Sunday, August 24

Bandung Bummin Bliss

Volcano Virgin no more! ( still got lots more pics, not posted, check back again soon, meanwhile i hope u enjoy the pics...)

G is for Greenhouse Brekkie
i thoroughly enjoyed this volcanic adventure happie gupsters!

Brekkie was at the Executive Lounge of the Pan Pacific , I was pleasantly surprised at the little greenhouse effect decor..dining amid some lush greenery. it was very nice and took my mind off the grey noisy jakarta city scape for a moment.

check out the lush greenery! we were on the 18th floor ...smack in the middle of jakarta financial CBD. it was hazy and humid outside but o so quiet , tranquil and cool inside,Here we go here we go here we go - 3 of us bundled into the mini van at 730am sharp -BANDUNG here we come! ray came..erm...prepared with TOILET PAPER?!? ...and packed fruits lunch?! oh my goodness moo with the day trip brochure
Yay we were on our way to see REAL VOLCANO! Its a 2.5 hour trip by mini van to Bandung where the volcanoes are...
bye bye jakarta city...
Hello country suburbia country farm town indonesia...
we passed numerous padi fields, little villages along the way

more rice padi fields...some gold, some green...

so much land , indonesia is so freakin big i guess...and all hilly mountainous...agriculture is very big in this country

about and hour into our bumpy minivan ride. ray mustve lost it - i kept hearing him singing softly :"planting rice is never fun, bend from morn to set of sun, cannot stand and cannot sit, cannot rest a little bit,,," eeeks
occassionally we will hear moans of - "hmmm we shouldve taken a helicopter.."


H is for HOTSPRINGS

Guppies' first visit to a hotspring! After over 2 hours in the mini van, we were relieved to have arrived at the Hot Springs near the volcano. check out moo and ray..they look exhausted moo " eh look like some condo private pool leh "
guppy :" ya how come not like Japan hour,,,no rocky pond like look? blue tiles? like swimming pool.. "
rray :" aiya!!! HOT HOT HOT "

apparently the hot spring water was pumped from the ground directly into the pool...is rich in volcanic minerals...and good for health and curing skin ailments.

We all soaked it up ..it was 43degrees hot, but we still soaked in it for quite a long time

cam whoring while we soaked in the Hot spring water aaah bliss!lunch at the hot springs spa cafe...was buffet and wasnt a very healthy meal..all fried stuff...group shot! yes we conquered the hot spring. next stop! VOLCANO!group shot with the other tourists on our little mini van :) everyone was like us - volcano virgins!
lazy moos grazing in luscious green grass at the hot springs

T is for TEA PLANTATIONS 10,000 ACRES OF TEA BUSHES!
Guppies love to drink tea... and imagine my joy when i saw and touched for the first time , real fresh tea trees!we had out moments frolicking in the tea bushes !
V is for Volcano!
Finally! We arrived at the top of the volcano! and got out of our mini van!
The journey begins ..it will be a 1.5km trek down to the pit of the volcano..and a furhter 1.5-2km down to the next pick up point - where the mini van will be waiting for us


The weather was chilly but in a nice way the air smelt foul with sulphur and it was grey and cloudy but very very nice!Photo shootout with RAY Check out this magnificent breath taking view - crater of the volcano! you can still see lotsa smoke coming out from the crater Yes! Guppies have now seen their first real life Volcano! moo with volcano crater ray with crater... Its just tooo magnificent. Thanks guys, Im so happie we did this trip ...this was just too beautiful and all very new and very exciting There were many stalls selling all sorts of scarves, winterwear, hamsters, rabbits, toys , souveniors, fruits,. straweberries to tourists... yes this hamster is a doomed hamster :(After viewing everything from the top of the mountain, we began the downward hike towards the crater we trudged through mature rainforests...lush greenery, moss on the sides...beautiful rainforest...1.5 km later , We reached the crater and actually stood on it. there were various exit points where geysers, steam, bubbling mud and smoke came out piece of volcanic rock with sulphur on it. It was bubblin, it was hot...there was smooke everywhere, but still i was strangely drawn to it and stuck my little fingers in..wah like hot springs! hot hot hot...but didnt burn :D hee hee
you could hardboil an egg when u dip it into the pool of bubbling volcanic mud water..Sssss Smokin!Yeah we did it! group shot of the fearless Volcano hunters!

