I am finally getting to the last day of my Bandung trip that was completed early December last year! As usual, the day started with breakfast at Best Western Premier La Grande hotel where i continued to indulge in normal fried eggs topped with acar and sweet spicy onion soy sauce!
The initial plan to walk to Amanda, a brick and mortar shop famed for its healthy, steamed brownies, was derailed with a light drizzle and we hopped into a cab which sent there within 15 minutes.
Reliable blue bird cab that brought us to Amanda; actually i am quite glad we decided to grab a cab as the distance would likely result in plenty of grumblings from my mom.
We were done with our purchases within 20 minutes and with Kartikasari, another popular local snack shop, just about 1.2 kilometers away; the decision to walk was unanimous.
On day four's night, i had already raised caution with the roadworks along this stretch of road although the scene in daylight was even more harrowing; so glad i didn't fall into the drains the day before given that i am not very observant!
Strolled in to Caffe Bene (i think it's the only one in Bandung at that moment) for two reasons; raindrop started falling from the sky again and the numerous factory outlet shops in between Amanda and Kartikasari don't open before 10am.
Aside from goofing around at Caffe Bene, mom secretly opened the box of pisang bolen keju that were purchased from Amanda earlier so that we could have it as snack with our coffee / tea / hot chocolate. From memory, i remember i dislike the banana cheese puff pastry!
An hour later, we continued our way.
For a conservative Muslim nation, i am shocked to see a pizza parlour that's named Panties Pizza and what's more eye-popping was its slogan; "i love panties, like i love you"! I was utterly speechless.
More pedestrian walkway improvements - as i mentioned in day four, the inconvenienced i faced would eventually be the convenience for the future and i can tell you, i would definitely be back in Bandung.
A mini-supreme court?!
In the meantime, we did pop into quite a number of factory outlets like Adidas, Polo Ralph, Nike, Episode etc. For more details on branded factory outlet shopping in Bandung, check out the post here.
Arrival at Kartikasari!
The building that housed Kartikasari had more than just the local kueh and snack shop; there's a restaurant and a toys store on the ground level.
You may even leave your kids at the playground; pricing was indicated at 30,000 rupiah on weekdays and 45,000 rupiah an hour on weekends (from Fridays).
Prefer more craftwork activity for your kids? You may consider the above which i am unsure on the terminology used for it even though it's quite common in Singapore.
On the second floor, i recalled there's a retailer selling Muslim attire (tudung etc) and a makeshift store offering pretty good quality tee shirts at 119,000 rupiah a piece; get two or more at 99,000 rupiah each!
Took a cab as we were running late with just an hour to go before our arranged check out from the hotel. I am blaming it on the ladies who spent too much time at Episode! You would note from the meter that it's only 7,000 rupiah and the journey back was only about 15,000 - 20,000 rupiah.
However, you would be required to pay the minimal 25,000 rupiah as mentioned in the sticker above! In the beginning, we thought the driver was cheating us and i actually had a chat with the head office to confirm it's an official thing.
You can't see much but that LED display was showing the temperature at Bandung! I brought along some sweaters yet never had the chance to wear them as the lowest i ever encountered was only about 23 degrees celcius! Above was 28.1.
Back at Best Western Premier La Grande hotel!
Had a much needed shower, packed up my goods and squeezed them into the luggage and bags! What you see above was 90% mine; the other 10% was my mum's used clothing that she would wash when we returned to Singapore.
Biding goodbye to the beautiful view i was blessed with for the past few days!
With another 45 minutes to go before our driver would come to pick us up to the airport, Joyce and i quickly walked over to the Bandung Electronic Centre's LotteMart to make last minute purchases!
My objectives were the bottles of herbs that's only about S$2 each! In Singapore, i know they would be priced twice as much. While i was about to pay my bill, i received a phone message; the driver had arrived! Darn, he was like 30 minutes early!
We rushed back and hurriedly loaded our luggage to the motor vehicle. My siblings and i were taught from a very young age that we shouldn't keep people waiting and this can be quite frustrating; take for an example during a tour package, we would always be the first few to step into the bus and there are always a few mates who would take their own sweet time. How i wish i am the latter sometimes..
Anyway, we drove past the train station! In my planning stage for this trip, i actually used the railway station as a reference point on the satellite map at Google Maps.
Eye-catching artwork on the walls!
I am unsure what the above building was although my main aim was to show you the Indonesian flag which was rather similar to Singapore flag which has a white top, red bottom with an additional crescent moon and five stars.
Common street scene in Bandung.
The driver veered in to a quiet street and given Singaporeans' paranoia when it comes to quiet surroundings on unfamiliar ground, we had our suspicions.
Security checks at Bandung Husein Sastranegara International Airport and arrival at the terminals for domestic and international departures.
There were houses just right opposite the airport; who can actually claim to stand just a literal "stone's throw" away from the airport?! The people living in the houses could do that and they would not be ridiculed at all!
You can probably gauge the proximity from the above photo!
The happy ladies with their buys although i bought the most! Joyce, in fact, didn't purchase much and her expression, ever so expressive, was more to show that we managed to buy so much stuff!
Crowded airport.
For those who didn't have time to travel to Amanda; you may drop by the Picnic shop at the airport as there's a section for Amanda steamed brownies! Do note that prices would be a bit higher.
Once you reach the airport, go ahead and perform the check-in procedures! If you have flimsy packages, you can opt to wrap them in cling wrap for a fee. Do check and agree on the price before you allow the staff to wrap it up for you!
Note, there's nothing much to have in the departure lounge; hence, just proceed to the commercial district right opposite the airport once you have checked in your luggage.
Lunch for us at Bim Burger & Fried Chicken! For review, click here.
Thank god for the iPad - if not, mom would definitely have bored herself to death in the super boring departure lounge; even i was on the verge of dozing off and i don't even have the habit of sleeping without a bed.
Plane was delayed as the boarding ticket reflected a boarding time at 3.40pm yet the people from the plane was only disembarking at 3.45pm. This would only mean additional torture for me as i suffered in the boring lounge.
Finally our turn at 4.10pm! As mentioned many times before, i so like it when i have the chance to walk on the runway tarmac and board the plane!
More photographs; for the first one, it reminded me of a video that circulated on social media once when a man walking in front of the engine was suddenly sucked in! Horrifying!
Notice those tall supposedly telecommunications towers at the mountainside?
Took off from the runway at about 4.45pm which was pretty close to the 4.40pm departure time that we had been given when we purchased the air tickets!
Anticipating the sunset that would eventually come!
Dinner first; cheese fish and rice if i am not wrong which was pretty decent even though the french beans could have been cooked a bit longer with a heavier dosage of seasoning and the pineapples provided tasted canned.
I was totally dazzled by the beautiful sunset! For more photographs, click here.
We would have arrived way ahead of the scheduled arrival but the plane was asked to hold at a position until 7.15pm and by the time we landed, we it was already 7.28pm, closer to our schedule. :(
Besides clearing immigration, you know what's the one thing i must do after landing at Changi International Airport? Buy vodka for my collection!
My pile of new clothes / shoes from Bandung's branded factory outlets; as i have told many others, i think i would drop by Bandung every time i want to change my wardrobe..
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