We didn't do much on day 1, cos' we arrived in the evening and there was really nothing to do other than to go home and unpack, but we did go to the supermarket at the Emporium for a bit to get my neice's powered milk. They happen to sell bubble tea there so I got one and that's it.

The first thing we did next day was to visit ama (grandmother) at her place, which is just 2 mintures away from our home anyway. Along the way I took photos of the messy streets and uber disgusting drains (typical of Indonesia, really); if you grew up in a city you should really check them out for compare and contrast. XD

Just four steps across from ama's place was my parents' oooold home. I lived there for like 2 years maybe when I was less than 5, I could only remember a few memories. Sadly the current owners of the house seriously don't take care of it at all and it's now pretty badly run down. =/

After we're done visiting ama, we went over to my cousin Erika's place. That'd be the second time I've ever been to her place. We didn't do much there though; we just sat and waited for Erika to be back home and chatted for a short bit before we left for lunch at a restaurant called Cianjur together.  That'd be the first time I ate anything authentically Indonesian (other than otak-otak, that is) in 7-8 years. It's not like I was ever a super big fan of Indonesian food, but it feels good to be able to try some things different once in a while, especially if I happen to really like it. =D

After dinner, we went to the Emporium again and checked out the huge SOGO departmental store for a while. I didn't get anything there, of course, cos' nothing is of my style. I don't quite remember what else we did there after that other than buying bubble tea again and some donuts... so I think we went home and that's that.

In the morning we went to the um... 'temple' to visit our grandfather's 'grave'. (It's not a temple but I dunno how else to call it) I didn't know what to do there so after 'praying' to grandfather's wooden tablet I just stood around waiting for my parents to finish with their stuff.

After the temple, we went to Gaja Madah. My parents had some appointment with their friends there so while they did that me, my bro, sis-in-law and niece went walking around the mall. Many of the shops were closed so our first stop was a small eatery where we got my favorite es teler (see pic above), Indonesian siew mai and noodles.

Next, we walked around some more and ended up at the pet shop corner! Wheee!! I so remember that place! It was where we used to get our second dog, a pomeranian. Luckily most of the pet shops were open and I took my time looking at them. The shop owners were nice too; they wouldn't shoo you away (or disallow you from touching them) even if you have no intention of buying the animals. After looking around for a bit, one of the shop owners ended up letting a German Sheperd out. It was big but not full adult size, and since it's out and so close to me I asked if I could touch it. They were kind enough to let me take a pic with it too!! And guess how much it costs...? x_X (See pic for answer)

My brother overheard the shop owner that it's so expensive cos' it's imported directly from Germany and that it has champion bred parents, or something. >.<!! It's so cute tho!!! >_<!! I want one!!! If I'm rich and own a house big enough, a German Sheperd is what I'd like to keep. ^__^!! It may just motivate me to exercise...? (It'll take me out for a walk and not the other way round LOL)

Soon enough my parents were done with their appointment and we met up again to leave for ITC Mangga Dua, a place full of bargain stuff including a shitload of pirated stuff from games to branded bags etc. Totally my favorite place. ^__^! I don't think I got anything there tho' (not until a few days later), and then we got some food – es shanghai, gado-gado, loh shu pan and... I keep forgetting the name for the last one. >_<!

After that we went back to the Emporium, again. I forgot why but I'm thinking it's cos my bro wanted to get some Ralph Lauren top and it was the last day of their 50% off promotion. Then later after that, we went to a massage place and had 90 minutes of cheap massage. When I say cheap it's really cheap. It's only 7 bucks for 90 minutes as compared to 70 bucks for 30 minutes here in Singapore!! *Headdesk* Of course, with such cheap massage you can't be expecting to lie down on a massage bed, but at least they've got a comfy chair; you just gotta sit upright instead of lying down when they give you your back massage.

Lastly, we had dinner at my old favorite place Eaton. Kuay teow sapi sirammm! <33

It's safari day!!!! <33333333 I'm so glad dad came up with this idea!! It's the best day of the entire trip; this is the first time I've been to a Safari in my life!! T__T!!

