Taman Bacaan Keliling untuk Anak-Anak di Flores

My first Indonesian post. Will translate it in English soon :)

Dear friends,

Sebelumnya saya ingin sharing ke teman-teman tentang pengalaman saya mengunjungi beberapa desa di Flores Barat, antara lain desa Melo, desa Roe, desa Pusut dan desa Komodo. Desa-desa ini sangat sederhana dan gedung sekolah pun fasilitasnya sangat minim dengan kondisi yang memprihatinkan. Jangankan akses mendapatkan buku-buku bacaan, di desa Melo misalnya, listrik pun belum dapat dinikmati oleh penduduk.

Nah melihat betapa sederhananya kehidupan anak-anak di desa-desa di Flores Barat, timbul keinginan saya untuk membuat “Taman Bacaan Keliling”. Tujuannya adalah untuk membangkitkan minat baca anak-anak di desa. Caranya? Pertama adalah melalui buku-buku komik, karena dengan buku-buku bergambar inilah mereka akan mulai tertarik untuk mulai membaca (berdasarkan pengalaman pribadi saya, waktu kecil saya mulai tertarik membaca karena berlangganan majalah Donal Bebek yang datang setiap Selasa).

Rencananya, “Taman Bacaan Keliling” ini akan hadir pada hari dan jam tertentu, misalnya di desa Melo setiap Sabtu dari jam 10am-12pm, lalu berpindah ke desa Roe dari jam 2pm-4pm, dan seterusnya. Ini adalah jadwal tetap, sehingga anak-anak yang tinggal di desa yang bersangkutan akan menunggu-nunggu kedatangan “Taman Bacaan Keliling” ini pada hari dan jam yang sama setiap minggunya.

Buku-buku yang ada tidak boleh dibawa pulang, jadi hanya boleh dibaca di tempat, mengingat kalau dibawa pulang maka resiko hilang dan kotor lebih besar, karena biasanya mereka harus berjalan kaki dari rumah masing-masing dan melewati sawah yang becek atau berjalan menyusuri pantai.

Untuk Desa Komodo, karena lokasinya yang lumayan jauh dan berbeda arah dengan desa-desa yang saya sebutkan di atas, maka konsepnya akan berbeda. Rencananya di Desa Komodo, jika buku-buku yang tersedia ada banyak, maka bisa kita buat “Taman Baca Komodo” dimana anak-anak di desa Komodo dapat membaca di tempat yang sudah disediakan.

Mudah-mudahan dengan adanya “Taman Bacaan” ini, anak-anak di desa-desa tersebut dapat mulai jatuh hati pada buku dan minat membaca pun akan mulai tumbuh.

Untuk itu, jika teman-teman ingin membantu menyumbangkan buku-buku bacaan untuk anak-anak SD-SMP (terutama buku-buku komik seperti Donal Bebek, Tintin, Asterix Obelix, majalah Bobo, dsbnya), saya akan sangat berterima kasih sekali. Semakin banyak buku yang disumbangkan, semakin banyak anak-anak desa yang dapat menikmati buku-buku tersebut.

Nah, untuk teman-teman yang mau menyumbangkan buku, dapat dikirimkan ke alamat:

Jl. Taman Rawapening I No. 23, Bendungan Hilir, Jakarta Pusat.

Atau jika teman-teman tidak ada waktu, bisa kirim email ke nilatanzil@yahoo.com, supaya nanti saya atur kurir untuk mengambil buku-buku bacaan tsb.

Buku-buku yang terkumpul akan dikirim ke alamat saya di Labuan Bajo, Flores.

