My Bandung Experience 22-26/9/12

Day 1

Late breakfast. Skipped lunch. Missed dinner. Finally a late supper in Bandung city at 10:30 pm. White rice, tempe + petai goreng, kikil and ayam penyet (Rp 79500).  Around this time last year we headed to Paris, that too on empty tummies. We break our 5th day Syawal fast eating KFC meals then. (We completed the 6-day fast on French soil, and celebrated the raya and our 22nd Hijrah wedding anniversary in the Romance City). That was last year.  Now it's time to visit Indonesia.  So going honeymoon on empty tummies is kind of becoming our private tradition now..

The reason for today's rush - me grading the STPM trial papers. Last year I brought the bundles of students' answer scripts all around France and was profusely grading the papers while Daddy attended his conference. I wasn't much unlike the conference attendees with those bundles of papers. My colleagues were aghast when I relate my experience grading students' exam papers in the conference room.

 This year I was adamant not to bring any work, let alone any sensitive government documents with me.. mainly because I don't want anything to take me away from my main agenda of.. SHOPPING.

Day 2.

Missing the little ones.

Fortunately we were able to video chat last night, though it was already past their bedtime by the time we were able to connect. Apparently the little ones had lunch at a kenduri and went shopping in the afternoon right after we left.

Started Day 2 off with heavy breakfast at the hotel. So heavy that it took us another 3 hours before we were able to drag our feet out of the hotel room to Pasar Baru shopping complex. But once the shopping started, it just went on and on.  Had lunch at the Food Court.White rice, ayam panggang, lotek ( vege dish with peanut sauce ) , sop asem with assortment of veges including lotus seeds and betel nuts and es kelapa muda ( coconut drink infused with milk, sugar and rose flavor ). Rp 64000. Continued with another round of shopping. Returned to the room for zohor and asar. Third round of shopping (the complex is a 6-floor building, with merchandise lined up to the brim) ends with growling tummies which led us to Restoren Bebek Bakar just around the corner. A new word for me today - bebek is 'duck' in Indon. Make it two new words - obral means 'sale '. Oh yes!!

Dinner was white rice, sop buntut (oxtail clear soup), ayam goreng and es alpukat (iceblended avocado). Rp  54000. Notice that the price of our meal shrinks? That's because the meal portion here is extraordinarily large and we just began learning to share.

My feet were especially supportive during the shopping.  They started aching the minute we exit the pasar building. Now that I am safe and sound in my room, I pray that they will support me again at the Factory Outlets tomorrow.

We didn't exchange a lot of RM for Rp before coming here specifically because this is a work trip for Daddy, and not supposed to be a shop-til-you-drop trip. The damage done today came out to be in millions (Rp ). There is still a few millions left.  Daddy must have seen the worried look on my face. Don't worry Ly, the FOS do take credit card, he said.

Don't you just love it when your husband says some thing like that? Or may be I did miss a tinge of sarcasm in his voice just now. Let's just assume there was not.

The day ended with a video chat with the kids.  Iman called.

Day 3

A day before we left for Bandung we changed ringgit for rupiah. Every million Rp cost us RM383. As I said, we didn't change nearly enough. So the first order of business for today is to get more Rp. After getting some help with the directions, Daddy was able to find a Moneychanger nestled among the FOS. And now it cost us Rm 344!! Lucky break, eh? Alhamdulillah. And you know that THAT can only mean one thing, right?

There are a lot of interesting food being sold hawker -styled along the road of the FOS.  And I mean a lot.  Fritters of all kinds, pisang/ tapai/ubi goreng, bakso, gadogado, iced jeruk, sandwiches of a variety of colors, rojak, tahu sumedang, ceker, mie kocok, currypuffs as big as the palm of your hand and ondeh-ondeh as big as a fist.  Daddy cautioned against buying them.  Our stomachs may not be able to take the beating, he said.  So for now we are sticking with indoor food outlets. But the temptation to try the the hawker food is surely mounting.

