Bandung yuk...!

future brides... head to Bandung. the fabrics are about 80% cheaper compared to our shores. yes, of course.. the argument of cost effective comes to mind. do consider only when u get cheapo flight tickets to Bandung. as for me.. i was overjoyed. as i put my calculation side by side.. the same amount i would've spent on fabrics alone (bought in M'sia) is equivalent to my 11 days spending + all my (and caveman's) fabric + the tailoring cost. kewl innit. told ya its complicated when bankers get married *wink*

it became so affordable that i went crazy buying the fabrics that i could never afford back in KL. something that's worth RM300 per meter .. heh, i get to buy 4m of it! in Rups, of course. so affordable.. that i even made all my wedding dresses there! of course, it became even more affordable due to the following lines :

Me : Mbak, ada yang namanye Ika?
Ika : Ya saya mbak. mbak temannya sapa?
Me : Saya temannya *toot*
Ika : oh iya??! ooohhh udah dapat harga teman2 ni mbak! ga bisa harga wisata!

ngehngehngeh! further conversation reveals that *toot* is my mantan pacar.. ya.. harga jadi lagi murahh dong!! i never thought dropping name, what more an ex.. would do me soo good. *LOL* my ex & wife, bought & made her wedding dresss in the same store.. (Rumah Mode, Pasar Baru, Lantai 2). so he told me to check it out.. and name drop. teehee.

i honestly like Bandung, compared to Jakarta. i mean, for everything else.. Jakarta would be the shopping haven. but for me.. the fabrics in Bandung.. and the FO (think super Zara &MNG workpants.. and ofcourse.. Little Miss Tees!!!) are just my thing. its less hectic. its easy to get around. i mean.. im luv this place dude!

some would ask about invitation cards.. well.. think RM10 at a RM3 price. i kid you not. personally the cheapo ones.. are very cheap.. but ours looks much better. but then again.. maybe i didnt look hard enough. i mean for someone with TBA date.. its depressing enough to get your dresses months in advance *grin*.. what more cardS? hehehe!

oh yea.. we stayed at nini's niece's hostel. pretty neat with indoor bathroom & all. we actually crashed at her friend's room, as she had to be outstationed the whole week (they are med interns).. so we crashed for free. that was how i saved money. hee.

what else is good in bandung..? brownies kukus!!! go for it.. forget your diet! *LOL*

Day 5 : Yogya, Yogya!!! (Part 2)

yes, i know this was a bit delayed. but its been crazy. ive been pretty lazy at work.. and now m just stressing out. this is not a good working year for me.

anyways..

we proceeded to Borobudur on day 4th (late afternoon).. and having missed the last bus to Borobudur, had to take a bus to Semarang. it dropped us in Muntilan.. where, by 6pm.. is a dead city. no bus. no taxi. nothing. all shops are closed. moments before arriving in Muntilan, we were joking about the only thing we havent took was the ojek a.k.a the motorcycle. well, duh.. that was the only thing left to take to proceed to the borobudur.

so the pak ojek took us to manohara hotel.. probably our only posh escapes in the entire 11 days. it is located smack in the borobudur compound. from the restaurant.. i can even see the borobudur. which explains why a lot of people said it was a long walk from the main entrance. sorta like walking to the middle of the angkor wat. but to us.. it was a brisk walk in the park *LOL*

we chose to stay here for the sunset. its the only way you can catch the sunset.. at 5am plus. by not staying in manohara, u had to wait for the park to open at 6am. but at the end of it.. we didnt catch the sunrise. it rained. boohoo.

but the borobudur was great after all. it was different from the angkor wat, only due to the surrounding. from it, you can actually see Mt Merapi. the view was fab.

we charter a mini van to go back to yogya, as we have a few stopovers planned. without charting a car, it is pretty impossible to go to kaliarung, kaliadem, and parangtritis (a beach in Yogya).. its just imposibble. under such short time that is. cos its just too far apart. kaliadem was a village in which was struck by the volcano. from there, you can actually see mt merapi. but alas, even at 3pm.. it was foggy. and we see nothing.

the only time we saw the sun was a sunset in parangtritis. the seafood was good & cheap.. and the sunset was very nice.

we took a train to bandung at about 9.45 pm. it was a long 8 hour ride, which i slept all the way. i was just soooo tired. and, i need to conserve some energy for my shopping sprees. which, starts in Bandung..

*grin*

to be continued.......