Teman-teman dapat juga menyumbang dalam bentuk dana.
Dana ini akan langsung saya belikan buku-buku komik bekas. Kebetulan saya sudah dapat contact penjual buku komik bekas dengan harga Rp 5.000/buku pada saat Pameran Buku di Istora Senayan Jakarta beberapa minggu yang lalu. Ketika saya menyatakan keinginan untuk membeli buku-buku tsb dan menjelaskan tujuan saya, si pemilik lalu mengatakan, “Oh boleh.. boleh.. kalo gitu nanti saya ikut sumbang beberapa buku juga deh!” Wah, baik hati sekali! :)

Untuk teman-teman yang ingin berpartisipasi dan menyumbang dalam bentuk dana, dapat ditransfer ke:

BCA KCP Bendungan Hilir, Jakarta
No. Rek: 301-136 4681
Atas Nama: Nila Lestari Tanzil

Atau

BNI Kantor Capem Labuan Bajo, Flores Barat
No. Rek: 0180-300-450
Atas Nama: Nila Lestari Tanzil

Mohon yang sudah mentransfer dana, kirim email ke nilatanzil@yahoo.com, supaya saya tahu siapa pengirimnya dan jumlahnya. Ok?

Bantuan dalam bentuk apapun (buku, dana, jasa pengiriman Jakarta-Labuan Bajo, Flores) akan sangat berarti bagi adik-adik kita di Flores Barat.

Terima kasih banyak sudah membaca pesan yang panjang ini :). Mudah-mudahan ide sederhana ini dapat terlaksana dengan baik dan dapat membantu menambah warna dalam kehidupan adik-adik kita yang tinggal di pelosok daerah-daerah di Flores Barat.

love,
Nila Tanzil

Tim Forderer's Journal: Doing Good Deeds While Traveling

Tim Forderer's Journal: Doing Good Deeds While Traveling

Doing Good Deeds While Travelling

In the past two and half months, I've been living in West Flores, Indonesia. If you remember my videos, titled "Flying with Manta Rays (Part I and Part II)", shot in Komodo Island, that's where I've been spending my days now. Not on Komodo Island itself, but in a small town called Labuan Bajo (it has an airport, so no worries, I still could travel around, if I wanted to!) :D

Staying in such a small city, which there's only one main road that goes around the whole city, is a new thing for me. After living in big cities -- Jakarta, Amsterdam and Singapore -- now I'm experiencing a lifestyle of a small town. There's no shopping mall, cinema, theatre, spa, bar, let a lone a night club. Suddenly my lifestyle changes in a blink eye. Usually, in Jakarta or Singapore, I meet up with my friends in a restaurant/cafe/bar that's located in a high rise building and/or spend hours in a shopping mall with full air-conditioned. But this time, I spend hours chilling in a simple local restaurant that ice cream is considered as a luxury thing. A big change, that is.

During my stay here, I've met so many interesting people. Different professions from different countries. From local fishermen, scuba-divers, backpackers, journalists, businessmen, lawyers, bankers to a famous French actor! Spending time with people with different characters is one of the things that entertain me every single day. I've learned a lot from people's experiences and always amused by the way their live their life.

However, there's one person that makes me ponder by what he does. He's a private yacht captain. Tim Forderer is his name. He's been sailing all over the world for more than 10 years, going from one beautiful place to another. Many people envy him, of course. But what makes me envy him the most iswhat he does whenever he visits a place. He's not only enjoying the beauty of the place, but also doing a good deed for the locals. What does he do?

Ok, here's the explanation. One day, he asked me to join him going to a local school in Labuan Bajo. He needed a translator as he was going to give a presentation for the students. I nodded. To cut the story short, he shared his life story in front of around 150 students and managed to make everyone enthusiastic. What's so special about this presentation?


He told the students to Do What You Love. By doing what we love, we would be more likely to succeed and "rich". Not necessarily rich in material, but most importantly rich at heart :). He asked the students to think: "What do you enjoy doing most? What do you love to do in your spare time? What are the things that you're really good at?". The answers might lead us to the ideal profession in the future. Basically he wanted to encourage these high school students to do what they love to do and inspire them to make it comes true.

He said, "When I was a kid, I always loved sailing. My Dad taught me how to sail. When I was 8 years old, I won a competition as the best junior sailor in all over United States". Students got excited. "Also, when I was in college, I won the competition again as the best sailor in the States". "Whoaaaa...", I heard them mumbling with amusement...

"In my spare time, I always go on the boat and sail. That's all I did when I was young. But.. suddenly.. all my dreams of sailing fell apart". What happened?

