This is about our recent trip to Indonesia. When it comes to quick getaways in this country, probably you would think of Bali, but this is not Bali we're heading to, it's Jakarta. And when we hear about Jakarta, you would think of business trips, conventions and the like, but never for sweet escapes. So why travel there? At first, I don't know what is good there too, I even wrote about my hesitations -- like Jakarta is just same- same with Manila (nothing to see there?), the notorious traffic jam, the pollution, the "pick pocketers", the natural disasters, plus it's the time of their rainy season too.
Then I tried looking for the good things, surely there is. So I've researched about Jakarta and the nearby places. Some western country bloggers really advised to skip Jakarta but I'm still not giving up.Then I found myself reading about beautiful Bandung, which is about 3hours away by train. I read very few blogs from Pinoy bloggers about Bandung. So I guess I'm going to a place less traveled...
Ang dami kong intro.hehe So let's get started with our itinerary (if in case you're interested :)). So with all these planning and hesitations, finally, my mother, may aunt and my brother are going to Indonesia...(we did already, past tense na. Haha)
Day 1
Good thing our flight via Philippine Airlines arrived on time at 1pm on my watch, while 12PM Indonesian time. We took the Blue Bird taxi ( one of the most trusted TAXI company in Indonesia). It took about an hour reaching our Hotel, the Budget Ibis. We had our late lunch there. It was also raining so hard shortly after we arrived at the Hotel, our plan of going to Merdeka Square, Monas Monument and Istiqlal Mosque was cancelled. So instead, we booked a car thru Grab going to Grand Indonesia, the largest Mall in Jakarta.
Not really that surprised, the Traffic jam welcomed us! Good thing the Grab Driver could speak English fluently. According to him, for regular days, the Mall is just 10-minute away from our Hotel, but it's more than hour and still no sign of the mall. (daig pa talaga ang EDSA).. Mr. Driver said, maybe it's really a bad timing for us , the traffic during the time could really be one of the worst, due to the heavy rain daw sabi ni kuyang driver. I saw lots of commuter having a hard time getting a ride, so it made us decide to just go back to our hotel. We might had a hard time going home (kase in Manila, even in Davao, pag umuulan pahirapan nang kuha ng taxi). So, not wanting to be a palaboy in a foreign place, we asked our driver to just bring us back to the hotel. Kaya walang nangyaring Malling haha. It wasn't really a bad thing, looking at the bright side, with our driver who became our instant tour guide, it seemed that we had a mobile city tour as he is very informative pointing on the remarkable sites of the City Center.
Day 2
Heading to Bandung Indonesia. Waiting for our 8:45am departure from Gambir Station via Argo Parahyangan, I booked our ticket thru Tiket.com coz it seems that tickets could be easily sold out.. Take note that you still have to print your boarding pass at the station by scanning your ticket up to 15minutes before departure.
The scenery approaching Bandung is beautiful - the rice paddies, mini rice terraces, the houses with that brick type roofing (forgot what it called), the pile of old train wagon …
We spent two nights in Bandung, I rented a car (with English speaking driver) via Klook. Normally on the application, you will be picked up at your Hotel. But I indicated on the special request to fetch us at Bandung Station. Got no response if it will be okay, I only have the Voucher without the driver's contact number, so I'm just guessing if my request will be granted. The train arrived 12:05 noon, and lucky us, our Klook driver holding a banner with my precious name on it, haha, was waiting for us at the Exit... It was a relief my request was served.
We had late lunch at about 1:30pm already.
First on our itinerary is to visit the Northern part of Bandung. Tangkuban Perahu is an active volcano wherein you can drive up to its very rim. This has the most expensive entrance fee we encountered, 200,000.00 rupiah (but only 20,000.00 rupiah for locals, unfair right? hehe) . I scheduled it on a Friday because it can cost 300,000.00 on weekends.
Floating Market. This is a huge park connected to Kota Mini and Rainbow garden. It's drizzling during our visit, so we didn't bother to explore the whole area.
Farmhouse. here, you can also find a hobbiton inspired houses but we did'nt enter due to limited time.