Day 4 : Yogya, Yogya!!! (Part 1)

my day was well disturbed by a subuh aftermath. we were so beat the night before, we left our keys outside our door. lucky us, the door was locked from the inside as well. but some lady, thinking it was her room (for reasons i dun know why) woke us up by trying to unlock it using the key. obviously pissed, i walked to the door, eyes 1/2 open.. and knocked on the door.. from the inside apparently.. and apparently gave her the shock of her life. *LOL* beristighfar ibu tu! hantu la kot die ingat. hahaha! it was soo funny when we talked bout it in the morning. all i hear her say was " astagfirullahalazim, saya pikir kamar saya".. ngehngehngeh!

yogya is a clean town. seriusly. well.. atleast to the parts i went to it was clean. Pasar Beringharjo was kind of like Pasar Klewer of Solo, only less batik. and no, batik solo was not found here. a lot of fabrics nonetheless. those ready made baju pengantin.. mak ai.. heavy beading berkilo2! for only RM100. i didn't buy anything here cos i couldnt wait to try the infamous bakpia.

bakpia is sold everywhere in jogja but, only a number of it a yummy. The most popular bakpia is known as Bakpia Patuk. bakpia is some kind of pastry, with fillings such as greenbean & yes, cheese. everything in indonesia seemed to have cheese in em. trust me, the cheese bakpia is yummmmyyyy!!!!!!! for a box of 10, its only Rp10,000. unfortunately on our way to bandung, we bought a different brand of bakpia.. and it wasn't as nice. boohoo!!

we took 2 becak to go to the kraton. yela, takkan nak naik 3 orang kan..hehe. we met 2 very nice pak becak.. who waited for us patiently when we were in Taman Sari & Kraton. i asked my pak becak (whom i couldn't remember his name :( ), how much does he make per day. he says it depends on tourists arrivals. he usually makes a lot between June to August. he rents the becak for Rp3,000 per day. has 2 daughters, 1 still in school.. and just not making enough. he's old i tell ya, and i feel sorry everytime he has to get down & push the becak while going uphill. yela, i probably lost only 1kg up until the 4th day. *LOL* so on this note.. do give em more.. it may be peanuts to you.. but it meant a lot to em..

anyways, the Taman Sari is where the kinds & queens have a splashin good time back in the days. the pool are divided into 2.. 1 for the princesses & the dayang2 (the royal maids).. and 1 for the king & queens. there's a tower overlooking the former pool, in which the king will take his pick for the dayang of his choice. when decided, he will throw a white jasmine to the pool. neat huh? then the dayang will proceed to the make up room..and waits for the king in the waiting room. in which, underneath the bed is a sauna where herbs are steamed for whatever reasons. neat innit? hehehe!

we were told the Taman Sari was used by the 1st til the 3rd king of yogya. and it was during a transition time from the Hindu years.. to the muslim years. so its architechtural was a mix of both. which puzzles me everytime i see it.

i bought 2 paintings in Taman Sari.. which i loved and plans to hang in my crib. when i have em that is. and m not even sure if caveman likes em.. but hei..its not like he's around a lot in the new home.. teehee.

woops, too long an entry.. to be continued....

Day 3 : Central Java

we arrived in Solo in the wee hours of the morning. thank god the bus driver dropped us right in front of the Grand Setiakawan Hotel . it is pretty creepy if we were at the terminal at that time of the day ( we saw it during the day.. boy are we lucky we didnt go there! hehe).

a bit of background check.. Solo the short name for Surakarta, is a major city in Central Java, Indonesia. Together with Yogyakarta, these two cities are heirs of the Mataram kingdom that was split in 1755.

we headed out to pasar klewer .. to see how does the most hyped up batik solo all about. pasar klewer turned out to be everything batik. and its nice batik, mind you. the kind my grandma always tell me to get for her, but i just never found em. well, i found em in solo. its so soft its unbelievable. i duno why i bought so little. maybe cos i wanted to cabot from the custom who asked too much (that of course will be covered it the last part of this chains of entries).

we went to kraton (which is istana / castle in indonesian), just behind the pasar klewer. just like what i saw on the net.. their kraton is very much different from ours. its like a block of single storey bungalow.. with huge compounds.. and no slippers in the compounds for you are not allowed to bring out any of those black sands. it is believed those sands are to jinx out your jinx. hmm..

