Come out and play!: Sempu Island Trip (3 May 2009)

On Saturday, 2 May 2009 we checked out from Lava Hostel in Cemoro Lawang and continued our trip to Malang via Probolinggo. From Probolinggo we choose Bus with AC and guess what? AC didn’t work at all! We paid Rp. 25.000 for 2 hours trip to Malang and again it was a crazy ride. I think that’s the way these drivers drive behind the wheels.

As we arrived in Malang Bus Station, we decided to go directly to Sendang Biru beach with public transport but on the way to change transport I talked to a girl and she told me that there was no public transport available to Sendang Biru Beach after 5 PM while it was 6 PM already! So, we returned back to Malang and stayed one night in Helios Hotel (recommended by Lava Hostel staff). This small hotel is clean but I don’t know why, I couldn’t sleep well that night. We paid Rp. 85.000 for Standard room with fan + breakfast.

We woke up at 4 AM the next morning, had short breakfast with instant cup noodle (I know it’s not healthy but I don’t have it everyday though…hehehe). We grabbed our public transport to Gadang at around 5.15 AM, paid Rp. 3000 (around 20 minutes ride) and continued to Turen by minibus (Rp. 14.000). After 1 hour ride, we arrived in Turen. We have to wait around 2 hours until the minivan full of passengers! And yeah…these people around me were so annoying, but hey…it’s a holiday! I can stand of them.
The journey took about 2 hours and we saw beautiful view along the road to Sendang Biru Beach. As we arrived in Sendang Biru Beach, we joined a group of family to rent a boat to Sempu Island, we paid only Rp.10.000 per person for return boat trip that only took less than 15 minutes.

As we landed our feet on one side of Sempu island, a beautiful clear water and white sand welcomed us. I was so amazed and speechless, this island is so beautiful and I’m so proud to be an Indonesian! My country has so many beautiful hidden places. We took some pictures and met some new people here, they treated us nicely. Unfortunately we couldn’t get further inside the island to Segara Anakan, a lagoon about 1-2 hours trekking because we entered this island from wrong side. We supposed to enter Sempu island from other side to reach better way to go to Segara Anakan. Well, for me… played on the beach and get my skin tanned were more than enough. We returned back to Sendang Biru Beach with a small fisherman boat, I was so scared in the middle of the sea because I can’t swim! Thank God we landed smoothly and we washed our body in public bathroom. We took a rest and enjoyed Bakso Malang and Es Kelapa in Sendang Biru Beach. More people came in the afternoon but it’s time for us to return back to Malang.

We were lucky cos the new people we met offered us a free ride back to Malang and we accepted their offer! So, we left the beach at around 4 PM and arrived in Malang ar around 6 PM. They dropped us straight to Helios Hotel and we stayed one more night in Helios Hotel. This time we stayed in a room with TV as preventive if we couldn’t sleep as our experience in previous night, we can watch TV :)

Mmmmm….another unforgettable journey. Enjoy these pics...

Fisherman's Boats in Sendang Biru Beach