Mudik Trip (4): Dunia Fantasi, Ancol

Date: Friday, 13 June 2008
Location: Dunia Fantasi, Ancol, Jakarta

Still part of the June 2008 Mudik Trip series:

Mudik Trip (1): Gelanggang Samudra, Ancol
Mudik Trip (2): National Monument (Monas)
Mudik Trip (3): Ancol Marina Beach and Cable Car

After trying the cable car ride at Ancol's marina, I and Irza went to Dunia Fantasi, a famous theme park attraction in Ancol.

Dunia Fantasi has indeed changed since the last time we visited the theme park (can't remember when). It has a new entrance, and the used to be bumper car for adults, Ubanga-banga, is now restricted only for kids, which Irza (as usual) enjoyed very much.

We also tried the Alap-alap, Pontang-Panting, Ombang-Ombang, and of course, our favourite Arung Jeram. It's just that we didn't know (or forgot, to be exact) that taking the Arung Jeram ride will make us soaking wet... not just wet... but soaking wet...

My camera was running out of battery while we were still taking the cable car ride, so I had to use my phone camera during our excursion in Dunia Fantasi. Apologise for the low quality of the pictures.

Indi and Rani's Farewell and IndoSing-Mums' Birthday

Date: Sunday, 29 June 2008
Location: West Coast Park, BBQ Pit 1-2, near Carpark 2

Yesterday morning, we went to West Coast Park upon invitation from Indi and Rani for their farewell party in Singapore. They will be migrating back to Jakarta after Indi secured a new job in a multi-national company there.

At the same time, the IndoSing-Mums community, where my wife has taken part in the past couple of years, is celebrating its fifth birthday. On behalf of myself and my family, I would like to take this opportunity to wish the IndoSing-Mums community a very happy birthday. :)

We reached the park on-time at 9am sharp, but at the wrong carpark. :( I was under impression that the BBQ pits are located along the shore near carpark 3, where all the activities (and the playgrounds) are located. However, the BBQ pits have been moved to a more secluded area of the park, near carpark 2.

We needed to go to Suntec City for Irza's drum lesson at 11:15am, so we missed the farewell and birthday event even though we were back to the park at around noon. Nevertheless, Inka and Irza still had the opportunity to try the "car-bike" ride which is available in the park.

After the event, we went to VivoCity and we met Shinta and Aidan together with mbak Neta, one of my best friend Boyke's elder sister, who were on her way back from Bangkok to Batam. We also met Yuwono's family there.

Related links and pictures:

Hari Biru
ISM Ngultah & Perpisahan Rani @ West Coast Park
ISM & West Coast
Ultah Indosingmom 2008 dan perpisahan Rani
HUT ISM + Farewell Indrani.net = Feast !
Ultah ISM
sayang anak..sayang anak..
Wati's photo collection on Flickr
Milad Indosing Mom 2008
West Coast Pk
Pictures from Indi and Rani's Flickr

Mudik Trip (3): Ancol Marina Beach and Cable Car

Date: Friday, 13 June 2008
Location: Ancol's marina/beach area

While Inka has already went to Bandung with her grandparents, after dropping off my wife and her mother at pasar Tanah Abang, I took Irza to Ancol, again.

We went to the marina and beach area and took the Gondola, Ancol's cable car ride between the marina beach area and the Sea World area. The cable car ride gives a stunning view of the Ancol's seashore and the Mercure Hotel nearby, as well as the Ancol lake, some part of the Dunia Fantasi area (the Halilintar roller coaster ride) and the Atlantis Water Adventure area.

It costs only 25,000 rupiahs (around SGD$3.68 or USD$2.69) per person, for unlimited trip on the cable car for the day. You will be given a wristband and a stamp on your hand, and you can board the cable car as many times as you like within the day.

Mudik Trip (2): National Monument (Monas)

Date: Sunday, 8 June 2008
Location: Grand Indonesia, HI roundabout, National Monument (Monas)

On a nice Sunday, I took Inka and Irza to see the National Monument (Monumen Nasional, or Monas), which is located in the heart of the Jakarta's city.

We parked our car at Grand Indonesia Shopping Town, since my wife and Aunty Tessa would like to visit the new high-end shopping mall, which is located just next to Plaza Indonesia and not really too far from the HI roundabout (bunderan HI).

From Grand Indonesia, I took the kids for a short walk past by Plaza Indonesia to the HI roundabout, which is famous not only for its Monumen Selamat Datang (or the Welcome Monument) but also for its side function to be used by demonstrators for any kind of demonstrations in Jakarta.

