那些片断……

My 1st experience in creating such a clip. Thanks to iMovie for such easy and user friendly step-by-step. It's really fun doing this. This is the result. What do you think?

Ancol & Indonesia Indah

During the last day in Jakarta, we went to visit a few (just 2) tourist attractions. Taman Impian Jaya Ancol, aka Ancol Dreamland, was the 1st stop of the day after the Nasi Padang lunch. It's located along the Jakarta's Waterfront.

It has a theme park (Dunia Fantasi aka Fantasy World) well known for its rides, water parks, beaches, sports complex and resorts. Unfortunately, it's a bit run-down. I think the management need a good plan to maintain the area.

by the water

pics with us in it

No doubt, it's a great place for family weekend outing. But for us, there wasn't much fun. Could it be the age factor that made us so out of place there? Anyway, we just walked along the seaside, took some photos and left the place.

our main transport throughout the trip

Next destination - Taman Mini 'Indonesia Indah'. It'a culture-based recreational park. The main attractions would be the miniature villages that exhibit the culture, especially the architecture, of different ethnic groups from every province of Indonesia.

Besides, one could visit to the musuems (about 10) in this huge area. I'm sure it's the best place for the schoolkids to have different lessons here. It's an alternative to the boring chalk-and-talk.

the islands in the lake = map of Indonesia

Museum Komodo & Taman Reptilia house

The highlight of the day would definitely be the visit to the Komodo Dragon Museum. None of us would ever think that we could get such a close distance to the 'monster'! If it wasn't the worker, we would never have such a chance; and luckily, the pet had just had lunch. 

Varanus komodoensis

HC and the Komodo dragon

The age factor kicked in for another time. We didn't visit all the villages in this park. We were too lazy to walk. Of all the miniature villages, we visited only one - the Bali. In total, there're about 20 of them.

mini Bali

discussion on the next activity

Nasi Padang of Minangkabau

Date & Time: 11/11/2008, Noon
Food tasters: Vid, KH, MH & HC
Targeted Restaurant: Rumah Makanan Garuda, Jakarta Pusat

24 hours - to increase competitiveness?

This wasn't my 1st time being the taster of Nasi Padang. During my last trip to Jakarta back in the Summer of 2005, I'd already tried that, but not at this restaurant. Watching the waiters & waitresses putting the dishes on our table non-stop, was always the fun bit.

view from the entrance

Other than being less Curry-based, I personally haven't found out the significant difference of Nasi Padang to Nasi Kandar in Malaysia, or maybe Nasi Kayu Pinang, Nasi Campur or whatever one likes to call it. Unless I consider the non-food-taste element, like the Indian influence in Malaysia. 

They are all hot and spicy, unlike the Chinese 'Economic / Mixed Rice / Chap Fan / Chap Cai Peng'. The latter is more on stir frying, braising and of course, cheaper.

pic taken before the feast

the main thing - food

Overall, we were satisfied with the food here. Tasty and delicious. But, the down side: it's a bit more expensive than what we'd had for the past few days. That's the reason why we didn't eat the big prawns!

Tangkuban Perahu

Welcome to Tangkuban Perahu

Mt Tangkuban Perahu, meaning the flipped boat in English, is an active volcano and at the same time is seen as the symbol of Bandung. The name has something linked to the 'Legend of Sangkuriang', about how a disobedient son kicked his boat upside-down and turned into stone.

we're finally there after a very long journey

wanna have a horse ride? or scarf made of rabbit fur?

Since we were in Bandung, how could we miss the chance to visit this place? In fact, it was the only tourist attraction that we went to. Of course, we didn't hike up to the crater area. Fortunately, we had Pak Ari there to be our chauffeur. He drove us there, passing through the forest.

lotsa 'climbing'

the viewing hut; unknown snacks

It's very cooling up there; right time to get away from the heat. Due to the smoke from the volcano, it's quite hazy. Yet, it made all the pictures taken there look nice. Again, this place gave us much opportunity to show our photography skill.

paparazzi wannabe

Pak Ari was the only one among us to have the guts to stand so close to the crater and squatted down as seen in the picture below. For this, HC claimed 'His balls is bigger than mine!'

Pak Ari, squatting very closely to the edge

one of the 2 active craters

We spent time exploring the place and taking pictures. When we thought that it's time to leave, the rain poured. Worse, we were not with Pak Ari at that time. So, we couldn't get into the car and got to hide at the road side stall. Not to mention, we were all soaking wet; in such a weather. We couldn't reach Pak Ari's phone as the coverage was very bad up there. No choice, but to wait.

When the rain wasn't that heavy anymore, we decided to rent the umbrella and look for Pak Ari. Just as MH & Vid stepped out the stall where we sheltered, we saw Pak Ari walking towards us. Opps, wrong timing.

the car was there but couldn't get in; sheltered from the rain

Then, we started the long journey back to Bandung. All wet, sting and hungry!

Bandung Snacks

Clockwise from top left:-

• Durian Ice Cream
  
• Bubur Ayam Mang Oyo
  
• Mie Bakso
  
• Martabak
  
• Savoury with Rum
  
• Ginger Soupy Dessert
  
• Mie Yamien
• Sweet Potato Balls
  
• Batagor
  
• Brownies Panggang / Brownies Kukus
  

Sundanese Cuisine in Bandung

On the way up to Mt Tangkuban Parahu, the symbolic and active volcano in Bandung, the traffic was very congested on the opposite side (towards Bandung). According to Vid, it's because of the large crowd spending the weekend in Lembang. As such, everyone was rushing back to Bandung or Jakarta on the Sunday. 

