach. Pangandaran authority has moved them several times, but they keep coming back. And also because of these huts and its activities, the beach is not clean anymore. The beach is full of garbage of plastic bottles and food packaging... What a shame!

But because of the beach magnet and its wave, you will forget all the minuses that I described above.

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Sawarna beach used to be isolated beach and only view adventurer visited here since the beach could only be accessed through a bamboo bridge crossing the river from the not so wide road which connected the village to the town nearby. Back then visiting Sawarna will be adventurous, but there were so limited place to stay and to spend the night to the point the most of the visitor were camping near the beach.

But today, the bamboo bridge has already been replaced with steel suspension bridge though only 2-wheel vehicle can cross the bridge. Today there are so many places or houses offering their space as the place to stay and spend the night. And many of them has already transformed from regular houses to home-stay. Today Sawarna has already too crowded especially on the weekends.

And because of this very reason, as happen anywhere else in Indonesia: where the place is overcrowded of visitors, there will be lots of garbage lying around. It’s really a shame of us, Indonesian people. I hope the future generations will somewhat appreciate the environment better that today’s generation. It’s really a shame the beach as beautiful as Sawarna, got polluted by domestic garbage and trash where you can see almost everywhere alongside Sawarna beach!

Let’s talk about the beach. The beach is famous among surfers especially from Europe. The wave is like a magnet to them. So, though the place kind of remote from big cities, but you can easily meet westerners in this place of attraction.

From that many choices of home stay, Widi Home stay is the best you can get. The facility is limited, with two king size bed set on the floor and one small bathroom without hot water. But at least the room is equipped with AC which you will need it when the temperature getting hotter and reach its peak in the afternoon. The price is considerably very cheap, because you get 3-time heavy meal every day; breakfast, lunch and dinner of home cooked meal, Sundanese style. The drinking water is free and you even get the refrigerated drinking water for free.

Don’t forget to bring mosquito repellent solution or anything that can keep mosquito away from you since to mosquito, this place is also their paradise.

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If you like to see the city from high ground, Jayapura just has the place to do so. Jayapura is not a big city, but it is located by the bay. The best spot to enjoy it from high ground is from this place, the Hill of Jayapura City. Not much to do while you are on the hill. There are no restaurant, nor the coffee shops. But you come here to see the scenery, so it’s OK. I suggest you come here both at day and at evening. Or at least get here before sunset and wait until dark, this way you have both day and night view of Jayapura. Bring your low light sensitive camera along and tripods to get the best picture of Jayapura lights.

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I arrived at this place, Skuow, the Indonesia and Papua New Guinea border 15 minutes before 4 PM. I regretted so much since I only had few time to enjoy the view from the top of the hill. So just remember to get here sooner. If you came here sooner, you can have a special permit to visit the town by the beach down below the hill on PNG land.

But even enjoying the view from the top of the hill was breath taking. The shore line of PNG beach from high land is also something to enjoy. This particular place to enjoy such view is on the land of a PNG villager’s home. All you have to do is pay IDR 10.000 (less than 1 USD) for every person and you can enjoy the scenery. They sell souvenir too, you should get some as a memorabilia like hats, bracelets, key rings, or even Kuna coins (Kuna is the PNG’s currency).

After you get back to Indonesia land, don’t forget to take pictures near the monuments, with light house as background, and also take pictures with Indonesian army who guard the border.

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Musamus is the ants nest that can grow up to 5 meters tall. The ant colony build this nest bit by bit using the mud. You can take pictures near the nest, just don't disturb them or you might get sting. In Sota park, you can find many of this Musamus, and most of them are in the Papua New Guinea area. Just make sure that the army who guide the border knows that you are crossing the border.

Sota park itself is the place where Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) border is located. You can put each of your feet on two countries at the same time. Indonesia and PNG, because the border is only the longitude line of 141 degree 1' and 10" East. Don't forget yo bring your hat along, since this is the open space and when the sun high and no cloud around, the sun will not show its mercy.

You must visit the house of the police officer, Mr. Ma'ruf Suroto near the entrance to get your own certificate of attendance telling you that you have already visited the border of Indonesia-PNG. The certificate is free. Mr. Ma'ruf Suroto would keep the money you pay for charity.

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If I lived in Jayapura, the hill where MacArthur monument is the place I would visited most often in my spare time. Because this is the place where you can enjoy the best view of Sentani Int'l airport and also the Santani lake. You can see the planes taking off or landing or when they circling around waiting for they turn to land. Don't forget to bring your binoculars along.

But even without binoculars, your eyes would be spoiled with the view what nature has to offer. One thing for sure, that I bet you would take many pictures and selfie if you come here.

The monument itself, is just like other monument which tells you the history about Dutch era in Indonesia. But most people come here not for the history lesson, they come here for the view... like I did.

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Jayapura city would not be complete without this beach. You can say that life is coming from this beach for Jayapura city. You can enjoy the beach just by looking at it from the road between Jayapura and Sentani Int'l airport. The beach is so unique with several small island in the middle of it.

If you take the plane and landing from the east at Sentani Int'l airport, you can enjoy the magnificent view of this lake from the air as the plane descending as it tries to land on the beach and finally touches down on the runway. Awesome!

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This tunnel was made by the Dutch centuries ago when they colonizing Indonesia. The tunnel connects Sibolga and other cities of its East. What so unique about this tunnel that it was crafted behind the water fall, in a way that the water from water penetrating to the tunnel wall and make it wet and cold. It’s a series of two short tunnels, and each tunnel is behind a different waterfall. The passage is so narrow that cars or even container who want to go through this tunnel need to take turn and blow the horn every time they arrived at the entrance of the tunnel.

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In my opinion, this is the most efficient way to Medan city from Kualanamu Int'l airport and vice versa. But every time I take this train, the train is empty. One time it was only me and my friend in one car! I believe they need more advertising to communicate to their customers to choose this train instead of taxi or car. From and to airport by taxi or car in rush hour would take up to 1.5 hour, while using this train would only take you around 40 minutes.

The train is very clean and comfy. You should try it.

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This is the second time I went here. The 1st one was about 9 years ago. Back then, the condition of this Vietnamese Village was still OK, but this time many of the building parts are broken and need lots of attentions.

In my humble opinion, Indonesian and Vietnamese government should pay more attention to this place preservation and its existence. The history of this village will disappear if we don't do something about it. I gave rating poor was because its condition, not because anything else. Because other than the condition of the old structure and building, this place is worth a visit when you are in Batam, especially if you love history.

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