Took leave on Friday, 16 February for the family trip to Bandung. The trip was booked ten months earlier and supposed to have taken place during the Independence Day weekend last year but India beckoned me then. Hence, I had to change the trip dates twice - first to rectify the wrong return date I had accidentally chosen [22 September instead of 2 September - only a ditsy girl could do that kind of error], and then to change the dates altogether from August/September 2006 to February 2007 – costing me quite a considerable sum of dosh. This is how I lose my money: change of flight dates, change of flight details, adding additional passenger, all for my Indonesian trips.
Seemed that I’ve been spending the various New Years at places beginning with ‘B’: Bangkok was during the 1 January weekend, then Bali was during the Muslim New Year weekend and Bandung during the Chinese New Year weekend.
There is only one flight out to Bandung daily and ours took off at 8 am [scheduled take-off is 7.35 am]. As Bandung is an hour behind, we arrived after 9 am and after the plane had circled the surroundings of Bandung numerous times. See, Bandung is surrounded by a ring of mountains, and landing and take-off from its small, miniscule airport Husein Sastranegara is pretty challenging. The airport can only serve certain sized aircrafts.
Our hotel pick-up was already waiting and after waiting for another couple, we set off for the hotel. As it was still early, we could not yet check in and instead decided to go in search for some brunch. The hotel concierge suggested we go to a nearby restaurant serving Sundanese food (Sunda is the ethnic local name for West Javanese). We didn’t particularly enjoy it as the dishes were salty.
We returned to the hotel, checked in and after prayers, Mummy and I decided to be brave and adventurous and take the local transport called angkot [short for angkotan kota, literally translated it means city transportation] to Pasar Baru Trade Centre. The angkot are mainly converted mini-vans in two-colour schemes with the seats facing each other [i.e. with your head against the window]. Everyone uses it, from school children to office workers to the young Sundanese couple and tourists. You must shout out, ‘Kiri!’ if you want to stop [literally translated, it means Left, i.e. pull over to the left]. The fares are dirt cheap and start from 1000 Rupiah.
Pasar Baru is a big building of 8 floors [including a basement and food court at the sixth floor] and sells various things like clothes, shoes, ladies’ prayer attire [telekung], materials for gowns and kebaya... It closes at 5 pm daily.
We decided to take a tour to Mount Tangkuban Perahu on Saturday. The driver picked us up at 9 and drove us through the city centre, pointing out various landmarks and buildings built by the Dutch. As we travelled further north of the city, we began to appreciate why the city was called Parijs van Java (Paris of Java). The northern suburbs still maintain their graceful residential areas with tree-lined boulevards.
We drove past the town of Lembang; the rich, fertile soil the town is blessed with [thanks to nearby volcanic mountains] enables it to produce vegetables, corn, tea, strawberry and milk. The air was getting increasingly cosy and cool as we ascended further up to the mountain. We could smell the sulphurous fumes even before reaching the area. The ‘overturned boat’ had, years ago, collapsed under the weight of built-up ash and instead of the usual conical volcano shape, it has a flat elongated summit with a huge caldera.
Of course, there is a local legend to explain this phenomenon:
An estranged young prince returned home and fell in love with his mother. When the queen discovered the terrible truth of her lover’s identity, she challenged him to build a dam and huge boat during a single night before she would agree to marry him. Seeing the young man about to complete his impossible mission, she prayed that the sun rose early and as the cocks began to crow, the prince turned his nearly completed boat over in anger.
We were met and accosted by dozens of peddlers and started to get uncomfortable with all the various suggestions [‘You should take the picture from this angle’, ‘You should go down this pathway’, ‘Won’t you consider buying this?’ while pointing to various merchandises they had with them...]. We left after about only half an hour there, admiring the view and marvelling at the still simmering and bubbling mountain.
We drove down to Ciater, passing tea plantations. Ciater’s main attraction is the Sari Ater Hot Spring Resort but we decided not to enter, opting instead to return to Lembang. We had a good lunch washed down with fresh milk at a clean eatery, before returning to Bandung.
Traffic heading out of Bandung had started to build as the afternoon progressed and even though we were on the way back, the situation was hardly any better on our side of the road. We managed to stop at Rumah Mode factory outlet at Jalan Setiabudhi [it reminds me of an almost similarly named road in KL] before returning to the hotel.
Sunday/Chinese New Year: we took a few angkot to travel in the city, going from one factory outlet to another. There are many factory outlets in the city, some are clustered near each other but some are quite isolated buildings. All that hopping in and out and up and down the angkot, and being jostled here and there in the small space while enduring bumpy rides and knocking my head against the door while exiting had me feeling quite dizzy before long.
