Jakarta to Bandung, March 16, 2010

Day 2.

March 16, 2010

We got up very early in the morning to get our train at 6.15 am at Statiun Gambir. This station was close to the hotel and it cost us around Rph 10, 000 per taxi. The hotel had arranged 3 taxis for us. Seem that not so busy at this time. Before going to Jakarta, my friend Suhaila suggested me to take train to go to Bandung by using AgroGede.. .

She promised me that the journey gonna be great.  So i called my Indonesian friend to book the ticket. Luckily, my friend, Yanti had made a reservation for us.  Thanks, Yanti. I really appreciated your help.

The ticket cost us Rph 65,000 per person. After checking in, we headed to the rite place. Once the train arrived at 6.15 am we boarded in and went straight to the seat. We noticed that not so many people in our coach. 

Maybe because that today was a public holiday in Indonesia, Nyepi Day for Hindus. When the train started to move, the the ticket attendance looked at our tickets and said that we were in the wrong coach.haa..haa...Our journey was so great with panoramic view. hilly and green...So fresh. I think it must be different if we go by car. It took about 2 hours to reach Bandung.

We reached at Statiun Utara in Bandung at 10.30 am. My friend cum tour guide, Iwan Parmal Saputra, was supposedly waiting for us.

Bapak Iwan Parmal Saputra

Our van

Once the train stopped, we were heading to the exit. From the distance i could see the smile of Iwan. After introducing ourselves, he helped us with our luggages.

We got in to the van and proceeded to Tangkuban Perahu as stated on our itinerary. At first, we decided to go to Kawah Putih, but after having some news from Liena who went to Bandung last week about land slide due to heavy rain there we chose Mt Tangkuban Perahu as an alternative.

At this station, i also had a chance meeting my friend, Mbak Anis Wisaksono upon our arrival. I was very happy because before this we had only a chance to talk thru phone and facebook. But finally, 'ketemu benaran kok'....Tq to Mbak Anis. (kesudiannya ketemu aku di Bandung). I introduced her to the group and we also took pictures. We ( me and mbak Anis ) promised to meet again at nite. I hope we had little time to have a cup of tea or coffee. INSYALLAH...

Before starting our journey, Bapak Iwan told us that he needed to stop at the Cemerlang Hotel to do the check in. But we did not have to get off the van. 

While waiting, we saw wedding ceremony being held at the hotel. At that moment we saw the bride and the groom just arrived at the hotel. We thought this was a great moment to witnessed the event. After asking permission from the host of the event, we took some pictures of them and we also took a chance to take a picture with the bride and groom. They looked so beautiful. Pak Iwan said, they were Sundanese.

We proceeded our trip, but on the way to Mt Tangkuban Perahu, we headed to have our lunch at Balibu Restaurant. From my observation, this place was a common place for tourist to come and try the Sundanese cuisine. 

This place was packed with tourist's vans or cars. When we reached there, it was raining, and our stomachs started singing..Heee...We were served with many delicious menus. We felt so excited when saw the flying fish.. Yummy! yummy!

What could i say, Indonesia people are so creative. 

Just look at the fish..

Everything was served to us, gone very quickly..ha..ha...well... we just had very light breakfast in coach. Ha'ah just excuses.. It's still raining, but we proceeded to Mt.Tangkuban Perahu.

We reached at Mt Tangkuban Perahu at 12.14pm. In our van, Iwan, our tour guide told us the mitos of Tangkuban Perahu. Tangkuban means fllipped and perahu means boat. So it means the shape of the mountain is like a flipped boat.After paying the entrance tickets (Rph 80,000 per person), we slowly went to the summit.The road was not in good condition. zig zag all the way up...Once we got off the van, instantly smelled the strong smell of sulfur. 

The cool , windy, smelly air was blowing towards our faces. Well as usual, taking pictures was a must. Just a tip to others, that sellers here were persistent. Just bargain as much as you can.While did some shopping here, the heavy rain started. It made our visit very limited here. We decided to got in to the van and back to Bandung.

Reaching Bandung at 3.30pm, the traffic bit heavy because it was a public holiday in Indonesia. After had some discussions with Iwan, we went to Saung Angklung Udjo (SAU) to watch the angklung performance.

Talented kids were performing...

Pria ganteng

Ibu ayu..hee..

My hand was playing angklung...

Angklung session

This place also had training centre to preserve the Sundanese culture like Angklung in particular. Most of parents like to send their children here and it is free. We took about two hours here.After the performance, some of us did our prayers here. The surrounding here was so nice. But we did not have enough time to look around.

Due to the traffic and time constrain, we decided to have our dinner bit early so that we could do some shopping before checked in to the hotel. Again, food was our priority heee..thanks GOD that we went to the rite place to try many local dishes.

Emmm apa lagi...Belasahhhhh...heee...We really enjoyed the food. The rumah makan's name was so funny. IGA BAKAR MANG BUNCIT....I hope it would do the same thing to our stomachs..BUNCITT.....Yess..the food really made our stomachs 'BUNCIT' at the end....haa..haa..worth it...I just knew that 'MANG' means Pak..

As warming up for the tomorrow activity - shopping, we went to Secret, one of the latest Factory Outlet.

The place was so nice as well as the assistances. They were very friendly and helpful. Most of the factory outlets here had a very great ambiance. It would make you to do the shopping more and more. I spent almost Rph 1 juta here.. After did some shopping here, we checked in to the hotel. I did some traditional massage before sleeping in my room.What a day... It just cost me Rph 75, 000 for 1 hour. Goshh.. deep sleep...means more energy for tomorrow..SHOPPINGGGG....