(Originally Published on 11 October 2015)
This trip to Bandung happened SUPER SPONTANEOUSLY –
I was talking to a friend about short trips, at the same time browsing a few budget airline websites and I saw AirAsia having super good deals to a few places in SEA. So my friend and I decided to just spontaneously book our flights to Bandung on the 27th of August and flew 4 days later on the 1st of September simply because it’s a deal too good to be missed.
Here’s the cost breakdown:
- Airfare: S$91 (no check-in baggage)
- Accommodation: S$46 (Approx. $16/n per pax)
- Expenses: S$185 (Includes car hire, food and entrance fees)
Everything totalled up to $322. But this could be lower if there were more of us splitting the cost for the care hire.
The nights in Bandung can get chilly. It went down to 20°C on the first night I arrived and I wasn’t dressed for the weather because I didn’t expect any part of Indonesia to get this chilly. But thank god I have a habit of bringing a jacket whenever I travel. It’s not that cold to the extent you will need to wrap yourself in jeans, shoes and a thick jacket. A cardigan or a normal pullover would suffice. Strangely though, the locals there do dress up like it’s really cold.
DAY 1 – 1 SEPTEMBER 2015 (TUE)
Departed Singapore at 1915 hours and arrived in Bandung at local time 2000 hours (1 hour behind SGT). There was a cab hire booth once we came out of customs but we walked slightly further out where all the cabs were stationed and we got a fixed-rate cab to our abode at Rp.50,000 (approx. $5). It was a very short ride. Probably about 20min max.
Accommodation: Hotel Citradream, Bandung
Address: Jl Pasir Kalilki No. 36-38, Bandung City Center, Bandung, Indonesia, 401717
Abode: Superior Room (2x Single Bed, Ensuite)
Price: $46.20 per pax for 3 nights ($15.40/n per pax)
For the price, I would say we’ve got a pretty decent place. It was clean, spacious and comfortable – not to mention, a plasma TV with Nat Geo and Discovery channel lol. The toilet was clean. The only downside I would say is the not-very-sound proof walls. We could hear soft murmurs from the neighbouring room. But it wasn’t really a huge issue for us. Other than that, I have no complaints.
Location: Cihampelas Walk
Address: Jl. Cihampelas No. 160, Bandung, Jawa Barat 40131, Indonesia
Super chic place. It’s like any modern mall you can find in Singapore. They have everything from Wendy’s to KFC to Starbucks and even Korean BBQ. Unfortunately, most of the shops close at 10PM and by the time we reached, most of the shops were already closing.
So we walked around and found a random seafood place and decided to settle for that one since we were starving and it was getting late. The food was fine.
Headed back to our hotel after dinner and we asked the receptionist if we could hire a car and a driver for the next day and we were charged Rp.700,000 (approx $70) for a 7-seater car with a driver. Because there was only the two of us, it was kinda pricey. But if you have a larger group, it would actually be very affordable. Considering that it includes everything including fuel.
DAY 2 – 2 SEPTEMBER 2015 (WED)
Our arranged driver came to pick us up at 0800 the next morning and the first place we went was a cafe to have breakfast before we set off for a long day.
Location: Hummingbird Eatery and Guesthouse
Address: JL. Progo No. 14, Bandung Wetan, Kota Bandung, Jawa Barat 40115, Indonesia
Of course, if you were to compare the prices of the cafe food in Bandung and Singapore, everything here is almost half of what you can find in any regular cafes in Singapore. I got the Full Monty for Rp.69,500 and my friend got his Salmon Benedicts for Rp.65,000. Plus our coffees, we paid a total of Rp.210,000 (approx $21) for a really full meal for two.
The food was average. But for the price, I would say that it’s value-for-money. I would still recommend this place.
After breakfast, we headed to our second destination which is a volcanic crater lake south of the city center. It’s actually only 60km away but because of traffic, the entire journey takes up to 2 hours – so plan your time and set off early.
Location: Kawah Putih
Address: Jl. Raya Soreang, Ciwidey, Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
There are plenty of strawberry farms around the area going towards Kawah Putih and you can drop by one to hand-pick these strawberries. It ain’t very costly. But my friend and I decided to give this one a go.
Our driver dropped us off at the ticketing area where we had to purchase a ticket for a mini bus that would drive us up to where the lake is. Driving our own vehicle up would be much much more costly. So we decided to take the mini bus instead. There is price discrimination between locals and foreigners. But our very friendly driver actually alighted with us and purchased the tickets for us and saying we’re locals from another state lol. And so we ended up only paying Rp.36,000 each for the bus ride up.
The smell of Sulphur can be pretty overwhelming when you get closer to the lake. But it didn’t really affected me that much. If you want, you could bring your own mask. Alternatively, you can buy a disposable surgical mask from the locals at Rp.5,000 each before you board the mini-bus.
Before we left our hotel, our driver actually advised us to bring our jackets because it can get pretty chilly up here (about 2,430m above sea level). Some parts were indeed pretty chilly but majority of the time, we were comfortable in our t-shirt and shorts. It was so funny because we’re so used to wearing tees and shorts where ever we go, we were pretty taken aback when we boarded the mini-bus and everyone was in jeans and jackets.
The whitish-green colour of the lake is really a sight! But be careful not to dip your leg into the water because it’s highly acidic (p.H. 0.5-1.3).
We wanted to go to this waterfall which was pretty near Kawah Putih but our driver told us that we needed an entire day if we wanted to visit the waterfall. Since it was already close to late afternoon, we decided to drop that and head to another lake nearby as suggested by our driver.