Abah managed to get a good deal on a pair of trousers, size 33 [yes, he’s lost weight and three inches off his waist! Sadly he can no longer fit into any of those trousers I bought for him earlier - all that searching and suffering at Isetan Men’s Department previously...!]. He also bought a pair of trendy footwear at another shoes outlet and I bought a pair of wedges too. As for Mummy, she was looking for a bag but couldn’t find anything to her fancy but was satisfied anyway as she managed to buy layer cakes from Kartika Sari, a famous local bakery which only has branches in Bandung [we found out about this bakery by word of mouth during our Shanghai trip eight months ago!].
We then returned to the hotel to rest and perform prayers.
Mummy and I then braved the afternoon rain and went back to Pasar Baru. I decided to get a Bandung haircut and was happy to find a salon in the market. We didn’t buy much as we had less than two hours to browse and bargain and shop.
Dinner was had at a Minang Restaurant about one km from the hotel.
Woke on Monday feeling slightly under the weather. Turned out I had a slight temperature [I had been experiencing gas and wind in my tummy from the evening before] and a mild diarrhoea. Not good news when you’re about to travel surely so I swallowed some PCM and diarrhoea pills. We checked out and left for the airport at 7 am for the 9.05 flight back to KUL.
I was feeling slightly worse after the plane and coach ride back to KL so decided to return to HQ with my parents [I originally wanted to return back to micasa]. Visited the doctor and was told I had a temperature of 39C.
So that was on the Bandung trip, the good and fun times had and the bad misfortune of falling ill just as we were departing.
~~~~~~~~
Left HQ for micasa on Tuesday morning. I was looking forward to resting and relaxing after unpacking and ironing but what do you know... some lowlife threw yet another plastic bag of viscous sticky gooey stuff onto my porch. This time, I think it was mixed with paint because tried as I might, I could not for the life of me, in my recuperating state, get the stain off on Tuesday evening. Asked Abah to drive me to the police station where I lodged a report and endured over an hour-long wait to record my statement. Seriously, couldn’t they have made the procedure simpler? I was about to recover from my fever but even a healthy person can fall ill after spending only 15 minutes while waiting in the waiting room, with all that acrid cigarette smell.
The porch now looks ugly and horrendous like it has been sprayed with graffiti and I can’t help wondering again and again who could stoop so low to do that kind of mean and malicious and spiteful act on another person. I felt like crying and shouting and screaming and weeping at the same time but I didn’t. I just pray that God will deliver the perpetrators their just punishment. It’s just so sickening and sad how low people can get and I don’t even think they got the right person or right address. That’s what makes it even more annoying. And what did they hope to achieve? For me to leave this house altogether?
Thankfully, when I think more and harder, I realise it’s just a porch. It’s not my life at stake here, well, at least, not yet. And I’m still not 100% well to worry and dwell too much on this, although yes, it’s just so bloody annoying.
If I don’t show up at work one day, or don't return calls or answer emails for no reason other than being ill or away on trips, then call the police and report me missing, will you.
Seemed that I’ve been spending the various New Years at places beginning with ‘B’: Bangkok was during the 1 January weekend, then Bali was during the Muslim New Year weekend and Bandung during the Chinese New Year weekend.
There is only one flight out to Bandung daily and ours took off at 8 am [scheduled take-off is 7.35 am]. As Bandung is an hour behind, we arrived after 9 am and after the plane had circled the surroundings of Bandung numerous times. See, Bandung is surrounded by a ring of mountains, and landing and take-off from its small, miniscule airport Husein Sastranegara is pretty challenging. The airport can only serve certain sized aircrafts.
Our hotel pick-up was already waiting and after waiting for another couple, we set off for the hotel. As it was still early, we could not yet check in and instead decided to go in search for some brunch. The hotel concierge suggested we go to a nearby restaurant serving Sundanese food (Sunda is the ethnic local name for West Javanese). We didn’t particularly enjoy it as the dishes were salty.
We returned to the hotel, checked in and after prayers, Mummy and I decided to be brave and adventurous and take the local transport called angkot [short for angkotan kota, literally translated it means city transportation] to Pasar Baru Trade Centre. The angkot are mainly converted mini-vans in two-colour schemes with the seats facing each other [i.e. with your head against the window]. Everyone uses it, from school children to office workers to the young Sundanese couple and tourists. You must shout out, ‘Kiri!’ if you want to stop [literally translated, it means Left, i.e. pull over to the left]. The fares are dirt cheap and start from 1000 Rupiah.
Pasar Baru is a big building of 8 floors [including a basement and food court at the sixth floor] and sells various things like clothes, shoes, ladies’ prayer attire [telekung], materials for gowns and kebaya... It closes at 5 pm daily.
We decided to take a tour to Mount Tangkuban Perahu on Saturday. The driver picked us up at 9 and drove us through the city centre, pointing out various landmarks and buildings built by the Dutch. As we travelled further north of the city, we began to appreciate why the city was called Parijs van Java (Paris of Java). The northern suburbs still maintain their graceful residential areas with tree-lined boulevards.
