Bandung part 2

I always realise that I'm a procrastinator and shouldn't do a job in parts, I'll do the first and leave the rest untouched for good. Should make a note on that. Later maybe.

The plan to visit Bandung dated back in June when a friend and I wanted to take advantage of the AirAsia promo fares and make full use of our passports before they expire on January next year. We booked a hotel via agoda.com, Unique Guesthouse located not far from Pasar Baru.

However we weren't aware of another accommodation, Unique Hotel located a few km away from the guesthouse. That took us for a spin that night in the silent Bandung town and cost us another IDR20k for the ride. Clearly wasn't our fault since we gave the right address just the driver thought he knew every nook and cranny of Bandung he didn't take a good look at the address. But in the tiredness and unfamiliarity, we obliged.

The guesthouse was a bed and breakfast. There was a TV, a standing fan, a chair and a coffee table in the room. More like a hostel, it provides a bathroom outside at the end of the corridor. Really a budget accommodation.

I didn't like the channels cos there were too many variety shows and no interesting content at all. But I changed my mind later when I turned the TV on and to my surprise a live EPL match was going on. Stayed up late to watch Liverpool against Norwich, very won by the Reds with 5 goals against their goalless opponents. 

We were served with nasi goreng with telur dadar and coffee in the morning. Not tasty but filled my empty tummy duly. Since Pasar Baru was the nearest attraction, we decided to go there on foot. On the way we saw a few street food stalls and swung by at one to taste nasi uduk. Actually I first heard nasi uduk in an indo sinetron a few days before flying here so when I saw it on my own, I was more than tempted to have a bite. Cost me IDR8000 for what was essentially a plate of rice with a splash of gravy, tempe, a boiled egg, plus a cuppa tea. Cheap.

After the second breakfast, we went straight to Pasar Baru to of course, shop. Haha, full with Malaysians. We didn't spend much and I was forced to buy a sim card at IDR30000. That was markdown from the IDR50k the kid seller was offering me. Tip no. 8 : beware the hawkers. They usually sell overpriced items. The same can be said about the shops too but they don't tail you to sell their goods.

Then we went to Cihampelas, this was where I bought a few shirts because they looked of better quality then those at Pasar Baru. Also where I bought a can of Pepsi blue, one of the rarest varieties of Pepsi in the world. I think Malaysia was the last country that stopped selling Pepsi blue. I still keep the can as a memento.

Travelling around should be easy around Bandung. We moved from a place to another with either a cab or angkut or by foot. For the taxi, take Bluebird, the drivers use meters or else the fares will skyrocket. A cheaper option, angkut. They function like a shuttle bus just that they aren't buses instead modified Toyota Unsers that each can scram around 7 adults at a time. We took angkut from Cihampelas to Dago and then to Pasar Baru. Each trip was for IDR3000 (roughly RM1). Tip no. 9 : Unless you have a lot of stuff to carry, use angkut.

Food wasn't a problem too. Street food is everywhere and cheap, but we had to inquire to determine the food was really halal. Once, I almost ate a pork rice, thought it was chicken. Tip no. 10 : for Muslims, always ask if the food contains non-halal ingredients.

I also didn't see any cats wandering in the city, unlike here. My wild thought was that the people eat cats but I digress.

We also didn't miss mount Tangkuban Perahu. It's a must go. Beautiful scenery, very cold so wear thick clothes. The souvenir sellers are very persuasive and in my instance, cheating too. Kept asking us to buy keychains for heavily marked up prices. Almost ruined the wonderful experience. Went there with a van provided by the guesthouse at a cost, IDR350000 for two persons going to places like Tangkuban Prahu, strawberry farm, Sari Ater hot spring, and another one or two places for shopping. Quite affordable since we have the whole van to our two selves.

Now I'm trying to find a way to end this post not abruptly. Tip no 11 : If anyone intends to go to Bandung, always check the airport taxes too. Bandung airport charges its international passengers IDR75000. Pay the tax first before proceeding to immigrations, they'll require the receipt before stamping your passport.

To my surprise, I also met with two schoolmates at the airport, who went there on field trips unlike me who went for pure leisure ha ha. Had quite a lengthy chat while waiting for the late QZ8593 bound for home. It was a nice experience, at least I practice what I preach of getting out of the comfort zone.

Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm satisfied

The package arrived at 1040 hours today brought by a DHL man who tried to speak though broken English, but I commended him for his effort. I was worried it would arrive later since I won't be home by then thanks to the bizarre class scheduling. 