Location: Situ Patenggang Lake
Address: Patengan, Rancabali, Bandung 40973, Indonesia
There’s an entrance fee of Rp.23,750 per person. Again, we managed to get the local price to enter thanks to our driver.
I would say there’s nothing much here and you can actually skip this place if you want to. But it’s a nice place to sit around, eat some fried bananas and take a break.
We were so drained fro the day, we decided to head back to our hotel after hanging around the lake. There were many tea plantations along the way so we decided to stop by one and snap some pictures.
I couldn’t remember how much exactly we paid for our meal but it wasn’t that expensive. If I’m not wrong, our Tom Yam soup with rice costed us around Rp.60,000 (approx $6). The entire meal didn’t cost us more than $25. It’s a little pricey because we could get cheaper food outside but… considering that it was delivered to our doorstep?
DAY3 – 3 SEPTEMBER 2015 (THU)
Location: Cafe Halaman
Address: Jl. Tamansari No. 92, Bandung
We Googled for cafes around our hotel the next morning and we ended up at Cafe Halaman. It’s an outdoor style cafe with pretty decent food I would say. The mushrooms were really good though! You might wanna try the ‘Avocadoholic Coffee’ for Rp.30,000 (approx $3) which I thought was a pretty interesting combination. It’s literally avocado and coffee. My friend tried the iced one and he said it was not bad.
After breakfast, we headed to our first location not too far from the city center.
Location: Taman Hutan Raya Juanda
Address: Jl. Ir. H Juanda, Lembang, Jawa Barat 40391, Indonesia
Our driver dropped us off at the carpark. When you enter the main conservation area, there will be locals with bikes waiting around and they will offer to give you a ride to the main entrance where the waterfall is. The walk is about 1km and you can hitch a ride from them at Rp.20,000 which was around $2. We decided to hop on one just for fun. My friend paid them the money and he rode me as a pillion towards the entrance with two other locals on another bike.
The area where the waterfall is is not very huge. And we finished exploring the area in 30 minutes or so. When we exited the area, we were approached yet again by the locals who this time offered to bike us up to Tebing Keraton. He initially quoted us a lower price but at the end of the journey, he expected us to pay Rp.200,000 (approx $20) for about an hour and a half worth of bike journeys up and down the hill and to another smaller waterfall. But eventually, we managed to negotiate the price down to Rp.150,000 (approx $15). The money was worth the experience.
One thing though: When the locals bike you up to Tebing Keraton, they will stop mid-way at a cave which used to be a prison. When we arrived, they simply handed us torches and brought us in without saying a thing. And when we exited the dungeon, we were expected to pay Rp.40,000 for the torch and the guide. The entire walk inside the dungeon took us less than 2 minutes and I didn’t understand a single word he said. You can simply decline the offer if they were to ask you to enter the dungeon, unless you’re interested.
If you were to ask me, I’d say the bike ride was pretty daunting. First, the roads were very bumpy and narrow. Lots of portholes everywhere. Second, it’s actually pretty high up with some really steep roads. And last but not least, notice that I’m not wearing a helmet. But I have to admit, these locals are really good with the roads. Still, accidents do happen. And I’m just glad I came home alive lol.
The next location on our schedule was actually Tangkuban Perahu which is located not to far from Tebing Keraton. But when we reached the entrance, we didn’t manage to pass off as locals this time because he insisted on an ID check. The tourist price was so high (I can’t remember how much), we decided to give this one a go. So our driver suggested another place in the area we could visit and he drove us to a hot spring resort in the vicinity.
It’s a pretty quiet place. Or maybe it’s because of the time of the day we went. We just sat by some random pond to chill, soaked our feet for a little while and left. Not much to do around actually.
But the next place we went was pretty interesting.
Location: Lembang Floating Market
Address: Jl. Grand Hotel No. 33 E, Lembang, Bandung Barat, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
Our driver told us he will take us to a floating market in Lembang. Initially, my expectation of the floating market would be something similar to the one in Bangkok where you get on a boat and cruise along other boats to buy stuffs. But I was surprised.
The entrance fee to the floating market was Rp.15,000 which included parking. With the ticket, you’re also entitled to a free drink when you enter the market.
The food they sell were pretty interesting. There is a wide variety of local food and they even had Takoyakis! We tried one of the local soup dish, the potato thing and the lemongrass drink which was super refreshing.
Besides the food, the view was also pretty awesome. And at the counter where you change for your tokens, you can purchase a bag of fish feed for Rp.5,000 and head out to a little bamboo platform where a school of Koi fishes will swarm around you.
Location: Bandung Indah Plaza
Address: Jl. Merdeka No. 56, Jawa Barat 40115, Indonesia
We asked our driver to drop us off somewhere we could buy some stuff. So he dropped us at this factory outlet which was just directly opposite the plaza. Since my friend and I are totally not into shopping, we decided to head over to the plaza to look for food and entertainment.
We ended up reading books at a bookstore, eating A&W, playing at an arcade and finally chilling at Starbucks before we head back to our hotel which was just about 5 minutes drive away.
There’s a cinema and huge supermarket at this mall so if you’re interested in watching a movie or buying groceries, you can head over.
Day 4 – 4 September 2015 (FRI)
Time to head home! We hailed a cab to the airport in the morning from our hotel. There is a short stretch of eatery opposite the airport but there isn’t much choices. So we settled some soup and noodles.
And so… my little getaway came to an end.
Sam's Globetrots 