Playing water in Jungle Water Park Bogor

During fasting period 1 day before Idul Fitri at 14th Jun 2018, my youngest sister brought our niece and nephews to Bogor. We stayed in Aston Bogor which just next to the destination theme park, The Jungle Water Park with 4.8 hectares in a mild weather with greenish surrounding. We brought 2 cars as it's not enough for all of us and luggage inside a car, so we park one car full of luggage in Aston as we could not check in at that moment around 11:00, but we had registered to the front desk hotel. Jungle water voucher with 50% discount for 4 persons were given to us by the receptionist as we reserved 2 rooms (1 bedroom and 2 bedrooms) although the room capacity was for 6 guests.

With one car we went to the Jungle, the ticketing office at the 2nd floor while the entrance at the 1st floor opposite the ticketing office. The normal price ticket was Rp. 85.000,- discount 50% for elderly, and free for children below 80cm height, a locker facility provided inside the park cost Rp. 20.000,- They gave you smart tag, we have to deposit Rp. 25.000,- for warranty. The smart tag was used for our entrance, it could be used to pay any expenses inside the park too by deposit more money. As it's fasting period, we had brought lunch from Jakarta, unfortunately it's not allowed to bring inside, lucky there was sofa next to the entrance, so we had lunch first before entering the park while the children were not patient enough to finish the lunch, they would like to go inside soon.

After the entrance we went through the bridge which lying on the above of kiddy pool, at the right side there was a bucket which would spill the water after it's full, some children were waiting for the flushed water under the bucket. We didn't rent the locker as our mom didn't want to play, she volunteered to guard our bags and stuffs at the food court area. After taking off their clothes, they run to the kiddy pool. My nephews played mini slides, while my niece preferred to play seesaw. Many visitors with their family were in the park, but it's not too crowded, there was still some space to move and play around.

From the kiddy pool, their daddy asked my nephews to go to the other area, the race slide with 8 meters height which had 4 lines to slide together. It's not too high, and you could slide without tube. You could compete to race for the fastest reaching the end of the slide. Funny my younger nephew would like to start again, but he tried to walk up from the finish end of the slide, lucky his father who had slide after him could brought him back and showed the right way. They did it twice, as they would like to try the more challenge one.

It's called "Tower Slide", you should rent a tube for sliding, it cost Rp. 40.000,- for 2 persons capacity/3 hours usage. You had to climb the stairs to reach the start point with 12 meters height. There were 2 spiral lines, open and closed channel. My nephews loved it very much, they did it many times, even the elder one did it 8 times. They didn't mind going up through many stairs to go to the start carrying the big tube, even bigger than his body. He's 11 years old, but he could carry the tube by himself :-)

Wave pool located below other area was playing "dangdut" music when we were there, it's only occurred once per hour, so we had to be there on time to enjoy the wave as if on the beach. The wave flowed following the music played. Actually you could see both Pangrango & Salak Mountain at the background, unfortunately it's cloudy at that time, so we could not see it. It's very crowded as people gathered there at the specific time which only happened around 10 minutes.

After playing tower slide again, my eldest nephew and his father enjoyed the lazy river, they sat on the tube followed the current. They were floating on the river under the bridge showered water, passed by giant aquarium, some statues on the edge of the river also sprayed water, even there was a mini waterfall to pass through. My niece was excited to follow them from the land, she ran on the bridge and alley to go ahead of them. She's waiting at the edge of the river welcome and gave them spirit to go to the finish, she's very cute, I'm quite tired running chasing her :-)

If you would like to lay down and enjoy the environment, you also could rent a cabana. It's a gazebo with 3m x 3m cost Rp. 200.000,- per 3 hours. Anyway if you don't want to pay for it, there were some benches available at each area if you would like to sit free of charge, just racing with other visitors to sit on it.

There were still some areas we didn't visit such as "Kawah Ratu" a hot water pool with 40 degree Celcius, bird park, giant aquarium and 4D movie theaters. Water activities in the Jungle Water Park made the perfect family day out especially for children. It's cloudy and all of us were tired, so we went back to the hotel to take a rest. Lucky not long time from check in to the hotel, it's raining hard. Bogor is popular as a rain city, so it's true :-)

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Greenish Pine Tree Forest at The Lodge Maribaya, Lembang, Bandung

Bandung has many leisure places, one of them is The Lodge Maribaya (Jalan Maribaya No.149/252, RT03/RW15 Kp Babakan Gentong - Cibodas Lembang 40391, phone: 022-2323432) which has many natural photo spots, restaurant and place to stay overnight either room or glamping (in a tent). I've been there once with my mom and sister, only one day trip from Bandung to visit it and other places. I like the scenery, so during our team quarterly meeting, I proposed to stay there and it's approved by management.

