Bandung & Jakarta Day 1-3

Bali Haven

 

Tangkuban Perahu

 

 

Kampung Daun

We flew direct from Penang to Jakarta on Fri late nite, 24th May. Our flight was rescheduled for the second time, just 2 hours apart from our departure time. We flew at 11pm and it took us 2hours and 20mins to reach. After clearing the immigration, we grabbed a taxi and headed to Pop Hotel Airport Jakarta. It was past mid-nite when we checked into the hotel. After settling down, unpacked a bit and showered we finally called it a day at about 2.30am, local time. We woke up early the next day and hit to the breakfast bar for a quick bites. We mistakenly woke up an hour earlier, forgetting that Indonesia's local time was an hour behind Malaysia's time. After our breakfast, we went up to the room for a rest before checking out at 9.30am. 

Mummy's booked our Bandung & Jakarta tour online via Zafira Car which cost us Rp 2,550,000 all in for 4days 3 nites Bandung & Jakarta. Our designated driver, Mr Solehuddin was already waiting for us at the lobby as soon as we completed our check out process. He drove us to Terminal 3 where we were supposed to pick up Toki Ee Ee who flew from Singapore but unfortunately we went to the wrong terminal. We then headed to Terminal 2 where Ee Ee waited for us. We started our journey at about 10am heading to Bandung. We were very unfortunate to stuck in a massive jam. The jam was one of the most scariest one we had witnessed. It was bumper-to-bumper and near to not moving at all. After being trapped for almost 3hours, we then stopped at one of the R&R to have lunch and toilet break. Even having lunch was bad enough. We had to fought the long queue at the fast food chain.  

We continued with our journey after the lunch. The jam has subsided not long after. Our initial plan was to visit Tangkuban Perahu on the same day reaching Bandung but we were forced to abort the plan due to the delay on the road. We reached Bandung at about 3pm or so. Our first stop was Bali Haven factory outlet, one of the newest addition to Bandung FOs. We barely bought anything there except Ee Ee who bought a dress as a gift. We then proceeded to Jl Ir H Juanda @ Dago area and visited few FOs till our feet surrendered. Mummy bought a hand-made name holder, with Emeryn and mummy's name on it. Our driver then sent us to our hotel, Pop Hotel Citylink Bandung which was linked to Harris Hotel & Convention Festival CTLink where we put up 2 nights there. After putting our luggage into our rooms, we explored the mall for our dinner hunt. We had japanese cuisine. We went for grocery shopping after our dinner as we couldn't go outdoor for a walk since it was drizzling. 

We started our Day 3 as early was 8am after having our breakfast. We went to Tangkuban Perahu for our sight seeing and it took about 1.5hour to reach. It was a nice experience right from the pleasant car drive up the hill, the cool weather and the scenic view.  We were very lucky to have a stunning clear view of the active volcano with green water lake under the clear weather. We have to wear a mask to avoid from the sulfur smell. After snapping beautiful photos of the crater, we headed to Kampung Daun Culture Gallery & Cafe for our lunch. It has nice environment, beautiful and natural scenery and surrounded by trees and waterfall. We had our lunch in an individual hut, making it more special to visit this place. It was a quick lunch, thinking we could manage to visit Kawah Putih in the same day too. There were performances available and stalls selling souvenirs.

We were told that we are unable to make it to Kawah Putih after our lunch. It was a total disappointment as we have missed a day itinerary earlier. Nevertheless we continued our tour with factory outlets again. First we visited Rumah Mode followed by Jl Laksmana L RE Martadinata at Riau area. Obviously the old folks don't quite enjoy the shopping. Thus ah kong and ah pak chose to have a drink while waiting for the ladies to shop. Emeryn tagged along with them as she can't walk long since her leg has not fully recovered. That day mummy bought a Guess baby tee for Emeryn and herself and a dress for Emeryn. After the shopping spree, we went back to the hotel. Our initial plan was to try out the stall along the roadside but unfortunately it rains heavily. We went to the mall again and had our dinner at the food court. The food court offers variety of choices. After our meal, we shopped around before heading back to our rooms. 

