~Spring Festival: Jakarta Part Two ~

Well hello there, my faithful readers! I apologize on the lengthy time it's been between blogs, and will explain more fully in a future post, but now let's get back to Spring Festival!!!!

Turns out you can buy tons of carrots & bananas for a cheap cheap price. You will, however 1) get the car you're in QUITE dirty and 2) have to listen guiltily as a little boy near you begs for money so he can go to school :(

With just two days left in our Jakarta stay, Aaron, Andrea, and I embarked on an adventure: Taman Safari! I'll try to keep it brief, and let the pictures do most of the talking!

I've heard they're actually very vicious, so I'm grateful the hippos kept their distance!

After waiting and walking and making desperate phone calls, our driver for the day found us outside Jake's apartment complex (about an hour later than scheduled), and we headed to Taman Safari. As directed, we bought tons and tons of carrots & bananas on our drive into the park, because once we were there, we got to DRIVE THROUGH, FEED, PET, take pictures, and bask in the presence of tons of critters!

"Whatchu lookin' at? You lookin' at me foo?"

It was a day to remember, one I think I would have loved even more if I were ten years old, but still it awakened the child within me--I guess some might say it's not too hard to do that :) Pretty sure this kind of thing wouldn't fly in America (way too many potential lawsuits and safety violations), so it's a good thing we went to Indonesia...right mom?

They actually got a bit closer than this, but didn't storm up to the windows and stick their faces in, as did the zebras, emus, and scary oxen!

I'd say about 90% of the hour-long drive through the park was simply a blast, throwing bananas at monkeys, petting zebras on their fuzzy heads, laughing as we took pictures with elephants...but it was a little scary when an ox (is that what the animal below is?) rammed our car with his horn. I guess it wasn't so scary for personal safety reasons, moreso just hoping that Januari (our driver) wouldn't be upset with damage to his SUV :/

BAAH! I don't ever need to meet this guy again...way too aggressive when it comes to produce-toting tourists.

Basically we inched our way through the park, assisted by our faithful driver, stopping every few feet to greet the newest batch of friends/feeders.

Camel! Watch out--they spit! Thankfully, this one did not.

Andrea and I had lots of fun taking pictures of each other with the lovely creatures (or attempting to, before they shyly ducked away), and Aaron had a very humorous way of calling out to the animals. If you know him, you should probably ask him to give you a demonstration.

Animated, energetic, and carrying around a few darling babies, the monkeys earned their bananas.

Meh, maybe kind of cool if you're from Indonesia, but we've definitely seen these before.

Sadly I didn't get any good pictures of them, but you'll just have to take my word for it--towards the end of our loop through the park, we entered a section where we were commanded to close our windows and keep them that way at all times. Why, you ask? Because we got to DRIVE THROUGH an area where there were lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs! Craziness...and again, why this kind of thing would not be successful in the U.S. :p

First of its kind I've ever seen...whatever it is!

So for our last 15 minutes of the drive, we passed by wild mountain cats...lots were just "having a rest" out in the sun or perched in treetops, but a group of 4 or 5 lions passed RIGHT by our car, and proceeded to get into a little scuffle, complete with running & wrestling. I'm used to seeing that kind of thing behind the glass at a zoo, but not behind the thin glass of car windows :D

After our drive around the park, we spent the afternoon walking inside...in some ways it was similar to visiting the Milwaukee County Zoo, but we could get MUCH closer to the animals here!

After lunch, we walked (through the rain) to basically the complete opposite side of the park. It was about 20 minutes, which would have been fine, but it was uphill, and my flip-flops (which I was so excited to bust out) were hopelessly slippery on the wet pavement. So, I was happy when we finally reached our destination :)

Once we arrived, we waited outside the entrance to the "Taman Safari Cowboy Show." Honestly, I was not excited about this. I've seen plenty of shows designed for tourists in China, and with a couple exceptions...it's nothing to write home about. Though I probably have ;) But anyway, Jake's friend Helena (our host and expert on the area) raved about the show and said we MUST go see it! And I'm very glad we did.

