A Walk in the Tea Park

On Saturday May 14, 2011 my husband and I went to Karanganyar, a town near Solo. We were going to have a trip at the Kemuning Tea Park. It lies in Ngargoyoso, in the foothills of Mount Lawu off the north-east border of Karanganyar and East Java. 

Before taking the trip to the mountain, we attended a wedding ceremony of my work colleague's daughter in Karanganyar. It's on the same route as our planned trip to the tea park. Anyway it was the first time of us attending wedding party as a married couple :-)

There will always be a first time in anything

That's what my husband and I often say to each other these recent days, like this one on his blog post. We looked upon our every first moment quite 'seriously' including this moment attending a wedding party a.k.a. 'njagong' in Javanese as we had prepared a batik uniform to wear to the party ;-)

Arrived at the wedding venue at 11:30, it's only about 15 minutes before the ceremony finished. Yes, we were super duper late. Not serious enough at this part, eh? ;) Fortunately, we could still manage to get into the venue. 

The quite silly part was when we walked into the building, we were kind of become a bit attention to a number of guests who sat near the entrance door. We were in the party only for less than 15 minutes. A few people greeted my husband and me as they recognized us.

About 30 minutes later we were heading to our main destination towards Kemuning. We changed our 'batik uniform' at my grandparents' house near the wedding venue. My husband and I had intended taking this trip to the Kemuning Tea Agro Park since I got the invitation of the wedding to be held in Karanganyar. We thought that it would be fun to go mountain touring at the same time we went towards east from Solo City to Karanganyar.

In Karanganyar we took the 30 kilometres drive heading east and then north-east. It went through along the way towards Mount Lawu, passed through Karangpandan district, and then via Ngargoyoso. It was a beautiful trip as we saw green lands along the road and of course, the mountain foothills scenery. 

Cloudy, yet sunny day at the mountain foothills

The 5 kilometres between Ngargoyoso and Kemuning provides not only the most scenic part of the trip but also the most challenging drive. The real adventure began shortly after we had passed through the entrance gate towards the Kemuning tourism area.

My husband drove along the uphill road. It was only a few kilometres off the main road, but the drive was pretty challenging and interesting. We went through narrow road with a couple of tight hairpin curves. Somehow we both did enjoy the trip.

We finally arrived at the Tea Agro Park at around 13:00. It was a drive to remember. It might be one of the most memorable drive trip my husband and I have ever had.

Wonderful views of huge green area of the tea park, it was really a treat to the eyes.

It was well-worthed the challenging drive for the refreshing great views at the park and its fresh chilling air.

 

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Solo City Tour (Part I: Werkudara Bus)

After our wedding ceremony both my husband and I took marriage leave for about 2 weeks. It was from April 20 until May 3, 2011. We spent almost everyday of our marriage leave by sightseeing around Solo City. This is the city where I was born, the city where my husband and I grew up. Having spent my childhood and school years until graduated high school in Solo, I've forgot many areas of the city, though. I have even never seen some city areas. But now I'm back to my hometown and I'm determined to explore the city :)

We had lots of time enjoying this city tour. My husband drove our car taking me around the city to a number of places, the ones that related to our life journey and also including places categorized as 'middle of nowhere'. It was really fun and kinda adventurous thing to do, especially when he drove us aimless at night and then we ended up finding ourselves in the unknown destination. As long as our car is filled with enough gas, we're not too worried about getting lost in the city.

Throughout this city tour we of course did taking a looot of photos ;) Pics of both of us and pics of many interesting objects. It was a sunny Thursday afternoon when we accidentally saw Werkudara tour bus. It was parked in front of Sasana Krida Kusuma venue. This venue is kinda monumental place for my husband and me since it's the place where our marriage party on April 24, 2011 was held.

Werkudara 'Double Decker' Tour Bus of Solo City

I was sooo excited as it was the first time I had a chance to see Werkudara tour bus closely :D Actually I've seen this bus one day when it went through Slamet Riyadi main street in its first week of operation, but had never seen it closely and had no chance at all yet to take a pic with ;)

It is a nice bus indeed and it's red! Just like the colour of my beloved die Rotten FC Bayern  Munchen ;) At a glance it looks like Double Decker Bus in London, but this one in Solo has Werkudara big pictures on both sides as it's named Bus Tingkat Wisata Werkudara. It has Solo City logo 'the spirit of java' on its sides as well.

Without doubt I asked my husband to take a photo of me with the bus nearby and then a number of photos of the bus itself. I also took pics of my husband with the bus and finally a photo of both of us using camera self timer. I intended taking a pic with the bus driver as well but unfortunately there was no time left when I meant to ask him to do so.

Werkudara has started its operation at the beginning of April 2011. So it is just less than one month when finally I could take pics with but even yet I still rarely see this bus on the street.

My next tour planning is taking a city sightseeing tour by Werkudara with my husband. The bus driver told us to book a place via Solo City tourism department office or we can simply just hold up the bus at its bus stop at Solo Grand Mall (SGM) at certain times. 

He also told us that Werkudara is operated daily only for tour groups which has booked for city sightseeing tour. While individual tourists could attend the city tour only on Sunday. Occasionally individual tourists can also join a tour group if there are still available seats on the bus.

I've intended to take this city sightseeing tour since my husband told me about this when it begins its operation. My top priority is taking a pic with the bus, though and gladly I've done it already! :)

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