#Pink and #Undecided Go to Gunung Kawi

Hello everybody!! Happy weekend!! #Undecided here :) sorry for being away for so long but I seriously haven't felt like writing. No idea why. Even now I feel quite reluctant to write, but since #Pink and I have an awesome story to tell, here goes :)

So last weekend #Pink and I and our families went on a little outing to the mountain. Gunung Kawi to be exact. For those who aren't familiar with this place, well... it's a mountain where people go for pilgrimage purposes. Obviously not for #Pink and I (the mere thought of #Pink and I on some pilgrimage journey brings smirk to my face LOL). Originally we just wanted to take Baby Boy to a place he had never been but then #Pink's mum and dad wanted to tag along because her dad wanted to pay respect so hubby (whom is also a believer) decided to accompany him. 

#Pink and #Undecided at Gunung Kawi

#Pink totally got me that day, saying that her mum would ditch us if we didn't show up at 7am - which we did - and apparent it was all a ruse to get us there early. We got there on time and nobody was ready - damn it, #Pink!! We eventually headed out around 8.30am (damn it, #Pink!!! Yes, some more!).

Madam and her chauffeur. I mean #Undecided and her hubby driving LOLOLOL

We made one stop at one famous resto on the way: HTS (seriously none of us know what HTS stands for). Hubby craved for its famous onde-onde (an Indonesian snack, a glutinous ball with mung bean filling and sesame sprinkles outside - sorry really, #Pink and I don't cook so this is the best description we could come up, LOL). 

Onde-onde, photo courtesy of Google

As always, we didn't miss any opportunity to snap photos so... enjoy!!

#Pink and #Undecided :D

What HTS stands for remains a mystery LOL

#Pink's hunny busy shopping

While #Undecided's hubby busy posing ROFL

We finally arrived in Gunung Kawi around lunch time and it was... well, different. It was NOT what I remembered it to be. I used to go there a lot I think when I was a kid and I remember it to be much bigger and more vibrant.

  

LOL on the ruse thing. I had to do it!!! Seriously. #Undecided and her hubby's quite horrible when it comes to being on time. Last time we went to Solo, we had to wait for one HOUR since the designated time haih... And we were going with my mum!!! I'm not kidding about her leaving them behind if they were late, i just modified the time a bit :p. 

And i agree with #Undecided about Gunung Kawi being much bigger when we were kids, i guess that's because we went there as children and return as adults, that's bound to happen. My family used to go there all the time when i was little, staying a night or so. The fondest memory i had about Gunung Kawi was buying cheap toys (that's why i insisted to buy Baby Boy a toy there too, i want him to associate Gunung Kawi as a fun, toy-filled place as well *LOL) and eating steamed sweet potato (which causes one to fart non stop LOLOL) and hard boiled eggs. Yum..

My dad practice Confucianism, but also goes to Buddhist temples. Gunung Kawi is actually a pilgrimage for two religions, Buddhist and Moslem. There are two tombs there, one from each religion's spiritual gurus from long long long time ago. The tombs lies side by side (we just googled, apparently they are buried in ONE tomb??? OMG how scary, i do not not which one is accurate though), the selamatan (praying rituals) also conducted for both religion practitioners. Buddhist temples and Mosque stand side by side harmoniously. We were actually trying to catch the 11 AM selamatan but thanks to our leisurely pace we only got there at 1 PM, so we went for lunch first.

  

There is only one main road in Gunung Kawi, in which you can only to walk (or hike, since it's quite steep), all kind of vehicles must be parked in the designated parking space.

One happy family *LOL*, Baby Boy with his fave Auntie and Uncle :D

We had lunch in this Chinese restaurant which also serves as a hotel. In case you guys ever want to visit Gunung Kawi, if you are an easily disgusted person just like me and #Undecided, i suggest you to stay the night in Malang instead of Gunung Kawi. There are no nice hotels there, only dingy and errr... not so nice ones. Believe me, i stayed in them when i was little and every single time i had to imagine i was somewhere else (in my happy place) the whole time i was in the hotel room. And i think i refused to ever shower there LOLOL. Hey, it used to be super cold at night in Gunung Kawi. It wasn't very cold though when we were there this time.

The restaurant slash hotel also triples as praying instruments shop, the ones that caught our eyes were definitely the huge candles. Some of them are bigger and taller than any of us!

Shorter

Taller

Wayyy taller!!

