We spent this Chinese New Year traveling to Batu via Malang and Surabaya. On Friday, 5 Feb 2016 we took morning flight from Changi to Surabaya. Changi airport was really busy that morning, it looked like everyone’s making use of the extra long weekend to go abroad.
In Juanda Airport, we met Oma and Opa who flew from Jakarta, and Kube and Aunt A who flew from Bandung. We were the last to arrive, and our luggage took forever to reach the luggage belt. The driver from a local car rental company was waiting for us there.
Without further delay, we drove to Malang via Pandaan and stopped at Rumah Makan Sri for some of their famous ayam goreng. The view was great and parking was free.
It was raining almost non-stop during the rest of our journey and the traffic was quite bad due to an accident. We reached Batu, checked in at Batu Villa, and had dinner at Warung Betania. We bought the famous Ketan Legenda from alun-alun and enjoyed it at the hotel lobby while playing some card games.
The next morning, we woke up refreshed, to no breakfast. There was a problem with the kitchen’s stove so the hotel couldn’t serve anything. I ate some biscuits and then had a cup of milo while the rest had nasi pecel and nasi soto at the warung by the roadside.
We took taxi to Jatim Park 2 and reached there before the ticket counters opened. They opened quite late, ticket sale started at 9am and the park itself opened at 10am. It’d be better if they can open earlier, especially during peak period. A lot of visitors were wandering around the entrance area waiting for the opening hour.
The gate finally opened accompanied by loud music from a drum band parade. Throngs of people went in to the zoo for some animal encounters.
Batu Secret Zoo was great. There was a clear route with proper signages throughout the park, which makes exploration a breeze. However, the pathways are a bit narrow and can get overcrowded at times.
They had good variety of animals, cages are clean and well-maintained. There are trivia boards along the way too, which is commendable. Animal feedings and animal shows are available on certain timings.
Sufficient facilities can be found – toilets, food stalls and resting areas. Cleanliness is acceptable but definitely can be improved.
The zoo surprisingly houses a theme-park too. The rides cater more for children, though, so it fitted me well. The adults made themselves content with watching a sea lion show, riding a roller coaster and bumper cars.
We were done with Batu Secret zoo at around 4.30pm and we proceeded to Museum Satwa next to it. While we encountered live animals at the zoo, Museum Satwa housed preserved animals. Their collections were amazing. There were trick eye photo spots at certain parts of the museum as well, which was interesting.
Other than Batu Secret Zoo, highlights of our trip were the food. This was of course for everyone but me :p In my opinion we had too much stops just for food, including the famous Bakso President located right next to a train track. Train passed by a few times during our lunch there. It was fascinating.
We spent a night at Ibis Budget Hotel, Juanda Airport as we had morning flight to Singapore while Kube and Aunt A had the earliest flight back to Bandung. From Ibis Budget Hotel at Terminal 1, it was very convenient to catch a morning flight. We were quite impressed with Juanda Airport. Both domestic and international were better compared to Soekarno-Hatta.
Nicholas' Odyssey 