1st Professional Manicure & Pedicure

 pampering session

 

lunch @ Winter Warmers

exam gift

 the result

the tough Science paper

It was a short week with 4 schooling and working days last week and we are already tuning in to our holiday mood before the departure itself. After impressing mummy with Emeryn's tremendous improvement earlier, she came home shattered mummy's happiness with Science 56% and Pendidikan Moral 64%. The Science paper was undeniably too tough for a Year One standard but as for Pendidikan Moral mummy has guessed Emeryn failed to understand the instruction. After the disappointing episode, Emeryn once again brought back 88% for Mathematics. As for Maths, the paper was way too easy. Nevertheless mummy has promised to get Emeryn a gift as a form of encouragement for her good job and effort.

On Wed, we drove to Por Por's place to passed her the backpack for our Jakarta trip. We then had dinner before heading home. Mummy dropped Emeryn at Por Por's house on Thurs evening after school while she went out for a quick dinner and drinks with her friends.

Fri was a public holiday, Wesak Day. We started our day early by going out for breakfast at downtown. Mummy's initial plan was to try out the Toh Soon Cafe @ Campbell Street which serves roti bakar and addictive coffee but it was closed. Mummy stumbled upon this place after watching a live show on tv. It is famous among Penangites but we have not tried before. The uniqueness of the stall is the usage of a super old charcoal stove to toast its breads. We will come back for our 1st try again.  We then substituted it with koay teow thng. After breakfast we went to Poise & Grace for a pampering session. Mummy bought the online voucher for herself and Emeryn to indulge heavenly on manicure and pedicure. It was Emeryn's 1st professional exposure and she loves every bit of it. As expected she choose purple color nail polish and had a tiny nail art. She was very excited throughout the whole process and happy with the end result.

After the pampering session, we headed over to QBM as mummy wanted to utilize her RM50 cash voucher which she won from her sales competition. With the RM50 voucher, Emeryn took a set of Princess accessories for her exam gift which comes with a pair of glass shoe, handbag, necklace, bangles, earrings and a tiara and stationaries such as crayon, magic pen, watercolors, brushes, pallet and pencils. After the long hunt, we had our lunch at Winter Warmers before mummy splurged herself with Etude House sales. We went home after running some errand and did some last minutes packing before heading to the airport later in the evening.

Losing Her 3rd Milk Tooth

 @ tong pak fu

 

the huge improvement

the 3rd milk tooth

the last Hello Kitty

the collection 

The exam week was over and it was a big relief to mummy. Another pressure coming in, the moment of receiving the result. Emeryn brought back the 1st three papers. Bahasa Cina 77%, Bahasa Malaysia 81% and English 82%. She has definitely shown tremendous improvement compare to her kindy years. According to Emeryn, they have to do the exam on their own without the teacher reading the instruction too. It's a real exam moving on. Mummy promised to reward Emeryn a gift for her excellent result.

After having outside meal for long, we ran out of choices for dinner. So on Thurs, mummy threw Emeryn an offer to have a dinner of her choice. As expected she chose Sushi King. It was daddy's turn to send Emeryn to school on every Fri. Both father and daughter had lunch at Mc Donalds as Emeryn wanted to collect the last set of Ronald Mc Donald Hello Kitty. After school, we headed to downtown for a nice dinner. We have no specific venue to visit but just drove around until we came to Nagore Road. Emeryn decided on Love Bites, a fusion cuisine. It was a small and cozy place. Throughout our whole dinner there, we're the only patron. Emeryn fell in love with this place and most of all the meal she had (mushroom soup, oglio olio and honeydew juice). Ever since our visit there, she has been pestering mummy to go back again.

Emeryn woke mummy up on Sat morning with a one-of-its-kind surprise. She said she has managed to pull of her shaky tooth and asked for mummy's hand. Half-awake, mummy received Emeryn's tooth on her palm thinking it was just another joke. With her half-opened eyes, she spotted it was a tooth, not a joke and quickly jumped off from the bed and got Emeryn to clean her mouth. It bleed just a little. Emeryn started her day with her movie again before going over to Pekaka at noon hour. She slept over at Beena Kor Kor's place. Her weekend visit was incomplete as Joel and Joey were out of town.

