Bandung & Jakarta New Year Trip : Part 1

So....hello again everyone...well now Mr.Mon wants to tell you about his 2013 new year trip to Bandung and Jakarta....

So a few months ago my friends and I bought our new year trip ticket from non other than AirAsia. Hehehe. (yer yer saya mmg duta AirAsia! :P) We managed to get to and fro tickets for RM150 only. To Bandung and coming back from Jakarta. We were planning to go to Bandung first and to celebrate new years eve in Jakarta. Guess this is pretty normal to all Jakarta or Bandung goers (going to both place) since they are only 2 hours apart. Without the traffic jam mind you! Hehe. With the traffic jam and all it would be around hmmm 6 hours was what my friend had to endure the last time he went there. :) But since we were planning to go to Jakarta by train so that thought never crossed our mind again. Phew.

Soooo... If you guys are also planning to do both Jakarta & Bandung like we did, please please try to use the train. It took only 3 hours. Plus the scenery was really nice along the way. You can see the terraced paddy fields....the gorge below when the train passed the many bridges....and of course the Indonesian country side... I am really into scenery so I really enjoyed it. The first half hour of the train ride though....coz I fell asleep the rest of the way after that! Haha. Not that I won't enjoy it though. :) Oh yeah the train ride cost only RM28 / RP 90,000 for the most expensive one. So yeah...it was really worth it compared to enduring the 6 hour traffic if your were to go by taxi or bus.

So let's see the pics now...

So this was our hotel in Bandung... Jelita Parahyangan. Booked it though Agoda. We stayed there the 6 of us in the family room. The room had 1 large room that had 2 queen beds and a smaller room connected inside it that had 2 single beds. We only had to pay RM40 per person for 3 nights here. Hmmm around RP125,000 per person. The room was really OK for the price we paid. Plus it included breakfast which was a simple buffet of Indonesian food like fried rice noodles...fried rice..toast and egg and fresh juice. The hotel was really near to the Bandung Train Station (around 400 metres) and the famous Pasar Baru (around 1km) and to the place to eat and hangout...Food Market @ Paskal Hypermall (around 500 metres). You can definitely walk to all these places. But for all the factory outlets you can just get the BlueBird taxi which was really cheap since all factory outlet are just around 10mins drive from the hotel. I do recommend it for the budget conscious. But do ask for a room further from the street. Mine was exactly facing the street and was a bit noisy even at night from the noise of the motorcycles. *oops too long caption! :P

 So we arrived very late night...Early morning the next day we went straight to the train station to buy our tickets to Jakarta. Tickets were RP90,000 only. You should buy your tickets earlier just to avoid any dissapointment. Though there were quite a few scheduled trains daily (more than 5), you just need to always plan early right... Plus the train station was only 5 minutes walk from our hotel. :)

We had early lunch here. The shop was just in front of the Bandung train station. Oh btw my friend was the one who really wanted to eat here since he tried it before. Well...I'm not really in love with food with no sauces. Everything was dry but that's how the Sundanese like it. And my friend too apparently... :P

Selection of food at the Warung Ampera... See no sauces at all. Me no likeyyy. Huhu.

The new year's eve gang had lunch then went for some shopping at Pasar Baru...

Ice Cream Durian stalls were everywhere in Bandung. I definitely would have bought one if not for my Atkins Diet.  Damnn.. :(

This is the Food Market @ Paskal Hypermall. Please drop by here whenever you're in Bandung. This pic only shows 10% of the total of stalls here! (Seriously...singgah sini kalau korang pegi Bandung mmg besttt! Oh yer just make sure they have the HALAL wording coz ade gak yg tak halal )

Food Market @ Paskal Hypermall. This pic shows only one side of the food place. The place is a huge open air very cool food court! Very nice! It's a must!!!

Kartika Sari at our behind (eh haha our behind :P). Kartika Sari is one of the famous brownies brand in Bandung. But I prefer Amanda though. The Pandan Brownies by Amanda are to die for! Recommended sangat!!!

Of course...the one and only Rumah Mode. Your Bandung trip would not be complete if you don't go to this factory outlet! Just go and you will surely find something to spend your money on! Kalau tak cukup cash apa lagi swipe ajerrr. Hehe. Btw the food place here has grown 3 times larger than the last time I was here 3 years ago! Food is great! They already have Bumbu Desa as one of their main restaurant apart from their signature Java Bean Coffee (Indo's Starbucks).

I read about this steakhouse in one of the blogs. So had dinner here. This one was in Dago Plaza @ Jalan Dago. Yeah it was cheap but portion too was a bit small. My beef steak was not even half an inch thick. Tak kenyang for a big eater like me! Terus makan KFC lepas tu for supper. Don't really recommend it. Go eat Padang food better. :)

This is Dago Plaza. Where the hip and the young (and the young at heart like me) hangout. They have a decent foodcourt at ground level inside...and cafes and restaurants too.

So after 2 days in Bandung, I lost a few hundred ringgit!....to the cashiers. :P But got a few shirts, nice CK briefs and two cool sandals in return. So ok ok laaaa. :D Have to simpan some more cash for Jakarta the next 3 days. But I will continue on Jakarta on my next entry ya. Take care all. Mr.Mon out...


Recommended Hotel in Bandung : Jelita Parahyangan Hotel @ Jalan Pasir Kaliki - very value for money
http://www.jelitaparahyanganbandung.com/