Bandung Honeymoon - Day 1 and 2

Hehehe, a lot of people are apparently waiting for my Bandung trip write-up. Sorry ah, been ultra busy, but as I watch yet another fabulous episode of Project Runway, here's what hubby and I did for day 1 and 2.

Our flight to Bandung was at 11am. Many thanks to Gee for taking the time to send us to LCCT. Oya, thanks also to my MIL for coming down to take care of the kids. Heehehe, asyik le dok import mak mertua.

Flight was uneventful, I slept most of the way. We arrived at Bandung around 1pm (2pm Malaysia time). We initially walk straight out of the airport and looked for a cab. Luckily hubby needed to pee first, because it was after his toilet break did we realize that we had FORGOTTEN TO GET OUR BAGS!!!

Yek ene, tak sabar nak pi shopping le tu.

Once we had collected our bags (which took us about 30 minutes because everything is done manually!!), we headed out to search for a taxi. This wasn’t hard to do because the taxi drivers were looking for us. We picked one and told him we needed to get to Hotel Karmila, Dago.

Rp200,000 pak"

WTF??!!! I knew they would overcharge us but I didn't expect that much. We negotiated with him and he finally lowered his price down to Rp150,000. Still!!! But we had no choice, all the other taxi drivers didn't want to take us after seeing us negotiate with that guy...komplot habis!! On the way to the hotel, we asked the driver how much it would cost to hire a car and driver, in case we wanted to venture outside of Bandung city.

"Mobilnya saja Rp350,000. Kalau mau supirnya, tambah Rp150,000. Itu enggak kira petrol dan parkir."

Erkkk...yeah, right. No needlah, you bloodsucking human leech. We'll find another, much cheaper, way to get around.

We arrived at Hotel Karmila around 2pm (takde le jauh sangat dari airport pun...grrrrr). We walked in and asked for the cheapest room (standard). Hehehe...luckily they had a few but asked whether we would want to upgrade to the executive room as it had a double bed, instead of two twin beds. We declined as we intended to find the cheapest place to stay so that we could maximize our cash for shopping!! Hehehe..

The room was nice and suitable to our needs. After checking in and praying, we ventured out to look for some lunch. We were famished so we asked the hotel receptionist where the nearest place for Nasi Padang was. Turned out there was one just 100 meters from the hotel. Sweet!!

The name of the restaurant is "Restoran Simpang Raya" and apparently it's quite famous. We were warmly greeted by the hostess and were lead to a table. 2 minutes later the waiters all came out and started laying down plates and plates of food. And everything looked delicious, but I guess everything does when you haven't had a bite for 6 hours. We selected the pucuk ubi, begedel and chicken curry. The chicken curry was really nice, siap mintak kuah lebih. The rest of the dishes looked good but since we had 4 days to savor the food in Bandung, we decided to try the rest another day. The bill also was really cheap, just Rp32,500 (around RM11.50). Kat Malaysia nak dapat ke harga camtu? I don't think so.

After filling our bellies, we headed out to check out the factory outlets. All along Jl. Ir H Juanda, there were lots and lots of factory outlets. We headed in one called Blossom Family Outlet. They had a lot of clothes but unfortunately I didn't find any jeans that I liked. We did however find a lot of clothes for the girls, so pretty and cheap!! In the end, we bought 2 gowns for the girls, one each. Price = Rp131,500 (RM46) for both. Again, kat Malaysia bleh dapat ke? Guess brand some more. :D.

We went into a lot of factory outlets but mostly just to check out the prices. We walked for miles until we reached this night market place. I can't remember what it was called but it was far. We felt the distance on the way back. Hehehe. We stopped at Circle K (ala 7-11 over here) for some bread and drinks (dinner) and then called it a night.

The next day we got up and had an early breakfast. Early because it was only 7am where as we were still on Malaysia time (8am). One thing nice was that the hotel gave us a choice of either coming down for breakfast or having them send it up to our room. Of course we opted for room service. Bleh layan cite gossip TV artis Indonesia sekali. Hehehe. Breakfast was simple but filling. We both had special fried rice and black coffee.


After breakfast, we took off to Pasar Baru. Pasar Baru is the place to go to if you're looking for telekung, head gear and all kind of fabrics. We headed out quite early, at around 8.15am. We took the angkutan, which is the preferred mode of public transport. Thankfully our hotel receptionist was very helpful and told us which angkutan to take and how much it would cost. Getting an angkutan was easy; just stand outside the hotel and every 2 minutes one would drive by. We looked for one that said "St. Hall - Dago" and before long we were on our way to Pasar Baru. We told the driver our destination and he promised to show us where to get down.

