Tamam Mini Indonesia & Amigos

http://www.tamanmini.com/?language=en

Today, after picking up the girls from school (10.30) and having lunch, we went off to Tamam Mini Indonesia. This is a huge area of land about 1 hour 1/2 south of where we live that houses 27 different heritage buildings showing the different islands/states of Indonesia. By the time we'd made it there though, we didn't really have time to see very much. The place was EMPTY - bit spooky really and upon entering the grounds we were accosted by 3 giant red teddy bears and rabbits which although the kids loved, we adults thought were incredibly creepy and then they wanted money. They were all sweet and giggly and high voiced at first and then when they made us take pictures they then turned and said in evil voices 'MONEY!". Brrrrrrrr. Sends shivers down your spine!

We went on a little train around the whole complex - this must have taken an hour or so as it was incredibly slow (and hot - the breeze was almost non existent going that slow) and by the time we'd done that, there was only an hour left before the place closed!

I think it could be a really nice day out although it is so hot and there is no air conditioned areas so you lose your body's water mass pretty quickly.

There were some beautiful buildings, including the Hindu Dharma temple and the buildings from Sumatra. The Balinese temples were gorgeous too. Really intricate designs.

Have a look at the photo above - the two pics that look like statues are actually giant wood carvings made from tree trunks! Beautiful!

There is supposed to be arts and crafts and puppet shows and dance displays etc, but I think being low season and mid week, and the fact that we were really the only guests meant that the place was exceptionally quiet!

I did manage to buy some beautiful hand crafted wooden aboriginal statues though, so I was happy!

We taxied it from there through rush hour (doh!) to a great Mexican restaurant 'Amigos' in the expat area of Kemang. It was a great night out, although we were all so hot and bothered after our trip out we didn't have the energy to drink the margaritas that were on offer!

The food was fab, the beer was on happy hour half rices so Andrew and Pete (mostly Andrew), did rather well at getting their money's worth. They had a stage where bands play on weekends so the girls were in their element putting on their 'shows'.