We decided to have the meeting there, and stayed one night to enable doing activity in the morning with its fresh air and nice scenery. Some of us from Jakarta and Karawang, we thought they would reach the place later than us from Surabaya using flight. In fact they were faster than us as our flight was slightly delayed for landing, we flew round and round many times above Bandung. The traffic in Bandung was also very bad at that time as they build street infrastructure, so we arrived quite late in Maribaya, it's around 16:00 o'clock.

A restaurant without windows surrounding by the trees was the place to have the meeting. It's nice with different ambience, when getting late, the weather became very cold until we had to wear jacket or sweater. We slept in the tent at that night, it contained 1-2 persons for each tent. It's clean, but you had to close the tent if you would like to avoid any insect. There was electricity power inside the tent, so we could charge our mobile phone, sleeping bag and blanket were provided on the bed. Toiletry and towel were provided, you could use bathroom outside sharing with others, hot water was available too as the weather was very cold at night. It's quite clean, and you could put your wet towel on the hanger outside your tent.

At night when we slept in the tent, I felt very cold although I had worn blanket and jacket, it made me difficult to sleep tightly, maybe I should use the sleeping bag pack provided. Morning view was very nice, we had breakfast first before starting activities. There were 3 activities (best group photo, archery, trekking)planned to have a more solid team and engagement, the team divided into 3 groups. First activities going to the photo spots, there were 6 different photo spots with beautiful scenery on the height. At that time sky tree, zip bike, mountain swing and hot air balloon cost IDR 20.000/person, while gantole and hammock cost IDR 35.000/person, no matter you took individual or group picture. Some of our friends were afraid of height, we're quite impressed with their willingness to fight their fear to try some of the spots.

As we stayed overnight, we had a privilege to start earlier, getting picture an hour before the locket would be open for other visitors, unfortunately the crews were not ready at the time, so we had to wait for around 20 minutes. All groups went to the same spot, e.g. skytree, it took quite some time to take picture one by one, as we had to wear the safety belt first. Based on this experience, we decided to split the group to different spot to save time. You could ask your friend to take your picture by your own camera or mobile phone, the crews were using SLR to take a good quality one. If you're interested in it, you could buy IDR 10.000,- per picture when you would go home next to the exit gate.

My group took a group picture at the hot air balloon, I thought it's hanging in the air. In fact we were just standing on the board surrounding by walls as if we were in the basket while the balloon hanging above us. I also rode zip bike and mountain swing, some of my friends skipped it. To go from one spot to another spot you had to climb or go down the hill to reach the place, it's quite heavy for us who seldom having sport activity. When going to the zip bike, the queue was getting longer as the locket had been opened for outside visitors, although it's not as long as during the weekend.

Gantole spot was the last spot we visited, most of my friends skipped it as the queue was quite long and they were tired. Most of us could not sleep well because it's very cold at night, so our physic was not in a good condition. We decided to skip trekking activity although the boots had been prepared based on our size by the host. Walking up and down from one photospot to others already very tiring, we could not imagine to walk through the pine forest to go to the river for around an hour.

We continued the activity with archery, the winner was the highest score total from each member's score in the group. We could practice first, the archer was quite heavy and big, I never experienced it before. As the archer was limited, I didn't get a chance to try for a long time, just around two shoots. I was failed to reach the target. When the competition had started we had Maribaya's staff as the jury, my group got the second turn. I could get quite a good score although one of the arrow was landing on the roof of the house :-) my group total score was higher than the first group. Finally after the 3rd group finished, we were the winner.

Finally it's lunch time, as the "Omah Bambu Restaurant" was down the hill, I preferred to eat first before taking a bath. The restaurant decorated beautifully with bamboo, from wall, ceiling, chairs and tables. There were 2 parts of the restaurant, outdoor and indoor, I love the scenery. While waiting they served the food, we took some beautiful pictures in the restaurant surrounding by pine trees view. The food served privately for us, as I had selected the menu when ordered the package. It seemed that other visitors were interested in our menu instead of buffet provided for them :-) The ice dessert was very fresh and yummy.

I rushed to take a bath, then going directly to the lobby as most of my friends already gathered there. We took the complete group picture in front of the lobby with beautiful background of the forest. On the way out, some of us stopped by at the office to select their pictures. They would give you tablet PC contains of your pictures, then you must delete unwanted pictures. The remaining pictures were the ones you selected to buy. They would transfer it to your mobile phone, and you have to pay the total fee. I had difficulty to select as most of them were good, I spent almost IDR 200.000,- for the pictures (around 20 photos).

If you like scenery and photos, you must visit The Lodge Maribaya. It could be reached around 1.5 hour from Bandung, one day trip is possible as I did previously with my family. I still had a chance to visit other place too at that time.