Mummy picked Emeryn on Sun at about 3pm, after negotiating long enough with her. She refused to leave Pekaka, perhaps have not had enough fun just yet. We were clueless where to go. Our initial plan was the playground which was called off due to the rain. We drove around town again until we decided on Tong Pak Fu, Burma Road. It was our first time there and we ordered Mango Napoleon with vanilla ice cream. While waiting for our order to be served, we were given 2 complimentary ice stick (mango and guava flavor). After having the sinful dessert filled with custard cream, we went over to Por Por's place for our usual dinner.

The Exam Week

Birdie

Penang's CM announced an official Public Holiday on Mon, the day after the GE 13. Amazingly we spent the whole day at home doing last minutes revision. Exam started on Tues and ended on Fri. Mummy did all subject revision with Emeryn except for Mandarin, which is totally out of her specialization. For the whole 1 week after removing the cast, Emeryn still unable to walk on her own. She still depend much on the clutches to bring her to anywhere. Well, it's more of psychology and phobia instead of the real pain. Doctor said she is recovering well and is allow to walk on both feet.  Ah Ma was away for holiday at Hanoi, thus daddy took up the role of visiting Emeryn during her recess time. 

We went to Mc Donalds at Tesco on Thurs after school with the mission to purchase the 3rd Hello Kitty collection. We bumped into Aunty Mei and Florence and their family members. They were there for the same mission. Haha. We sat together for the meal and the kids catch up among themselves. Finally after the exam on Fri, mummy regained her freedom after near to 2months. Emeryn stayed overnight at Por Por's place while mummy feast over dinner and drinks with her usual hangout pals. Mummy picked Emeryn on Sat morning and headed to the skin specialist to get her daily skincare supplies. We went to LWE to check on the physiotherapy department if Emeryn could do some physio session there. Unfortunately we need a referral letter from the doctor to proceed. Mummy sought some advice from the physiotherapist on how to help Emeryn to walk again. We went home after that before mummy sent Emeryn over to Por Por's house again. Mummy attended the Suara Rakyat Suara Keramat event at Batu Kawan. It was a bad traffic jam and the crawl started at Juru Toll. Every of us went with one similar mission, for a better future of our next generation.After a long nite, mummy finally reached home at about 2.30am after having a wee-hour supper.

Updates from mummy's fb: (1) I was there to witnessed the full-fledged support. It was just incredible. So sorry for those who walked kms heading to the stadium, stucked in the massive jam and yet can't even reach the destination. But nevertheless I'm sure you guys enjoyed the companion on the road with flags flying fiercely, car honking, the patriotic rhythm from the vuvuzela and all the cheering. Bravo!!! 

(2) Again my 60-years old dad has make me very proud. He rode his old motorbike (the one i rode 16years ago) all the way from Penang to Batu Kawan Stadium in the hope to give the future generation a better future, mebe to Emeryn. He reached home past 2am and not even complain anything. Not to mentioned at his age now, he signed up for a computer class last month which was fully paid by him. Bravo, dad!!!

Sun, it was Mother's Day and this year there are basically no celebration at all. All we had was Por Por's home-cooked lunch. We went home after our lunch and Theng Ee Ee brought Por Por to 1st Avenue for shopping. They (mummy and both Ee Ee) shared a gold necklace as a Mother's Day gift for Por Por. Nevertheless daddy gave RM100 to mummy on behalf of Emeryn to celebrate Mother's Day over dinner.

Another update from mummy's fb: While helping Emeryn on her painting, she suddenly stood up and kiss me on my cheek. And I asked "Why you kissed me?". She said with a huge smile "Its Mother's Day and Happy Mother's Day, mummy". This is one precious moment thou I don't receive flower, gift and nice meal. And I had mum's home cooked lunch.

Emeryn's Freedom & 13th General Election

Grimace 

 

The struggle and hassle of sending Emeryn to and from school continued for the past 1 week. Granny is still visiting Emeryn during every recess time without fail. 1st May, Labour's Day we spent our day at home doing revision to prepare for the coming school exam. Ah Kong and Por Por delivered their home-cooked meal for us. We then headed to Tesco to run some errand together with them before going home separately.

