Taken at: Pier 1 Ketapang Port, South Lampung Regency, Lampung Province, Sumatra
Hello, everyone! How are you guys doing? By the time I’m starting to write this, I’m already back home, staring out from the balcony to the very cloudy, windy, gloomy sky of Jakarta.
I missed Sumatra already.
My sister (Wina) and I (we call ourselves “VagaHermanas”) recently went on a trip to Sumatra, one of 5 big islands in Indonesia. When I was a little child, I counted my travelling experiences by visiting the big islands in Indonesia. 16 years ago my family and I moved to Borneo. That was the first time I left Java Island with so many mixed feelings – scared, confused but also curious and excited at the same time. 4 years later, we went to Sulawesi. My grandma is originally from Sulawesi and that trip was made to visit her hometown in the remote area of South Sulawesi which was 7 hours road trip from the capital city, Makassar, and couldn’t be found in a map – her hometown was called Tarue Village. I was only 9 years old back then but Sulawesi was so exciting even though practically very unfamiliar from my little eyes. After that, I always dreamt to finish the other 2 big islands in Indonesia which were Sumatra (the most western part) and Papua (the most eastern part).
I hadn’t had any chance to do that until a few days ago when VagaHermanas finally went to Sumatra. And it was… so fulfilling because Sumatra was so mesmerizing.
We chose to go to Pahawang Island, South Lampung Regency, Lampung Province, Sumatra. From Jakarta, we had to take a bus to Merak Harbour in Banten and after that we had to cross the Sunda Strait by ferry to Bakauheni Harbour in Lampung. The bus ride was about 4 hours and the ferry ride was about 2.5 hours. From Bakauheni Harbour, we still needed to have a 3 hours road trip to Ketapang Port by Trans-Sumatra Highway and then after that from Ketapang Port we sailed to Pahawang Island. While the road trip actually reminded us to the road trip along Trans-Borneo Highway and Trans-Sulawesi Highway (they actually kinda look alike to each other), the sailing to Pahawang Island itself was insane. There were no words. The sceneries looked like somewhere in a movie set. It was full of layered mountains, very clear and crystal water, blue sky and shining sun. It was like the combination of Phi Phi Island in Thailand and Labuan Bajo in the east of Indonesia.
I was so beyond delighted I could die right there.
We sailed to Jelarangan, Pahawang Besar Island first then Cukuh Bedil later and had some snorkeling sessions there. The underwater views in those places were very incredible. There were colourful coral reefs and so many, many fishes. The interesting things were: first, the fishes swam very close to us, like… I could even catch them if I wanted to (which I didn’t and you guys shouldn’t do it either!) but at the same time, I was very scared too if my fins kicked them since they were actually really close to me! And second, there was this underwater board (it was a writing on an underwater rock actually) and it said, “Pahawang, the sea world of Indonesia” and I completely agreed with that because indeed it was a sea world (a very beautiful one) and what’s the best place to see the sea creatures if not in the sea? Hehehe #banseaworld #banzoo #gotothesea
After finishing the snorkeling session in Jelarangan, Pahawang Besar Island and Cukuh Bedil, we went to Pahawang Kecil Island and Kelagian Lunik (Kelagian Kecil) Island. If you guys would like to try water sports (banana boat, jet ski, donut boat, etc) then going to Pahawang Kecil Island would suit you. But since we weren’t really into water sports, we didn’t try any and just took some photos there. The island was relatively nice too, but it was only so-so for me since there were not too many things to be explored in that area. Different with the next island after that, which was Kelagian Lunik (Kelagian Kecil) Island, I definitely fell in love with it.
Kelagian Lunik (Kelagian Kecil) Island became so unforgettable (at least for me) because of the gradation colour of the sea around the island (it really looked like Thailand right there!), the flour-texture sand and the crystal water. We could explore both the front side and the back side of the island. I loved it. If you guys go to Kelagian Lunik (Kelagian Kecil) Island later, make sure to order something (even only noodle is fine) in the small restaurants right there because to have lunch (or snack) with a view would be so amazing.
Then, the last snorkeling session was taken place at Kelagian Besar Island. I didn’t snorkel anymore because I was already so lazy (and a little bit tired) but Wina did and she ended up really loving it because she said to me that the last snorkeling spot was the best one – the coral reefs were even more colourful than the first two spots, there were so many fishes around those coral reefs and they matched the colour of the coral reefs so they looked like camouflaging and the coral reefs were so close to her she could see them very clearly. Such a lost for me, ain’t it?
Done with the snorkeling and island hopping stuff, we enjoyed sunset (plus the golden hour) and sunrise in Ketapang Port since our homestay was there. For sunset, we waited for it from the Pier 3 of Ketapang Port and for sunrise we did it from the Pier 4 of Ketapang Port. I will not tell you guys about sunset because the sunset was not as breathtaking as I expected, but the golden hour moment before the sunset itself was the one that really was. The sun shone very brightly, warmly and beautifully, it shined upon the layered mountains, creating a very, very amazing silhouette photos and videos. I was so astonished. I had never had the best golden hour moment like that in my entire life. Nonetheless, about the sunrise, same as the sunset, the sunrise itself was comme ci comme ça (not bad, not good – just average) but the sky before the sunrise was magnificent. It was so blue (entirely blue) we didn’t even need to edit any of our photos related to it. Realmente muy bonita.
Speaking of Ketapang Port, if you guys want to buy some souvenirs (like t-shirt, pajama set, pants, and others), I suggest you guys to do it there, because the people right there were very friendly, the quality of the products was good and the price was not that expensive :)
What made the trip was actually very impressive too for us was our companions. We met several nice travellers in our group (we used a tour & travel agent, so we met the other participants of the trip) we made friends with them and surely we laughed together about so many stuff. They were a very nice travel couple and a very inspiring travel brothers. It’s insanely good to be able to meet them! The best thing about making friends with other travellers is you can contact them eventually when you want to travel somewhere else so you don’t have to do it alone :D we promised to tell each other if one of us would visit somewhere amazing later so we could do it together - I’m getting so ecstatic by only thinking about this thing!
Okay then, I think that’s all about the story related to VagaHermana’s trip to a part of Sumatra from my perspective. It was indeed like a paradise in the west of Indonesia. I’m very happy and grateful to be able to go there and definitely want to go back one day. Tell me if you guys plan to go there, so we can discuss about it later.
Finally, save money, travel plenty and be happy. ¡Vamos!
January 26, 2018
Annisa Erou
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Special thanks to:
Vagabrothers, our inspiration to keep travelling from time to time. Thank you so much for being so awesome and always share amazing contents with us through your channel! Wina and I wouldn’t be as brave as now if we didn’t look up to you guys. See you in Indonesia :)
Mbak Novi, Mas Fajar, Mas Wawan and Mas Ade, our new traveller friends in this trip. Thank you so much for being so kind and friendly to us! You guys definitely highlighted this trip. It wouldn’t be the same without you and we’re very happy to know you guys and be your friend. See you soon in the next trip :)
The boat captain (that we unfortunately have no idea about his name). Thank you so much for helping us to get back to the boat and for not complaining even though we took tons of pictures (almost endless :D) in his boat while others already snorkeling around the island. See you soon when we go back to Pahawang Island :)
Our mom that sponsored Wina to be in this trip. Thank you so much for being the sponsor! Without your generosity I wouldn’t go to Sumatra because I don’t think I’m that brave to go there by myself without Wina :)
