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3 Places to Get Wet in Klaten

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There are only two seasons in Klaten, and that is the dry season or the wet season. You’ll find that even during the wet season, you’ll want to take a dip and get out of the Klaten’s sometimes unbearable heat. There are usually two fees, a local entrance fee, and a foreigner entrance fee. The foreigner fee is usually about double what it costs the locals. Don’t get too bent about the price. It’s just the way it is and not really breaking anyone’s pocket in the long-term. You’ll also have better days the sooner you come to terms with this.

Here are three places to keep you cool during your stay:

COKRO:

One of my students (at the time) took me here. It’s basically a water park where the water source comes from a well. There are several sections of this mini water park to break up the fun.

Lazy River: there’s one area (my favorite) where you can rent inflatable tubes and lazy tube around the “river” (it’s more like a hundred meters in length by a five meters in width.). It’s shallow enough to stand in but deep enough for you to relax in.

There are also vendors in this section with blankets set out near the river. For a small fee, they’ll watch your belongings so you can freely enjoy the water park. If you get hungry, they also sell things like iced tea and refreshments, instant noodles, and other local snacks.

Waterslides: Adjacent to the lazy river are a couple of pools with decent sized waterslides. It’s fun coming here and being a kid. Sometimes the water doesn’t run as freely, so you have to give yourself a little nudge to keep going at a faster pace.

Tipping Well and Playground: This area is mostly intended for children, but fun watching them. Next to the kid’s pool is a water playground where kids run around and besides that is a tipping well that kids loved hanging under. It was a well from above that continually has water slowly filling up. Once it fills up, it tipped over gallons and gallons of water onto the kids and then resumes upright to its filling position again.

Entry Fee:

15,000 rp for 1 local + 1 tourist

5,000 rp to watch our bags

5,000 rp per tube rental

 

PONGKOK:

Pongkok

Pongkok is a cold water spring where the locals swim and snorkel. It consists of a sandy bottom with random treasures such as a random bicycle and many varieties of tropical fish. The spring gets to no deeper than 6 feet, so overall a very safe place to get cold.

Pongkok 2

You can rent or bring in your own snorkels, and it’s a place where many families come to hang out.

Entry fee: 13,000 rp

 

ROWO (LAKE) JOMBOR:

Here we have a lake more intentionally used for fishing than for swimming but nonetheless recommended to me by the locals (depending on who you ask). I was never daring enough to challenge myself against the fresh water fish and fisherman, but it’s there as an option!

rowo 1

If you’re not keen on swimming, it’s nice just to walk around and enjoy the views from either above on a hill or listen to some of the music jamming from the waterfront in which I decided to take.

rowo 2

Entry fee: 5,000 rp

Parking fee: 2,000 rp

Food/Drink: 3,000 rp (iced tea) 10,000 (cup of noodle soup x2)

 

DRESS CODE:

One thing you need to be especially mindful of when traveling to Klaten is modesty. I was completely unaware of the cultural differences and assumed they might be wearing full body swimsuits instead of bikinis. Once I arrived with my host family, I quickly realized how wrong I was! Growing up and living most of my life in Southern California, bikinis and swimwear were a normal thing, but the women here were covered from head to toe in long pants and long sleeves. This was a culture shock for me, even with it being my 3rd country and again after my 21st country.

Long story short, I ended up swimming with my sundress on. Not because my host family asked me to, but because it was how I felt most comfortable blending in.

After that, I started wearing my yoga workout pants in the water. It’s lightweight and quickly dries making this a perfect multi-use item for long-term travelers. They seemed to be okay with me wearing a tank top, but that’s only because they knew I was a foreigner. If I were local, it would be frowned upon.

 

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In Indonesia

5 Responsible Ways to Snorkel with Mantas

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Recently I got to spend time snorkeling with over 100 manta rays (closer to 150 to be precise) in Komodo National Park. It was one of the pinnacle sea moments of my life.

I was on a dive boat with about a dozen others when the captain shouted from the distance the huge school of mantas. We turn the boat around, stop about 100 feet from the manta pathway until we approached them at a safe distance. It was one of the most exciting times for me. But sometimes we get caught up in these beautiful moments that we forget how to interact with marine life responsibly. This is why I am sharing with you 5 ways to interact responsibly with these sea creatures.

