Ancol Art Market (Pasar Seni Ancol)

Our next stop was at Ancol Art Market which was part of the Ancol Jakarta development. The complete Ancol Jakarta development consisted of Dreamland (the fantasy world for kids), Art Market, Marina, Golf Resort, Amusement Park and beaches.

We just focused on the Art Market as the area was too large to venture within a day. The kids also looked exhausted after a trip from Bandung. This was the placce where hundreds of Indonesian artists resided and exhibited their works. A lot of interesting art works but one that really hooked us was the art by artist who identified himself as "Macroni Art".

This was the "Macroni Art". Notice the unique of the works as they were made of ropes.

Mr Macroni at his work. Weaving ( unsure of the correct term) ropes and turned into dragon shape.

Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Jakarta

2/6/2009 - We just had bread for breakfast and left to Jakarta by 7:30a.m. Bid all the traffic jams and managed to reach Jakarta within two hours. We were the early bird as there were no single tourist yet when we arrived at the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII). Most of the rides including cable cars were still not in operation. Had drinks while waiting for the kid's theme park to open. Experienced the change of weather from Bandung. The air was stuffy.

The kids theme park was in a sorry state. All the rides were backdated and many were out of orders. But kids were kids, they still enjoyed the rides regardless of the conditions. I guessed this was a beauty part of being kids.

Choo...choo...the train ride at the kids theme park.

Finished the ride, we were approached by two red bunnies. We were offered to photograph with them. Actually those muppets were self employed. We were fooled by them as at the end of the photography sessions, we had to pay to each one. We thought it was covered in the admission fees.

These were the two red bunnies...not free service.

We walked to another park. This time, the kids were so excited. Guessed what? It was a water theme park which was a new added attraction. It was just opened and under promotion with 40% discount. Too bad, none of us brought swimming suits. The kids were so frustrated. From the balcony at the ticket counters, we could see the overview of the park. They had snow session with penguins and slides. The areas was bigger than Sunway Lagoon and quite impressive from the distant. I suggested that for those who might drop by this place should venture into this.

The TMII area was big, about 120 hectares. The purpose of the TMII by Indonesian first lady was for tourist to discover Indonesia within a day.

They had several museums, replicas of each ethnic groups habitats and lakes. The replicas were almost equal to the actual sizes. Since we had limited time, we only explored the Indonesia Museum and The Kids Palace (Istana Anak-Anak). Indonesia Museum was worth to explore as it had lots of information on Indonesia's 26 provinces with different cultures. architectures, clothing and traditions.

This was the Indonesia Museum.
The family shot infront of the Indonesia Museum. Note the architectural design of the building resembled the era of some sort like Borobudur Empire.

This shot was taken at the museum garden. Notice the landscape and water features...

View the bottom photographs to appreciate the Indonesian values and cultures through some of the displayed items at the museum. Photographs were allowed with minimal fee charges.








Displayed complete bride/rooms costumes for all the ethnic groups in Indonesia.

The bridal dais

Indonesia also famous with the wayang kulit (shadow puppets show) and they had three to four different types of shadow puppets. One was quite similar to Kelantanese shadow puppet made of leather and they also had one with 3-D version. The 3-D shadow puppets were crafted from wood complete with fabric costumes. Each shadow puppets would carry their own trademarks. Like the one below was called Wayang Tengul. I was not sure what was the meaning of tengul. May be somebody could help me out .

Apart from shadow puppets, they also famous with show that required the players to project themselves through mask appearances.

The masks portrayed of different characters in the show.

Our next stop was the Istana Anak-Anak (Kids Palace). We had to ride a car as it was not within walking distant. The Kids Palace was a copycat of famous Walt Disney design. I was a bit put off as the nice building was rather left empty internally. It would be nice, if they housed statues of the famous walt disney characters from the fairy tales like snow white, cinderella etc to reflect the identity of the building. There was also no activities like story telling or show to attract kids.

The Kids Palace ended our tour at the TMII.