At night, we had a quick stroll at the famous Cihampelas Walk which is just one cross away from our Hotel, Green Batara.
Day 3
We left the hotel at 6:30am and headed to Kawah Puti, which is almost 2 hour drive from Bandung Proper. It is located at town of Ciwidey, south of Bandung.
From the picture, you might assume it to be so hot, but it was not. It maybe sunny but the temperature is actually about 10degress Celsius. The surreal turquoise-colored water that fills this volcanic crater looks so stunning. They said the color changes depending on the weather condition. The chilly feeling adds to the magical ambiance.
Not so far from the Kawah Putih is the Pinisi Resto at Patenggan Lake.
Tea Plantation. These hills of Tea plantation amazed us truly, wondering how they managed to plant them all Chos! .. Kase andami talaga..ilang bundok din kaya yun .. there's no entrance fee here since you can just ask your driver to stop and take picture since along the way lang naman.
Spring/Geyser experience. I know there are Springs in our country but never been to one, this is my first time (so?). We wanted to skip this actually coz we have to hike almost one kilometer... But our driver insisted (chosero rin eh, sya na nagdesisyon haha)
Then after that tiring activity, we had lunch at this very cute log house.
Strawberry Picking.
There's so much to see in Bandung but due to limited time, we had to cancel some places in our itinerary. Maribaya Lodge, Dago Bakery and Dusun Bambu were the places we had to cross out in our list instead we requested our driver to bring us to Pasar Baru- known to be the oldest operating market place in Bandung. We bought some clothes (in a rush) because they are closing at 5pm.
Overall, Bandung is really charming, I assure you, it's worth the visit.
Day 4
Train back to Jakarta.
I was trying to fight my eyes from closing (dahil antok na antok ako) while on board the train going back to Jakarta because the scenery is worth fighting for haha.. (running our of words to describe things now haha). Can't forget that thrilling feeling every time the train will pass on an elevated railway.
We arrived at Jakarta 12noon. There's a free wifi in the Gambir station so I managed to book a car thru Grab app. The challenge was -- the grab driver couldn't understand a single English. He was sending me a message I couldn't understand so I have to ask some local to translate what he was saying. and it says, he's asking what color I was wearing . (thanks to that lady translator). The driver despite our communication barrier was very polite explaining that he parked his car somewhere... Ang cool nga ng driver na 'to, nagkukwento sya di namin maintindihan haha.. Pero sige parin sya haha.. But that was so nice of him.
We arrived in our Hotel (Kitara Hotel) not yet the Check- in time so we left our things and walked to Sarinah Mall for our lunch. We also went straight to Tanah Abang shopping Center before returning to our Hotel.
At night, we explored Grand Indonesia mall. Finally it materialized. Here in Indonesia, I haven't seen a single Filipino tourist except Gerald Anderson haha.. We bumped into him at Grand Indonesia Mall. Maybe he watched the game of Azkals I assumed (We had the same round-trip flight with Azkals to/from Indonesia).
We had dinner at the same mall too.
Day 5
We were waiting for our Grab car going to Taman Mini.
Taman Mini - translated as Beautiful Indonesia Miniature park is a place where you can see the rich arts and cultural diversity of the entire Indonesian Island. Here you can see the replica of the well known structures of this Country. So if you want to explore more about Indonesia but had no enough time then going to this place is recommended. Medyo nakakapagod nga Lang.
After Taman mini, we hired a taxi going back to Tanah Abang. Shoppping time for mother haha. This place is really huge that you won't be able to explore the place in just one day.
Day 6
The Soekarno Hatta International Airport.
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Floating Market. This is a huge park connected to Kota Mini and Rainbow garden. It's drizzling during our visit, so we didn't bother to explore the whole area.
Farmhouse. here, you can also find a hobbiton inspired houses but we did'nt enter due to limited time.
At night, we had a quick stroll at the famous Cihampelas Walk which is just one cross away from our Hotel, Green Batara.
Day 3
We left the hotel at 6:30am and headed to Kawah Puti, which is almost 2 hour drive from Bandung Proper. It is located at town of Ciwidey, south of Bandung.