we took a horse cart back to our hotel.. a good way to actually see the town, especially when u're running short of time. we have to rush back to the hotel, to take another bus to jogja. its their rainy season & we dont want to reach the prambanan, wet (which, we did).

the bus ride to jogja was brief.. and we were entertained by their seniman jalanan.. or seniman bus i would call em. most of them sang letto's sebelum cahaya.. which we love! 1 guy sang it so well.. we gave him hersheys! *LOL*

the most upsetting thing was when we got to prambanan.. not only it was gonna close in 30minit..and starting to rain.. we managed to get our tix as a local.. which means.. paying on Rp8,000. tourists had to pay Rp80,000!! tapi sampai2 kat gate tu.. they took 1 look at me & asked.. "tamunya dari mana mbak?".. referring to the japanese looking tim & nini.. *LOL* kantoiiiii.... they asked for out KTP (kartu tunjuk pengenalan.. or sumthin).. and as we fibbed our way out saying its in our backpack..bla bla bla.. well.. we didnt get through em. damn! i thought they would have just let us in.. i mean.. its like 30 mins to closing & its raining, just let us through for god's sake!

dengan kehampaan.. kiteorg pun blah.. and got a bus to restoran ayam goreng nyonya suharti..we havent had a thing running in our bellies since morning! it was reallllyyyyyy good... especially the gado-gado. but m pretty sure its becos we were starving. hahaha!

but i can say i already liked yogyakarta. minus the fact that upon our arrival in our Sri Wibowo hotel, we watched kuch kuch hota hei in indonesian *LOL* .

spendings (for 3):

Transportation

taksi to pasar klewer : Rp16,000
Kraton entrance : Rp12,000
Horsie cart ride : Rp20,000
Bus to Jogja : Rp24,000
Bus to Rest. Ny. Suharti : Rp12,000
Taksi to hotel in Malioboro : Rp23,000

Food

Rstoran Ayam Goreng Nyonya Suharti : Rp137,000

Hotel

Sri Wibowo (off Jl Malioboro ) : Rp209,000

2nd Day...East Java

trust me.. waking up at 3am, in the blistering cold, to catch a sunrise.. is a super ordeal. this is not a holiday i told tim, this is boot camp!*LOL* it was like.. soo cold.. but heh, my nose didnt bleed. we drove to penanjakan, to watch the sunrise. karin took the jeep w/ us (as expected). due to the biig mouth.. her jeep ditched her *LOL*. we couldnt see where we were driving to but it was pretty scary cos i know there r bumps & holes everywhere. but the jeep driver, pak yoga.. was super.

anyways, to cut long story short. there was no sunrise. it was all clouds & fogs & all the wisata (tourists) were very dissapointed. how can i forget that february is their wet season??! another note.. we paid Rp20,000 for the winter jacket. at the foot of penanjakan.. u can get it for Rp5,000. the hotel will hustle u for everythin.. "mbak, mau jacket. jacketnya udah tinggal dikit (bs!!)".. "mbak.. jeep nya harus di booking malam ni. takut kehabisan" another bs.

proceeding to the mt bromo was a better view. we drove through the black sand area, where it looked like sea from above.. it was amazing. we took a shortcut by taking a pony up the mountain (the mat salleh all jalan.. terer merer). it was freaky for me. so not good at it. i think the pony hates me too *lol*and climbing up the stairs was.. crazy! i thought i was gonna die & be buried in sulphur! *grin* but the view was amazing.

later in the afternoon, we drove to Malang by Pak Yoga and we tried to charter it for Rp300,000, but the lowest was Rp350,000. driving through the savannah.. goodness..it was picture perfect. a reminder.. do not bother to stop by the waterfall on the way to Malang. we walked sooo far & still didnt reach it. all we could seee was a stream. so save your Rp5,ooo for the entrance. its like paying to walk to nowhere *grin*

Malang is a nice small town.. the people are friendly.. the food are super yummy.. and its breezy..we went apple picking at the Agro Wisata in Batu Malang. strongly recommend the bakso of malang. yummy. but if people tell u to try rojak cinggur.. its rojak made of the mouth of sapi (cow). so.. hmm..

again, the people of Malang, proves our point that they are indeed the nicest. the manager of the bus we took to Solo that night was even kind enough to ask his driver to drop us right in front of the Grand Setiakawan Hotel, as he says the Solo bus terminal is just unsafe for backpackers in the wee hours of the morning (we were expected to arrive at about 4am).

