Last time I went to Jakarta was 2011, I was
alone with my friend last time, this time I was with them… the whole family. I
was familiar already and felt at home with Jakarta since my first trip. I
already felt at home during my first stay that I know this second round would
be a breeze.
We arrived around 1900H it was already dark, so we decided to head out to my aunt’s place
to drop off our baggage & have dinner in Central Park Mall since it was
just across their place. We had dinner at Hong Kong Kitchen. I ordered backed
rice same with my cousins. It was a cheesy tasty treat.
After which we rested for our early morning
adventure the next day, which is our Bandung Trip. You can find my blog about
our Bandung Trip here.
Bandung
After our overnight in Bandung, we headed
back to Jakarta. In the Morning, my aunt brought us to the churches near their place. So we went on an early Visita Iglesia, or church hopping.
Theresia
Theresia's Garden of Prayer
Cathedral
An Organ
This just reminded me of the Abbey of Montserrat Church in San Beda Mendiola
My Christian Friends (CF) family back in PH told some Indo CFs
that I was in Jakarta so they tried to reach me & invite me to dinner. They
wanted to meet me in Senayan but it was my last night in Indonesia & we
were to have our early Christmas dinner. So they just messaged me that some
will try to meet me in Kopitiam, Central Park.
With my Indo CF Ates: Left-Ate Alifia, Center-Ate Eka & Right-Me
I really had a good time with them even
just for a short while, Ate Eka & Ate Alifia gave me good laughs & a
happy last day in Jakarta.
After our simple gathering I headed out to
TGI Fridays to meet my family who is already seated and waiting for the orders,
while they also asked me if I wanted something else.
It was a great short 5 day trip, but since
it was our first family trip abroad, it was really an unforgettable one.
PS since we were 7 all in all, we weren't able to fit in my Aunt's unit so they rented another unit which was in the same Bldg Compound as theirs, just another Tower. It was really a nice and affordable place to stay especially for a family or a group of friends. The rooms are very well kept & I love that the units are well decorated with a color theme, ours was the GREEN ROOM!
Here's some Pics...
Sorry for the LOOOOOONNNNGGGG hiatus. I even said on my last blog that I'll make 2015 a travel year, but at least I got to travel to Zambales, Batangas & Indonesia. Yes it's take 2 for Batangas & Indonesia. Which again were both kinda free!
My aunt had work problems so she decided that instead of them going here why not us going there! Great free trip... Free lodging... (Kinda) Free Food... Free tour!!!
This time we traveled a bit farther than Jakarta & went to one of The nearest provinces, Bandung.
Bandung, capital ofWest Java
, and is called as Indonesia's center for learning and creativity. Every weekend and long holidays the city is
filled with young people from Jakarta who flock to Bandung to enjoy its
youthful creative atmosphere in music, painting, fashion, and the
culinary arts.
Originally established in the late 19th century as a colonial garrison
town, Bandung soon grew into a town for wealthy planters who owned the
miles and miles of tea, coffee and cinchona plantations, fruit orchards
and vegetable gardens in the cool and fertile hills of West Java.
Bandung thus became the town of the European eliteand thus, it is full of rich heritage of buildings
in examplary art deco architecture. Along the present Jalan Juanda, then known as Dago Boulevard, were
the houses of the elite with their green lawns and flower gardens
fronting opulent homes. In those colonial heydays in the early 20th
century, Bandung became known as “Parijs van Java”, or the Paris of
Java, where Dutch planters and ladies paraded and flaunted their wealth
and beauty along the boulevards and Bragaweg, then the Champs Elysees of
the East. (From Wonderful Indonesia Website)
It was indeed a long drive so yes we decided to sleep. But as soon as I heard my dad calling me to see the view I woke up and got that camera!
Truly Bandung is such a beauty surrounded by picturesque landscapes being surrounded by the lush and beautiful Parahyangan mountains makes the climate mild and pleasant as well.
I was a bit lucky dad was in the mood to buy me an action camera, a Ricoh WG-M1, for Christmas since he heard I bought an SJcam in a bad condition (but no worries I got a refund). So I was able to get some wide angle view pics.
We arrived at Bandung at around 09:30am with hunger since our last meal was around 5:00am we decided to have a stop over at McDonald's, less food cost & very convenient indeed!
We then head up for our first stop at Kawah Putih. Kawah Putih (which means White Creater) is a crater lake and tourist spot in a volcanic crater about 50 km south of Bandung in West Java in Indonesia. It is one of the two creaters of Mt. Patuha, an andesitic stratovolcano (a "composite" volcano) in West Java. Kawah Putih crater lake itself represents a relatively stable volcanic
system with no records of significant activity since around 1600. Thus, the site was opened to visitors in 1987. The lake is 2,430 meters above sea
level so the local climate is often quite chilly (temperatures are
frequently around 10 degrees Celsius). (from Wikipedia)
We had a fun time taking pictures a lot since it was a long trip to go up there so we nestled every moment and also to give time for our driver to have a rest from the long drive.