Farewell Bandung

It was only 3 :30 p.m. (Indonensian time), so we filled up the rest of the day to do some shoppings. There were quite a number of factory outlets available besides Rumah Mode. Diago, Grande, Merdeka and Riau to name a few. Mr. Supri brought us to Riau Factory Outlet which was located along Jalan Riau. It just took us about 30 minutes drive from the gallery.

It was more or less similar to Rumah Mode except that it was a bit smaller. We spent quite some times here while waiting for my husband's niece, Wadiah, to accompany us. She arrived just nice after we had finished our purchases.

It was still drizzled. We walked about half km to a nearby restaurant, Caberawet. In Bandung city, menu with cheese and avocado were quite famous. I've tried "pisang keju" (fried banana served with cheese) and chocolate avocado drink. The "pisang keju" was worth tasting. The avocado drink with chocolate was a bit yucky...both chocolate and avocado were too rich and the mixture gave a mud colour...We catch up with Wadiah who had spent almost 4 years in Bandung studying dentistry.

We bid farewell to Wadiah about Maghrib. So before we left tomorrow for Jakarta, we wrapped the night in Bandung at Kartika Sari brownies outlet. Kartika Sari was a famous local brownies producer. We tried the chocolate and cheese brownies. The tastes were so....good. We bought some for ole-ole.

We back at the hostel about 9p.m. and the kids were so excited to play with the "Ninja" toy set purchased at Tangkuban Perahu.

Notes:

1. I found that as a Muslim, it was convenient to travel within Bandung as musolah (prayer room) was always available either at the gallery, shopping outlets or restaurants.
2. The weather was nice and fresh especially in the morning.
3. The food were quite good and consumable.
4. The visit was not complete without brownies as ole-ole.

Nyoman Nuarta Gallery

By noon, we left the legendary Tangkuban Perahu and headed to Nyoman Nuarta Gallery. Also well known as Nu Art Sculpture Park located at the Sentra Duta Raya. The gallery constructed on 3 hectars land was designed and developed for art lovers. It offered limitless resources for those who thirst for art and design knowledge.

Nyoman Nuarta exhibited his sculpture masterpieces from the beginning of his career . Among his famous masterpieces were fish and hand sculptures. Sorry, not able to snap any of the photos. Mostly his sculptures would have kind of wavy lines to express the motion or life of his sculptures. This was my personal interpretation...

The sculpture of Inol (Indonesian dangdut queen) was exhibited in front of the gallery. Act as a gesture of welcome...

We had our light lunch at the cafe...we had choice of western food...It was raining before we finished our lunch. Quickly, we gobbled our food and rushed to the main gallery building.

Had our yummy lunch...

Tangkuban Perahu

Reached at Tangkuban Perahu...




1 June 2009 - Our destination was the famous tourist spot, located 28km north of Bandung, Tangkuban Perahu. We started early, left the hostel about 7:30 a.m. and took our breakfast half way to Tangkuban Perahu. Actually we were looking for light breakfast as we were still full after a heavy and delicious dinner at Restaurant Kampung Daun. Unfortunately, there was no light breakfast served. Only rice available...left us with not much choice but to have our brunch...

Along the way, it was packed with nice view...the hills were covered with tea plantations which the farmers creatively arranged the crops turned into unique designs rolling the hills.
Unfortunately, quite hard to see the beautiful patterns that the farmers created with their tea crops from this photo ....

We passed through the guard house and paid our entrance fees. Those who travelled by bus had to take the jeep up the hill but ones with own transport could drive to the spot. There were actually a few craters to be visited but we proceeded to the famous one, the Queen Crater (Kawah Ratu).

We reached Tangkuban Perahu at 10.00 a.m. The air was cold and breezy. The moment we stepped down from the car, we were welcomed with peddlers carrying all sorts of souvenirs. It was very annoying as they tried to block our ways to make their ends meet. One of the pedlars did not give up on us and kept on tailing us like an obedient slave...unofficially became the tourist guide ... kept stuffing us with the info related to Tangkuban Perahu including the famous folklore or legend of SangKuriang.

