Woah - I've got so many blogs and I am confused - which is my active blog. o.o;
Oh well anyways! Just gonna note this trip down and come back and read this in near future. Focus is on places we went, food we ate, and silliness ~ :D. Think back about the past and...
My First Trip OUTTA Singapore! Lol kinda too old to have my first trip - everyone else had theirs when they were younger... rich parents ;p. or kids.
4D3N.
Day 1:
Reached Bandung around 12pm (GMT 7.00), took a cab from airport to our hotel at Cimanuk No. 15, Vio Hotel! Lucky us, we had Wynn who could speak malay and communicate with the locals.
After that, we left our baggages at the hotel, and went for a lunch - Pasar-Something... can't remember. Fusion cuisine restaurant - western chinese sundanese japanese korean??? They really have lots of variety - and too much to choose from. In the end I handpicked their local dish: Mie Baso, Strawberry Juice. The others ordered their own main course and a drink as well. + a satay and french fries to share.
-Mie Baso was seriously - though said to be their local reknown dish - really a simple dish. Lol. So it was hard to really awe me. And yeah. It was just noodles and soup and meatballs. ^^.
-Satay - Piping hot! They (Bandung resto in general) seems to prefer to use chicken breast meat for most of their chicken-related dishes. But their satay sauce was awesome. If I had to rank their sauce versus Singapore's satay sauce + pineapple, I would still pick Bandung's. It comes with a dark brown sauce - which I was thinking it might be chocolate? Not too sure - its like slightly saltish yet sweet and light among the heavy peanut sauce.
Super satisfied meal, whats more? Its only $5 per person. Lol. We were like "Woah?" And vowed to come back for our next meal. We didn't made it. xD. But yeah! We should.
->Back to hotel, check in, and then made it out for our next stop: Jalan Riau : Shopping time. Cutting it short - not a good place for us to shop - kinda disappointed in the stuff we saw. Lol. Got us worried about the shopping in Bandung. Ha. But oh well, we walked for to Jalan Riau, having a feel of the travelling ways of the locals. Super exciting. Crossing the road that is. No lines, no zebra crossing, no traffic light, no overhead bridge. If you want to get to the other side, just do it and watch out. Most people were nice, like they let us cross first lol. Teehee. :D And maybe walking. Oh yeah, the nice hotel staff warn us about motor-snatchers. So wear your bags "inside".
Oh and saw a few atas cafe/resto while walking. We went into Two Cents for dinner. Their coffee were awesome - sounds awesome actually since none of us tried it haha. Their dishes were yummy, filling, and expensive lol. Thats what you get if you walk into those Cafe/Resto that look "atas". Lol ;p. Spent around $10 each.
Day 2:
Volcano day! Hotel managed to help us rent a car to drive us around. 160.00 Rupiah for 12 hours (if I were correct). First stop was Kawah Putih - and we managed to get out of room by 7.30am. Lol. (I thought I should be allowed to sleep in since its a holiday trip. xD). The drive took about 2hours + to get up the mountain and get through the jam and blah. Lol. Super tiring. Bumpy ride too haha. I think all of us were feeling stuffy in the car, my friends were like feeling pukish after 2 hours. Phew. Reached the volcano - next eat breakfast at 10am. Lol. We had their cup/instant noodles at a hmmm street food stall. Lol, many reviews I had read said not to eat those street food for fear of food poisoning. I was wary but we had nothing since we woke. Lol. We ate. Nothing happened. :) Though that stall has lots of flies flying about the chicken wings on display. lol.
HEYYYY you know their strawberries looks super juicy and they were packed into big box (about 600g-700g), and they goes for 15.000 rupiah? Oh do try and haggle - 2 box for 20.000. Lol Our driver told us after we bought them lol. Oh ya, I recommend that Uncle who sold me the 15.000 per box - his strawberries were super well arranged, and had no squashed strawberries (when I unpacked them on the 3rd night).
Next, bought the tickets, and board the bus with 3 other friends. (Oh ya bring a good jacket if you are super scared of cold) Lol, we were gonna pose for a photo, when the bus suddenly moved. Lol...the photo hahahaah xD. Probably won't upload but its so hilarious. XD. Oh yeah, we were like the only siao-kias screaming in the bus. That bus, has got no doors! No windows! Its like a hmmm-tram??? Lol. Idk what you call it. As it goes up the volcano in the zig-zag-bumpy manner, we were holding to the bars for our dear lives and screaming/giggling. Looool. the other passengers were like sitting with their hands crossed, and looking back at these 4 siao-kias. Lol. So cool. Looool. And we scream/giggle on...~
Finally reached - feeling giddy. Oh ya - get your own mask before coming. Better still, bring some wet tissues for the strong sulphur smell. We spent about 40mins there, taking photos all over the places - didn't managed to take all in one. And hey, that place was super beautiful - like fairy-land. Green lake, beautiful background, and white ground. But sulphur smell...40mins later we started coughing badly lol. Lungs and throat were contracting hard, and we ran fast. Super unforgettable.