We drove past the town of Lembang; the rich, fertile soil the town is blessed with [thanks to nearby volcanic mountains] enables it to produce vegetables, corn, tea, strawberry and milk. The air was getting increasingly cosy and cool as we ascended further up to the mountain. We could smell the sulphurous fumes even before reaching the area. The ‘overturned boat’ had, years ago, collapsed under the weight of built-up ash and instead of the usual conical volcano shape, it has a flat elongated summit with a huge caldera.
Of course, there is a local legend to explain this phenomenon:
An estranged young prince returned home and fell in love with his mother. When the queen discovered the terrible truth of her lover’s identity, she challenged him to build a dam and huge boat during a single night before she would agree to marry him. Seeing the young man about to complete his impossible mission, she prayed that the sun rose early and as the cocks began to crow, the prince turned his nearly completed boat over in anger.
We were met and accosted by dozens of peddlers and started to get uncomfortable with all the various suggestions [‘You should take the picture from this angle’, ‘You should go down this pathway’, ‘Won’t you consider buying this?’ while pointing to various merchandises they had with them...]. We left after about only half an hour there, admiring the view and marvelling at the still simmering and bubbling mountain.
We drove down to Ciater, passing tea plantations. Ciater’s main attraction is the Sari Ater Hot Spring Resort but we decided not to enter, opting instead to return to Lembang. We had a good lunch washed down with fresh milk at a clean eatery, before returning to Bandung.
Traffic heading out of Bandung had started to build as the afternoon progressed and even though we were on the way back, the situation was hardly any better on our side of the road. We managed to stop at Rumah Mode factory outlet at Jalan Setiabudhi [it reminds me of an almost similarly named road in KL] before returning to the hotel.
Sunday/Chinese New Year: we took a few angkot to travel in the city, going from one factory outlet to another. There are many factory outlets in the city, some are clustered near each other but some are quite isolated buildings. All that hopping in and out and up and down the angkot, and being jostled here and there in the small space while enduring bumpy rides and knocking my head against the door while exiting had me feeling quite dizzy before long.
Abah managed to get a good deal on a pair of trousers, size 33 [yes, he’s lost weight and three inches off his waist! Sadly he can no longer fit into any of those trousers I bought for him earlier - all that searching and suffering at Isetan Men’s Department previously...!]. He also bought a pair of trendy footwear at another shoes outlet and I bought a pair of wedges too. As for Mummy, she was looking for a bag but couldn’t find anything to her fancy but was satisfied anyway as she managed to buy layer cakes from Kartika Sari, a famous local bakery which only has branches in Bandung [we found out about this bakery by word of mouth during our Shanghai trip eight months ago!].
We then returned to the hotel to rest and perform prayers.
Mummy and I then braved the afternoon rain and went back to Pasar Baru. I decided to get a Bandung haircut and was happy to find a salon in the market. We didn’t buy much as we had less than two hours to browse and bargain and shop.
Dinner was had at a Minang Restaurant about one km from the hotel.
Woke on Monday feeling slightly under the weather. Turned out I had a slight temperature [I had been experiencing gas and wind in my tummy from the evening before] and a mild diarrhoea. Not good news when you’re about to travel surely so I swallowed some PCM and diarrhoea pills. We checked out and left for the airport at 7 am for the 9.05 flight back to KUL.
I was feeling slightly worse after the plane and coach ride back to KL so decided to return to HQ with my parents [I originally wanted to return back to micasa]. Visited the doctor and was told I had a temperature of 39C.
So that was on the Bandung trip, the good and fun times had and the bad misfortune of falling ill just as we were departing.
~~~~~~~~
Left HQ for micasa on Tuesday morning. I was looking forward to resting and relaxing after unpacking and ironing but what do you know... some lowlife threw yet another plastic bag of viscous sticky gooey stuff onto my porch. This time, I think it was mixed with paint because tried as I might, I could not for the life of me, in my recuperating state, get the stain off on Tuesday evening. Asked Abah to drive me to the police station where I lodged a report and endured over an hour-long wait to record my statement. Seriously, couldn’t they have made the procedure simpler? I was about to recover from my fever but even a healthy person can fall ill after spending only 15 minutes while waiting in the waiting room, with all that acrid cigarette smell.
The porch now looks ugly and horrendous like it has been sprayed with graffiti and I can’t help wondering again and again who could stoop so low to do that kind of mean and malicious and spiteful act on another person. I felt like crying and shouting and screaming and weeping at the same time but I didn’t. I just pray that God will deliver the perpetrators their just punishment. It’s just so sickening and sad how low people can get and I don’t even think they got the right person or right address. That’s what makes it even more annoying. And what did they hope to achieve? For me to leave this house altogether?
Thankfully, when I think more and harder, I realise it’s just a porch. It’s not my life at stake here, well, at least, not yet. And I’m still not 100% well to worry and dwell too much on this, although yes, it’s just so bloody annoying.
If I don’t show up at work one day, or don't return calls or answer emails for no reason other than being ill or away on trips, then call the police and report me missing, will you.
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