Hi…how are we doing? Me…busy as usual…or unusually been busy
lately
:-) Anyway, I would like to share about my
latest trip to Garut…yes…Garut, a small city 1 hour drive from Bandung. We went
there during the last long weekend to celebrate my oldest girl’s birthday. She didn’t
want to celebrate it in her school and rather having quality time somewhere (or
actually she rather spent her birthday at the hotel somewhere). Actually we
intended to visit Garut from sometimes ago but again…always postponed. So this
time, 4 days off were enough to spend somewhere not too far but not too close
as well…Garut had been the best option (we were getting sick of crowded Bandung
or Puncak anyway). Last minutes booking gave us trouble, all our preferred
hotels were sold out already…but we managed to book a room at
Kebun MawarSitu Hapa Resort (another hotel on my wishlist).
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| Simple room |
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| with simple furniture as well |
We started our trip early, at 7.30am and due to ‘not-too-smart-GPS’,
we were directed to small road (1 exit after Pasteur toll exit). After 5hours
of drive (but we only need 4hours of drive when we went home via Nagrek), we
were kinda lost and had to call the hotel several times. Finally, we arrived at
the hotel and were welcome by a cluster of colorful poppies with butterflies
flying around…wow…awesome (uppss did I mention some bees were in the party as
well?). I fell in love with the place already. Small parking lot was located
directly in front of small wooden bungalow which serves as the front office.
The sourvenir shop was located right beside the front office, a small place
selling tshirt or mug with flowers on it. There were crowds who came only to
visit the rose garden, with IDR 15k per pax for entrance ticket. No time
limitation for garden visitor so you definitely can feast your eyes, mind and
soul as long as you need. But for me, the real experience was to stay there
right in the middle of the garden.
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| There were lots of pic...but i cant put all of them here...so here are my pick :-) |
Moving along with other visitors, we were taken to ‘resort
guest only’ section. We stayed at damascene (with IDR 1.120k per night for
weekend and IDR 700k per night for weekday). Tax, breakfast for two and
afternoon coffee (accompanied with yummy fried banana with cheese and cinnamon
palm sugar topping) were included as well. There were other type of room like
Geranium which was smaller and cheaper, and other type which will be perfect
for bigger family too. Damascena (aka damask rose – a hybrid rose with
complicated petals but yet astonishing – and you will find lots of variance
here in the garden – just make sure you have your camera ready with you
*grinning*) is a bungalow with studio type of room with king size bed, en-suite
bathroom (which was pretty big) and private open front terrace overlooking the
nursery (where I spent all morning just sitting there – sipping my hot
chocolate – seeing nothing in particular but just enjoy the greenery in front
of me). All bungalows are wooden with simple built-in wooden furniture too. Soft
color with basic amenities and simple decoration were in place. There were no
mini bar, hair drier, cable tv, internet / wifi (and the mobile phone signal
were pretty bad too – due to its location – on top of the mountain) and of course no AC (the whether at night and
early morning was quite cold – so don’t forget your jacket or extra warmer
though at noon, especially during summer can be unbearable hot).
The bungalow
location was pretty secluded (some noise from the garden can be carried over)
but it was quite spooky at night with less light/lamp. Rows of canna were
lining up in front, separating the bungalows with the rose nursery. In the
middle of the nursery, you could see the small maze (easy piece). At far, there
is a green hill. The other side of the bungalow was next to sparse forest, no
worry, I didn’t see any wild animal bigger than iguana…even though there were
lots of ‘weird’ spider between the leaves (not small spider that we found at
the corner of our house but bigger one…much much bigger *not to scare you but
the spiders were hairless so I assumed it wasn’t dangerous as long as you didn’t
disturb their habitat).
Near the restaurant (open air one), there was a pond with
lots of papyrus, water lili, lotus and several toads and fish too. Unusual trees
and flowers could be found here and there (like pine tree in bluish shade –
ehm). But the main attraction here was the rose garden with lots of variety of
rose, from baby rose to rose bigger than my palm, as well as other flowers like
dahlia, geranium, sweet pea, chrysanths, lantana, hibiscus, and many bee-attracting
wildflower too…and many more that I didn’t know the names. In short…it was
really an awesome place for anthophilous (is it the term for flower lover?). So…if
you are in dire need for a relaxing space…to calm your mind and soul…I would
recommend you to visit this resort. Not much facilities compared to other
nearby hotels (and definitely a bit pricey too) but just basking under the
sunrise in early morning with wet grass under your feet…smelling the sweet
fragrance of those flowers…seeing the flower blooming with sheen of dew…bird
chirping cheerfully…toad croaking endlessly…lets not forgetting the cricket’s
noisy but calming sounds too…my girls were running around laughing… buzzing
bees around you
J
So…if you find ants lining at one of the wall or having a bug bites…well it’s
included in the package as well…just take it and enjoy
:-)
Kebun Mawar Situ Hapa
Jln Raya Kamojang Km 5, kecamatan Samarang, Garut 44161
0262 - 470 6006
