ITINERARY:
Day 1: Singapore - Bandung
Day 2: Tangkuban Prahu - Ciater Hotsprings - Jalan Dago
Day 3: Bandung - Singapore
DAY 1 (22 May 2009, Friday)
The opening of the brand new Hilton Bandung and the recent availability of low cost carriers flying direct from Singapore to Bandung inspired me to book a short weekend trip to Bandung.
Indonesia Air Asia QZ7972 departed Singapore at 1415hrs for a 1hr 35min flight to Bandung. The plane condition is not too impressive however, with several broken arm rests, torn seat covers, and flaked ceiling board. However, I can’t complain much for the price that I’ve paid for anyway.
At the Bandung Airport
On arrival in Bandung, I managed to get a taxi to Hilton Bandung for Rp40,000. The driver took a shortcut, cutting through some villages and onto bumpy tracks to get to the hotel which is located about 3km from the airport. I’ve also managed to get the driver’s contact (Rosman +62 2276456698) to hire him for a full-day tour Tangkuban Prahu.
The Hilton Bandung was opened 2 months ago and it was an impressive hotel with modern technology installed in the rooms. The keycard is touch pad, the electronic safe requires you to swipe your credit card through to lock/unlock, the electronic blinds is controlled by a remote control, enabling you to have an open or close concept bathroom, and the joystick level in the bathroom and basin tap allows you to control the water flow and water temperature.
I had a welcome cocktail drink, and ordered a black forest cake go to along with.
Railway track
Street scenes in Bandung
Sunset over Bandung
Jalan Braga is the city’s quasi-European strip, featuring a series of coffee shops, quality restaurants and bakeries.
Bakso Noodle at one of the stalls.
DAY 2 (23 May 2009, Saturday)
After a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel café, Rosman had arrived at the hotel lobby with a 7-seater Suzuki Arena to begin our journey to Tangkuban Prahu, which is about 30km north of Bandung. Admission fee cost Rp35,000.
At 2076m above sea level, Tangkuban Prahu is chilling cold. The huge queen crater at the top, known as ‘Kawah Ratu’, is an impressively large crater that will take you two hours to walk around the circumference of the crater. Its last eruption being in 1969, Kawah Ratu is an inactive volcano, but still emits sulphur fumes.
It's pretty commercialised as there are plenty of stalls selling souvenirs and garments.
A secondary crater, Kawah Upas, is 1.1km away and will take 20 minutes to walk on the ridge between the two craters. Due to time constrains, I’ve decided to forgo a visit to Kawah Upas. However, a better and less crowded walk is to Kawah Domas, a volcanic area of steaming and bubbling geysers that can be reached by a trail.
View from Tangkuban Prahu on the trail.
At Kawah Domas
Many visitors cooked eggs with the steaming geysers.
Moving on to Ciater Hotsprings, about 8km from Tangkuban Prahu, Ciater is in the middle of huge tea and clove estates. The main attraction in Ciater is the Sari Ater Hot Spring Resort, although they are quite commercialized. Car admission to Sari Ater cost Rp13,000 and tourist admission cost Rp15,000.
There are at least a dozen of man made hot spring pools in the Resort with a large number of visiting tourists, mainly from other parts of Indonesia. The resort also consists of activities such as the flying fox, pedal boat on the lake, children playgrounds, etc.
It was almost 1630hrs by the time I got out of the resort, so I’ve decided to skip Maribaya waterfall which I had initially planned. I informed Rosman to send me to Jalan Dago for shopping at the factory outlets.
The traffic is seriously bad. Rosman has to divert through some mountains, passing some remote villages just to get to Lembang and into Bandung. At Jalan Dago, it is a shopping heaven. There are hundreds of brand in each Factory Outlet, and there are few dozen Factory Outlets on just Jalan Dago. I purchased a couple of business shirts for about Rp95,000 to Rp140,000 each, bearing labels like Zara men, Burberry, etc!
Back at the hotel, dinner at the café is considerably value for money. The international seafood buffet cost only Rp157,000, serving international cuisines like sashimi, crabs, etc.
DAY 3 (24 May 2009, Sunday)
The 1115hrs morning flight left me with no time for any activities. After breakfast at the hotel, I hired a taxi to get to the airport for Rp19,000 to catch the return flight home. The weekend trip is pretty short, and there are still some places I’ve not been to. I’m certain that I’ll be returning for more.
MORE PHOTOS
Click Here
FAST FACTS
Travel Insurance: S$13
Flight: S$108
Transport S$39
Accomodation: S$46
Tours and entrance fees: S$8
Food & beverages: S$43
Shopping & miscellaneous: $64
TOTAL EXPENDITURE: S$321
EXCHANGE RATE
S$1.00 = Rp6,983
TRAVEL GUIDES / NEWS / MAGAZINES
Bandung Tourism
http://www.bandungtourism.com/
Bandung hotels, tourism and travel, West Java - Indonesia
http://www.visitbandung.net/
Wiki Travel - Bandung
http://wikitravel.org/en/Bandung
Wikipedia - Bandung
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandung
MAPS
http://www.indonesia-tourism.com/west-java/map/bandung_city_map.html
http://bandungmap.com/
http://bandungmap.com/html.php
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=bandung+map&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&ei=9ecKSpnZIqX66gPE_JyUAQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1
.jpg)