Bandung babeh!

Wahey.. and its November already~

and i just arrived back in Malaysia after a short visit to Bandung, Indonesia.

Of course with any trip, there are many stories to tell, many pictures to share, but of course some of the highlights of the trip.. and in no particular order:

1. Feeling like a millionaire... for the first time and most hopefully not the last time in my life :)

Yea.. count that

A million is only about Rm 350.... of course it is quite an amount to spend over there.

2. Visiting a volcano crater

Tangkuban perahu

Of course this being a dormant site, you can only see a pool sort of.. we managed to go to a more active 1... in which i had a nice leg soaking / volcanic massage / egg-cooked-in-hot-springs eating experience.

That's me on the way to the other crater

3. Had some interesting food

That's mee kocok to them... and beef tendon noodles to us

Nothing beats trying out local delicacies by the road side, on a stool / bench, slurping a warm bowl of soup while it rains slightly outside.

This 1's called puyunghay... and that's sort of a chicken / egg omelet ( the 1 on top)

It was quite a wait when we ordered this dish... then we got worried because:

a. we saw the chef break some eggs, stirred them and then poured them... repeatedly
b. we were thinking... " taking so long to make...must be some kind of masterpiece... perfect only can serve"



The " not what i expected "


1. The $ i brought wasn't enough... but that's partly because i didn't really stick to my budget / planning ...because the plan was to pack for 2 days... and the rest will be bought at bandung... haha... FAIL!

2. Going to the crater... there will be some guides who help you along the way... although they say they do it at no cost... but you will invariably use their assistance / company on the way down... so just before you bid farewell to the crater.. you will be psycho-ed into tipping them. But of course they cant accept tips, so the only way to 'help' them out is to buy souvenir at ridiculously marked up price. Trust me... the margin they get .. there's only 1 way to describe it.. obscene.

So their story is:
- They only can work as guides once a week.
- After accompanying you down to the crater, they have to hike back up all the way to fleece help other visitors

3. Their street arts scene is quite lively, as in , there will be street performers i.e. buskers that will hop on board the angkot ( i.e. local public transport - minivan ) and start singing when you wait at a red light. One even went for some distance before getting down at a different area.


And now for the insane / nonsensical parts :

1. Them indons love their sambal... and most sambal i had was quite kick... not necessarily belacan type... just hot hot type.

That's a peri peri hot chicken which i had... at a road side stall... around midnight...
Verdict : Kick!

2. Before going, a dude who had been to bandung told me of 'soda gembira' to which i remember him saying was like our bandung + soda... and the way he seemed to talk about how easy it was to get it and he practically almost had it every day of his trip made me wanna go make that my 1st drink to get in bandung...

To which i found out, later on, that it was only condense milk + soda water... i have not found any carbonated air bandung. So there you have it.. myth busted... so far.. haha

That's a Set Buntot Goreng, which is ox tail to us.. and of course i washed my meal down with a soda gembira... to which failed my expectation ( the soda gembira, that is. The buntot was ok enough). Yes... the soda gembira tastes exactly how you just imagined it.

3. Bunnies..... yum yum

Kid: Mommi mommi...when i grow up.. i wanna be as fluffy as you!

NOT... in this pic you see a happy family of rabbits... but guess what ..they are being bred to cater to the satay arnab industry.

4. This pedestrian bridge... has no... wait for it...


hand rails!!... it has no freaking hand rails!

Oh yea babeh... extreme pedestrian crossings!

5. Proves that even indon men are bombarded with pressure from society to perform... spontaneously

SPONTAN! Bisa pak!

6. After I reached Malaysia, the following day i read of an earthquake which triggered a tsunami hitting the Sumatra island. To which the next day the quake triggered off a volcano to erupt near Yogjakarta ( which is not that far away from Bandung)

Thank God our whole group managed to get back to Malaysia in one piece.


There are of course more stories.. but hey.. i need to get some rest d... till the next trip.

~cheers~

Air Asia food! - I had a Shepherds Pie .. cost me rm 12... i reckon its worth it.. cos i was rather hungry