We had our lunch at a Foodcourt at Matahari Shopping Complex. Fried rice with iga (ribs) bakar, ikan puyu goreng, vegetable soup, tempe goreng, tahu goreng, bakso goreng and bottled water. (Rp64500).

A short visit to a Toko Buku turns out to be a very fruitful shopping experience. We bought the Amazing Al -Quran Cordoba. Really looking forward to enjoy the holy book.

Our shopping session ended early today, not because we ran out of shops to patron or cash to burn.  But rather it was the ageing body that begged to stop. My Hush Puppies shoes somehow stopped being comfortable; and my brain hurts from all those ringgit - rupiah conversion calculation.

We decided to pack dinner. Rice with nila (talapia) bakar, ayam bakar,  fresh salad, gadogado, coconut and alpukat (avocado) drinks. Rp60000. Dinner and a movie in the hotel room. And then followed by a half can of almond brownie chocolate ice cream while chatting with the kids. I went to bed while Daddy was still hard at work preparing for tomorrow.

Day 4

I woke up with an excruciating cramp in the stomach.  Some of the food decided to travel up the way they entered.  If I had to guess, I'd say it was the gadogado.  Daddy didn't touch any of it, given his aversion to vege. This was the actual price of taking too much food, too many variety at a time when the body was being pushed to work at its max.  And at my age, the max wasn't skyrocketing high.

It was D-day for Daddy. 2012 ISBEIA- International Symposium on Business, Engineering and Industrial Applications.   He presented his paper and chaired one of the sessions.  He presented many papers before, but this was his first as Dr Masdi Muhammad.

I spent the day alone in the room, channel surfing.  When was the last time I channel-surfed?  Sometime before my first child learn to operate the remote control.

I skipped lunch.  Daddy came home bearing McD dinner.  No more local cooked food for me was the conveyed message.  I was already deaf to the world when Daddy chatted with the kids.

Day 5

Last minute shopping to avoid bringing home any rupiahs.  Ryan got another 5 shirts.  Additional 2 pair of pants for Mommy and several blouses for the girls.  Finally Daddy bought a Bandung t-shirt.  How come the bargain got better just as the time shortened and cash dwindled?

Arrived at the Husein Sastranegara Bandara Bandung an hour before the flight home. Alhamdulillah, our luggage weighed 35 kg, still below the 40 kg limit. (We came with 8 kg luggage ).  There was still some Rp left, enough to buy 3 kek kukus (steamed cakes) at Kartika Sari Bake Shop, for half of what it would cost us in Malaysia.  It would have been even nicer if its calories were halved too.

Arrived home at 9:15 pm. Sarah, Dayana, Izzah and Ryan arrived about half an hour later, driven by Tok Wan.  It's great to be home, with family again.  It is a school night; they need to be in bed early. They walked into their bedrooms with hands carrying their new clothes and accessories.

Consulted Mr S.  49.2kg.  :D.  The food poisoning helped to keep the weight in check.

Things to remember for the next visit to Bandung.

1.  Arion Swiss Belhotel is a great place to stay.  Convenient location and friendly staff.  2.  For a million Rp you can get an mpv plus a supir to drive around the city for 3 days.

3.  Traffic is crazy here, you need to be brave to cross the road.  (I never let go of Daddy's hand).  Honking might be considered rude in some countries, but here it is an effective way to let others ( drivers and pedestrians ) know that your big, bad vehicle  is passing through.  So try not to take offense.

4. Tasty snacks here include cheese-covered bananas, kacang bandung, and soursop dodol.  I didn't have enough guts to try more.  And yes, my guts aren't too strong either.

5.  Taxi drivers here are much more polite than those back home.  But of course, they charge more ( for the courtesy?).  The "angkutan kota" , small mini vans that ferry passengers around the city without closing their doors may be cheaper if you have the guts for them.