Daddy sent Emeryn to school on Fri and brought her to Mc Donalds for lunch. Emeryn took home the 2nd edition of McD's Hello Kitty, Grimace. It was in her favorite color, purple. On Sat morning we went to LWE for Emeryn's follow up and Emeryn was allowed to remove the cast. Finally she regained her freedom after a long 6 weeks. Her leg was extremely dirty after removing the cast and we bumped into Sherine Ee Ee at the payment counter. Mummy has to scrub it hard enough to remove the stain using her foot scrub on Emeryn and yet the stain does not clear entirely. According to the doctor, Emeryn doesn't need to attend physio and she needs at least 1-2 weeks to be able to walk on her feet again like usual. We then did some revision in the afternoon before going out for our Mother's Day dinner with the Mah's family (Toki Ee Ee, Carmen Ee Ee, Sherine Ee Ee, ah kong, por por and mummy's uncle and aunty). We had our dinner (choo char) at downtown before deciding to attend the UBAH ceramah at IJM Promenade. All of us went to the ceramah with the hope for a better future. We will fight and continue fighting. We parked our car along the coastal highway and walked towards the event. Along our walk, we could hear non-stop cheering from all the supporters and it made the walk more enjoyable and fun. We were unable to make our way any nearer to the stage as it was filled with thousands of supporter. We can't even get a glimpse on the speaker as all the audience were standing throughout the ceramah. Nevertheless we continued cheering from behind for our most respectful leaders. We left at about 11pm, before the ceramah ends.

505, which is supposed to a mark another HUGE history in Malaysia. We woke up early and had a quick breakfast at home before heading out to SMK Hamid Khan where mummy and daddy play their duty as a Malaysian. Daddy is supposed to pick us but mummy decided to drive on her own. We met daddy at the school entrance before going in together. We spent 1.5hour to cast our votes. It was a long queue but none of us complain even though we were fighting under the hot sun. Eneryn was with us all the way to witness the whole process where mummy and daddy fought for her future. We had our lunch together before heading home. We then spent our afternoon at home where mummy occupied herself with all the election updates online and Emeryn keep herself entertained with her dvds. We stayed indoor for the whole day.

Kind Hearted Souls

from daddy

 

gift from Celine

books from MPH

The world is still filled with kind-hearted souls. In school, Emeryn's classmate helped to pack her school bag when the school ends, offered to carry her clutches when mummy is carrying Emeryn, bought her food to the class during recess time, some parent offered to carry her school bag while mummy is carrying Emeryn and the most wonderful soul was a school prefect who helped to clean up Emeryn's mess after she did her big business.

On Thurs while doing revision with Emeryn in the evening, mummy asked Emeryn to translate "Di atas pokok ada berapa ekor burung yang tinggal?" Emeryn confidently answered " On top of the tree, have how many tail bird left?" ***bravo*** That's my very own google translate at home and it left mummy laugh out loud. The school exam is right after the General Election and we need to revise harder. Emeryn joined mummy for her team dinner on Fri evening at Feng Wei Restaurant. It was a pricey dinner, cost about RM800 for 7pax.

Sat was a replacement class for CNY and school starts at 12.30pm to 3.50pm. Before school mummy cooked porridge for lunch. We reached school late due to the heavy traffic jam and again mummy was late during recess time. When mummy stepped into the class, Emeryn was in teary eyes waiting for her friend to buy her vitagen. Immediately her face brighten up seeing mummy and she was handed over her favorite food, Sushi King. Mummy came back to the school at 3.40pm and realized Emeryn was sitting in her classroom all alone since recess time. The rest of the kids gathered at the Reading Garden doing some singing and dancing. Mummy brought her to the Reading Garden to join the rest. A parent tapped on mummy's shoulder and handed over a small gift for Emeryn wishing her speedy recovery and behalf of her daughter, Celine. Best of all, they are not classmate and Emeryn doesn't know who Celine is. After school, we drove to Gurney Plaza as mummy wanted to utilize the MPH RM50 voucher. Mummy has to carry her 22kg over-weight luggage (Emeryn) around and she has been doing it for the past 37days. We spent about an hour there and managed to purchase 3 books. We headed home directly and Emeryn had the left over porridge for her dinner.