True, we got lots of stares while waiting with the large crowd outside, and true, we couldn't understand the language used in their performance, but it wasn't really necessary. Horses, cowboys, damsels in distress, good guys vs. bad guys, lots of slapstick...it's a tried & true formula, and we were very entertained!

It was fun to sit so close to the action, laugh as the locals absolutely freaked out over the prospect of water getting splashed on them, and "oooh" and "aaaahhh" at explosions and stunts. Andrea and I agreed that the show was entertaining and good on its own merit, not simply because "it's something we saw in Indonesia."

Making friends with the show's clown, and one of the brave heroes!

After the show, we stuck around for a bit, taking pictures with the cast, as well as curious people in the crowd. The family below was very friendly, sharing some food with us, and full of smiles. Of course it's not true in every case, but we observed that people in Indonesia were generally much more friendly than those we met in Wuhan.

Making our way back outside, we stopped cold when we saw that the concession stand next to us sold HOT DOGS! Yum. We each got one, and though they were topped with a questionable white sauce (mayonnaise?) along with the ketchup, they were still absolutely delicious!

Paradise?

We whiled away most of the afternoon hiking to a waterfall, and then checking out different exhibits...some screaming monkeys, creepy-looking birds, komodo dragons, etc. But at the end came what I'd been looking forward to the most: baby animals! Awwww...

Cuddly critter #1

As we'd seen advertised, we did indeed get to take pictures while "holding" (sitting next to) baby tigers and a baby lion! There was an orangutan also, but having already paid for the other 3 animals, and having had our share of cuteness, we passed.

Cuddly critter #2

Precious as the little buggers looked, it was a bit scary also! In each individual pen, there were warning signs which read "These animals can bite! Please use caution and listen to the trainer." So, I really did heed the advice and instructions of the trainer with me in the pen :) They'd wave a stick around trying to get the beast to look in the direction of the camera for the best photo op. Sometimes it worked really well--sometimes they'd be a little restless and I'd start getting paranoid about their sharp claws and teeth...so I wasn't too picky about how the pics turned out. It was a fun experience and something to cross off the ol' bucket list :D

Cuddly critter #3

After our cuddle sessions, we walked around a bit more and then headed back to our fearless driver, who took us back home for the night!

Some of our FoC friends went to India...we just went to Taman Safari, but still got that much sought-after "Taj Mahal" shot :)

Our last day in Jakarta was nice, but not terribly eventful. Andrea, Aaron, and I visited a nearby hotel pool...and possibly we might have claimed to be staying there so we could swim in the gorgeous and largely deserted pool...oops! We enjoyed some tanning and relaxation, and at night a couple of Jake's friends drove us to an awesome restaurant. Colorful, friendly, and serving delicious food...and maybe most memorable: Indonesia has amazing fresh fruit juices. I think I had one watermelon juice and one guava...absolutely scrumptious...so fresh & refreshing!

Shoes off, sitting on the floor, Indonesian-style. We also ate our meal Indonesian-style, meaning with no utensils! After feasting on lots of veggies, shrimp & rice, we walked through a torrential downpour to our lovely taxi which took us home.

That just about wraps up our lovely stay in Jakarta, so there's nothing left to do besides post a few random pictures and call this blog complete :)

While in a local supermarket (Hypermarket), Andrea and I found a storybook with Bible Stories and illustrations! Can you guess which story this is from? :)

Spotted at the city square. I just think it's pretty :)

With Islam as the country's very prominent r*ligion, we saw women in headdresses and burkas everywhere. I made it my trip's mission to capture it in photos...and I don't know if I succeeded. But here's one at least.

Ending on a nice, cheery note, we came across a shop in our travels that sold these helmets! I definitely would say they have potential to scare passerby.