My Stories....: Family Trip To Jakarta/Bandung

My husband had planned a trip to Jakarta and Bandung in Indonesia for quite sometimes. He even booked the ticket six months prior to our trip. We broke the news to our kids just two weeks before the trip. Everybody was so excited as it was the first family trip to overseas especially my first daughter. She even practiced her Indonesian languages which she picked up from the sinetron slot on TV3.

Apart from being excited, we were also worried because of the H1N1 outbreak. I kept on praying that none of us would fall sick and reminding my love ones to take care of themselves. We packed our luggage to minimum as possible to make space for our shopping spree there. The day, we had been waiting for finally emerged. Yes, 30 May 2009...Bon Voyage...Hail to Jakarta...

Our flight, MH722 was delayed half an hour due to technical problem. The kids were having fun except during the landing process. A bit of unpleasant feelings. All in, the two hours journey were very enjoyable. We passed through the immigration check point, claimed our luggage and looked for the driver (which my husband had arranged). A few telephone calls had to be made before we finally met the driver, Mr Supri alias Pakcik Janggut ( the kids gave him the nickname). We all loaded onto the 'Kijang' and headed to Bandung.

This was the scene at KLIA while waiting for MH722 flight. The kids were a bit restless...

The travelling time was supposed to be another two hours but the traffic was very bad that it took us more than 4 hours to reach Bandung. We checked in at the Wisma Wanita Hostel at 9 p.m. Our scheduled shopping to the Rumah Mode outlet factory was cancelled. The kids were flat and slept like nobody business...

31 May 2009, we woke early and get ready. The morning air was pretty cold but it was very refreshing...Mr. Supardi was already waiting for us. I was impressed with his punctuality and professionalism. We experienced our first Indonesia breakfast...quite tough to choose the food...

The first time tasted Indon gado-gado...not bad...consist of lontong, eggs, bean sprouts, shredded cucumber,tofu and fish crackers. Covered with nuts gravy.

My husband and I shared the taste of Indon gado-gado with lontong and the kids enjoyed the tapioca chips...After breakfast, we headed to pasar baru trade center. It was about 30 minutes trip from the hostel. Since it was still early, about 9 a.m., the traffic was smooth and not many patrons yet at the pasar (market).

It was not really a good idea to bring small kids to shop here as the alley between shops was about an adult size L. It was a bit annoying to me that apart from this, the drinks and foods sellers would also passed through the alley offering their products. It was more cramped than Pasar Payang in Terengganu. Anyway, the pasar had quite a lot of stuff to offer, namely from clothings, handbags up to textiles. The salepersons were very customer oriented. Maybe, it was still early in the morning that everybody was still in good moods or this was part of the culture...We headed to Level 3...textile corners...This area were spacious compared to the lower levels.

I would say the materials were good ranging from top qualities cotton, silk etc. I admired the imported cotton from Japan and French ...the design were elegant and the price were unbelievable much much cheaper than here...I bought a few pieces from Laksmi Textile...which partly were "ole-ole" for the relatives...

One of the scenes at Laksmi textile...

The kids were having good time while waiting for mummy shopping...

We left at 11a.m. and had our lunch at Nasi Padang Restaurant since my husband craved so much on the dishes. The rendangs were good and delicious but the kids could not take so much spicy food. So they ended up having fried chicken only. We had to reorder the fried chickens several times as the chickens were small ( either spring or kampung chickens).

Having lunch at Nasi Padang Restaurant. Look at the variety of dishes ... but only the fried chickens been sold out...

Next place was Selasar Sunaryo Gallery. It was located on a hilly side of Jalan Bukit Pakar Timur. Impressed with the architecture and landscape of the gallery. The welcomed gesture was two blocks (sort of square pillars) and connected with small pipings. The pipes had numerials of tiny holes and water sprinkled through the holes. The kids loved playing here and got themselves wet. I personally admired the "musolah" or prayer room. The building was designed in such a way inviting rays of natural lights from the surroundings... The gallery offered the art works of Mr. Sunaryo which mostly were based on thumb prints. The gallery also act as a public space for arts exhibition, workshops and performances. It was also completed with a cafe called Selasar Kopi. We spent a few hours here...it's worth visiting but a lot of areas were prohibited to be photographed...so we had to stick to the rules...

The main entrance to the Selasar Sunaryo Gallery.

The water structure welcomed us...

Inside the musolah or prayer room.

Notice the stairs were beautifully arranged to blend with the surrounding landscape...

The overview of
Selasar Sunaryo Gallery...

We left the gallery heavy heartedly...headed to Rumah Mode Factory Outlet. It was the popular shopping outlet well known to locals and foreigners. Since it was Sunday, the place was flooded with shoppers mainly the Jakarta folks and Malaysian...

The tips to shop was we took turn to look for our goods. First, I looked after the kids at a quiet corner (the outlet made effort to place settees and sofas for guests) while my husband roamed over men's apparels. Then, it was my turn while he looked after the kids...Ladies garments had wide varieties from casuals, formals to lingeries...however, personally I felt the limitations were the choices of colors (mainly either grey, black or white) and sizes (S,M,L but the sizes were one size smaller than here)...Good choice of fabrics...mostly cotton...Not much varieties on kids stuff...

Infront of Rumah Mode Factory Outlet

Later that day, we had dinner at Restoran Kampung Daun. Located at Lembang Hills inside the Trinity Villas. On the way, we passed through a lot of plant nurseries and strawberry parks.
The scenery were flushed of greens and luxurious villas surrounding the Trinity Villas. But the zig-zag road could only accomodate one way transport at a time. At last, we reached the entrance of the restaurant...Mr. Supri proceeded to the parking lot. The friendly waiter led us to the gazebo. Along the way, they had gazebos on the left and right sides of the roads. We were placed at the gazebo with white decorative curtains and complete with small pillows. A small stream of river ran behind the gazebo...enveloped us with a peaceful and relaxing environment. While waiting for our order, we strolled up the hill and made another fantastic discovery ... a natural water fall ... so serene...

We took our own sweet time to finish off our dinner...nasi ayam..(oops, forgot the menu). The food were so tempting and superb...It must be an authentic Indonesion delicacies...I guessed...Honestly, no regret....

By the time we finished dinner, we made another surprised discovery on our way out. The whole place was lit up by bon fire and massive candles...created a very romantic feelings which were very hard to resist...