Happy New Year!
It’s been a while since the last time I updated this blog. How are you? I am doing great here. Ups and downs in 2024, but I did it! Last December I went to Jakarta with my husband and my daughter. She really wanted to go to Jakarta since I went to Jakarta last May, and I promised her if she’s on school holiday, I will take her to Jakarta. So, I’ve already paid my promise.
Fortunately, I found out that JKT48 will have an anniversary concert in Jakarta on 15th December—on that day, in my plan, I had already arrived in Jakarta, so I bought two JKT48 concert tickets too for Ivy and me. Although it was hard to get the tickets, I did buy the tickets with my own hand. We were so excited!!
We went to Jakarta on the 12th by night train and arrived in Jakarta on the 13th in the morning. I hate to go to Jakarta because it’s hard to access from my hometown. Like I said before, I have to use the train for around 10-11 hours. Because my hometown is far from the airport too, the best way is to use a train.
Went to Monas
Arrived at Pasar Senen station, we stayed for a while in a restaurant around the train station to have breakfast first. We were so hungry because the train’s food isn’t delicious and expensive too. After we had breakfast and went to the toilet, we rode a taxi to the hotel. We had a call to the hotel that we wanted early checked in, but the hotel couldn’t do it, so we stopped in Monas first for killing time, and Ivy wanted to go to Monas too. It was her first time going to Monas. So do I. I just realized that I have never been going to Monas before. After walking and taking some photos around Monas, Ivy was in a bad mood suddenly. Maybe she was tired, and she wanted to go to the hotel ASAP.
Stayed at Blok M
Okay then, we went to the hotel using Trans Jakarta. It was our first time too using Trans Jakarta. After 45 minutes, we arrived at a hotel near Blok M. Ivy was happy; she was finally able to take a bath, eat, and take some rest.
We stayed at Blok M for three days and two nights. Blok M is the best place to stay if you want to go to Jakarta. I stayed in Blok M last May, and for this trip I wanted to stay in Blok M again. Ivy really wanted to go to Blok M too. I stayed in Losari Hotel. It’s a budget hotel, so their room is not too big, but it’s enough for three of us. For me, it’s a comfortable hotel, and it’s easy to go anywhere because it’s located in front of Blok M Square, Blok M Plaza, and Taman Literasi, under the MRT station, and near hot places like M Bloc. You can easily walk around and get some hit foods. But the prices are mostly expensive. I stayed there for four days, equal to my stay in Singapore on the same days. Maybe next time I will choose to go back to Singapore and Malaysia for a holiday lol.
Met My ID WIMPER Friends
One of my itineraries in Jakarta was meeting my ID WIMPER friends. The last time I met them was at the RADWIMPS concert last May. I miss them so much. I’m glad in my age I have a lot of new friends that are so kind to me. We are active in group chat like every day, not only talking about music, but we share anything. So even though we are living in different cities, we are still close to each other. I think they are more than friends; they are family. if one one us got some trouble, we got our back each others.
It was my very first time taking Ivy to meet my ID WIMPER friends. She was very happy and did not move on until now. Oh, my husband and I have our own itineraries, so we went our separate ways to meet our friends. So, I went with Ivy, and some friends picked me up in Taman Literasi near my hotel to go to the gathering’s venue together.
It was sooo fun. We rented a private place to hang out. There were A LOT OF friends who came. We sang and laughed together. Even there were some games, such as guessing the songs based on 0.00005 seconds of the intro/part of the song lol. Oh, for missing lyric games, it was fun too. We’ve got some original RADWIMPS merchandise and fan art merchandise for the prize. Not only Wimper friends, they were some Ado fans too. Yes, some of us are join Wimper and Ado group chat, so some of us often hang out together.
After we laughed and screamed for three hours nonstop, we went to Blok M to search for something to eat for dinner. They parked their car in my hotel, and then they walked around to go to Sate Sambas. Sate Sambas is a street food that all of the tenants are selling sate. The taste is so tasty, big meat cutting, and the price is not too expensive. Oh, I went to my hotel for a while because Ivy wanted take a bath and did her Kumon homework. After that, Ivy and me walked to follow them to Sate Sambas. We chatted until 9pm, and then they went home. It was so sad when we were separated. It feels like we still a little bit longer to meet up. But we had to go home.
Thanks to all who came to meet me. Miss you already! Thanks to some friends who couldn’t see me but still gave me some gifts. I really appreciated it. I hope next time we can meet again. Special thanks to Agnezu, Alifan, Ari, and Irma, who arrange that “riweuh” gathering for me. I love you guys!
JKT48 13th Anniversary Concert
This was Ivy’s very first concert. She was excited since weeks before. She was very nervous and amaze because there was thousands people on the venue. Oh, you can read her experience and feeling about her very first concert here.
The concert was held from 3pm to 6pm. But after break, the concert continued from 7pm-9pm for Sousenkyo announcement. But we were back to hotel after the concert’s has done at 6pm because Ivy was too tired, sleepy, and hungry.