1. Keep Noise to a Minimum
When you encounter manta rays, don’t be that person screaming at them to come over to you and then doing cannon balls right next to them. Not that I think you are, but there’s always that “one person.” Keep noise to a minimum and avoid jumping in abruptly if you’re on a boat. Keep your fins underwater to avoid creating big kicking splashes.

2. Allow the Mantas to Swim Around You. Not the Opposite 
When you’re snorkeling, try staying in one area allowing the mantas to swim around you. Don’t swim over to them. Keep calm and avoid disrupting them if they’re feeding close to the surface of the water.

3. DO NOT TOUCH!
Let me repeat. Do not touch the mantas. Do not touch the mantas! I know it would feel so amazing to touch one of these guys, but this code of conduct is an absolute! The manta rays have a protective mucous coating, and when you touch them, you rub away their protective barrier causing them to get sick or get an infection. We don’t want them to get sick. Let’s preserve their existence in these oceans by keeping your hands off.

4. Keep your distance 
The rule of thumb is to stay at least 10 feet (3 meters) away. If manta comes close to you, remain calm and still and let the manta ray control the interaction with you.

5. Do Not Chase or Harass the Mantas 
You want to avoid restricting their natural behavior by blocking their path. Avoid duck-diving when they’re near. It may startle them and interrupt them while in their natural habitat trying to feed or clean.

That’s it! Stick to these 5 and you’ll be to engage with the mantas in a safe and responsible way, and while I’m not a marine biologist or expert, this is simply a guideline I’ve heard through my training. I hope this helps!

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In Indonesia

Epic Day Swimming with 150 Mantas!

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Diving with mantas is among one of the ultimate bucket lists for divers and why so many passionate divers come to Komodo Island, but how about swimming with 150 of them?

I started my morning with Wicked Diving on their boat, Charlie, with about a half dozen others who signed up for this full-day excursion. We were already off to a good start seeing dolphins playing in the water on our way to our first dive. We don’t always see a lot of dolphins around here so it was a nice surprise to see them from a close distance as they passed our boat.

charlie

We just finished up our second dive at Batu Balong, one of the best dive sites in the world, and were on our way to Makassar Reef (also nicknamed “Manta Point”), a dive site northwest of Komodo, known for finding mantas hence the nickname.

Our captain and some of our boat crew noticed something in the waters about 100 meters in the distance, and we notice there are about a dozen mantas. Our captain decided to turn the boat around, and that’s when we saw a long stretch of about 150 mantas. We watch the mantas from the second level deck of Charlie, and we are ecstatic. Everyone runs to grab their cameras and watch them in awe as they form a line behind each other looking like aquatic birds.

About ten minutes pass and we decide to keep going but continue to keep seeing mantas everywhere. I want to jump in! Everyone wants to jump in, so the captain and our dive instructor make the call to turn around and allow everyone to grab their mask and fins and hop in!

One of the Wicked staff members joined the boat trip today on her day off has never even seen a manta. This is someone grew up on this island, works in a dive shop, and barely snorkels. She escapes through travel books like the works of Paulo Coelho. Can you imagine the joy she felt not only seeing her first manta but hundreds let alone being able to go out and swim with them?? I’m pretty sure I can vouch for her by saying this is one epic moment in her lifetime.

Or could you imagine a couple who traveled from the other side of the world with only one dream to see a manta and then gets to see an entire sea full of them? Hell, even our dive instructor was ecstatic and said the last time he saw something like this was a year ago.

We all jumped in, and the captain was guiding us about the proper direction to go in, and once we found their path, it was craaaazy!! They were in every direction! On either side of me, below me, coming at me! There was one manta ray that was literally swimming 6 inches below me and so close to flapping it’s wings on me if I didn’t move. I remember coming manto y manto (er, I mean, mano y mano. hehe) with one manta ray with its mouth wide open. I’m thinking, “Oh sh#t! What if stay in place? Will we have a head-on collision?” Naturally my instinct was to get the hell out of its way.

snorkel selfie manta (1)

After about twenty minutes of being able to snorkel with these beautiful creatures, we get on the boat and head to our last dive at Manta Point.

