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Bandung Trip 2008

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Bandung Trip (16th – 19th January 2008)

Day 1 16th January 2008

By Linda

This review is long overdue … now that I am in the hype of travel reviewing after our Krabi trip, I’d better get this done and posted for our friends

This trip was planned well ahead due to the flight booking requirement.  What initially was meant for our own family holiday turned into a “Rombongan Cik Linda” – in total, there were 20 of us – all family group.. although it it a bit hard to manage a bigger group than my own family, with a few hiccups here and there, but we had great fun travelling together.

Our day started very early on the 16th as our flight was on 9 am @ LCCT.  We had a quick breakfast at the adjacent new complex in LCCT.  The uneventful flight took around 2 hours to reach Bandung Husein Sastranegara Airport.  Upon arrival, there are a few taxis waiting for us for the hotel pick-up.  For this trip, we have booked the Arion Swissbel Hotel.  This is a boutique hotel with swimming pool (not all hotels in Bandung has a swimming pool). Since we arrived a few hours before check in time, after registering, we immediately called the tour agent to pick us up for lunch and start some shopping at Pasar Baru.

Since there were 20 of us, we have chartered a mini bus a.k.a. microbus with 27 seater (7 extra seats for our shopping goodies ehehehe).   The kids were so excited travelling in a bus.  After we had our rumbling tummies filled with good Nasi Padang, our first shopping destination was the curtainmakers.  There is a street (Jl Alkateri) filled with curtainmakers.  You can select the materials, choose the design and they are able to do the curtains within 3 days and get it delivered to your hotel.  We did just that and we were so pleased with it – material was good, good workmanship and quite cheap – just the hassle of you bringing home.  Since I have planned to do this, I have reserved an extra bag just for this, but if you didn’t have this, there are a lot of shops selling bags at reasonable prices around Bandung anyway.

After 2 hours, we walked to Pasar Baru for more shopping.  Pasar Baru is shopping heaven for ladies.  The complex comprises of 8 floors with anything and everything for ladies especially – laces, beaded laces, beautiful embroidered telekungs, muslimah attires, readymade jubah and worksuits, headscarves, things related to wedding etc etc… but bear in mind, they closes quite early i.e. 5 pm.  We spent around 2 hours here and we only managed to cover 2 floors only (not even fully explored!!).  We planned to do a  repeat visit  the day before we go home – but we never did LOL

The next destination was of course one of the many factory outlets that are the “magnets” of Bandung.  There are so many factory outlets around Bandung to list down, Mostly Factory outlets are concentrated along the streets of Juanda (Dago), Cipaganti, and Martadinata (Riau). You can just walk along the streets. Such as The Summit Factory Outlet and Heritage Factory Outlet which are located at Martadinata (Riau) Street.  After surfing the net for shopping information, these are the recommended or must visit factory outlets : Rumah Mode / Mode Plus / Dago Stock Ekspor (DSE) / Gazebo / Export Station / Donatello / FOS Clothing / Heritage / Cargo / Rich & Famous / Glamour / Summit / Oasis / Terminal Tas / Bale Anak.  Rumah Mode is a more higher end factory outlet – carrying most branded products with slightly expensive tags.Besides the factory outlets, there are also a few shopping complexes around Alun-Alun area particularly on Dalem Kaum Street. There are also Distros (Distribution Outlets) where local designers (who doesn’t have their own labels yet) showcase their stylish products that were made by local designers. Some of Bandung distros: EAT, Jl. Trunojoyo 4, Invictus, Jl.Pager gunung 13 and Jl.Trunojoyo 6 also you can check their website www.invcts.com Ouval Research, Jl. Buah Batu 64, No Label, Jl. Sumatra 24, etc.

Note: be careful when buying in distros as the prices are increasing to a level almost the same as at boutique shops.   Other shopping areas are Cihampelas street and Cibaduyut Street.  Cihampelas street or Ciwalk is best known for jeans. You can find denim (jeans) stores along the street. The jeans here are mostly copies. The shops here boast huge fantastical statues of comic book or movie characters on their roofs and shop fronts such as Superman, Goku, Rambo and others.


Cibaduyut street is the center of shoe. The statue of two bronze shoes at the beginning of the street conveys it all: shoes of all sorts and sizes make up the bulk of what this street sells. if you are keen on shoes and like a bargain, Cibaduyut street will both satisfy your feet as your wallet. To get there, either take a taxi or hop on one of the angkots that states Cibaduyut, and get off past the shoe statue. Most of the branded shoes might not be the real thing even though, many still are of good quality and it is hard to tell if it concerns the real thing or not. Other than that most shoes are Indonesian brands, again of good enough quality and economically priced.

The first day ended with a delightful Sundanese dinner – Sundanese food are tasteful but on the dry side ie tak de kuah kuah.  The most popular dish I think is the Gurame Fish either grilled or fried.

