Note: This is a photo loaded post.

Okay, now that you've read the first part of my holiday trip on my previous post, now it's time for part 2 :)

Yesterday on Part 1 I told you we went to Surabaya and Madura and headed out to Batu, Malang at night. Here is the part where we spend our lovely day in Batu, Malang - East Java. And the same as yesterday, I will do this post in 2 language version.

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Kami menginap di hotel yang namanya "Pohon Inn". Saya ingat pernah baca tentang Jatim Park 2 entah dimana (mungkin di internet) dan tertarik dengan konsepnya di mana terdapat Kebun binatang modern, Museum Satwa modern, Bianglala raksasa, dan sebuah hotel tepat di tengah-tengah semuanya. Saya suka konsep kaya gitu, jadi kita nggak perlu jauh-jauh dari hotel untuk ke tempat hiburannya. Sejujurnya sih saya agak blank dan don't know what to expect pas booking kamar di sana, tapi pas kita nyampe disana tengah malam, tempatnya keliatan cukup mengagumkan (bahkan dalam keadaan gelap karena waktu itu jam 12 malam!).

Dan begitu kita sampai di lobi, saat itu juga saya tau kalau saya tidak membuat pilihan yang salah. Saya langsung yakin ini pasti hotel keren begitu saya lihat di belakang meja concierge-nya nggak ada dinding tembok melainkan aquarium kaca segede gaban yang ternyata itu kandang lemur! Jadi kalo kita lagi check-in atau check-out kita bisa sambil lihat lemur lagi pada main (waktu saya datang lagi pada tidur sih) tepat di belakang kepala mas/mbak resepsionis ;) Sayangnya saya nggak sempet foto itu reception desk...

We stayed in a hotel called "Pohon Inn". I remember I read about Jatim Park 2 somewhere (probably on the internet) and got interested with the whole concept area where there's a modern zoo, a modern museum, a giant ferris wheel, and a hotel smack dab in the middle of the whole thing. You don't need to go far from your hotel to enjoy the fun. I honestly don't know what to expect when we book our rooms there, but when we arrived there in the middle of the nigh, the place looks amazing enough (even in the dark!). 

And when we hit the lobby I know I didn't make the wrong choice. You know you come to the right place if you see a hotel lobby with a big glass window cage of Lemurs instead of walls, right behind the concierge desk ! So when you do your check-in you can see the lemur plays (or in my case, sleep) right on the back of the receptionist head ;) Too bad I didn't take photos of it..

This is the hotel's front view. It is shaped like a tree hence the hotel name "Pohon Inn". Pohon means tree in Indonesian language.

Kamarnya bagus dan nyaman banget, bernuansa warna hijau. Kami book 3 kamar, yang satu (kamar adek saya) menghadap depan hotel, dengan view gunung di kejauhan yang diselimuti awan kabut tebal, indah banget...

Sementara 2 kamar lainnya (kamar saya & orang tua saya) menghadap ke belakang hotel yang mana adalah Kebun Binatang itu sendiri! Check this out, karena halaman belakang hotel kita itu langsung kebun binatang jadi di bawah teras saya itu ada kandang cheetah! Woohooo ... keren banget. Nggak tiap hari kan kita pagi-pagi dibangunin sama suara binatang seperti lagi berada di hutan (dari suara binatang di zoo), terus pas keluar ke teras kamar malah ngeliat ada cheetah lagi berjemur pas banget di bawah teras, deket banget rasanya!

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The hotel room is great and very comfy with green hues decor. We booked 3 rooms, one of them (my brother's room) faced the front view which has a gorgeous mountain view with thick mist that surrounds it and looks so ethereal..

And the other 2 rooms (mine & my parents's) faces the back view of the hotel which is the Zoo itself!! Check this out, since our backyard is the zoo so there's a cheetah cage right below my terrace!! Woohooo... it's not everyday experience to be woken up in the morning with the sounds of the forest (animals sounds from the zoo), and then you see a cheetah basking in the sun right beneath your hotel room terrace!

View from my brother's room that faced the front of the hotel

View from my room that faced the hotel's backyard which is the Zoo itself!

That's my dad, soaking up the morning weather.. See the brown corridor thing on the left? that's one of the corridor in the zoo. Yes, we are that close to the zoo, we love it!

