The name of the game was just to relax in Jakarta.
My friends were suggesting a few places that they could bring me to whilst in Jakarta, like Dufan (Dunia Fantasi), Kota Tua and PIK by the Sea. Those are places that I haven't been to but I told me them it's not a must. The one thing that I was looking forward to was the CFD (car-free day). That was why I chose to fly back on Monday. And I needed to go to Thamcit (Thamrin City) to get my sisters telekungs ('mukena' in Indonesian) and a couple of batik shirts. I'm a bit skeptical when it comes to deciding the designs and even sizes for people! Good thing that I have 3 other friends who are willing to tag along. But more on this later.
a short recap video (courtesy of CapCut). I shot more videos that pictures in this trip. I have to ask for my friends their pictures so that I could use them in this post 🙊
Friday May 16/5
On our last morning in Bandung, us three went out to have breakfast at a bubur place and grabbed last minute Kartikasari begelen for moi :D.
We purposedly booked the 14:53 Whoosh train from Padalarang so that we could perform Friday prayers before leaving. We took Grab to get to Stasiun Bandung and subsequently the feeder train to Padalarang. 30 minutes later we arrived at Halim.
Whoosh is definitely the go-to mode of transportation if you wanna get to Jakarta or Bandung fast. But it's a bit hectic and a rush to get onto the Whoosh and feeder trains. It's okay if you're young, but perhaps a bit of a hassle when traveling with seniors. Hold on now. My age is leaning towards the latter 👴😁
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| Dropped off at Stasiun Bandung |
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| Kartikasari brownies and begelen 😋 |
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| In the feeder train |
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| You probably won't be able to guess the name of this shop at Stasiun Padalarang.... It's Malaya Toast 😅 |
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| Whoosh, whoosh... yeah! |
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| Arrived at Halim |
We continued on to Stasiun Dukuh Atas via LRT. When we got there, we took the walkway to Stasiun Sudirman. We decided to walk to Ascott instead of taking the MRT as it was within walking distance and the sun was blocked by the highrises. We need to get those steps in too 😉
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| Walking route from Dukuh Atas to Sudirman and ends at Ascott |
Check-in was super quick and we were given a room that was facing Thamcit (Thamrin City).
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| In time for sunset |
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| Capturing the sunset with the front facing camera. Wait, which is front and which is the back one? 😃 |
When it came to dinner options, I proposed Marugame Udon next door at Grand Indonesia. They were more than happy to oblige because it was one of their favourites. We also did the same for our first night in Jakarta last year. Would you believe me that I haven't been to Remboelan or Makan Sore? No, I haven't 😁. I'm blessed to have local friends who would bring me to their favourite spots.
D suggested that we should go to Acaii Tea for dessert because the long lines seen in social media should spell out great dessert options. The queue wasn't that bad but they had limited table spaces. Luckily enough it wasn't long before we got seats.
I believe we ordered the Mochubi Brulee Icecream - mochi with creme brulee, ice cream, sweet potato and peanut. Yummms
Saturday May 17/5
We skipped breakfast today. Not by choice but because we extended our sleeping hours 😇.
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| The obligatory elevator pic |
D had made plans to hang out with his friend visiting from Singapore. We were joined by ZD who had cleared up his schedule for the weekend to hang out with us. That was so sweet of him.
He picked us up at the hotel lobby and drove us to Ayam Goreng Berkah Rachmat for brunch. Every dish was excellent. After that, we went to Kopi Neng for coffee and toast.
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| Ascott - Ayam Goreng Berkah Rachmat - Kopi Neng |
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| Es Kelapa Jeruk. So refreshing! |
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| 😋🤤 |
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| Thanks ZD for bringing us here and treating us |
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| ZD called this the butt statue (I can't write down the Indonesian word for 'butt' here 😁) or the 'guy delivering pizza on fire' statue 😂 |
That night, we had dinner at one of the gerobaks behind Grand Indonesia. I'm not that adventurous when it comes to food, but I trusted these guys. This particular place is quite clean so there wasn't any hesitance on my side. We had rice, chicken soup thingy (is there a name for it?) and satays. The food was served hot and they were really good!
We returned to Acaii Tea to introduce it to ZD. This time around, we ordered a smaller ice cream cup. It was still that good.
We even did some grocery shopping because these guys planned to make breakfast and cook ramen tomorrow. It was funny how they were scouting for the best deals on the items like the scallions, eggs and butter. Not because they needed to, but they wanted to consume just enough for the meals.
Sunday May 18/5
Before we headed out for CFD (Car-free day), ZD made us scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. Now we didn't have any excuse to buy food. Oh man! Just kidding 😁.
We started at Bundaran HI and made our way towards Monas. Then we circled back towards Bundaran HI, but not before making a mandatory stop at Sari Sari, gedung Sarinah. We were early by 30 minutes or so because they would only open at 9. Lots of people were already waiting, and the line was already snaking. However, it went by quickly as people didn't linger long to decide what they wanted.
With a box full of kue's, we marched on towards our hotel.
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| Our walking route during CFD |
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| senyum lebar 😁 |
There's no doubt that some of the kue's are similar to those of in Malaysia. We are definitely serumpun. The ingredients are pretty much the same like the flour, santan, sugar and what not. But it's fascinating to see loads and loads of kue in one shop. We do have similar shops, like nyonya colors and that one shop in Gong Kapas, Terengganu (this one is really really far from KL 😛)
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| The haul from Sari Sari. And they did have celorot :D |
The guys were of a great help to get my shopping done at Thamcit (Thamrin City). 3 telekungs/mukena and 2 batik shirts still took an effort. Halfway through we even thought of a coffee break 😂
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| Several samples of telekung/mukena |
That evening the guys wanted to check out the observation deck UP at Thamrin Nine, but we found out that it wasn't open to the public yet (8th of June is the official date). So we had to be content with walking around Agora Mall, which was still fairly new.
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| The "Out of Office" kaus is still relevant |
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| Ascott - Agora - 57 |
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| Sunset near 57 |
Later that night, FS who was returning back from Bandung, joined us for dinner.
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| Great meet up over great fried chicken! |
This was when we said goodbyes to ZD and FS. Thanks guys! See you in our next trip. Hopefully sooooon. Aamiiiin!
Monday May 19/5
It was 'going back home' day. Booo 😛. Time was so envious of us.
We opted for breakfast at the hotel. And we had time for a dip in the pool too. We got our money's worth for our swimming attire 😉. They were utilized in Ciletuh, Sukawana, Garut and here he he he |
| I couldn't resist to do a little bit of the Serumpun moves 😊 |
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| Going home.... Boooo |
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| Got a ride in a BYD to BNI City - on the house - as it came with the room. Thanks Ascott. |
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| Bye guys! See u guys at the next trip |
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| We were on the opposite platforms 😄 |
Cutting the story short. After I arrived in KLIA, I rode the ERL train to KL Sentral and then booked Grab to my home. It was 8:50 pm when I reached my home, after losing an hour due to the different timezone. My sister asked me if I was going to work the next day. I replied yes. She quipped that I am a workaholic. I told her that if I took another day of leave, I rather extend my vacation 😉.
Man, 10 days went by ever so quickly. Thanks for the gang for the fond memories. Here's to more adventures together🍺 🠘 teh tarik gelas besar 😎
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