JKT48 concert was amazing. The promoter very professional and their venue arrangement was so good. There was no long queue and no crazy crowd. We passed through gates and lines according to the ticket category that we have but there was no need to queue at all. At first I was afraid if we would standing in the long queue like when I was in RAD’s concert before. I was afraid if Ivy would be tired before concert begun.
After we passed the first gate, we got two bracelets; one for ticket, another one was a bracelet but it’s used like a light stick. Its lamp will turn on and change color according to what song is played. Ivy took some photos with JKT48 banner, and then we got some mineral waters, and then came in to main venue.
After waiting for around an hour, the concert began. It was so cool, the stage, lighting, sound out, and there was a big screen too. So, even though we were in category 8, we could clearly see the stage and all of the members’ performance. Oh yes, we’ve got the cheapest category because we are not part of their fans club, and getting that ticket was so hard. Its tickets were sold in the blink of an eye. Even before the first minute, it had already sold out in all categories. I think it was Ivy’s fortune to have the ticket and it was perfect timing too to go to Jakarta at that time.
Ivy was happy, amazed, and never stop talking about that concert until now. Maybe I’ve made obe of her wishes came true. I wanna that experience being a good memory for her, and that concert being a perfect concert for first timer.
Went To Tangerang
At 16th, we were going to Tangerang. Before we departed to Tangerang, I had lunch with Ivy, Kak Agnez, Dimas, and Kak Geri in Futago. Thanks to Kak Agnez for buy me lunch! My husband had meet with his friends too. After we were done with our each itinerary, we were back to hotel, and went to Tangerang by taxi.
I will never go back to Tangerang again next time. So far away and traffic jams everywhere. I stayed at my brother-in-law’s house for a night. We just took some rest there and went nowhere. My cousins were very happy because it was Ivy’s first time coming to their house. I went back to Jakarta the next morning using a taxi again, and there was a traffic jam AGAIN, even though it was on the highway. I felt sick and wanted to vomit until 2 days later.
Went To Bandung
We arrived in Jakarta at 11 at Arman’s hotel. We went to Bandung with him and Alifan, thanks to Arman for carrying us to Bandung with his car. Alifan’s house is in Bandung, and Arman went to Bandung just for culinary. Arman was came from Singapore just for meet us, ID WIMPERS. Sometimes he went to Surabaya, even he went to Kediri to meet me and tried some traditional foods.
We picked Alifan up in the bank, but found out he was still in a queue. We waited outside for an hour, and then FINALLY on the way to Bandung. We stopped in Purwakarta to grab Sate Maranggi for lunch. After that, we continued to Bandung. It was only 3 hours from Jakarta and no traffic jams except in Bandung itself.
There were a lot of traffic jams in Bandung. I mean, EVERYWHERE. You know what, they have the longest traffic lights in the world. IT’S 250 SECONDS RED LIGHT, like, at every traffic light! I can’t imagine being a Bandung citizen.
We stayed at my husband’s cousin’s house for a night. They took us to stroll in Bandung and met some old friends. The best thing every time we went to another city was to meet some old friends. It was just a day, but my heart was full; also, my stomach was also full. Thanks to our cousins and our friends who gave delicious foods and snacks. We went back home by train. It’s been 8 days since we left home; we were already homesick and “catsick”. Arrived in Kediri around 8 pm. We were so tired, but we are happy. Our hearts full.
Short Trip To Malang
Since Ivy still had some holidays left, she and I went to Malang to meet my friend. We went to Malang by morning train and back to Kediri in the afternoon. Usually I drive to Malang, but it was holiday season, there would be traffic jams everywhere. So, I used train for saving time and energy. Yes, it was a short trip just for having lunch in Malang with my friend. My friend has been my close friend since day one when we were at college. It’s been 15 years we are being friends. It used to be three, but my other friend couldn’t be there.
We just had lunch, coffee, snacks, Ivy bought some stuff, and chats about stupid things like usual. Even though it was only for a short time, it made us happy. I lived in Malang for almost four years when I was in college. It felt nostalgic, but it has changed a lot, and there are traffic jams everywhere. It was the best decision I came back to Kediri when I graduated.
We came back to Kediri at 4 pm and arrived at 7 pm. Ivy was very happy. She’s been asking me to go to Malang for long time ago. So I think her dream already came true.
It was a fun holiday. Ivy couldn’t stop talking about it. As a small-town citizen, she is really happy to go to big cities. But I still can’t handle the traffic jams and “fast living” in Jakarta or Bandung. It must be hard living in a big city.
By the way, thanks to our friends who gave their time and energy to meet us. Thanks for giving us snacks, souvenirs, and a comfortable place to stay. We can’t wait to see you guys really soon. Love ya!
*I wrote this when I was sick for almost a week and had to rest in bed while listening to Novo Amor and Turnover
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