Kawah Putih is a sizeable highly acid lake (pH 0.5-1.3) which changes
colour from bluish to whitish green, or brown, depending on the
concentration of sulfur and the temperature or the oxidation state. The sand and rocks surrounding the lake have been also leached into
whitish colours through interaction with the acidic lake waters (with
possible mineral precipitation as well). (from Wikipedia)
It usually gets rainy in this place so you have to be ready to wear a raincoat or have an umbrella with you. And I recommend you to wear a jacket or sweater it really gets cold in that place as in REALLY COLD! (NB. and this came from a girl who has 18 deg C room temp as her work place & was able to go inside a cold storage facility in polo shirt, jeans & just a basic coat)
Then since it was almost lunch time we headed now to the restaurant of my Uncle's workmate/friend. It was a long drive to go down from the creater but the view kept us awake.
We found, the place at last after hours from the creater. Mr. Steph & his wife were very warm & welcoming. We had ordered lunch & since we were all hungry we took a pick at almost all the dishes they recommended us. I also ordered coffee since it was really really cold in there. And I LOVED THAT GLASS OF HAZELNUT MOCHA! <3
Then after some stories shared & pictures and a lot of rest, we headed out for our hotel. It was another long drive but mainly because of the traffic. We were able to catch the sunset in the streets because of the traffic & I told dad, " So dad, what can you say about the traffic here? Worst right? More like APEC summit everyday!" He laughed.
We reached our destination, Sapulidi Resort & Restaurant. It was more of a traditional Indonesian place feel. It was like a Kampung. It was dark for us to go around so we all set ourselves to sleep (well, after taking pictures of the room since I know I'm gonna blog it).
I took this in the morning since during the night time it was dark
Then since me & mom were still not sleepy and the cable showed little shows in english, I asked her if she wanted to watch a Tagalog movie (which was saved in my USB) she agreed and we watched. Even dad joined us to watch. Mom was the only one who was able to finish the movie awake, but I watched it before so no problem with me (I just let dad watch the next morning while we were on the road).
Gaya, gaya... (Name of our hut)
The next morning we had our breakfast (which was included in the room package) while waiting for our food to be cooked, we roamed around the place to see it and of course have some pictures taken.
Sapulidi literally means Broomstick, in tagalog Walis Tingting, thus, the style of this tree & most of the huts around.
Christmas Tree... Sapulidi Style!
After some pictures we were just in time that our food was ready. We ate breakfast (which was already heavy so more kind of a brunch for us)
After breakfast & some more pictures taken, we decided to buy all of our souvenirs there. Of course because we're Pinoy, we never forgot friends back in Manila, so Pasalubong shopping galore!
After around 2 hours of shopping (tootk us that long because we were thinking of who shall we be giving out pasalubongs from there and what to give them), we headed back to our rooms for a little rest & some last minute packing. Then we headed out to out to our last destination in Bandung, Lembang Floating Market.
Upon arrival in Lembang Floating Market, we were not that impressed we thought it was only that lake where in you could have a boat ride & some shops, but as we entered the place it was a charm! We first headed to The Rock.
It was full of rock formations & different rocks were around the place. It was more of like a Zen Garden style.
Then as we walk into the park, we saw the REAL floating market
If the video won't work at least this silhouette view might give you an idea
They then decided to have lunch there, so we bought some lunch and decided to eat in one of the floating seats. It was somewhat making us dizzy especially if less people were in it. But as we stayed there we got used to it.
Then after lunch we walked to the other parts of the park.
Then when we were heading towards the car we saw the Clothing Market & decided to see what's inside to extend the rest of our driver since it would be a long drive back to Jakarta. And just when we thought we would just look in there, we then bought some clothes since it was similar to the outlet stores scattered around and it was all in one stop. There were cheap branded clothes there. I was able to get a pair of jeans for IDR 120,000 (equivalent to ~PHP 480) quite a deal because it was actually a Hugo jeans and mom bought shirts around IDR 25,000-50,000 each (~PHP 100-200)
Before heading back to Jakarta my Aunt made a deal with my cousins to pass by Prima Rasa to be able to buy their Brownies there. It was my cousins' favorite. It was good and chewey, it was also chocolatey, no wonder my cousins love them.
We were able to reach Jakarta at around 8pm already. It was surely a long drive, short trip but definitely we enjoyed our first family adventure, I hope we could have more family adventures in the future. :)
For more information about Bandung and some probable things you could do with your stay, please visit http://bandungtourism.com/
Where we stayed: Sapulidi Cafe, Resort & Gallery
Jl. Sersan Bajuri, Kompleks Graha Puspa, Lembang, Bandung, Indonesia 40553 Contact No. +62 22 2034109 Sites to see: Kawah Putih Jl. Situ Patengan, Rancabali, Bandung, Jawa Barat 40973, Indonesia Daily 7:00AM–5:00PM Floating Market Lembang, Bandung Jl. Grand Hotel No. 33 E, Lembang, Bandung Barat, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
