Let’s write it while it’s still fresh in the memory. I went to Kiluan Bay with my work colleagues. We got help from Lia at triphemat.com. So, here are the steps that we took to get there.
step #1: we went on friday, aug 30th. around 6pm we walked from our office to Pulogadung bus terminal. it’s a short walk, through small street, passing a cemetery complex.
step #2: arrived in front of the bus station, there’s a bus to Merak was illegally waiting for passengers there…so…we got on that one instead of walking all the way inside the bus station. actually, the bus station is more dangerous than the cemetery complex….you have to be sure of your destination when walking inside the bus station so the bad guys won’t consider you as an easy target.
step #3: it was around 6.30pm. the bus finally moved. the road was congested. it took more than 1 hours to reach the toll gate. traffic jam plus the way the bus stopped and waited a long time at almost each bus stop…well…plus all the varieties of street singers that came and went inside the bus one after another…singing varieties of songs with varieties of skills too….interesting…
step #4: i fell asleep as soon as the bus on the toll road. it was a bit congested too. around 10.30 pm i woke up..and we’re still on the toll road. suddenly the bus exited the toll road in Serang….while the toll sign showed that Merak was still ahead. If I were travelling on my own, I would be spooked when the bus made a detour like that. it turned out, the bus made several stops on the way to Merak.
step #5: around 12 am we finally arrived at Merak port. we waited for the other group that went to Kiluan with TripHemat.com too. a friend of mine used that time to eat supper that she bought at the Merak bus terminal.
It’s a 5 minutes walk from the bus terminal to the ferry terminal. there are a lot of food vendors along the way…mostly sell kemplang, a type of roasted rice crackers, it’s the signature souvenirs from Lampung, so, if you went to Lampung and forgot to buy it there, you can buy it after crossing the strait at the ferry terminal in Merak.
step #6: around 1 am we went on board the ferry. the ticketing booth at the ferry terminal only sells economy class ticket (IDR 13k for adult and a cheaper one for children). the ferry terminal uses NFC cards to open the gates to the waiting room. there were several gates but at night only 1 or 2 that works. the waiting room was just a big hall with smelly toilets. you have to sit on the floor and inhale the ammonia aroma from the toilet. lucky for us that we only pass the room and went straight ahead to the pier. the ferry was on its way to dock at the pier when we arrived.
we waited for the passengers to alight from the ferry before we went on board. there were not many people travelling at night but since the terminal operates round the clock and the ferries are “scheduled” to leave every 30 minutes, it’s surprising to see around 60 people aboard the ferry….the trucks, bus and cars were lining up to board the ferry too.
step #7: inside the ship, there is a business class room with air conditioner. we went there and i immediately took one of the mattress and stretch my body…arrgghhhh…it felt nice to lay down after hours of sitting on the bus.
we paid extra IDR 10k per person, there was an officer who came inside the room to collect the money. but if you went into the room after the officer left, you can enjoy the room for free.
step #8: the ferry ride took almost 2.5 hours. i used it to sleep. i was sleeping like a log and didn’t aware of the cockroaches that went around the floor and a grandpa who threw up near where i was sleeping on the floor.
step #9: it was around 3 am, i woke up to the sound of a cock furiously shouting “kukuruyukkkk” competing with a very loud snores from a man who slept uncomfortably in sitting position with his head thrown back and his mouth opened. the cock sound was the alarm from Lia’s handphone….she was sleeping like the dead while the alarm went on and on…waking everyone in the room…kekeke.
i went to the toilet inside the business class room….like most public toilet in the country…it was barely bearable…but the water was running…so..it’s ok…all i had to do was hold my breath a little so i didn’t have to inhale the smell to much.
step #10: almost 4 am, we arrived at the parking lot at Bakauheni ferry terminal. when we stepped outside the building, a lot of people came to us, offering bus or car. they’re a bit annoying, following us persistently until we said no with a very firm tone. there were 5 cars that Lia booked for the 35 of us. i went with my friend and her 2 friends that joined this trip with us to the innova car. we were lucky because it’s nicer than the other cars and the driver was nicer too. my other colleagues rode a car with constantly-speeding-telephoning while driving-complaining driver. poor them.
step #11: we stopped at the first gas station we found after leaving the ferry terminal. the driver told us to go to the toilet here because it took about 2 hours to reach Bandar Lampung.
