Sabahananjung Girl: Bandung Budget Trip Day 1

It was a hell of a lot of fun in Bandung. Turned out going with high-school friends filled the trip with tons of contagious laughs and utter insanity! I love how we look after each other's back till the end, rumour has it that you shouldn't travel more than 3 days to avoid dispute in the group. But thank God we were okay! 4 of us from the original 6, had the time of our life! Ceh lebih-lebih pula.

I must tell you guys that we got RM105/pax return flights KL-BDO! Sila jealous! I then got a Supir number from my office mate and asked my travel buddy to ring him up. It was fated that we had the cheapest vacation ever. RM1210 for transportation to everywhere we want to go and 4 days 3 nights stay in Hotel Unik, 2 twin rooms with breakfast! So it was RM303 per pax. Mama said it was really cheap. Yeah...nama pun Budget Trip kan. Rate 4400 x 0.34 = 1,496.00.

We packed lightly and went on board the earliest flight, 1 hour 20 minutes journey to Bandara Husein Sastranegara Bandung. For unknown reason, I was separated from my group and sat with a nice lady. She tagged along a big group on a business trip. They had one guy heading the group to specific suppliers in Bandung. I had a really nice chat with her, about travelling, life etc. Guess what, the morning got more interesting. I went to the loo to fix my make-up and seeing the green light, I opened the ladies' door only to find a woman squatting on the toilet seat! I can't erase her horror looking face from my memory. Oh my god...

Coming back to our adventure story, meeting our Supir, Pak L, was a new thing to us. We never had hired driver so we went guessing at the entrance. Mana satu kau ni hah. "Look if any of them got my name" said my friend. Wow I said to myself. Feels like we're in a movie.

But nope, Pak L didn't hold any name board, he just came up to us. Ah well.

First Day

Our itinerary for the day was to go straight to Pasar Baru, that was all. No rush.

Bandung city view from Pasar Baru parking lot

Pasar Baru is a big mall, selling clothes, accessories, handbags, fabric, telekung/tudung, shoes, each in different floor (or they called it Lantai).

This picture don't do justice to the fact that we fought huge crowd down there

My two girls wanted make baju kurung for their family so we went fabric hunting.

They quote us 'Pecah Telur' price. Pasar Baru was just opened when we got there

Japanese/English cotton at RM30/4 metres

Amazing that we were done in Pasar Baru. Starving, our Supir brought us to Simpang Raya for Padang cuisines!

Pleasant Simpang Raya Restaurant

Pay by plates

I just love Padang food

Paid 154000 incl 10% tax. 5 plates of rice for 27500, 2 dendeng batokok for 25000, gule kambing for 17000, 2 telur 9000, 3 drinks 39000, terong teri 1 for 85000, perkedel 2 for 9000, oseng 5000.
We went to our hotel afterwards, to shower.

Random Bandung street-side. Some places have a touch of Dutch colonial architecture

Bandung, Parijs van Java. Love the cool climate

Could have taken Angkutan Kota, their common public transport

Universitas Islam Bandung

Kartika Sari HQ and Hotel Unik on a same street (or back alley?)

Unfortunately our rooms were not ready so we went to Kartika Sari, the infamous bakery in Bandung, known for its mouth watering brownies.

My favourite! * squeal* Fruit tarts 4500 rupiah or about RM1.50 each

and another favourite! Macaroons! Banana chocolate 6000 rupiah or RM2 per piece

They're also selling traditional delicacies

Too many

...and cakes, pastries, ice-creams, chocolates

Enough with Kartika Sari, we went out to the main road, just to have a look and found Durian ice-cream!

Durian Ice-Cream. Too bad I don't dare to try for my stomach is the weakest

They said it was extremely yummy.
Finally we got into our room. Least expected that the room would be a great value for money.

Our bedroom in Hotel Unik. Clean, comfortable and exceed expectation :)

However...I repeat however...they've the most sensitive problem to any of us, water! The bathroom was so-so and we don't complaint much except for the occasional night water shortage and when the hot shower just decided not to work. Thank goodness we were all cool and laugh about it. Enjoyed taking photos of a friend in towel and shampoo all over her head.

All fresh, we went back to Pasar Baru! One of my girls decided to send the fabrics to Harmony Style 3rd Floor Block C2 for express tailoring. RM96 for a kebaya, custom made and sent to our Hotel in 2 1/2 days. This time we asked Pak L to drop us outside the mall.

Market just outside Pasar Baru, along the road

The crowd and trishaw passing by

A cart selling fried tofu

We don't stay long in Pasar Baru. Not to waste time, we decided to visit Rumah Mode, a well known factory outlet in Bandung. Actually it wasn't that easy. We were playing the game I-don't-mind-going-anywhere-you-decide.