BANDUNG... & ALSO JAKARTA (Part 1)

The Bandung trip was great shopping at bargain prices... and also an observation of contrasting lifestyles.



OK, the original plan was for 6 of us ladies to go to Bandung, check into a 3-star hotel and spend the days shopping to our hearts' content. But since us cheapskates (haha!) wanted to get the el-cheapo AA tickets, the booking was done well in advance (November last year!), and by the time we actually were supposed to go, they've all dropped like flies, tinggal aku ngan Dina je. I was a bit sceptical nak pegi berdua aje, but Dina had a friend working in Jakarta, and him & wife generously offered to host us. So we ended up spending 2 days in Bandung & 2 days in Jakarta, where we stayed over at their house, cool!

Bandung Airport

Mr. Joe & KakZ met us at Bandung Airport, terus bawak pegi makan nasi padang - maklum le flight takdak makan. Nothing like the nasi padang we get in KL la weh. Sodap hingga menjilat jari! Plate after plate of lauk, they really piled 'em up. A dear friend mentioned 'es pokat' and I was really curious to taste it, so I ordered. Rupanya avocado milkshake tinged with chocolate, simply delish! The whole time that we ate out, itu ajelah air yang aku order hehe :-) Asked the waiter what the ingredients were, so semalam aku cuba buat sendiri, sedap gak. Nanti karang aku letak resepi 'es pokat' a-la Jie, ok?

Delish food!

Habis mentekedarah (Dina makan dua pinggan!), we went to Cibaduyut, the leather footwear heaven. Since we had just arrived, and feeling like millionaires (literally, millions of rupiah mah!), kitorang pun lupa diri la tengok kasut cantik-cantik, rasa nak beli semua hehe :-) I bought a pair of ladies boots, nice! Harga? Half the price of what it would cost in KL.



We checked into the very nice Hotel Jayakarta, 4 or 5 star, I'm not sure, standard room rates at Rp600,000+ (abt RM230). Nice pool with a jacuzzi on the side. First time watching Indon tv. Less censorship IMHO, but their adverts are kinda cool, I like!

Counter at the hotel

The next day, we headed out to Pasar Baru, where M'sian makciks shop for telekung & tudung, and M'sian bakal pengantin shop for kain lace, hand-made wedding cards & doorgift knick-knacks.

Murah giler, the exact same telekung I saw in Jalan TAR priced at RM270, was a mere Rp220,000 - tak sampai pun lapanpoh hengget. Tapi pelik ah, telekung ada macam-macam kaler & sulam yang sarat, telekung budak even dari kain yang bercorak bunga. We bought telekung from the 'katun paris' - parisian cotton, katanya. Nice soft cotton embroidered lace, tak panas, and cantik sulaman 'bodir'nya - border/edging.



We found a shop selling pantsuits for officewear, good material & nice designs. Dina bought 3 pairs, at Rp150,000 each. Yelah badan regular size, senang ah nak carik. Aku punya, tokey kedai tu kata "Ibuk, yang ukuran gede, tambah lagi sepuluh ribu". Aku nak tergelak ada, rasa nak tampar pun ada. Mentang-mentang la pakai kain lebih sikit, kena extra charge le pulak haha! But seriously, the material used is very nice walaupun takde jenama. Merely about RM50-60, kalau kat KL maybe RM150 onwards la.



Oh ya, tawar-menawar harga ni, syok jugak. Aku pun tukar tune sket, belajar cakap indon. "Brapa arganya mas? Waduh mahal banget! Dikurangin ya mas, 15 (Rp150,000) ajak" KakZ dah setahun kat sana, so fasih la. Yang bestnya, penjual semua tak marah kalau dah tawar tapi tak jadi beli. Cuba kalau buat gitu kat Petaling Street, paling kurang mesti kena maki punya.



Aku memang nak beli kain lace, sajalah nak cari lace yang 'subtle' design untuk buat baju dinner. Unfortunately semua kedai lace yang aku masuk, jual jenis design garang macam baju pengantin punya. Ada juga kedai jual kain langsir, cantik! Tapi memandangkan AA yang kemot cuma allow 15kg of baggage, excess kena RM15 per kg, so lupakan ajelah nak beli kain langsir yang berat tuh. Benda 'wajib' lain, biasalah, tudung jenis ready-made-sarung-aje tu.



Lepas Pasar Baru, pegi pulak Cihampelas, the jeans heaven. Apa jenama kau nak, semua ada! I bought 2 pairs of Lee Cooper, Dina borong 4 lai Levi's. Original or fake? Entah, aku pun tak pasti ekeke... :-D Tapi aku pernah dengar orang sebut 'asli-palsu'.



All the while, we traveled around in Mr.Joe's supir-driven Toyota Highlander. Hmm... kalau tengok kenderaan kat jalanraya, separuhnya MPV/SUV mewah, separuh lagi kereta buruk kemek yang cat dah mula tanggal. Jauh sangat bezanya. Kalau keta yang middle-range macam Vios aku tu, jadik teksi Bluebird aje hehe :-)

Motor banyak juga, but mostly locals naik 'angkot' atau 'mikrolet' - vans converted into minibus. Atau naik 'bajai' - a hybrid (ewah!) between a motorcycle and a carriage, so jadiklah kenderaan kecik beroda tiga untuk mengangkut sorang supir dan dua orang penumpang. Kalau penumpang saiz gajah, aku rasa muat sorang je kot. Oh ya, pedati atau kereta kuda ada jugak, dan kalau nak naik kuda untuk jalan-jalan pun boleh.



Aku tak terperanjat dengan trafik kat sana, sebab masa pegi Cambodia ari tu, trafiknya lebih teruk. Tapi si Dina sepuluh kali sekejap asyik mengucap tengok kereta yang jalan rapat-rapat, memotong kiri-kanan. Aku dah berbelas tahun driving pun, rasanya tak berani nak bawak keta kat sana. Sungguhpun gitu, KakZ kata kat sana jarang berlaku accident. Mungkin drivers there are more careful & sabar dari KL drivers kot?



Dari dalam kereta tulah, aku observe realiti kehidupan. Banyak orang susah di Bandung. Asal kereta berhenti aje kat traffic light, terus diserbu dengan orang yang menjual macam-macam benda, from newspapers to canned drinks, even strawberries (tempting!). There were buskers too, bawak gitar buruk, nyanyi & harap dapat wang. Kenapa diorang tak cari kerja? Kata Mr.Joe "nak kerja jadi buruh binaan pun kena ada kabel, atau bayar duit kopi Rp20 juta kat tokey dulu, baru dapat keje". Hmm, bersyukurlah kita ada kerja kat sini.



Yang menjaja makanan, bawak kereta sorong satu roda. Sudahlah kena berpanas-berhujan menjaja, terpaksa pulak guna kudrat sendiri untuk tolak kereta sorong tu. Padan la takde orang gemuk kat sana, semuanya banyak exercise, tulang besi urat dawai! It's all about survival.

To be continued...