Philantropist-wannabe: September 2013

Does this place look familiar.?

How about these places.?

And these.?

or may be these.?

Bandung, Indonesia..!!!

Yes.!! Again, I visited this colorful country. The richness of its culture overrode my hatred on traffic congestion.

If you ask me whether or not I still plan to go there, my answer is “YES, my dear SIL, 2T, I will”. She, who had been waiting for my writeup about my latest journey to Indonesia.

I still remember when I, for the 1st time travelled with them, all my SILs. We chose Bandung as our 1st destination. It was fun and full of shopping, that we cancelled all the list in the itinerary, but shopping and SPA-ing and eating.

That was about 4 years ago.

My recent trip was with my family and officemates.

Arriving in Jakarta via AirAsia wasnt that crowded as the airport is specially for AirAsia and another flight use only.

We then took a coach, direct to Bandung. The place is not too far from Jakarta. We wouldnt have to spend 4 hours on the road if I wasnt for the speed limit and the traffic congestion. I remember spending only about 2 hours journey on my previous trip.

It was quite tiring. I spent my time capturing scenery, sign boards and anything at all, ahead of me.

As the scene changes from green to grey and the noise pollution started to sip in, I knew we have reached our destination.

The ‘Sado’ (cart pulled by a horse) reminded me of Pakistan. It captured our attention.

It was 1pm local time when we reached the restaurant. That was 2 pm Malaysian time and its considered a very late lunch for me. Most of us had had butterflies in our tummy then.

It was tiring, but we were all happy.

Especially when the food served were mostly my favorite.

Nasi Padang.

“We have 1 hour to eat. We dont want to miss the show” Warned Danial, our Tour Guide.

There we were… at the Angklung Udjo place.

It was fun watching the kids playing and dancing to the harmonious sound of ‘Angklung’ , a music instrument made of Bamboo.

The audience were brought in to join the orchestra at the end of the show. It was a fun and unforgettable thrill.

That was an exciting performance. The rest of the day was spent in the bus. Sensa Hotel happened to be in the middle of the busiest road ‘Chihampelas’, which coincidently, that very night had 2 continuous concerts. HOHOHO…………..can you imagine how congested that could be?

We were tucked in our seat in the bus for hours until all the shops were closed for the day. There goes our shopping for that day.

Oh ya… we had a roadside musician to entertain us though.

How much to pay him? No numbers. Its all up to individual to contribute.

Day 2……

Everyone was excited to go on tour. Lets go..! Said Danial.

WHOAAAHH…….. Picturesque ‘Kawah Ratu’ is calling everyone to witness…………

Kawah Ratu (Ratu Crater) promises a beautiful view.

It was a little too crowded for our comfort, then, though. They said, Bandung is always packed whenever its a holiday in Malaysia.

I used this picture of mine and my hubby at the place, as my Facebook photo. The background is ‘BEAUTIFULL’ . The number of ‘like’ received on it shows that, many too, agree.