3D2N Mothers's Day Jakarta Trip

When I was younger, probably when I was 17 and started working part time to put me through poly (I just made it sound like I am this really independent girl, but really it is just for pocket money and to buy nonsense stuff in school like a McDonald meal or strawberry milk tea, but you get my drift.), I had this intention that when I start working for real, I am going to send my parents for a vacation they truly deserve.

Fast forward to 5 years later, I am turning 23 and finally had a chance to go on a trip with just my mother.

To be fair, I did pay for my parents ferry tickets to Batam early this year so I do not really feel guilty about leaving my dad behind in Singapore while my mum, Melia and me boarded the plane and head for Jakarta.

It was not really a vacation I had in my mind for them when I was 17, but I thought, well, this is better than nothing. I have no idea how long I am going to be alive, or how long they are going to be alive, so I do not want to take the chance and going to just do it, even though it hurts my bank account so much that I do not even want to take a peep at my balance on my savings.

So one day at work, I was going through flight prices because you know, work, and I saw that the flight price to go to Jakarta was tempting. Thing is, I have been to Jakarta before, and it was just a 3D2N trip too I think? Or was it 2D1N? I cannot remember, but anyway, it was for Djarkata Warehouse Project (DWP) back in 2013 and it was mind blowing good, but kind of last minute - imagine touching down in Jakarta at 5PM and their party actually started since 4PM and you have a friend who missed her 2PM flight because we were so damn complacent thinking "hey it's an afternoon flight, I will surely be on time" but she didn't, so to cut the story short, she bought another last minute ticket and I waited for her at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport looking like a fool and not doing anything because 1) no wifi 2) I have never been overseas alone before 3) I have no where to go but to wait for her. We only managed to reach the venue at I think 1am? Smart ass us decided to head out of our friend's apartment at 11.30pm or something and the jam, OH MY GOD THE FREAKING TRAFFIC IN JAKARTA IS FOR REAL MAN. You can be at one place at 12 midnight and at 12.45am, YOU JUST MOVED LIKE 3 CARS LENGTH WORTH!!!!!!!!!!

We decided to ditch the van after like 2.5hrs in the van and went there by foot. By far the best decision we ever made throughout the trip.

But anyway I digressed, it has been quite some time since Mum's last overseas trip so I thought, okay, let's do this. Let's just buy flight tickets for two of us and see where it will bring us. In which, a few days later my sister decided to join us and bought her own flight tickets but every story about my sister is going to be boring so I shall not even start on it. Hehe.

Here is the thing I hate about buying a last minute flight on Jetstar : BOOKING PROCESSING FEE.

I hate it so much to the damnest core because what pissed me off the most when I made the booking was that if your trip is like within 14 days of your booking, you can only pay through credit card or their vouchers. If it is more than 14 days away, you have the option of making the payment by SAM or AXS machine, or 7-11 or POST Office or I don't know, anything else that allows you to waive the freaking $18 PER PERSON PROCESSING FEE WHICH IN MY HONEST OPINION A TOTAL RIP OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's the even more pissing me off part, just a day before I booked the ticket, I was actually ON THE WEBSITE BROWSING THROUGH, CLICKING THROUGH ALL OF IT but I was short of my mum's passport details so I thought "hey let's do this tomorrow after I got all her details", and ta daaaaaa, the day I booked it, it was EXACTLY 14 days away from my trip so yup, you got it, I paid like an extra $36 on top of the additional 20kg baggage I got specially for my mum on our trip back home from Jakarta because I KNOW HER. I KNOW SHE WILL BUY EVERY SINGLE THING JAKARTA HAS TO OFFER AND I KNOW IT DEEP IN MY SOUL.

and I was right.

but back to that later.

We reached Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after what seems like a 20 hours flight instead of 2, with a baby crying just right behind our seat. Fun Fact : I was just done telling my mum how I hated having a baby on board the flight I am taking, because of a bad experience I had taking a budget airline to Hong Kong for umpiring (HOW DARE THEY; BUDGET? REALLY?) and it was as if she was waiting for her cue, the baby broke into tears. I don't know man. My mouth works like magic sometimes. But not when I say things like "today, I am going to win the million dollar lottery" or maybe "Today, I am going to get a pay raise at work.". Nope.

One thing to take note : We did not need to fill up the white arrival card. Yay!

I was frantically looking at everybody on the plane to see their passport or if they are filling up anything because we fell asleep during the flight and I was so scared that the flight attendant did not wake us up to pass us the white card. So I asked the gentleman sitting beside me if they gave out anything, and he politely said no. I can be so paranoid sometimes haha.

Cleared immigration which was really smooth and fast and then before heading out, you will need to fill up this form called Indonesian Custom Declaration Form which you just need to declare you are not bringing certain goods into Indonesia. After which, you are out of the airport.

