Progo Water Rafting

Will put in description later.

Progo Water Rafting

Kopeng Treetop Adventure Park

We heard several time about the new adventure tourism spot in Salatiga, called the Kopeng Treetop Adventure Park. From what we hear, Kopeng Treetop has flying fox for children and for adults. Since our last trip at Puri Asri, we are totally looking forward for our next flying fox adventure.

In the midst of a hectic week,  we somehow manage to find a small pocket of spare time, and we went for it. We took the drive, along with Hartanto, Fifi and Ms C, to Salatiga.

Kopeng Treetop Adventure park is situated on a hill, rich with beautiful, mature, pine looking like trees. When we reached the entrance, first thing we noticed was this lady, zooming down on a flying fox, just above our car. That got us really excited.

We made our way eagerly to the to ticket counter. The cost for an adult is Rp.110.000 and Rp.70.000 for children. They do have a family package promo which cost Rp.305.000 (2 Adults + 2 Children). Next, the workers gave and help us wear our gears. Its really cool. It consist of a harness, ropes, carabiner, and pulley. Do we know all of these before? No. But we do get to know it first hand here

Before the trip, Intan and I did wonder if we have to use gloves here, and it turned out to be just that. It is more secure and easier if you had gloves. They do sell gloves at Rp.5.000 per pair, and a slightly expensive (and cute) for the children at Rp.15.000 per pair.

Note to self: BRING OWN GLOVE NEXT TIME!

Now we are off for some adrenaline rush. All we need to do next is to choose which circuit to ‘play’. There are six circuits all together, each differentiated by color and difficulty level.  Colors are Yellow, Green, Blue, Red, Purple, and Black. Yellow circuit is for children, very easy, and the Black Circuit the hardest (supposedly). If you are a total beginner, there is a demo circuit for you to fimiliarize with the gears and what you are suppose to do.

Naturally, Big Sis, Lil C and Ms C, go to the Yellow circuit first. The workers there are very helpful. They ensure that each person follow the rules, and also give assurance to those who get ’stuck’. During our trip here, we do see a few occurance where people became scared and frozen still. It is then that these helpful workers ‘come to the rescue’.

Big Sis, and Ms C did go one step higher which was the Green circuit. Poor Lil C cannot follow, but she did have fun at the Yellow circuit. What about Mommy and Daddy?,… well we go straight  for the Black Circuit.

Actually Black circuit is not hard. Its just long. Each obstacle in Black Circuit was longer than the other cicuits.

Big Sis and Lil C on the Yellow Circuit

It being a weekend, there was a lot of people at Kopeng Treetop. Standard equipment rental time was 3 hours. If there are more people than equipment, then there is a waiting list for the equipment. Those who already played for 3 hours need to return the equipment when we called for. I was halfway through the Black circuit when my name was called.  But I had no chance to just stop and return my equipment because I was like 50 feet above ground on a flying fox.

Mommy, Big Sis, and Ms C trying out the Green Circuit.

Left: Big Sis needed a little help. Right: Mommy on the Black Circuit

I was mentally preparing to pay double charge when I went to the counter. Fortunately I wasn’t charged. I asked why was that, and the kind lady said that there was no such thing as extra charge for extra time. As long as the number of participants is less than the number of equipment, we can play as long as we wanted.

So tip #2: GO TO KOPENG WHEN THERE ARE LESS PEOPLE. IE WEEKDAYS. THIS WAY WE GET THE CHANCE TO PLAY THE WHOLE DAY.

We left just before dark, and stopped by Salatiga town to taste the famous Wedang Jahe (but thats another story). We didnt realise it then, but the next day, we definitely can feel our muscle ache,.. especially our arms.

Anyway, I prepared a short video on our trip to Kopeng Treetop.  Enjoy!

P/s. Check out Kopeng Treetop Youtube advertisment.

Puri Asri Magelang

17th August was Indonesian Independance Day. Being a public holiday, we spent the holiday at a resort in Magelang, central Java called Puri Asri (close to Borobudur Temple). First impression,..they have tight security,… which is Good! Secondly, just beside Puri Asri was a public fun park called Kyai Langgeng. It has rides like the ferris wheel, mini roller coaster, …..and a mini water park too. But we opted to stay in Puri Asri coz its more private.

Puri Asri offers a lot of recreational activities, such as Water Rafting, offroad ATV, Softgun field, and Flying Fox. Too bad that the river has low tide so our water rafting option was off.  But there are other things that can be done. There’s a the swimming pool (especially for the kids of course), a huge playground, mini bike circuit, water becak, giant chess, and other traditional games like stilts and congkak. Personally, I felt this place is suited better for a church retreat or a group team building activities. Lots of things to choose and do….

Mini Bike Circuit.

There’s a pony for ride/hire. Check out the Giant Chess and Stilts.

Pool with Slide

After a long day of play!

The rates are reasonable, approximately USD45.  Not bad for a 4 star hotel, considering that its the weekend too. Our room was the Executive Double, very spacious for the 4 of us. Here is a view of the cafeteria from our room.

Next day we also spent some time exploring the area. We found this unique tree, which had a red seed inside it’s fruit. According to Intan, its called the chinese red seed. We collected some of the seeds for the girls show and tell session in school.

Later, I asked big sis if she wanted to see Flying Fox, and I think what she had in mind is an animal that flies,.. After some explanation, big sis was a little bit skeptical to try it. But Lil C just say YES,… (I think she has no idea what she said yes to, hahah…)

So after setting up all the safety harness, first up was LilC,… the climb up was a bit hard, so they have to be pulled up with a pulley. Wooossshhh…. she reached end point in approximately 10 seconds. With all the adrenaline running, Lil C was grinning widely and said “Again Daddy!!” . This encouraged Big Sis to go,… and sure enough, after reaching down, she wanted to go again too.

So what is a daddy gonna do?  Put them up in tandem (2 for the price of 1) hahahah,… check out this video.

When we are about to leave, all the ATV was just brought in. Maybe next time I’ll try the off-road.

It was a nice holiday treat. A very good R&R. Cant wait to go there again soon.

Mang Engking, Jogja

Last week we went to Jogja again over the weekend for a bit of buisnes and R&R. This trip we found a very interesting new place. Its a seafood restaurant called Mang Engking.

Its a restaurant with surrounded by Koi fish pond giving it an outdoor nature like ambience.

The speciality of the restaurant is the Udang Bakar Madu. I’d give it only a 6 out of 10 coz firstly, the prawns are not fresh,.. and secondly its a bit pricey.

But whats unique about this place is the castle entrance of Mang Engking. My first impression was it looks like the castle in King Arthur movies.

It appears that the front part of mang Engking can be used as a wedding photoshoot for those who wants to have the castle and fairytale theme.

We had a nice family outing then. Another reason to visit Jogja again the next time round. but the one thing that I will remember most, are the Knights at the ‘Castle’ entrance.

Check out the smiley face on the Knights chest armor…hahahahh!

You can see the rest of the photos at our Flicker. http://www.flickr.com/photos/98376877@N00/sets/72157621789045305/