This vacation started out with a bunch of DELAYS.
First of all, the flight got delayed at Changi for about 45 minutes while we were already boarded the plane. I fell asleep, woke up, and we were still on the ground! We couldn’t send any messages to The Babybirds, who are waiting for us at the Jogja airport, because we weren’t allowed to turn on our phone. Blah.
Then, we got another delay again in the sky. Jogja’s airport is a military airport, and the commercial airlines are sorta borrowing their airport. So whenever there is a military stuff going on, the commercial airlines are not allowed to use the landing strip until the military activities are done. Apparently, today the air force had a flight training, so our plane had to wait and circle around the airport to wait our turn to land.
By the time we landed, we were almost 2 hours late. And due to the staggering delays, we landed pretty much at the same time as Ruby, our host, whose plane was supposed to land about 1.5 hour later from ours (she was delayed too; her plane wasn’t allowed to land on-time either).
With all that delays, the plans for today went down the drain. We were supposed to go to see the Kraton Jogja and Taman Sari today, but by the time we got into the car, they are closing in 5 minutes… oh well. Maybe tomorrow, then.
So we went for our late lunch. Ruby took us to Warung Makan Lombok Ijo (yes, surprisingly, they have a website!)… What a perfect opening to this vacation! Aina was quite amused by the way we sit…
“Where is the table?”
But she got over it very quickly, and busied herself playing chase with Rinjani…
Their brown rice was amazing. The sambal was a killer. The chicken was tasty, I think Aina had half a chicken to herself! But the lodeh and the sauté cassava leaf (it was singkong, right? I’m not sure actually…) were the winners. I sooooo missed this kinds food. I couldn’t stop at the first plate… it went on and on and on until around 4th plates, I think.
Oops.
After the satisfying lunch, which made us forgot all about the delays earlier, we went straight to Joglo Kemiri, Ruby’s place at the foot of Mt. Merapi. And who knows, all those delays were probably a blessing in disguise, I was kinda glad that we went straight to Joglo Kemiri. This place was sooo beautiful, serene and makes you not wanting to leave… ever!
Just take a look:
Aina and Rinjani immediately felt like home. Especially when they found that there is a 3-storey doll house with pink roof stored in the kitchen. Ing and Booi had to carry the huge dollhouse up the stairs into the living room, and the kids were ecstatic. I think they spent all afternoon and evening on that dollhouse.
Aina’s jaw also dropped when she saw the bed. It’s a 4-poster bed! Just like those in the princess room! So while the kids were turning the bed into a car, a house, and even an ocean later on (the blanket was the waves), the adult spent our time sitting out on the gazebo, munching on tahu goreng made by Mbak Tiah and the neverending rempeyek accompanied by hot sweet tea… so very Jogja, no?
Ruby & Themma’s home, dubbed #hnghome, was located higher up within the Joglo Kemiri complex. They said, it gets really cold up there. But the house is super beautiful and very inspiring.
Later that evening, Nyanya, Iing and Booi went downtown to do some groceries and picked up Dista and Biyan, who would spend a night at the Kemiri House tonight. They also picked up the delicious Gudeg Sagan and chicken curry for dinner. I’m not a fan of gudeg, because they’re usually too sweet for my taste. But this one was sooooo good, I had to go for second. Dista said it was her favorite, too.
After dinner, we went up to #hnghome to help out building a few IKEA cabinet that they brought from Jakarta. I’m not sure what happened, but we struggled so much in putting together the cabinet. With more than 20 IKEA stuff under our belt (that included a few beds and 1 loft bed!), it was ridiculous we couldn’t put together ONE cabinet. But by the end of the night, we could only finish one cabinet and swallowed our defeat bitterly.
The kids were happy playing around the #hnghome, though.
Then, as the night got cold, we went back to the main house, took shower and went to bed under the thick, fluffy blankets. Aina get her own 4-poster bed, which was like… a dream come true for her. Sweet dreams, indeed!
More photos of Joglo Kemiri in Joglo Kemiri 2015 photo album. For the list of the individual daily entries and photos of this trip are in the Jogja 2015 blog entry.
