Places – Page 2 – A Penny for My Pensieve

Eid Holiday

Posted on 26 Apr 202326 Apr 2023 by arlanadya

Eid holiday is one of those periods where I always want it to end soon rather than last longer. The multiple house visits, the endless eating, and loud noises have always been overwhelming. I need nap time in between.

We’re having two Eids this year. I joined those who celebrated it on Friday. It was quite peaceful and nice actually. Did the prayer around the area then enjoyed riding around the empty and silent Jakarta to find one that I’ve been craving for along Ramadan :

After several attempts, found this proper Mie Ayam in one of co-working spaces in SCBD.

Before the Bakmie, we stopped by my mum and grandma’s graveyards and proceed to chocolaterie in Senopati for a gift for my aunt and my parents. Then we visited my aunt. Came home right before Dzuhur and we had a long nap. The best Eid day looked like this.

The second day of Eid (or the first day for many), had a quick visit to three houses and managed to have proper nap time in my other aunt’s house. This year Eid wasn’t as loud as the previous years. So, it was quite tolerable actually, except, it was scorching hot. Right before Asr, we had already settled down in the carpet and bed at home.

The doctor huge family gathering usually takes place in Solo, but this year, it was in Malang. We chose to go by plane since the train ride was too long and tiring. Only stayed for one day in Malang.

The family gathering itself was quite pleasant compared to previous years ones. It was more relax, fun and less crowded.

I truly appreciate the people behind the event and who worked so hard to make this happen. It made all the unusually high Eid ticket fare, huge effort for a brief trip worth it.

They made a book about the root of the family from the first until the now the sixth generation. They made a name tag for each one of us. Different colors showed from which generation they’re from. I was just a bit sorry that the whole family had to put up with my daughter out of pitch voice for three times from Let it Go, The Sound of Music, and last one was duet with her father. Less skill yet highly confident, she is.

I kept the book as a souvenir and also a reminder about how short life is, the important one is the present. Everyone mostly will become a memory in three generations.

At first, I thought 27 hours there would be too short, it turned out it was more than enough. Experienced two services from one of the famous and highly hyped restaurants and a legendary one there, totally unimpressed by the service they provided.

But, we managed to visit one of the french patisseries which deserves two thumbs up during our morning walk. It’s well-run, well-designed and serious patisserie which opened at 7am and offers wide range of pastry and cake selection. We had three different choices and quite happy with everything we ordered.

Funny that we went far to Malang only to have sets of french pastry instead of nasi pecel. Didn’t find any single warung pecel open along the four kilometers of our morning walk. What even funnier was the patisserie flocked with the locals too.

One of the brainstorming accounts in social media stated this phenomena few weeks ago. These days, urbanization is no longer about people from small cities move to a big one but more of the behavior change and culture. They’re no longer move to the big city, but they adopt big city lifestyles in their hometown. Having breakfast with french pastry looks like one of them.

The taxi driver we met also confirmed the the same thing. Malang is no longer the city for retirement but since 2010, it’s the city for investment.

chocolate cake, Paris Brest, and something au fromage.

Well, that’ all for this year Eid. Alhamdulillah.

May we’ll be granted a chance to meet another one next year healthy and happy. Amin.

Favorite things, Places, Thoughts, Travel

Sydney in 7 days

Posted on 22 Feb 202322 Feb 2023 by arlanadya

Traveling is impossible without itinerary but, I think it’s impossible to follow all the itineraries planned before. In 7 days here, only follow the exact plan for the first two days. We decided the rest along the way, especially every morning.

Our itineraries might be not suitable for everyone because it feels like doing nothing. Walking, sitting, playing, lazying around, even nap time is compulsory during traveling. But, we just enjoy what we like and this is the rest time where we’re granted a lot of time to enjoy all those experiences in a new place.

Life rarely goes according to the plan and I think that what makes it interesting. Here’s what we do in 7 days :

1. Arrived at 6.10 and put the luggages at the hotel and we walked around while waiting the check in time.

We stopped by at Haven for the doctor’s coffee. Followed by playing and rest in the playground near darling harbor where we spent 2 hours there.