We stopped by at this restaurant for lunch. It's a random choice as it's had passed the lunch hour for some time and we had no info on any particular restaurant. Thinking about it, it's actually my first experience of Sundanese Food.

Warung Nasi Saung Pengkolan

the interior decor

I've forgotten most of the food that we ordered. I could only think of:- Gurame Goreng (Fried Gurame fish), Sate Kelinci (rabbit-meat satay), Patai Bakar (roasted petai) & Tempeh. It wasn't a bad lunch after all, yet, there's not much to talk about other than nocticing the flies around us.

our lunch...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, before going back to Jakarta, we had another round of Sundanese food for lunch. This time, we went to the food place that was stated in the Wikitravel guide. It's in fact a famous eating outlet in Bandung. I think, sticking to a travel guide wasn't something bad after all.

Kedai Ma'Uneh

I learned something new. Pepes. It's a way to prepare and cook the food. Marinate the meat, fish, eggs, tempeh or tahu with different kind of spices, then wrap them with banana leaves and roast. We ordered a few Pepes dishes. The food was better than what we had yesterday. Good job, Wikitravel!

the food stall

lunch... with different kind of chillies

Very Hot Manadonese Food

Location: Restoran Beautika Khas Manado

We were introduced to Manadonese food by Vid in Jakarta. The place was kind of like any mixed rice shops in M'sia. But, the dining area was so much classy and with air-con. We chose whatever dishes we wanted at the stall near the entrance.

All the food looked delicious and named clearly. The number of chillies shown beside the name of the food indicated how spicy hot of the dishes. However, we didn't interpret that correctly.

As such, we ordered (stupidly):

• Cumi Woku Belanga - Calamari (3 chillies)
  
• Ayam Isi Dibulu - Chicken (3 chillies)
  
• Daging Paniki - Bat meat (3 chillies)
  
• Pepes Cakalang Bakar - Fish (3 chillies)
  
• Bunga Pepaya - Stir fried papaya stems or leaves (1 chilli)
  
• Pisang Goreng & Sambal - Fried banana & fish sambal
  

(Clockwise from top left: Fish - Chicken - Calamari - Bat - Papaya)

Fried banana & sambal

The highlight would be the Bat meat. The meat tasted like any other smoked meat, be it pork or chicken. The wings part was like very soggy fungus. Anyway, it's very hot............. As hot as the other dishes.

the Bat...

Everything was so spicy hot until our taste bud couldn't functioning well anymore. We kept on drinking the teh hangat (warm tea) hoping to cool down our tongue.

The fried banana was the only thing I felt nice because it wasn't spicy. The sambal was different. It's more like the fish paste.

Angelina Jolie & Shu Qi (舒淇) wannabes!

再次踏足Jakarta

Fel:"Jakarta nice meh?"
Sorry Fel. I gotta disagree with you about that. Jakarta is not bad actually. What made you so afraid of going back to Jakarta?

I was asked whether this year resolution has been achieved.
My answer's 'Yes', seeing that I had traveled quite 'regularly' throughout this year.
Nevertheless, a few targets haven't been hit. It's no big deal.
Overall, I'm more than happy and satisfied with everything happening to me this year!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

相隔3年，我又在Jakarta留下脚印。今年，我已经是第三次飞出大马了！先是4月份独自到越南北部；7月份与健华结伴到柬埔寨；现在到印尼爪哇西部。请容许我在这里打一下广告：谢谢你，亚航。让每个人都可以飞！

Jakarta某区街景

这次的旅伴有大学同学——MH和HC。我们3人分别从吉隆坡及新山启程，在Jakarta会合。我们都以探望在Jakarta工作的Vid为由，再“顺便”到Bandung（万隆，西爪哇省府）游玩。感谢Vid，除了让我们几个大男生在她的家借宿几宵外，若没有她这位印尼人带队，我们就没有机会看清楚这个城市、尝到更多道地美食。

3年前的回忆，只停留在那比吉隆坡糟糕些许、且跟曼谷差不多的拥挤交通；因为交通法令漏洞而出现的‘专业Hitchhiker’；还有，就是每次到购物广场，都要被搜车、搜包包。虽然说是为安全着想，但有时候我也在想，这会不会‘想太多’了呢？

读万卷书，不如行万里路。旅游能让大家开拓视野，这是千真万确的！几天下来，我又对印尼这个与大马称兄道弟的万岛之国，留有新的印象。原来，这里的超级市场是没有Halal和Non-Halal区之分；原来，印尼人比大马同胞更有礼貌，难怪大马一直被人笑说‘第三世界的服务’！

服务最有口碑的德士

（虽然翻译成闽南语，非常不雅‘听’）

很遗憾的，我们找不到当红新闻人物——美国侯任总统Obama曾就读的小学。还以为可以在该学校大门前拍照留念，回国后向大家炫耀一下。事与愿违。驾车在该区兜了几圈，就是找不到。地图上也没表明该学校的位置。要不然，这次的旅程会更有意义。

West Java 之旅