zags

Can't believe I'm going there again in only 3 months! My last visit was May. It's an assignment from the company. After leaving the office for a week working as a committee member for the international geosciences conference, I'm not going back yet to the office next weekdays. I don't think anyone is missing me, unless there's a problem that needs my help, ha! I'm leaving tonight, so hang on guys, I won't be back until the end of this month. (No one from the office is supposed to read this blog though.)

After the typical busy Jakarta weekends, we finally spent a(nother busy) weekend in a nice place close to the nature, Taman Safari Indonesia. It's a large park located on the slope of Mount Gede in Bogor, West Java. It has a zoo, a baby zoo, recreation parks, hiking trails (Safari Trek), a camping ground, an outbound area, bungalows, caravans, lodges, hot-water swimming pool, jacuzzi, etc.

It was my sister's idea to spend a weekend there to take her mom-in-law who came from Japan. Unexpectedly, it became a big family weekend as we found out that my aunt was also taking my cousin and her kids who came from UK for a holiday here. They also invited my cousin's parents-in-law and sister-in-law and her kids. There are also my other cousin with her family (hubby & kids) and her sister-in-law with her hubby, another cousin with her kid and parents-in-law. So there were 3 bungalows with many families altogether (count for yourself). Maybe it's hard for you to imagine, but this is not so unusual for Indonesian families. By the way, each bungalow has 3 bedrooms. Only our bungalow has a kitchen, so in the evening we gathered there - had dinner and chats.

Saturday late morning we left Jakarta - 7 adults + one baby in one car: Didi, my parents, my sisters, my sister's baby, and my sister's mom-in-law. We went up to Puncak - the summit - and had lunch at the well-known restaurant there called Rindu Alam. The service was bad - the waiters didn't welcome you nor came to take your orders. It was difficult to get them and our orders came after a long wait and we were very hungry. After lunch we stopped for a while at a mosque with a nice view down to the tea plantation.

There were many street vendors selling food, drinks and accessories at the parking lot. After then we went back down to Taman Safari, to our bungalow. The others were at the recreation park and went back to their bungalows late afternoon.

After dinner at our bungalow, some of us got out for the Night Safari. I didn't go because I didn't feel like it, but then I'd been there before. You must try if you haven't been there. After you finished the Night Safari you can have fun at the recreation park. Jet coaster and the like. You want to know how scary Indonesian ghosts are? Try the haunted cave!

As planned, the next morning we went for the Safari Trek. The "Kancil Trail" is 3 kms and the "Macan Tutul (Cheetah) Trail" is another 3.5 kms. We went through a forest, met an elephant on our way, crossed a creek through a hanging bridge and so on. The end of Kancil Trail is the camping ground and the outbound area. You can play all the games there for only 25,000 rupiahs (about only US$0.25). I saw adults acting crazy there, playing games and water slide - it's such a healthy way to release stress.

In the afternoon we went to see a new performance called "Wild Wild West". It's like a play performance about American Indians and cowboys. I don't know why it should be about Wild Wild West, but...nice effects. Maybe I'll put the photos later.

For you who like shopping, there are many nice and cute merchandise in the shops at Taman Safari. I bought a baby blanket with giraffe-skin-like prints and a cute tiny T-shirt for my nephew. There are also dolls/stuffed animals, mugs, CDs, umbrellas, photo frames, and other animal-related stuff.

On our way back to Jakarta, we stopped to have a late lunch at a restaurant called Sinar Alam. The food was good! I am a person who don't really like eating, but I was so amazed by its Ayam Penyet and sambal.

A tiring but fun weekend.

Since the big quake happened in Yogyakarta, my friends asked me about my family. As far as I know none of my family or relatives were in Jogja. My family are all right in Jakarta. I am really sorry about what happened to people in Jogja, I hope they are given the strength.

Yesterday we didn't get the tickets for "Da Vinci Code", we made a booking online for today's 11:30 show. We wanted to watch it here in Singapore because they said the film was censored for 15 minutes in Jakarta. Is it real? I don't know. But today we finally saw the film. Felt so long, not as enjoyable as the book.

After that we had lunch and made a phone call to my relatives in KL, then visited my uncle at the hospital. Orchard Road was horribly crowded!! Even worse than Jakarta in the weekend. And we could tell there were many Indonesians there, maybe they went here for weekend and shopping (the Great Singapore Sale)? I heard Malaysian students are on holiday too. Plus other tourists. Terrible. Too crowded. We couldn't even walk straight without bumping other people.

