Planet Wilder

After a few days in Tasik, we went on a road trip to East Java. WRONG IDEA!!! NEVER, unless you have a strong heart and ass, drive for a very long time in Indonesia. You’d want to kill somebody by the end of the day! First of all my dad’s car is so uncomfortable. It’s an SUV with horrible back seats!!! The way people drive there is TERRIBLE and very hard to explain; you just have to experience it. It’s like playing a video game, drive fast, dodge, and you win if you make it alive to your destination. The roads are super small too. A two lane road but it can become a three lane. Our driving distance was short, maybe 250 miles, so about a four hour drive here. But with the road situation it was a 10 hour drive for us. By the time we got to Solo, Drew wanted to go back to Tasik, by train, and just stay there until we had to leave. I was quite upset too. The reason for the long drive was because my parents felt bad because Emma wanted to see the beach and we had no plans on going to any. So, they decided to go to the (this butt ugly) beach so that Emma can see the beach. When we got there it was so disappointing, a waste of time to be honest.

Then when we got to Solo, my dad insisted on looking for his business relation just because this person said, “If you pass Solo, stop by so that I can take your family to dinner.” So did that person have to know we were in Solo? We just wanted to end the car ride and get to bed. So we had to get lost a few times and when we finally got to the restaurant it was a buffet restaurant. Unless you’re Indonesian, you SHOULD NOT eat at a buffet restaurant in Indonesia unless you want to have diarrhea poo or even worst, get some illness. Who knows how long those food have been sitting out. So while they ate, we watched. I didn’t feel like eating because the food did not look appetizing.

Finally we got to the hotel and it was quite nice. Hotel Riyadi it was called. But, I couldn’t believe we were spending the night in Solo which was suppose to be the terrorist headquarters of the Indonesian crazies. Thankfully we’re all in Singapore now.

From Solo we drove to Malang. We got there early and had a great time there. The food was good, I got to see my high school teachers, and the company was nice. Emma and Opa Hengky had a great time together. Since I went to high school in Malang and lived with my uncle, aunt, and cousin, I feel close to them. My cousin is more like a sister to me. In Malang we had the best meal thus far. My aunt has an awesome cook and the food around her home is good too, especially the meatballs, which Malang is well known for. Then we had some satay and they were delicious.

The return trip… nothing to brag about even though we stopped at Borobudur. [thumb:1273:l] Drew was still stressed out about the drive, I just let God knows that if anything ever happens, I want it to be quick, even I have never been fond of driving in Indonesia. The restaurants that we stopped at for lunches were better and we just wanted to get the trip over with. Next time, if ever, we’ll just fly around. I know the domestic airlines are not quite reliable but at least they’re quick in different ways. Quick to get to where you want to go and quick to go if it ever crashes — or so I imagine. We should have just flown to Bali but oh well…