Crowds

So Mommy and Daddy were warned not to go to local attractions on weekends or holidays.  We decided to take the kids to the zoo on wednesday, an Indonesian holiday.  Mommy thought, sure, there will probably be more people there, but it's a huge zoo, how bad could it be? 

This is Ragunan Zoo on a holiday.  I assume it must be the same or similar on weekends.

There were people everywhere...on the main roads, on the walkways, even on the lawns.  It was very crowded!

Despite there being people everywhere, we still had a good time.  We walked around and saw some of the animals including local species like the Komodo Dragon.  We had lunch at a local food stall at the zoo before heading home.  It cost us a little more than US $2 to get into the zoo.  Now that's a great deal!

Siblings

Katelyn refused to get in the group picture, but Mommy was able to get a few cute pictures of Joseph and Audrey.  Those two are the best of friends...sometimes :)

Taman Safari

We got up at 5:30am this morning to get ready to go to Taman Safari, a wildlife park in Bogor, Indonesia. It's supposed to be a 1.5 hr drive from Jakarta. We left around 6:45am and arrived about 9am. That's actually pretty good time considering traffic around here.

Daddy bought some bananas and about 8 bundles of carrots before entering the wildlife park. We ended up with most of the bananas and 1 bundle of carrots by the time we left. The kids had a great time feeding the animals.

We've been to safari parks before, but this one was really good. You get to get really up close and personal with all the animals...including predators like lions, tigers, and bears. They had separate areas for the predators so that they did not have to be in cages. People are advised to roll up their windows in the predator areas of the park...for obvious reasons. The park itself was like a zoo except that you could drive your car through. We saw all sorts of fun animals.

The park is really huge. The drive thru part is only one portion of the park. They have an amusement park area, a water park, free animal shows, places to eat, and all sorts of other fun things. We will have to come back again. The kids were so tired after a couple of hours. We ate lunch at Safari Fried Chicken...a KFC knockoff and saw an elephant show. Mommy and Daddy got the kids some souvenirs and then we headed home.

It took about 3 hours to get home, which was also not too bad considering how bad traffic can be in Indonesia. We left the park a little after noon. We got home around 3 pm. We all had a fun time at the park and look forward to going there again in the future.

Entrance to Taman Safari

Kids posing near some tour buses

African cows eating carrots

Hard to get a good shot of the kids sitting right next to them in the car

Llama eating carrots

Overzealous Kudu looking for carrots

Lions, and tigers, and bears...oh my!

Zebra

K and the Kangaroo

Daddy and A

3 little monkeys

4 monkeys plus Mommy and Daddy

Very large monkey statue

Last day of school

Last day of school at Pattimura was thursday.  Mommy and the girls caught a taxi up to school to have one last snack time with Joseph and to help celebrate Ms. Shanty's birthday.  All the parents were invited but apparently Mommy and the girls were the only ones to show up.  Our driver is off on thursdays and fridays which is why we had to get the cab.

Getting a cab was actually rather difficult since it was around 8am...during rush hour.  It took us a good 10 or 15 minutes to hail a cab.  After we got one to stop, it was the same story...Mommy asked the driver in Indonesian if he knew where Pattimura Elementary school was located.  He looked confused.  Mommy told him that it was a school.  He said he knew where it was...he didn't.  Indonesians don't like to say that they don't know something so they tell you that they know.  We got to the school eventually. Mommy really needs to learn the word for u-turn or other way :) 

We got a couple of pictures of Joseph with his teacher and the teacher's aide.  His teacher Mrs. Gamage is leaving Jakarta.  This was her last year of teaching here.  She is going back to her home country of Sri Lanka.  She is a really good teacher and loves the kids.  We will all miss her.  Joseph said it was so sad that Mrs. Gamage was going away and never coming back :(

Snack time



Joseph and Mrs. Gamage (wish he would smile for pictures)

Joseph and Ms. Shanty (a little better on the smile)

Katelyn on the playground equipment...she loves going up to the school

So getting home from the school is a little tricky.  It's difficult to hail a cab around the school because the way some of the roads are here in Jakarta.  Some of the roads will have medians although both lanes of traffic are going the same direction.  Around the school, a lot of the taxis seem to travel in the middle lane so you can't hail one because they can't cross over the median.  You also can't catch a taxi in the middle lane. We ended up crossing over to the other side of the road and walking a ways before being able to get a taxi.  Luckily, the driver knew how to get us home.