We continued the walk to the It’s Time for Thai for lunch then went to Woolsworth for light groceries. We were so exhauste already and after that we just sat still in the hotel lobby until our room was ready.

Day 1 morning : walking around with heavy bag on the back

In the afternoon, we strolled down the Sydney harbor and Opera house then enjoyed the whole afternoon warching people in Royal Botanic Garden with Opera House view.

2. We decided to return to the same spot but this time to ride on the ferry to visit the oldest theme park in Sydney. Luna Park is not as big as Dufan, but few times more expensive than Dufan. We still paid for that for one child and one adult while the other adult took care the bags and had nap time in the theme park.

After nap time, we decided to have dinner in one of Indonesian restaurants in Kingsford. Our hotel is located in front of tram station and this restaurant is only one tram ride away for 20 minutes. It’s also located in front of the tram stop. So, it was very convenient and I was so excited to see the suburban life.

I recorded the whole trip and it was such a beautiful afternoon. After dinner, we went straight back home and that was when a bit of twist happened. There was fire somewhere so right after we hopped on to the tram, it’s stuck. So, we had to wait for the bus and it was pretty crowded. We couldn’t get on to the first one, but managed to do it on the second one.

We stopped in the front of Hyde Park which became our destination on the following day.

Day 2 afternoon : Trip for Nasduk ayam goreng and Bakso.

3. The plan for day 3 was just to have a morning walk in Hyde Park and coffee then went home to get ready. But, as always, plan was just a plan. Hyde Park was quite big so we spent few hours there. We wanted to visit Paddy Market after that, but, we passed Australian Museum and it was too good to be missed. It was almost 10 and ready to open, so we joined the queue.

Free museum with paid shark section, but it was so good. I really enjoyed the story telling they put in everything.

We went to Paddy Market for souvenir shoppings and some fruits. Then, home for nap time.

For the afternoon, we planned for fireworks watching in Darling Harbor, but it was raining and we had one of a must do itineraries the following day, so we decided to skip and sleep instead.

4. We woke up early on Sunday, prepared the bags and everything we needed to do..

A 6km of coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi Beach.

Normally, the route is from Bondi to Coogee.
But, we chose to take the reverse. Because, Bondi is wider and bigger, we want to stay there longer, and it’s easier to go home from Bondi.

Actually, we could just stop at Coogee or Bondi then stayed and played. But, we chose to do the long walk first instead. Some difficulties will add more ‘fun’.

Walking with some weight on the back, climbing up and down with some (a lot of) stairs, scooter on and off, the whinning and grumpiness from both ladies, arguing about this and that, those are not shown in the picture, but they are things that will make you remember the trip better.

Twelve thousands steps taken together will remain in memories longer, if it’s not forever.

We went back and had a nap time then we went out once again for groceries. Enjoyed the night around Central Sydney and the town hall.

5. This was the day where we planned to see some of the stores along the George Street. I wanted to find a proper Mary Jane shoes for little girl upcoming piano exam, paid a visit to Dymocks, the biggest book store here and Bed, Bath and Table in Myers. Didn’t find the shoes but bought something from Dymocks and BBT.

That day was mostly like non-itinerary trip. On the afternoon we just strolled around the George Street for another… groceries.

Wherever we go, groceries is my favorite itinerary.

6. The last full day in the city spent in Centennial Park for morning walk then followed by Bondi Junction to find the Mary Jane shoes for the little girl. The surprise thing was I found William Sonoma store here and so happy about that. One of the places that spark joy for me and the doctor. The beautiful plates, the kitchen appliances, the knives, the pan, the pot, sadly my wallet didn’t really agree.

The afternoon stroll spent once again in Dymocks. This time was a Dymocks date with the doctor. Checked out Katherine May Wintering when it’s a signed copy on a sale while he got some cook book stuff.

7. Home time.

Final packing and everything, then checked out from the hotel. One last stroll to get a cup of coffee for the doctor.

Overall, Sydney is on the medium range of everything. It’s a good city in every aspect. when Tokyo is on the excellent level of hospitality while Seoul on the other side of the bar, Sydney is surely in the middle. Not a cheap city for our wallet, but not as expensive as Tokyo and Seoul, when it comes to eating expense.