We then boarded the busway (TransJakarta bus rapid transit) to the National Monument (Monas), three stations away northbound. To be frank, this was my first time (!!!) visiting this monument after countless numbers of passing it by without actually visiting it. Of course, this was also the first time for the kids to visit the monument.

BTW, on a side note, this was also the first time for me and the kids to board the busway. :) I found that the busway is quite convenient, with automatic ticketing system similar to the one used by Singapore's bus and MRT.

In Monas park, the kids were happily running around the park while I was busy taking pictures. The nearest park from the busway station would be the Taman Monas Barat (West Monas Park), which is located west of the monument. From there, we walked to the north area of the monument and then took a tram ride around the area. The tram ride is free, however the queue is quite long so you have to be patient while queueing.

We could actually go up to the top of the towering monument, however the queue is very long (since it was a Sunday) and we decided not to venture that. We then went back to the busway station and board the TransJakarta bus back to the HI roundabout.

Reaching HI roundabout, we went back to Grand Indonesia and found out that there's actually a small indoor theme park on the fourth floor (level 3A, to be exact) of the shopping mall. Inka and Irza managed to took a canoe ride at the theme park before heading home.

Mudik Trip (1): Gelanggang Samudra, Ancol

Date: Saturday, 7 June 2008
Location: Gelanggang Samudra, Ancol, Jakarta, Indonesia

On Saturday, 7 June 2008, I and my wife went to Jakarta, Indonesia for a short 1.5 weeks holiday, following Inka and Irza who were already in Jakarta since 29 May 2008, making use of the June school holiday to spent more time in our home country.

We took Valuair's morning flight and were greeted by my parents and the kids at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. From the airport, we immediately went to ITC Mangga Dua to allow my wife, accompanied by my mother, with her shopping spree. :)

Since I know that the kids won't like being dragged around ITC Mangga Dua, I took them, accompanied by my father, to Ancol, which is only around 15 minutes drive from Mangga Dua area. Our destination was the Gelanggang Samudra, an animal-based theme park in Ancol which I once visited while I was still a kid. Inka and Irza have never been to this place before.

On top of Ancol's entrance fee (12,000 rupiahs per person and 12,000 rupiahs per car), we needed to pay the Gelanggang Samudra's entrance fee of 60,000 rupiahs per person. That would set you back around 72,000 rupiahs (around S$10 or US$7.79) per person, which is quite reasonable. There are three animal shows, namely dolphin show, sealion show and other various animals show, staged several times a day, and each show is being conducted at different times, to ensure that we can attend all the three shows at the shortest time possible. There's also one 4D show which we can attend, and the kids also can have unlimited access to some rides, such as bumper car and balloon ride.

The trainers of the animals who staged the shows are also very professional in bringing up the shows with some jokes here and there. However, the shows were being presented in bahasa Indonesia, so foreign tourists might have difficulties in understanding them although they can still enjoy the animals' talents and capabilities during the show. That might be the reason why this attraction is still appealing for domestic tourists, but not much appealing for foreign tourists.

On a side note, my digital camera was running out of battery when we were there, so I had to use my PDA phone's camera to take the pictures. Apologise for the low quality of the pictures.

KL Trip (6): Putrajaya

Date: Monday, 19 May 2008
Location: KL-Putrajaya Expressway, Dataran Putra, Putra Perdana, Putra Mosque, Putrajaya Lake, Seri Wawasan bridge

After lunch with Iko and Hera's family at KLCC, we left Kuala Lumpur and started our long journey back to Singapore.

To the south direction, we took the new KL-Putrajaya expressway and not the usual KL-Seremban expressway since we planned to visit Putrajaya again. Even though we made a detour to Putrajaya on our way to KL, we only visited the Alamanda shopping centre without any visits to the iconic buildings there.

Our destination in Putrajaya is Dataran Putra (Putra Square), where some of the iconic buildings such as Perdana Putra and Putra Mosque buildings are located. The area also give stunning view of the Putrajaya Lake and the architectural Seri Wawasan bridge.

Inka and Irza were very happy taking pictures, especially since we brought two cameras. I and my wife even didn't have the chance to take pictures, almost all pictures below were taken by them.

The only downside is that because we visited the area in the afternoon, the weather is very hot with the baking sun shining above. Because it's relatively a new planned city, there's still not yet enough trees and plantations to block the heat.

We then left Putrajaya and rejoined the North-South Expressway towards Singapore. In Johor Bahru, we made another detour to Jusco AEON Tebrau City shopping mall for dinner and some last minute shopping, before returning back to Singapore via the causeway.