Now see the cage with the greeneries below?

That's the cage of this cheetah! Right beneath your terrace!

Keluarga saya itu pecinta hewan, semua anggota keluarga senang binatang dan saya beruntung karena punya suami yang sama-sama penyayang binatang, jadi kami semua benar-benar menikmati liburan ini! Seneng banget karena bisa deket sama hewan. Kita semua girang banget waktu ngeliat cheetah dari teras kamar, trus waktu kita turun untuk sarapan di restoran kita juga senang bukan main karena di restorannya itu sebagian besar nggak pake dinding beton melainkan dinding gelas gede banget yang dibaliknya ada kandang binatang kaya kandang tupai dan kandang si cheetah yang tadi kami liat dari atas!
 
Iya, itu kandang si cheetah yang tadi kita lihat dari teras, ternyata kandangnya ada di balik dinding restoran. Jadi kita bisa sarapan sambil lihat si cheetah atau hewan lain melakukan rutinitas pagi mereka. Bahkan ada sebagian lantai restoran yang bisa berputar lho, jadi sambil kita makan lantainya berputar mengelilingi restoran, berputarnya pelaaaaan banget (supaya kita nggak pusing) dan kita pun bisa menikmati pemandangan yang ganti-ganti: suapan pertama sambil liat kandang tupai di sebelah kita, nanti suapan ke sepuluh di sebelah kita udah ganti jadi kandang macan, ngerti kan maksud saya?

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We are an animal lovers family, all of my family member loves animals and I'm so lucky to have a husband whose just as craze with the animals as we do, so we all really enjoyed this trip so much! We love being that close with the animals. We are excited to see a cheetah from our room terrace, and we are literally jumping for joy when we head downstairs to the restaurant to have our breakfast and then we saw that there are no walls, only giant glass walls that housed wild animals such as a group of squirrels, and the cheetah that we saw from our terrace! 

Yes, the cheetah's cage that we saw on our terrace is just behind the glass wall in the restaurant. So we can see the cheetah and other animals doing their morning routines while eating our own breakfast. There's even a rotating floor in the restaurant that lets you enjoy your meal while the floor rotate itself reeeaaaallly slowly (so you don't get headaches) that enables you to have a changing view: watching the squirrel cage as you sip your morning coffee, and then 5 minutes later you found your table facing the cheetah's cage when you eat your fried rice breakfast, you get what I mean, right?

Mom n Dad di kursi zebra ;)

the view behind the thick glass wall that we can see from our table

Dekorasi restoran nya juga bagus banget, tema-nya hutan alias jungle, lengkap dengan dinding kaca berisi kandang hewan. Makanannya biasa aja sih, pilihan menu sarapan nya juga terbatas, tapi dari dekorasi dan pemandangannya sendiri sih udah dua jempol buat saya ;)

The decoration of the restaurant is fabulous too. It's a jungle themed restaurant, complete with glass cages of the animals. The food is not so great though, limited choice of breakfast menu, but the decor and view itself satisfy me like.. a lot ;)

Setelah sarapan kami pergi ke arah bawah, keluar dari area Jatim Park 2 untuk mengunjungi tempat Agrowisata yang dulu pernah saya dan ibu saya kunjungi. Anggota keluarga yang lain belum pernah kesini jadi kita memutuskan untuk mengunjungi Agrowisata ini untuk menghabiskan waktu sebelum kebun binatang dan museum buka jam 10.

Agrowisata itu semacam perkebunan kecil di mana kita bisa metik stroberi dan jeruk langsung dari pohonnya untuk kemudian dibawa pulang. Pas nyampe sana terus terang rada kecewa karena dulu terakhir kali ibu saya dan saya kesini tiketnya masih murah, sekitar Rp 12.000 kalau ngga salah, dan sekarang dicharge Rp 32.000 (atau 35 ribu ya, saya lupa?). Menurut saya itu mahal banget karena dulu dengan harga 12 ribu saya dikasi keranjang rotan kecil untuk metik dan ngumpulin stroberi sampai keranjangnya penuh, tapi sekarang dengan harga semahal itu kita cuma dikasi plastik kecil dan kita cuma bisa ngambil empat, percaya nggak? EMPAT buah stroberi doang! Dan 2 jeruk! Cuma segitu. Apa-apaan?

