Holiday 2013: A Little Story

And so, after many days of survival on intermittent sleep, the effects had been felt. We are still 'in negotiation' of our daily routine over here, and so, for today, we'll just do a little story from the holidays. Little, with just a picture of two, and a short write up.

It was mentioned before that we passed through Hong Kong on our way to Indonesia. The plan was to have another stop over (2 nights!) on our way back home. Now that time of the year, it's COLD up there, and having seen one of those earmuffs sometime back, Kecil was determined that she needed one to brave Hong Kong weather. Well... we kind of found a cute one in Bandung, so we got it for her.

The following morning, we were getting ready for breakfast and check out from the hotel, so Kecil played the hotel safe. You know, those stuff looking like this:

Anyway, you might already guess what she did.

Yes, she put her new earmuffs in the safe, locked the safe, then failed to open it back.
And, of course, faced with the prospect of losing her brand-spanking-new ear muffs, let's just say, her wails were heard like 3 or 4 doors down the corridor.

Not knowing what number combination she used, or even how she managed to close the safe, we had to call the hotel technician to open the safe to 'rescue' the muffs. Luckily, the safe was simply locked in a default number combination, so it was a quick and simple 'rescue mission' while this Mama tried her very best to hide her mirth at the whole situation. (Kecil does NOT like it when she perceives people to be laughing at her, you know)

Moral of the story, I think Kecil learnt a lesson that day. While she was usually all over the safe and its numeric pad every time she found one in any hotel room we check in, from that point on, she largely ignore any safe in our subsequent hotel rooms. And definitely no more putting her stuff into one, bahaha....

Well, Kecil, we are definitely very happy that you learn something out of the episode. Moving on, some time in the future, we also hope that you'll learn the art of laughing at yourself. It's not too bad, really, and it definitely makes life much more fun.

Cheers, Kecil!

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!

Holiday 2013: Semarang 3

After so many pictures in the last post, you would think we would have moved on to the next city already. We were, after all, on a road trip, no? But after spending oh so many hours the previous day just to reach Semarang..... we figured, why not just enjoy ourselves in the city before haring off again? So we booked another hotel in Cirebon (along the way to Jakarta), and took quite a big part of the day around Semarang, swimming at the hotel, visiting Lawang Sewu, followed with this one, the Sam Poo Kong temple.

Just like Lawang Sewu, actually Mama did not know anything about the temple, and since there was no guided tour or anything, even our visit did not do much in enlightening us. We did manage to overhear snatches of history from a tour guide who was bringing along a group of Russians to the site.

Still, we did try our best to 'educate' Kecil about how the temple is one of the places where people pray etc. Mama fondly remembers her childhood days when she used to tag along her grandparents to such temples.

We meandered around the complex for a while, peeking at the pyre, climbing staircases and generally poking around. You might see a few of the Russians I mentioned earlier also doing their part of 'poking around' the site.

For some inexplicable reason, Kecil was thoroughly enamoured by the yellow lion. Well, I guess they kind of look cute together. Hihi....

Anyway, after a while, we decided to follow something that caught our eyes earlier. Get dressed up!

On site, there was a vendor offering rental of 'period costumes'. The site was a Chinese temple, so obviously they only provided Chinese costumes, albeit from various eras. Kecil was pretty psyched about the whole thing.

Oh, but she wasn't the only one getting dressed up, though.

Mama and Daddy too! Well... since we've never done this kind of thing before, why not, right? Anyway, with Kecil along, it was more fun.
So, basically what the vendor offered was photography package. For about $8 per person, you get to 'borrow' the costume and they will take pictures of you, of which you can get a total of 3 printed out. For a small additional fee, you can also get the soft copies of ALL the pictures. Why, if you have your own camera, they can also take some pics using your camera. All in all, it was a good deal.

It was quite interesting to 'get dressed', as the clothes were all made in such a way that they will fit most people. We love the bellowing sleeves. I guess it helped that both Mama & Daddy used to watch all kinds of period gong-fu movies and series.

Kecil took to her role as a princess like a duck took to water. Seriously. I guess all the pink costume and accessories helped. She especially liked her poses near those flowers as they matched her dress, according to her.
Daddy, too, made a pretty convincing Chinese warrior/King/whatever. Unbelievable!
Mama, on the other hand.... good Lord. I guess Mama was neither fish nor fowl. Too friendly to look like a proper dragon lady, and yet, too stout to fit the image of a demure Chinese royal. They even tried to have Mama doing those hand postures like what Kecil did. Gah.... awkward did not start to describe the resulting pic. So... just this pic for Mama, OK?

Still, I think there were a few family pics that turned out all right.
Then we started goofing around.

Haha... this Mama can't help it. You simply can't put Mama into those billowing sleeves without her doing this.

Done with all the picture taking, we went off to get changed and collect our print out. Obviously, we also took the option of getting the soft copies as well.

As happy as Kecil was pretending to be a princess, I think she was even happier in her own skin (clothes) haha...

These are some detail shot of the temple.

We had lots of fun pretending to be Chinese aristocrat from the olden days, even if we did not learn a whole lot of things or anything.
Anyway, the temple was our last stop in Semarang. So, we continued our roadtrip by driving towards Cirebon straight from the temple. We still arrived at our hotel pretty late at night, but at least the drive was not as harrowing as our first day on the road.
Of course, that will be another story. So... until then.

