We all woke up early today. Aina and Ari went straight to get breakfast in the restaurant, while I stayed in the room and packed the remaining stuff. I was waaaay too full from last night’s meal (the Bakso Malang thing was that much filling!).
Aina was planning to buy some bracelet gifts for her friends, but apparently, the shop that she had been eyeing for won’t open until around noon. And it was not even 9 in the morning yet. She was very disappointed…
Popo ordered 2 cars. Around 9-ish, the cars that were supposed to pick us up had arrived, so we loaded our luggages in, and went for the check-out. The checkout went smoothly, and off we went to find a gift shop, hoping that the stuff that Aina wanted to get was sold there. The shop was just opened (I guess shops in Batu open late…), but they don’t sell the bracelets that Aina was looking for. So, she came out empty handed. We had now learned, that we should have bought gifts as we saw them, instead of waiting until the last day… *sigh*
Then, we headed to Malang. The plan was to have lunch in Malang, and then go straight to the airport. The road was packed, maybe because it was the weekend, so we had to go through quite a traffic jam. By the time we got to Malang, Joe needed a diaper change, so we stopped by a mall, called Malang Town Square. It was not even 11 in the morning, and the first 3 floors of the parking building was already full! Amazing…
We were walking around, waiting for Joe to finish the diaper change and his feeding, and Aina ended up getting a ram squishy as her early birthday present from Popo and Kungkung. I think, everytime she travels, she comes home with at least one squishy… Hmm.
After the mall, we drove by the beautiful Ijen Boulevard, and then went to have our lunch at Rumah Makan Gloria (Trip Advisor page). Our aim was their Cwie Mie, a well known Chinese noodle dish from Malang area. Their Cwie Mie Gloria had been around since 1970, and a lot of people recommended this to us.
And it was goooood! Very yummy, indeed. Jessi also got their Es Gloria, which I didn’t try (I’m not very into these types of dessert). But Jessi and Popo said it was delicious.
After lunch, we went straight to the Airport. Oh, I forgot to mention, that when we were in the mall, Popo received an SMS from the airlines, that our flight was delayed (again!) for about 2.5 hours. See, my streak was still going: all domestic flights had been delayed!
So, we took our time when we arrived at the airport. We bought the famous Apple Struddel Malang at the airport and had it as a snack. Little Joe had a quality (and quantity) floor time in the airport’s kiddy area. I think, despite the tiny size, Abdul Rachman Saleh Airport was quite comfortable and very kid-friendly.
The flight to Jakarta was quite uneventful, but very crowded. Since it’s getting closer to the Hari Raya Puasa, a lot of Indonesians are going back to their hometown, so most flights are packed… And this one was quite a circus with crying and kicking children everywhere.
We parted with Popo, Kungkung, Jessi and little Joe when we landed in CGK Airport. They went home, while we still had another flight to catch to Singapore. This time, we experienced Terminal 3 from the departure side, which was even nicer than the arrival.
We had dinner at Bakerzin in T3. After all that yummy Indonesian food, I finally craved some salad… And I don’t even like salad! I guess, there is such thing as “Too much of good things”…
More photos of the trip in Batu & Malang 2018 Trip photo album.
For the rest of the trip, you can check out the entire stories at Batu 2018: Short Getaway with Family.