Taman Safari Indonesia

It's been quite a while since my last update. You see, I was really busy entertaining guests.

Mid May, Steve came to Jakarta for the 4th or was it 5th time this year? Sorry ahh Steve... I lost count. This time around, his airfare was fully paid for by a friend who also tagged along with the wife. Seronok dapat kawan macam Fendi kan Steve... dah la sponsor flight, accommodation pun dia bayorkan.

Steve is unlike any other guests. He could not be bothered with shopping. 90% of his time in Jakarta was spent consuming caffeine in cafes. And errr... not to forget nicotine. Actually, although he has been to Jakarta countless number of times, he still could not get enough watching beautiful people of Jakarta. Hence the long hours in open air cafes.

Then, my parents came to Jakarta together with my sister and nephew. The visit which I most looked forward to.

I took 5 days off just to be with my family. As expected, I gained a few pounds (dah hilang dah pun) from eating delicious meals prepared by my mom. Lama benor tak rasa masakan mak aku.

My dad, being the green-fingered person that he is, trimmed the small lawn at my house and planted a few plants. He even pestered me to buy more plants to beautify the empty lawn. I then showed him the almost dead orchid (a gift from Steve and Atian) - a way of telling him his son prefers zero-maintenance artificial plants.

Since my eight-year-old nephew was so bored with grown up people's agenda (read : shopping and more shopping), we decided to pay Taman Safari Indonesia a visit.

Taman Safari Indonesia is situated in Puncak. I did not know this until the actual day we were our way there. I had always thought it was in Bogor. Had I known this fact, I would not have chosen Saturday to go to the safari.

You see, from the foothill, Puncak is only accessible via a two-lane road, one for each direction. On weekends, the traffic volume escalates and naturally, causes super "macet".

We were lucky we left the house at 7 am and our ascend to Taman Safari Indonesia was quite smooth. The traffic jam was bearable. But the descend was a nightmare. More on this later.

Ok. Having never been to a safari before, I was actually quite excited. Masa kecik-kecik dolu teringin nak ke safari yang kat Desaru, tapi tak mampu. About a kilometre before reaching the safari's entrance, there were many roadside stalls selling carrots.

The sopir (Pak Toyo le... sapa lagi) asked whether I wanted to buy some. My mom answered yes. Dia kan pantang tengok mende-mende jual tepi jalan ni, mesti nak berhenti. I wound down the window and the boy manning the carrot stall handed over carrots worth Rp10,000.

Aku tengok je carrot2 tu terus mintak tukar yang elok2 sikit. Pehal bagi aku yang kecik2. Aku nak buat juice pakei juicer aku nanti mesti nak carrot yang besor2.

Done. Off we went continuing our journey heading towards the safari gates. Then my nephew asked my mom :

Afiq : Pah, you want to give carrots to the animals ke?

Mom : Yes, nanti Afiq feed the animals ok.

Bodoh tak aku? Aku ingat carrots tu untuk buat juice ke, buat mak aku masak sayur ke. Patut le muka budak yang jual carrot tu macam heran je kenapa aku mintak tukar suruh bagi carrot yang elok2 sikit. Sure dia kata bangang tul Om tu. Nak bagi binatang makan pun nak yang elok2 ke??

We spent almost 3 hours at the safari. The safari is divided into two areas i.e the safari and the recreational area where they have animal shows, all sorts of rides and even a haunted house.

We managed to catch the elephant show. Then my nephew begged to be taken on the cable car ride.

The cable car looked ancient. Rp30,000 per person for a less than 10 minutes ride on a cable car which seemed to be made in the year Rhoma Irama made his first album.

After the safari we continued our journey further up Puncak.

Those who have been to Cameron Highlands, the journey up to Puncak is somewhat similar. Vast areas of tea plantations could be seen on both sides of the road.

We then stopped at the Taman Bunga Nusantara. Well, my dad is a green- fingered person, remember?

More on this in my next posting.