Bandung part 1

I went to Bandung Indonesia last weekend. Flew on QZ8596 at 1530 hours from KUL LCCT and arrived at BDO Bandara Husein Sastranegara at 1630 local time (1730 Malaysian time). I thought Bandung being an Indonesian province has a faster pace of time than Malaysia turns out they are located west of Borneo along the latitude hence the -1 hour time difference.

Bandung is elevated around 750 meters above sea level so it can be quite cold there. When I first stepped foot on the 'Bandara' tarmac I was quickly mesmerised by the harmony and breeze of Bandung. The latter might come from the flooding Jakarta in the north. So tip no 1 : if you arrive in Bandung in the evening or morning wear thick clothes but only if you can't stand the cold. Should be around 21 deg C.

The immigration lines were typical. I thought I waited for around 20 minutes before having my passport finally stamped. Had much time to do in the queue including adjusting the phone and iPod's clocks to Bandung time. Tip no 2 : change the time zone cos you might have arrangements with other parties who certainly use local time there so if you stick to Malaysian time there may be confusion.

Bandara Hussein is a small airport. By Malaysian standards it might be only on par by size to an intra-state airport. The toilets are quite small too but the stalls are decent enough for a man's use (yes I did imply a homo joke there) and this may come as surprise, no flush tanks! There's a bucket though in each stall so use it to get rid of your excrement. Kampung style much? I like :). Tip no 3 : open the water tap slowly to fill the bucket while you sh*t so that when you're done you can just douche the water into the bowl.

There are some shops and cafés in the vicinity of Bandara Hussein but I didn't enter any of the latter. They're collected just in front of the terminal building. I bought some snacks in a shop there and found out later the prices were quite higher compared to shops at other parts of Bandung. Like the shops at any airport. Tip no 4 : unless you really really need to eat or smoke some fags after the flight just hold it until you reach the city. By the way the fags at the airport terminal are sold almost twice the standard price there (19000 IDR for a red Marlboro). Don't smoke okay, dangerous for your health.

Now I must say Bandung is as beautiful and the people are friendly. You would sit alone at a bench and an elder woman would sit next to you and start telling you her stories being treated badly by the aviation security. It happened to yours truly, the woman was a local ethnic Sundan and the aviation security was sadly Malaysia's. I have a soury story too about the avsec but that's for another time. The woman didn't know I'm Malaysian until another man came to sit between us and cracked a talk with me. The man learns Malaysian Malay from Upin & Ipin, which his children love so much. Pride. Tip no 5 : don't be afraid to talk to the locals. They're friendly but just in case you don't want to look too eager just smile and someone would certainly start talking to you.

In their friendliness and kindness some of the locals can be opportunist too. They may overcharge you for taxi (especially taxi) and everything. Some of them require tips but that may not be a big problem if they do deliver good services. Tip no 6 : use airport cab to get to your hotel. A 4km trip may cost IDR 60000 by the airport cab but another IDR 40000 for a taxi from the parking lot nearby.
Tip no 7 : spare some small notes for tips.

Not done yet. Laters.

small stall but clean. the vandalism on the wall reminded me of the home country.

traditional, busy airport.