Jember Fashion Carnival 13, 2014: FEEL THE RIO ATTACK!

One of the costume theme in carnival

It was almost ten in the evening, finally Andhika, my tripmate came. He is my friend since in high school. He loves traveling like crazy, he loves Indonesia like nobody else. We would go to Jember for Jember Fashion Carnival 13 (JFC). It is annual festival held by Jember government to push the tourism sector in this small town. Adopted from the concept of Rio Carnival, this is great idea and becomes the role model for same events in other cities.

Dumb never cured. I forgot to order the room for us to stay there. I called many hotels and all were fully booked due to this festival. Then, one of the receptionist who sounds like a woman but actually a man offered me to check another hotel, after I told him that if I couldn't get a place to stay, I would stay in the train station, and I am a girl, and it would be terrifying. It sounded pitty enough to make him gave me a favor to find a room to stay. Thank God we got it. In a super creepy hotel.

In the morning, we went to city square, where the run way would be started. The parade was started around 3 in the afternoon. While waiting for the parade, we tried to catch up the crew to get VIP ID. By using that ID, we could stay in the performance stage,  not in the edge of the road along the runway.

And finally,  it was started based on the schedule. Me and Andhika got the ID, and we sat in the very nice spot where we could see the performance clearly. 

The concept of the festival was about showing the unique costumes based on the theme they have chosen. There were: Mahabharat, stalagmites, borobudur,jungle, kite,phoenix, etc.

To see their costumes go visit my instagram: @diantikanin. 

And finally the parade was over. Now we struggled for going back to the hotel,. The way to the hotel was in the same route with runway.  So we couldn't skip the crowd,  we walked together with the parade. The situation was a bit lost in control. People came forward and forced the talent to take picture with them. It made super long jam because of the undisciplined behavior. 

And we walked for 3,5 kms. That's so tiring because we walked so slow to pass the crowd.  We just moved back to the hotel and jumped to the swimming pool.

Why this parade is worth to attend :

1. International level

2. Great costume concept,  they seriously work on it

3. Annual event, so you can book your date there
4. Low budget, no need to take flight to Rio for such adorable carnival
5. Support local event.

And pictures of this carnival can be seen in my instagram: @diantikanin