Terakhirnya kita dikasi gratis minuman es stroberi dan puding stroberi, sama empat buah tomat organik, tapi dulu juga saya dapet minum dan puding yang sama kok (plus sekeranjang kecil stroberi) dengan harga 12 ribu (atau 15 ribu?) aja. Nggak 32 ribu?!?!

Oh ya dengan tiket tersebut kita juga dapat free pass ke daerah perkebunan yang lebih luas yang ada di sebelahnya, tapi nggak ada metik gratis di sana, jadi cuma lihat-lihat perkebunan besar-nya aja, so menurut saya harga 32 ribu itu masih nggak sebanding sama yang kita dapat alias kemahalan bok. Tapi itu cuma pendapat saya lohh ;)

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After breakfast we went out from the Jatim park 2 area to downhill where there's this Agroturism that my mom and I once visited but the rest of the family have not yet visited. We thought it would be perfect to spend some time before the zoo and the museum open at 10.00 am.

Agrotourism is where you could visit small plantations of fruits and veggies and then you can harvest a small amount of strawberries and oranges right from the trees by yourself. We were a little disappointed though because the last time my mom and I there the ticket was still cheap, around IDR 12.000 or something, and this time it's overly priced at IDR 32.000 (or is it 35k? i forgot). And I'd say it's overpriced because unlike the old times where me n my mom were given a small rattan basket to collect our strawberries, this time they only gave us a small plastic bag and we can only collect four, can you believe it? FOUR strawberries!! And 2 oranges! And that's it. What?? 

We got a free strawberry iced drink, strawberry pudding and four organic tomatoes at the end, but I also got the drink and pudding the last time (with a tiny basket full of strawberries) for only IDR 12K (or 15k). Not IDR 32k ??!!

Oh we also got a free pass to a vast plantation area right next to the one we just visited, but there's no free harvesting there, we can only do some sightseeing on the bigger plantation area next door, so the IDR 32k price is still not worth it.But that's only my opinion ;)

Hubs in AREA 51. Not!

This is what's inside the white tent behind hubs on above pic: Hydroponic plants = planting without soil.

hubs in front of the gate to the overly priced agrotourism ;)

Ok, sekarang ceritanya udah jam 10 nih, saatnya kembali ke Jatim Park 2. Begitu nyampe langsung masuk Zoo. Namanya Batu Secret Zoo. Ini mata udah berbinar-binar duluan ngeliat kandang-kandang binatang yang ditata apik. Ini kebun binatang emang beda banget sama Ragunan, disini kandang tertata apik, bersih, keterangan hewan terpampang jelas, dan di tiap kandang pun disesuaikan dengan sifat dan kebiasaan binatang di dalamnya, misalnya binatang yang suka main pasti dikasi semacam bentuk mainan di kandangnya, yang suka tidur pasti dikasi pojok tidur biar dia bisa tidur tapi sambil diliatin pengunjung, modern banget deh ini museum, gue sukaaaaa banget disini. Harusnya semua kebun binatang di Indonesia tuh seperti ini. Karena bersih dan tertata rapi (plus pengunjung ga boleh bawa makanan berat kaya nasi alias ga boleh piknik) jadi nggak ada tuh yang kepikiran buang sampah sembarangan. Tempat sampah juga banyak. Bersih dan rapih banget deh pokonya, kalo kerapihan dan apik banget gini malah kaya ngerasa bukan di Indonesia haha karena kayanya aneh banget di Indonesia ada kebun binatang atau public place se-apik ini ;)

Ok, now it's already 10.00 am, it's time to return to Jatim Park 2. Once we're back at Jatim Park 2 we headed straight to the Zoo. It's called Batu Secret Zoo. My eyes were already sparkling when I first look at the cages of animals that were laid out nicely. It's a really different zoo compared to Ragunan, here the cages were arranged beautifully. It's clean, and the sign board that depicts the animal's info were on every cages. Each cage was adjusted to the nature and habits of each animals, for example: if the animal likes to play then we can see some kind of toy in his cage, if the animal likes to sleep then there's a sleeping nook where the animal can sleep while the visitors can still see it sleeping. This is such a modern zoo, I really loooove it here. I think all zoos in Indonesia should be like this. Because it's so clean and neat (plus visitors can not bring meals or picnic here) so everyone wouldn't want to litter and make it dirty, it was all so well-organized. There are many trash cans too. When a public place is this tidy and neat, I don't even feel we're in Indonesia because sometimes it's hard to imagine that there is a public place as neatly-organized as this in Indonesia haha ;)  

