Short Vacation in Jakarta

My husband has accepted the offering to work in the other oil and gas company. The company offered him better salary, facilities and carrier development. After signing the work agreement, he resigned from the previous company. The consequence of his decision is our family has to move to Jakarta. Since it is not easy to bring the family move, the company gives us flexible time until we are ready. We plan to move to Jakarta on this coming January 2009.

Due to our preparation to move to Jakarta, we did a kind of “survey” on 5-8 June 2008. My kids called it a short vacation. The purpose of it is to find a proper house in good area with good facilities for our family to live in.

I, my husband and my three kids leaved to Jakarta on Thursday, 5 June by plane. Rafif, my youngest boy, was so excited. The last time he went by plane was two years ago, in 2006, when we spent our vacation in Bangka Island. At that time he was still one year old, he didn’t understand anything. So, he was enthusiastic because he felt that this was his first flight.

The flight from Palembang to Jakarta is only 45 minutes. We arrived at 15.05 WIB at the Cengkareng airport , and then we went to a hotel at Casablanca, Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan. Traffic jam everywhere in Jakarta, as usual. We arrived at the hotel on 17.30 WIB.

In the Hotel

It was a new five star hotel, but I thought the service was not really good compared with the other hotels I‘d ever stayed in. There was nothing special with the lobby. I thought they should redecorate it. After checking in, a handsome and nice bell boy brought us to the room. But when the door had been opened, he said.” I am sorry Sir, this must be a mistake. The room is not ready. The front officer didn’t know that this room isn’t ready. Would you please stay here for a while? I’ll be back soon.” He apologized and leaved us waiting in the corridor. The bad thing was, there was no sofa or chair available in the corridor. So we stood there for some minutes, my kids sat on the floor.

Finally the bell boy picked us up, and took us to the other room. The room was tidy, modern-minimalist style. Then some room boys came, one of them asked my husband “How about the mini bar, Sir?”

“Just keep it.” Said my husband.

I was so busy with the kids so I did not notice what they did next, and then they leaved.

“ Mama, I am thirsty.” Anin said. I opened the refrigerator but I was surprised, there was nothing there.

“ What did the room boy do? Why did they take all the snacks and beverages in here? “

“ It must be misunderstanding. I said I wanted to keep them that way, but they took them away. “My husband looked angry. He called the room service, told him what had happened.

A few minutes later, the room boy came again. He put all the snacks and beverages back into refrigerator. The phone rang; the hotel officer apologized about the incident. Ah…finally, everything went well.

My kids wanted to swim, but I didn’t think that’s a good idea. I took them to the bathroom, and let them play in the warm water in the bath tube.

It’s dinner time. I ordered Oxtail Soup, Fried Chicken, Orange Juice, Strawberry juice and Tiramizu. The kids ate the soup reluctantly, but they really like the Tiramizu. Mmmm…yummy.

My three kids finally fell into sleep. Ah… Peacefulness….that’s what I felt to see them sleeping…

Surveying at Bintaro and BSD city

On the next day, my husband’s friend, Herianto Syafri, picked us up at the hotel. We went to Bintaro and BSD city. The main purpose of going there is to survey. We wanted to know the house, schools, and other facilities there. There were many housing estates with good facilities there such as The Green, The Green Cove, Bintaro Regency, Menteng Bintaro, etc , but the prices were so expensive . Well, actually I understood why they were expensive. The customers would not only get beautiful houses but also the complete facilities, and good environment. We came to the prototype of houses and being amazed by the exterior and interior design. They were modern- minimalist-style, following the trend of the houses recently.We hadn't make a decision to buy one of them, but at least we had an overview of living there.

Having Fun at Ocean Park, BSD city

My kids insisted me to take them swimming, and they couldn’t wait any longer. After having breakfast, we waited for Richard, my husband’s friend. He, his daughter and his son came to pick us up and took us to the Ocean Park.

I told my kids to enjoy this moment because there would be no other vacation ahead, since their father should start working in the new company on 1 July. The kids will go to school again in 14 July 2008. My kids were so happy playing in the pools there. Here are some pictures taken by my husband.