This city is not as sophisticated and as vibrant as London and Paris, but you can still the vibe of Europe here while keep being exposed to lots of Asian cultures. Bahasa Indonesia is often heard everywhere we go, except the road less traveled like Bondi Coastal Walk and Centennial Park.

Thank you for the hospitality.

Till then, Sydney.

Favorite things, Life happens, Places, Thoughts, Travel

Hello,Sydney!

Posted on 19 Feb 202319 Feb 2023 by arlanadya

Quick observations :

1. Parks are around but rarely a playground.

2. Top notch transportation systems.

3: Beaches and coastal walks only 30 mins away from the city.

4. Halal food options are pretty easy to find.

5. The mixture of european and asian architecture in the residence area.

6. Stay in Central is so far the best decision made. Glad I didn’t proceed to cancel the hotel on the last minute just because a wifi issue. Solved quickly.

7. Five days are the ideal length of stay.

8. Late summer soon autumn is perfect weather to travel in Sydney.

9. People are moderately nice. Not that friendly, but definitely not unwelcoming.

10. Independent coffee shop is a real serious bussiness here.

Favorite things, Life happens, Places, Thoughts, Travel

An Ifthar with Sydney

Posted on 17 Feb 202317 Feb 2023 by arlanadya

We finally break the fasting of regular traveling after hard thought and long consideration, after putting other priorities ahead for the past three years.

Accidentally exactly three years difference.

Resumed exercising the long traveling muscle turned out wasn’t easy as I thought.
The back pain sleeping in sitting position made me think about the comfy bed at home.

The long waiting between arrival and the check in made me wish about this and that.

The messed up routines made me slightly uncomfortable. The only reason choosing this date : Public holiday on Saturday, so no YPM.

Dealing with immigration and customs always makes me anxious.

The high tension of pre-departure where I want the house is clean and clear make me do continuous cleaning even until two hours before going to the airport. Other than Ramadan and Eid, my home is on its best shape when we have traveling plan. Simply because : I don’t want coming back to a messy home. The post traveling mess is more than enough to deal with.

So, then, why bother?

Because being too comfortable and not learning anything new is more dangerous.

Because missing the important years for the little girl training outside her classroom and zoom meetings should make me more anxious.

Because, based on the past experiences, in spite of the hardships and the twists each past travels bring, how intense they were, I don’t have any slightest regrets doing all of them.

We met a mother with THREE KIDS UNDER FIVE traveled alone on the same flight. The littlest one had been crying almost through all the journey. But, near the landing, she had been in so much better mood and I saw them smiling happily when we landed. I was so proud of them. They will surely remember what they’d been through together for many years to come.

At least, it happened to us. First disastrous trip to Paris, where the little girl cried for two long haul flights, the sweat of nursing her a whole night, and she ended up sleeping on the floor until the first transit (that little baby slept in a bassinet), the tension she gave us where it was so packed on that tiny airplane from Istanbul to Paris and she didn’t stop whinning, I sweared after that trip, I would never take any kind of this crazy thing anymore.

Never say never.

After that disastrous Paris, she’s flourished and I broke that promise.

Places, Review, Travel, Visa

(Bahagianya) Mengurus Visa Australia Visitor Subclass 600

Posted on 17 Feb 2023 by arlanadya

Tidak seperti negara induknya yang pengurusan visanya masya Allah ribetnya, mengurus visa turis Australia beberapa bulan lalu terasa seperti a walk in the park kata pepatah.

Tapi, dengan punya pengalaman pusingnya mengurus visa turis UK enam tahun lalu maupun frustasinya mengurus visa kerja UK tiga tahun lalu, hal ini menjadi standar yang sulit diturunkan tiap mau urus visa.

Sebelum pandemi, visa Australia bisa diurus di VFS Kuningan secara offline. Tapi, setelah pandemi, semua pengurusan visa dilakukan secara online melalui website ini.

Setelah tiket dibeli, saya mulai buat immiaccount. Satu immiaccount bisa digunakan untuk beberapa aplikasi. Jadi, untuk aplikasi kami sekeluarga tiga orang hanya perlu satu akun immiaccount, namun masing-masing tetap harus membuat satu aplikasi terpisah. Termasuk anak-anak.

