Bandung: Shopping Paradise

#6 backdated post.

It’s year end again, which means I’m off from Christmas till New Year. And this year we decided not to go back to China, but instead venture south, to Bandung. Many have said that Bandung is a shopping haven. Apparently it’s full of factory outlet. So we were there to experience if that’s the fact or just rumours passing around.

Day 1

We flew to Bandung on Christmas day (just 2 of us, without the kids). This round we weren’t alone, we went with another friend and her mom. I didn’t quite enjoy the flight cause we were sitting the old Boeing 737, not Airbus. And the flight was pretty full.

Once we arrive, we took a cab and went straight to the hotel. We were greeted by beggars that came smack right up to our car!!! I was shocked!! Yeah, they have beggars, musicians that will come next to the cab and start singing to you when your car stops. Hoping to get some income I guess. A new way of begging LOL.

The hotel…again Daddy complained that it’s not good enough. Well, 3-star what you expect, year end always expensive everywhere. But the hotel lobby was pretty good looking compared to the room haha…

We went for lunch just opposite the hotel, Pak Chi Met, supposingly very famous for their Bakar Food. Each of us ordered different type of food, Ikan Bakar, Ayam Bakar, etc..it came with stuff squid (also bakar) and Prawns (also bakar). Yes very tasty meal. Then we started our shopping adventure. Our 1^st destination was Paris Van Java (Sogo). It was actually not planned, but we had to go there (walking distance from hotel) as our friend needed a pair of sandals.

This place is very much like ermm…KL shopping complex. It’s very nicely done, with cafes outside, and boutiques on the inside. We split into 2 group, our friend went shoe hunting, while both of us went lurking around the place. We went to Daiso (selling Japanese stuff for RM7nett) and bought some stuff.

Next, we headed to Cihampelas, that’s the place they call that sells all sorts of jeans. Once you arrive at that place, you are greeted with many superheros!! Each shop has their own superhero haha…But after many hours of shopping we couldn’t find any jeans that suit us…thumbs down!!

We were stuck in 1 of the shop as it was pouring non stop. So we had our very early dinner next to the factory outlet. The food we had was pretty interesting. More bakar stuff!! It was rice, wrapped with ermm some leave (I don’t think it’s banana), then bakar for sometime and served with some chicken, tempe and more tempe. Well, to me it’s just like lemang that kinda rice…

We walk further down the cihampelas area when the rain mellowed down but still couldn’t get any jeans…gosh…but Daddy did eye on this cool looking skeleton helmet haha..which later he regretted for not getting it.

So we decided….heck, this place has all the jeans you can find that doesn’t suit you at all!! We hop on to a cab and wanted to go to Dago. Dago is another place with a lot of factory outlets. But taxi driver recommended Riau, just around the corner. He said that is good, thumbs up for tourist!! OK lah, so we went to Riau instead of Dago. The taxi driver was pretty friendly and we also enquired about our next day trip how much he’s gonna charge (checking prices) and in the end we did engage him to be our 1 day driver for Day 2 activity.

So we stopped at Riau for shopping, That time was 8pm+, shops close at 930 (aiks…so early for a shopping haven….thumbs down!!). There were 4 outlets there, I only manage to go to 1, but Daddy went all 4 (2 men, 2 women) and he ended up buying a pair of jeans at last. Versace jeans for only RM70!! Super cheap huh. As for me, I didn’t buy anything, but bought some clothes for the kids (20 pieces), cheap prices as well. I paid about the range of RM15-20 for GAP/NEXT Clothing.

Day 2

Today is the day we are going uphill to smell some sulfur. Apart from shopping, Bandung is also known for its Volcano Activity. Here lies Tangkuban Perahu (Upside Down Boat) the partially active Volcano.

We left the hotel at about 930am with our taxi driver. The road up the hill wasn’t that pleasant. Windy for sure!! Nice scenery but I wasn’t in the mood to capture cause I get car-sick (yucks!!). Yeah I’m so used to driving, whenever other people drive and I’m the passenger, I tend to get car sick, sigh..

So Daddy took some shaky shots along the way. I took over the camera only when we arrived at the Ratu Crater. Ratu crater is still pretty much active. I didn’t see spews of lava for sure, but the smell of sulfur sure rocks there!! It was drizzling and pretty misty, hence not very good photographs. I also kept my camera cause I didn’t want it to get wet.

After that, we went to somewhere lower…don’t know what they call, Domas Crater or what, and we walked thru the forest. The walk was pretty long…so long that we kept asking the self-appointed tourguide when are we reaching the base? Manage to take a lot of photos here. It’s really amazing looking at the plants that grow here. So fertile!! Most of the trees barks were black/dark brown. Effects from the volcano activity, as explained. There were many moss grown on the side of the trees, walls, etc…In fact I enjoyed taking photos of all those tiny tiny plants. Things that you won’t notice with your naked eye.

