Who said we're losing weight again?

This time it's mostly about food: Our daily meals, a luxury dinner at the Spanish restaurant, an organic farm just around the corner, and leaf-eating monkeys behind the house. We also had a surprise visit from Germany and I successfully snuck into the seal enclosure.

As I mentioned before, there are 5 restaurants in the park, but there is also a restaurant in the Baobab Hotel which is part of the park. Additionally, there are 3 local food stalls called Warung in Banana Street with a limited selection of dishes. The food here is usually delicious, but it's a matter of taste. Most dishes are quite spicy or served with small raw chilies. Not my cup of tea, but Roy occasionally dares to try them.

In any case, we love to eat here and we eat a lot :) I think our bodies are still in European mode, which means eating a lot to have enough reserves or padding for the cold season. But there is no cold season here. And as long as we don't gain weight, everything is okay. I don't need a bikini figure here anyway, because I would never wear a bikini in a Muslim country. People already stare and ask for photos just because I'm a 'bule,' which means a white person. I have no idea how people would react to a white woman in a bikini.

Carola and Stephan have given us the nickname 'the caterpillars' because we eat like caterpillars. But as I said before, as long as we don't look like fat caterpillars, everything is okay.

Basically, we have total luxury: Every day we ask ourselves, 'Which restaurant are we going to eat at today?'

The 5 restaurants, plus Macaw Café and Safari Bakery

But since we already know all the menus by heart and have our personal favorite dishes, the decision is rarely difficult.

We go to Deso most often. The food is always delicious, there is a good selection, and it's rarely crowded, so you can have some peace and quiet.

We go to Captain Krocs just as often as Deso, because that's where most of our favorite dishes are and it's always, really always empty. Even though the food is really good and not expensive. But Krocs is hidden on the grounds of the water fun park.

One of Roy's favorite dishes: Flying Noodles.

About once a week, we go to Safari Fried Chicken to eat burgers. Besides burgers, there is basically only the breaded chicken patty, which we occasionally crave as well.

The rather dry chicken patty with plain rice is the most popular item. Sometimes I feel like we're the only ones eating the burgers.

We go to Tiger Cave Restaurant just as often as Krocs because they have the most favorite dishes and it's always, really always empty. Even though it's really delicious and not expensive. But Krocs is located on the grounds of the water fun park and is therefore somewhat hidden.

From the outside, it looks like a temple complex, and even the tiger enclosure behind the glass is designed like an old temple.

In the park, there are also two Korean food stalls that are not part of Taman Safari and where we have to pay. But it seems like we get a discount there because we rarely pay as much as advertised. Or we get double the amount for the regular price. Our favorite dishes there are the pancakes filled with cinnamon/peanut sauce (to avoid controversy: in some regions they are called pancakes and in English it's a pancake, but calling it Berliner here would be inappropriate). However you want to call it, it's delicious! And they also have pretty good soft ice cream. Although with crazy toppings like cotton candy or popcorn.

Oh, and the curly, baked potatoes are also delicious (3rd from the right)

Don't worry, Mom, the ice cream at your place is and always will be the most delicious! :)

A few weeks ago, on one of our days off, we thought we could explore the surrounding area a bit. Roy had recently discovered a supermarket in a side street very close by, and since the nearest one is 8 km away in Palang, we wanted to check it out. Since we didn't want to carry the groceries around with us, we decided to drive to a nearby hotel complex that I had seen online. Maybe someone will visit us after all, and we want our guests to be well accommodated and at a good price :)

So off to the Kaliandra Resort. When we arrived, we were really impressed. Beautiful old colonial buildings surrounded by lush greenery and located at the foot of Mount Arjuna.

The entrance area of the hotel complex. Behind it is the reception, the restaurant, and smaller buildings with single and double rooms for around 15 euros per night.

It seems to be the off-season right now, because we didn't see a single hotel guest.

We didn't explore everything because the complex is huge and I wanted to visit the organic farm, which is also located on the grounds.

Unfortunately, the packing station, where the harvested produce is usually packed, was closed that day, so we couldn't find out if you can buy all those healthy things there. The small souvenir shop at the entrance couldn't help us either, so we bought organic coffee, passion fruit syrup, rosemary (since the stolen one won't last forever), and other stuff there.

Next time, I would like to go there again, hoping to have found a 'source of greens' because besides tomatoes and cucumbers, it's hard to find decent vegetables here.

By the way, the hotel also has a wellness temple, a climbing forest, a paintball area, and a soccer field. You can also go on jeep and bicycle tours and horseback rides, climb the mountain, learn traditional cooking, and much more. I think that sounds like a perfect destination for the JZEA, because there's something for everyone... and there's also a camping site, for less than 10 euros per night :D

But everyone else is also welcome to visit us! If you want to stay in a slightly higher standard, you can book a room at the Baobab starting from 50 euros per night. The hotel is always fully booked on weekends, even though it costs at least 70 euros per night then. It's amazing how many locals can afford something like that, considering the average Indonesian income is less than 300 euros per month.

Our last visitor was lucky because there is currently a free couch next door, as Carola and Stephan are in Germany for 6 weeks. That means we are currently our own bosses and managing the bird sanctuary on our own. But back to the visit. Jochen from the Leipzig Zoo was nearby and asked if he could come visit us. And since we always welcome visitors (!!!), he came by spontaneously for 2 days.

Greetings to Jochen at this point!

I told Jochen about the monkeys that sometimes hang out in the trees behind our house. And not even 10 minutes after Jochen left, the group of Black Crested Gibbons appeared again. Langurs are pure herbivores and mainly eat leaves. Fortunately, there are plenty of leaves behind our house. Although the Black Crested Gibbons are native to East Java, these animals were released into the park by Toni a few years ago. But at least they seem to be doing very well, as the group had 2 young ones with them :)

It took several attempts and visits from the monkeys to get some good pictures:

The animals observe us closely from a distance, but they are still quite relaxed.

Well camouflaged: The orange-colored young one.

And a slightly older young one.

Since this has already become quite long (I tend to ramble), I will only include the pictures of the seals here. Next time, I might provide a more detailed report on how it all happened and what exactly I'm doing there. In any case, I ❤ seals!

Mr. Kasan with Taq.

Ms. Tina with Taq :)

Next time, there will be an update on the construction and on the animals. I promise, Jochen ;)

See you next time! And: Munching is awesome! :D