Enaknya pengisian online ini, kita bisa isi sebisanya dulu dan kembali lagi kapanpun kita mau isi atau edit. Awal-awal saya benar2 isi apa yang saya ngerti dulu. Karena segampang-gampangnya, untuk pengisian dokumen visa semua hal sebaiknya dibaca dengan seksama, berulang kali supaya tidak ada salah pengertian yang berakibat ke salah pengisian.

Hampir tidak ada yang sulit dari pengisian visa Australia ini. Semua pertanyaan standar dan wajar. Kalo ada yang kurang paham, petunjuknya selalu ada di samping pertanyaannya. Seperti cara mengisi format no telpon.

Dari tahap pembuatan sampai akhirnya submit, memakan waktu tiga bulan, untuk saya. Kenapa? Karena isinya dicicil pelan-pelan. Pernah hiatus sebulan cuma dibaca-baca ulang aja, atau ngga dibuka sama sekali karena banyak hal-hal lain yang lebih mendesak buat diurus.

Dokumennya juga diuplod satu persatu sesuai ketersediaan. Targetnya adalah maksimal dua bulan sebelum tanggal keberangkatan sudah disubmit.

Tidak ada dokumen yang saya translasi kecuali kartu keluarga yang memang sudah diterjemahkan sejak tiga tahun lalu. KTP baik orangtua dan anak dicantumkan tanpa translasi.

Ketika semua formulir sudah diisi, semua dokumen sudah disertakan, tinggal klik submit. Dari sana, kita akan diarahkan ke pembayaran. Total biaya yang harus dibayarkan PER APLIKASI adalah 150 AUD atau sekitar Rp 1,6 juta.

Ada satu hal yang paling mencengangkan ketika selesai sampai tahap pembayaran :

Visa Pak Dokter langung GRANTED dalam hitungan menit. Selesai bayar, masuk notifikasi aplikasi diterima. Selang dua atau tiga menit, satu email datang lagi beserta surat yang menyatakan status visa subclass 600 GRANTED dengan multiple entries selama 3 tahun.

Dokumen kami lengkap dengan pendukung yang kuat seperti visa-visa lain yang sudah pernah didapat, dan tentu sebagai sponsor utama, dokumen Pak Dokter tentunya yang paling jelas. Tapi, agak ngga wajar juga menurut saya bisa langsung keluar surat dalam hitungan kurang dari lima menit.

Saya sampai cek berulang apa ini salah atau gimana. Mustinya senang ya, tapi yang ada malah khawatir. Karena punya saya dan anak saya masih hanya tertulis RECEIVED dan ngga ada perubahan sampai besoknya.

Mulai cari info berapa lama waktu yang wajar dan disebutkan memang bisa antara 48 jam – 20 hari. Rentang yang cukup jauh ya.

Alhamdulillah ngga perlu nunggu selama dua puluh hari, karena dua hari kemudian, dua surat visa GRANTED dengan multiple entries punya kami berdua juga ikut keluar.

Masih sulit percaya, setelah tiga tahun lebih, akhirnya ada post pengurusan visa lagi.

Bismillah, late Summer in Sydney we go!

Favorite things, Places, Thoughts

Where to Play Outdoor in Jakarta Part II

Posted on 20 Aug 202220 Aug 2022 by arlanadya

We had a lot of outdoor hours this week since school was going online. Outdoor is getting rare these days, so whenever we could, we would!

Here are some options where to go in this city :

1. TAMAN SITU LEMBANG, Menteng.

My most favorite park. It is quiet, empty and perfect place to take a nap while the little girl wander around by herself.

2. Ancol and Allianz Eco Park

As usual, staycation idea always strikes suddenly. Long awaited reunion after endless question of “can we go to the beach?” finally answered after three years from this trip.

For now, this was the best answer we could afford.

Done enjoying empty beach, moved to an empty park when more crowds were coming.

3. TEBET ECO PARK (For the 3rd time)

The park finally reopened after being closed for whole two months. Now, they make the visitors to register through an app before the visit, which is a good idea. Previously, this looked more like a crowded market full of people than a beautiful park.

