First full day of our vacation & it had to rain. We were walking along the waterfront & had to dash for cover when it rained all of a sudden. We decided to have our breakfast @ Kopiduk.
Luckily, it rained only for a short while. Pre warning: it rained everyday while we were there during this CNY period, especially in the mornings & late afternoons. So folks, do take note of this wet season.
Pre trip: wanted to make a booking for Jakarta City Tour & Taman Mini Indonesia but hubs said to book the tour upon arrival. Spoilt-spot! No tour desk @ the airport, neither was there one at the hotel. Grrr... I shot a black face, a real dark one at hubby. Mood dampening!!!
The rain stopped. Hubby flagged down a cab - Blue Bird Group is what you will want, folks. We told the driver our destination, hoping he would understand. You see, we do not know Bahasa Indonesia & the locals there can only understand simple, one word of English.
Along the way, it started to rain again. As we do not know of any specific place to start @ Taman Mini Indonesia (let me termed it as TMI - troublesome to type such a long word), the driver stopped us at a sheltered building which we thought to be the main gate. We paid 40,000 rupiah for admission & 125,000 rupiah for the taxi fare. As we found out later, that was the banquet hall & the people outside were all guest attending a wedding. You can imagine my irritated look.
No one to ask, no info counter around ( we saw one later on our way out), we were really lost. A sign caught out attention. Tram ride: 20,000 rupiah/person. We had no choice but to take a ride around the park. Sorry folks, no photos to show as it was raining & my mood was really bad that morning. I chose to keep quiet all the way.
** I forgot to do most of my homework, like taking down the cost & time travelled from one place to another, a thing I would always do when we are on vacation.... **
It was still raining & I told hubs to get out of here & returned back to Ancol. The only sentence I spoke from arrival to departure. I was that pissed off!!! We flagged down another Blue Bird cab & hubs asked if the driver can drive us around & surprisingly, he understood our intention & gladly abide.
I have half the intention to ask the driver if he can stopped for us to take pictures now & then. Zipped!! We found out there were many interesting places to visit inside the park itself. However, there were individual admission fees to be paid. The rain stopped when were were on the highway.. Heavens really played a cruel trick on us...
We stopped for lunch at Seaside Suki. As it was a weekend, the place was real crowded. We made our orders but forgot to inform the service staff we want non spicy ones. As it is, even the pineapple rice you see above was spicy. Hubs ordered some desserts for the kids - Singkong Thailand S2 & Lumpia Durian (if I remembered correctly). We paid 275,880 rupiah.
SeaWorld was just across the road & this was of those travel forums recommended attractions. Admission: 90,000 rupiah/person.
Once outside, we came across a CNY parade procession. B&W lion dance??? Vampires as part of the procession??? We had to laugh.
We practically combed the whole stretch of Ancol, from its Marina ( private yatchs & high end apartments/bungalows) to Ancol Lifestyle Mall on the other end.
I leave you with a short video clip on the CNY parade.
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