Indonesia - Part 3
i can't believe that i have yet to finish writing about this trip on my blog...
We managed to study the map in the sardine packed mini-van and found out where we can get off to head to the national park.
The national park is pretty nice.. its information centre was a bit run down. after fiddling around in front of the national park, we head for our day walk/hike to the waterfalls. Lovely view and weather was just perfect, not too hot& humid, not too cold and definitely not too wet. We didn't know much about this national park... all the website say it's a cool climate... we should known better when the website was written by indonesians and not mat sallehs. Our extra baggage: 2 cool climate jackets (my Kathmandu jacket and baby's jacket). We should have left it back at home in Malaysia and use the space to carry watermelon or other yummy foodstuff. bah!
Anyway, trip back from the national park was pretty interesting. Not only do we not know where is the nearest bus stop and resorted to do what the local do (ie. jump on to a moving bus while shouting our intended destination). kinda reminds me of the movie Speed, where the bus doesn't stop at all.
The bus did not go our destination but stop somewhere nearby... wait, did i say stop... no, it was a wrong word to use, the bus did not stop (just like us getting aboard, we have to jump off a moving bus). ok, i'm exagerating here a bit. Truth: it's a moving bus but due to traffic built up in front, bus was moving at a speed close to 10-20 km/h. it's almost like trying to get off Metrojaya/Intrakota bus back home when the drivers at home were rushing to god knows where.
I must say we did pretty well.. from nowhere, we managed to catch a intracity minivan back to Bogor. whilst in the van, we encouter some horny boys and a slutty and naive girl (which was pretty good coz those boys changed their attention from us to her).
Next day, we headed off to Jakarta. Going to Jakarta on Sunday morning using their train system is probably the best way to travel. no traffic, plenty of seats on board and a helpful local. i miss our train station back home. At least back home there's a huge sign stating which station you're at when you're reaching/leaving the station. in indonesia, not only is their signage small, it's placed at some obscure place. We almost miss our stop but managed to jump off the train in time when a kind gentleman can see from our face that we were somewhat lost, searching high and low for the station's name when we knew we were close to our destination. i supposed all/majority of the tourists gets off at Gambir station.
Jakarta is pretty boring, i suppose one can say the same bout KL too. Our highlight (where we wanted to go visit) was pretty lame and we finish our sightseeing within 3 hours of us leaving our hotel. sigh!
however, we like Cafe Batavia (should definitely go there for a drink or a meal). was at first not too keen to go since all tourist books/ phamplet mentioned bout that place like it's the only place to go. such an overkill. but once we found out that we have absolutely nothing else to do in jakarta and we have more than 30 hours in that city, we decided we should just go. am glad we went as their atmosphere really lives up to those write up. pricing wise.. a bit steep for the average indonesian but if you convert to ringgit, it's just like going to hartamas/ bangsar for a drink.
we decided to explore other part of the city and ended up shopping at Blok M. yes, sounds like a prison / refugee site but it's littered with shopping malls everywhere. not quite like bukit bintang or orchard st but close enough. managed to get myself some nice work clothes (pathetic huh... ppl go holiday and buy souvenir, i buy work clothes). was searching high & low for a nice v neck vest but only managed to get one in jakarta. i saw a nice work shirt which i like and it was on 50% discount. can't complain huh?
Our final day in Jakarta, we ended up spending most of the morning watching MTV and other tv program in the hotel room until check out time. Then we headed to Chillis for lunch (Tony Romas was too expensive). We were shocked to find out that their bottomless ice lemon tea was served fresh (ie. they gave you ice tea and you have to squeeze your own lemon and stir in the honey on your own). by the time we have gone through our 3rd glass of ice lemon tea, both my palms smelled like fresh lemon. should have just ordered coke!
We planned our trip well. we came back with only Rp3,000 to spare and while at the airport, i even managed to do some shopping for the office. I should really get out this ill habit of working while holidaying (ie. doing research for my boss when i was in singapore & langkawi, visiting the estate when we went to taiping for a break). damn workaholic wannabe.
so there ya go, our trip to indonesia.
