Jakarta 2011

Frequent activies during flight

Here we go again, as we headed back to Jakarta in the year 2011.  During this trip our flight was from Kuching, to KL, then Jakarta.  Bought the tickets the year before and return flight for all 3 of us was less than RM480 if I'm not mistaken.  Kinda sad because Airasia decided to remove Kuching - Jakarta, never the less life goes on and here we go on our adventure.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Picture was taken by Esther"][/caption]

  So, basically day 1 was flying from one place to another.  Day 2 we went shopping at Deluxe usual place at Golden Truly.  And here of course we had Gado-gado, where I was told the price has been increased.  Traffic however wasn't that bad surprisingly during this time.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Gado-Gado"][/caption]

But we noticed how quickly the sun set.  Probably it's due to the fact that we're 1 hour behind so by 6pm, it's already very dark.  Never the less, that didn't stopped us from carrying on adventuring to our next destination.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Monas"][/caption]

  We were hoping to ride on "Delman" or also known as horse carriage for Esther.  But by the time we reached there, apparently there weren't any available there for us to ride.  Fortunately for us, the roads were clear due to the Ramadan season.  After exploring Monas for a while, we decided to head back to pick up Deluxe's parents who were in church.  All this time, Deluxe was driving due to the fact that I don't really know the roads, and of course the drivers there are all amazing.  Until today, I'm very impressed on how Indonesian drivers go around.  It is as if the cars have eyes or something.  Never the less, that pretty much ends our journey on day 2.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Lunch @ Indischatafel"][/caption]

  The next day we got up, and decided to head down to Bandung.  To pretty much figure out what is there to see.  As I heard many stories about Bandung, but have yet to step foot to that place after being in Jakarta for like 5 times already.  Due to the fact that all of us didn't really know the roads in Bandung, we rely a lot from Google maps.  And boy was it a very useful tools.  The journey pretty much took us about 2 hours from Jakarta to Bandung.  And by the time we reached there, it was already about close to 2pm, so we headed to Indischatafel for lunch.  As that was the closest place we saw with food sign on it. LOL.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="One of their specialty"][/caption]

  After we had our lunch there, we started to embark on what they call a shopping spree here in Bandung.  Apparently from what I understand, everything there were factory outlet store.  And each section would have different products, due to the limitation of time we only went to one part only.  And it was mostly clothing and bags.  Still I should have gotten a bag there, but I was thinking there were more nicer ones in the other shops ended up didn't get it due to the numerous of selections there.  Anyway, after shopping along that street for a few hours we decided to head back down to Jakarta.  And that pretty much ended day 3.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="A very realistic sculpture in Bandung"][/caption]

  Day 4, today we pretty much stayed home the whole day.  As we were waiting for Deluxe friend who was suppose to drop by during lunch time.  While Deluxe and Shelly went and catch up, I decided to take a nap before heading out as well.  By the time we went out was close to 5pm, as we headed to one of the nearby mall to get our dinner.  After dinner, we ended up strolling around the mall and decided to walk back home.  While heading back, we saw a ride and pretty much asked Esther if she would like to ride on it.  Without hesitation she said yes.  But since we were a bit worried she wouldn't know how to ride it, Deluxe decided to sit with her instead as I was a bit over size for the thing.

Day 5, I had to followed Deluxe parents to somewhere.  While Deluxe brought Esther to Mall of Indonesia.  I wouldn't want to talk too much as I believe a picture do tell a thousand words.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Riding a Plane"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Riding A Merry go round"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="In A Bumper Car"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="In a Tram"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Future F1 Driver"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Off Road biking"][/caption]

  Day 6, we woke up kinda early because we wanted to attend Gereja Reformed Injili Indonesia.  Service that day started at 7am, fortunately for us it would be 8am here.  So the jet lag wasn't too bad :P

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Picture taken by Esther, while waiting for Daddy"][/caption]

  After church we went and had breakfast.  Sunday is probably the least cars you can find on the road.  So the traffic jam wasn't that bad.  On normal days, it would take you probably 1-2 hours to get to a destination.  But on Sunday would be like 30 mins to 1 hour,  as a lot of places were closed as well.  After that we went over to Shelly's place before heading back home.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Esther & Ian"][/caption]

