Holiday 2013: Cirebon

Nenek moyangku, orang pelaut.... 

(My great forefathers, seafarers they were ....)

So went the song Mama learnt in her childhood. So... faced with the daunting prospect of more hours on a crowded road, what did we do? Why... take the sea route, of course!

......

Just kidding. Still, the photo looked too good an opportunity to pass.
Anyway, since we decided that we should check out quite a few things in Semarang, we knew we couldn't make it to Jakarta/Bogor the following day, so we booked another hotel on the way in Cirebon before we went on sight-seeing in Semarang (which, as you all know, proved to be a great fun, indeed!).

We knew we made the right decision when we had this picture taken on our arrival at the hotel. We were so tired everything was black and white, ha!

Thankfully, a good night's rest seems to restore both the kiddo and our sights, and we found out that the hotel was not too bad after all!

After the late night arrival, our first order of business of the day was breakfast (which was served at the area under the palm trees in the left hand corner pic above). The breakfast could have been better, but the setting and the atmosphere more than made up for it.

Breakfast was followed by a little break before we go for our mandatory plunge at the pool. Daddy said it was important for us to have that little exercise since we spend most of our days in the car, driving. And so we swam.

Or was it just Kecil?

Nah... all of us did. Just a bit hard to capture oneself while swimming, you know. Besides, Kecil frolicking in water make a much better subject than Daddy or Mama swimming laps in the pool.

Now, before we left the hotel, we also had to make use of the one best features of the hotel. Parked in front of the main entrance, were actually some kid-sized bikes and becak.  

Now, of course by now you already know that we did buy Kecil her new bike, but at that point in Cirebon, we were still considering it. So... what a nice coincidence that the bikes available then was the exact same size to what we were considering of buying.
It took LOADS of encouragement and a few false starts, but finally Kecil got the hang of it. Granted it was a bit high, but we figured the height will ensure that the bike would last her a considerable amount of time.

Anyway, after a few rounds on the bike, it was time to go. As for the becak? Unfortunately the becak is meant more for at least 2 kids, one in the passenger seat, one pedalling the becak. It would be perfect should Kecil have either an older or younger sibling, but as is, Daddy was WAY too big for it. So well... off we went.

The road from Cirebon to Jakarta ran parallel to the coastline, and at certain parts, it was indeed very close to the coastline. Naturally, no few enterprising souls set up all kinds of eateries around the area, especially because this road was (and still is!) one of the main road along the whole Java island. Some of these eateries actually put up advertisement boards from MILES away, and we just had to check them out. The restaurant turned out to be too crowded, but we did find another nicer spot to eat...

.... but we had to take the boat to reach it.

.... Yaha... kidding, again.

It was still on the same coastline. The boat was just tied to one side of the 'pier', I suppose. It made the perfect photo prop, don't you think? Especially facing the not so still Java sea. Haha...

Anyway, that was where we had lunch. It was still quite a busy place, which might explain the lack of quality service. Still, it was an experience we were glad to have (especially as we heard not a few weeks afterward that the whole coastline was flooded as the monsoon season moved in. Fiuh. Weren't we glad for good weather!).

Well, that was our last stop before finally reaching Jakarta (where we picked up Tante Lia) and then Bogor. We did stop at the rest stop along the tollway nearer to Jakarta, but that was one busy stop, Mama did not even bother to take out the camera. Then it was Mama's turn to drive anyway.

This might be the last of the series for the time being as there are other 'stories' to share first, but we'll try to continue once the important ones are out of the way. Cheers!