First mistake : Getting into a cab that does not belong to Blue Bird.

That is the first mistake you can make when you reach Jakarta. Do not go to the people who are haggling or approaching you. Go find that Blue Bird Taxi stand, and queue if you have to, and take Blue Bird Cab and request to use the meter if they have yet to already do so.

We did not. And we paid 300,000 IDR for our trip from airport to our hotel, when our journey from the hotel to the airport on our last day there only cost us about 150,000 IDR, but that was my mistake. 1 SGD is approximately 9,700 IDR, so that taxi ride cost us about $30 when it could have just cost us $15. Lol. So rude these people. You see, I should have known better. I have been to Jakarta, and my friend actually advised us to take the Blue Bird Cab on my first visit there, BUT I AM HUMAN. I FORGET.

Second mistake : I booked a hotel at Swiss Belhotel Jakarta Mangga Besar.

I thought the surrounding area would be exciting. All I knew is that it was close to Mangga Dua (which was reportedly the place to go for cheap imitation goods) and that it was close to DUFAN (Dunia Fantasi or Fantasy World - they are so good at these shortforms I am actually impressed) at Ancol.

So I thought, okay this is not a bad idea. It was only like $90/night for a room with a bathtub (please don't judge me, I like bathtubs okay?) But it was. It was such a bad idea because the area surrounding it was... nothing? They do not even have a supermarket nearby or something, or like a warung or ANYTHING AT ALL unless you are talking about A&W or Dunkin Donuts which you will have to walk about 15 minutes and walking there seems... scary when you do not have a male companion with you.

What I should have done instead was that I should have booked a hotel that is nearer to the Jakarta Central (Jakarta Pusat). The hotel we were in is located at North Jakarta (Jakarta Utara), which really does not offer much, except that it is pretty near Ancol where DUFAN is located.

But hotel wise, it was good. I liked the front desk staffs, they were friendly and welcoming. So was their restaurant staffs. Actually, Indonesians are mostly really nice people, no? Always willing to please, so our stay there was satisfactory. We dined in the hotel more than outside actually. Room service, dinner buffet going at 150 000 IDR (which was about $15/pax and the food was really good and DESSERTS OH MY GOD THEIR DESSERTSSSSSSSSSSS).

The bed was really comfy too. Minus the fact that it was a queen size bed and we are sharing the bed with mum........ not much space. I could have opted for the 2 twin bed settings, but neh, I rather we all slept in the same bed with mum. It was afterall, for a mother's day trip. :)

So we checked in to the room about noon Jakarta time. (they are 1 hour later than us, which means 12pm there is 1pm here in Singapore) Slept for awhile because our flight was at 8.20 in the morning so we were not feeling all that jovial, plus we had lunch at the hotel restaurant - we were full and sleepy and a hotel bed was just there.

Woke up at 3pm and headed out. Took a blue bird cab to Mangga Dua which cost us about 30,000 IDR but because their minimum payment was 35,000 IDR, we had to pay the minimum payment. I am not complaining. $3.50 for a cab fare? I am definitely not going to complain about this.

We walked around and got a little something here and there and then took a cab back to the hotel after we were done shopping and too exhausted.

Third Mistake : Taking another cab that is not blue bird.

I do not know why we kept doing that but we did and we paid about 150,000 IDR for the cab back home from the same place that only cost us 35,000 IDR to go? What. The. Fuck.

First night dinner was room service. Nothing fancy.

DAY TWO

We woke up for breakfast, and then went down to the lobby to meet a friend of mum's. Mum have a lot of foreign friends ever since she got herself a Facebook Account. I do not know if I should tell her that it is dangerous, or if she would even listen to me. Then again, this aunty (which we just called her Tante) is a relative of our previous helper. So it is not so bad right? Heh.

We took a cab to another shopping mall, which I tried to rack my brain here and there and still could not remember the name, but it was somewhere in Central Jakarta. We walked around not even 5 minutes into the mall, my mum already saw something she liked and spent the next 30 minutes of our time there trying on the clothes and negotiating the price.

Then we walked around some more before deciding to eat at the food court. I know I should probably eat something that I cannot find in Singapore but I don't know man, I can't seem to want to swallow things that I am not familiar with. So I had this ayam bakar rice set which comes with a drink.

After eating, Melia and I decided to go to a massage while we asked mum to go ahead with her shopping with Tante. We took a cab to Hotel Sahid Jaya for Bersih Sihat (because that was the only branch that does not look dodgy to us HAHAHA). We had 1 hr massage for 160,000 IDR and then realized I could get that price too or cheaper if I check out deal.sg or groupon.com for massage deals in Singapore.

Then we took a cab back to the hotel and found my mum and Tante sitting in the room, with one huge box of cooking utensils all wrapped up. I knew it. I knew if I let her go on her own, she will come back with one whole box of junk. Tsk. Like we need another set of cooking utensils or whatever it is.