"I was 18 years old by then and my girlfriend got pregnant". Sometimes we have to make a decision, in which, is contrary to what we'd love to do. "I had to drop all my dreams of sailing the world, took the first job I could get and be a responsible father for my kid. Years gone by, I ended up working as a sales person in the same company for 13 years!"

"Then my Dad passed away. I loved him dearly". Apparently, the death of his father, made him realized that life is too short to be wasted by doing something that he didn't really enjoy. He realized that he always wanted to sail the world. So, after discussing it with his Mom and family and got support from them, he decided to pursue his sailing career and be a full time sailor! Until now.. he's been sailing to cool places, such as Galapagos, Maldives French Polynesia, etc etc... and he's enjoying every minute of it...

In the past two months, he decided to start giving something for the society. How? By giving presentation on Do What You Love and encourage the youth to reach their dreams, also by visiting schools in remote areas and giving some donations -- books, pens, medicine, etc. I accompanied him going to 2 schools in 2 different villages nearby Labuan Bajo, Flores. And I'm glad I did. I was so overwhelmed to see the facial expressions of the teachers whenreceiving the donations. They didn't expect the visit or the gifts! And the kids? Ohhh.. they're sooooo lovely! They greeted us as if we're big time celebrities! :D

The first school was SDK Roe at Roe Village. When we got there, the teachers were having a meeting with teachers from some other schools. We only talked a bit with the school headmaster, before being invited to have a cup of coffee and taro cake (it's a traditional cake from West Manggarai, Flores) in a cute corner with wooden bench and a stone table under a tree. So cute! What a lovely coffee break! At the far end of the yard, there's a cute pink house, very clean and neat. It's a house of the school headmaster. I wonder whether pink is her favorite color! Once I had a dream to have a pink house, but I dropped it down coz I thought it would be too tacky. Hihihi... but the house in front of me was definitely cute, it looked like a Barbie house with a lot of green plants in the terrace :). She definitely lives in her dream house, I thought. And I wonder whether her husband complaint at the first place, for the idea of living in a pink house! :)

We continued our trip to SDK Pusut at Pusut Village. We parked the car nearby the school. There were some students playing around in the school yard. As soon as we stepped our feet on the big open space school yard, hundreds of kids running toward our direction! Wowwww... "What's going on here?", I thought. Soon after, we were surrounded by hundreds of kids who were starring at us as if we're aliens coming from planet Mars. Some of them starred at us without blinking, some of them smiled, some of them were brave enough to greet us and said, "Hello...". We greeted back, "Hello... apakabar?" (apakabar = how are you). It was such an overwhelming feeling to be surrounded by hundreds of kids. I loved it.

The school was having a meeting with students' parents in a meeting hall. There was an Indonesian Catholic priest, who has been living in Australia for 8 years, sharing his experiences to the locals on his views of living in Australia - the good and sad stories, lessons learned, etc. Everyone, including students on the 6th grade, listened to him carefully. Sometimes they nodded, too. Captain Tim and I joined the session for a while, before taking a walk to the rice field. Surprisingly, when we returned from the rice field, a bunch of teachers had already gathered in a house and they invited us to have lunch together! Wow... so nice of them! They welcomed us and expressed how happy they were to have us there. So sweet, isn't it?

I felt like I was invited to a small feast. A table full of different local dishes looked very tempting to me. They also gave us a glass of local wine. "Drinking local wine in such a hot day? Maybe not", I thought. Apparently, serving local wine to guests is part of their culture. It's a symbol of respect. I tried a sip, but unfortunately didn't like the taste. It tasted a bit sour, pretty strong, with a bit of coconut flavour.

We had a good time chatting with the school headmaster and teachers there. I asked what was needed for the school. Computer and sports uniform for the school's sports team were on the top priority list. When we exchanged numbers, I asked the teachers, "Do you have email address?". They smiled and said, "That's the thing, Mbak Nila (mbak means sister). We have no computer here, let alone having internet access". I felt so stupid after asking that question. Shoot!!! Silly girl.


The visits to these schools made me ponder... We could help others who are in need anytime and anywhere. Even when we're travelling. We could spend a few hours of our trip to visit remote places and plant some good deeds. A small thing for us could mean the world for someone who needs it. Let's make the world a better place to live in...