We gear up, take a giant stride into the water, and descend into a drift. Sure enough, mantas are passing by in several directions. Not quite as many as our impromptu snorkel session, but still incredible to see and a different experience. You get to study their bellies as they pass you from above in twos, fours, and sixes or lean close to the ocean ground steadily watching them circle around you.

After experiencing an epic day with nature’s playground, it was no surprise that at the end of our trip back to Labuan Bajo that we were gifted with a beautiful sunset and three eagles passing in the distance. Incredible day!

eagle

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In Indonesia

The Wicked Good SEEDs of Manggarai

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My activist friend, Marta, runs the Wicked Good SEED (Support Environment & Education Development) accelerator project in Labuan Bajo, a 7 month scholarship program sponsored by Wicked Diving. She invited me to spend a couple of hours talking with the teenage students of SMKN 1 High School, a vocational tourism high school, in Manggarai. I love getting in touch with the local culture through my travels, especially, curious and enthusiastic teens, and agreed to meet her the following morning.

She meets me on her motorbike in front of La Cucina Restaurant at 7:15 am, but she didn’t have an extra helmet for me. The cops can be a bit strict on the helmet policy around here, unlike many other places in Indonesia, so we decided to hail down a motorbike cab instead. It’s about 10 minutes away in a ruralish area outside of Labuan Bajo. The students are all dressed in a matching baby blue and yellow uniforms wearing Vans or Converse shoes in crew cuts and ponytails.

I was a few minutes ahead of Marta, and while I wait for her to arrive at the school, I get plenty of rubberneckers wondering what this foreigner is doing standing by herself in front of the school on the side of the road until she arrived.

LBJ high school

Marta escorts me pass about a half a dozen of full classrooms, and I get big hand gesture waves, bright smiles, and welcoming hellos from the students. If there’s anyone that knows how to boost my self-esteem, it’s definitely Indonesian kids!

We get into Marta’s classroom where she teaches 4 hours a day on Monday’s and 2 hours a day on every other weekday and most of the kids were already in their seats. They’re all wondering who is this foreigner guest their teacher brought into the room.

Marta introduces me to the class and then allows me to tell them something about myself and encouraging they ask me questions to help practice their English.

“Hello, my name is Celia. I’m from California…in America. I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters which is a big family for Americans. I have been traveling since October, and this is my third time to Indonesia.”

I’ve never been great at introductions.

There are several students quick to raise their hands and ask me more questions about myself wondering if I like Indonesia, what my hobbies are, and then one of the girls followed up and asked…

“How old are you?” she asks.

HOW DARE SHE!?

I hear the turntables scratching through my head with “How old are you?” Beat. “Erwee, Erwee.” Scratch. Beat. “Erwee, Erwee.” Followed by a dozen pots and pans falling through a glass ceiling.

Marta quickly steps in and explains to them about cross-cultural relations and what’s appropriate to ask people, and this was wasn’t necessarily polite among Western culture. 🙂

Thank you, Marta! But I answered anyway.

“I’m 34.” I say confidently.

32 pairs of eyes went big in the classroom as if they felt sorry for me. Hey, kids! I’m not that old, okay! Am I?? Well, whatever, the 30s are the new 20s in America! Take that even though you Indonesians all look like you’re 30 when you’re 60 and 60 when you’re 90. Oh, go away with your impressive anti-aging genetics! 😉

Whew! That was a digress. Ha! Back on topic. Where was I?

Oh, yes… the introduction.

As I am finishing up introducing myself, one male student walked into class late apologizing for being late and proceeded to say to me, “Sorry, sir.”

The class chuckles and corrects him before he apologizes again and accidentally calls me sir a second time.

Oh, kids. You have a long way to go, but you’re so adorable.

I take a seat in the back of the classroom and observe Marta going back and forth between speaking Bahasa and English. She then asks for a few of the students to give a presentation on a topic about a place that tourists could go but also how to make it environmentally conscious. I was interested to learn about the Bajawa Hot Springs to Cunca Waterfalls to the Batu Cermin Caves. I haven’t really even thought about the land attractions since I’ve been here. 