Sun, we spent the whole day at home with mummy cooking porridge for Emeryn again before we went over to Por Por's house for our dinner. In the afternoon, we both sat down and have some activity together on the new books. Before heading to Por Por's place, we dropped by at Tesco as Emeryn wanted to get the aiskrim potong.

Another Quiet Weekend

We successfully endured the 2nd week at school. Ah Ma visited Emeryn during every recess break without failed. Mummy and daddy take turns to send Emeryn to school. It was a tiring and long journey. Ever since Emeryn fractured her leg, we have refrained from many extra activities and outing. We choose to stay at home to avoid any further injuries and inconvenience.

We only went out for breakfast during the weekend. Despite being on cast, we still went over to Por Por's house for her home-cooked dinner on Sun.

The Family Photo

 

 

Heritage Walk

lunch before action

@ floating Kuan Yim

 

the heritage walk

 

 

 

 

@ China House

After a week of being away from school (MC), Emeryn finally attended school. Mummy have to fetch Emeryn to school everyday during her lunch hour at least for the whole month of April as Emeryn is still having her cast. It was absolutely a mad rush hour for mummy to leave office at 12.20pm, drive to daycare and send her to school and lastly reported back to work after her lunch hour. Daddy helped to fetch Emeryn when she attends computer class on Thurs and on Fri where the school starts at 2.40pm. On the first day of school, Emeryn's classmate warmly welcomed her back. Mummy brought Emeryn directly into her class, skipping the daily assembly. The school has granted a special approval where mummy can drive her car into the school compound and Emeryn is allow to use the teacher's toilet.

After all the rush hour, heart pumping madness and stress in handling Emeryn, mummy fell sick on Tuesday. She took half day MC from work. Despite being on MC, she went to the school during the break time to check out Emeryn. The whole week, granny and daddy take turns to be at the school during recess as Emeryn needed assistance to go to the loo and to manage her meal. Each and every one of us contributed a lot just to make sure Emeryn is having a comfortable time at school despite being on cast. After all the hassle, we finally concluded our 1st week at school peacefully. On Fri after school, mummy drove to airport to pick her friend and we had dinner together before heading home.

On Sat morning, we went to LWE for Emeryn's follow up and mummy requested the doctor to change a new cast for Emeryn. Her x-ray still shows the crack on her leg but nevertheless she is recovering well. Perhaps she could remove the cast entirely after 3 more weeks. After the follow up, we headed over to El Mondo Pizza @ egate for lunch. Mummy bought an online deal for this. We both had a separate set with drinks. Emeryn ordered spaghetti while mummy opted for grilled chicken. Emeryn finished 80% of her meal. We went home for an afternoon nap before following Sherine Ee Ee to check out the housing area she is interested in buying. While in the evening, we had a family dinner together since Carmen Ee Ee drove back from KL along with Onn Zai and his mum. After the dinner we hang out at Yeng Keng Hotel & Bar for some juicy story sharing. The old folks catch up with their sibling chat whilst the youngster shared some ghost tale. It was a wonderful nite and Emeryn had a good time cuddling around with mummy's cousin sisters and brother.

We fully utilized our weekend starting with Sun lunch at Pulau Tikus. We then visited the floating Kuan Yim @ Weld Quay. Ah Kong and Por Por joined us along for the heritage trail. We went to Victoria Street to snapped the two new mural arts. After being under the hot sun, we decided to pamper ourselves with a nice cup of coffee. So we ended up at China House. We had a lot of fun there, drawing, coloring, chatting, taking photo and etc. The family absolutely adore photo shooting. We love to shoot funny expression and pose funnily. Even Emeryn start adopting those funny gestures from all of us. Being with family is always a wonderful moment, a moment you can't find elsewhere. After all the actions at China House, we headed to Por Por's house for a home-cooked dinner. After dinner, we bid farewell to them as Onn Zhai will be leaving on Sun nite and Carmen Ee Ee will be leaving the next day. We went home right after.