step #12: there was a very long line of traffic jam as soon as we left the gas station. there was a container carrying a very large machine that slipped and blocking the road. the trans Sumatera road doesn’t have lamp lights along the road. there’s only 1 lane for each direction and there was only painted lines to separate them. the road asphalt was nicer now than years ago but due to the poor visibility, there are always accidents along the road. mostly big trucks with heavy loads that go on trans Sumatera road, the hilly terrains make it harder to drive the heavy trucks. it was lucky that the accident left barely enough space for cars to pass through. after passing the accident site, i went to sleep.
step #13: it was around 6 am. the sun was up and we were still on the car. it’s near the outskirt of Bandar Lampung. I asked my friend on the other car, where were they…because it seemed that my car was the last one that passed the accident site that morning. he said he just passed a Chinese cemetery site. about 20 minutes later, we went pass it too. we stopped near a small park and Lia said that it was our breakfast break. the park was near a market, a post office and a school with large field in front of it. there was a restaurant nearby but we were told to order soto or congee from the street vendor that park the food cart at the park. the soto was strange, it has 3 shreds of chicken meat, with yellow oily broth and the strange part is there were lontong cuts inside it. the portion was small and not very fulling….my friend bought fried tofus and tempes at the market to complete our unhealthy breakfast that morning…hehehe…
step #14: after breakfast, we continued the journey. the driver told us it took about 3 hours to reach the bay. he said, some parts of the road was bad and we might have to walk for 3 km. it was around 7.40 am. the first hour went smoothly. we passed several prawn-farms (tambak). we passed through navy complex. the driver said that we are prohibited to take pictures of the beaches and valleys inside the military complex because there are classified areas that are used for mock battle training.
step #15: the last third part of the journey…the road was in bad condition…the driver jokingly told us to walk several times…but we arrived at Kiluan Darat safely without having to walk. we stopped by at the village gate to take pictures of the bay from on top of the hill. it was around 11 am. the sun was shinning brightly and i wore black t shirt (the very same one that i wore to the office the day before)…the heat was sooooo melting…it burned the skin because i didn’t put on the sunblock yet.
step #16: it was a short ride down the hill from the village gate to the pier. we rode a small boat with motor. only 12 people could aboard the boat so it went back and forth to the small island where we would spend the night. the boat trip was about 10 minutes.
step #17: arrived at a small island called Kiluan. the beach and the sea color was beautiful. the water was very clear. we were happy to see the vista and started taking pictures.
Step #18: it was around 12 PM when we FINALLY arrived on the small island. There were only 3 buildings on that island. 1 grey building, very close to the sea, can occupy maybe 3 – 6 people. 1 brown building, the newest one, has 4 rooms, each room can contain 5 people. The last one is a colorful building, made from woods painted with rainbow colors – it has 6 rooms about the size 2.5 m x 2.5 m. All buildings were build on raised wood plank, about 1.5 m from land surface. The caretaker of the island was an elderly couple (age around 70s) and their children. The elderly couple live in one of the rooms in rainbow-colored building, while their children and their families use the room under the rainbow-colored building. There are 3 bathrooms (on separate building, at the back of the rainbow-colored building, near the kitchen building). There is a well on the field between the brown and the rainbow-colored building. The well is the only source of ground water in that island. There’s a semi-permanent wall surrounding the well, for those who want to take a bath there.
Inside the rooms that we would used for sleeping that night, there were 2 mattresses on the floor and a plastic floor cover (tikar) and a fan. The electricity on the island only functioning from 5 PM to 7 AM.
We had lunch at the rainbow-colored building. It has a porch in front of the rooms. It’s nice to eat while the sea wind blew gently…..well….it made me sleepy…..kekekeke…..
Step #19: after lunch, we went around the island. The eastern part is the part where we arrived by boat. It has white sandy beach. A great place for swimming and snorkeling to see various types of fish.
Step #20: From the eastern beach, we walked to the Southern part. There are big rocks and a more private beach but there are lots of tree debris on that beach. Anyway, you can take picture sitting on top of a big rock like this:
 
 
 
Step #21: We didn’t went along the beach on the Southern part. We went back to the rainbow-colored building and there is a small path that lead to the Western beach.
Step #22: Then I went back to the eastern beach, walked to the northern part of the island.