We managed to study the map in the sardine packed mini-van and found out where we can get off to head to the national park.
The national park is pretty nice.. its information centre was a bit run down. after fiddling around in front of the national park, we head for our day walk/hike to the waterfalls. Lovely view and weather was just perfect, not too hot& humid, not too cold and definitely not too wet. We didn't know much about this national park... all the website say it's a cool climate... we should known better when the website was written by indonesians and not mat sallehs. Our extra baggage: 2 cool climate jackets (my Kathmandu jacket and baby's jacket). We should have left it back at home in Malaysia and use the space to carry watermelon or other yummy foodstuff. bah!
Anyway, trip back from the national park was pretty interesting. Not only do we not know where is the nearest bus stop and resorted to do what the local do (ie. jump on to a moving bus while shouting our intended destination). kinda reminds me of the movie Speed, where the bus doesn't stop at all.
The bus did not go our destination but stop somewhere nearby... wait, did i say stop... no, it was a wrong word to use, the bus did not stop (just like us getting aboard, we have to jump off a moving bus). ok, i'm exagerating here a bit. Truth: it's a moving bus but due to traffic built up in front, bus was moving at a speed close to 10-20 km/h. it's almost like trying to get off Metrojaya/Intrakota bus back home when the drivers at home were rushing to god knows where.
I must say we did pretty well.. from nowhere, we managed to catch a intracity minivan back to Bogor. whilst in the van, we encouter some horny boys and a slutty and naive girl (which was pretty good coz those boys changed their attention from us to her).
Next day, we headed off to Jakarta. Going to Jakarta on Sunday morning using their train system is probably the best way to travel. no traffic, plenty of seats on board and a helpful local. i miss our train station back home. At least back home there's a huge sign stating which station you're at when you're reaching/leaving the station. in indonesia, not only is their signage small, it's placed at some obscure place. We almost miss our stop but managed to jump off the train in time when a kind gentleman can see from our face that we were somewhat lost, searching high and low for the station's name when we knew we were close to our destination. i supposed all/majority of the tourists gets off at Gambir station.
Jakarta is pretty boring, i suppose one can say the same bout KL too. Our highlight (where we wanted to go visit) was pretty lame and we finish our sightseeing within 3 hours of us leaving our hotel. sigh!
however, we like Cafe Batavia (should definitely go there for a drink or a meal). was at first not too keen to go since all tourist books/ phamplet mentioned bout that place like it's the only place to go. such an overkill. but once we found out that we have absolutely nothing else to do in jakarta and we have more than 30 hours in that city, we decided we should just go. am glad we went as their atmosphere really lives up to those write up. pricing wise.. a bit steep for the average indonesian but if you convert to ringgit, it's just like going to hartamas/ bangsar for a drink.
we decided to explore other part of the city and ended up shopping at Blok M. yes, sounds like a prison / refugee site but it's littered with shopping malls everywhere. not quite like bukit bintang or orchard st but close enough. managed to get myself some nice work clothes (pathetic huh... ppl go holiday and buy souvenir, i buy work clothes). was searching high & low for a nice v neck vest but only managed to get one in jakarta. i saw a nice work shirt which i like and it was on 50% discount. can't complain huh?
Our final day in Jakarta, we ended up spending most of the morning watching MTV and other tv program in the hotel room until check out time. Then we headed to Chillis for lunch (Tony Romas was too expensive). We were shocked to find out that their bottomless ice lemon tea was served fresh (ie. they gave you ice tea and you have to squeeze your own lemon and stir in the honey on your own). by the time we have gone through our 3rd glass of ice lemon tea, both my palms smelled like fresh lemon. should have just ordered coke!
We planned our trip well. we came back with only Rp3,000 to spare and while at the airport, i even managed to do some shopping for the office. I should really get out this ill habit of working while holidaying (ie. doing research for my boss when i was in singapore & langkawi, visiting the estate when we went to taiping for a break). damn workaholic wannabe.
so there ya go, our trip to indonesia.
posted by Debz at
11:23 am
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