People came with so many absurd ideas like having a school farewell party with loud speaker and sound system, children dance and singing show which were very far from entertaining, a large group of arisan which was very annoying and litters were everywhere. Our society is not (yet) one who already understand that free public place doesn’t mean you can do anything that you want without being considerate to others.

They also omit parking lot from this park. Along with new rules and the system which requires more efforts to visit this park, I hope we could take care such precious facilities better than before.

Last year post for few other places to go in this city.

Remember : there’s no such things as too much outdoor hours.

Places, Travel

Warming Up : Bandung

Posted on 24 Jul 202224 Jul 2022 by arlanadya

Been playing tourist in my own city for the last 1,5 years. Visiting many parks and playground available, riding on many kind of public transportation, trying routes with little girl on her scooter. Only went for camping as near as bogor for 1-2 nights and few staycations sessions.

Two weekends ago, we finally leveled up a little bit by taking a train ride to one city I have been longing to visit since three years ago. The last time I visited this city was around more than 20 years ago. It was quite traumatic until I didn’t have any slightest interest to return.

But, three years ago, something triggered me tor return and it kept getting stronger. It was for the sake of a mouthwatering dish that have been making me drool everytime the picture appears on my feed.

Been nagging the doctor for so many times but there had never been the right timing, until a month ago. Suddenly, all roads lead to this trip. But, as usual, for every trip, twist would follow.

Bandung was very kind or maybe we just chose the right time to visit. It was far from crowded, weather was around 19-22 degree, and we really enjoyed walking and scootering around the town.

We stayed in Four Points Bandung whose service making this trip was even more pleasant. Every crew greeted sincerely, took care all the request kindly, breakfast was festive with excellent taste, bed was comfy, and one of the most important things for a short trip : perfect location to our itinerary (mine actually).

As usual, even after years, we’re still the same bunch of (boring) people whose idea of best traveling itineraries are :

going out early,

walking and scootering around the town aimlessly,

stopping by ice cream, playground or coffee,

visiting as many as parks as possible, picking flowers or watching the 🐝,

trying good rating restaurants and left all plates empty,

nap time in between, dinner around four thirty and night sleep by seven thirty.

Those were also what happened in Bandung.

First day spent walking and scootering to the places which became the solely reason this trip wanted. Nothing but some food. The rest were optional and but still nice to have.

The next morning, planned to do Eid prayer in Salman Mosque but suddenly had a change of plan when we saw one held in the street along the way. It was very tranquil and chill, reciting takbeer with the sound of bird chirping under big trees and morning sunshine. My heart felt like bursting with gratitude.

We went back to the hotel from the Eid prayer spot to have massive breakfast, then decided to walk around the town instead of lazing around on the bed. We walked to the icon of the city under lovely weather and blue sky. Took some pictures and went back through different route.

After a great set of lunch had in one of the hidden gems found during our walk, we had nap before finally heading to the station and boarded the train that took us back home.

Arguably the loveliest short trip we’ve had so far this year.

Favorite things, Past learning, Places, Thoughts

Dancing between High and Low

Posted on 23 Jun 202223 Jun 2022 by arlanadya

I am close to never being envious of someone. But, there are few kind that could give me such feeling. One of them is those who could write beautifully.

The level of envy could make me press a new post button at this hour in the dark after reading that new well-written post.

Her whole blog is amazing. I love how she could elaborate and describe anything with unusual choices of words, putting them together into a long enjoyable writing which is impossible for the reader to skip any single lines.

Her new release once felt so familiar.

The period of early years of marriage until this trip happened was the longest I had been without any single trips. The last greatest trip took place right before the wedding and it became a closure of series of my (and our) traveling days in my (our) 20s.

That four years between 2012-2016 were the period of mundane daily life with full of hardworks. We literally started from zero where both were jobless. One just finished the study while another just enrolled residency.

We got close to zero saving since we used most of our hard-earned money for the certain parts of the wedding, apart from the amount that our parents paid for us.

I didn’t know how the idea came from but, I made an excel file of the list of wedding money we received, reported to our parents and we gave 50% of the total amount to our parents, brothers and sisters, and many relatives, even my long-served ART at home that had helped us to do the wedding.