I was so glad to witness that good people still exist. Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience with me, Captain Tim. And thank you for your efforts in making this world a better place for us to live in... :)

Mola-Mola Moments

It's a video that I took while diving in Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida, Bali on July 25th, 26th and August 1st, 2009.
We saw 8 mola-mola (some people call it "sun fish", some call it "moon fish") in total. So lucky!!!

What is mola-mola?
Mola-mola, some people call it "Sun Fish", some people call it "Moon Fish". It's a type of fish who lives in around 300 meters depth underwater (of course!). It has a weird shape, like a disc. Big, yet thin. It has two fins on the top and bottom, instead of on each side of his body!
The mouth is very small compared to its body size. And it makes this fish look very cute! :D

In July to October, people have a chance to greet this special fish in Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida, Bali. It swims up to a shallower place to get his body clean. Spa time! ;) If we are lucky, we can see it in 10-12 meters depth, sometimes even shallower. Sometimes we have to search for them in 40 meters depth and swim against the strong current.

This fish loves to be in the cold water. That's why we could see it during July-October, because the water in Nusa Penida gets colder, around 20 degrees Celcius. Sometimes it could go even lower: 17 degrees! Brrrrrrr!!! Definitely cold for a tropical girl like me... hehehe.. :p

I considered myself very lucky when diving in Nusa Penida on July 25th, 26th and August 1st, 2009. Why?
This was actually my third attempt of mola-mola searching. Last year, I dove in the same site, hoping to see mola-mola, but was unlucky. Check my story here.
But this year, woowwwwww... it was like a mola-mola festive!!! I saw 8 of them in total!!! My heart beats faster when seeing this fish! If only I could jump around underwater, I would! :D

The first mola-mola sighting, we saw it at around 40 meters depth. The second one was also at 40 meters depth. He was there alone, didn't even move. We were waiting, hoping that he would come toward us, but then he didn't. So, Nicky, my dive master, decided to come closer. We swam to him, it was amazing!!! The mola-mola looked at us and swam around us, making a round trip! Sooooo nice!!!!!!! And that's when my camera went error!!! Aaarrrgggghhhh!!! We were at 46.6 meters and my camera housing could only go up to 40 meters. Beyond that, it couldn't handle the water pressure and it made all the buttons pressing the camera and made it to an error mode right away! Damnnnnn!!!
It was still amazing, though. There was no other diver around us (me, Andy - my buddy, Nicky - the dive master). It felt like having a private moment with the famous sun fish!

The next day (Sunday, 26th), we did our first dive in Manta Point and saw 3 manta rays swimming around at the cleaning station for more than half hour! Wooohoooo!!! So damn cool! The water was freezing, tho. It was 21 degrees, but it felt colder.. brrrrrrr!!! It definitely woke me up! Hahahhaa...

The second dive, we went to Crystal Bay again and saw 2 mola-mola. Wooohooooo! Just when I descended, I heard a group of diver making some noise. Hmm.. there must be mola-mola around, but I didn't see anything. Then, suddenly, I saw a big mola-mola in the blue! Whoaaa!!
The second mola-mola, we saw it in 35 meters... this time, I had an up close and personal moment with him. I was so close, I could even kiss him! Hihihi... I swam next to him, under him, and moved to his other side. That's when I realized how thin this fish was!!! Aahhhhh.... soooooooo wonderful!!! And this time, my camera worked! Yeaahhhhh!!! If you watch the video above, it was when I recorded the mola-mola in a siluette with the sun above. Nice color, isn't it? ;)

The weekend after, I was still in Bali and I dove again in Bali. Couldn't get enough of it!
This time, we did 3 dives in Crystal Bay. hihihi... and... we saw 4 mola-mola again in total!!! Yeaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!

The first dive, we saw 3 mola-mola. As soon as I saw the first one, I gave my camera to Nicky and gave him a sign to take picture of me with my new lover! Hahaha...
After having a photo shoot, we swam again and saw another mola-mola... ehm.. two of them!!! (don't be jealous, please). Omigod! It was unbelievable.. being with them, watching them surrounded by long banner fish and some other small fish, swimming and playing around with each other... whoaaa!! Life is good!!!
There was no other divers around us, too! Another private mola-mola show! Wow, so lucky!!!