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Fascinating Arosbaya limestone at Bangkalan, Madura

During long weekend holiday in Feb 2018, some of my elementary school friend met in Surabaya, they were from different city, Jakarta, Semarang and Kediri. On their last day in Surabaya, I asked them to go to Madura, visiting one of the tourism place there. I really would like to visit the place, unfortunately I didn't dare to drive alone as I heard some people would force us to give them money illegally.

Lucky my friends agreed to the plan, there were 13 of us including 1 driver with 2 cars departed to Madura through the popular new bridge, Suramadu, which was connected to Madura island from Surabaya with 5.438 m length and 30 width. It's divided for car and motor cycle at the edge of the bridge. It cost IDR 30.000 for car to pass by the bridge, the good scenery is the middle of the bridge with its 140 m twin tower strengthen with orange cabling as the foundation. Unfortunately we were not allowed to stop in the middle of the bridge to take picture. Some policemen always patrol around the area to ensure nobody stopped there. One of our friend who sat at the front could take a good picture & video, while I sat at the back could get from the rear windows.

Actually we would like to visit two places, Bukit Jeddih and Arosbaya. As we departed too late, we didn't have enough time to visit both places, so we decided to go directly to Arosbaya and dropped Bukit Jeddih. We heard that late afternoon at Bukit Jeddih, would be more people asking for money, it's not safe. The direction to Arosbaya quite easy to follow, but nearer to the location we had to pass by small road among the people's home. Only one car could go through, so the resident and some people there would ask for money to arrange the traffic. They use walkie talkie to communicate, so the car could go smoothly while they stopped another car from the other direction.

Arriving at the area, one of my friend and I rushed to find the toilet first before exploring the place. It cost IDR 2000/person for pee, the toilets were quite clean, anyway there was no tissue. From the parking lot we already could see the beautiful limestone, the parking fee was IDR 20.000/car, while entering the place cost IDR 5.000/person. The location is near to the religious tourism place of Bangkalan's Kings cemetery called "Air Mata Ibu". If you go by bus, you have to stop there, then continuing walking to the limestone.

The scenery was amazing, although it's very hot. The blue sky and colorful limestone which formed beautiful sculptures made us amazed and kept taking many pictures. It's a former limestone mine, the worker didn't realize that they created beautiful sculptures. Some green trees was available protected us from the shining sun in the middle of the day. I left my bag in the car, as our driver said it's safer to keep it in the car. I only brought some small amount of money in my pocket, cap and umbrella.

As we went to toilet first, we left behind our group, they already took some pictures together. The limestone as our background picture was quite high, carving with beautiful color under the sunshine. A circle hole made it like a frame created a beautiful combination. We missed it, so I took some pictures alone, the group had moved to another side. Some of our friends also took picture one by one.

A boy was around us, he suggested me to take a panorama picture to capture bigger view. Even he didn't mind taking my picture with one of my friend using my iPhone. I trusted him, I gave him my iPhone, and he helped to take some pictures. The results were excellent, he could capture the scenery well with us inside. Our group was already at different side, I told him that we had to go together with them, but on the way, he kept showing us the good angle. We climbed on some limestone to get better picture while he shoot.

Join with our group, our friend's husband was kind enough to take our picture one by one. His Samsung 8 could take better picture than my iPhone 6, so he preferred to use his smartphone. The color and picture is sharper comparing to mine. After taking some pictures under the shades, we continued walking toward some sculptures. There were 2 boys accompanying us. Our group also divided into 2 groups as the 1st group preferred to take picture fast avoiding the hot. I was joining the second group, who likes to take more pictures to record the nature beauty.

Some people were waiting for visitors at certain location, if anyone went there to take picture, they would ask them to pay. We didn't went there, just taking picture in front of the area, which had like a tall gate with beautiful carving. The boy took our picture using vertical panorama feature. Although the people kept teasing the boy, he ignored it, he focused to take our picture. The younger boy accompanied our 1st group, while Abdul the oldest was accompanying us. We were glad having Abdul, he's very helpful and talented. After around half an hour in the location, I felt thirsty, lucky there was a small hut selling water and snack, I bought 3 mineral waters (600 ml) cost IDR 3000/bottle.

In the middle of the area, we met our friend from 1st group going back to the parking lot, they said that we had to rush unless the Jakarta team would miss the plane. They have visited the cave, while we were still on the way to go there. We rushed, walking fast to the cave, we didn't want to miss it as we had taken quite a long journey from Surabaya. In the cave was colder than outside, some carving created holes which enabled sun shone through it illuminated the cave.

Abdul helped us to take some pictures and showed some good angle and position for getting the best picture. We also took some silhouette photo at the cave entrance. Outside the entrance we met with a group making pre-wed photos, the location was nice. Asking for their permission for us to take group picture there, lucky they had finished their photo session. I could not imagine how hot the couple felt with their complete wedding costumes and make up, as I had got wet although I wore casual clothes. At the end of the journey, Abdul took a beautiful panorama of us. He's very kind, he didn't ask for money, we were very satisfied with his service, so my friend didn't mind at all giving him tips.