And finally we arrived at this scenic mountain area where we could rest and enjoy the beautiful scenery. It’s absolutely very breathtaking. Then more walk…down to the hotspring. It was raining on and off when we were at the hotspring…arghh…so I was like flashing my camera on and off. No rain quickly take out the camera and shoot, rain start quickly hide the camera.

Daddy was happily dipping his feet into the hotspring. I think he spent easily 30mins there. I was busy snapping photos of the boiling water (which they used to boil eggs) and sulfur crystals that formed on the rocks (sorry no close up cause it was raining!!).

Then we continued walking and towards the end, our mr. tourguide charged us an exorbitant Rp. 600000 (can’t remember the 0s, but it was expensive) for that few hours!!! Note to everyone, do not ever talk to them if you go there, just tell them you walk yourselve…you won’t get lost there trust me. MORE PICS OF TANGKUBAN PERAHU HERE.

That the ends our very interesting tour around the Volcano inclusive of getting conned. We went for lunch down town, some fried chicken shop. This shop is famous for it’s fried chicken. You see it almost everywhere, like their local KFC. Nothing special, just fried chicken. We ordered Sup Buntut (sound obscene huh) as well. Turns out it’s like our local ABC Soup boiled with beef instead of chicken/pork.

What’s after lunch….more shopping!! You see, in Bandung there’s only 1 place to visit, that is the Tangkuban Perahu. There’s simply nothing else…just shopping and endless shopping muahahaha….

Our next stop was Rumah Mode (pronounce as Mo De). Another factory outlet. There were throngs of people, as though everything was free there. We spent like 2 hours there…searching and digging. What’s the outcome, Daddy has the most loot!! He’s definitely a pro-shopper, seems like every shop he has something to buy *shake head*. He bought plenty of shirts (like those golf shirt/football jersey material), all for the price of RM30-40 (Nike Brand you know!!). I didn’t get anything, again I couldn’t find something I like, those that I like no size..arghh..

Then our taxi driver drops us back at the hotel and waited for us downstairs. We drop our stuff took a quick shower and went for 2^nd round shopping. This round he took us to Dago (I think). There were plenty of outlets within walking distance. We hop on a few here n there.

Finally I was able to buy some clothes. Not only 1 but a few, though not as many as Daddy. I bought some babydoll tops for RM50. Slightly cheaper than KL, but they only have 1 piece for each design. Then we went to shoe outlet and bought shoes (for myself and Vyktore).

We shopped till 9pm, then we headed back to Paris Van Java. This is actually our favourite place to get together to settle our daily expenses, take some rest, eat some not so Indon food. We had Chinese food for once, the rest was like Dragon-I concept. Not bad the food, especially the har kow (prawn dumplings) so fresh!! After that we head to this shop, like Lecka Lecka (Icre Cream) Indon version and had ice cream.

Seriously, my legs were already aching after all the walks. We went back to hotel and tomorrow is another shopping day.

MORE PHOTOS OF FOOD HERE.

Day 3

Well, shopping for everyone except Ms. Jasmine cause I had food poisoning. Sigh…why does this happen every time I travel during year end. It always happens 2 days before I leave!! It happened last year in China and this year again!! So there I was, walking in and out of the bathroom close to 6 times on that day…Mr. Hon and friend and mother went shopping came back, went out, came back…and I told him, forget bout me, just go shop, I just want to sleep. And that’s all I did. He of course came back with more loots LOL…for himself, and for the kids and for me as well.

MORE PHOTOS ON SHOPPING HERE.

Day 4

Time to go back. I still don’t feel any better in the morning. Very dizzy sigh…and just when I was about to leave the hotel, I sort of sprained my back (reminds me of sciatica). And boy am I glad to be home when the plane landed. It took me more than 1 week to be back to my normal self. Lesson learned, don’t take ice!!

So what’s the loots like?

Daddy – 4 pair of jeans, lots of shirts

Mommy – 2 baby doll tops, 1 cardigan, 2 tops, 1 pair of shoes

Faythe – 1 skirt, 3 tops

Vyktore – lots of tops, jeans, jacket, shoes (I’m not biased, but sometimes i find it hard to get clothing for V, so when I see good ones, I’ll get more)

We also bought some souvenirs for the family. Sorry no pic, all given out liao.

Would I recommend to go Bandung? Yes for a guy, cause you can find clothing very easily there. Not really for a lady since most of the clothing couldn’t fit me, either too small or too big.

And, if you want to do online shopping you can also do that. Many people these days are doing there shopping online for many reasons.

GENERAL PHOTOS OF BANDUNG…IN CASE YOU WANT TO SEE HOW THIS PLACE LOOK LIKE.