On the last dive, we saw 1 mola-mola in 40 meters depth. This time, I was so close to him, too and I could even see his eye checkin' me out! Hahaha... sooo cute!!! This was the one in the last part of my video. Take a good look at his eye, he was staring at me, wasn't he? :D LOL

That was my Mola-Mola moments. Had a big smile for more than a week and my mind was full of the image of this cute fish every time! What an amazing experience and perfect weekends getaway! :) *big smile*

My Li'l Niece is a Magician!

I'm so proud of my little niece, Jessica Olivia, 8 years old. Recently, she's been performing on TV as... a junior magician!!! How cute is that?! ;)

Her live performances were aired on TPI (Televisi Pendidikan Indonesia), one of TV stations in Indonesia, on a show called Super Kidz every Sunday at 1-3pm starting from June 28th til July 12th, 2009. For this TV show, she's known as Princess Jessica ;).

I recorded this video last Sunday (July 5th), when watching her live performance at the TPI's studio. Thought it would be nice to share it with you, so that you also can enjoy her magic tricks! ;)

Wanna see her live performance on TV?
Turn on your TV and switch it to TPI channel on Sunday, 12 July at 13.00-15.00.
She'll definitely amuse you... as she does to me!
(and pssttt... I often ask her the secrets of the tricks... but.. she never opens her mouth to reveals them!) hahaha.. so cute!!!

Nonton yaaaah, teman-teman... :)

Citizen of The World

I've finally made up my mind
After living in Singapore for over 1 year plus half year of traveling around South East Asia, I've decided to ship all my stuff back to Jakarta, my lovely city in Indonesia

I felt a bit sorry for all my stuff, because they've been laying around in the storage room for almost half year... didn't know where to go as I've always traveled around and couldn't made up my mind on where to stay next...

But this time, I've made a decision
Will tell you later when everything is fixed ;)

I spent two days packing all my stuff in Singapore, preparing them to be shipped back to Indonesia
Honetly, I didn't expect that I would have so much stuff after living in the "lah Land for almost one and a half year! Whoaaa!!!

Anyway... on my "last night" here... I thought I would feel sad... but HELL NO!!!
It's weird.
If you know me better, then you would think that I'm easily touched with a melancholy situation
I thought I would be
But.. surprisingly, I didn't drop any single drop of tears...
Whoa.. that's something!
Of course I would miss my friends in Singapore, but.... I know that I have MORE of good friends in Jakarta! Yayyyy!!!
And I think, as I grow older and more matured (I hope)... I think this is just a phase of life that I have to go through... another city goes, another city comes... c'est la vie... ;)
And I'm so looking forward for what life has to offer for me!
Omigod... I'm so excited!

....

:) Good bye Singapore... somehow I feel that I'm still a part of you... at least until my residence permit is expired! ;D
But... above all, I've had a wonderful year here... it's definitely an easy place to live for expatriates in South East Asia! Seriously :)

A Memorable Birthday in Luang Prabang

(Laos trip: April 21st - May 2nd, 2009)

Note from my travel journal on April 29th :)

This year, I decided to spend my birthday far from the usual birthday routines: party, dinner, wine and cocktails, disco lights, etc etc. This time, I spent my birthday in Luang Prabang, Laos. A city that I've never been, a country that I've never visited before...

For my birthday, I've made a plan to visit Pak Ou Cave and Kuang Si, the biggest waterfall in Luang Prabang. Let's get wet, baby!!! :)

How to go to Pak Ou Cave?

Well, there are a lot of travel agents arranging a half day tour to this cave. One can go to the "Falang Place", which is Sisavangvong Road and pick one of the agents there. I bought the half day tour ticket (70,000 Kip) from Lao Discovery Tour. Actually it doesn't matter which agent you choose, because you'll end up on the same boat together with people who bought theirs from the other tour agents anyway! :D

It takes about 1.5 hour by slow boat to get to the cave. The boat strolls down the Mekong River, slowly... and the machine is roaring loudly. Thank God I brought my ipod!
The water of the Mekong River isn't clean. It looks like a chocolate milk, yet it doesn't smell, unlike the Ciliwung River in Jakarta :p. And the scenery is just beautiful.

