Suroboyo Carnival Part 1

Hello hellooooooooo :D!

From all of those crazy backdated posts, i think this one's the mother of it all (so far) *LOL*. We actually went to Suroboyo Carnival a few months after its opening, which is sometime LAST YEAR *LOLOLOL*. I just kept on brushing it to the back *you know, i'll do it later...." which ended up never happening* because i still had lots of travel posts to do (and this kind of post with tonnes of pictures needs the same treatment *read : time* as those travel posts) and i just couldn't deal with it yet *sigh*. THEN, i pretty much forgot all about it. It's a good thing they're not closed down or something yet hahahaha.

Before we explore the place, i want to tell ya something (it's a bit of a rambling la, so if you're not in the mood... You can skip the many paragraphs below and go straight to the next photo)... I wrote less personal posts than usual in August, i dunno why but i haven't been feeling like myself for the last part of August. I just don't feel like doing what i normally do, can't even blame it on PMS coz it's not time yet (and nope, i am not preggy hahaha) so i just did event reports and sponsored posts, basically posts that would make me feel guilty for not writing. This kind of personal post, it needs me to be completely present and i was just wasn't there.

I can't even explain what happened, i was just feeling a bit blue i guess... For no reason at all as well *sigh*. It's not like anything bad's happening in my life, my family's doing great, hunny and i are as lovey dovey as usual and Little O's not doing anything major that upsets me or whatever. I guess i was just getting used to the fast paced that was my life especially in June-July so when i was left with my very normal life, nothing much to do... I get a bit down.

And i'm not gonna lie, sometimes i feel like i am not given enough opportunity in this blogging world. Sigh. So emo. I feel like i'm being ignored (by potential clients) and the green eyed monster (which very rarely shows up in my life) poked its head. I felt like other bloggers (yeah, sometimes i even thought "they have half page view than me, but how come they are more noticed by brands than me) are way ahead of me, to a point where i even thought if i sould "sell out".

Don't be offended by that word, i mean... I thought maybe i should focus on beauty to get more opportunity my way (because that's the field that brought the most moolah here hahaha) instead of stubbornly insisting on being a lifestyle blog that writes a lot about beauty. I guess like lots of bloggers out there (c'mon, i know there are more of you who feel like me!), i lost my way somewhere along the way. I forgot why i begin this blog and got carried away by the colorful beauty blogger kind of life. So i began writing less and less, because i felt like i was going nowhere anyway. Until now, i realize that i blog for ME, not to get lots of sponsors, or follower, or whatever. I blog because i LOVE to blog and it's my life's open diary. That i don't need acknowledgement from others to be complete.

This beauty blogging thing, it opens my eyes to so many things. Like fake friends *LOL*. I don't usually let myself get close to people that easily so i am spared with the whole fake friends things, but now i realize i can't always protect myself. Even when i am being totally sincere, there will always be people who try to be close to me just because they feel like they can use me. And then disappear when they think there's nothing more to gain from me. That's sad, i guess that also contributes to the feeling kinda blue thing.

But i'm okay now! I never needed more BFFs anyway, i have more than enough. Then there are some super lovely friends in made through blogging that really VALUES our friendship (Sabsab... Nessya... Kathy.... I'm talking about y'all. LOL) and i guess that's more than enough for me.

I truly don't know what's gotten into me though, coz seriously... I know how AWESOME i am HAHAHA, you'd love to be my BFF WTF there are so many perks. Now that i think about it. it's probably because it's already September? I tend to feel down when it's close to my bdays since i turned 28 or something. I just hate getting older i guess -_____-. It's just human nature, there's nothing i can do about it!

Anyway, me finally start to work on this post is like a sign that i am ready to focus on my blog and write again (because it gives me inner satisfaction that i should never let go just for free stuffs and extra money. I don't need them anyway #smug *LOL, this is how you know i am truly back ah!*). 

