A massive flower park in highlands of East Java
Located 1200 above the sea, santerra de laponte is a flower park filled with various beautiful flowers with lots of instagrammable spots. This place is located in one of the highlands of East Java, Batu which also hosts a lot of massive theme parks all around the city. Santerra de laponte is best visited during early September because the flowers will start blooming with lovely and vivid colors. The place itself is also adorned with Korean and Netherland style architecture in which people could take pictures as if they're in Korea or Netherland. To match the look, the place also provides folk costumes such as Hanbok and Klederdracht rental. Unlike many spots/parks in Batu which are mostly costly, this one is quite budget friendly. With only 30000 IDR visitors can already enjoy the place and explore all the spots that this park has to offer.
Generally, September through January are a bad time to travel around Indonesia. It's the rainy season and in some places it rains more frequently than the others. Batu is the place with one of the highest rainfall in Indonesia so, visiting this city early october was actually a bad idea but that really didn’t stop us. I visited the place with my mom and we drove from our city to the area for about 2 hours. As soon as we got to Batu, it was already drizzling and when we reached the place, rain started to pour down. Again, it didn't stop me and my mom from having fun and exploring the area.
The air that we breathed in was fresh and it's nothing like I experience in my day to day life. All around we saw beautiful misty mountains with pine trees. It wasn't really cold either, just the way I like it to be. Since the place was massive, we got lost trying to find the entrance. At first, we entered this compound filled with green plants, which I wish they could give names to each of these plants. Then, we got down from the compound and tried to locate the entrance. Apparently, the entrance is located inside the compound and we had to go back once again.
After we got to the compound, we reached the ticketing spot where they also gave us 50% off for flowers and 50% off for drinks to get inside the place. The first spot was a garden filled with plants native to Indonesia with a massive long food court.
Korean Alleyways
Then, we got to a Korean look-alike street with the Hanbok and Klederdrach rental place. It was drizzling so we didn't try to do that. The Korean street was one of my favorite spots. I imagine the place would even be nicer during the night especially when lights lit up and it would make these places feel “real”. While walking through the aisle, I saw people renting hanbok and they wore it and walk around places. They also took pictures in front of a screen, photobox style that’s available just in front of the hanbok rental. The surrounding place is filled with numerous flowers and flower pots that are blooming beautifully. Walking around the area was really nice and I just kept saying "wow" because I've been cooped up inside my room for a few weeks now and seeing the beautiful flowers and misty mountain refreshed my mind.
European complex
After the Korean Alleyways there's open space overlooking the european styled buildings. They have plenty colorful houses in european architecture. Had it not rain, it would have been 100% more beautiful.
Lavender Garden
My favorite spot is the beds of flowers with lavenders. It's one of the most epic spots of all because the buildings are also seen from this place. I can only imagine if there was actual housing like that in Indonesia, it would be epic and I'd be interested in buying one. Then, we walked through many small shops offering ice cream in a cold weather area. Apparently even during rain, people still buy those.
Behind those lavender beds, there are Dutch windmills styled and a barn called “merci barn”. In my mind I was really wondering why the place is called “ Santerra de Laponte”. The place has a barn with a French word but is renting Hanbok and Klederdracht. I mean, there are inconsistencies and I think the conceptor should’ve thought better, instead saying merci, maybe name it Dank barn. It would’ve sounded funny but a bit more consistent.
on our way to the exit......
House of flowers
Then, my mom and I walked to the exit which apparently hosts many beautiful blooming flowers. This house of flowers is also the highlight of this place. There are many Chrysanthemums in different sizes and colors that look exquisite. It's the place where my mom and I spent about an hour just circling the place to see the flowers. In the end, we got ourselves a marigold and chrysanthemum for just about $1 each, a price that we couldn't get back at home. When circling the place, we heard people were in awe and also wanted to buy because they look that pretty. But many of them said, our place is too hot, they won't grow and wither quickly. Before buying, I was actually browsing how to care for them and since our place isn't that hot, we decided to get both, so now hopefully they don't die that soon.
Visiting the place was really refreshing and it was nice that I finally was able to sleep after being awake for more than 24 hours.
Flower parks in Indonesia are mainly located around highlands and I think it’s because of the overall climate and weather all year round that made these flowers grow so well. I just wish they would keep it a bit more natural than having to add lots of look alike scenes. I saw flower parks in many countries, they tend to be more natural than what we have here. After we got to the parking lot, inside the car, I slept peacefully and we continued our journey to Lai Lai, a market that sells various imported products.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢. 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦, 𝘤𝘺𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥. |