My Holiday Activities

on the holiday, i went to sumatra barat to visit my grandmother’s family (dad’s side). i went to a few places there. padang is beautiful, and from what i saw it’s different from the other big cities in jawa. there, in padang, the tradition is still very strong. enough about the introduction, let’s get to the story of my journey with my beloved cousins and family.

on the 22nd of december, 2022 at 3.30 AM i left my house by car. oh and to inform you, i did not use the plane to get there, i use my car. my grandmother told me so we can go anywhere that we want. ok so back to the story😀. the three hour ride to get to Merak’s Harbor is pretty boring i guess. i just stare at the car window while listening to taylor swift. but listening to taylor swift makes it more interesting and her songs did lighten up my mood. the looonngg ride has come to its end, finally. Merak’s Harbor. Alhamdulillah. from what i can remember, i arrived at 7AM so i have to wait for an hour 45 minutes to get on the ship. i eat fried rice and scrolling through instagram while waiting. oh and i remember i got lost at the parking lot because there was so many car there. i was confused😭 but i managed to get to my car anyways. (alhamdulillah again).

 it’s now 8.45, time for the cars to get in the ship!!. it’s pretty scary, because the way to get there we have to get through some kind of uhh what do i call it.. a mini bridge ? yeah a mini bridge for the car. the scary part is i saw mixue at the Harbor. like, of all places why the harbor??? ah, i’m just joking. i’m sorry haha.

 the scary part is the literal sea down there. but my dad is a pro driver so we can get to the ship safely. (alhamdulillah). long story short, it gets pretty boring in the ship. just sit there, stare at the window. like, man?? where can i look at the sea??. then suddenly my mom told me and my sister that we can take a look around the ship. i was so happy that i could get to stroll around. the ship was big, very big. there are 4 floors there. i went to the third floor, it was an open area. finally, i get to see the sea. it was beautiful and calming.

i arrived at Bakauheni at 9.35AM. and then we began our 5 hours ride to palembang to try pempek. nothing interesting while in the car, but im still listening to taylor swift so i gets a little interesting. long story short, i arrived at the pempek’s restaurant. and it was delicious. after trying pempek, my family and i continue our car ride to prabumulih. it was an hour long ride. i arrived at prabumulih at night, i don’t remember the exact time but it was pretty late at night. the next day, at 4AM my family and i continue our journey. this one is pretty long. it was a 17 hours ride. 

Long story short, i arrived at Solok. where my grandmother’s sister live. when i arrived there, it was late at night too. around 12AM. there’s my cousins there, too. they used their car too to get there to Sumatra. 

The next day, me and my cousins, and family went to out grandmother’s mom’s grave. then my grandmother’s sister began to explain about the culture and the traditions here. the first day is not that interesting to me, and the next day in solok we went to lake singkarak. the view is so pretty. 

photos ft. my cousins

next day, still the same. but we visit rumah gadang so it’s not that boring. and we ate sate padang.

The third day, we leave the house at about 8AM to go to the Harau. before that, we stopped at bukitinggi to try some foods and went to visit my grandfather’s brothers and sisters. it was a pretty long drive too. i forgot how many hours is it to get there. the interesting part on the journey to harau is the travel company. my cousins!! they’re like the bestest friends of me. 

Long story short, we arrived at the harau. the harau is a place where we stayed in the air bnb in the mountains. here, the picture.

at the harau, we visited the waterfall and the rumah gadang museum. that’s pretty much of it. just 2 nights at the harau, first night we just stayed there and the next day we went to the waterfall. i forgot the name of the waterfall but it was sooo pretty there!!

next day, to the jam gadang we go!! it was sooo hot there. and crowded as well. we just stayed there not that long. and then continue our ride to padang, to my grandmother’s other sister.  we arrived at night too. so we slept right away. the next day we went to the beach, i forgot the name, i had to ask my cousin but there’s no time for that. but what can i inform you, at that beach there’s like mini islands there. i did snorkeling with my cousins. it’s so pretty!! the water is clear, and i saw a starfish. the beach is my favorite part of the trip :D

back to padang again, we stayed there for 3 nights. the second day there we go to Masjid Raya Padang. the mosque is so big. here’s the picture. 

the last day at padang we went to a cave and a hill. and on out way to bandung and tangerang selatan again is pretty much the same as i told you before, wait, get on the ship, a long long ride for hours, yeah. the same. but the different is, i’m with my cousins all along the road to jakarta. 

that’s all from me, byebye