Jakarta

It was on Malaysia's 46th Independence Day holiday that my family and I decided to celebrate our Independence Day abroad which is in Jakarta. We decided to go on that particular date not because we have anything against the country but because the holiday was extended since our Independence Day that year fell on a weekend. Therefore on the eve of our National Day my family took a plane to JAKARTA, Indonesia. We were joined by this lady who said she was going to Jakarta for the special massage package. But when we arrived she decided to abandon her massage and joined us! :p

In Jakarta we were guided by a funny tour guide who made our journey very interesting that it was hard for me to fall asleep (a huge accomplishment I have to say). He took us to see the Monas (Monumen Nasional) and the President's house before heading for our hotel to rest. To enter our hotel we need to go through the metal detector machine because when we went it was only a few weeks after the bombing of the J. W. Marriott hotel. Honestly I was a bit scared but my dad assured me it was going to be okay. Since there was no activity that night we made our own activity. My dad led the way as we checked out a shopping mall nearby. To tell the truth it was almost like KL but I guess there were more people on the streets compared to back home. We finished the night by having coffee at the hotel lobby.

As I mentioned earlier, we made our way to BANDUNG the next morning after breakfast. I don't remember how long the journey was but I know that it was long. To make our journey bearable the tour guide asked us if we want to take a detour and of course we said yes. Especially me. Can you guess where did we head to? The Safari! It was amazing! Lions and tigers were just outside the window and other wild animals were walking around as if the vehicles coming in were just one of them. Cars stopped to give the animals food (the herbivores, not the carnivores). After that it was photo taking session! We arrived in Bandung later and I totally enjoyed the calm scenery and cool weather.

The next morning we made our way back to Jakarta from Bandung. This time we stopped at a tourist attraction spot called Tangkuban Perahu. It was actually a dead volcano but it was called that because it looks like an upside-down perahu. We also dipped our feet in the hot spring. Later we stopped by the road to enjoy an Indonesian roadside food: baked corn and potatoes. With the cool weather it was perfect.

In Jakarta we made our last tourist stop at Mini Indonesia which is like our own Mini Malaysia in Malacca. They had on display the types of houses from the various ethnic groups in Indonesia. But of course our trip would not be perfect if we don't stop somewhere specifically to shop! So that's what we did before our flight that night :p We went to the famous Manggar Dua to shop.

Unfortunately the trip did not end smoothly. Our supposedly funny tour guide tried to be 'funny' for asking more money from the adults. My smart parents did not immediately fall for their trick and called our agency in KL to settle things. It was okay at the end of the day and I am grateful that incident never happen again especially on my next adventure to Denmark and Austria!