I know I said the next post will be in Japan, but I didn't have a converter for my laptop. For some reason it was really hard to open my laptop everyday at my Aunt's place. Then I had an issue with me losing my charger, etc etc.
Still in Indonesia. Almost exactly two months now :). It's definitely different from Canada. I miss Canada a lot. I was homesick for the first three weeks. I didn't have that much fun until I started going out of town.
My first trip was to this town called "Bogor". Around an hour or two drive from Jakarta. I was there for three days with my sister and her baby. We stayed at her husband's family home. It was huugeee.... sadly I didn't take too many pictures inside of the house. Then we headed to the Bogor Botanical Garden. At the Botanical Garden, they have the world's largest flower: carrion flower, or called "Bunga Bangkai" in Indonesian. The flower only blooms once every three years. It was first a tree, then it dies, then it became a flower. When it blooms, it gives off a bad odour like dead animal; hence, the name, "bangkai" means "corpse". The flower wasn't blooming when I was there sadly.
I got home Wednesday, then I left for Puncak on Thursday night. Puncak is the typical vacation spot for people in Jakarta. "Puncak" means the top... and it's basically a mountain top. Well, maybe more like the side of it. Puncak is extremely popular due to Jakarta's usual hot weather. Puncak is usually... colder (not anymore... it's too crowded and rather polluted now).
I love the road up to Puncak. The side of the mountain is used for tea plantation. Lots and lots of green.
Got home from Puncak on Saturday night. Monday, I left for Bali! BALI. I fricking loved Bali!! Indonesia is a country, famous for being Muslim... but for some reason, Bali is full of Hindus. This difference in religion actually made Bali unique. Balinese are friendly, artistic, and polite. They fear for karma.
We stayed at my sister's father in law's friend's villa. It was a pretty villa. Traditional, but modern inside. Most of it was open space. The living room was surrounded by a koi pond. The roof was made out of straw and bamboo. Finally, it was fully equipped with traditional Balinese windows and doors.
All I did in Bali was eat and shop. The one place that is quite famous is the "Babi Guling Ibu Oka", Ms. Oka's Suckling Pig. It's an attractive tourist spot due to its location underneath a tree.
The one thing I always wanted to do is to wake up in the morning and take a photo of the sunrise. Well, from my previous post, I have said that I love sleep. But on the last day, I actually forced myself out of bed and I walked to the beach. And this is what waking up early gave me:
Overall, it has been fun when I'm out of Jakarta. I miss Vancouver so much and I just hope the next trip I make will be with my friends :).
xoxo
