Outdoor culture to the fore
Jakarta : Left for Bogor which is 70 km from South Jakarta. Fifteen kilometres from Bagor is Kec Cisarua, Kabupaten Bogor in Java Barat—Indonesia’s famous Taman Safari.
We started late from home hence could only reach Bogor by 3 pm. The city is in the valley next to Bogor Volcano which is famous for its number of treks through a rain forest and waterfalls.
Shelved the plan to go for safari the same day and started looking for a hotel to stay overnight. Since trekking with a three-year-old child was ruled out plan was to go for the safari first thing in the morning and head back to Jakarta before sunset to avoid the traffic jam of weekenders returning home.
Being a Saturday all roads were leading to the safari region and were choc-a-block with SUVs and MUVs. Indonesians love outdoor activities. Weekends are their favourite time to explore various picnic spots, mountains and volcanoes with family and friends. They do not like to spend their weekends at home.
Strangely in this part of the country only big hotels have gone online. May be others still rely on word of mouth publicity or their local popularity. Absence of foreigners could also be one of the reasons for hotels to not be a part of the popular international online portals like Agoda, Trip Advisor, Booking.Com, etc.
Rooms were not available in the area’s leading hotels. Our search for hotel led us to Chevilly Resort & Camp. Asked to purchase entrance tickets at the In gate we were left wondering: Why a ticket to enter a hotel?
However, when we saw the resort complex overflowing with kids, teenagers and two generations of women and men, we decided to take our chance.
The Camp turned out to be an amusement park spread over a very large area. It had beautiful British and French style cottages and bungalows spread across hectares of manicured lawns and well laid out gardens over the undulating landscape. No doubt the resort was a favourite of families which were there in large numbers. Not only in cars, they had also come in luxury buses.
This place turned out to be Java’s popular man made full day picnic spot set amidst lush green landscape with luxurious facilities for stay. From swimming pools, rock climbing, a maze, pony rides, battery operated cycles, to Hulk to Asterix to Transformer themes it had everything. Without any rides it had a number of outdoor options to keep the patrons engaged for couple of days.
In the evening its restaurant even had live music with the band and its lead singer belting out local popular numbers and the patrons joining with their singing, clapping and cheering. Atmosphere was electric, akin to a concert being held in an open ground. Men were outnumbered by girls and women who were taking part in the evening’s proceedings with great abandon.
The place resembled a high street of fashion with girls and women wearing the latest styles in tops, jeans and skirts with a matching colour Hijab covering their heads. There aren’t any burqa clad women and skull cap wearing men in this country. Although many of them were observed offering prayers in the large prayer room of the resort during the Namaz, it is a country where people do not flaunt their religion in public spaces.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.meriaawaz
Got a lovely insight into the socio-cultural side of locals. Upmarket, educated families constantly on the move and celebrating life. Men, women and girls are really charming. Laughing, smiling, cracking jokes, wearing pastel coloured stylish hijabs, girls and women were really a sight to behold. Women in Indonesia are frank, forward and courageous just like women in the North-Eastern states of India. Like in the Northeast women are family’s strong support system, contributing at home as well as by being a part of the workforce in the industrial, service and commercial sectors of the nation.
Since this resort as well as hotels in the area were full we landed at R Hotel Golf Resort and Country Club. At Rancamaya in Bogor this Luxury Golf Resort is in the middle of Rancamaya Estate spread over hundreds of hectares of forest with private bungalows and is home to an 18-hole golf course. It is known for being the best luxurious golf resort in Indonesia and Asia Pacific.
We accept guest posts. Write to us at contact@localpostit.com to get your articles published.