Glad to leave Orchard Road! Today we didn't do "touristy" thing. Just spending the day enjoying ourselves. Still many things to do. Such as the Night Safari. Maybe next time, hopefully.

Friday, 26/05/2006

Finished early and again thought about visiting my uncle in the evening but didn't make it. From what I remember from the afternoon till evening my day trip was aimless. I went to get the Hard Rock Cafe Zippo lighter my friend asked me to get for him - that was why I went to Orchard Rd. No other reason except that and visiting my uncle. But again When I reached the hospital it was too late. The hospital security officer was locking the doors and there were a few lifts and I didn't know which tower I should go. It was already to late to try to reach my cousin so I left and went back to my hotel. After all I wanted to have a shower and get myself representable(?) because Didi was coming soon

He finally arrived! Nearly one week by myself is enough - I had enjoyed "freedom" with myself :-p and for the weekend it's nice to have someone with me. He arrived late in the evening. Late at night we (actually he) got hungry so we went out to find some light food. I know that was not important to tell, I was just glad to have him there.

Sat, 27/05/2006

My last day at Carlton Hotel. After breakfast we finished packing and checked out. Business trip was over, and I would be on personal account so we moved to another hotel.

Robertson Quay Hotel. We got a big discount from the Internet. This is a budget hotel, located by the Singapore River. My room window looks out to the river view - nice. The room is small, it reminds me of Villa Fontaine Hotel where I stayed in Tokyo. And the shower room is very small, which reminds me of the bath room in Weekly Mansion Kameido in Tokyo. All are budget hotels. But frankly speaking, even with this discount rate I got here, back in Indonesia I could get a 4-star hotel in Bandung. Hehe...

View to Clarke Quay from my hotel room

The hotel is only a few minute walk to Clarke Quay. The nearest MRT station is Clarke Quay but we must take 90 stairs down (and up when going back). No escalator nor lift, unless we take another entrance/exit which is a little further.

Didi's first day here and he wanted to shop for IT stuff! Huahahahaaaa.....!! The nearest is Funan, so we walked there. And guess what, we bought some stuff - they're cheaper than in Jakarta!

Then we went to Kampong Glam's Arab Quarter cuz Didi hadn't been there. And again I spent the late afternoon at Jamal's cafe, Deli Moroccan, on Bussorah Street.

From there we went to Orchard Road. No real shopping except for some crazy stuff I won't write here. The clue is: it's in Lucky Plaza

We went back when our legs hurt already and still had to climb 90 stairs up to the exit of the Clarke Quay station.

After having a shower, AGAIN Didi got a call/sms from his boss and AGAIN he had to prepare some slides! Yuck. It happened in Bali, now it's happening again! Arrrgh.

Past midnight we went down stair outside to the hotel's "Beach Bar" by the river. We sat there enjoying some snacks in the night outdoors.

Thu, 25/05/2006

May 25, my friend Ken's birthday! And the first day we got to know each other. We should have celebrated but here I am and there he is in Japan.

Finished early again but it was raining. D*mn. I was tempted to jump into bed and take a nap, but I went to the gym instead, got myself sweaty, took a shower and got into the steam bath to relax my muscles. When I was done the rain has stopped falling and the sky is beautiful - clear blue with white clouds. I walked to the Arab Quarter again just to check the "House of Japan", which according to Lonely Planet sells second-hand fashion sent directly from Japan. But I was disappointed and didn't get anything there. It was twilight, and I walked back to Bugis Junction and had my [early] dinner after a little window-shopping. Since I haven't been to Orchard Rd. during this trip and have to visit my uncle at a hospital there, I took an MRT to the next interchange station. It was rush hour, the train was packed with people. When I reached the interchange station, while queing for the train with so many other people I did some time calculation. Since the train would be stuffed with all those people queing with me and the time was too late to visit the hospital, I walked to the exit and took some time browsing the mall upstairs. Singapore is on a big sale season, but things are still expensive!

I went back to my hotel, sank in bed continued where I left of the book I've been reading (Haruki Murakami's "South of the Border, West of the Sun"). Even though I was sleepy it was hard to stop reading.