  After spending quite some time at her place, we decided to head over to the malls once again for dinner.  And of course, just do a little window shopping before we make our final purchase the day before we head back.  Not forgetting to head over to the usual place where I felt that if I don't eat martabak, then I won't consider even stepping foot in Jakarta.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Rudy's Martabak"][/caption]

    So that pretty much wraps up day 6.  Day 7, was a day where we decided to head over to Roxy ITC.  That's where all the tech stuffs are.  That's just to pretty much scout the market there to see how things were.  As we only spend a few hours there, managed to get some batik shirts and dresses.  And of course, being Monday most of the time we were basically stuck on the road.  Which you can see from here.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Traffic Jam"][/caption]

  So that pretty much took up most of the time for day 7, right after we stock up on colostrum.  Will probably talk about it some other time for that.  We then head over to Golden Truly once again for dinner.  I know it has been one of Deluxe must go places, but in terms of location wise it was closest to where we were.  Then we went and visited Deluxe uncle right after dinner.  We spent quite a while there, as Esther was enjoying looking at the puppy.  But she still doesn't really dare to touch it due to her bad experience in Miri.  So it was good, and as we were heading back suddenly the motor cyclist suddenly stopped us and made a U turn in the lane.  We were puzzled as he was shouting to us telling that it's forbidden to go through that lane, and we didn't really catch on but fortunately Deluxe made a U turn back.  As she told me that she missed the junction out, and if she were to continue using that lane, she would have been fined for going against traffic in a one lane street.  Eventually she managed to find the small lane and we headed back home to call it a day.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Deluxe's Uncle Family"][/caption]

Day 8, we actually went out later than usual due to the fact that both Esther and I wasn't feeling too good.  Probably maybe it was due to car sickness or something.  So we rested quite a bit before heading out to Romana Tailor, situated at Maharadja hotel.  Because we were traveling from the Northern part to Southern part of Jakarta.  We faced traffic jam throughout the whole journey.  And what was more surprising it was jam toll highway.  It was so jammed that Deluxe managed to take a picture of us.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Stuck in the jam"][/caption]

    So by the time we reached there was already evening.  While we were there, Esther had a blast with her Shuk Kung & Kiu Kung.  And ended up taking a lot of pictures with them.  Here are just a few of them.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="With Kiu Kung & Shuk Kung"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="With Po Po"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="She's very fond of this Air Stewardess"][/caption]

  After closing up, we headed over to Pondok Laguna for dinner.  It was quite a nice place to eat, plus you should seriously tried their fried fish.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Not as good as Sari Kuring, but this taste just as good"][/caption]

  Once dinner was over.  We headed back and start to pack some stuff to bring home.  Never the less, it was a good a fruitful trip.  Fortunately I wasn't car sick during this time unlike previous years.  Maybe it was because of the supplement that helped me.  But life's good when you can spend time with your loved ones.  It was a good long break, and I do admit I certainly had fun.  Was in Jakarta for about a week, as I was using a simpati prepaid card.  I was still able to communicate to people here in Kuching and my parents via whatsapp and viber for only RP5000/day, which is roughly about less than RM2.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Esther with her cousin Alyssa. Can you spot the similarities?"][/caption]

  On our way back from Jakarta, we had a transit in KL.  So my mom wanted to visit us during that 5 hours.  And of course my brother came along with Alyssa.  Esther did had a good time with her.  5 hours flew pass quickly, and it wasn't long before we had to say goodbye.  Esther was feeling very emotional as she doesn't really like saying good bye.  Anyway, I had to check in my frying pan because the staff at Airasia was worried that I would hijack the plane with that.  So that was pretty much about it.

  So once we arrived at Kuching, we managed to get a taxi and sent us home.  And once we got back, we know that fun time was over and reality started to kick in.  Never the less, it was a good trip and we really had fun.  That is all that matters.  Till then, we'll see when is our next adventure will bring us.