Reaching the entrance we saw our friend from 1st group drinking ice fresh coconut in the small hut, the seller also sold fruit called "Kedondong", some of them already peeled. It tasted sweet, so my friends bought some of them to bring home. I still would like to take some pictures, my friend's husband was kind enough to help taking my picture at the entrance from his seat in the hut. I also saw beautiful scenery behind the parking lot, so I walked alone there to take some pictures while waiting for my friends taking break.

I felt starving as it's already 15:00 o'clock and we hadn't got any lunch, so we stopped by at a restaurant to have lunch. After full our driver brought us to a Madura batik shop to buy souvenirs. Although I didn't plan to buy any batik, I could not resist the temptation with many options and prices, so I bought 3 of them, while my friends bought much more than me. It's an original handmade batik, and it cost cheaper than in the shop in Surabaya.

I'm very satisfied with the trip, although I was not in good condition, got a very bad flu, but I insisted to go. I didn't regret it, I could get many good pictures, and also some batik. You should visit Arosbaya if you like scenery, prepare for hat or umbrella to protect from the sunshine, please wear a thin clothes as it's quite hot. It takes around 1.5 hours from Surabaya.

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Enjoy The Beauty of Warsaw in 2 days, Poland

In Jun 2015 I visited Warsaw, the capital and largest city of Poland, with 2 of my friends joined ATS tour.

It's 12 degrees Celcius temperature when we'd arrived, the bus dropped us to Golden Terrace shopping mall where we could find supermarket to buy fruits, beverages and snacks. I love cherry, and I could find the good quality here. It's sweet, big and yummy, it's difficult to find in Indonesia with reasonable price :-) Different kind of cheese was also available, which could be eaten directly as snack.

On the way to our hotel DOUBLETREE By Hilton Hotel, Skalnicowa street 21, Warsaw 04797, Poland, Phone +48-2227 80000, we passed by National Stadium Warsaw with its retractable roof, mostly used for football matches also as the home stadium of Poland national football team.

On the next day we visited the beautiful Łazienki Park (Palace on the Water) is the largest park in Warsaw, Poland, occupying 76 hectares of the city center. It's the lavish summer residence of the last King of Poland, Stanislaw August Poniatowski (1764 - 1895).

Took quite some time for photo group, it's difficult to gather the participants who were busy taking their own pictures as many interesting spots to take photos.

As the name meaning, we could find many pools around the park. Some buildings looked as if it's built on the water with white color. Unfortunately we didn't enter any building, just saw from outside. We had to walk to enjoy the park, as our bus would pick us on the other side, not the same as the entrance.

Peacocks were walking freely in the park. We also found squirrels jumped from the tree, and busy chewing something, maybe peanuts. In the middle of the park we smelled something good, it's from waffle stall, my friend bought a portion to be shared, it tasted good, crunchy and yummy.

Continued the trip by bus, we had passed by some beautiful landmarks of Warsaw.

Our next destination was Warsaw's Castle Square (Polish: plac Zamkowy w Warszawie). It's a historic square in front of the Royal Castle – the former official residence of Polish monarchs – located in Warsaw, Poland.

It is a popular meeting place for tourists and locals. The Square (in a more or less triangular shape) features the landmark Sigismund's Column to the south-west, and is surrounded by historic townhouses.

It marks the beginning of the bustling Royal Route extending to the South. We had some free time hours to walk around. The guide left after showed us where the toilets and the meeting point, we were free to explore by ourselves.

Walking through the area, watching some churches such as Cathedral Basilica of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, a Catholic church with Masovian Gothic style, it’s been listed by UNESCO as of cultural significant. St. Anne's Church, one of Poland's most notable churches with a Neoclassical façade, ranks among Warsaw's oldest buildings. Over time, it has seen many reconstructions, resulting in its present-day appearance, unchanged since 1788.

Shrine of Our Lady of Grace Patron of Warsaw, Built in the late-Renaissance style, between 1609-1629, the temple was constructed at the order of King Zygmunt III Waza with unique Angel’s door by famous sculptor Igor Mitoraj

The must see is Monument of the Warsaw Mermaid (Pomnik Warszawskiej Syrenki), the symbol of Warsaw. Many souvenirs and snacks seller around the monument. Lucky there was a man with traditional costume, to take a cool picture together with the local.

During the exploration on the medieval street we stopped by to buy ice cream cone. While eating we continued walking on the paving street to enjoy the beautiful buildings and its exterior.

Finally we ended the day by having dinner in Chinese Restaurant.

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