Not so far from the Kawah Putih is the Pinisi Resto at Patenggan Lake.
The view at the Ship Designed Restaurant was lovely , but we never tasted the food as it was not recommended by our guide.
Tea Plantation. These hills of Tea plantation amazed us truly, wondering how they managed to plant them all Chos! .. Kase andami talaga..ilang bundok din kaya yun .. there's no entrance fee here since you can just ask your driver to stop and take picture since along the way lang naman.
Spring/Geyser experience. I know there are Springs in our country but never been to one, this is my first time (so?). We wanted to skip this actually coz we have to hike almost one kilometer... But our driver insisted (chosero rin eh, sya na nagdesisyon haha)
It could be tiring going there but the view is so breathtaking we could barely feel our exhaustion. You may also ride a habal habal/ motorcycle , but we refused to kase baka mas delikado.
Then after that tiring activity, we had lunch at this very cute log house.
Strawberry Picking.
There's so much to see in Bandung but due to limited time, we had to cancel some places in our itinerary. Maribaya Lodge, Dago Bakery and Dusun Bambu were the places we had to cross out in our list instead we requested our driver to bring us to Pasar Baru- known to be the oldest operating market place in Bandung. We bought some clothes (in a rush) because they are closing at 5pm.
Overall, Bandung is really charming, I assure you, it's worth the visit.
Day 4
Train back to Jakarta.
This is a photo of the bridge I took from our train.
We arrived in our Hotel (Kitara Hotel) not yet the Check- in time so we left our things and walked to Sarinah Mall for our lunch. We also went straight to Tanah Abang shopping Center before returning to our Hotel.
At night, we explored Grand Indonesia mall. Finally it materialized. Here in Indonesia, I haven't seen a single Filipino tourist except Gerald Anderson haha.. We bumped into him at Grand Indonesia Mall. Maybe he watched the game of Azkals I assumed (We had the same round-trip flight with Azkals to/from Indonesia).
Day 5
We were waiting for our Grab car going to Taman Mini.
Taman Mini - translated as Beautiful Indonesia Miniature park is a place where you can see the rich arts and cultural diversity of the entire Indonesian Island. Here you can see the replica of the well known structures of this Country. So if you want to explore more about Indonesia but had no enough time then going to this place is recommended. Medyo nakakapagod nga Lang.
We availed this shuttle going around Taman Mini. It could have been comfortable, but there are group of teenagers who hopped in, and they were too noisy and destructing.. haha
It was Sunday, and we're expecting the crowd but there's none actually. Kami lang ata yung tourist nung time na yan, and we didn't look like tourist anyway, we're a lot looked like them too that everyone spoke to us in their language. haha. Funny thing during our visit was, my mom will talk to them in English, but they couldn't understand and will respond in their language. So what my mom did, she also spoke to them with our own local language (Maguindanaon/ Iranon), at mas naiintindihan pa nila haha. Imagine two people interacting with different languages and still understand one another? haha , amazing.
After Taman mini, we hired a taxi going back to Tanah Abang. Shoppping time for mother haha. This place is really huge that you won't be able to explore the place in just one day.
Day 6
The Soekarno Hatta International Airport.
Our trip was made possible by the following (as if free? ):
Philippine Airlines for our flight
Booking. Com for our hotels
Ticket. Com for our Train tickets
Klook for our rented Car
Grab app for our other transportation means (pag may net)
And of course Prayers for our Safety. :)
Philippine Airlines for our flight
Booking. Com for our hotels
Ticket. Com for our Train tickets
Klook for our rented Car
Grab app for our other transportation means (pag may net)
And of course Prayers for our Safety. :)
And that's all.
P. S I think I haven't expressed my conclusion yet. Bandung is enchanting while Jakarta is the typical bustling city type that despite the slight negative impressions, I'm not regretting setting my feet there. It awakens my childlike wonder of a place completely out of my comfort zone, we we're ignorant of some things there, and the similarities put smiles on our faces. This trip may not be on the bucket list of many but that's not how I look at things. As long as I discovered something new, famous or not, it's already satisfying to me. So there I agree on their tag, Wonderful Indonesia.
