Lembang Floating Market

January 19, 2015 by cruiseoflife 2 Comments

The boy had fever and cough when we went back to Jakarta last Holiday, so the doctor suggested that he didn’t swim in the public pool until he was completely cured, and he was very disappointed because we planned to go to Bandung or Lembang and stayed for one night. Alright, so we changed the plan and just decided to visit Lembang Floating Market, would go early in the morning, and just went back to Jakarta in the afternoon.

The boy was still taking doctor’s medicine that day, so that was why he felt sleepy almost all day. The four of us (me and my sister who took turn to drive, my mom, and the boy) left home at around 6 am and my son felt asleep during the three hours trip, only woke up when we almost reached Lembang and had breakfast in the car. He didn’t even wake up when we stopped for toilet break.

That was why he looked sleepy and not in a really good mood in some photos, but somehow after 30 minutes he got his energy back and couldn’t stop exploring the place.

We arrived early in the morning at around 8.30 am to 9 am when this place is just about to open. We were greeted with fresh air, nice weather, and very quiet place so we could explore and walk happily and take good pictures without many people around.

Around lunch time, the weather was super hot and this place was very crowded. We didn’t feel comfortable and suddenly this nice place became not so convenient at all and everybody was in the bad mood so we decided to end our visit and go back to Jakarta at around 2 pm. Yes, it was a very short visit, but we didn’t find there would be anything else to do anymore.

It is also easier to find parking spot in the morning than in the afternoon. The queue to enter Lembang Floating Market on weekend (we were there on Saturday) was soooo……long that we couldn’t go back through the same road that we came because the road was blocked by big buses and cars waiting to enter Floating Market.

We thought the view was very nice in the morning, but once the crowd jumped in and the sun started to shine just on top of our head, we didn’t feel this place was as good as before. Everyone was agree that this place is totally overrated (when afternoon came, hahaha…………….., blame on the hot sun……………..)

Besides taking pictures in the morning (in the afternoon, many people and big groups wanted to take pictures in the best spots, so it was an entertainment too to see who would win the fighting and took pictures first), there was not much that we could do. We didn’t eat in Floating Market as we didn’t find any interesting food there.

The rabbit’s place was our biggest disappointment. First, we had to pay Rp 20.000,- per person and only got 2 super skinny carrots. Second, the rabbits were either hiding somewhere or most of them didn’t show any interest with children and adults trying to feed them. No wonder the boy only spend less than 10 minutes inside. The staff didn’t help at all and wasn’t very friendly too (most of them were not very friendly and not helpful). Compared to Kuntum Farm Field, where the rabbit’s house was smaller but the boy could spend more than one hour there with big bucket of rabbit’s food, this place was very disappointing for us.

There was once a strawberry and vegetables farm in here, but not anymore……………and again we (especially the boy) were very disappointed because we were ready to pick some strawberries and vegetables. My sister even opened the website one day before our visit and those two activities were still listed in the website. Well, besides all those things, there were still many wonderful things that we saw and experienced during our visit, and so here are the pictures:

He looks sleepy, just woke up when we arrived and was not yet in the mood. This empty place was very crowded with people tried to take big group photos here in the afternoon

Nice and unique Christmas Tree

A quiet rockpool in the morning

And oh, I forgot to mention…………….the uniqueness of this place is that you can see the food sellers selling their food on boats around the pond. This was probably the boat icon………….not a real one……………just so people could take pictures with

A small shop that also sold fish food

Feeding the fast fish

Morning walk…………….nice weather with fresh air

The food sellers on boats………………the design is very nice actually…………..

Entering Kampung Leuit……………….we got impression that this place was not as big as we thought so………….or maybe the expectation was too high after reading many reviews………..

Try to play Indonesia’s traditional music intsrument

Playing Angklung………………I liked this place because the boy could see and learn and knew about some of his country’s traditional music instrument

Kampong (village) style decor. Loved it so much because it reminded me of old days

I forced the boy to read the process of how the rice was planted until it is served on the table. There were six steps and six pictures which I thought good for his knowledge

Wooden horse in Kampung Leuit

The not so high Flying Fox, but he still had fun and asked to ride this twice…….

This is always his favorite part……………sliding down………………….

Ready to get wet when you pass by the water fountain, the water will splash right to your body……………..but it was fun.

Tickets, please……………….

The rabbits’ house

Three rabbits and one skinny carrots. after the rabbits finished the carrots they run away and was nowhere to be seen

Let’s go fishing…………………..

Hey, this was actually fun too…………….do I look like a professional fisherman?

The backside of Kampung Leuit was actually very beautiful, but probably not many people aware of this place and that was why this place was very quiet

Too bad there were many people smoking in here…………..my son refused to take picture here because he could smell smoke from the gazebos behind (can be booked for group gathering)

Falling in love immediate with the view……………like a green rice field somewhere in the village…………..

Celery, lettuce, cucumbers………………to bad we couldn’t buy them. They looked so fresh and healthy……………

Taking a motorboat ride which took them circling around the pond

I though it was worth the money, the journey itself was quite long. Just need to sit down and enjoy the view………………..

In the small jetty

My favorite……………….rojak stall. Too bad I saw flies around here………….and there were many……………..so I decided to make my own rojak (rujak) at home

Green………………everywhere…………………

Our last stop…………train miniature museum

Not bad, right?

Everything comes in small size……………….like In Legoland

Found this on the way home…………….on of my art project when I was in kindergarten or primary school

It’s good that he could learn and know some of traditional toys from Indonesia

Love love love this place……………….very traditional…………….. and most of all, he enjoyed playing with all these things

This is how children should play……………not with guns (alright, I saw children played with guns and bullets toys in the playground yesterday, and they attacked each other and pretended to die just like in the killing field, which ehem….ehem…….I did not approved, so I will never buy those kind of guns for my son even though he was kinds left alone in the game)

Pretty wooden turtles

Oh my………old fashioned yoyo……….

I bought him this toy when he was little

Appreciate this place for still preserves traditional things, especially children toys and traditional musical instruments. It’s so hard to find good places to teach my son about the wonderful culture of Indonesia, and this place can be an alternative for him to know better about his home country, even though it only comes in small things.

The entrance fee that we paid could be exchanged with welcome drink, which we redeemed on the way home. The wooden Christmas tree with red cups is very nice, isn’t is?

And, another 5 hours on the street and I was feeling very sleepy when I drove home. The boy slept all the way home. Thank God we arrived home safely.