Jakarta, Bandung Episode 1

Mr.Doctor said I’m doing just fine.

Just a normal flu,cough and sedikit fever.

Nothing to do with H1N1 virus. Fuh…relief giler bile dengar this news ni.

But thanks to Mr.Doctor yg kacak itu kerana telah memberi saya mc on last Friday.

Means saya hanya berkerja separuh hari.

I got extra rest at home.

As of per today, flu & cough still here and there. Ni mesti sebab penangan Slurpee yg saya beli semalam. Ngidam gler nak minum. Hamik…. Batuk tak berhenti last nite.

But maybe cough and flu ni yg mcm Sya cakap. sebab airplane sembur something to kill all the germs.

tu yang jd sakit tekak n batuk. incik tunang rileks je pun tak sakit.

Where should I start with the Bandung & Jakarta trip?

OK, overall the trip was awesome.

Yes…we spent roughly 11hours a day utk shop.

As a result? I’m broke. -> I really meant it.

And obviously I’m exceeding the baggage limit which I have to pay the extra 7kgs at the airport.

Did I mention I did bought the supersize baggage for 20kg? tapi masih tidak mencukupi utk menampung berat barang yg dibeli.

I called it as budget trip. Yup! Definitely budget. No supir to rely on,. No tourist guide. Everything so called DIY. ->Same goes like my previous trip to Krabi.

We tried to save as much $$$ on the travel expenses example: hotel, transport etc so that we can spend more on shopping!

Day 1, Penang - Jakarta - Bandung budget trip.

Our flight to Jakarta from penang as early as 10.40am on Saturday.

We did put on the face mask!!! Tapi saya sangat membencinye. Even though it’s the most expensive face mask yg org kata tak panas or tak berpeluh, but 3hrs on flight with that stupid things stuck on your face sgt torturing ok!

Touchdown at Jakarta almost 1pm Jakarta time. Straightaway pergi ke Primajasa counter ticket. Ok, Jakarta international airport tak macam KLIA. Fuh! Sgt tak bersistematik. Its look old dan tak ceria langsung. No signboard and we failed to find the information counter. Penat pusing2 keluar masuk, and baru la jumpe kaunter tiket primajasa nih. Utk panduan korng, kaunter ticket primajasa ni just next to the McD.

Bus ticket from Jakarta airpot to Bandung (Bandung SuperMall) is just 70,000Rp/person. The exchange rate time saya pergi tu kire RM 1 = 2 700Rp. There is few other option, whether nak naik van but much more expensive (120 000Rp/person) or taxi which will be much…much,…much,,,more expensive. Bas utk ke bandung available every half an hour. Since we bought ticket at 1.30pm, we have another half an hour before bas sampai. So, kiteorg gi makan dulu kat McD. Ohhh…McD ni ade Gourmet Wrap yg sgt sedap. Kt McD m’sia tak pernah nengok pun.

Dlm bas ke Bandung.

Then at 1.30pm sharp kiteorg naik bas. This journey took another 3hrs rides if jalan tak begitu macet (jam!). Since kteorg penat bangun awal, kteorg byk tidur sepnjng perjalanan. The bus condition is OK. Mcm bas express kat m’sia gak. Not much different. We reached Bandung Super Mall at almost 5pm. Tak tahu la nape, bas ni mmg hanya stop kat bandung at this super mall. Then from this super mall we took taxi to hotel. Actually, kteorg nak tunggu bluebird, tapi tak nampak pun batang hidung taxi bluebird. And the supermall security yg arrange kan taxi. When we request for bluebird die just cakap, other taxi as well pakai meter. Tanpa byk complain kteorg naik je la taxi tu and pergi ke hotel. Our hotel is at Jln Sukajadi. Wah...sgt jauh dr bandung supermall.

Compare to other area in Bandung sukajadi area lebih sejok sebab that area berada di kawasan yg lebih tinggi. Bandung Super mall to hotel rides just cost us almost 50000Rp. Kalau jln tak macet mcm time kteorg smpi tu, maybe less than this. Buts its consider cheap enough compare kt m’sia. Sbb the rides itself almost 45mins gak.