For those whom we couldn’t give the money, we took them to our favorite seafood restaurant for lunch.

The rest 50%, we saved 80% of it to some instruments that couldn’t be easily accessible and used the last 20% for surviving the first few months until I got a regular job.

We used half of the 80% to pay the first rent for our small business five years ago, the remaining amount is still safely kept until now.

Things were hard on the first year. Losing my mum just two weeks before the wedding made me not only a newlywed but also a new caretaker who took over all my mother’s duties at home, including my father.

When the little girl came on the the second year, it was even harder. There were too many highly stressful days due to exhaustion taking care of so many things and people at home, while being 80% of single parent due to high demand of residency and necessities.

There were days after the emotionally draining feeding battle done three times a day, the rushing from and to workplace and home to make it one time, and the exhaustion after work since instead of proper break, I needed to get the dinner ready for everyone. There were times when I talked to myself, “there should be more life than this”.

It was getting worse when during those years the two brothers got a chance to pursue their higher education abroad. I was happy for them, but, releasing a big sigh was unavoidable too. At that time, I felt there would be no exit and I was gonna stuck there forever.

One of my readings said, “the most interesting about life is where you are is never permanent, be it the high or the low” and it is true.

When Paris finally happened, it felt like I was liberated from something and ‘suddenly’ and ‘strangely’, a new period of life happened.

Seven days spent there became a milestone of our life together and it opened many doors to other places that I could never think of going before. Seven days in Paris set a new tone for traveling, at least for me.

Instead of having post-holiday blues in almost all my 20s trips, where I could barely functioned properly for few days after, I felt so happy to be back home and even worked harder, knowing and thinking, “ah, so that was what all this hard-earned money could do”.

Unpacked all the luggages right away when we arrived at home (literally right away), no matter what time it is, started here. It gave me peace and proper closure that one thing is done and time to resume life again.

Life suddenly became so exciting since I had another mission to do : did some research on affordable tickets to certain places that seemed a good idea for our next trip.

Six months after Paris, London happened. When I thought Paris was crazy, London was even more insane. With all the twists, I wondered how I could endure all those life dramas for a mere 7-days trip.

Life continued giving us more traveling days on the following year. That 2018 marked the most traveling year in our life together. From Bali, Tokyo, Tanah Bumbu and Banjarmasin, Jogja, Surabaya (one of the most pleasant yet not recorded), Solo, and Kuala Lumpur, all happened within short time until I thought, “How could life be this crazy?”.

Turned out the craziness didn’t stop there. Entered the year of 2019 sailed around in Labuan Bajo for five days, then The last tetralogy trip in May, short Eid trip to Solo and finally the big move to London.

Those London days were also full of trips to other cities. When the pandemic began, we just finished having one of the most amazing nature trips we had. Even the capricious 2020 gave us chances to do more travelings to England’s best villages in a quiet and peaceful mode.

Until we returned back home.

Life was slowly heading back to its low-mode. The lockdown, the anxiety of sending the doctor to daily covid battle, the frustration of not being able to go anywhere, The languishing period that felt so suffocating, paralysed by the feeling of missing those London life.

Thankfully, it didn’t stay for long. Daily routines and daily exercise helped a lot. I found new joy in getting on public transportations visiting outdoor parks and playground around the town. Started resuming light travel nearby, did something that we have never done like Glamping and short trip with my father to Bogor.

It seemed nothing compared to what we had before, but they were exciting enough to give the similar gratitude inside.

Up until now, no single proper travel made. But, funnily and strangely, I feel somewhat more secured this way. We have been having regular staycation for two to three days and it felt more than enough.

The daily piano practise becomes something that I am uncomfortable missing for too long. We could do all the daily routines everywhere but not the piano.

I don’t know why for the past one year the FOMO feeling for the piano practise has been stronger than one for traveling.

I wondered once, was it because we had had enough up until 2020? Or am I just getting older and choose having less voluntarily adrenaline rush instead?

It seems so funny that during those years where money and time was pretty limited we had such high spirit and energy, going from one place to another. While now, when we could afford such thing without too much worry financially, we prefer doing, ‘buying’, and saving for something else for the future. I haven’t got that desire to checked the ticket price to anywhere far. But still happy to do that for some light domestic travels.