The first animal we see in the zoo: Giant Rats! And they have an open cage too, complete with fake caves, waterfalls and mini pond with branches over it for their route. Such a pretty cage for a rat! ;)

Iguanas with hard big rocks and desert wall painting in their cage to picture their origin nature.

There's a room that was built like a class room complete with chalkboard and desks and chairs and a group of flying lemurs (flying means "likes to jump up high from place to place")! And this cage is right behind a giant glass wall.

Kebun Binatang nya dibagi jadi beberapa zona dan kita jalan dengan rute yang sangat teratur yang udah dibikin sedemikian rupa sehingga kita bisa liat semua kandang dan binatang, nggak kaya di Ragunan yang nggak ada rute nya jadi asal main jalan kemana kaki melangkah aja yang biasanya bikin nggak bisa liat semuanya (maap kalo sering bandingin sama Ragunan soalnya cuma kebun binatang itu doang yang pernah saya kunjungi. Eh pernah ke Taman Safari Puncak sama Night Safari di Singapore sih, sama Jurong bird park juga), tapi kan itu bukan kebun binatang, itu mah lebih ke safari, sama taman burung hehe.


The Zoo was divided into several zones and there's a clear route that we took so visitors can see all of the cages and don't have to go sporadically here and there like in Ragunan (sorry I keep comparing it to our national zoo, that's because I only been to one zoo which is Ragunan. Well, I did visit the Taman Safari (Safari Park) in Puncak and the Night Safari in Singapore (oh and Jurong Bird Park too! - in Singapore) but that's not a zoo, that's a mini safari, and a bird park hehe. 

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Kebun Binatang ini gede banget nget nget, trus banyak zona nya jadi binatang nya banyak banget macam ragamnya. Pas liat ada pintu di ujung rute kirain itu pintu keluar eh taunya itu pintu masuk zona lain lagi. Beneran nggak abis-abis tuh rutenya. Ada penyewaan buggy juga, itu lho yang kaya mobil golf kecil itu. Cocok buat orang tua yang kakinya udah nggak sanggup. Jadi bersyukur masih punya kaki dua biji hehe


The Zoo is so huge it has several large animal zones, once I thought we have reached the end of the zoo only to found out that I was wrong, that's not the Exit gate, that's the gate to another zone! Wow, is this place reaaaly huge or what! They even has a buggy ride rental so the elders can ride the buggy on some parts of the zoo if their feet decided to fail on them. Oh how lucky we are to be young and have feet ;)

The "Birds That Can't Fly" zone :
(that's not the real zone's name, I just name it myself ;p)

I love flamingos, especially these little white and pink ones! Did you know that there are several types of flamingos with different colors? I think this one is the prettiest..

Her Majesty, The Peacock. And the courtiers or ladies-in-waiting at the back ;)

Feeding time! You can see in the back that there's only picket fences that separates the animals with the visitors, this is typical of a modern zoo. I love being that close with the animals.

The Black Swan. Just like in the movie where Natalie Portman dressed in black with red makeup and red eyes, exactly like this black swan. Yes, this majestic swan has red eyes!

Sekarang ke zona lain. Bisa dilihat kan seperti apa Batu Secret Zoo ini dari foto-foto yang ada. Sebagian besar kandang nya model terbuka atau cuma pagar pendek jadi sangat ramah buat pengunjung, seolah-olah kita benar-benar bisa menyentuh hewan- hewan itu karena rasanya mereka dekat banget sama kita. Dan entah apa karena orang Jawa Timur / Malang memang baik-baik atau apa, soalnya walaupun kandangnya jenis terbuka seperti itu nggak ada tuh pengunjung yang gangguin binatang, yang ngasi makan kacang atau sedotan ke binatang, atau yang buang plastik atau aqua kosong ke dalam kandang atau yang iseng nimpukin binatangnya. Saya jadi penasaran, kalo di Jakarta bisa kaya gini juga ngga ya?

And then we move on to another zone. As you can see from some of the pictures above, most of the cages are open cages or just a short picket fence so it's very visitor-friendly, it's as if we can really touch them because they're so close to us. And I don't know whether the local people are indeed a lot nicer than any big city people because even with that open cage style not one of the visitor try to bug the animal or give them human food or throw something to the cage or to the animals. I wonder if this type of zoo can be adapted in Jakarta?

I love this animal, it's so cute. And it comes in a pack ;)

Love the cute bangs they had above their eyes, looks absolutely ridiculous..but seriously cute! ;)

haha...isn't he the cutest? Hubs said it's an Alpaca. Just like the one in "The Emperor's New Groove" movie, remember?

And they like to play dead. Hahaha..

Lagi olahraga.. hahaha

Ke kebun binatang kalo nggak foto sama binatang nya ya nggak seru toh? hehe..

If you go to the zoo without taking any photo of you WITH the animals, then it's a waste.. hehe

I know that's not a happy smile, honey.. That's a frightened smile ;) smooches!

(Continued here...)

(CLICK to see More Fun Photos of the family)

East Java (Surabaya, Madura, Malang) Trip : Part 1 - Surabaya, Jembatan Suramadu, Madura

As you might know, I had a short holiday trip last week with my family. We went to Surabaya, Madura and Malang. We had a  lot of fun on our 5 days trip! I'm in charge with the schedule and activities so I browsed google for interesting places in those cities.

Since I have sooo many pictures that I want to share here and got many stories to tell too, so I decided to split this holiday story into two posts. And I'm gonna make this post in 2 language versions too. Here's part 1 :)

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Berawal dengan penerbangan Citilink dari Jakarta ke Surabaya hari Kamis pagi. Penerbangan selama kira-kira 1 jam 10 menit itu nggak terasa sama sekali karena saya tidur haha

Sampai di Surabaya sempat agak linglung karena kok beda banget sama terakhir saya kesini, ternyata bandara nya sudah pindah ke bandara baru, pantesan kok bandara nya jadi bagus banget gini, ada cafe starbucks nya segala, udah profesional banget lah sekarang. Pas saya tanya ke sepupu yang jemput kami di bandara ternyata katanya memang ini bandara baru di lokasi yang baru juga, sementara bandara yang lama sekarang jadi bandara khusus haji. Oohhh...

Starting with Citilink flight from Jakarta to Surabaya on Thursday morning, I didn't felt anything during the 1 hour and 10 minutes flight because I was sleeping haha
Upon arrival in Surabaya, I was somewhat dazed as it looks very different to when I was here last time, it turns out that it's not the same airport, it's the new airport. No wonder it looks very nice now, there's  even a Starbucks cafe too, it looks quite professional now. when I asked my cousin who picked us up at the airport, she said that this new airport is built on a new place while the old airport becomes a specialty airport for pilgrimage purposes. Oohhh ...

Silly pic of hubs and my brother in background

Rute pertama di Surabaya adalah... makan bebek! Karena katanya surabaya terkenal dengan bebek nya dan seafood. Hmm, siang ini bebek dulu, seafood nya nanti malam aja hehe

The first stop in Surabaya is ... duck feast! Because Surabaya is famous for its duck and seafood. Well, first is duck for lunch, then the seafood is for dinner tonight hehe 

Sepupu saya memberitahu dua options rumah makan bebek yang enak, dan kita end up makan bebek Slamet di daerah Darmo Permai Timur kalo nggak salah. RM Bebek Slamet ini juga ada sih di Jakarta, saya juga sering makan kalo di Jakarta tapi entah kenapa pas makan di resto yang surabaya ini kok rasanya beda banget ya sama yang di jakarta. Dari cara goreng bebeknya aja udah beda. Di Sby ini bebeknya digoreng super garing (di bebek slamet jakarta nggak garing, cenderung basah), trus sambalnya juga walaupun bentuknya mirip tapi rasanya beda, yg ini pedes banget tapi bukan pedes yang bikin lidah terbakar seperti bebek slamet yang di jakarta, yg ini sambelnya pedes bikin nagih, uenak tenann.

