FOR THE LOVE OF THE FOOD : Jatim Park 2 & Surrounding

Let me open this posting with a statement that Jatim Park 2 (which consists of Batu Secret Zoo, Museum Satwa, EcoGreen Park and Pohon Inn) is the best zoo, educational and amusement park altogether in South East Asia.

In my recent trip in the third week of January 2014, I visited this Park with my cousin based on recommendation from a friend. It turned out that it’s not just hearsay, but truly a site that is well managed and very clean. Moreover, they do nicely serve the visitors at all ages from youngsters to the elderly.

Bajang Ratu in Trowulan

Here is our itinerary. We flew to Malang on the first day with morning GA flight. Since we would like to go through some history lessons, we rented a car and a driver to go directly to Trowulan, used to be Majapahit Kingdom site in the past. It was late on a Friday so the museum was already closed, but a museum guide was kind enough to take us to a bit of tour and explained about the collections. We also visited several temples and Sagara Pool before dark and going to Batu in a shortcut route by driving across the forest after sunset. We were fortunate to have Pak Yusuf, our car rental driver, since he was very familiar with the area. In Batu, we were staying at Pohon Inn, which is a hotel managed by Jatim Park 2 management. The town is located at around 900 metres asl, therefore it is pleasantly cool here during the day compared to lowland East Java or Jakarta.

The Writer with Style

We spent the second day visiting Batu Secret Zoo and Museum Satwa (the fauna museum). The entrance fee is IDR 100,000 (weekend) and IDR 80,000 (weekdays). E-bikes for elderly can be rented at a cost of IDR 100 K for 3 hours.The zoo covers large area and it is a modern zoo, which is very attractive. Those of you who seek information about animal knowledge will be satisfied. For the animals, they have Flamingos, Bears, Monkeys, Gorillas, Elephants, Giraffes, Texas Longhorns, Eagles, Reptiles and many more. They have special areas/sections dedicated for Aquarium, Bird Feeding, Safari Farm (check out the Sea Lion shows in front of the Farm everyday at 12.00, 14:00 and 16:00), Savannah (walk along glass window and you could see the animals from Africa), Tiger Land, Hippo and Crocodile Garden. They also have Swimming Pool, River Adventure and Fantasy Land with lots of games and rides that will cheer you up. Make sure that you still have enough time to visit the museum which is exactly linked to the Zoo exit gate. You could find insectarium, replica of ancient animals and wild animals from all continents in the world, namely America, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Arctic, and Antartic. There were plenty to be seen and appreciated. We felt that one day was not enough! To me, this place is only comparable to San Diego Zoo in the US. I highly recommend this for your next vacation trip and don’t forget to bring your light jacket.

Rawon & Nasi Pecel

To end this story, I would like to share that the highlights of our local culinary tour were Mushroom Satay (Sate Jamur) in Kerta Sari Restaurant and Rawon-Nasi Pecel-Abon Yu Djamiah in Batu. Besides mushroom satay, Kerta Sari Restaurant in Jalan Raya Dieng no 4 Bendo presents several choices of Indonesian/Javanese food, such as Javanese style fried chicken, lamb/chicken satay, fish soup, Indonesian grilled fish, etc. Other menu that we tried, grilled bandeng and fish soup were just average. Meanwhile, a great place for breakfast was a simple local restaurant namely Warung Nasi Djamiah Putra, located in Jl. P Sudirman no 62. Rawon (beef black soup) was lovely and I liked her Pecel (boiled vegetables with peanut sauce). People also go there to buy take-away Abon (shredded dried beef), I supposed it is also her specialty.

I like the city of Malang and Batu because of the cool weather, various places to have fun and the hospitality of the people. Let’s plan to go back here when you get headache due to Jakarta traffic :)