A Happy Family

A Trip Summary

>> Jun 24, 2014

Our short trip was a blast. My husband and I were so lucky; a good friend invited us to accompany them in a short trip to Batu and Bromo National Park (East Java, Indonesia). We spent three nights at a luxury resort at beautiful Batu city. The room has wonderful balcony view –mountain and swimming pools. It’s a kind of comfort that we still can’t afford :)

Singhasari Resort at Batu city

Batu is a resort city that surrounded by many nearby tourist destinations. We landed at Juanda airport Surabaya in Thursday afternoon and reached Batu city in three hours. It’s already dark when we entered our hotel room.

Coban Rondo Waterfall

In the morning next day, after having full breakfast, we planned to visit several destinations in Batu city. My friend’s son doesn’t like playing grounds so his mother chose natural places to visit. That day, in the same day, we could go to Coban Rondo waterfall, Banyak Mountain to see paragliding sport, Kusuma Agrowisata the fruit garden, and Museum Angkut (the Transportation Museum). Actually there are lots of other interesting destinations but we had to rest and prepare for the main destination – Bromo!

To see sunrise moment at Bromo, we left hotel at midnight. Thanks to the driver of our rented car. Mr. Anto is a helpful, funny, talkative man and a good driver too. We’re so supported.

Visiting Bromo can’t be done without earlier preparation. Anyone who plans to visit Bromo should ensure first that they have booked before the jeep transportation as only rented jeeps that are allowed to enter inside the huge park. You may join a tour package and let the staff arranges it for you. We don’t join any tour package since fortunately our driver knows a friend who rents a jeep there.

Paragliding at Banyak Mountain. My friend tried her first experience.

A great variety of transportation devices at Museum Angkut, Batu.

We arrived at the house of the jeep owner in three hours. The car was parked at his house and we continued the journey with the jeep to reach a sunrise spot. There are several sunrise viewpoints like Love Hill and Mt. Penanjakan; we chose Kingkong Hill as it’s the nearest viewpoint from the main road. The jeep road was a great fun. It’s a one hour ride that full of extreme winding roads. I didn’t see any view as it’s still totally dark.


Watching Bromo sunrise at Kingkong Hill

That Saturday, I saw lots of visitors at Bromo. It’s because not only weekend but also there’s a great event called Jazz Gunung performance (Mountain Jazz) started in Saturday afternoon till nite. It’s a pity we didn’t get the show tickets; it’s already sold-out.

When waiting the sunrise moment in cold and dark, I heard people around talking with different worldwide languages. The sunrise wasn’t a perfect one but it’s no problem at all. We still enjoyed the beauty of colorful shades though the sun was hiding. Kingkong Hill is a nice spot to take pictures. The place wasn’t too full of crowded people. I saw some professional photographers there; they leaded us to great photography angles.

Jeep ride to Tengger Caldera

Leaving sunrise viewpoint, we continued the jeep ride, passed through Ngadisari sandy caldera and arrived at Tengger or Sand Sea Caldera. The jeeps were parked at this caldera. Visitors may continue the journey to the peak of Bromo by foot or take a horse ride till the nearby horse terminal. The distance is about 1 km. We rode horses and enjoyed the amazing views. I’d like to take photos during the horse ride but I was too scared to move a lot. The sandy caldera landscape is not a plain ground; there are rising and falling paths that made my heart beat faster.

Horse ride to go near Bromo Crater. Mount Batok in the background.

Don’t forget using a mask to protect you from volcanic dust and sulfur smell. Sulfur gas gives you hard to breath, nausea and headache. The Bromo Carter occasionally releases sulfur gas; so it would be better to take safety. From the horse terminal, we took a short walk to reach stairs to the Bromo crater and peak.

The next stops are savana and another sandy ground named Pasir Berbisik (Whispering Sand) that looks like a desert. We just took a few shots as we’re tired already. It’s still in the morning, but the sun was scorching hot.

Landed at Jakarta -Sunday night

We didn’t visit other tourist destination anymore. Checked out on Sunday afternoon, we straightly reached Juanda Airport to take the night flight. Arrived at Soekarno Hatta airport, my husband and I took airport bus to Bogor city. While my friend and son took a taxi ride.

Well, it’s my trip story. I only share a few photos here; I’ll share others in next posts. Whoaa, I have many photos to share!

Going for a Short Trip!