Day 2

17th January 2009

 

After a blissful sleep, our next day started bright and early as we were heading to the Taman Safari Bogor (http://ind.tamansafari.net/) which is located 3 hours from Bandung.  A bit on this place, this wildlife conservation is located in Cibeureum village, Cisarua. Taman safari is a drive through zoo and amusement park and is open every day Animals from all continents roam freely in this 35-hectare park, 75-km southeast of Jakarta along the Jakarta-Bandung route. Among the animals kept here are some comparatively rare species such as anoas, rhinos, giraffes, white tigers and European, American and Asian bears. Adjacent to the park is recreational grounds with a swimming pool, tennis courts, an artificial lake, waterfall and children's playground and amusement park. There are also restaurants and cafeterias.  On the way from Bandung to Taman Safari we have to pass Puncak, do not try to do this on Sunday or public holiday because we can end up in a big traffic jam, because Puncak is a very popular spot for people from Jakarta. Normally, it take 3,5 hours from Bandung to get to Taman Safari.

 

Before entering the Taman Safari, there are a lot of stalls just outside of the entrance selling carrots and bananas.  We stopped by for one whole tandan of bananas and a big bunch of carrots.  There are for feeding the animals in the Taman Safari.  There are varieties of animals roaming freely around an area of 35 hectares (not fully developed yet).  After paying the entrance tickets, we entered the Taman Safari anxiously (this is a drive thru Safari, so we went in using our microbus).  The kids were so excited looking out for animals.  But we don’t have to look for them, they come to you for food!!  The most friendly and ever hungry animal is the llama.  If you don’t feed them, they will stop in front of your vehicle until you put your hand out with some food.  The kids were all shrieking when handing food to the animals – takut kena gigit.. it was such fun seeing them all so happy and laughing away.

 

We headed back to Bandung for a late lunch and another round of shopping spree at the factory outlets.  After another Sundanese dinner, the kids were starting to complain and restless as they were planning to dive into the hotel’s swimming pool. Luckily the pool attendant was so gracious to allow them to swim until 9.00 pm.

Bandung Jan 2008(Day 3)
The next morning, we headed to Tangkuban Perahu (upturned boat) – an active volcano located around 30 km from Bandung. Okay a bit of background legend on this place. The story tells of "Dayang Sumbi", a beauty who lived in West Java. She cast away her son "Sangkuriang" for disobedience, and in her sadness was granted the power of eternal youth by the gods. After many years in exile, Sangkuriang decided to return to his home, long after the two had forgotten and failed to recognize each other. Sangkuriang fell in love with Dayang Sumbi and planned to marry her, only for Dayang Sumbi to recognize his birthmark just as he was about to go hunting. In order to prevent the marriage from taking place, Dayang Sumbi asked Sangkuriang to (1) build a dam on the river Citarum and (2) build a large boat to cross the river, both before the sunrise. Sangkuriang meditated and summoned mythical ogre-like creatures -buta hejo or green giant(s)- to do his bidding. Dayang Sumbi saw that the tasks were almost completed and called on her workers to spread red silk cloths east of the city, to give the impression of impending sunrise. Sangkuriang was fooled, and upon believing that he had failed, kicked the dam and the unfinished boat, resulting in severe flooding and the creation of Tangkuban perahu from the hull of the boat.

Not much to do here but to take scenic pictures of the volcano. We didn’t stay here for long as the smell of the sulphur was a bit overwhelming especially my elder daughter and my sister in law has asthma. Also the sellers there were so persistent on selling their wares – it was so so annoying. We left for Ciater Hot Spring which is located very near to Tangkuban Perahu for a dip in the natural hot spring. The place is nicely done and the water was so clear. There are places that are very hot (the ones that has extremely hot water is cordoned off for safety purposes). I didn’t get in as I was 6 months pregnant then, so I just sat on the bench next to the pool, licking my icecream and enjoyed the view and see the crowd enjoying themselves. After a few hours, we left for Bandung for another late lunch and another round of shopping visit till dinnertime. Too bad, there wasn’t enough time for us to revisit Pasar Baru as our flight home tomorrow was at 10 am.

By the time we reach the hotel, it was past 9 pm and the curtainmaker delivery boy was waiting for us in the lobby to deliver my new curtains! Once in the room, we repacked our luggages and dive in for a goodnite sleep for our flight home tomorrow. Since our trip involved a lot of time spent on travelling to the Taman Safari and Tangkuban Perahu, there wasn’t enough time for really serious shopping. So obviously another strictly shopping revisit would be required to cover the other 6 floors (+ the not fully covered 2 floors) of Pasar Baru, the many factory outlets (we only managed to go to around 4/5 outlets on this trip), Ciwalk and the other places too.

Last Updated ( Saturday, 20 August 2011 23:14 )