Final Team Event: Trans Studio, Bandung

Every year, my team in Jakarta has a team building event away from work.  In my first year, we had the event shortly after my arrival.  We went bowling and had pizza.  The following year, we decided to raise it up a few notches and did the first of our two rafting adventures.  This year, my final year, we wanted to have the team event before I left.  The dry season is not conducive to rafting, so we had to determine a new location.  After several weeks of discussion, we settled on an indoor amusement park in Bandung called Trans Studio.

Like any other event in Indonesia that requires driving more than a few hours, our day started at 5 AM.  Bandung is a two hour drive from Jakarta, and we needed to arrive there with enough time to have our event, have dinner, and return to Jakarta by 11 PM.  A long, full day.  We met at the office, loaded on the buses, and drove to Bandung.

Upon arriving at Trans Studio, we spent the first few hours doing team exercises.  The first event was mathematical.  Everyone was assigned a value.  Men were 100, women were 75, anyone with a hat was 50 and women with short hair were 25 points.  The emcee would then call out a number - "350" - and everyone had to group together so that the sum of their values totalled that number.  Anyone who couldn't join a group sum was eliminated.  We played until three people remained.

In the second event we had to create the longest contiguous line possible using only items we had on us.  If this took place in Europe I think we would have had several people standing around in their underwear.  In Jakarta it meant removing shoe laces and belts.  I had the idea of also laying end to end.  My team's line was the longest.

The final event was balloon popping.  Each member of the eight teams tied a balloon to their ankle.  One team was red, one team was white.  Single elimination determined a champion.  My team was in the fourth and final group of the first round.  I got the bright idea that if the other team couldn't reach our balloons, they couldn't pop them.  I was chasing people while hopping on one foot.  This was effective at preventing my balloon from popping.  It wasn't so effective at popping any of theirs.  We changed tactics, but it was too late.  We lost badly.  I don't think we popped a single balloon.

After the team events we had free time to wander the park ride the rides, see the shows and visit the science museum (which is where I spent most of my time, solving the puzzles they had out).  I did take in a show and a few rides.  While watching the show, I noticed a little girl wasn't eating her ice cream, so I finished it for her (at least the picture makes it look that way!).

We ended our day with a dinner at a hotel in Bandung.  Excellent buffet spread.  After a few speeches, we took another team photo and hopped on the bus for our return trip to Jakarta.

For those interested in going to Trans Studio, think of it as a smaller version of Universal Studios.  It has a roller coaster, a free fall, and several spinning rides.  There is a haunted house ride and several shows throughout the day, including a parade just before closing.  Probably not enough for young children, but for kids tall enough to ride the high speed rides, there is plenty to do to fill a day.  But, Dunia Fantasia in Jakarta is a better option for your money. Trans Studio can add to your trip to Bandung, but should not be considered a destination on its own.