Selain sambel juga ada semacam bumbu seperti paste gitu, kalo di jkt nggak ada tuh, cuma sambel doang. Intinya bebek slamet disini enak bangetttt, mungkin bebek lokal nya yang bikin enak yah, beda sama bebek lokal jakarta hehe kali loohh.. ;)

My cousin recommends two yummy duck restaurant, and we ended up with the Slamet Duck Restaurant at Darmo Permai Timur area if I'm not wrong. This Slamet duck restaurant is actually also available in Jakarta, I also often buy food from their restaurant back at home but somehow this particular branch is different to that in jakarta. The way they fried the duck is different. In this Surabaya branch the duck came out super crispy (the duck in Jakarta's branch is not crispy at all, they tend to be moist), then the chili sauce (sambal) is also different. Although the sambal has similar look but it taste different, this one taste really spicy but not that kind of spicy that makes the tongue burns like the one in Jakarta's branch, this one has a distinguished really spicy taste that makes you want more, very yummyy...  

In addition there is also a type of seasoning sauce that looks like a paste, Jakarta's branch don't serve this sauce, they only serve the duck with the sambal and no seasoning paste. The point here, this Surabaya branch of Slamet duck resto is very good, it probably because of the local duck meat that makes it more delicious and different than Jakarta's branch, maybe Jakarta's local duck meat are not good enough.. lol ;) 

 

Pemberhentian berikutnya adalah kafe es krim jadul "Zangrandi". Saya pernah kesini sebelumnya, on my last trip to Surabaya. Dan karena waktu itu kita kekenyangan setelah makan bebek saya mengusulkan untuk duduk-duduk sebentar sambil makan es krim di Zangrandi ini. Tempatnya seperti Ragusa di Jakarta atau Toko Oen di Malang, kesan tempo doeloe nya terasa lumayan kental dengan bangunan asli yang masih dipertahankan. Kalau lihat foto lama nya di menu, nggak jauh berbeda dengan kondisi toko yang sekarang. Letaknya di pinggir jalan raya jadi enak juga buat people watching hehe Dan yang pasti, menu es krim nya itu looh, sangat menggugah selera. Akhirnya saya nyobain juga itu yang namanya es krim spaghetti alias es krim yang dibuat seperti mie/spaghetti alias panjang-panjang gitu.

The next stop was the old ice cream Parlour Called "Zangrandi". I've been here before on my last trip to Surabaya. And since we were all so full from the lunch, I thought it would be nice to just sit around for a while and that's why I suggested to go to Zangrandi for some ice creams. The place is similar to Ragusa in Jakarta or Toko Oen in Malang, the impression of the place was pretty old-school with the original building still retained. If you look at the picture on the menu, it's not much different from the condition that it is now. Located near the corner of a big road it's a nice place for people watching hehe And the obvious part is the ice cream menu which were very indulging. I finally tried those spaghetti ice cream which is a noodle/spaghetti shaped ice cream.

Look at those delicacies, baby...

Malam itu kami makan sea food di restoran "Layar" yang nampaknya cukup populer di Surabaya. Seperti saya bilang di atas, Surabaya juga terkenal dengan sea food nya karena memang kota ini kan di pinggir laut. Sea food nya segar. Kita pesan banyak ragam sea food seperti ikan, cumi, udang, kol nenek (sejenis keong), dan kepiting. Yang paling juara diantara semuanya adalah: Kepiting Telor Asin! oh my goodness that stuff is finger licking gooooddd...

That night we ate seafood at a restaurant called "Layar" which seems to be quite popular in Surabaya. Like I said above, Surabaya is also famous for it's sea food maybe because this is a seaside city. The seafood is fresh. We ordered many different seafood such as fish, squid, shrimp, "kol nenek" (a type of snail), and crabs. But the champion that night is: the Salted Egg Crabs! oh my goodness that stuff is finger licking gooooddd ...