Let's really talk about this post then! Like i said earlier, sometime last year Surabaya finally has its own.... entertainment park. Well, we used to have THR and i used to go there when i was little (with my maids. LOL. If i remember things correctly, my first haunted house ride was right there! When i was 5 or something. O yea, i was one brave kid hahaha. Rather strange too, but still) Sadly they didn't maintain the place well so it closed down long ago. But we have Suroboyo Carnival now!

Suroboyo Carnival Night Market
 Jl. Ahmad Yani No.333, Kota SBY, Jawa Timur 61256, Indonesia
 +62 31 8433232

Yeah, it's a night market kind of place so the opening hour's from 5 PM to 11 PM on weekdays and 4 PM-11 PM on weekends (i have to edit this part because they keep on changing their operating hours zzz). Surabaya is so hot anyway, i guess it's a good idea to keep the amusement park opening hours' later, it'd probably be pretty deserted if it's open during office hour anyway haha. 

It was CRAZY full when it first opened its door to public (i guess Surabaya people are thirsty for this kind of entertainment. It's true that even a true-blue city gal like me can get sick of malls sometimes!) so we decided not to go on its peak craziness (coz i cannot stand crowd WTF). Waited for 2 or 3 months after the opening and went on a weekday, the place's almost deserted *LOL*. I think it's now no longer packed (even on weekends? I'm not sure. I haven't been back since) because Surabaya people are also very easily bored of things hahaha.

The entrance ticket's also been changing its policy a few times (i guess because they rapidly lost majority of their visitors so they have to adjust), i heard there was a time when you have to pay pretty expensive and you can ride all the rides-but when we came there was only one choice that is to pay for the entrance fee (that includes a few rides, mostly kiddies ones) and THEN pay for each ride that you want to ride. According to their site, entrance fee's IDR 60.000 on weekdays and IDR 80.000 for weekends and holidays. 

Suroboyo Carnival is under the same management of a few other (rather successful) entertainment parks in East Java so as soon as we stepped into the place, we were welcomed by these advertisements :

Museum Angkut (read about our visit there : Part 1 and Part 2 )

Went with Au too that day and of course... she had to do this -___-

Batu Secret Zoo. Been there for more times that i care for, but i just realized i never blogged about it. Hm.

How cute is my baby??? (The little boy, not the evil looking otter)

Ready to explore!

First, there's this Galeri Suroboyo, which is a museum that encapsulate Surabaya's growth from its beginning to modern day

Heroes faces on chopping boards...

Little O watching the slide seriously

Yes, that's my 17 (16 back then) year old niece -___-. Trying to join a "panjat pinang" contest. Btw panjat pinang is an old school (apparently created by the Dutch during their invasion to Indonesia. The background is not very nice, but it's in the past now and let's all focus on the positive instead of the negative, shall we?) game often held during Indepence Day's celebration that involves a very slippery pole (usually greased heavily) and some presents dangled on top

Some patriotic quotes

What were they peeking at?

Drawings of important landmarks in Surabaya

Some of the indoor pics turned out v blurry because Marshmallow hates dime lighting *sigh*

Errrr... Those are not-very-nice words in Surabaya dialect in the back. Okay, almost all of them are curse words >.<

Not very sure the significance of the can robot statues...

Hehe Little O trying to nom the robot's snacks :  bolts and nutz

Old skool bicycle

What are they looking at?

Pictures of Surabaya, apparently

And they provided binoculars to look at them. That's pretty creative, i'd say! Turn something simple and humble into a rather interesting display!

Okay let's go to second floor!

Pigeon post! No actual pigeon (fake or otherwise) in sight tho!

Old TV sets. I actually remember these, used to have them. Probably still do, back in my hometown in Banjarmasin hahaha

Batik cloths

View of the first floor from the top

A closer look at the panjat pinang "prizes". Definitely old style because nowadays they just give out little fishes WTF

East Java traditional costumes

Wayang kulit tribute

There are also some models of traditional Suroboyo food! This is tahu tek

I was actually not sure what this was WTF, i'm so bad *LOL*. I only know the names of the food that i actually like la. There's a clue on the previous pic though and it's lontong balap!

