Bandung

Last weekend we did a trip to a place called Bandung which is located about 2 hours east of Jakarta in West Java.
Bandung is known as the place to go shopping , it has numerous outlet shops selling everything from Armani suits to Abercrombie polos.

I managed to drag Mike and the girls to just about every outlet shop there was in Bandung... in the end we agreed that the best ones to visit were the 2 big ones called Rumah Moda and The Heritage. The Heritage was great because it not only sold clothes but had a section that sold furniture and household items as well.

Bandung reminded us alot of home (NZ) With its streets lined with big beautiful trees and houses with small fences. What we really noticed was that they had footpaths and some even had grass kerbs. Some of you might not think this is strange but after living in Asia this sight is rare indeed. We were once told by local friends in Cambodia that footpaths werent necessary as noone would be seen walking anywhere because its too hot! Only poor people walk they said.

A colleague of Mike's recommended a restaurant called " The Valley" for dinner. It was located up in the hills about 20-30 minutes drive from the centre of Bandung.

We found this to be one of the best restaurants to eat at since our arrival into Indonesia. We tried one of their specialties called the Zuppa Zuppa Soup and it was to die for.

What made this place great was the spectacular view you got from their outside dining area which was located outside on a huge balcony.

We arrived just as the sun was going down for the evening. It was absolutely gorgeous!

Nattie, Becka and I ended up taking a trip to see the Tangkuban Perahu volcano. As we opened the door of the car we noticed that this place smelled exactly like Rotorua in NZ. It took us 1 hour to get up and down the bad road to the volcano and because the lack of activity and of course the strong smell of sulphur we only stayed for 5 minutes, took a couple of photos and jumped back in the car to go shopping again!

The legend about the volcano tells the story of a prince who loves a queen who didn't return his feelings. But after a while she agreed to marry him on the following condition.The prince would have to build a dam and a huge boat in one night. The prince worked very hard, and as the night wore on, it looked like he would actually accomplish his task! Seeing this, the queen convinced the gods to make the sun rise early. Hearing the cocks crow as the sun rose, the angry prince turned his almost-completed boat over. Tangkuban Prahu is the boat.


Our friends version of the story was slightly different where unknown to the prince the queen was actually his mother, (She had given him up earlier) The queen didnt know this until she met the prince and noticed that he had the same birthmark as her. In the end she prayed to the Gods that they would raise the sun early so she wouldnt have to marry her son.


Thank goodness for that!