It took less than 30 minutes to circling the island. After that, my friends went to play at the sea while I went sleeping on the porch at the rainbow-colored building. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Step #23: It was around 4 PM when I woke up from my nap. It’s so refreshing. Then I took a bath (the last time I took a bath was in the morning, on Friday – so it was about 35 hours before….phewwww…..) while the others walked to see the lagoon. Flo (Lia’s friend) said that the lagoon (a small pool at the center of a very big reef rock) can only be seen in the evening where the rock was uncovered from the sea. It was raining lightly by the time I finished my bath.
Step #24: Back from their walk to the lagoon, my friends were hungry….well…so did I…..kekekeke….We bought instant noodles with poached egg from the lady cook. She cooked them for us. It’s IDR 10k per portion. Yummy…
Step #25: Around sunset, Flo shouted to gather us to see it from the western beach. The sunset could be seen only in about 5 minutes before it went down behind the clouds.
Step #26: We had dinner at the porch of rainbow-colored building. After that I had small chats with the others. There’s a family of a grandma, her daughter and her 10 year old grandson that joined the trip. She said that she shared stories with the lady cook. The lady cook said that the island is called Kiluan, which means Wishes. Flo said that there’s a tomb on the island. The person who was buried there made a wish to be buried on the island, that’s why people called the island: Kiluan.
Step #27: I went to sleep at around 8.30 PM. Although I had nap in the evening, I was still able to fall asleep almost instantly. ^_^. Around 10 PM, the others enjoyed supper: 5 grilled fishes – each about 50 cm long…..what a huge feast….but at that time….I was already in deep sleep. Sometime during the night, I felt something fell on my head. Somehow a thought went through my head, it’s a cockroach. Well…it was a cockroach…..it ran away when I reached for my water bottle. After that, I went to sleep again…..zzzzzzzzz……sleep well cockroach…..
Step #28: I woke up around 5 AM to the sound of Lia & Flo talking to one of the trip member who just had a morning bath. They’re talking rather loudly…..but I had enough sleep so I went outside and walked around to see the sunrise. There were several tents around the eastern coast of the island. Mostly were youngsters, enjoying the weekend at the island. They made camp fire…..but unfortunately, around the camp fire, there were garbage (water bottle, plastic cups, etc). I was sad to see those garbage and picked some up and threw them to the large garbage bin near the well. I wish the people who visit Kiluan will be more responsible and didn’t leave their garbage on that island.
I remembered that the night before, we were told to be ready at 5.30 AM, to see the dolphins and we had to make groups of 3 to share a boat. But until about 6 AM, even Lia & Flo were still sleeping. Hemph…
Step #29: around 6.30 AM, small boats came to the island. The small boats, called Jukong, can only carry 4 persons each (including the man who directs it). It was a bit terrifying to go to the sea on such a small boat. All the way to the sea, I kept praying….kekekeke….hoping we would be able to see the dolphins and went back to the island again safely.
Step #30: around 7 AM, we started to see dolphins groups swimming. The dolphins were black and small…..It’s rather hard to see them at first. I wonder where they’re going in the morning……do they swim in group family (a mom – a pop and the children)…..do they swim back home in the evening….Ok…let’s learn about the dolphins from Wikipedia …. ^_^
Taking picture of swimming dolphins from the small boat was a very hard thing to do, so I recorded videos of our encounter with Kiluan Bay’s dolphins that morning:
Step #31: Around 7.30 AM we headed back to the island. The sun was shinning so brightly. Near the island, on the Kiluan Darat island, there was smoke coming from on top of the trees. At first I thought it was fire but my friend told me that the smoke was the vapors of dew that evaporates from the tree leaves…..wowwww….
Step #32: as soon as I stepped out, the small boat were moving and I was bumped and fell to the sea…..phew….luckily my camera and phones were saved. Drenched by the sea water, I had to take a bath …. I originally didn’t want to take another bath….kekekeke…..
Step #33: Around 9 AM, we were ready to leave the island. We left by the boat, a slightly bigger one that can contain 10 – 12 people. Arrived at Kiluan Darat, the boat couldn’t go nearer to the beach….so….well…..here goes the jeans into the water….the sea water level was about the middle of my calf. One of my friend’s father who joined our trip refused to wet his pants and shoes…..so we had quite a laugh when the boat driver had to carry him to the shore…..wkwkwkwk….There’s another incident on the boat that morning. The boat has a motor and the motor was placed at the middle of the boat…..with seats in front of and at the back of the motor. Along the way, the heat from the motor (as well as the sounds) were rather excruciating…..and unfortunately, my boss’s arm had contact with the motor….ouch…..she got a small burn on her arm as souvenir from Kiluan.