Took our next bus ride back down the hill. Exhilarating. Teehee. The passengers in front were again, looking cool, crossing hand and thinking its a super easy ride. Lol we scream/giggle down. Lol. Oh yeah, look out for the low door. I bumped my head twice. Lol. Thats for being too tall. lol.
So - we found our driver, and he drove us to Sindang Reret for meal. The tea smells weird, the fanciful drinks were light and refreshing (choose wisely lol~), the main dish were okok-good, depending on your tastebuds. My friends were awed by the fried fish - crispy till max that you could just chew the bones. Heh. But it was ok for me. Well different people different taste. And look out for spiders - tons of spiders on roof and plant. Grrrr was a scary place for me. Hate those things. Loool. Just choose a table has less plants around, and check the ceiling. Lol.
Spent about $10 per person. Well there was a deep friend big fish ya know...Still cheap!
Oh yeah, I wanted to go to this Kampung Daun Cafe. Which was said to be too far from our location - oh well next trip. ^^.
Then 3 hours ride back to the our location. Somehow mis-communicated with driver - we wanted to go to Jalan Cihampelas for shopping - he brought us back to hotel. Oh well. Next best place - Jalan Dalgo. Most memorable place was Amanda Bakery - bought a cake (super tasty!! but can't keep for long) and had some snacks nicely packed (good for souvenirs and gifts for friends). Didn't had a chance to come back and regretted not buy 2 cakes instead. Lol :(.
Lol we couldn't find the Victoria Factory outlet (sadly) and headed back to hotel and finally releasing our driver (we think he wants to go home for dinner already. Time then was 7pm. xD)
Oh well, dropped our stuff, and went on to find dinner. Lol. Atas dinner again: this time at HartWood cafe. Oh this this this this drink, better note it down. It was awesome choice and all my friends were like sulking and I was downing it smugly. ^-^. Hartwood Baileys. <3 Woohoo. Milky taste btw. (I had about 2-3 baileys drink in Bandung - totally worth it). The food were nice and yummy. I actually prefer to try the local dishes (but somehow we've been landing ourselves into Western/"atas" restaurant at least once a day, and local resto once a day too). Then - walked about and finally back to hotel
Day 3.
Rumah Mode! Fashion World! Jalan Cihampelas! Okok, if you are holidaying on a weekday - don't wake earlier than 8am. Lol, most shops aren't opened, and are mostly opened around 10am. Lol - note it down ;p. We reached by 8am, and it wasn't even opened though we see staffs preparing for the day. So we walked to Fashion World - lol, 2 of them spend a about 50-100$SGD. Lol. This street is suitable for us! Jalan Setiabudi!
Then brunch - I tried Soto Betawi at the cafe in Rumah Mode. Totally loved that! the beef was tender, the soup was nice waha. Satisfying!
Shop shop shop. Bring about 100$SGD at least. ^^.
We tried walking down to Jalan Cihampelas, found a supermarket to shop, and then walked on...and it starts to rain. If it starts to rain heavily and it comes on and off - thats most likely a shower. ;p don't wait for it to end. We waited for at least 1hour and finally decided to give up on waiting and take an angkot. Lol, 2.000 rupiah. :D and reached Ci-walk within 5mins.
Lol. This is a super good place to shop - korean clothing for 10$SGD, and many beautiful and clothes that are more suited for our taste. Bought my mom's and brother's gift here. :D. Then found a cafe to seat in for dinner - we had Mie...something. Not so nice - super saltish and overly sweet strawberry juice (as claimed by friends - I was ok with the sweetness xD). But yeah, it was a super cheap meal - but not so satisfying.
We walked on to Platinum (again good place to shop at). Had our dessert (around 9pm-10pm) finally. This place - is so hard to find a good and satisfying place for dessert. Lol ;p. But this restaurant we went into was playing a movie - good ambience until someone came, sat on the table beside us, and started smoking. We choked. My friend came back after collecting stuff - her parfait - melted from a solid triangular shape into a gooey-ice-creamy-hmmm..? Loool~ she thought it came like that xD! Haha, but still yummy! :D The spaghetti was yummy too (can't remember the resto name :( - but they have a movie screeen, a bar, and an-inside cafe. Lol, just watch out for it. :D.
Finally - taxi hotel. And showered and slept. Didn't slept too well - heard something scary and I couldn't for god's sake drift to sleep :(. Oh I forgot - we were unpacking strawberries too. Lol ;p. Please do this:
open your strawberry cover, let them breathe. Don't stack them up (like I did and murdered many strawberries :( ). Lol. Had to throw a bag of them away. Oh ya, you know after you shopped - you have many bags? Use them as cushion if you are packing them into your luggage to transfer home. Just put a little bit of air in your bags = bubble wrapper. Lol. Pack them nicely and bring them home. Lol. Less damages I hoped.
Will up some nice photos tmr! And gonna sleep now. Day 4 was nothing much - travelling about for morning breakfast and drinks. Then finally airport and home. :) I totally missed bandung lifestyle - Busy roads yet so exciting xD. Cheap and yummy food. We met nice people, didn't get cheated for once, or robbed or purse-snatched, or food-poisoned. Phew, lucky trip. Will come back!