I was right in the previous post. There's no proper way to prove it but I corresponded the data from several radars and flight boards with the info from DHL tracking page. 

According to the page, my package left HK at 0325 hours today and arrived at Subang KL at 0729 hours. From the famous Flight Board, the only flight to SZB from HKG was TH 3508 departing at 0348 and landed at 0730 hours. Bingo.

So what was the package?

Let's play another guess game.

Screw it. It's a Liverpool 12/13 home shirt now on sale at a discounted price at the Liverpool's online store.

Keeping the track

I ordered a piece of item from UK at the wee hours of last Saturday, which was around 2145 hours Friday UK time.

In anticipation of the item, I've been monitoring its journey from the land of the scones and tea to the haven of teh tarik and all varieties of nasi. Luckily the courier DHL has a dedicated webpage to feed its customers with the track of their items, which is good since they charged me £15 in the first place!

I also found a way to have fun with this tracking page. A knowledge and familiarity in aviation do help sometimes tho it might be of unuseful stuff, ha ha. I tracked the package from Liverpool, UK to Nottingham East Midlands airport (EMA) where it was boarded on a flight to the Leipzig airport (LEJ), Germany. Then it was transferred to another freighter bound to Hong Kong (HKG). With the wisdom of me myself as a trainee aircraft engineer I may divulge the types of aircraft used and their reg numbers. The EMA-LEJ leg was done with a B77F (D-AALE) belonging to Aerologic and the LEJ-HKG route was plied on another B77F (N774SA) owned by Southern Air operating on behalf of DHL. Let's play a guess game, which aircraft will my package travel on soon before reaching my doorstep?

I think it's a B727F operated by Transmile Air Services on behalf of DHL, flight no TH 3508 from HKG arriving at Subang (SZB) at 0720 hours. I can pick up my package on my own at the airport then!

Six hours in Ipoh

A friend woke me up in a Saturday noon (it's Saturday ok) to ask me accompany him to go to Ipoh. Minutes later we were already catching the KTM ETS bound for Ipoh.

While my friend might have considered the trip as work, I considered it a leisure trip to revisit the famed mi udang (prawn noodles) of Perak.

I had my first mi udang in 2009 during a school retreat to Perak. Apart from visiting a few schools and sightseeing in the towns of Ipoh and Kuala Kangsar, we were brought to Kuala Sepetang in Taiping to get a taste of what might have been the best variety of noodles ever invented. The succulent fresh, big prawns in savoury gravy served in a plate with noodles dipped inside could beat any dish we boarders usually had at the dining hall anytime. I recall myself devouring my plate(s) of noodles ignoring the chit chat the others were having ha2.

So from KL Sentral we took the 1405 hrs KTM ETS to Ipoh Sentral. Since it was also my first time on a train, I took the opportunity to wander across the cabins just for the sake of curiosity. I thought the cafe was grander instead of a bar and a simple menu offering of coffee, burger, and fried rice or noodles. I only bought a cup of coffee worth RM2.50 which was brewed from a sachet of 3-in-1 mild flavour Nescafé.



We reached Ipoh at 1630 hours and braved the rain to the Sultan Idris Shah Mosque nearby for the prayers. To leave a note on my first impression of Ipoh, it was between classic and majestic, particularly when I saw the Ipoh Sentral building, the High Court building, the Dewan Bandaran Ipoh, and the clock tower just in front of the mosque's side entrance.

The next agenda was work so let's skip that part to the main entre, the quest for mi udang. We went in circles in Ipoh town for quite some time before finally putting ourselves on course to the nearest mi udang.With the help of GPS we managed to track down an establishment serving the delicacy although we have been told that the authentic mi udang can only be found in Taiping, particularly Kuala Sepetang.

Restoran Mi udang sempoii, as it is known is located by Jalan Tambun, a few kilometres ahead of The Lost World of Tambun. Although hidden behind a Petronas gas station, it didn't stop us from getting the taste of their signature dish the mi udang sempoi. I counted seven prawns size of two fingers in my plate as I was ready to dig in. As I've expected, the taste tho might be different was as delicious as the first one I had 4 years ago. How does it taste? Well I really have no answer cos you should really jump on the next train to Perak and get a plate yourself.

A plate of mi udang sempoii set me back RM8, which was worth the satisfaction and long last. At around 2200 hours we hit PLUS to start a 3-hour journey back home.