Can Mommy just say that we really love having a driver and car.  It really makes life alot simpler.  Mommy will have to blog about this incident in another post, but one night we could not hail a cab because it was friday night and it was raining so we ended up walking back to the apartment from one of the malls. 

Anyway, back to the original topic.  So, school is finally over and summer vacation is officially here!  We are so excited about going some fun places with the kids.  Mommy will probably take the kids to the zoo again since Joseph didn't get to go last time.  We are also planning on going to Taman Safari (wildlife park) and a few other places.  In July we are headed back to the U.S. for a 3-week visit.  It should be a fun summer!

Ragunan Zoo

Another place that is popular with the locals is the Ragunan Zoo. The zoo is packed on weekends (so we hear). The zoo is located in Jakarta. On wednesday, May 11, we headed to the zoo after dropping Daddy off at work. Admission was 8,000 rupiah per adult and 3000 rupiah per child...very inexpensive. That's roughly US $2.50 for two adults and two children to enter the zoo.

The zoo was much larger than expected. It took us several hours to walk around the zoo, and we still did not see all of the exhibits. The weather in Jakarta is not too bad when standing, but once you start walking around, it quickly starts to feel quite hot. The girls were very tired after a couple of hours. We did not visit some of the extra exhibits like the primate house and the reptile house...maybe another time. There is an additional cost for the special exhibits, but it is still around 5000 rupiah which is roughly 60 cents US. The zoo had a lot of different animals ranging from local animals like orangutans and monitor lizards to animals normally seen at most zoos like elephants, giraffes, and zebras. We all enjoyed our visit to the local zoo.

Masjid Istiqlal

On the same day we went to the National Monument, we also went to visit the Masjid Istiqlal or the Istiqlal Mosque. It is the largest mosque in Indonesia and the largest mosque in S.E. Asia. The main prayer room can accomodate up to 200,000 worshippers. Normally the mosque is fairly empty except for fridays and it gets full during Ramadan, the holy month of fasting (in August). There is no charge to tour the mosque, but a tip for the tour guide is expected. Mommy only tipped the guide 10,000 rupiah because it was seriously like a 5 minute tour. The guide didn't say much of anything. Mommy could tell he wasn't very happy with the tip. Mommy asked someone else later how much a customary tip would be. Apparently a normal tip is around 50,000 Rupiah. Oh well...what to do.

To enter the mosque, you should dress modestly and you definitely must remove your shoes. Mommy had heard that women must also cover their heads when entering the mosque, but neither Mommy nor the girls were asked to cover our heads. Although the tour was short, it was definitely worth a visit.


Prayer room





Large courtyard that is also full during Ramadan






View of the mosque from the top of the National Monument

National Monument

On tuesday, May 10th, we went to Merdeka Square near the center of Jakarta to see the National Monument. It's basically a tall tower with a wide base and a flame at the top. At the top of the monument is a viewing area where you can see the city of Jakarta. Unfortunately, it had not rained in awhile when we went so the skies were quite smoggy. It was still a fun view of the city though. In the basement there were dioramas depicting the history of Indonesia.

Uncle A was quite popular with the locals. They call white foreigners "Bule." We had a couple of locals follow us around wanting to take pictures with Uncle A and with the girls. We encountered a group of Muslim young women that asked if they could have a picture taken with Uncle A and the girls. The girls were uncooperative. Mommy asked if it was okay to take a picture of Uncle A with the young women as well. They happily complied. Uncle A said he felt a little awkward because of all the attention.

Actually, everywhere we go, the girls get alot of attention. I think it is because Indonesians love children and because the girls are half-White. Mommy doesn't know how many "strangers" have snapped picture of the girls. Some ask permission, some don't. Mommy does find it amusing that the kids generate so much interest among the locals.

Weekdays are good days to visit local attractions. There were not a lot of people overall. We did encounter some kids on a school field trip but they were the only large crowd of people. The cost to go to the National Monument was 2500 Rupiah per adult (that's roughly US 30 cents). For whatever reason, the girls were free. Normal admission for kids is 1000 or 1500 Rupiah. To go to the top of the tower cost 7500 Rupiah (US 80 or 85 cents) per person. Again, the girls were free.

Here is a picture collage of our trip to the National Monument.