So anyway, it took us about 90 mins by car to get there (dad hired a driver + van), and what happens in there is that we 'travel' around the safari in a car and look at the animals from inside the car. The tame animals will be walking about the tracks so they can come as close to you as your face by the car window if you have them rolled down. Those who approach that close are also likely to poke their head into the car in search of food. XD It's a unique experience, and it's extremely great for photos.

I was tempted to touch the emu; it was so close, but I was afraid it might poke me or my camera... >_>;

The llamas are a cute bunch and are the most eager to poke their heads into the car for food. Though most of them look good/cute, there are several with odd teeth... >_>;

In case you can't tell what's happening in the 5th pic above from the left, well... they're making babies. XD It's hard to tell there's a lionness under the lion but well, it is there. =P Hope they make more babies so that there're more lion cubs we could take photos with in the future~ >:3

I hope all Bleach followers can tell the similarity between Ulquiorra and the cheetahs in the 5th pic. It surprises me to find out that some people can't see it even tho' I think it's obvious. And yeah... I miss Steve Irwin... T_T

Soon enough the ride through the Safari ended and it's time to continue on foot. To get to there baby animals corner, we had to pass by the aviary and so in we go. =)

We didn't take too many pics of the birds cos' it's hard to take good pics of them when they're caged. And I was looking forward to the baby animals more than anything. ^_^; The white tigers are great tho', so much better than those in Singapore. At the very least they aren't like a moutain and a mile away from you. =_=

And nooowwww!!! For the most precious moment of my life!! KyaAaaAaa~!! I finally got to fulfill my LIFELONG dream!!! <3333 They are sooo cuuuuuuteee!!! *__*!!!! *Explodes*

Now that I think of it, it's a waste/shame that I didn't take a picture with the uh... jaguar (1st pic)? My family thought it's too big and dangerous, but man... I really shouldn't have cared. By the time we got out of the baby animals corner, the sky started to turn dark and foggy (even tho' it was only 2+pm). And by the time I finished the 3-min pony ride and got to the elephants, it was really foggy, hence the blurriness of the 5th pic above.

Good thing we finished the whole Safari before the weather got so bad it started raining super heavily. So we rode up the mountains to a popular restaurant up there for our lunch. The best thing I had there was definitely the ayam penyet. It has little meat but the taste is unique. ^_^ After that we drove down to an outlet somewhere and I shopped for a few souvenirs for my friend... and found Wesker by chance. XD Now we know what he does offscreen.

We didn't do all too much that day. We had a family friend, Ko Asen, visit and take us to ITC Mangga Dua again for us to resume our shopping. Before that, we had a bit of snack at the local A&W. Man... that thing's ancient. It hasn't existed in Singapore for perhaps 2 decades so we took our chance to eat what we couldn't.

At ITC Mangga Dua, my sis-in-law went shopping for her bags while I just looked around randomly. I ended up buying a red top, a wallet and the best thing ever - a lighter in the shape of a mini revolver gun, fully made of metal. It was so awesome and cheap, it's perfect for cosplay and badgirl lolita. But unfortunately... something bad happened on the last day... so read on to find out. Arrgghh @#$%^&!!

After shoppping, we went to join our parents for their friend's dinner and that's about it. It took over 90 minutes to get the whole dinner started after we arrived too, so it was well... boring. -_-

On this day, we were to visit and check out a family friend's factory. He is my mom's friend and he's like a super rich and accomplished man, we think. He owns a floating restaurant, a hotel and a chocolate factory. x_X And cos' my brother's curious to know how his factory looks like, this family friend sent his royal bus over to pick us up and drive us there. That bus is like.... duuuuuude...!! @_@

First stop was the restaurant. Family friend was busy at some meeting so he had us eat lunch without him. We could order anything we wanted and it was free. LOL. Rich man is rich, aye? The best thing I had there was prolly the lamb satay. Juicy awesomeness.

