~Bandung : A Shopping Haven~

An impulse buying of Airasia ticket of almost a year ago led me to a major shopping trip in Bandung which made me unleashed my shopping power! I still remembered that it was almost midnight when Jess and Val asked me whether we should buy the air ticket to Bandung as it's only RM27 for both ways! As an ultimate shopping queen, I was excited coz I had always heard that Bandung is a shopping paradise. After 20 minutes (or was it 5 seconds? lol) of struggling, we decided to just buy it! I wasn't expecting myself to really make it but then since the tickets are so damn cheap, it seemed like a waste not to buy it!
Get ready, as you are gonna to have full details of the 5 days 4 night trip to Bandung!

Pre-preparation

I can hardly believe this is really happening! Just a few more weeks then we will be going to Bandung! But as I am quite busy with my work, so I did not make much preparation. I still remembered Jessica kept bugging me to renew my passport and I did not dare to chat with her until I renewed it because she sounded so stern! As for exchanging the currency, I actually exchange it few hours before my flight. LOL. (Tips: If you want the best rate for currency exchange, it will be better that you do it in Jalan Masjid ) It's always good to do some information searching online for the popular sites of Bandung so that you will not miss any of it.

Day 1
Me and Jess have no luggage to check in since all we brought is a laptop bag where we just squeeze all our stuff into the bag! (Tips: Do remember to check in your luggage if you are bringing anything in liquid form which is more than 100ml. Hand carrier that you are allowed on the plane is only 7kg) Of course, we did squeeze in a hand carrier bag. *wink*

Taking photo while we are in the waiting area! (Top: Val and Laurence, Bottom: Me and Jess)

                 
             

I am actually very scared of heights so when the plane is taking off, I am blabbering to Jess non-stop without even taking a breath until we are safely in the air! It took us about 2 hours to reach Bandung and when we reach the Bandung airport, the airport is so small that it looks more like a bus station. We took a cab to our hotel which is Hotel Amaris and it cost us about 40 000 rupiah ( around RM14). The hotel is nice and clean considering that we only pay for RM508 per room (including breakfast) for 4 nights. Hotel Amaris is also located strategically at Jl. Cihampelas as the Jeans streets is along the way as well. The only bad thing about this hotel is that there is no reception in the room and you can only access wifi at the lounging area/dining area.

Taking photos in the bedroom! It just seemed wrong to take pictures of the room without us in it! 

And of course, we finally get the chance to be a MILLIONAIRE and I am sorry to say that we cant help it but to show off! Lol!

After some rest, we went off for dinner and found a nice dining place. I ordered Nasi Goreng Ikan Masin that cost about 12000 rupiah which is actually quite reasonable.

As the we walked along Jeans Street, there's a lot of factory outlet where they have all the Superheroes posing in front. Lol. It is quite a disappointment though as we thought we could find some nice Levi's jeans there but the only exciting thing that happens over there is a big fat rat running across the room and make me scream so loud till everyone was looking at me!

We did not do any shopping on the first day except for buying mineral water and the forgetful me have to buy a toothbrush as well>.<! But the toothbrush (Oral B) is so cheap that I thought of getting it as souvenirs for my friends. Lol. It costed about 4000 rupiah which is only RM1.20!

Day 2
After some breakfast, we are ready for some shopping! As Rumah Mode (Jl. Setiabudi) is a must-go factory outlet, so it was the top of our list for Day 2. We took a cab even though it is quite near to our hotel. (Tips: Always bargain with the taxi driver! If it's at the same area, do not settle anything more than 20000!)
Rumah Mode is a really nicely designed place but we it's not up to our expectation. We only get one or two pieces of garments in Rumah Mode, however, we did get some pretty nice pictures!

                             
                          
                          

There are a lot of other factory outlets and all you have to do is just walk along the street and you can see factory outlets on both sides. We tried to take the so called Tuk Tuk which is actually a green minivan to Jl Riao but failed to reach the destination! (Tips: DO NOT take Tuk Tuk unless you are sure of road in Bandung because the driver will always say yes to any destination even though it's not going to the right direction! We even saw a kid driving it!) Few other factory outlets that on Jl. Riao that I recommend is Secret, Oasis, and Heritage. A travelling agent once told me that the branded stuff in Bandung are not replicas but authentic with flaws which explains the cheap price. But the Burberry, LV, Prada bags there still look kind of fake to me! So unless you are an expert in differentiating branded and replicas, I would recommend you not to buy it.

Day 3
Sightseeing day!
We hired a driver which costed around 450000 rupiah for 12 hours as we wanted to go check out the famous volcano craters in Bandung . We initially wanted to go to 2 craters which is the Kawah Puteh and Tangkuban Perahu in one day even though its at different directions. However, our driver informed us that it is simply not possible so in the end we decided to go to Tangkuban Perahu. 

Camwhore in the car as it takes about 1 hour to reach to the volcano craters! 

