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Through the crowded city streets at Berbah and Pleret, my father took us--me, my mother and my nephew--passing villages and vast green rice fields to Parangkusumo Beach. We tried to find a simpler path to reach the beach in order to avoid the traffic. Fortunately, my father knew the road well so we could drive to the beach smoothly. Parangkusumo Beach is located at Kretek, Bantul, Yogyakarta, about 44 km from my home which is at Ngemplak, Sleman, but still in Yogyakarta. We needed about one until one and half-an-hour to get to the beach, and it might become hours more had my father not taken a shortcut instead of driving through Parangtritis Street, the most familiar road for common people if they want to go to beaches like Parangtritis or Parangkusumo. If you go to Parangkusumo Beach, you will immediately notice the difference between it and Parangtritis, which is located on the eastern side of Parangkusumo, only people generally visit Parangtritis more often for some reason, such as it is a more popular place for swimming although there's been warning for people not to swim because of the current that can pull you into the sea trench. Thus, contrary to Parangtritis that's almost always packed, Parangkusumo is quieter and more serene. Personally, I love Parangkusumo's surroundings because it feels more peaceful than Parangtritis that's filled with a myriad of people going on a picnic. Parangkusumo is famous as the place for the ritual called "labuhan alit", which is a cultural and religious occasion in Yogyakarta where people would throw various offerings into the sea every year for the Queen of the South Sea, or we Javanese usually call her Nyai Roro Kidul. There is a small building nearby where it encircles the area of sacred stones, said to be the place where Panembahan Senopati, or the first ruler of Mataram Sultanate, met and made an aggreement with Nyai Roro Kidul in which the queen would help him in governing Mataram. In turn, the queen asked him and his descendants to be willing to be her husband. From this legend stemmed the labuhan ritual that is still done until today, annually every 30th of Rejeb according Javanese calendar, or around March in the 2020. Perhaps the story is the main reason that has attracted people to visit the beach. Because I came to the beach in June, I didn't have the chance to witness the ceremony myself. Some people like to explore Parangkusumo on foot or rent jeep cars, dogcarts or even by riding a horse while enjoying the beach's ambience, only you have to go to Parangtritis to rent them. Because we wanted to save our money, my family and I decided to observe on our feet, enjoying the cleanliness of the beach sand and the warm, salty seawater. The afternoon sun was quite glaring at that time, burning our skin, but none of us really cared about getting our skin darker. After all, in my family we considered dark skin as the real, original proof that we just went on a vacation at the beach. We left the beach not long after we were all tired enough of playing with the seawater and we opted not to have lunch at the foodstalls near the beach (they mainly only serve instant noodles). We only brought snacks, but it was enough as my father drove us back home and we finally made it home before dusk came. It was unfortunate for me to not have a chance to see the other beach on the east of Parangtritis, Watu Endog Beach, which is said to have beach stones shaped like eggs, hence the name ("watu endog" in English mean "egg stones"). Maybe next time I'll be really visiting that place.