The panoramic view was splendid but the kids complained about the pungent sulfer smell. Also, we had to be extra cautious of the slippery loose sand covered all the place.







Notice the splendid panaromic view, the hill looked like a turned over ship...Also, note the lava and poisonous gas gushed out from the crater..

Walked to the view tower...





Viewed the panaroma from the tower...

We were able to view the surrounding areas from the tower. The peddlers were prohibited around this area. We were relieved as were freed temporarily from their hassled ...

We strolled along the street filled up souvenir shops. Since it was not a public holiday, the placed not really crowded and only a few shops were opened. I found that the souvenirs were not really attractive and quite costly... the items were easily found elsewhere...could be shops that carry special items were closed...

The peddlers street...

Some of the items displayed at the souvenir shops...

Another shot of the volcano after the peddlers street...






The areas were covered only with these plants...

The unofficial guide informed us that the plant known as bodhi ( hopefully, I got it right) could only be found here. According to him, those who consumed the leaves would remain young ...sort of anti-aging process...

Just thought for the day, Dayang Sumbi ( SangKuriang's mother) might have stayed young forever because of the plants...

Note : Those who visited Crater Domas(Kawah Domas) could experience the eggs get boil within 10 minutes. We did not have a chance this time, may be during another trip...

Family Trip To Jakarta/Bandung - Part 1

My husband had planned a trip to Jakarta and Bandung in Indonesia for quite sometimes. He even booked the ticket six months prior to our trip. We broke the news to our kids just two weeks before the trip. Everybody was so excited as it was the first family trip to overseas especially my first daughter. She even practiced her Indonesian languages which she picked up from the sinetron slot on TV3.

Apart from being excited, we were also worried because of the H1N1 outbreak. I kept on praying that none of us would fall sick and reminding my love ones to take care of themselves. We packed our luggage to minimum as possible to make space for our shopping spree there. The day, we had been waiting for finally emerged. Yes, 30 May 2009...Bon Voyage...Hail to Jakarta...

Our flight, MH722 was delayed half an hour due to technical problem. The kids were having fun except during the landing process. A bit of unpleasant feelings. All in, the two hours journey were very enjoyable. We passed through the immigration check point, claimed our luggage and looked for the driver (which my husband had arranged). A few telephone calls had to be made before we finally met the driver, Mr Supri alias Pakcik Janggut ( the kids gave him the nickname). We all loaded onto the 'Kijang' and headed to Bandung.




This was the scene at KLIA while waiting for MH722 flight. The kids were a bit restless...

The travelling time was supposed to be another two hours but the traffic was very bad that it took us more than 4 hours to reach Bandung. We checked in at the Wisma Wanita Hostel at 9 p.m. Our scheduled shopping to the Rumah Mode outlet factory was cancelled. The kids were flat and slept like nobody business...

31 May 2009, we woke early and get ready. The morning air was pretty cold but it was very refreshing...Mr. Supardi was already waiting for us. I was impressed with his punctuality and professionalism. We experienced our first Indonesia breakfast...quite tough to choose the food...

The first time tasted Indon gado-gado...not bad...consist of lontong, eggs, bean sprouts, shredded cucumber,tofu and fish crackers. Covered with nuts gravy.

My husband and I shared the taste of Indon gado-gado with lontong and the kids enjoyed the tapioca chips...After breakfast, we headed to pasar baru trade center. It was about 30 minutes trip from the hostel. Since it was still early, about 9 a.m., the traffic was smooth and not many patrons yet at the pasar (market).

It was not really a good idea to bring small kids to shop here as the alley between shops was about an adult size L. It was a bit annoying to me that apart from this, the drinks and foods sellers would also passed through the alley offering their products. It was more cramped than Pasar Payang in Terengganu. Anyway, the pasar had quite a lot of stuff to offer, namely from clothings, handbags up to textiles. The salepersons were very customer oriented. Maybe, it was still early in the morning that everybody was still in good moods or this was part of the culture...We headed to Level 3...textile corners...This area were spacious compared to the lower levels.

