I and my wife left for Bandung, Indonesia on Thursday 29th July 2010. The mission was only one - shopping for raya. Most people know Bandung is one of the best places in the region for shopping. Our aircraft touched down at 5.00pm local time (6.00pm Malaysian time), 30 minutes behind schedule at Bandung Airport, a very small airport which is used by Angkatan Udara Indonesia. The Government of Indonesia is building a new airport which is located about 100km from the city of Bandung itself, the third largest city in Indonesia. It was beginning to get dark and almost Maghrib. Clearing the immigration was fast but their customs seemed to be making a lot of fuss. They should not be treating tourists like terrorists, checking every single luggage in a very small room (equivalent to the size of our bedroom). You can just imagine how cramp it was. Our supir, whom we had engaged from KL greeted us at the arrival hall and ushered us straight to his MPV. He would be our chauffeur for the next three days. One piece of advise to the readers planning a trip to Bandung, always arrange your supir in advance. Don't rely on their cabs as they will slaughter you. We headed straight to our hotel, pre-booked in advance.
We did not waste any time and immediately embarked on our mission. The first stop was Jalan Dago, which is one of the many streets in Bandung famous for its factory outlets.
Here, one can find so many outlets adjacent to one another and all these outlets sell branded stuff. Our supir dropped us at Blossom Factory Outlet and we then invaded one outlet after another. There is this outlet called Raffles City and it sells all branded shirts, e.g. Versace, Burberry, Guess, Calvin Klein, etc. The prices are very cheap ranging from Rp150K to Rp250K. We were so sucked in until we realized it was almost 9pm. All these outlets close at 9pm and we only managed to cover four of them. We then walked back to where our supir was and was told the only food available at that hour was KFC. Oh no...... feeling tired like this I was really hoping to have rice for dinner with good hot coffee. It was a totally different experience stepping in to their KFC. Even the menu is not the same as what we used to have in Malaysia. They even sell pergedil. And the best part was the Pepsi. Man...... sipping it, I could feel the cold drink running down my throat and it was so fantastic. I was so thirsty.
Photos above show some of the factory outlets along Jln. Dago.
The following morning, our mission continued and this time we attacked Rumah Mode, a must visit factory outlet if one goes to Bandung. We arrived at 9.15am and had to wait for 15 minutes before it opened (initially I thought it opened at 10.30am as I asked one guy there and he said to me, "Setengah sepuluh Pak"). In Rumah Mode, one can find almost everything including food and its food court is massive. We went straight to kids department and there they were all sorts of branded garments on sale. Name them.... OshKosh, Old Navy, Espirit, Tommy Hilfiger, Guess and the list goes on and they are very very cheap. Two hours here and we bought most of our kids' stuff and we decided to try Nasi Ayam Penyet. My goodness, the taste was wonderful. The one we have in Malaysia is simply no match.
From here we headed to Pasar Baru and this is the place people buy "telekung", "tudung" and "textiles". Again you can imagine how cheap the prices are. I bought a pair of trousers of branded material and read this carefully..... those TWO pairs TOGETHER with tailoring, cost me only Rp400K (about RM145.00, whereas, my tailor here used to charge me about RM200 per piece complete with material) and the trousers were delivered to me the next day at the airport. All the tailor needed was 24 hours to complete my order. One suit would cost Rp400K but I did not make one. What I regret now is that I should have also asked the tailor to make shirts for me as the materials are damn cheap and branded.
After two hours at Pasar Baru, we went back to Jln Dago to complete our mission and this was where the bulk of our purchase was made. By 9pm we got back to the hotel feeling really exhausted. Mission accomplished???....No...not yet.
After two hours at Pasar Baru, we went back to Jln Dago to complete our mission and this was where the bulk of our purchase was made. By 9pm we got back to the hotel feeling really exhausted. Mission accomplished???....No...not yet.
The next morning we started early around 7.30am (mind you Subuh in Bandung is at 4.50am). And this time it was not the outlets but to a place that cannot be found in Malaysia. It's the volcano, an active one of course, called Tangkuban Parahu. The journey up the mountain took one hour. The peak of the mountain stood at 1830m above sea level and it was cold. The last eruption was in 1969 and only Allah knows when the next one will be. The difference between this place and Mount Kintamani in Bali is that here you get to see the "kawah" with your own naked eyes, something I have never seen in my entire life. The smell of sulphur was very strong and I could see smoke coming out of one of the small "kawah" (see photo below).
Kawah Gunung Berapi Tangkuban Parahu
"Belerang" from the volcano were on sale.
We came down at 11am as we still had unfinished business in Jln. Dago and this time we went to Kartika Sari, The Man and Grande. From here we headed to the airport for our departure. It was a good experience and I thought it was the trip worth everything although we missed Jln Riau, another shopping outlets, due to time constraint.
Some of the photos I took in Bandung.
Some of the photos I took in Bandung.
"Angkutan Kota" - the main public transport in Bandung
We would like to come back again, for shopping of course and I would also want to go to Kawah Putih, another active volcano in Bandung.