Night time, kteorg terus ke rumah mode. Our hotel ke rumah mode tak la berapa jauh. Dlm 10mins with Angkot. Angkot ni consider minibus dkt Bandung. But angkot is using minivan or kijang. Angkot ni kena identify the route by the angkot colour. Jgn silap naik angkot ye!! We learnt to use which angkot and the colour reference dari receptionist kat hotel. You just berdiri je depan hotel with less than 3mins sure you will get the angkot. From our hotel, Abadi Asri Hotel, we use angkot colour kuning air, with black stripe utk ke rumah mode with the fare of 2000 Rp/person.

Sampai je rumah mode, I terus grabs all the baju2 yg chantek2.

Since its Saturday night, rumah mode quite full and happening. Ramai org Jakarta kat situ shopping gak. Rumah mode byk pilihan baju and the environment sgt best. Siap ade café and landscapes yg sgt cantek.

After shopping kat rumah mode, we went for dinner at Ma’uneh makanan sunda. Not far from rumah mode. just walking distance. Later, we hop in angkot utk balik ke hotel, tapi utk balik ke hotel, we need to take two angkot. Tak sama mcm dtg ke rumah mode. 1^st angkut is the blue colour with black stripe. And this angkot will stop at terminal ledeng. From terminal ledeng baru la naik angkot kaler kuning cair with black stripe utk balik ke hotel.

Min fare utk angkot for short distance is usually 1500Rp and max utk perjalanan paling jauh is just 3000Rp. They wont charge you more than 3000Rp/rides tapi for short distance fare akan bergantung kpd supir nak tentukan 15000 or 2000Rp. Kalau naik angkot and nak suruh dieorg stop kat you destinantion just jerit “kiri..kiri” or “stop…stop”…tapi kalau korang tak sure which area yg korang patut stop, just bgtau supir angkot tu time korang naik angkot example : “bapak, berhenti kan saya di rumah mode”. So, bile sampai rumah mode die otomatik akan stop and bgtau korang its rumah mode. Each angkot leh consist up to 15people at a time. Nanti itu supir angkot suruh korang duduk rapat2 and squeeze puunggung korang so that more people leh naik.

Day 2, Bandung budget trip.

As early as 9am kiteorg dh bersiap2 nak pergi to the most hotspot and famous place called as pasar baru. From hotel, we hop in angkot kuning cair tu terminal ledeng. Terminal ledeng ni kite bus station kat area sukajadi. Then from terminal ledeng, we all naik bas ke pasar baru. Jgn risau, there is only one bus ke pasar baru kalau naik dr terminal ledeng ni. Kat depan bas tulis “Liwi Panjang” which is the last station bas ni akan stop. The bus journey will took about 30mins to pasar baru. Sebab bas byk berhenti. Bus rides much more cheaper. Kalau tak silap around 4000Rp utk 2org. the best thing kalau korang naik pengangkutan awam kat bandung ni, korang leh experience the true colour of Indonesian. Those yg sgt2 miskin and susah, menyanyi on the street and hop in the bus utk mencari rezeki. Waktu first time naik bas, there is a guy yg akan distribute gula2 asam jawa to each and every passenger. Dlm hati kate, wah…bestnye bas kat bandung nih. Siap bg complimentary sweets, tapi when the bus about to move, that guy naik balik n collect all the sweets. Kalau korang nak beli or dh terbukak2 paket gula2 tu korang kne bayar 2000Rp. Tapi saya decided utk beli je. Niat nak sedekah. And gula2 asam jawa tu sedap sebenarnya. Nasihat kpd kengkwn yg plan nk naik bas or angkot time travel kat bandung, pls keep aside your coins. Since coins dieorg terlalu kecik nilainye, adalah baik korang dermakan aje pada penyanyi jalanan or those yg mintak sedekah tu. Sian dieorg. And during the rides, bukan je ade penyanyi malahan ade penceramah bebas. Wah..kire ade short tazkirah la.insap la kejap akak kiah ko ni dgr tazkirah. And smpi aje depan pasar baru, conductor bus tu akan jerit “pasar baru..pasar baru”..perlu diingatkan bas tidak berhenti di bus stop or ke tepi jalan kerana jln depan pasar baru hell packed and congested. So, korng just trn je dr bas time jln macet tu.

