Three years back, when I was in Form 3, after my PMR examination, my family and I decided to go for a vacation in Indonesia for a week. We went there together with four of my parents’ friends. It was my very first time being on the flight and also my first experience going abroad. I was nervous at first when the plane is about to board as I have no idea at all what it is like. In the plane, I was fascinated by the view of the land from the sky when I look through the window. It was so beautiful to see the land that I lived on from up there. As time passes, I started to imagine how the land called Indonesia looks like. Half an hour after boarding from KLIA, we were about to reach our destination. A few minutes later, the plane landed at Jakarta’s airport, which I can’t remember the airport’s name. By the way, it was a thrilled and memorable journey for me. My siblings and I were the one who feel very excited on that time as we were there, at last. We were heading to the person that responsible to pick us up and we found him holding a card that written in a big font there my father’s name. My father actually has friends there, so he asked his friends to do him a favour; find a driver who can also be the tourist guide for us to make the vacation easier. The journey began when we left the airport.
You must be wondering why I said “Returning to my real hometown.” Here is some history about my family. For your information, my paternal grandparents were originated from Indonesia. My grandfather came from a small area in East of Jawa called Ponorogo. On the other hand, my grandmother came from Jakarta, Indonesia as she has quite an affluent family compared to my grandfather. They were both then moved to Tanah Melayu at that time with their own family. According to my father, there are some of my grandparents’ family who still living there but obviously he cannot find any of them because he don’t even have an idea who they are and where they are living now. Deep in my father’s heart, he still wants to try his best to at least find who was his father’s family and relatives so that all the family members can gather back.
Now, come back to my vacation story. The first place we were heading to right after the arrival was my father’s friends’ house. We slept there for two days then we started our own journey. The driver which was also the tourist guide took us to some of the famous shopping mall in Jakarta. My sisters and I were given one thousand rupiah each (RM400 in Malaysia currency on that time) to shop and buy whatever we want. Unfortunately, that was the only money we have for the whole week in Indonesia as my father said so and we have to be careful in using our money. Obviously shopping was our favourite activity and we really enjoyed doing that as in Indonesia, we found that things were cheaper there compared to Malaysia. Roughly, the first three days can also be said as ‘shopping days.’
The forth day, early in the morning, about 7.30 a.m (which local time was 6.30 a.m) we were out for a place named Tangkuban Perahu which is one of the historical places in Indonesia. The journey took us about two hours to arrive there because as far that I can remember, this historical place wasn’t in the area of Jakarta but in Bandung. We took about 1 hour to reach the top of Tangkuban Perahu from Bandung town. Along the way, I can see the variety of trees lining up to greet us. Tangkuban mean flipped and Perahu mean boat. It literally means the shape of the mountain looks like a flipped boat. It was good to be there as I can breathe with the fresh air there and it is very relaxing to look at such breathtaking views. I bought a lot of souvenirs for my friends there as they sell them in very low price as long as we are willing to pay. The bad coincidence was, on the day we were up there, my sisters and I all wearing ‘baju kurung’ to climb the mountain and to be in such places. The worst is that, after being at Tangkuban Perahu, the driver took us to Ancholl which is the famous and the most beautiful beach in Indonesia and also the biggest theme park. All three of us entered the theme park and plays all the games in there with ‘baju kurung.’ Although we realised that everyone was looking at us, but we doesn’t even care about them and decided to ignore what they will think about us and all we have in mind was “enjoy.” It may be the first and the last time we were there.
The next day, we went to a museum (like Museum Melaka) which I can’t remember the name. There are some archaeological sites in there that tells how the Indonesian’s warriors fight for their independent against the invaders that invaded their country. From there, we gained a lot of knowledge about how hard was Indonesian fighting for their freedom. On the last day, before going home, my father decided that we will sleep at the five stars hotel there. We were as excited as it was the first time being in such five stars hotel with the big room and all that. We feel like we want to stay longer there so that we can enjoy it more. Unfortunately we can’t as we have to return home whether we like or not. Actually there are a lot of things that I wanted to share, but I think this is more than enough as Mr. Derrick only asks for five paragraphs for each post. By the way, Indonesia was a nice place to visit especially with family. And I’ll go there again for this upcoming holiday.
You must be wondering why I said “Returning to my real hometown.” Here is some history about my family. For your information, my paternal grandparents were originated from Indonesia. My grandfather came from a small area in East of Jawa called Ponorogo. On the other hand, my grandmother came from Jakarta, Indonesia as she has quite an affluent family compared to my grandfather. They were both then moved to Tanah Melayu at that time with their own family. According to my father, there are some of my grandparents’ family who still living there but obviously he cannot find any of them because he don’t even have an idea who they are and where they are living now. Deep in my father’s heart, he still wants to try his best to at least find who was his father’s family and relatives so that all the family members can gather back.
Now, come back to my vacation story. The first place we were heading to right after the arrival was my father’s friends’ house. We slept there for two days then we started our own journey. The driver which was also the tourist guide took us to some of the famous shopping mall in Jakarta. My sisters and I were given one thousand rupiah each (RM400 in Malaysia currency on that time) to shop and buy whatever we want. Unfortunately, that was the only money we have for the whole week in Indonesia as my father said so and we have to be careful in using our money. Obviously shopping was our favourite activity and we really enjoyed doing that as in Indonesia, we found that things were cheaper there compared to Malaysia. Roughly, the first three days can also be said as ‘shopping days.’
The forth day, early in the morning, about 7.30 a.m (which local time was 6.30 a.m) we were out for a place named Tangkuban Perahu which is one of the historical places in Indonesia. The journey took us about two hours to arrive there because as far that I can remember, this historical place wasn’t in the area of Jakarta but in Bandung. We took about 1 hour to reach the top of Tangkuban Perahu from Bandung town. Along the way, I can see the variety of trees lining up to greet us. Tangkuban mean flipped and Perahu mean boat. It literally means the shape of the mountain looks like a flipped boat. It was good to be there as I can breathe with the fresh air there and it is very relaxing to look at such breathtaking views. I bought a lot of souvenirs for my friends there as they sell them in very low price as long as we are willing to pay. The bad coincidence was, on the day we were up there, my sisters and I all wearing ‘baju kurung’ to climb the mountain and to be in such places. The worst is that, after being at Tangkuban Perahu, the driver took us to Ancholl which is the famous and the most beautiful beach in Indonesia and also the biggest theme park. All three of us entered the theme park and plays all the games in there with ‘baju kurung.’ Although we realised that everyone was looking at us, but we doesn’t even care about them and decided to ignore what they will think about us and all we have in mind was “enjoy.” It may be the first and the last time we were there.
The next day, we went to a museum (like Museum Melaka) which I can’t remember the name. There are some archaeological sites in there that tells how the Indonesian’s warriors fight for their independent against the invaders that invaded their country. From there, we gained a lot of knowledge about how hard was Indonesian fighting for their freedom. On the last day, before going home, my father decided that we will sleep at the five stars hotel there. We were as excited as it was the first time being in such five stars hotel with the big room and all that. We feel like we want to stay longer there so that we can enjoy it more. Unfortunately we can’t as we have to return home whether we like or not. Actually there are a lot of things that I wanted to share, but I think this is more than enough as Mr. Derrick only asks for five paragraphs for each post. By the way, Indonesia was a nice place to visit especially with family. And I’ll go there again for this upcoming holiday.
No comments:
Post a Comment