Jakarta & Bandung Trip - Part 2

Hello everybody,

Hope you guys are having great weekend. Mine is not bad either. hehehe. So, lets continue with my trip review :)

-- This gonna be a long post, so please bear with me okay ;p

Day 3:

We started our day quite early since we were heading to Mount Tangkuban Parahu for sightseeing session. Our driver (aka supir) waited patiently for us at the lobby since 7.30AM (almaklumlaa.. lima anak dara -- opss, empat anak dara dan sorang mak dara nak bersiap. surelaa makan mase. lagipun we ols amik family room. so kena pandai2 share bathroom tue). As usual, i loved to enjoy the views and taking pictures along the way up to the volcanic mountain :)

 fresh air.... the clear blue skies gave plus point to the view :)

 tea plantation

The journey from our hotel to Tangkuban Parahu took about 1 hour drive (depending on the traffic). That was my first time visiting Lembang area since i only went to White Crater (Kawah Putih) for sightseeing during my trip last year. So this is definitely a new experience for me. Overall i prefer White Crater eventhough the journey are much longer (it took me about 3 hours). 

Why? First - i can go straightly to the crater without needing to do some trekking (u need to go through about 2 hours trekking in order to reach the safest crater at Tangkuban Parahu which is Ratu Crater - Plus, u even need to pay for the tour guide. Well, i don't have much time for that since shopping was the main priority :p So i just enjoy the view from the upper part of the mountain). Second - there were no people bugging me to buy their stuffs throughout my visit (i can enjoy the view without having people bothering me at White Crater. Unlike at Tangkuban Parahu... I even don't have the guts to say NO to them! huh... unlucky me). Third - i don't have to regret buying souvenirs at higher price. Beware of this, usually sellers at Tangkuban Parahu will set the price more than double or triple of the price u can actually get. So if you really insist to buy the stuffs there, bargain as much as u want. For example - at first i was offered 1 packet of fridge magnet (consist of 2 pieces) for Rp100k (which the price was really absurd.. so i ask Rp100k for 3 packets). Actually u can get 5 packets for Rp100k! (if you are smart and persistent enough, you might save more). I felt like banging my head to the wall when i found out that i do not bargain enough for the souvenirs. Lesson learnt! Perhaps that was the first and the last trip to Tangkuban Parahu for me (or perhaps.. i should not look at the stuffs next time :p).

at 1830meter above sea level

Mount Tangkuban Parahu -- the crater

There was nothing much interesting there except the scenery (perhaps i should explore more but i was too busy looking for souvenirs -- haha.. served me right!). We only spent about two hours there then we headed to Kampung Daun for lunch. We really fell in love with the calm atmosphere there. Having our meal in a beautiful hut beside a small stream was really peaceful. We ate like there was no tomorrow! We don't even bother about the time. We really had a splendid evening there. The foods was great.. and of course, the ambiance really added to the point (the price we paid was incomparable to any fine dining here. all in all, really worth it!)

 beautiful view :)

our lunch at Kampung Daun.. yummy!

Eventhough we were bloated to the max, surprisingly there was energy left for shopping! hahaha. So there goes the time when we were terrorizing factory outlets at Setiabudi road. Of course we went to the famous Rumah Mode first! Then we went to Fashion World (replacing Natural -- my fav FO during last year trip. Well, 3 of us bought same ZARA jacket there. hahaha. dah macam kembar siam. selamat x lima2 beli yang same), Donatello and others.

 at Fashion World entrance

After splurging our money at Setiabudi, we moved to Dago area. That was really challenging scenario since we have more factory outlets to explore and yet we don't have enough money to spend :(

We walked in Central Fashion, Grande, Jetset and Blossom (we have to restricted ourselves to these 4 F.O only.. can't imagine if we explored more. huhuhu. more FO means more money to spend!). Like the days before, we shopped till the end of the operation hour! hahaha. Shopping is like therapy. You won't feel hungry or tired when there's a lot to catch :p

But still, we headed to Dago Pakar hillside to have our dinner. This time i chose The Valley Restaurant for us (offered wide range of western cuisines.. and of course, lots of good looking waiter ready to serves you. sumenye pun ganteng bangat! kenyang perut dan bersih mata kami mlm itu :p) The foods was great and the ambiance was really nice. We had very interesting conversation there and were laughing like nobody's business. We went back with happy heart, full stomach, itchy foots and empty wallet! hahaha =}

 my Chicken Cordon Bleu

our catch of the day -- note that the number of our shopping bags gradually decreased (just like the money in our wallets! hahaha)

Day 4:

We started our day with some shopping at Kartika Sari (a bakery shop). We bought lots of brownies to bring back home and continued our bargain hunting at Pasar Baru! Can u believe it? hahaha. We returned there for final shopping on textile. We even bought 4 bags  for our luggage (big sizes! -- since we only came with backpacks. hihihi). We then checked out of the hotel and headed to Riau road. We went to Summit, Heritage and Cascade for our last F.O visit. 

went to Pak Chi Met for lunch.. very nice Sundanese food :)

Since we were already exhausted, we decided to pamper ourselves at the spa before we went back to Jakarta. I did foot reflexology and ear candling since we don't have much time. Otherwise, i'll definitely opt for full body massage! (super duper cheap... irresistible okeh!)

Mariaty's Spa facade

inside the spa (it's an art gallery too. you can buy the stuffs there if you are interested)

ear candling session

After some retreat at the spa, we then had our dinner at Grande's Cafe. We said bye2 to Bandung and left for Jakarta around 10PM. We were sent to Jakarta by Zafira's Car. At Jakarta, we chose a hotel near the airport for our convenience. The hotel also provide free airport shuttle so we wont be rushing and having headache thinking about transportation on our last day. We reached Jakarta at midnight.. so basically after we cleaned ourselves we dozed off and slept like a log! :p

Day 5:

After breakfast we re-packed our stuffs and ready to go back. We almost fainted looking at the total luggage. Never thought that all of us are shopaholics! (but of course, my sis is champion among all :p) hahaha... Nevertheless, this trip definitely was fun & meaningful to all of us :)

There goes my story... looking forward for next trip! Well, for family day perhaps. hehehe (^__^)

p/s: we were shocked to find out that Randy aka Galang (the actor of sinetron Cinta Kirana) was at Bandung the day we left for Jakarta. We even passed by the mall he did a gig on the next morning during our way back to Jakarta. If we knew it earlier, we might decided to stay! *sigh* hahaha. Galang oohh Galang :p

Till then.

Regards,