Then the class concludes, and Marta welcomes me to spend 15 minutes with the students and allow them to practice their English. Several of the not-so-shy types run over and ask to take photos with me. We needed to allow the next class to prepare and finished off with a few group photos of the class.

group photo

One thing I’ll say is I’ve always loved the inquisitive and warm Indonesian teen minds. I spent a month with them in Java a few months ago and now a couple of hours this morning on Flores Island, and, while adults are usually much more my speed, I sincerely love their age in this culture.

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In Indonesia

I Got Punked!

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I can’t believe I got punked by one of my Wicked Diving instructors. I have spent over a month with the Wicked Diving Komodo team working on advancing my dive certifications and recently started my Rescue Diver Course.

I wasn’t initially thrilled about getting my EFR (Emergency First Responder) certification required for the Rescue Diver Course. Why? Classroom time means no dive time! Instead of a day out diving keeping cool with the manta rays or discovering camouflaged cuttlefish and scorpion fish underwater, I’d instead be spending a full day in the classroom watching guys in mullets in 80’s generation training videos. But this is a necessary and crucial step, and I knew it would be relatively easy because I’ve kept up with my CPR & First Aid over the last decade.

We go through our DVD material, and the DVD kept restarting. To get back to where were we, we had to manually fast-forward at a 2x fwd rate. I’m feeling like I’m watching a Hawksbill turtle. Slooowww!

It’s about 1/2 way through the day. We decide to take a break, and when I get back, he’s not ready. He calls one of the other dive guides down to help with the TV and I think nothing of it. I’m checking my Facebook and Instagram not paying any attention to what’s going on before I hear a loud POP!

It took me a second to register what was going on. There’s chaos, and I see our dive guide is leaning over the TV unresponsive. I’m thinking, “WTF! Is this a joke?” No way did he just get electrocuted. It would seem too obvious to pull a stunt like that when I’m working on my EFR. What are the odds of something like this happening? I mean, it is Komodo, and I can’t say that the electrical sockets are the safest.

I ask them if this an exercise, but they’re yelling at each other and fingers are being pointed back and forth to do something. I think what if this is a real accident? I immediately switch gears and run up and check the power supply and then lay him down to check for breathing, and then I finally get one of the guys to break a smile, and I’m relieved! What the hell guys!? Okay, you got me.

What I learned was that they popped a balloon from behind the TV. Since I’ve been in Indonesia, I’ve not seen ONE balloon at all in this country – let alone this tiny town of Labuan Bajo. I swear if these guys could get an Oscar, it would be well-deserved. I am happy to say I passed the exam with flying colors, probably because I didn’t want ever to have to deal with that mini heart attack ever again. 🙂

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In Indonesia

6 Simple Steps to Getting Your Dive Refresher

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If you’re thinking about getting a scuba dive refresher course, here are 6 simple steps you’ll learn through the course.

The dive refresher takes about one full day. I’m not a dive instructor (yet), so please always follow the direction of your instructor, but I did recently go through my dive refresher course around Komodo National Park in Indonesia after 15 years since my last dive. I’ll try to explain it in laymen terms without all the technical talk about the simple steps you’ll review when going through your dive refresher.

1. Buddy Check

In the buddy check, your instructor will show you how to safely check your buddy’s gear and essentially being their second set of eyes. This requires checking their BCD (the jacket that keeps you afloat) and seeing that it inflates and deflates properly, making sure the breathing apparatus is functioning on the regulator, and making sure all the harnesses are in place for a quick release, and that their weight belt is on.

2. Giant Step Entry

This is an easy step, literally! If you’re on a dive boat, or I imagine on a pool ledge, you just take one giant stride into the water holding having one hand on your weight belt and the other holding your mask and regulator. Once you fall into the water, you inflate your BCD and make clearance for the next diver after you.

3. Regulator Clearing

There are two methods of doing this. The first one is you take the regulator out of your mouth (pointing the breathing part down, so air doesn’t escape) and then placing the regulator back in your mouth. Once the regulator is back in your mouth, you’ll want to exhale as hard as you can until the regulator is clear.

The second method is following the exact same method, but instead of blowing air into the regulator, you use the purge button on the regulator. The purge button clears this for you.

4. Regulator Recovery

Again, there are two ways to recover your regulator if you happen to lose it. The first is to lean to the right and, then in a sweeping motion, use your right arm to grab it. It’ll likely come over your shoulder making it easy to recover.