It’s not that I have no more places I wish to visit, but for now, there are some other things that make me feel ‘happier’ than getting lost in unfamiliar place for more than three days.

It is indeed the sign of getting older.

We checked one of our financial goals last May. Although it is still far away, but one big important step made.

We also currently deal with another huge goals which as usual, full of twists here and there. Our life motto together has been, “it is fishy when it seems too easy”.

Dancing between the high and low is the only thing we could do in this school of life.

Lastly, for making me write such long post within short time is the proof how inspiring the blog I mentioned above.

Books, Favorite things, Places, Review, Thoughts

Midweek Field Trip

Posted on 20 Jan 202220 Jan 2022 by arlanadya

When last week was packed and hectic, this week the tension has been toned down a little bit. More leisure in zoom school schedule means we could have more pleasure in home school one.

This week has been quite pleasant so far. Got boosted at home by the doctor, less zoom meetings from school and the little girl had done her final theory exam for this first year. So, yesterday, when she only got one zoom school in the morning, we went around to visit some places on my list.

Whenever I see some empty schedule from the school on the day where afternoon class schedule allows, my brain is racing faster. It would be bad to waste such precious chance to just stay at home.

So, whenever that empty schedule is available, I spend quite some time to check on google maps to see which option is available for our field trip. Mostly, I will take her on bus or train riding with a little bit of walking.

Planning itineraries with public transportation has been my favorite thing to do since long. Even better, since I have more free time on my hand. Since the little girl was little, we had visited few spots in Jakarta, by car, like TIM, or small library around the area. During London days, I have been excitedly planning things to do on weekend, where to eat, what to visit, with which bus or train to take. Playground and park always become main idea and the rest will follow.

It’s been a year since we visit many outdoor playground around this town with public transportation, like here for example. Some of them are free, some a paid one.

For this week, I had an idea on my head days before yesterday. Planned to merely visiting a gelato shop nearby with only 15 minutes bus riding from home and short walking.

(Much) better ideas always come on the last minute. I found that it was possible to add another more interesting itinerary together with gelato shop.

Instead of heading to gelato shop from the start, we were heading to National Library first. When I think about going by car, it feels so far, more with odd-even number policy. But, when I checked the way there by bus, it only took 40 minutes without too much bus changing hassles, more, very agreeable transport fee.

So, off we went to National Library first.

We arrived around 10 am. If previously children can enter any buildings without question as long as accompanied by vaccinated adults, yesterday, I was asked to be presented the little girl’s vaccination proof. Luckily, she had done her first jab, but unfortunately her vaccination certificate is together with her dad apps not mine.

But, the officer was quite helpful on that. I showed her the screencap of her vaccine certificate and then we were allowed to enter.

The library has 24 floors. Since our time is limited, yesterday we only focused on the 7th floor which is children section. They have quite wide range of collections. It was quite empty and pretty cozy.

The little girl found book series that kept her sitting and reading for more than an hour, and that made me so happy. I looked around to almost every shelf. I found a box of Enid Blyton books that I once had during childhood.

What needs to be improved from the library is, the signage for books category. It’s not that easily read thus, the browsing experience is a little bit less comfortable, for me.

Done with children’s floor, we went up to 24th floor, the executive lounge where you could see the view of Jakarta from above. They have outdoor balcony too. The wind was quite strong yesterday.

But, luckily, after days of grey sky, yesterday we got pretty clear blue one. So, the view was even better. Pictures below will explain it better.

Overall, the library is one of the free-worth-to-visit spots in Jakarta. I saw lot of college students there, either just hanged out or did their homework.

There are only two problems. First, the elevator. It took long queues to go up and down waiting for the elevator. They have three which stop in every floor, and they are almost always full. So, yesterday, instead of going up directly to the 24th floor, we went down first, as long as we got on the lift.

The other problem is quite personal.

If there’s one thing that is similar in museums or library runs by government that I have visited here,they put so many unnecessary people pictures everywhere (mostly those faces with power). As if we couldn’t get them enough around the street all over the city, we still have to see those faces too inside a building. Such a nuisance.