>> Jun 19, 2014

It's a scheduled post, guys. In Thursday morning, we -four of us- are in the airport to take a morning flight to Surabaya. A rented car will take us to our destination Malang city and finally Bromo Mountain (East Java, Indonesia).

image:twitter.com

We have promised not to bring our gadgets. So, besides mobile phones, we don't bring others. I won't open my blogs for a few days. Good bye to blogging for a while :)

See you next week. Happy holidays.

Shocking Food

>> Jun 16, 2014

Happy new week to all. We plan to have a short trip this week. We’re still preparing it. If we get the flight tickets, we’ll go on Thursday. Wish us luck.

Long Sausage at Klappertaart Huize Bogor

A friend’s son ordered this food when we stopped by at a café last week. And when finally it served on our table, we all got shocked. This sausage is long enough to eat by four of us. The taste is yummy! I must admit that it’s the longest sausage that I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. The length is about 60 centimeters.

Ah Poong Sentul City

I saw no blue at the café, so for Blue Monday I shared colorful flags and the blue bridge on the background -taken at a riverside eating place.

Lions

>> Jun 15, 2014

Not real lions, but two lions sculptures that located in the back yard of Bogor Palace (Bogor city, West Java, Indonesia). Another shot for Camera Critters and Saturday's Critters, a small version of lion, Mocca, enjoying the windy afternoon on the planter :D

Two sitting 'lions'

Small lion :D

Tips for Cleaning Baby Toys Naturally

>> Jun 12, 2014

Because your baby will be putting some of his toys in his mouth, the last thing you want is to use chemical-based cleaners to disinfect them. But how can an eco-friendly and health-conscious mother go about cleaning her baby's toys naturally? Continue reading for some helpful tips and to see just how easy it is to make sure everything you splurged on at your favourite baby toys sale will be clean for baby.

Washing Toys without Batteries

For plastic toys and those made of rubber or silicone that don't use batteries, you can easily wash them off in the sink with a mild, eco-friendly dishwashing liquid and warm water. Because these types of toys may melt when exposed to high heat, it's best to keep them out of the dishwasher. If you've already made the mistake of putting toys in the dishwasher only to find that they came out ruined, you can always head over to Gumtree to find some suitable replacements and keep your baby happy. Once you're done scrubbing them with warm water, rinse these toys off with cool water.

To disinfect these toys after they've been washed, use a 50/50 solution consisting of water and rubbing alcohol. Spray the solution onto the toys and, after a minute, rinse them off and lay them to dry. This will ensure the toys won't only be clean of debris but also disinfected properly.

Stuffed Toys

For toys that are stuffed or made of fabric, washing is really important. The more you wash these toys, the better, because they can harbour a host of germs and can also have dust mites that can cause your baby to suffer with allergies. If you absolutely don't want to deal with constantly cleaning these toys, and if your baby isn't really attached to them, you can always replace them by shopping at a baby toys sale where you can find a variety of adorable options for your child.

Many of these types of toys are machine-washable, but check the label to be sure. If this is the case, wash in hot water to kill bacteria, germs, and mites. If you want to take a more eco-friendly and energy-saving approach, you can use cold water in the washer and then dry the toys in the dryer, as the high heat will certainly do the job of killing off pathogens.

For fabric toys that aren't machine-washable, you'll need to use a mild disinfectant spray and clean the surface of the toys by hand. Be certain you read the cleaning product's label. If it says the toy needs to be rinsed off before giving it back to your baby, do so and let it air-dry.

Battery-Operated Toys

Battery-operated toys, or those that need to be plugged in, should never be submerged in water. The best way to clean them is to wash them off with a soapy cloth, avoiding any electronic areas or gaps between parts. Remove batteries and unplug the toy first. Then rub down with alcohol and water to disinfect.

A Wedding Reception and Afternoon at the Bogor Palace

>> Jun 9, 2014

It’s already Monday night here and I’m just able to open my netbook and write this post. Last Sunday we attended a wedding reception of an uncle’s daughter. The wedding avenue was full of invited guests. It’s not a blue themed wedding; I didn’t see many blue there but I saw a few blue touches on wedding and hall decoration.

Many guests at the wedding reception

Unique wedding decoration

Wall art at the hall

Since today until a week ahead, Bogor Presidential Palace in my city is open for public. A good friend and her son came this afternoon to visit the palace so my husband and I accompanied them. Though we faced a little problem at first as we came too late to register; finally we’re able to enter this awesome palace and we surely had enjoyable time! We were today’s last turn of visitors and it gave us some advantages. There were no crowd anymore and we’re able to ask many questions as the staff only guided four of us. We’re not allowed to take photos inside but we captured different things outside. I'll share more photos next time.