Day 5: 23rd October 2012
Tangkuban Perahu - Bandung City-Jakarta Raya
We had a good night sleep in the home stay. Thanks to the hospitality of Pak Zainal & Wife.
We left at about 8 am. I noticed that Indonesians in general have a high patriotism spirit! It's a good thing.
One can be seen as below photo in which even the trunk of the trees in this housing area in Jalan Samiaji are painted with Indonesian flag colors.
Some of us went straight to Pasar Baru as they have different mission in mind. Yours truly? well, as tour-leader paksaan ^_^ i had to accompany the other group to TP (Tangkuban Perahu).
TP was only recently re-opened to public in September due to unsafe condition. ehem. google please.
The 45 minutes journey was surely breathtaking as it goes to local villages, resorts, strawberry farms and one eco-resort which has all the team-building activities such as flying fox alike. I actually did stop by the resort upon our return from TP but i've forgotten the name.
But hey, it's easy to find. When descending from TP, the outdoor resort will be on the left hand side of the road after the exit to Subang, Bandung.
If i'm not mistaken, the cost per night per pax is RM50. I could hear wrongly though.
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| View of Subang, Bandung |
One of trinkets' seller actually told me that there's a place called Subang Jaya in Malaysia.
Either he has a good geography knowledge or a tourist told him ^_^
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| View of the crater |
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| Minum pagi with fried tempe & such |
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| Watching the seller swarming my sister |
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| Trying & buying of shirts |
After laughing my heart out seeing my sister actually "teaching" the sellers, we left with good memories.
i like to think that i have taught them a thing or 2 of trying to memikat buyer.
for example, "bro, beli bro"..baru updated ayat itu..
"sis, maaf, sis cantek banget. tp kalau beli topi saya, lagi cantik"
hahaha..i told em i went to local universitas and just accompanying family visiting around. That way, i get less pujukan rayu untuk membeli.
Tip? if you really want something, ask one time about the price.
then walk away.
Better, if you can wait until you have actually boarded your tansport and haggle like crazy.
but remember, they also have family to feed. Do not force them then don't buy.
Me myself will maki you for that.simply out of humanity.
and the berries up there? BUY! it's sweeter up there in TP. The strawberries, blueberries..blackberry BB je takde..hehehehe...again, bole tawar..pandai2 la nak hidup..jangan penaya orang sudah..
We stopped by a Cherry Farm on the back to Bandung city.
It was a Trunk Cherry and every kilo was about RM30. i thinkla...because i happily had my share FOC as it was allowed.
There was no entrance free...good!
Then, we stopped by another strawberry park which you don't have pay just to enter. They had some other attractions like giant trampoline, local massage (guys only), and below ATV apart from the horse ride.
Gayat seyyy...
We left the farms with full tummy and went straight to Pasar Baru to join the other group.
As usual, PB will make you go crazy as it is similar to Tanah Abang Grosir in Jakarta.
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| View of Bandung City from PB Parking Lot |
Finding a place to eat in Pasar Baru is easy. They have one food court on 8th Floor.
But finding peace while deciding which is which is ...a challenge.
There were banners everywhere reminding patrons to go straight to the counter and order and pay.
but if the whole army seems to be there and swarm you, shouting, we could easily go crazy one...
hahaha..
another hard part is getting the food that you actually want, like and of course edible. Good luck.
with the "helpers" telling you what to order, getting fed-up is not hard.
you may end-up just accepting what they want you to order.
My advise? go around,pick your desired food and stall AND order direct at the counter.
We did 1 and 2 but we sat down and had to order from the helpers.
That wasn't so bad. We got what we want.
but i ordered Ikan Bawal (black pomfret fish) and i got some fish which was ..smelly.
According to my BIL, it was not smelly. It was a ikan tawar fish.
No wonder la...
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| Foodcourt in Pasar Baru |
Before we left for Jakarta, we had lunch in one of the foodcourt in Paskal area.
There were no guitar playing while singing guys here.
Oh..maybe it was because we had to pay the parking just to enter the area.
And the ambience is a lil bit different.
This time, we took the highway to Jakarta.
We had one stop in Solaria RnR.
I kinda like their RnR area.
Even a Mosque is available nearby.
If you miss the Amanda or Kartika Sari stores, Pisang molen/bolen, Kek Kukus, Kek bakar are available in one of the store in thr RnR.
This is our ride for the qhole trip. 14 seater and comfy.
We only took about 2 hours to reach Jakarta.
Day 6: 24th October 2012
Jakarta Raya - Bandara
On day 6, the first group left at 8am.
The second at 1pm and my flight was supposed to leave at 8.30pm
so, i joined my sister's group whom flight was on Oct 25th to Pasar Tanah Abang for last minute shopping.
As expected Airasia is just being Airasia. My flight was delayed. fine. But no announcement at the waiting hall? that's something.
The airport tax in Bandara Jakarta is RP150K (RM38+-) which to be paid at the check-in counter.
My luggage was ngam2 at 39kg and i managed to somewhat accurately weigh my bags since i have the portable scale.
get one! It's only RM69 at the LCCT airport and AA is also selling one with similar price.
Before entering the boarding hall, please eat at the cafes outside the hall. There's no cafe inside the waiting area except for vending machines, toilets and Surau.
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| The waiting / boarding hall. No food or cafe insde. |
All in all, my trip to Jakarta this year is fun, educational, eye-opener and shall be repeated again..ahhaha
My tips though:
1. Get a portable scale. Lugagge overweight can be costly.
2. Spare bandara/airport tax money. It differs from each airport to another.
3. If anyone kirim barang, get them to give you rupiah. Money changer is no problem. It's the rate.
4. Prepare shopping list and budget.
5. try to avoid buying ALL the small2 thing. I ended up buying A LOT of those colourful Nescafe.
6. anything in Rupiah seems cheap and is cheap. But resist the temptation if you can.
Till then, i may have another trip December 2012.
That, if my budget permits ;p