At first, we stop at a small village where they made "Lao Lao", Lao rice wine which contains 15 % of alcohol and 50% of alcohol. I try both and almost choke when sipping the 50% of alcohol one! It is so damn strong! I wonder who could drink such thing?

There are some small shops selling hand-woven scarfs. It's one of the activities that generates income for the locals here.

We continue our trip by boat and finally we reach the famous Pak Ou Cave. In front of the cave lays a beautiful lime stone cliff. Very pretty.

Pak Ou Cave or Tham Thing or Thousands Buddha Cave itself is located inside a cliff at the bank of Mekong River. Interesting, isn't it? ;) There are aprroximately 4,000 Buddha statues in this cave, as the locals say. The statues are scattered everywhere, in different sizes and types. It's hard to take pictures without a tripod (and yes, stupidly, I forget to bring my tripod!).

The cave looks amazing. Actually, there are two caves in this area. The lower cave is bigger, but easier to reach. The other cave is located on the top of the hill, so it's a bit tiring to go up. You have to climb up some stairs, but don't worry... it's doable :). On the way up, there are some little girls selling small birds in the cages. These small girls are extremely cute, it's very hard to say NO to them. Yet, I managed to say, "No, thanks", because somehow I think, after I release the birds, they might return to the owner and she/he will sell them again! :p

The sun is steaming hot, we're all sweating like pigs! However, when we reach the cave at the top of the hill, suddenly the air gets cooler. There's a big gate at the mouth of the cave, once we get in, we can feel the air is a bit damp. Walking further in, the light becomes lesser and lesser until it's pitched dark. Hmm.. scary. I can't see anything. There are some Buddha statues in the cave, but it's too dark to see, so I decide to walk back to the main entrance.

The locals still use these caves to pray. At one corner, there are some flowers and incense sticks at the feet of a big Buddha statue. It must be nice to pray here, in the cave, overlooking the Mekong River with a clear blue sky above, far from the civilization. So peaceful and quiet.. what a magical place to contemplate... (would be perfect without tourists around.. and that includes me, as I'm a tourist, too!) :D Lol.

The next destination is Kuang Si Waterfall. Since it's too hot outside, I tell Jeff, my friend whose also traveling here, to go to the waterfall later in the afternoon. I'll be cranky when the temperature is too hot and I don't want to be cranky on my birthday. Hehehe.. I just want to relax and enjoy the day, even though the temperature is 36-37 degrees Celcius outside! And.. no breeze whatsoever. Ouch!

When the sun gets friendlier, we rent a tuk-tuk to go to the Kuang Si Waterfall. We bargain the price and manage to agree at 130,000 Kip/return. It takes us 1 hour to get there from the "Falang Place". The tuk-tuk for waterfall is different from the "normal" tuk-tuk. This one is actually a mini bus, like a Honda Carry. We realize later the day that there's no way for the "normal" tuk-tuk with two seaters only to go to the waterfall, since it's a looooong way and the roads are ups and downs.

On the way to the waterfall, I ask the tuk-tuk driver to stop at Hmong Village first. Hmong Village is famous for its hand-woven scarfs and other handicrafts. It's a small village, whereas the old ladies still wear traditional costume. Very nice. Some young girls also wear traditional costume with a colorful hat, however, I think these girls do it only to attract tourists. During my travel in Laos, I've never been "attacked" by the locals whose trying to sell things, but this time, I experience it! The girls and the mothers are very persistent in selling their stuff until at one point they become too pushy. They're very materialistic, too. I take some pictures of the girls and they react, "You take photo of me, you buy my stuff". Omigod. There's nothing free on this planet, even in such a small village in Laos!