The second method is to reach over your head or shoulder with your right arm and recover it that way.

Don’t forget to clear your regulator as needed.

5. Mask Clearing

There are 3 ways to clear your mask. I don’t know why I had such a hard time with this. Maybe it was my new mask and the silicone.

Partial mask clearing is you allow a little water to clear into the mask. Once it’s 1/2 filled, you open the bottom of your mask breathing out until the water clears. Repeat as necessary.

Full mask clearing is pretty much the same as the partial mask clearing but instead of filling your mask with only 1/2 the amount of water, you fill it completely.

Open mask clearing you take the mask completely off remembering to only breath with your mouth and not your nose then putting the mask back on and clearing the mask as above. You’ll want to make sure you always take a deep breath before clearing so that your breath is more powerful clearing out all of the water.

6. Neutral Buoyancy

Buoyancy is one of the most important skills you can learn while diving. If you can master your buoyancy, you can avoid damaging our ecosystem when diving underwater. In this step, you’ll essentially learn the difference between positive buoyancy (too much air in your BCD), negative buoyancy (too many weights or not enough air in your BCD), and then neutral buoyancy, which is what we want to strive for. In this step, you’ll observe your buoyancy and how to control it when inhaling and exhaling under water.

That’s about it! There are YouTube videos to give you a better visual. Just type in one of the 6 simple steps to getting your dive refresher. And, remember, to always follow the instruction of your guide when taking a refresher course.

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Dive Refresher in Komodo Island

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I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last month with the Wicked Diving Komodo team working on my certifications from Advanced to Divemaster. It was nearly 15 years (yes, that dates me!) since my last dive and now I get to immerse myself fully at one of the greatest dive locations in the world (raise the roof!).

Because it had been so long since I’ve been back in the diver life, I had a lot of questions. What is a BCD and regulator again?? Octo-what?? I hope I don’t have any trouble equalizing. But then one of Labuan Bajo’s finest instructors, Marsel, introduced me to the underwater world again with a few simple steps in a refresher course, and since I put my mask on the right way, I knew I was off to a great start!

Our first dive was in Siaba Basar, also nicknamed Turtle City, and it was pretty easy-peasy for beginners. I’m feeling like a natural. Fins are appropriately placed on both feet, and I remembered how to breathe without using my nose again. We saw a some tropical fish and my confidence is up. In other words, I got this! Like a true champ.

Now that I’m feeling all mermaid status, it was time to step up our skills and visit a more interesting site – one with [drum rolls] MANTAS! I’ve never seen mantas before, so I know this is going to be freaking awesome!

On our way to our second dive, I hear Ilham, one of the other dive guides, screaming, “Whaaaale shark!!!” We all run to the side of the upper deck and see a baby whale shark swimming next to the boat. “Stop the boat!” The guides grabbed their masks and then jumped into the water without hesitation. I’m watching from above and then I see other divers following suit. I don’t want to miss out on this opportunity and jump on the whale shark party train with only my mask being able to see it for the last 10 seconds before it drifted deeper into the sea.

At this point, we’re feeling ecstatic. We get back onto the boat and continue to our second dive site before mantas came flying out of the water from a short distance away. Now I’m even more mindblown. What an incredible thing to witness and we’re not even in the water yet! This is surely a good sign.

Everyone is pumped and eager to get in. Andreas, one of our other dive instructors, was trying to give us a dive briefing, but we couldn’t help but take our attention off of him to see the mantas flying from different directions. But once he said the sooner we get through the briefing, the sooner we can see these mantas underwater, he had our undivided attention.

The second dive was at Makasar Reef that is known for being a cleaning station for Mantas. It started off with a light drift dive. I’m trying to be cool and mimick Marsel’s perfect buoyancy looking ever so relaxed and keeping my arms in place instead of like an amateur doggy paddling under water. I think I did okay!

We passed along some brown bamboo sharks, sweet lips, Little Nemo, and even unicorn fish – but it wasn’t until we saw four mantas between 3-4 meters circling that we decided to lay low and observe these majestic creatures for about 10 minutes.

