First Glamping Experience : Lembah Indah

Haiii guysss :D!

I should not always start my blog post with an apology, but i disappear in May because... I got carried away with nonstop me-time and mini vacays >.<... I also struggle with some health issues (it's nothing serious but honestly quite embarassing, because i have hemorrhoid LOL, still battling it right now sigh, it just keeps on coming back whenever it's almost healed i don't understand this sh*t bzzz. Honestly, i have no problem sitting down or whatever, but it's really painful whenever it flares up - also the medication makes me really tired all the time) so i just didn't have the energy and motivation to write, although i actually have some contents lining up.

Anyway! I went glamping for the first time in my life 2 weeks ago! Glamping is really trending right now in Indonesia, loads of new sites are popping up - i think this one - Lembah Indah Malang, it's located at the foot of Gunung Kawi - is one of the first ones in our area, i could be wrong tho don't quote me on that!

Lembah Indah Malang
Gendogo, Balesari, Ngajum, Malang Regency, East Java 65164

As i'm a long winded story teller and i like to go into detail, let me tell you first that i've always wanted to try glamping. I do love nature and all, but let's be honest here - i ain't going camping. I probably will never consciously agree to stay in a real tent, with no bed, no modern toilet and all those first world conveniences, but glamping - now, that always intrigued me. Medias are also glamorizing it enough (in my mind, when i think of glamping i immediately think of a cool music festival, wearing boho styled whatever. LOL, i must've watched something like this somewhere to make me think about it - another thing that i always find fascinating but probably will never actually go to : a music festival. And now i'm too old to go and i don't like any musician enough to make the sacrifices necessary :p). to make it sounds so cool that i want in *LOL*.

But also like, i know myself enough to have my doubts :)), glamping is not cheap okay (this one is considered on the cheaper side, and that's already IDR 650,000/tent with free breakfast for 2. Most of the other glamping around available priced around 900k-more than 1 mill per night) so if i'm about to spend that much money, why don't i stay in a nice hotel - right?? FYI, the tent is more expensive than our second accommodation, Harris Hotel - and that one is NOICE (nice, i just want you to read it in a British accent). Also, glamping would only be fun with friends right, none of my friends seems to be interested in glamping (except my cousin L, whom i have no faith in. Might turn 50 before we actually go) so i thought, well... probably will never experience it.

Until my friend Angel actually expressed an interest on it, so we decided OKAY let's go! Not without hardships, making it happen okay :))... It was not easy getting a slot here, we booked directly via their WA (they no longer take reservations manually tho, so you'd have to go book via booking sites - and it's more expensive!) and they took FOREVER to respond. They seem to always be fully booked and we finally got a slot we wanted (during weekday because we kiasu and not about to pay more for weekends, let alone Lebaran week where they jacked up the price more than twice, when we can actually go on a week day!).

The breath taking view that awaits you once you reached the glamping site

There are a few clusters scattered around the valley (i heard that they keep on building new clusters because they keep on getting booked out)

The area is like really really green and natural still. When we arrived, we smelled a very nature scent... Horse (or other animals the same size) shit LOLOLOLOL. I am very sensitive to smells so i was quite worried, but it went away after a while so i dunno what happened there

Now, let's talk about the glamping tent!

A teeny tiny bit concerned about the size of the tent from outside (oh, and if you're a long time reader and not following my IG, yes that's my son O. Very tall not, over 172cm in his 14 years of age)

But as soon as we opened the door, i realized that it's actually very VERY spacious!

Complete with a medium sized mirror so vain people like me don't have to worry

There's a comfortable bed, chairs, TV, cupboard and hat stand hangers to hang your clothes

The bathroom is located behind the bed and.. here's where my troubles begins *LOL*, it has no door and only a shower curtain separates it from the room. I'm a very weird person and i cannot stand the thought of having a bathroom wide open near where i sleep (we have a door that blends into out racks to conceal the door to the bathroom in our house), and i literally cannot sleep when i can actually see the bathroom (so bathroom doors should be closed at all times for me). While i cannot actually see bathroom when i'm in bed, i cannot stop thinking that we're breathing the same air as the bathroom as we sleep *LOLOLOL*. 

And here's the bathroom. It's actually okay la, it's clean and spacious. BUT : there is NO sink (i just realized that not having sink is very hard for first world people) and the toilet in our tent was not screwed in well that it wobbles - this worried me crazily whenever i had to take a dump LOL. TMI, but the worry over the unstable toilet and the curtain for a door totally constipated me and triggered my hemorrhoid FML

They also provide the usual, hotel standard stuffs like bottled water, coffee and tea plus the kettle and glasses

When it wasn't time to sleep yet, i was very happy because it's very picturesque and i am an Instagram slave WTF.

Type of pictures that make these trips worthwhile :)). FYI, all of my Instagram pics were taken by Angel, ofc. Only a fellow blogger/content creator would take such nice pics and would redo it even if i ask it over and over again LOL (not that i would. I'm pretty easy to please, as soon as you know my angles, you'd spend less than 5 minutes taking my pics). This is why i insist on going to Instagrammable places only when i know there'll be someone to help me take my pictures other than my moody hub!

