Sunday 8 December 2013

Bandung Trip Intro

Look where the wind blew me to...Bandung, Indonesia.

This one city has been synonymous to many Malaysian who come here to shop and just shop. Anything here is cheap, I mean dirt cheap and within affordable price range. Just name it and you will get it. It all started a year ago after we returned from Kota Kinabalu trip. We figured it out it was going to be super exciting if we tried something new like venturing a foreign country. Without a second thought, the year after, once we had our stipend deposited to our bank accounts, we put our money where our mouths are and give it a shot. After a year waiting,  so here I am recounting what we have been through in the last week in Bandung, Indonesia which was unforgettable. 

It was my first time ever flying with Air Asia...nothing much to expect since I'd been hearing a lot from the naysayers about their service, but prior to our departure to Bandung, few hours before we went to the airport, I received a message stating our flight had been rescheduled to an early time.Well, this day couldn't be any better, deep down in my heart, I wanted to be there as soon as possible. However, as we had settled ourselves at the boarding gate and all ready to fly, we were saddened by the news that our flight had been delayed to a later time. Surely it killed my mood a bit, but alas, I was still excited as ever. We found out that the weather was to be blamed and no one in this world had the privilege to fight the mother nature. 

After waiting sometimes for further notice, we noticed that there had been a long queue at our gate as if people were getting ready to embark into the plane. Driven by our curiosity, we went there and ask few people. To our surprise, our flight was ready for boarding. We dashed to the place where we put our luggage and got into the line. Such a long line, Malaysians were super rich for being able to go on a holiday abroad, I could say. We were all to be blamed for having too much fun talking and chatting away without realizing the latest announcement made about our flight. At 3.55, the plane was being pushed back to the stipulated runway. 
      
And after that, all I know was that the sight of Malaysia slowly lost in the heaps of clouds as the plane lumbered through the sky. You knew the feeling of flying abroad for the very first time. it was mixed-up, excited and anxious were all the same time (I used to go to Thailand on yearly basis to my grandparents' house in Yala, Southern Thailand, but when I was 9 years old, we stopped going back after the derogatory unrest evoked, how I reminisced those times of riding a train from Sg. Golok to Yala). After 2 hours, we safely landed at Hussein Sastranegara International Aiport, Bandung. It had been a pleasant flight with the cabin crew on board couldn't be anymore helpful and amiable to cater our needs, kudos to those people entertaining us that day proving that some of the naysayers were flat out wrong. Like all day during this monsoon season, it drizzled throughout, with minimal share of intermittent sunshine upon touching down in Bandung. Couple that to the fact that Bandung is on highlands which made the weather way chillier than Kuala Lumpur. One of the few places in the Asean region had me wearing jacket or cardigan during the day, how cool was that! Custom clearance had been a breeze. Soon after that, we took taxis to our reserved accomodation, Patradisa Hotel. And the journey had just begun...

Among the first to arrive at the airport.



Bandung Airport. Very Small with limited spaces. I kid you not.

All set to discover this place!