Usually Buddhist practitioners who came here and had specific wishes would donate a huge candle when their wishes came true. My brother in law does that all the time, the one time that i remember is when they asked for a baby girl (my niece Bb!). We got a very weird flyer, and we cannot understand anything in it (it's in Indonesian but with very weird style of writing, not the kind of language we use everyday LOL). Which one's more convincing in posing perplexed?

#Undecided's hubby...

or #Undecided? LOL

Apparently there was only one cook and probably one stove LOLOL, it took a very LONG time for our food to arrive, and when they did they trickled, one by one.. LOL.. one person would almost finish their meal when the next person's meal came! I was super starving so mine tasted really good haha. #Undecided was starving too and i was super surprised when she didn't finish hers (because she eat a LOT too) and she just revealed when we're writing this that she found two bugs floating inside her noodle's soup OMFG huekxxx.... No wonder she stopped eating LOLOL.

Right after lunch we split team. Hubby and #Pink's dad went ahead to pray. #Pink and I tagged along because obviously we wanted to take photos for this entry LOL. #Pink jokingly (or not?!) said that hubby and her dad looked so alike from behind. Hubby heard it and growled at her some LOL. It was hilarious. 

Really similar looking from behind ler, no ah?

We hiked a bit and then snapped photos a bit (this is a lie, we snapped a lot!! LOL) and we got lucky because apparently we were allowed to take photos during the praying ceremony. 

We acted like two paparazzi following them around, snapping photos of whatever they were doing (and posed some - never missing an opportunity to cam-ho) and during which something caught my attention: a Indonesian woman, holding joss sticks, and chanting Islamic prayers!! I was like, this is the ultimate diversity, man!!

First praying spot

One of #Undecided

and one of #Pink, LOLOL cam-whoring while people praying ck ck ck

We asked #Undecided's hubby to pose a bit and he came up with these:

LOLOL, don't you just wanna smack him a little bit?

After the ceremony was done, we headed back to where Baby Boy and his grandma were and apparently he was browsing for toys and obviously aunty and mama followed suit *ahem*. We ended up posing some more in the small shop and managed to find matchy bracelets (and also for A and G). 

Baby Boy very happy with his new snake toy LOL

#Pink wasn't finished shopping (no surprise there) when we were rushed to two other praying spots (seriously I don't know what this place was but there was a shrine there - sorry but we're no experts LOL).

Praying spot #2 hehe

Baby Boy and daddy :D

#Undecided's hubby drank a LOT of holy water that day! LOL. They tried to make Baby Boy drank it as well but he flatly refused to so #Undecided's hubby had to drink some more LOLOL

On the way back up (seriously, the praying spot's all over the place, you had to hike all the way almost to the top on the first spot, go back down for the second, and the last spot's all the way to the top!), we found stalls selling weird and antique stuffs.

The two hubbies who are more romantic than #Pink and #Undecided. Pffft.

And my mum, being my mum, shopped for baked sweet potatoes and other stuffs as well. Hey, she's mummy #Pink! What do you expect? She's an extremist like me, when she bought the sweet potatoes she bought the whole basket full of them! (#Undecided said she hoarded the sweet potatoes ROFL)

My dad and #Undecided hubby also bought flowers and kemenyan (incense) for the selamatan.

OMG his pose LOLOL... he's holding it for my dad

At the final spot we actually got to join the selamatan. Sitting on the carpeted floor we listened to one spiritual guru chanted in Javanese, praying on behalf of the people attending the selamatan. Photo taking wasn't allowed and we didn't really want to break any rules so we sat there (#Pink was shopping I believe!!) and I was busy trying to explain what was going on to Baby Boy - to no avail, obviously because how does one explain to a five-year old about the concept of selamatan and indoor tombs!? I'm not even sure he understands what tomb is, right #Pink?

Totally! (both for the explaining to Baby Boy thingy and no photo taking too LOL) Call us superstitious but we believe in respecting such things. Why break rules that might harm us when it's very easy to follow? There was this very interesting tree called Dewa Daru tree that is super sacred you're not supposed to even touch it. It is supposedly is a huge fortune and gonna bring you lots of lucks if the fruit falls on you (or even the leaf's pretty good too LOL). People sometimes wait and sleep around the tree for days, waiting for the fruit to fall on them. (Btw, i wasn't shopping, #Undecided!)