Step #34: The cars that took us to Kiluan Darat were parked near the pier but none of the drivers were there. They went with us to the island but we got back to Kiluan Darat before them. So, we had to wait for the boat to take them back. We waited for about 30 – 40 minutes until all drivers and trip members were back at Kiluan Darat.
Step #35: it was around 10 AM when the cars finally moved. But after riding for 5 minutes, the driver told us to walk…..because…..the road to the village gate is an uphill one…..it was a steep one….and we had to hike on foot…..whew……the sun was scorching……the hike was incredible….we barely could stand upright when hiking…..
The hike was only a few hundred meters…..but……I couldn’t speak and could only concentrate on inhaling and exhaling….it took about 20 minutes to hike to the village gate.
Step #36: it’s another 3 hours car ride to reach civilization – a place where we could use our smart phones….hehehehe….we stopped for lunch at restaurants (one is Padang food and beside it is meatball restaurant) near the field where we had our strange soto for breakfast the day before.
Step #37: around 2 PM we continued our journey to Bakauheni. The driver told us that ETA would be around 4.10 PM. On the way, the driver told us that along the road to Bakauheni, there’s a haunted area. Once, when he was driving alone at night, suddenly a female ghost appeared at the middle seat (where I was sitting then….whoaaaaa). The car engine couldn’t be started. The female ghost laughed and her voice was very unpleasant – said the driver. He said, his friend told him that when that happened, he should play a CD, filled with Dangdut music. He did that and after 5 minutes the ghost left him alone. He said, the female ghost was a rape victim whose body was found in that area.
Step #38: we arrived at Bakauheni Ferry Terminal at 4.14 PM. We thanked our driver for taking such a good care of use on the long road to and from Kiluan. Actually, the driver, Mr Edi, wrote his phone number on the sun shield on the car and I took a picture of it…..but I accidentally deleted it…. :-(. Of the 5 cars that took us to Kiluan, Mr Edi is the nicest one. He drove with care….unlike the other drivers.
Step #39: After we bought the ticket, we were told to walk directly to the pier and another ferry ship was already there, waiting to dock. It’s a different type of ship from the one we used from Merak. We were looking for the business class room and found a room with sofas at the back part of the ships. It felt like a sun room, with big windows surrounding the room.
There’s a deck in front of the room. It’s the highest level of the ship. There are other rooms on two levels bellow the sun-deck-room.
Step #40: the ferry left at around 5.30 PM. There’s officer who came to the room to collect the room charge fee (IDR 10k per person) but he wasn’t very thorough, he didn’t count the number of people in the room. A gentleman who was on the deck by the time the officer came was lucky, he didn’t have to pay the room charge fee. ^_^.
Step #41: we arrived at Merak Ferry Terminal around 8 PM. Since we didn’t stopped to buy souvenirs (Kemplang and banana chips) in Lampung, some of us bought those at Merak terminal. kekekeke.
Step #42: we walked to Merak Bus Terminal and found the bus to go home. My friends took the bus to Pulogadung, while I took the one to Bandung because its routes went through my home city.
Step #43: Around 9 PM, the bus finally left the terminal…..but it made lots of stops along the way….I predicted that I would be able to arrive at home around 1 AM. At first I didn’t want to sleep on the bus, but fatigue took over my body and my brain went on hibernate mode at around 10 PM.
Step #44: Around 11 PM, the bus was still somewhere in Balaraja, Tangerang. After recording that fact, my brain went on to its hibernate mode.
Step #45: Around 12.30 AM, one by one my friend sent messages that they’re arrived at home. T_T. I was still on the toll road.
Step #46: I finally got off the bus around 1 AM and got on a small city transportation (Angkot). I was the only female inside that car. A short ride later, I was arrived at the complex gate to my home.
Step #47: I walked from the complex gate to my house…..a 5 minutes walk…..I greeted the security guards, to let them know that I’m not a ghost wandering around at that wee hours. Hehehehe. I FINALLY arrived at home at 1.30 AM. My butt was sore……until it was numb…..T_T
Phew…..so that’s the story of the journey to Kiluan Bay, Lampung.
If you’re curious, here’s the other 3 steps:
#48: I took a bath at home…at 2 AM in the morning and then went to sleep. I took a day off and sleep for 7 hours + 3 hours nap + another 7 hours.
#49: I organized the pictures and videos and uploaded them.
#50: writing this blog…..FINISH….. ^_^….
The Art of Getting Lost 