it was a long day indeed & i was so ready to crash when i got in the bus to Solo at 8pm. its gonna be another long day on the 3rd day..

btw.. here's what we spent on the third day (for 3 pax):

Sunrise jeep : Rp300,000 (return)
Pony ride : Rp120,000 (return)
Jeep to Malang : Rp350,000
Cab to Batu Malang : Rp70,000
Cab from Batu Malang to terminal Arjosari : Rp95,000
Entrance of Agro Wisata : Rp72,000
Food : Rp52,000
Bus to Solo : Rp180,000

Total : Rp1,239,000

more info : Wikitravel

Day 1 : Surabaya

the lcct was packed with people.. as always. but being the 1st of feb.. airasia launched their first trip to s'pore. and the big bos was there. i shouldve brought my resume, along w/ my itinerary. hehe! my backpack was weighed at 7.1kg.. not bad ei? hehe!

my supposedly allrite flight was badly ruined by a group of pakcik2 gomen yg gatal.. when they're not talking politics.. its their dirty jobs behind their wives' back. at 1 point.. one of the pakcik (w/ a strong utara accent) was tellin the other om om (pakcik in indonesian) how he managed to fib his way w/ his wife when he came home late smelling of a woman's perfume.. "tadi ada orang semboq perfume kat mall.. kita mana nak tau tu perfume laki ka pompuan. dah tu.. lepaih la aku" followed by gatal laughs from the other om om. gile bodo la bini die to actually fall for that! and a few other things which just pisses me off. and they were like so loud.. and gatal.. and obscene.. and when they weren't talking.. they were snoring. like real snores!

arriving at the airport.. we took the shutter bus to bungurasih terminal bis.. to catch the very next bis (bus in indonesian) to probolinggo. came this om who sat rite next to us. and kept looking an smilin at us. we were like.. oh no.. not another om om. but turned out to be th nicest guy! our guardian angel was from Malang.. and on his way to the terminal to take a bus home. knowing we've never set foot in surabaya.. he offered to accompany us. not only that.. he took the same bus as we did (to probolinggo).. eventhough going to Malang would be off a totally different bus. he said he wanted to make sure we were safe. cheesy, i know. but he didnt even let us pay for his ticket. i learnt that he was in the navy like abah and has been working in the airport for almost 20 years. so he sees many wisata (tourists) gets ripped off.. and wouldnt want it to happen to us.

we reached probolinggo at about 4pm..tired.. hungry.. and had to take a mini van up to cemaralawang.. as there are no other transportation up to the village (being late). we paid Rp300,000 for the whole mini van.. only to be told by the driver (as soon as we';re outside the terminal) that he needs to pick up 2 more tourists. 1st day dah kena kapak. sigh..we couldnt wait to ask the other tourists how much did they pay for that trip (apparently also Rp300,000!!).

the trip up to cemaralawang was really tiring.. but scenic.. and cold! and it started to rain really heavily and scary.

upon arriving at cemara indah, we hooked up w/ other tourists.. to see how many others got ripped of. hehe. you see.. we were supposed to pay another Rp300,000 for jeep for the next morning sunrise programme. but we somehow bumped into Karin, a tourist from Holland who said she paid only Rp150,000 for the entire jeep (which,she paid in probolinggo). she got into a heated argument w/ the staffs of the resort.. and said that they were trying to rip us off. being tired.. and cold.. and mainly hungry (we didnt eat anythin but our big breakfast in mcd lcct).. we couldnt be bothered to butt in.

the other tourists who were in our mini van is a couple from the UK.. law grads.. taking time off to travel before they start working. we also met some from surabaya.. which, only this girl named dewi was really friendly. her friend & dewi's boyfriend, i think, were really snobbish.

we settled in our tiny room and snuggled in our carpet look a like selimut *grin* and called it a day.

n m really glad we did the budget in the spread sheet. cos it makes our job so much easier. you see this is what happen when a QS goes on a trip with a banker.. cost cost cost! *LOL*

in total.. on the first day we spent :

Bus from Surabaya Airport to Bungurasih Terminal: Rp30,000
Bus from Bungurasih to Probolinggo : Rp20,000
Mini Van to Cemara Lawang : Rp100,000
Food : Rp20,000

TOTAL : Rp130,000

Wee!! we were totally within budget! i will be loading in on the actual cost of the 11 day trips. cos as we were doing our costing.. it was so difficult to get em from many2 sources.. i hope my ramblings will help many who are thinking of doing this java backpacking..