Btw, i was surprised that O has passed his grumpy, no pics-at-all-time phase and actually didn't mind posing and letting me take his pics all through this mini vacay! So while he's in this phase (who knows he might change his mind again next week WTF, who can understand how a teenager mind's work anyway) let me show you his versions LOL.

Selebgram worthy already or not?

Give you one of husband's LOL

The area outside the tents' also perfect for OOTD :

Mommy version. I very extra okay, i brought this PR hampers by a brand because it looks like a flower basket and i always wanted to take a pic in a picnic setting with a flower basket WTF. Purposefully didn't dismantle it before getting the pics i wanted :))

Son version

Lembah Indah is a closed area, they have their own restaurants (it's nothing fancy okay) and cafes (3 of them in total, if we remember correctly) but they closed early and we read not-so-good reviews of the food (actually judging from the breakfast they provided, i think the food wouldn't be super bad, just very so so? Most people who gave them  reviews seems to think the food's not worth the price tho) so we had 2 choices for dinner : drive to town (it's pretty far from where you'd find a decent restaurant i think, and the road's a bit scary in the dark... It's pretty far in and there were not enough lights) or bring our own BBQ (they charge IDR 100k if you bring your own BBQ), as my hubby is a cooking enthusiast we ended up choosing the latter).

They were having troubles keeping the fire burning but in the end, things worked out and we had our belly full of food

Yeah, we had to use flashlight around the BBQ haha

Not all menus are pictured okay, we had plenty of food haha. Also topped off with Popmie for carbs :)). It was drizzling, cold and dark so Angel and i sat on our picnic mat, eating while holding an umbrella/shielding our heads with jackets - it was not a pretty sight LOL but it reminded me of my younger days when i used to have sleepovers at a friend's villa with my school friends, having a campfire. Loads of memories there :).

This is O testing his sleeping bag that i bought him because i didn't know they provide extra bed. In the end, his dad booked an extra bed (and he sleeps inside the sleeping bag on top of the mattress LOLOL), it's IDR 150k (incl breakfast) so you can actually stay up to 4 persons comfortably in one tent (there is definitely enough room)

So... The glamping tent. It's actually pretty much like a hotel room, so if you want to try to stay in an alternative accommodation, feeling closer to nature minus the inconveniences - i would actually recommend it! Did i have fun? Ofc i did. Was i pissed off because we only got 1 day slot? No, i honestly didn't want to stay more than 1 night at a time LOL. I couldn't sleep because of the bathroom situation, also because i could smell the wetness (both nature AND the open bathroom LOL) and hubby snored in Dolby Stereo (he claimed it was because of the shitty pillow LOL) so one night is enough for me. 

I got a lot of questions when i posted while i was there, i answered most of them (the rate, bathroom etc) in this post already, but there is also a question of noises. Ofc, it's a tent, a thick and sturdy one but still it's not a wall so yeah, you can hear people if they are around and talk loudly (oh, and if you're inside the bathroom, you can talk and hear people in the room like they are standing next to you :)) which also bothers me a lot). But it was probably a quieter day when we stayed so it was not noisy at all, and it was completely silent that night. Someone asked if there were nature noises, well no... There was no animal sounds at night, if you're worried about that. 

The next day tho, it was a full-occupation day and there were some company outing and they were LOUD with microphones and stuffs right from the early morning WTF, the atmosphere immediately sifted when they arrived. I would say avoid staying when they have this kind of stuffs (but there's also no way to predict it so... there's that haha) as it's very noisy and disturbing, totally the opposite of the kind of quiet one would hope when they go to this kind of places...

Also, i was worried about mosquitos - while there were small insects, there was surprisingly little to no mosquitos (i was worried so i used mosquito repellent anyway), maybe because it was cold. But i'm not sure if it's always that cold there, as some reviews said that it was not cold at all - so do bring mosquito repellents with you, just in case.

Snapped this view the next morning, while walking towards the breakfast area. I didn't take pictures of the breakfast area or the actual breakfast (it's an all you can eat simple Indonesian dishes, there were also fries, sausages and breads) because i was really grumpy due to lack of sleep LOL

A family picture to commemorate our first glamping experience

How would i rate our experience? 7/10, i guess. I loved the experience and i'm glad we went, but i decked a few numbers due to the stuffs like lack of sleep, shower curtain and sink LOL.

Would i go again? Honestly, i probably won't go back to Lembah Indah. For someone like me, one time is enough - but that doesn't mean i won't try another glamping site. I actually have my eyes on another one in Mojokerto already, that one i think have doors for their toilets LOL. 

Would i recommend glamping for similar souls like me? Yes, try it once! You might like it a lot more than you expect, and next thing you know... You're already planning a second one, like me!

And for now, i am leaving you with this pic of hubby and his giant kropok.

Toodles,

#Pink