This is my 3rd time visiting Indonesia. Well, of course I visited 3 different places of Indonesia for the past 3 years.
My first visit was Jogjakarta in the year 2012, with my cousins.
My second visit was Bali in the year 2013, with some of my closest friends, or shall I call them my sisters ☺️
As for 2014, my third visit is Bandung & Jakarta, with my buddies whom I've known forever and some of their partners.
The streets and people are not much difference than the last 2 times I've visited Jogjakarta & Bali. I can still see those small and narrow shoplots along the way. People selling all kind of different things on the road, and of course never the less the traffic -- the purpose of traffic lights, well they basically don't serve any (as what my friend told me before).
Short after our arrival in the evening we checked in to Zzz Express Backpackers Hotel. Gotta say it is a heaven for backpackers like us. Definitely clean and cozy. There are 8 of us so we basically took up the dorm for 10 person.
Bunk beds are well made, although it is kinda stuffy as the room is kinda small, but other than that everything looks perfect.
It wasn't a long flight but we were kinda exhausted from all the traveling across the states (to the airport) and of course super hungry. Our friendly driver told us that there is a food court just steps away from where we stay, and we can get to choose what we wanna eat out of 1001 of choices they offer there. And yeah, not disappointing at all. The environment was awesome and the food, well very much depends on what you order of course. The weather at Bandung is quite chilly so gotta say we were quite comfortable and satisfied with our first dinner.
After a few hours of sleep, we woke up quite early the next day to prepare our own breakfast. The hostel actually prepared eggs for us to cook, one simple and nice breakfast to start off our day.
This is more like a car ride journey for all us. What I've planned for the gang on the first day is to visit the 2 famous places in Bandung - Kawah Puteh & Patenggan Lake.
It took us almost 3 hours of car ride to the destination. Luckily it wasn't disappointing at all. The first glance we had on Kawah Puteh lake was breath taking. Despite the strong smell of sulphur, the crystal blue lake and white sand was truly one of the most beautiful things to see.
On the way to Patenggan Lake we passed by these beautiful tea plantations farm. We had the driver pulled aside so that we could take some pictures. At Patenggan Lake there wasn't nothing much to see. Seems like it was gonna rain so we skipped the boat ride. We ended up with a lot of street foods along the way, with some so called fish balls harder than a rock and some fried snacks.
We wrapped up our journey with a luxurious and cozy dinner at The Stone Cafe, entertained by an awesome local band.
Day 3 as usual we woke up early. Kinda got a good sleep thanks to the beer we had yesterday. A little house-made breakfast (well more like house-made cup noodles) and there goes another day.
Depart to Tengkuban Perahu costs us another hour of car ride. The smell of sulphur were even stronger than the last 2 volcanos we visited yesterday. There were a lot of locals selling souvenirs along the roadside, and some of them were initiative enough to approach us. But we were told by our driver that these souvenirs that they are selling are expensive, but in the end we still ended up with some small souvenirs (with a good bargain of course).
Tengkuban Perahu wrapped up our sight-seeing tour for the day. It's time to get some of our money spend! We had the driver took us to some of the famous factory outlets in Bandung. Most of it are branded rejected goods. Gals ended up with clothes, whereas the guys well, doing what most guys do all the time -- sit and wait lol.
My birthday was just one day away and seriously I knew that these guys would be celebrating it for me XD
When I stepped into the room after shower, lights were all off. Shocked by the birthday song, there were also presents on my bed. Gotta admit they got me and I almost burst into tears. And that pretty much wrapped up day 3.
Day 4 the day we travel to Jakarta. We choose train instead of driver. Main reason is because it's cheaper and of course another thing to explore. We woke up at 530am and walked to the train station which located 15 minutes away from where we stay.
The train station is pretty well organized. 735am train departed. Surprisingly the executive coach is quite comfy and clean. Service on the train is also excellent as they serve breakfast with low cost.
Jakarta is the heart of Indonesia. The traffic is terribly busy. One thing that opened our eyes would be the high-end lifestyle people in Jakarta are leading. Malls are full of world leading brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel and so on. City surround by tall buildings and well renovated houses, very much difference compare to Bandung.
We've decided to enjoy our night like people here do -- going to one of the best lounge on Jakarta -- Skye Bar (located at the 56th floor of Menara BCA). We were all suit up as formal wear is required in order to enter. I meet up with a friend there and yeah we truly spent like a millionaire, cocktails and snacks. Never the less one bottle of Chivas. We all got a little drunk and I got one more thing extra which was one delicious ice cream cake for my birthday ☺️
Day 5 was kinda blank. We woke up late and depart to Mangga Dua for shopping purpose. Nothing much to buy though. We took the 3.30pm train head back to Bandung. Unfortunately there was a technical problem with the train which caused a 2 hours delay. Everyone was super tired and well a little hangover from yesterday and got a quick nap straightaway we boarded.
We grabbed a quick dinner as soon as we arrived at Bandung around 8pm. Our original plan was to continue shopping but plan cancelled due to the train delay.
That pretty much wrap up our 5 days journey at Bandung and Jakarta. It's a trip mixture of laughter, surprises, tiredness, and maybe a little bit of sickness for Ben XD
Ironically my planning for this trip kinda went a little off, but still thanks to everyone who bared with my plans and also worked something out at last minute ☺️🙏
Thanks for everything xoxo
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