At: Tangkuban Perahu :Took photos with the volcano craters and you can actually smell sulfur from up there!
(The guy in geen is our driver, Budhi)

We went for a hike around the craters (sort of like jungle trekking) where it will led us to the hot spring! The tour guide usually charges around 250 000 rupiah per hour. It took us 1 hour to reach the destination and I was wearing slippers>.<!
This is the time where a lot of photos can be taken as the scenery is really nice!

On the way to the hot springs, there are some natives selling wood handicraft. It's really unique as the pattern on the wood is not painted but it is of the natural wood pattern so not one design will be alike!

If you are a nature person or you wanna have a refreshing change of air from the city, here would probably be the best!

Fooling around! LOL
"Help! I am stuck!"

Finally we reached the hot springs! I looked disheveled!

Ahhhhh...It's so nice to soak my tired feet in the hot springs! Hot spring really does contribute some health effect because after I soaked my feet, they don't feel tired anymore! (Tips: Do not straightaway put your feet into the water unless you want to be in Scream 5 casting!)

They also have people selling bottles of sulphur and mud which is supposedly to be very good for the skin. Me and Val each bought a medium bottle of sulphur powder which costs about 50000 rupiah each. (Tips: Bargain! The price offered was 150 000 rupiah!) Kinda regret buying that now as until now I still haven't try it yet!

After the relaxing soaking, it takes us about another 1 hour to walk to the exit. It costs us 500 000 rupiah + some tips in total for the hike which is actually quite expensive.
ShoutOut: Don't ever say that I don't do exercise! I just hike for 2 hours wearing a dress and slippers! LOL!

After that, we went to have our lunch: Nasi Padang! It's a famous Indonesian dish where they served steam white rice with various types of dishes! You can choose which dishes that you want to eat and leave the rest at the side. The ayam rendang and egg is simply delicious!

After a scrumptious meal, we headed towards Bandung Supermall which is located at Jl. Gatot Subroto. The main attraction is Trans Studio, the largest indoor theme park. Some parts are still work in progress so it would best to go at the end of the year.

 

If you are ever in Bandung, you must spend one evening at a gallery culture cafe called Kampung Daun. It is simply remarkable and it makes you feel like you are stepping into a mysterious rainforest! (Tips: It would be best if you put on some anti-mosquitoes lotion as there are a lot of mosquitoes!A Lot!) It's more of the environment rather than the food though. 

When the evening comes, there's a candle light pathway and makes the place even more romantic. There's even a waterfall with lanterns. Simply romantic! It would even be the perfect place to propose to your loved ones!

It can be quite chilly at night, so luckily there are bonfires set up at the fire pits to welcome the guests.

We were led to a saung which sort of looks like a cozy little grass hut with thatched  roof. 

The food is slightly pricey but luckily it tasted delicious nevertheless especially the chicken satay with rice! I don't know what has gotten into us but we ordered different type of tauhu goreng =.=

Day 4
Shopping again! This time at Jl. Dago! Initially we planned to squeeze all the shopping sprees in one day but it's simply not possible! I preferred shopping at the factory outlets at Jl. Dago compared to Jl. Riao and Jl. Setiabudi. I splurged around few hundreds at the factory outlets here and I am the big spender among the others!

The brownies and layer cake here is really nice so its a must-buy! There are assorted flavors of brownies such as chocolate, tiramisu, cheesy, coffee, and etc. But I took all 3 boxes of chocolate brownies (around RM 12++) and 1 box of layer cake (around RM 40 ++). We bought this at Kartika Sari where you can find it at Jl. Dago. After trying out the chocolate brownies, I ended up buying another 2 more boxes in the airport! Yum!

One thing you gotta try is Batagor which is tauhu goreng with fish fillings served in sate celup sauce with a hint of lime. It's recommended to get it from the stalls from the roadside and the price is much cheaper than restaurant which is only 10 000 rupiah per plate. It tasted so good that we couldn't resist it and ordered another plate!

There's so many factory outlets here to shop so we did not have time to go to Jl. Kasut which we were told that its a whole street selling all types of shoes. Probably we will go there on our next visit :p! 

You should also try out the avocado juice (jus alpukat) which is considered as a specialty since it's really hard to find in Malaysia. It's a mixture of blended avocado fruit and chocolate syrup to add on some sweetness. Val and L purposely checked in an empty luggage just so that they could buy 10kg of avocado fruit back to M'sia!

At the end of the day, we went crazy and start arranging all our proud winnings on the bed! My stuff took almost half of the bed! LOL! I struggled to pack all my stuff as I certainly bought too much!

Day 5 

We headed over to Bandung airport straight after breakfast. Luckily my luggage did not exceed 15kg even though it's so freaking heavy! Although the airport is small but I do think that it's somehow better than LCCT seeing that they actually offer laptops for web surfing and also water cooler in the waiting room.

Probably Bangkok for my next shopping destination? Lol!

ps: Sorry that I cant provide good quality pictures!