As promised, short Bandung Trip

Hello people! i hope it’s still not too late to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir n batin.

So.. I was back in Malaysia for a good 7 weeks in Malaysia, and manage to squeeze in a short Bandung trip, just to check out the hype about shopping there. Well, I must say it’s fulfilling on one side, but there are still some unsatisfactory sides in certain areas. Went there with my ex-classmate back in JAD, Unisel, Hanis for  3 days 2 nights stay.

Our flight depart at around 9 am in the morning if I'm not mistaken, we reach the Sasteranegara Airport in Bandung at around 11 am local time. The airport is small! =.= with only 2 custom officers to clear out the passengers entering the country. It took almost an hour for custom clearance! +.+ We were greeted by our driver, Pak Dodo at the airport, which I booked thru a friend studying in Bandung. He was nice and warm to us.

On the day we landed Bandung, it was the same day as the Indonesian Independence Day, which means, the main place me n Hanis targeted for the trip, Pasar Baru are closed because of the public holiday. So, the driver advised us, saying we should head out to the infamous Factory outlets which scatters all over Bandung and be the main tourist attraction. We headed out to the Jalan Dago, Jln Setiabudi, for a huge selection of factory store outlets that provide numerous branded clothes at such a bargain price. The only catch was the stores usually mix up the original stuffs with the imitation ones, thus the need of carefully choosing or identify which is the original and which is not.

As we were there during the fasting month, we stopped at Restoran Sederhana, which is located next to Rumah Mode  to break our fast on the first day. There were almost 10 kinds of dishes served to go along with the plain rice. Among the dishes served was quail’s curry, cow’s lung with chilly, cow’s brain curry (i know it sounds disgusting!), and gulai sayur

.

On the next day, we went to the Pasar Baru for overloaded shopping! The place was unexplainably crowded with people selling all sort of textiles at such a bargain price! There were lace, “kain pasang”, kebaya, jubbahs, kain batik, telekung etc. in all sort of colours and designs. The only setback was if you are a foreigner, you are bound to be “cheated” as the sellers would usually sell at a higher price for they know you are not Indonesian. So, at this situation, you should try to use your skills at bargaining for a cheaper price. From what I experience, the items sold at the top floors are slightly cheaper compared to the ones at the lower parts of the floors. If you are a girl who loves these kind of thing, e.g textiles, baju kurung, this is the place to go to and divulge in another world. Me and Hanis wandered around the whole Pasar Baru for a good 5 hours, trying to find the best deal and bargaining. At the top most of the buliding (rooftop) they have somewhat a huge musolla. Well, compared to the 7th floor Pavilion in Kuala Lumpur and  it’s small surau, I must say that the one in Bandung deserve a better applaud for having quite big musolla over there. One thing I find amusing was the trend of wearing colourful telekung in Indonesia, creating somewhat a vibrant atmosphere in the musolla.

Look at those colourful telekung!

As the main purpose of this trip was for shopping, after Pasar Baru, we went to the Paris Van Java mall where more of a imported shops are located at. It was so-so, the same ambience you get at the normal shopping mall you see in KL.. We break our fast over there and I had a taste of the ayam penyet and J.CO doughnuts at it’s birth country!  

 

We were so tired after half day of shopping, so we had a facial spa at the hotel for only 75000 Rupiah and it was soo good I tell you!

And so the last day came around and we had our final shopping agenda, that is to find souvenirs at the Ciwalk. But we didn’t really made the shopping because our driver offered to bargain with the sellers for they would definitely charge a higher price to foreigners. So, while he bargained, we went around Ciwalk, and wander around the place. it’s actually some sort like an open air mall. After that, we went to Kartika Sari for kek lapis legit and brownies! OMG! the cake lapis was YUMMEYH! and the brownies too! such a mouth watering desert I must say!

From what I can see in Indonesia is that they do have quite a big gap between those who are rich, and those who are not. From Pak Dodo, he said that the people from the lower caste usually they live in somewhat a huge slump-look like area with none of them own a car, and there were so many beggars in Bandung. He even said that even he wont afford to buy clothes at the factory outlet because they are expensive to them where else the price of clothes at the factory outlets were at a rip off price. The other part of Bandung that I really hate was the traffic!! urghh! it was terrible! There’s a mere 3 to 4 inches between cars and the motorcycle riders were plain rude! they ride without having any conscience of other driver’s lives. sigh~

All in all, the trip was fun, despite Hanis having food poisoning on the last day Pity her! A friend of mine had food poisoning too in Bandung prior to our trip a month before.

I think that’s all for now! till next time! tata!!