After 20 minutes bumping around in the angkutan, we arrived at Pasar Baru. We were early, a lot of the shops hadn't even opened yet so we browsed the area around it for a while. We made our way to Pasar Baru at around 9am and got lost in a maze of shops selling everything, from baby clothes, to jeans, to telekungs, to handbags. I was on the lookout for some telekungs for the spa and also some new headgears for me and MIL. I didn't plan to buy any fabrics, eventhough I went crazy looking at the choices. Cantik, cantik!!! And some were so exclusive. Hubby told me to get some but I told him, wait until I become a mak datin, then I'll buy fabric like that. Hahaha.
We spent about 2 1/2 hours at Pasar Baru. I got what I came for; 5 new telekungs for the spa and quite a number of new headgears for me and MIL, which I bought at El's Desain, Lantai 1, Blok K2 No3. We took an angkutan back to the hotel for prayers. After resting for a while, we headed back out, this time to Jalan Riau. We decided to walk there as our receptionist told us it was only a 10-15 minutes walk. And we were used to walking, having walked all over the US during our Uni days.

True enough, we reached Jl. Riau in 15 minutes, even after getting a bit lost. Our first stop was at The Oasis Clothing Outlet. Again, I failed to find jeans my type. Ahh, the curse of being a supemodel mom. Hubby found some jeans he liked but decided to shop around first to check out the prices. In the end, we bought more clothes for the girls, 2 gowns each. Total spent Rp336k (RM118). For 4 beautiful gowns, that's not bad.

A few doors down was The Summit, yet another factory outlet. We spent 1/2 hour browsing through the clothes and again hubby found stuff he liked. Me? Alas, I was finding it hard to find something my taste. Whenever I found something I liked, they didn't carry my size. Grrrr.
All that serious shopping made us very hungry so we looked for a place to eat. I remember reading in Apit's blog about this nice restaurant called Dakken Coffee and Steak, so we searched around for that. We found another factory out called the Heritage which looked inviting but before we walked in, I noticed the signboard for the restaurant. Lorrr, just next door. Sweet!

Indeed the place was very nice. We were warmly greeted and lead to a table promptly. After checking out the menu, I ordered the lamb chop and lemon tea while hubby had the Sirloin steak Bali and durian shake. It didn’t' take long for our food to arrive and boy, did it look appetizing. It also tasted very good. The steaks were done just right and were very juicy. My lemon tea was a bit tangy but hubby's durian shake was very...duriany. Hehehe. All in all, our very nice lunch cost us Rp136k (RM48). Nice!!

Stomachs full and ready for more shopping, we headed back to the Heritage. It had started to rain a bit. I headed out to the ladies section, determined to buy something. At last I found a blouse that I liked and carried my size. Happily, I snatched up two; one orange, another blue. Hubby bought some boxers (Tommy Hilfiger lagi, ahaks) while I also snagged some jeans and shirts for my SIL's boy and also Ida's kids. Total damage Rp351K (RM124).

We then headed back to The Summit. I had my eyes on this really cool Burberry handbag but was hesitant to buy it coz it cost Rp390K (RM138). Still a deal, but I had never spent that much on a handbag before. Usually I just buy them during the Jusco sale for RM30. Hehehe. I jotted down the price and took a mental picture of the handbag and promised myself to sleep on it tonight. Hubby, of course, had no problem spending his money on some slacks, also Burberry brand. Total damage Rp125K (RM44).

Across the road from The Summit, we saw a few more outlets. We headed into The ForMen outlet. As the name states, this outlet carried clothes for men. Hubby fell in love with this Armani black shirt but alas they didn't carry his size. Sigh, and he looked so good in it too. He thought of buying a jacket (Hugo) but then figured he would hardly wear it back in Malaysia. What's the point? So in the end, we didn't spend in ForMen but it's a really good place to find men’s clothes.
Next door was more for me; Terminal Tas which loosely translated mean Handbag Terminal. And believe me, the place was overflowing with handbags. You name it, they've got it. From Gucci, to Bonia, to Coach, to Channel. Unfortunately, the current trend right now for handbags is the oversized ones. And I mean oversized!! I mean like, "hi, this is my handbag. It has rhinestones, can fit a toddler and costs 2000 dollars." I had a bit of a hard time finding a handbag that was not too big and in the end....I found one!! Coach some more!! And guess the price. Rp80K = RM28!!!! I was grinning ear to ear until I found out that hubby had bought a Gucci wallet AND an Armani belt. Sheeeshhh...sapa yang sepatut shopping sakan sini?

It was almost night fall and the rain had stopped drizzling so we decided to head back. We were still full from lunch so again we had bread for dinner. Penat jugak berjalan.

Days 3 and 4 coming up. Stay tuned.