Nothing compares to the very first time seeing a manta ray – especially when it hovers so close above you that it could touch you. I remember being in awe as we watched these guys get closer and closer to us, one of them even spouting out something from it’s rear in sets! I’ll let your imagination run wild with that one. At that point, aside from nature’s sense of humor, I knew I was exactly where I needed to be. No other world existed but this one at this very moment.

We have one more dive for the day, and we ended it at Tatawa Besar. This was another low-key drift dive with plenty of coral to see. We saw both white tip and black tip sharks, Hawksbill turtles, and many other great marine life. A nice and relaxing way to end the day after being filled with so much excitement as we chase the sunset back to Labuan Bajo.

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5 Reasons to Avoid Meat in Indonesia

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Indonesia has everything. They have impressive volcanos for trekkers to world-class beaches for mermaids, but what they don’t have is a strong culture in is meat – especially beef and pork. If you lean heavily on the carnivore side, take into account my perspective on 5 reasons to avoid meat in Indonesia.

1. It’ll Never Taste the Way You Expect

Indonesians don’t understand beef and pork like Americans do. Unless you’re in someplace like Bali that’s swarming with restaurants opened by foreigners – that tenderloin you just ordered is only going to disappoint you. It’ll either be too tough to eat, a sorry slab of cardboard, or grey in color.

You might be thinking, “That’s okay. I’ll find something familiar like a McDonald’s.” I remember my first trip to Bali in 2000 and it was my first time in a country so different from the Western world. I went weeks eating all the street food I could find until I eventually suffered a week-long sour stomach in Ubud. When my friend and I made it back to Kuta Beach, I was stoked to find a McDonald’s (something familiar). I ordered a McChicken sandwich and, when it was given to me, my sandwich was much smaller than it’s original stateside version, the meat looked super skimpy, and it didn’t taste like chicken.

Are you enamored by all the free-range chickens running around? Very organic, right? Wrong. Some of that plump chicken breast you’re so used to eating will come out looking like a weenie runt on that chicken satay you just ordered,  if it is even chicken meat. It could be chicken organs too.

2. It’s Hard to Find

If you find yourself in the countryside of Indonesia, what’s the first thing you see? Likely rice fields and skinny chickens, but almost never cows or pigs.

If you can’t stomach another plate of chicken [organ] satay, that flyblown fried fish will be served with all of its organs and head still attached. Eat the eyes for good luck!

3. It’s Low Grade

Cardboard slabs of grey meat. Need I say more?

4. Mystery Meat Posers

I spent one month of volunteer teaching English in a small village outside of Yogyakarta. I stayed in a beautiful home with an upper-class family who had a personal chef. They wanted to please me so badly that when they asked me what my favorite meal was, I gave them an honest answer of filet mignon. The chef went out of his way to please me and one night surprised me with the most tender filet mignon I ever cut. There were a few white circular rings on it that I was trying to overlook. Is it ringworms? It’s Indonesia and the quality is never that good, so whatevs. It’s super tender to cut and when I put the most delicious piece of steak in my mouth, I almost vomited it right back onto my plate. Something is not right.

The next morning my chef asked me why I didn’t finish my meal. I told him it tasted funny. It was then later explained to me that it was cow lung that I was served and not filet mignon. Gross.

5. A Constant Disappointment

On my first night staying with an upper-class Indonesian family on Java, they welcomed me to some local snacks they prepared themselves. It was my first night in Indonesia after spending two months in Thailand (imagine all that yummy foodie goodness I just came from). There were two plates on their living room table. I didn’t want to be rude and picked up a small piece of omelet with a couple of other snacks. I take a bite of the omelet and I’m not really that impressed. I unintentionally put the egg back on my plate upside down and notice a bunch of tiny black things mixed in with my egg.

They see me staring and examining, and then respond with, “Termites.” in Bahasa language. Later it was explained to me that during the rainy season they catch them to add extra protein to their meals. I think I’ve had enough protein for the night. Thank you.

Who loves bacon? Nobody does bacon better than ‘Merica. Extra crispy? Apple chip smoked or maple flavored soaked? Bacon vodka. Bacon chocolate. Bacon Bloody Mary’s. We have too many delicious variations in our motherland that when you order it here and are served a flaccid looking piece of near pink meat, it’s just screaming disappointment.

Needless to say, the meat selection in Indonesia is not Travel Marinade approved.

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