I would say the materials were good ranging from top qualities cotton, silk etc. I admired the imported cotton from Japan and French ...the design were elegant and the price were unbelievable much much cheaper than here...I bought a few pieces from Laksmi Textile...which partly were "ole-ole" for the relatives...

One of the scenes at Laksmi textile...

The kids were having good time while waiting for mummy shopping...

We left at 11a.m. and had our lunch at Nasi Padang Restaurant since my husband craved so much on the dishes. The rendangs were good and delicious but the kids could not take so much spicy food. So they ended up having fried chicken only. We had to reorder the fried chickens several times as the chickens were small ( either spring or kampung chickens).

Having lunch at Nasi Padang Restaurant. Look at the variety of dishes ... but only the fried chickens been sold out...

Next place was Selasar Sunaryo Gallery. It was located on a hilly side of Jalan Bukit Pakar Timur. Impressed with the architecture and landscape of the gallery. The welcomed gesture was two blocks (sort of square pillars) and connected with small pipings. The pipes had numerials of tiny holes and water sprinkled through the holes. The kids loved playing here and got themselves wet. I personally admired the "musolah" or prayer room. The building was designed in such a way inviting rays of natural lights from the surroundings... The gallery offered the art works of Mr. Sunaryo which mostly were based on thumb prints. The gallery also act as a public space for arts exhibition, workshops and performances. It was also completed with a cafe called Selasar Kopi. We spent a few hours here...it's worth visiting but a lot of areas were prohibited to be photographed...so we had to stick to the rules...

The main entrance to the Selasar Sunaryo Gallery.

The water structure welcomed us...

Inside the musolah or prayer room.

Notice the stairs were beautifully arranged to blend with the surrounding landscape...

The overview of
Selasar Sunaryo Gallery...

We left the gallery heavy heartedly...headed to Rumah Mode Factory Outlet. It was the popular shopping outlet well known to locals and foreigners. Since it was Sunday, the place was flooded with shoppers mainly the Jakarta folks and Malaysian...

The tips to shop was we took turn to look for our goods. First, I looked after the kids at a quiet corner (the outlet made effort to place settees and sofas for guests) while my husband roamed over men's apparels. Then, it was my turn while he looked after the kids...Ladies garments had wide varieties from casuals, formals to lingeries...however, personally I felt the limitations were the choices of colors (mainly either grey, black or white) and sizes (S,M,L but the sizes were one size smaller than here)...Good choice of fabrics...mostly cotton...Not much varieties on kids stuff...

Infront of Rumah Mode Factory Outlet

Later that day, we had dinner at Restoran Kampung Daun. Located at Lembang Hills inside the Trinity Villas. On the way, we passed through a lot of plant nurseries and strawberry parks.
The scenery were flushed of greens and luxurious villas surrounding the Trinity Villas. But the zig-zag road could only accomodate one way transport at a time. At last, we reached the entrance of the restaurant...Mr. Supri proceeded to the parking lot. The friendly waiter led us to the gazebo. Along the way, they had gazebos on the left and right sides of the roads. We were placed at the gazebo with white decorative curtains and complete with small pillows. A small stream of river ran behind the gazebo...enveloped us with a peaceful and relaxing environment. While waiting for our order, we strolled up the hill and made another fantastic discovery ... a natural water fall ... so serene...

We took our own sweet time to finish off our dinner...nasi ayam..(oops, forgot the menu). The food were so tempting and superb...It must be an authentic Indonesion delicacies...I guessed...Honestly, no regret....

By the time we finished dinner, we made another surprised discovery on our way out. The whole place was lit up by bon fire and massive candles...created a very romantic feelings which were very hard to resist...

The walkway path to the gazebo. Notice the giant fern species and greens filled up the area...

The gazebo nicely hidden in between the greens...

The closed-up look at the interior of the gazebo...

The water fall at the peak ....

The bon fire...

The placed lit up by candles....

Shot family's photo...