Besoknya hari kedua, pagi-pagi kami diajak ke kandang sapi. kebetulan saya sempat cerita ke sepupu saya kalau saya itu seneng banget sapi hitam-putih alias sapi perah makanya saya koleksi barang-2 yang berbentuk atau bercorak sapi hitam-putih. Nah salah satu cita-cita saya adalah berfoto bersama sapi hitam-putih itu hehe. Eh ternyata sepupu saya malah menawarkan untuk pergi ke peternakan sapi dekat rumahnya karena dia punya beberapa sapi perah disitu! Wah, tentu saja saya tidak menyia-menyiakan kesempatan ini hahaha bagaikan dream comes true bagi saya. Kalau yang lain punya impian berfoto sama Madonna atau sama Justin Bieber, saya punya impian untuk berfoto sama sapi hitam-putih hehehe

Maka pergilah kami pagi-pagi ke peternakan sapi tersebut. Wah begitu jalan mau masuk ke kandang sapi nya dan baru melihat siluet kepala sapi nya aja saya udah teriak-teriak kegirangan sendiri hahaha I looove cows! Ternyata banyak banget sapi hitam-putih di kandang itu..! Wah bener-bener kegirangan deh saya waktu itu, bisa melihat sapi sedekat itu bahkan mengelus-ngelus kepalanya. Ternyata sapi itu kaya kucing, jinak dan senang dielus-elus haha lucu banget deh sapi-sapi itu, jadi pengen kesana lagi.. 

 

The next day (2nd day), early in the morning we all went to the cattle farm. Previously I told my cousin that I am very fond of black-and-white cows aka dairy cows, and that's why I collected stuffs with black n white cow shapes or patterns. And one of my goal is to take pictures with black-and-white cow hehe. Surprisingly my cousin offered me to go to a cattle ranch nearby where she has a few dairy cows there! Well, of course I'm not throwing this opportunity away hahaha It's like a dream comes true for me. Other people might have a dream to be photographed with Madonna or Justin Bieber, but I have a dream to be photographed with black-and-white cows hehehe

So we all went early in the morning to the ranch cattle. Wow just when we reached the cowshed door and I saw a silhouette of a cow's head I automatically jumped for joy hahaha i looove Cows! It turns out that there are loads of black-and-white cows in that cowshed! Waa...I was very delighted that I  could see them up close and even stroked their head. Cows are like cats, really.. they are docile and likes to be caressed and stroked haha funny cows, I so want to go there again ..

My brother with the cows who seems to understand that they're being photographed -LOL, look at them, they all pose for the camera ^o^

Me with the sleepy cow who doesn't bother even if we made some joyful noise in that cowshed haha

Weird cow's eye ^o^

Siangnya kami meluncur ke arah tepi laut karena kami mau ke Madura sambil menyusuri jembatan Suramadu :)

Jembatan Suramadu ini baru berusia beberapa tahun saja, dibangun melintasi selat yang menghubungkan pulau Jawa dengan pulau Madura. Wah dari jauh aja ini jembatan udah keliatan  bagusnya. Keren aja gitu, membentang menakjubkan di atas laut. Pemandangan kiri kanannya banyak kapal-kapal besar. Jarak antar pulaunya juga ternyata nggak terlalu jauh seperti yang saya kira, yah kira-kira hanya perlu waktu sekitar 10 menitan untuk ke madura via jembatan suramadu.

By noon we drove to the waterfront because we want to get to Madura via Suramadu bridge :)

This Suramadu bridge is just a few years old, and it was built across the strait that connects the island of Java with Madura island. From afar we could see what a great bridge this is. It looks so cool, and magnificently stretches over the sea. Our left and right views were floating ships. The distance between the two islands was not as far as I thought, it only takes about 10 minutes from Surabaya to Madura via the bridge.

me with mom at Suramadu

me with hubby K at Suramadu

Sesampainya di Madura kami langsung menuju Bangkalan, kota terbesar di Madura. Kami makan siang, sholat di mesjid agung dan belanja oleh-oleh ;P Saya beli daster batik yang mau saya akalin jadi maxi dress (tunggu debutnya di fashion blog saya hehe). My hubby K beli topi khas madura, sebenarnya bukan topi kali ya tapi lebih tepatnya hiasan kepala hehe

Arriving at Madura we went straight to Bangkalan, the largest city in Madura. We had lunch, did Friday prayers in the Great Mosque and did a little souvenir shopping ;P I bought a batik robe that I plan to rock as a maxi dress (wait for it's debut on my fashion blog hehe). My husband bought a typical Maduranese hat, well maybe it is not really a hat but rather a headdress hehe