Nom nom nom! Again, i'm not so sure what this was. Pecel, i guess?

Hunny's fave, semanggi!

Now you know the reason why i have to split this post into two *LOL*, snapped so many pictures in the gallery alone!

Tiny station for tiny people hehe

Little O went through many hardship for this shot *LOL*, please appreciate okay haha

Quite some stores lining up the streets, and as you can see here, the place's rather quiet. I just used the words "quite" and "quiet" simultaneously, i hope people would start using the proper one and not mixing the two! #sorrycanthelpit #grammarnazy #imustbebombed

They have a few dining options, this being one of them

Little O couldn't wait to get to the rides!

Ma silly hunny :p

True to its name, there are plenty of carnival games there

Asked Au to snap this pic of us but she cut out the top part of the Chinese style gate zzzz

Take two!

More stores and food stalls in this "Chinatown" area, we decided to get some snacks there. I love myself some "goreng ubi" and they usually taste nice (from the same franchise stall), but that night the ubi was super sour. It was so bad that i remember it, a year later

Somewhat reminded me of Cibubur. My sis has a house there and we used to stay there all the time, it's been abandoned for many years and when we went there to check on it, its ceiling even fell off already >.<!

This girl's a hat addict and even managed to buy a hat there *LOL*

After some snacks, we continued exploring. We're kinda sucks at carnival games as a family, but Little O really love them (although he's really bad too) so we gave in and let him have a few rounds

Some of the games are quite creative and funny! Like this one. Under a certain time you need to fill in a certain amount of peanuts! LOL. Very traditional indeed

Not sure what this game is about. Looks like a normal basketball for me

I love how colorful this area is!

Found a county jail haha

Half-hearted pose

I think... U need to knock the eggs off to get a prize? Eh the mbak's rather pretty yea?

Love how rounded his cheek is from this angle. My baby's not so baby-ish looking anymore, he looks different even after just one year :(. Sometimes i feel sad when i realize how fast he is growing

After appeasing Little O, we went to yet another section with the actual rides like this ferris wheel

With the mascots of Surabaya

Baby Boy wanted to play laser tag for the longest time, but he's too young so he was always turned down by the staffs. I guess soon he'd be able too... *suddenly feeling sad again*

Meanwhile, I always wanted to ride on these paragliding style rides (i saw them in ESCAPE, Singapore since i was a teen) but never had the nerve to (i used to be a real chicken at this kind of rides. I'm not so bad now, but i still won't ride rollercoaster coz i hate being upside down)

But it's actually not scary at all la. Super so so. But quite nausea inducing WTF. I am not the type that gets sick easily, but this ride goes round and round and round in not-too-wide circle so i was quite dizzy. This one's taken AFTER the ride. Hunny's easily nauseated so he refused whole-heartedly to hop in while Little O's easily spooked so he also refused to come

Uber blurry shot because of the crazy lighting of this ride, we took many pics and all turned out as blurry *LOL*

It's a kiddie ride that Little O asked for (i take comfort on this little things. That he's growing up but is still little enough to request for kiddie rides)

Like most local rides, it's full of ripped off famous cartoon characters, a spooky versions of them-that is

Then the choo choo train moves to outdoor, that's better....

Plenty of lanterns, just like Batu Night Spectacular

A blurry selfie with my hunny, because every moment is precious and i want to spend myself capturing little moments of everyday with you #suddenlyromantic

Giant ichigo

Andddd, imma stop this post here! More to come in the second part of the series (including 3D gallery with some real horrible wax figurines. They're so bad (the statues, not the 3D museum in general. It's quite okay actually) that you gotta see them *trust me it's entertaining to bash them off hahahaha*.

I'm hopeful for a cheerier September, and the fact that i just made a deal for another trip (sans Little O >.< we haven't been to a "honeymoon" for so long! Now help me find a good excuse for me to tell Baby Boy why he can't come with us T.T) also helps!

TTYS!

#Pink