A cute girl whose dressed up in traditional costume even gets a bit hostile to me. She forces me to buy her stuff. I would buy, if the stuff is good. But, she sells old souvenirs, you can tell from the condition. In the end, I agreed to buy a small wallet. Unfortunately she doesnt have a change and I don't have small bills. She forces me to buy a bracelet for a change. When I say, "I don't want the bracelet". She frowns. I give her some money in the end as a token, because I take some pictures of her. Knowing that I don't buy anything, her mother yells at her. Damn, she's scary. Actually, I feel bad for her, but I don't like the way they force me to buy their stuff. That's not nice. People in the night market are so much nicer! They never force you to buy anything from them!

I love the kids in the village. Omigod, they're so cute! They're running around barefooted. One boy is wearing an underwear only, showing his thin body and a colorful necklace hanging on his neck! Hahaha... so cute! Another boy, around 5 years old, playing with baby ducks happily :D. A bunch of girls get so excited by me taking pictures of them. These girls aren't the ones that sells souvenirs. They're very cute and even waving at me when I have to leave. Oh... they're such lovely angels!

We then continue our journey, passing by the mountains, the air is getting cooler and fresher. Finally, we reach the area of Kuang Si waterfall. There are two paths to get to the waterfall: the trekking path and the asphalt. We're not sure which one to choose, but the guard at the main entrance pointing at the asphalt path, so there we go. The path is very clean. It's surrounded by huge trees, it feels like in a forest. So nice!

We go straight following the path until we get into a square. We continue walking and there we find a bridge on top of a blue lagoon!!! Whoaaaaaa!!! SOOOOO PRETTY!!!
And when I look on the left side, there is the... WATERFALL!!! Wowwww... The waterfall is so high and stunning. Am glad we make it here! Am I in paradise?

We walk up as we want to see the top of the waterfall. Some people say that we can swim at the top. Ok, if you're not ready for a non-stop steep climbing in the middle of a forest, I would suggest you to stay at the bottom of the waterfall. But, if you really want to go up, don't forget to bring two bottles of mineral water with you. You'll need it. Trust me.
Plus, be careful if it rains, coz it'll get slippery.
There's a small lake at the top. We're not sure how to go to the top of the waterfall. Didn't realize that we actually already at the top! Hahaha...

Some "Falang" (read: foreigners) swim at the bottom of the waterfall, even though there's a sign saying: "Do Not Swimming Area". (I'm sure they mean: Don't Swim Here). I'm actually well prepared with bikinis, but then I decided not to swim. I believe, the sign wouldn't be there with no meaning, right? :) I'd rather play safe, especially when traveling! :)

After the adventurous journey to the top of the waterfall, we head back to the city center. I pay a visit to the small school that Wang Tho showed me a few days ago, chat with the teachers and Phou Vid, a novice from the temple of Wat Sop (wat means temple). Surprisingly, Phou Vid remembers me! He says, "We met yesterday. You took pictures of me". Wow, good memory, young boy! :)

Phou Vid speaks very good English compared to the other novices and monks. And it seems he enjoys chatting with strangers, too! He's so young and nice. Say, the English teacher, says that Phouvid was his student, but now he's taking Spanish and Japanese language classes. Wow! Good for him! And please note that he's only 16 years old!
He becomes my good friend in Luang Prabang. I ends up chatting with him almost everyday during a week of my stay there :).

Today, I try a special dish for dinner from Luang Prabang, in which can't be found elsewhere in Laos. It's called Khai Phan. It's seaweed from the Mekong River. When you eat it, don't think of the river, coz then you'll lose your appetite :p. Hehehe... But I really like Khai Phan. It's spicy! And.. they serve it with chili paste, too... When I taste the chili paste... errr... I thought, "There's something unusual in this paste". A taste that isn't familiar to me. As a vegetarian, I have to be very careful with what I eat and order. I ask the waiter and find out that the chili paste is actually made of a.... BUFFALO SKIN!!! YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!!!!

And this dish is under the Vegetarian List in their menu!!! Damn!

I guess I just get a birthday surprise from the restaurant. BINGO! :D Hahaha...

What a lovely birthday I have :). I feel so lucky and blessed. Thank you, God for all the adventures and nice places that I've been all these years. I hope to see more of Your artworks :) and appreciate more of every dust I step along the way...


Luang Prabang, April 29th, 2009.