Before masuk ke pasar baru, incik tunang dh lapo. Bagi meng’happy’kan incik tuning sblm shopping, kteorg pun makan kat Ampera, another sunda restaurant with numbers of franchise kat area bandung. Ampera ni famous krenyne kat bandung, the food? Marvelous!! Sgt sedap smpi incik tunang tambah nasik!! And my new fav drink is Alpukat Juice (from avocado fruit). Juice die sgt pekat ok. Memerlukan kekuatan pernafasan yg tinggi utk sedut. Tak mcm juice kte yg cair tu…

And masuk je pasar baru, I was speechless. Gler bapak besar pasar baru nih. Tak tau nak start dr mana. Each level have different2 item and each floor I guess ade lebih dr seratus kedai. Cmne nk beli cmni?

Panicked attack!!!

Barang over there is super cheap. Korang kne tahu cmne nak bargain je. Tips of the day: shop time awal pagi. Time kedai baru bukak. Around 9am waktu sana. Coz during this time, peniaga dieorg percaya the 1^st customer tu akan dikire pelaris utk rezeki dieorg. Same goes mcm saya kat Bali. Cakap je sbg pelaris sure dieorg akan bagi rendah2 punye. Kat sini syaitan sgt byk berlegar2. menghasut saya utk beli mcm2. ahahhha….

We spent almost , 8hrs on the 1^st day kat pasar baru sahaja. Kaki dh lengoh, badan dah capek. Nasib incik tunang tak merungut pun. Sgt beruntung dpt some1 like him. Sgt patience time saya membeli belah and never let me out of his sight.

And the best part is? Yes, thanks to my sweetheart nady yg telah merekomenkan another wedding designer whereby this is highly recommended by her aunt. Aunty nady ni ade wedding house and tempah most of her wedding baju from Bunda. Bunda ni ade dia punye wedding shop tapi die collaborate with Glamour (ini nama kedai textile tuh). Waktu masuk2 je kedai glamour, saya terus tanya budak kedai tu, bunda mana satu. There he was, sitting at the corner of the shop tgh men’design’kan baju utk his customer from Jakarta. Saya pun dtg n curik2 tgk. Cantik!! Tapi too sexy for me. Sbb itu bakal pengantin tak pakai tudung, ok la nk pki cmtu.

Luckily saya tak beli lagi kain from any textile shop for my wedding dress. Coz klu korang beli textile from glamour and use bunda utk tailored your baju, you can get extra % discount without susah payah nak bargain. So, after bakal pengantin dr Jakarta tu blah, saya pun terus mengadap bunda. And explain on my wedding dress yg saya nak. Bunda sgt creative and very smart too. Die leh dpt capture my imagination on the wedding dress yg saya nak. Actually, I did some homework on my wedding dress before saya pergi on this trip. Saya dh potong all the pics yg saya berkenan and tampal dlm my sketch book. But happen that day saya terlalu excited nk nyoping smpi tertinggal sketch book kt hotel,

But Bunda said, nevermind, nanti saya dtg lagi n show the pic to him. And after the measurement session badan saya yg montel ni, barula bunda suruh budak kedai tu utk potong kain. See? Tiada pembaziran bukan? Sbb he knew how much he might need and I didn’t end up beli kain yg berlebihan. I am more than happy sebab the price is all in, inclusive the lace+lining, my veil, my shuz and of course the ‘penyet with batu swarzoski’. Penyet tu means beading. And another good thing, Bunda akan ke KL on the sept so I wont end up paying for the postage of the baju. Bunda will bring along my baju. Hiphip hooorayyyyy!!! Bunda sgt mudah to deal with. His price is almost fix but there is always a room to negotiate. But since saya dh dpt xtra privilege from Bunda to bring the dress to KL without paying additional postage charge, I didn’t push more on the tailoring price. Yup, it does exceed my budget on few hundreds but like bunda said, he want the baju turnout nice and both parties puas ati. Just to meet my budget and need to drop out the ‘penyet’ tu agak unreasonable so I end up paying few more hundreds so that saya puas ati juga!!!

And since saya dh tertinggal sketch book di hotel, I had another meet up with bunda on the day before balik ke Jakarta. Yup!! Bunda telah ke train station to meet up with me so that I can show him my sketch book and gmba baju pengantin yg saya berkenan. And of course from Cosry design. Tapi tak mampu nak hire cosry sbb tak manyak $$$$. Sobsobsosb.. tapi takde la copy 100%. Just for the bottom. While for the tops, its my own design tau.