Holiday 2013: Semarang 2

On Mama's list for outing in Semarang was this big, beautiful building, Lawang Sewu, which used to be the office of the railway authorities of the Dutch East Indies. Now, Mama is no history buff or anything, but having known almost nothing about Semarang, this particular spot topped Mama's search result for activities to do in Semarang. Since it was not that far from the hotel, why not? Of course, we did not regret our decision to go there at all.

The whole complex consisted of 2 huge buildings (A & B) and a couple of smaller ones. Unfortunately one of the big building (A) was closed for some electrical work, but we did manage to have our fill of sightseeing around anyway.

The first 'surprise' we encountered was at the loo (while we were answering nature's call). This Mama seriously had never seen a bigger urinal before, and from the look of it, it came straight from Netherlands! Even the wash basin came from Netherlands. Did you see the stamp at the corner pic of the collage? I guess the Dutch weren't joking when they built this place. But even then, it was said that the building was in pretty bad condition when it was taken over by the railway authorities of Indonesia (PJKA). I guess someone had enough vision to turn it into a tourist attraction, and I would say they did a pretty impressive job on repairing the complex.

Within the complex was a courtyard where a group of traditional musician were playing. These guys ranged from very young to quite old, but they were really quite good.
Since it was nearer, we went for Building B, which was fully open for public.
On the first floor, there were models of the complex and its surrounding.

Then there were also some drawing/painting(?) of the whole complex. We do appreciate the pictures, especially since we couldn't get into Building A, where the beautiful windows were.

Building B was basically a long, rectangular structure with veranda all around. Half of the second floor was then divided into smaller offices, I guess to house the clerks running the company back in the days. It was clear that the building had yet to be fully renovated, but even at its current state, it was pretty impressive. Having been raised in Catholic schools (which were usually situated in a similarly built structures), Mama & Daddy had a good time just walking around the building.

The tour was not complete without the trip into the 'basement'. Originally built for the express purpose of cooling the building (it was constantly kept partially flooded so that the evaporation will help to keep the building cool), it was also used to house prisoners during the Japanese occupation.

Given that the basement was kept partially flooded, we needed to wear boots to go down. The boots were available free of charge, and they were pretty good. They were high enough not to let a drop of water in, and they even came in kids sizes (in red, no less. Adult sizes were only available in black).

It was quite eerie downstairs. I was quite surprised that Kecil was willing to go down, but she did, and we were a pair of proud parents.

The basement ran along the whole length of the Building B. From the basement, we washed our feet then we went up all the way to the attic, which turned out to be some sort of sports hall. As I said, these Dutch weren't joking when they built this place.

Going down, we decided to see what was available on Building A. These pics were taken at the outside veranda (both buildings were built similarly, with veranda all around the building). As you can see, Building A was in much better condition than B. We loved the floor tiles, the bricks on the wall (varnished! Can you see them shine?), the tall ceilings, the painted (solid!) wood ceiling, the accents.... and just look at the thickness of the walls!
OK, I think enough gushing about building quality and such. I don't even know when we started noticing all these building details. We couldn't have been so scarred by bad masonry, could we?

Actually, parts of Building A was still open for public that day, only the main hall (where the beautiful windows were) was closed. It would seem that the hall can be rented by the public for functions and such. Our guide did mention that in receiving this complex, the PJKA landed itself a gold mine of sort. Not from buried treasure, no. But in the potential of the building itself, as a tourist attraction, public hall of sort, why, there were even talks of turning building B into some sort of public facilities. Still remember the sports hall on top of building B? Gold mine, indeed.

Now, since the building is owned by a railway company, part of building A was dedicated to some exhibition about.... guess what.... the railway company, of course. There were train models, a few real stuff from days gone by (things such as ticket machines, phones, etc), but Daddy and Kecil made a beeline for the set shown above, where Daddy showed Kecil what people do with naughty little girls. Lay them flat on the train tracks in front of on-coming train, yeah right.

It was approaching (or slightly past) lunchtime then, so we went back to Building B where we saw two food vendors. Daddy got the lontong while Mama shared the noodles with Kecil (no pics of the lontong because Daddy was VERY hungry).
By the way, did you see the biggest meatball in the bowl? Kecil actually managed to drop the ball on the floor on her second bite.
.....
Sigh.
Such a waste of a perfectly nice meatball.
We had since trained her of the 'proper' use of forks when eating meatballs: Don't bite too close to the fork!

Before we finally left the site, there was one more photo-op, this time at the real locomotive and carriage train outside.

By the way, I think Daddy was still having some hard feelings about the meatball. He was trying to put Kecil into the fuel compartment!

All in all, it was a good morning spent immersed (ha!) in culture and history. We had a very good time poking around the place (minus one meatball, that is). Despite the plethora of ghost stories about the building circulating around the net (especially in Indonesian), we assure you that we did not see any apparition or anything resembling ghost of any kind. Maybe ghosts are averse to little girls wearing pink.

Should you be interested to visit the site, apart from pointing you to Wikipedia and Google Maps, I'm afraid I can't do much. Just look up under Lawang Sewu, Semarang. That's what we did, anyway. Oh, and parking was a bit of an issue, so what we did was to park at a nearby office compound and walk a few minutes to the site. The place has yet to really cater to international tourists (read: non-Indonesian speaker), so... if you don't speak Indonesian, you might want to find a translator or a tour guide to take you around. For all that, it was still highly recommended for history (or masonry) buffs.

Cheers!