Dinner was buffet at the restaurant in the hotel at 150,000 IDR per pax hehehe. So cheap, so good and sooooo worth it.

DAY THREE

We woke up early to have our breakfast and then for some reason, went back to the room because I had a tummy ache, after which my sister did too but she cannot seem to let out whatever she needs to let out so we said we will wait.... and we fell asleep till 1140am.

Took a cab to Ancol and we have learnt our lesson to only get the Blue Bird cab.

Fourth Mistake : Queueing up about 30 minutes to buy our tickets.

This is not entirely a mistake, mostly because we did not know that to get the Premium Ticket, you did not have to queue up because... you are special. HAHAHAHA.

When we reached the ticket counter, guy behind the desk told us to go to the yellow room. We headed there and there was seats for us while we wait for the person in front of us to be done. The room was not really impressive, but you get to sit in an air-conditioned room while the service staff attends to your need.

Fifth Mistake : Going to Dufan on that day.



I do not know what was going on there on a Monday, but there was far too many teens there for a school day that I wondered if it was a school holiday. Asked the cab driver (pengemudi, supir) if it was and he said partly. Some kids are having school, while some are having their holidays. Their system is probably like us. You know how government kids have their holidays while polytechnic kids are having exams, then vice versa? Probably.

What made it worse was that Dufan was having a promotion.

95,000 IDR - weekdays regular ticket instead of 195,000 IDR
135,000 IDR - weekends regular ticket instead of 270,000 IDR

But we bought the premium ticket at 370,000 IDR for a weekday premium ticket. If you go on a weekend, it will cost you 450,000 IDR per pax for a premium ticket.



I honestly feel like I deserve a pat on my back for getting us the Premium ticket instead of going the cheap way and getting the 95,000 IDR ticket. Sure, it will save us a couple of bucks, BUT FAST TRACK BABY. ON 12 POPULAR ATTRACTIONS!

And here, their fast track really mean fast track. There was no queue at all for all their attractions if you use the Fast Track. Their regular queue was so damn long, I feel sorry for them, because I know what it feels like. I was in USS for Halloween Horror Night last year, so I know okay? *sad face*

Also, you get to sit on a sofa in the air-conditioned premium lounge and watch TV if you want to, go to cleaner toilets, get your feet massaged by the electronic feet roller thingy. It's a good price to pay for comfort! You also get a free drink, and escorted to the premium lounge from the entrance. Living the VVIP life here lol.

We reached there about 12.30 and went for all the rides (some even twice - because no queue for us hahahahhahah) and stayed there till 5pm and took a cab back home.

My sister's annoying face after taking that ride. She was closing her eyes all the way ahahahaha damn kental.

Going for the ride again. Look at how excited she is.

I like it on top. ;P

Kental girl sitting behind because she does not want to be all the way in front zzz.

Cab driver was really nice. Told us he was willing to wait for us at our hotel for us to pack our bags and get ready to head to the airport. Even willing to not accept the payment first and said we can pay it when we get to the airport. :)

Cost us about 250,000 IDR from Ancol to our hotel then to the airport, and there was traffic en route to CGK. Made us even more upset about the 300,000 IDR cab ride from the airport to the hotel on our first day ahahahahah.

So anyway, checked in and all and we got back to Singapore safely.

It was a good trip. Glad I made it happen for my mum. Will I do it again? Yes definitely. Will it be Jakarta? Definitely not. If I had to choose somewhere in Indonesia, I would probably bring her to Bandung or Surabaya, but nah, not Jakarta. I think I have had enough of Jakarta to last me for the next 10 years, so I am good. Mum already hinting to me about Australia, so I am praying hard I can bring her and dad down south sometime in 2016. In Sha Allah.

For now, I shall look forward to my Thailand trip that is coming up next week - 3D2N Bangkok & 5D4N Krabi. And also my 3D2N Superstar Gemini Cruise to Malacca in September. Wish it was Superstar Virgo or Royal Caribbean Cruise on board Quantum of The Seas, but I will get there soon enough. I hope. :)

Fun Fact for the day :
Have you ever wondered why Jakarta airport's, which is called Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, IATA code is CGK? For instance, Singapore Changi Airport's IATA code is SIN for obvious reason, and New York's airports which are called John F. Kennedy Airport's IATA code is JFK, or La Guardia Airport (LGA) or Newark (EWR), but why Jakarta's airport is CGK?

Simply because Soekarno-Hatta International Airport initial name was Pelabuhan Udara Cengkareng during their Grand Opening. Jakarta used to have another airport with the abbreviation JKT, which was located at Kemayoran, but was later retired by their government. So now, Jakarta's main airport is CGK which is often called as Cengkareng Airport by Indonesians, although they have another airport that is located in East Jakarta whose IATA code is HLP which stands for Halim Perdanakusuma.