Hamdan Hamid Travel Site: Bandung & Jakarta

We took the 3pm flight on Airasia departing LCCT to Jakarta. Pak Tam's driver had been waiting for us at the airport since 2pm even though the flight was scheduled to arrive at 4pm. He arrived early to avoid the office-hours traffic. We had been using the service of Pak Tam ever since our first trip to Bandung in 2007. Pak Tam had provide us a 7 seater chauffer-driven mpv for RM180 per day which includes petrol and parking charges.
The drive from Jakarta to Bandung took 5 hours due to the bad traffic in Jakarta. We stop-over for a brief break at the R&R along the highway. We had booked Le Vallon guesthouse a week prior to the trip using booking.com.

It has 2 double bed. We had to order extra mattress for the 5 of us. The guesthouse is on a highland overlooking Bandung city. Unlike this trip, during the last 4-5 trips to Bandung, we usually took the hotel in the city center. The rate was RM180 per night including breakfast for 5 people. The guest house is 7 km away from town but it takes 20 minutes due to the narrow,winding and crowded road.

The following are the recommended places of interest for first time travellers to Bandung.

1. Tangkuban Perahu - extinct volcanoes. About 40 min drive from city center. There is an entrance fee of 50k rupiah (rm15) collected at the gates. Beware not to buy any souvenoirs from the peddlers 'cos the price is exorbitant. Do not engage any conversation with those locals providing information services since all services are not free here. Do not take the service to hike down to path to the hot water spring since they will charge by the hour and the jungle trek downhill may take hours. There are lots of hidden charges here - --- Just enjoy the scenery.

2. Pasar Baru - It is a 6 storey building which houses textile, clothings, accessories, telekungs, pakaian haji.. u name it they have it. Food court is on the L5. You can even order a full suit for less than rm100 which can be collected within 2 days. There is a beautiful surau or mursholla on the top floor. They perform Fridays prayers here. The ladies shop and the men go for the friday prayers.

3. Sari Ater Hotsprings - Further down the slope of Tangkuban Perahu, there is a beautiful hot water park. The entrance fee is Rp15k (rm5). You can a dip or bath in the hot water pool. Bring your food and enjoy them at the many gazeboos along the stream.

4. Paris Van Java - A hang-out shopping mall for the young. Branded stuffs food outlet are available at this mall.

5. Chihampelas. There are dozens of outlets/shops selling jeans and clothings. Chihampelas Mall is halfway along Chihampelas road. They served both local and branded delicacies

6. Factory outlet stores are found along these roads - Jalan Setiabudi, Jalan Dago & Jalan Riau.

We stayed 3 nights in Bandung. Checked out early after breakfast and had to return to Pasar Baru to collect Hazim' s suite which was ordered a day before - yes done within 24 hours. Since it was still early, we stopover at Pondk Indah mall for dinner before checking in for the night.

We had planned to stay at Fakrul house at Lebak Bulus, outside Jakarta. Fakrul, a distant cousin is an accountant who works with a local Indonesian company.

The following day we went shopping at Mayestik mall, Taman Puring and Mangga Dua before getting to the airport for home.