Alright, the fourth day of the holiday. Our jun was super dapper in his H&M top, which we just bought last night at H&M at Paris Van Java.
The vain xun xun who wore her new clothes on the next day straightaway.
We headed to this farm which was rather poorly maintained. There were some playground structures, but they were in poor shape.
Uncle Al was dismayed and felt he had planned poorly by including this place. He had checked the reviews and they were generally positive. Well...I felt we ought to feel thankful for the quality of life we had in Singapore. We had well-maintained and interesting playgrounds in all housing estates...we had free water playgrounds at malls, there was an abundance of family-friendly and free places for us...and the people in Bandung had to pay to enter this place to enjoy these facilities that were ubiquitous in our country?
And how many of them could afford to come often? It would probably be those once in a blue moon special outings...so...let us be always grateful...very appreciative of what we had...Mama quipped to papa that the animals in Singapore had a way better life than the ones here...
The animals were dirty and did not seem to be well taken care of...coincidentally, I saw a video about the dire straits of the animals in Bandung Zoo when I returned to Singapore. The animals there were starving and behaving in a distressed manner...It was good that we did not go to Bandung Zoo, tong would have been heartbroken as he loved animals.
In fact, whenever we played "I Spy" in the car during the trip, he constantly came up with animals, ha. Mama let slip of that fact, and after that, the others could guess his words more easily for they would come up with all the animals they could think of. ha.
It was quite a tiny place...but amazingly, we still spent a few hours there. I supposed...what mattered more was the company : )
Jie saw the zip line and jumped up and down enthusiastically. Of course, she went on it.
mama used to love such thrilling activities when she was young, I supposed that was where jie got her intrepid spirit from? Eh, definitely not from papa, as he did not enjoy such things very much.
Neither did Uncle Alston who declared he was afraid of heights.
So did er yi and xiao yi. San yi zhang did think about it but he worried that the line would snap under his weight, which was nearing the limit of the weight load it could take. haha
The kids had a go at painting the clay coconuts. Even Wai po did it too. We brought the kids' coconuts back (I was reluctant to do so, what would we do with them? But the kids pleaded....) When we unpacked the luggage, one was shattered...so we deviously decided to hide both coconuts...papa said to take a photo of the broken one and tell them that both were broken...ha, I did not take a photo. he chucked both in the secluded corner near the microwave, the kids never recalled having these items...so into the bin they went!
the kids rode on the ponies...
and spent a long long time catching fish over here. All of us gathered here in the shade, even uncle alston was having fun ... jie had mastered the art of catching fish, simply scooping them up like she was drinking soup. Her net was almost breaking and she could scoop up a few fish at one go!
Would you believe it? While the adults probably found this place the least appealing of all the attractions we went to, tong actually remarked that his favourite activity was fishing at this tiny pool? I supposed...that was why there was some saying about how kids view the world with rose-tinted lens? That they derived joy from the simplest things?
Lunch at Miss Bee Providore was the best meal we had in Bandung, or so the adults said.
We had one section to ourselves, just adjacent to the children's playground.
very simple equipment but they had a whale of a time
jie was so sweet, she accompanied and took really good care of him throughout...jun had taken a fancy to the wooden cake playset at home recently. He would insist on xun sitting beside him to play pretend that they were having tea...and he had been doing so for a few days...
we noticed that he enjoyed watching ah ma cook, papa fill the water flask, helping out with household chores...ha...he would even shift the stools and whatever obstruction there was on the floor when he used the magic mop, imitating me down to these little details...perhaps...he could be a chef in future? Househusband? hahahah
I liked all these signboards...perhaps we could do up our new house (if we ever moved again) in this arty farty way?
went to check out upstairs...
the other sections...
It overlooked a verdant pasture..
had a very lovely shop selling pretty things
oh my, the dessert was heavenly...
we even uploaded the photos on IG and twitter so we could get free tote bags. Xun's had a nice girly print, while tong's tote declared, "My bag is better than yours." Such sass.
yeah, a family photo!
Saung Angklung Mang Udjo
Mama's friend recommended this place over Bandung Science Centre...checked out the reviews and the landlord of our air bnb, all gave glowing testimonies, so here we came.
the initial puppet show was a little draggy for mama as I did not understand their language...interestingly, tong commented that he liked the puppet show!
the performances got livelier as time went on
they showed a parade procession
dances by different cultural groups
a blithe musical performance using their traditional musical instrument - the ang klung...it was very impressive...very lovely
the performers were decked in a myriad of colours...there was a cacophony of singing voices and musical instruments...
then we got to try playing the ang klung too!
the conductor taught us how to follow his hand signals and shake the ang klung...he was charismatic and humourous...
amazingly, we all managed to play a few tunes together!
the finale was dancing together - attesting to how music unites people of different countries
the kids were so eager to join
both really enjoyed the cultural performance...well, I would say, it was worthwhile coming here if one had small kids. It was a unique experience, not terribly exciting...but definitely an eye-opener.
and here was a photo of tong and his classmate, Nathan. Ha, it was such a coincidence that both families visited Bandung during this period of time and we could meet up at the show!
So...we went to shop and have dinner after that and thus concluded another day of pleasure. oh my, time was passing quickly, we were nearing the end of the trip. Sniff sniff.
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