Amazing! one of the coolest sights, smells , sounds , Ive seen and felt in a long time! Everyone should make a trip to go see a REAL Volcano!

Saturday, August 23

Reporting "LIVE" from Sari Pan Pacific Jakarta


It's still just as warm in Jakarta...

Moomoo : "I'll be in Jakarta from 18th -29th August for work, you guys can come join me over the weekend, we can go on a day trip to Bandung, Lufthansa has cheap flights, you dont even have to take full day leave from work, just take half day!"

Ray: " eh , cool Yes IDEA!"

Guppy : " Eh I also want , see volcano! Never see volcano before! can stay with you at your hotelroom wah! bliss!!!"

Ray : "OK la ,on, Lufthansa cheap, I booked for us already! "

Guppy :"wa lao... so fast ah!wah you sponsor ah! Thank you wor!"

The Journey begins ...
"Eh!You taking pics to put on your blog again ah!?! Moomoo warned me about this! aaargh!"
My bag bigger than your bag wor!
Guppy: "Eh I dunno which terminal :P "
Ray :" Ok taxi uncle, take us to TERMINAL ONE! Im sure its at Terminal One "
At Terminal 1, RAY came to a realisation that Lufthansa does NOT operate out of Terminal 1...


RAY :"Eh? ooops sorreee mistake mistake..hehehhe comecome we take sky trainto Terminal 2 !"
Ray:" See?hehehh Lufthansa is at Terminal 2..hehehh ooops!"


We finally found the Lufthansa counter and managed to check ourselves in, to get our boarding passes!


Guppy's first Lufthansa flight!*excited*Flight from SG to JKT only takes 1hr 15mins so there wasnt much to watch or do, the flight was ho hum, not especially comfy nor luxe like Singapore Airlines but it was definitely cleaner, and more comfy than alot of other airlines. Pic of my blyeah airline sandwich.. bread was like rubber :P blyyeahhyup Ray agrees on level of blyeahness for the sandwich :P blyyeahWhen we finally touched down in Jakarta, it was already late in the evening, after braving the immigration queues at the Sukarno Hatta International Airport, we braved another hour of Jakarta traffic to get to moomoo. Yes aint it wierd , seems everytime i go seek moomoo out i have to brave some sort of traffic jam. yikes!We finally arrived at Sari Pan Pacfici Hotel, it looked and felt a little old..compared to most other hotels me and moo have stayed in. Ray and I tip toed through the corridors stealthily , we were gonna give moomoo a surprise!Yeah! we found it! Moomoo's hotel room! We have finally ARRIVED!


Guppies love jumping on big fluffy hotel beds!

Moomoo LOCATED!mOO checking Ray into another seperate room. heheh thats me with my "Stolen" hotel room welcome fruit basket banana! And then we're OFF in search of delicious local indonesian yum yums to fill our hungry travellers tummysWe ended up at the glitzy jakarta shopping strop at Grand Indonesia but it was already getting very late...

No time to lose! quick lets order some food now!

As you can see we made the mistake of ordering TWO sets of satay :P

After our hearty dinner, it was time to camwhore along the glitzy shopping streets of JAKARTA!hmm guppy needs a new camera. this camera not taking good shots! ...or mabbe its the photographer Ray.. hmmm Groups shot of the awsome threesome Ray and his Moulin Rouge moment..Guppies Singing In the Rain

By the time we finished cam whoring and dinner....the Malls have all closed! It was late :( boooooo

Moomoo : O woe is me! all the shops have closed ! sobbssss why! WHY CANT A GIRL SHOP till she drops! WHY?!

Ray : "sian... why why they close so early?! I want to spend money!" Yes Ray was the saddest of the bunch :P

Hmmm we are scheduled to join a day tour trip to Bandung tomorrow morning...will it be more successful than our shopping spree attempt?!

stay tuned happie gupsters - on the next installment of Bandung Bummin Bliss!