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Published: November 8th 2009
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Jakarta
Gambir Station...big, ugly and...green? 13 October 2009 - 16 October 2009
TRANSPORTATION:
Jakarta (Gambir) to Bandung by train--Rp 25,000 business class, 3hrs
HOTEL:
By Moritz Hotel
Double, fan, cold water, western toilet--Rp 90,000 inc. breakfast
A pretty decent and friendly hotel south of the train line within walking distance from the train station. The area is a bit rough and the hotel isn't located near to any decent eateries.
We left Jakarta's Gambir station at 10am for the three-hour train ride to West Javas capital, Bandung. This was our first experience of the Indonesian train system and by this experience we have to say that it was better than both Thailand and Malaysia (and the UK of course!) The train left bang on time and as a bonus it arrived in Bandung 15 minutes early! The journey from Jakarta is a scenic one, especially the last hour of the journey as the train twists and turns over the mountains, over vertigo-inducing bridges, and rice paddies stretching as far as the eye can see.
We arrived in Bandung just after 1pm and headed for the 10 minute walk to our hotel nearby. The hotel is quite a decent one, however, our bedroom
Jakarta
Waiting on the platform for our train which was on time, on the dot! window looked right down on a slum next to a stream which as we all know is the local sewage system so the stink was evident. We made the most of a nap as we were slightly hungover from the night before and after headed out for a bite to eat. We realized that maybe the hotel wasn't in the best of areas. The tracks traditionally divided the riff raff in the south and the Dutch colonists to the north, and it was still pretty evident today. We didn't want to venture too far into unfamiliar and scary looking surroundings so we ate at a local Padang restaurant on the main road by the station. Padang food is apparently best eaten outside of Padang and we weren't disappointed. The way it works is that all the food on the "menu" comes out in small plates and all you do is choose whatever you want. The remaining plates get cleared away and left on the "viewing" shelf at the front of the restaurant. Not the most hygienic but the food was good.
The next day we headed out to explore what Bandung has to offer. We headed north to check
out the Geology Museum. What was, again, evident was that the north is more affluent. The streets have pavements, trees and not much rubbish. What was also evident was that we had come to Bandung at the start of the rainy season and thus kept getting a downpour, dead on 6pm every day!
Anyway, the museum is ok, if you are into rocks and fossils and energy sources, which for us, quite frankly, was slightly boring. It does have an interesting section devoted to volcanoes, earthquakes and tectonic plates. We caught a taxi to what Bandung is famous for...Jalan Cihampelas, more commonly known as Jeans Street. The long street is crammed full of huge shops selling bargain jeans, amongst other clothing. Fake designer clothes for as little as $5 is a huge bargain! As Bandung is the center of textile making in Indonesia, it came as no surprise. Each storefront is adorned with mostly superheroes, such as Superman, Spiderman etc which make it an interesting visit. Dan bought a sweater due to the fact we are visiting Bromo in a few weeks for a great $9!
That evening we decided to branch away from our area and caught a becak
to Jalan Braga, the central street for nightlife (apparently!). How the becak driver managed to get us there is an Indonesian wonderment as we are not exactly that light, and this guy must have been in his 60s!
Jalan Braga was a disappointment as there wasn't really that much to choose from in terms of food. Dan settled for a satay (his 2nd for the day) and the only good thing about this street is that it had the best internet connection (and cheapest) of anywhere we have been in Indonesia so far. Well, afterall, Bandung is the technological center of Indonesia! Another downpour hit and we were forced to return to our hotel by taxi. We made sure it was metered, which it was, until we got to a really rough looking area when the driver told us the meter was broken! Of course it was! Instead of maybe paying no more than Rp10,000 by the meter we had to stump up Rp15,000. OK, so what is Rp5,000 extra? Not much to us, but thats not the point. The point is he lied to us and that put us in a bad mood. We then decided from now on
to stick to the becaks. OK, they're more expensive, but the becak drivers put in so much more work that the price is more than worth it!
The final full day, we had booked ourselves on a tour of the area south of Bandung. As we were the only people (it is low season after all!) we had a car and driver to ourselves. We set out early and headed about 50kms or so to Gunung Papandayan, one of Javas most active volcanoes. It was so far a trip of a lifetime as we arrived at our destination and walked up to the sulfur fields of the huge caldera. It was a strange sensation as you walk further into the center of this vast wasteland of steam with the earth bubbling all around you. Theres absolutely no life here and the feeling of walking on the moon springs to mind (not that we have ever done that!). The guides showed us various geysers and at one of them there is a small pool of lava. He put a stick into it and it got molded with sulfur. The highlight though was getting to taste some pure sulfur. The sensation
Jakarta to Bandung
Hanging out yet another window, of yet another Asian train....Virgin, eat ya heart out! is weird as it goes down your neck and we think it tastes like a hot, burning type of sherbert. Sulfur apparently has some good qualities and helps asthma (we don't understand this as its near impossible to breath up here) and is good for your skin if you apply directly. Further up we reached the "new" crater, a turquoise blue lake with a chimney of steam rising from a fissure further up. The last eruption here was in 2002 and it is still very evident today. What used to be forest was now a tangle of burnt-out tree stumps and Dan was sure that when he came here in 1998 he had walked through that forest. After a few hours we headed back to our car and driver, still mesmerized by the sheer beauty and destruction that we had just seen.
We headed back through the countryside, stopping off for some lunch at a cute roadside restaurant, overlooking another volcano and rice paddies. Some delicious sate washed down by hot green tea did the trick and we were soon on our way to the slopes of Gunung Guntur to visit some hot springs. The hot spring was actually a
swimming pool with piping hot water and we had the place to ourselves for an hour while we sat in the pool. It wasn't the best as it wasn't anywhere where the air was cool enough to enjoy, and Dan began praying for rain so we could enjoy it a bit more. Instead of rain, however, Dan seemed to call on a freak gust of wind that whipped up a table umbrella, which missed him by mere inches before impaling itself on a cottage roof and being smashed to smithereens! We didn't stay much longer after that and soon after headed back to Bandung on the busy road back. The journey back was yet another one of crazy Indonesian driving...only here you can get 4-abreast overtaking moves!!
That night we headed back to Jalan Braga to our favorite internet spot and a bite to eat at a nice bar with delicious burgers. We grabbed an early night as we had an early train to catch to the beach resort of Pangandaran, but as usual we ended up getting little sleep as a bunch of selfish Germans felt like having a party on our floor at 2 am, preceded by
the couple next door making naughty noises until 7am when we woke up. Dan made an effort that morning to make as much noise as possible as we left to try and get his own back on them most likely to no avail!!
Next stop, Pangandaran...and you think we had a rough time with the taxi's in Bandung!
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liliram
liliram
Hi there
I just got back from Indonesia and missed a trip to Bandung. I am not much of a shopper and I do not think I would fancy a Geology Museum, but was Bandung worth the 3 hour train ride? Just curious how much i missed.... ;-)