bandung escapade

okay, first impression of bandung? i really dislike the taxi drivers. they are mostly rude, ok. but despite of that, i find bandung a very interesting place to visit. it is definitely an eye opening experience for me. here's my itinerary for the short trip:

day 1

• flight departs from penang to bandung.
• arrived around midnight local time (i think).

bandara husein sastranegara bandung airport

• took the cab to the hotel (rp.40,000.00) and after paying the taxi driver, boleh pulak dia kata tak ada change untuk rp.100,000.00? i mean, come on la.. we were like the very last customer.. takkan tak ada change kan. you have been working since this morning, dude. so lepas i did a very mean looking face, tiba-tiba boleh pulak keluar the change from his pockets? arghh. tension.

 day 2

• breakfast at the hotel. by the way, we stayed at amaris hotel cihampelas. the hotel was pleasant enough and the food was okay.
• walked through the streets of bandung to pasar baru. prior to our trip, i did some research and printed out maps from google maps. oh, how i love google to pieces!

 we found a railway station on the way to pasar baru

 a train passing by

children walking on railway tracks - very dangerous indeed!

• shopped at pasar baru. the main reason for our trip was apparently shopping for textiles untuk the upcoming raya. haha.
• took a cab back to the hotel. tak jadi nak walk back sebab shopping and borong banyak sangat. got cheated by the taxi driver yang refuse to turn on the cab meter. malas nak bergaduh, so kitorang bayar je lah rp.40,000.00 kat dia.
• good thing that bila kitorang sampai hotel, we saw a bluebird cab. apa lagi.. cepat-cepat booking for our next trip.
• lepas tinggalkan hasil barangan shopping at our hotel room, we took off with the bluebird cab (yang apparently jujur menggunakan meter) to saung angklung udjo to catch a cultural angklung performance. memang berbaloi ok. way off berbaloi than the tangkuban perahu, i tell you.

 

a man making ends meet, i guess

the bluebird cab meter

toilet cubicles at the saung angklung udjo - architectural awesomeness!

the admission ticket and brochure for the angklung performance show

• after the show ended, we asked the receptionist at the ticket counter if she could please call us a cab yang menggunakan meter. the staff at saung angklung udjo - very helpful and friendly.. kudos!
• then we headed to our next stop, paris van java. nice place but definitely has changed since my last visit. we ate at katjapiring. the food was not something i'm used to tapi boleh la tahan.

 katjapiring

 the meal we had at katjapiring

• lepas habis ronda-ronda kat paris van java, we headed back to our hotel by foot. experiencing bandung through the streets is way better walking than taking a cab. we stopped by at the shops/stalls along jl.cihampelas and bought some souvenirs t-shirts. 

hollow steel grating - very different from the normal steel gratings in malaysia

they use bamboo scaffolds, we use steel

food stalls like these were very typical in bandung

 

• kepenatan yang amat, sampai hotel terus tertido and accidentally skipped dinner. we were planning to go to sierra cafe and lounge. shucks!

day 3

• hotel check out time was at 12.00pm but our flight wasn't until 5.00pm so we extended our stay and headed to the famously known rumah mode factory outlet. i love this place. setiap kali dapat gaji bulanan, kalau boleh nak shopping kat sini je. hehe.

 

rumah mode factory outlet

• lepas spending quite some time kat rumah mode, we headed to jl.cihampelas shopping area and lagi sekali stopped by the stalls/shops to buy souvenir t-shirts.
• bila sampai hotel, cepat-cepat pack barang and check out. we asked the receptionist at the hotel to call us a cab yang pakai meter. the cab yang arrive to pick us up apparently tak nak pakai meter. he wanted to charge us rp.50,000.00 and we decided to get out and ask for another taxi tapi tiba-tiba taxi driver tu naik angin and membebel and tak bagi kitorang keluar. lepas tu we told him that dari airport ke hotel pun rp.40,000.00, how come he's charging us more? then dengan muka tak puas hati, dia pun setuju rp.40,000.00. personally i think we could have gotten rp.20,000.00 sebab bukannya jauh sangat airport tu. saung angklung lagi jauh and we were only charged rp.30,000.00 pakai meter. you could tell the taxi driver memang tak puas hati tak dapat rp.50,000.00 because he was revving his car up and bawak laju-laju and rapat-rapat dengan the vehicles in front. frankly, i don't care. kalau accident pun, he'll be the one to pay for the damages. and we'll get to the airport lagi cepat anyway bila you drive macamtu. haha. padan muka. bodoh.

so anyway, to wrap my bandung escapade, i love the fact that i can shop there till i drop. but i really do dislike most of the taxi drivers. bad attitude and very dishonest.