Maudranese headdress

Below are some pics that my dad shot with my iPhone while we're in Madura. He insisted that we didn't look at the camera so it's gonna be a candid shots just like pre-wedding photos haha Sometimes my dad is too creative and imaginative (see where i got my creativity and big imagination from? hehe) :

Sorenya kami kembali ke Surabaya tapi kali ini via laut dengan naik kapal ferry kecil. Nggak seperti kapal ferry yang pernah saya naiki waktu nyebrang ke Bali dari Banyuwangi, kapal ferry yang ini ukurannya lebih kecil, cuma bisa nampung sekitar 5-6 mobil saja dan itupun nggak ada dinding dek nya jadi kalau mobil kita kebagian parkir paling depan maka harus benar-benar yakin udah di rem tangan karena parkir paling depan berarti depannya langsung laut karena nggak ada dinding dek kapalnya di depan mobil kita hohoho memang sedikit agak horror. Mana saat itu kita baru dengar berita tentang tsunami jepang pula, trus saat itu juga lagi hujan jadi laut diselimuti awan tebal. Cakep banget dah tegangnya! tapi seru sih hehe

In the afternoon we returned to Surabaya again, but this time we went by the sea via a small ferry ride. Not like the ferry ride that I once had when I went to Bali from Banyuwangi, this ferry is smaller and can only accommodate about 5-6 cars, and it has no deck wall so we need to make sure that we put on the car's hand brake because when our car is the first car that aboard the ferry..that means our car will be parked in the most front, and that means there is no deck or ship's wall in front of us, we'll faced the open sea straightly Hohoho It's a little bit terrifying. In addition, we just heard the news about the tsunami in japan at that time, and then it was raining and caused a shrouded thick cloud emerging on the sea when we're aboard the ferry. Very tense! but still fun hehe

A pic that hubs took while aboard the small ferry. Notice the thick mist? we can't even see the sea!

Sampai di surabaya kami cuma punya waktu sebentar untuk muter-muter cari oleh-oleh, ngemil pisang kipas, lalu malamnya segera melanjutkan perjalanan ke Batu, Malang. Ugh, jalanan macet di Porong (berhubung udah malem jadi nggak bisa liat lautan lumpur itu deh cuma keliatan tembok besar tinggi di pinggir jalan sebagai penghalang lumpur). Sampai Batu, Malang udah malem banget, sekitar jam 11 malam. Tapi berhubung kami sudah ada rencana untuk melihat BNS alias Batu Night Spectacular jadi kami sempatin mampir kesana sebentar. Untung tutupnya sampai jam 12 malam, alhasil kami hanya sempat ke rumah hantu (nggak seram) dan ke Lampion Garden (lumayan bagus kalau nggak hujan).

Once we got back in Surabaya we only have a little time to search for souvenirs (specialty snacks), eating "pisang kipas" or fried bananas that shaped like a fan, then we immediately proceed to Batu, Malang that night. Ugh, there's a long traffic jam in Porong. When we reached Batu, Malang it was already around 11 pm. But since we already have plans to see BNS aka Batu Night Spectacular so we stopped there briefly. Luckily they still open until 12 o'clock that night, with that short time we only got to see the haunted house (which is not scary) and the Lampion/Lanterns Garden (that I'm sure would look pretty good if it wasn't raining).

The Lampion Garden:

me and mom

Left to right: Hubs, Me, Mom, Dad, my cousin, and our driver. My brother took this pic.

Nah ceritanya sampe sini dulu ya, besok lanjut lagi sama part 2 ;)
Part 2 itu perlu satu post sendiri karena saya mau cerita tentang ketakjuban saya (and the rest of the family) sama yang namanya Jatim Park 2 hehehe Make sure you come visit me again tomorrow to hear my stories and learned about the fabulous Batu Secret Zoo (*wink)..

Well I have to stop the story here, stay tune for part 2 tomorrow ;)
Part 2 needs a whole post of it's own because I want to tell you all about my amazement (and the rest of the family's amazement) to this Jatim Park 2 hehehe Make sure you come visit me again tomorrow to hear my stories and learned about the fabulous Batu Secret Zoo (* wink) ..

Credits: All photos on this holiday trip series are taken either by me, hubby, or my brother.