I am sad to see that such a sacred place's been invaded by consumerism as well, the tree's now caged and there are guards that sometimes would try to cheat on you by throwing the fruit on you and then try to make you pay millions to release goats etc to thank the spirits for blessing you. #Undecided's hubby was lucky enough for a fruit to fall nearby him. Thankfully he didn't bring too much money so they couldn't ask him for too much money. Whether or not the guard swayed the tree (my mum was watching from afar and saw his foot around the cage), let's be positive and believe that good fortune will befall them *fingers crossed* :D.

Picture taking is also forbidden around the tree and surroundings so we don't have any pictures of them :p. Anyway, after the selamatan and all we decided to go to Malang straightaway, we're spending the night there. 

Last picture in Gunung Kawi. Look at Baby Boy's ruddy cheeks!

#Undecided and i have this little obsession with pretty hotels so whenever we go on a trip we try to find the nicest hotel, with a reasonable room rates of course! We're not crazy lah (or must i say, we're not CW LOLOL). We're staying at Santika Premier Hotel and it's pretty nice. 

#Undecided and hunny checking us in

Here, let me show your pictures of our (me, hubby, Baby Boy and my parents') Family Premier room (it's a duplex!)

Only one bathroom WTF. I had to climb the stairs whenever i need to pee and that means more than 10 times during our stay -___-. Oh well, i needed the exercise.

Mine and hunnny's room on the second level, yes we got seperate beds LOLOL like college students on a field trip

I hate stairs -____-

It was okay for me, it's clean enough and cozy, but i hate the fact that it has only bath tubs! I HATE bath tubs :(.. I'm severely disgusted by shower curtains and all, and it's impossible to shower in a bath tub without closing the curtain, yes? *shudder* Imagine sometimes when we move (like when we're soaping our feet) we might touch the curtain with our bodies, ewwww ewwwwwww *howling*. Okay, sorry. Got carried away.

Surprisingly enough my mum (who never seems to be satisfied of any of the hotels we've stayed in so far) loves this hotel. She insisted on staying here again next time, i have other hotels in mind to try though and since i'm the one who does the booking and paying (okay, hunny does that) then she actually doesn't have any say in this lah LOLOL.

It was indeed quite nice and I even got lucky and got my room upgraded from deluxe to premier (hubby's fruit did its first magic?! LOL). Once we got into the room #Pink and I started posing our (now) official hotel room pose: lying on the bed - legs up! LOL. Even hubby and #Pink's hunny did their official pose as well (see for yourself - I don't really know how to describe their pose LOL)

WTF these two -___-

Love the premier room, very spacious and lovely. Much better than the family premier which is very MEH

View from the balcony

Look at Hunny's dimple. And to think that #Undecided insisted that we don't know anyone with dimples.... She's unbelievable really.

After freshen up we all went to dinner and we got ourselves some nasi goreng kepiting (crab fried rice) and apparently it was a famous joint in Malang. Seriously the amount of crab meat that they threw into the fried rice was generous!! And it was only IDR 45,000 per serving which I thought was such a good bargain LOL. Super cheap and delish. I ate so much I almost burst LOL. Diet? What diet!? LOL.

Huge portion of the crab fried rice, we ordered two of these for 6 persons and we almost couldn't finish them!!!

Look at the crab meats! It's insanity!

Hubby found a snack that he and #Pink enjoyed much but honestly it was too spicy for me (and the spicy level was only 3 - the top level is 7, imagine that!!).

Yeah, even #Undecided's hubby who likes spicy food finds the level 3 to be hot, me however, found it mildly tickles LOLOL, not spicy at all hahaha. He liked it so much though he went to buy the level 1 one, light weight!!!

Level 1-Level 3-Level ZERO (because it's melinjo lahhh)

After the super filling dinner we went back to the hotel and decided to call it the night. We had a very early start, you see, and it's a pretty long day, with lots of hiking (we need more exercise i know, slight hiking tires us out in no time). I had to take my sleeping pills (it's all herbal and natural, no need to lecture me okay. I am severely insomniac i have no choice) because staying in hotels stresses me out (which means i wouldn't be able to sleep much otherwise) and i was out by 11. LOL. 

As for me? I was out by 9!! LOL. I think I was extremely sleep deprived because I went to bed around 2am or something and I had to wake up at 5.30am because of #Pink!! (yes, I still hold grudges, I'll get back at her somehow, ha!!) But all and all it was one fun day and I hope y'all had fun reading our report.  

Day 2 continues - stay tune for our next join post!! We have to stop writing now because it's 2.11am (and also because this entry is super long already LOL).

Family picture style :p

Toodle-loo!!

#Pink and #Undecided