Instead of those pictures everywhere, what we need more is this kind of libraries around the town and make it more accessible for everyone.

Done with library, we proceeded to the main idea for the little girl. Found this secluded gelato shop when I was waiting for her time at the daycare. Planned to take her here during weekdays because they’re closed on weekend.

From the library, we only had to take one bus ride straight to the gelato shop, so it was so convenient.

Their gelatos are pretty good. I chose dates with almond and the little girl went with oreo cream. I bought five more cups home for the doctor and had tried all of them, they were equally good.

Nice places, nice riding, delicious gelato while the weather was nice, truly my kind of outdoor time and field trip!

Places, Review, Thoughts

Five out Five for Bogor

Posted on 25 Dec 202127 Dec 2021 by arlanadya

Just returned from two nights stay in the heart of Bogor. Specific destination was Bogor Botanical Garden.

We ended up with a great stay in a semi budget hotel in front of the Garden, in a room with five star view from the window and excellent breakfast. Found an Indonesian Specialty Coffee shop that we visited twice in two days, a visit to zoology museum inside the garden, a hearty dinner in a restaurant with an-hour waiting list (for us, it was worth the wait, fyi).

If you visit Bogor, stay in Ibis Styles Pajajaran is recommended. Ask for city view room and enjoy this kind of view from the window.

You’ll have Gunung Salak on the right and Gunung Pangrango on the left.

Why go with trustable hotel chain? Three star with five star breakfast choices. Not only they have wide range of choices , the taste is excellent.
Ibis Styles Pajajaran is part of Accor Group.

As always, we were up early and got all the best worms. Bogor Botanical Garden is located right in front of the hotel. But, the gate in front of the hotel was closed so we had to circle around to the main gate, we didn’t mind at all. Bogor now has great pedestrian facilities.

Big pavements on the right and left in Bogor City Centre.

We spent around three hours inside. Our first stop was bike rent for the doctor. I prefered stay on my feet. Then, we stopped by zoology museum. It was a small museum with average collections. But, it was clean and seemed well-maintaned. Ticket price is Rp 25.000/person. It is perfect museum introduction for the kid of her age.

English and Indonesian captions are available in Zoology Museum.

The garden visit itself was enjoyable. Again, because we were early, we didn’t see crowd within our sight. It was far from empty, but since it is a huge garden, there is enough space to enjoy for everyone.

A nature visit is always be a good reminder how tiny a human is compared to many other creatures in this world.

Next, food.

We found a specialty Indonesian coffee shop within walking distance from the hotel. We stopped by for the first time to have lunch after three hours spent in Kebun Raya. From Kebun Raya, we went here by angkot. Rode on an angkot in Bogor gave certain feeling of good old days during college.

It was quite long wait for the food, because they were short of staff, yet we enjoyed the waiting because we had nothing to do. The place has nice ambiance, we just spent talking about things. The first day coffee was great for me, I loved it. On the second day I ordered banana cake it was also good. The main dish that we ordered was just okay for me.

Just like when I went to Paris for seven days, the thought went to my father a lot during the trip. That was the fuel to make the London trip in 2017 happened. A sudden idea popped in my head during my morning walk in the garden, texted and called him for several times asked whether he wanted to join us. He said okay when I offered him to book a room. So we got company on the second day.

We chose a restaurant that we have never visited before, and of course my dad hadn’t too. Turned out it was quite full and when we came we got 13 queues of waiting list. We usually are not the type who is willing to wait that long for food, but we had no better options at that time, so we chose to wait. After an hour, and occasional nagging, the wait was over.

Two things that made up the long waiting were : the helpful and accommodating staff, until we tipped her personally, and the food came so quickly and the taste were excellent.

As always, we’re never the ambitious type for every trip that we have taken to. Specific destination yes, but not one full of itineraries. Mostly enjoyed a laid back one. Slow yet long walking. Stopped by the park for ice cream or playground, nap time, afternoon walk for food, home by maghrib or at least isya, and bed by 8-9 pm. Just like what we do at home.

In this trip, we got everything that everyone needed. Overall, it was two days stay in a three star hotel with five star experiences!