A restaurant's a restaurant, but dude's restaurant had monkey cages outside, and a stable! O_o! They kept a horse! (Apparently it's for the kid customers.) Well there's also this open garden/area with a platform which could be used for events like weddings and parties...

After our lunch, we went to the factory and met with this family friend. Then he had an employee take and show us around the factory; of course, we had to wear the typical long white coat, plastic wraps over our shoes, etc. Though it's interesting, a factory's still a factory. Unless you're into these things, in the end all you're seeing is just a bunch of machinery. Just becos' it's a chocolate factory doesn't mean you'll be seeing a chocolate waterfall and da shitz like Willy Wonka. Sadly, we also weren't allowed to take our own pics so yeah, I have nothing of the entire chocolate factory trip to show. Sorry.

Lastly, we took a brief look around dude's hotel. It's got like a chocolate spa room (WTF lol), massage rooms, foot reflexoogy rooms, karaoke rooms, a bar, etc... If only I could turn the king-size karaoke room into my own room. Sigh...

After the whole trip, we went to have dinner with a bunch of my parents' friends again and man... it was an even longer wait this time. It actually took 2+ hours for everyone to arrive and dinner to begin. I'd rather just have instant noodles and stay at home.

Today would the first time I've seen Mindy, a friend I met in the US, in almost 2 years. She came over to pick me up after we're both done with the parliament election or something in the morning. She took me to this mall called Grand something... (LOL I forgot) She said it's her usual hangout grounds and so we had lunch there at this Japanese restaurant.

Food was good and man I was full. But then we didn't quite know what else to do and so we walked around a bit looking at random stores until we decided we should go to ITC Mangga Dua cos we're both itching to. Sadly, due to the election thingy, the place was closed and we had to find somewhere else to go, so we ended up at the Taman Anggrek mall.

Again, we looked at a few random shops, along with a couple *gasp* figurine stores! They sold the pirated version of the Portraits of Pirates series One Piece figurines. Hahaha! It looked so bad I had to try not to laugh. But hey, they happened to sell Samurai7 figurines! @_@ I didn't know those existed! They had like 3 of those random boxes and they were kind enough to open them all for me cos' I was specifically looking for Kyuuzou, but alas none of them had him so I didn't end up buying. I found TMNT figurines at another store but I had no idea if they were fake so I didn't buy them either. Besides, it's sad to say this but TMNT figs aren't half as good as they look in cartoons/movies.

Later, we ended up at a dessert restaurant called Honeymoon Dessert where I had mango sago and durian pancake. YummMM!! I love the durian pancake!! If only they have that too here in Singapore.

After dessert, Mindy brought me home as she had a curfew so that's it for today.

All I remember doing this day is to go to ITC Mangga Dua for a short bit before hopping over to my uncle's place at Pasar Minggu. I bought like 9 t-shirts as souvenirs, 3 for myself. And a necklace. =) Damn, I can't believe that's all I remember... o_o The two pics below are food I had on that day.

On the last day, I finally met with my 'maid' from when I was young. She took care of me when I was around age 4-10. I had a lot of great memories with her. The last time I saw her was before I even flew to the US for my studies, so that's a long time ago. o_o

She brought her two sons with her, one age 8, the other 8 months. I bet they're gonna look real pretty when they grow up. XD And so I chatted with my no-longer-maid for a while, speaking in very broken Indonesian (LOL) and well... simply enjoying the reunion. It was nice reminiscing about the old times, my childhood... aahh... ^_^ She stayed for about an hour plus until it's time for us to leave home for the airport. Short reunion's short. T_T

And so that's the end of my trip... all fun and well... until the bloody guards at the Singapore airport 'found' my awesome mini revolver (remember, it's a lighter) and pulled me over for questioning and investigating. Know what that means? That means SAYONARA to my fuckin' gun!!!! @#$%^&*!!!!! (Along with adding a permanent, tho' non-criminal, record to my files) I know I know... I "should have known" that it's illegal, but it's not like that's gonna stop me from trying. Hell, fine, I failed. UURRGGHHH!!!! And all I wanted was to use it for cosplay, bastards.