Before i came back to KL, Jess and i had planned a trip to Bandung with only one purpose, which is to shop till we drop! I went there 2 years ago and came back very broke but with a very satisfied shopping spree. After hearing me recommending it to Jess for the 1 million time, Jess decided that it was time for her to visit Bandung and judge for herself. And thus we went.
It was a 4d3n trip because the last time i went for a 3d2n trip, it was not enough. Well i did have enough shopping, in fact i was sort of burnt out by shopping at the end of the 2nd night but i wished for more time in pampering myself with massages. So this time, i insisted a longer holiday.
We reached Bandung after a 2 hours flight from KL. It was a free and easy trip and nothing was arranged besides the hotel booking. So once we landed, we just hopped into a local airport taxi and headed to our hotel. This time we chose to stay at the Grand Serela Hotel which was recommended by some bloggers who had visited the place. The hotel was said to be situated amongst factory outlets within walking distance. Oh ya, why Bandung? Because Bandung is famous to be the one place where factories of branded goods are abundance and hence clothing are really cheap. One thing though is that these clothing are either out-seasoned or with a little of imperfection in them. But girls being girls, when it comes to shopping, we can always overlook these little details as long as they are cheap!!
The other thing about Bandung is that it is also a food paradise. Almost every stalls or restaurants we went to, the food was delicious! It is so ironic because in KL, it is so difficult to find a restaurant that offers good food. Here, however, it was the other way round. It was like "impossible" to even find a single stall or restaurant with inedible food. Being the typical tourist, of course we had to have at least a meal in the hotel and for us, it was lunch before we began our shopping spree.
And after lunch, sure enough, we began our shopping spree. It was rainy season in Bandung when we went but that didnt stop us at all. All we did was to buy an umbrella each and continued our shopping spree. Now there are about 10 to 15 factory outlets around the hotel and each outlet offers different surprises with any brands that one could imagine.
By the time we felt that we had enough of shopping for the day, we were dead tired from all the walking. Since it was the first day and having me constantly telling Jess to hold on to her money until we start our shopping spree to its full gear on the next day, we didnt really shop that much.
The last time when i was there, my friend and i would just stop and eat wherever we stopped at. This time, Jess took the time to google the best food we must try in Bandung. Thank god because it was worth all the walking, the sweat, the rain and the grumbling. hahah.
The fist restaurant to strike off from the list was Sambara. We were at a factory outlet and we asked about the exact location of the restaurant and we were told that it was very near from where we were. According to the sales girl, it was so close that all we had to do was to walk out from the outlet, walk straight till the end of the road and take a right turn and viola! So we went.
And we were so wrong!!! 30 minutes after walking down the street that she mentioned, we didnt see any right turn at all. And we asked a by-passer who told us "Oh well, it's really not very far but not near too. Maybe another 15 minutes walk?" What?????!!! So should we stop? Of course we had to continue because we had already walked 30 minutes! So we walked for another 15 minutes and still no sign of any right turn. And we asked another by-passer again and he said "well, maybe another 1 to 2km walk." I wanted to faint! By that time, my feet was hurting so badly! So after a lot of grumbling and cursing, finally we were there! The food better be worth it!
Sambara is a buffet style like restaurant where one will just pick out the ingredients he likes and tell the chef how he likes it to be cook. Since my Malay is not even half full, i left the honor to order to Jess. Honestly, i was just death tired and i didnt care what i eat. I just wanted to eat and go back to the hotel where i can drop dead!
And the food arrived. I must say Jess did a really good job in ordering. Or perhaps any food is just as good because they tasted heavenly! One thing though one should never "judge a book by its cover" here because the food did look very normal and plain, but once tasted one will just went awe!
Fried crispy chicken and calamari that could only be found in Bandung. They looked really dried but in fact they were juicy inside and tasted fantastic!
Plain looking mushroom but it was cleared fried with a lot of flavoring and a touch of chilies. Very very yummy!
Salted and slightly bbq lamb.
After the sumptuous meal, both Jess and i were tired and just wanted to go back to the hotel to rest. The bill was pretty decent as well. It was about Rm30 and the service was excellent. The restaurant even requested a cab for us and tucked us into the cab with warm smiles when we left.
Stay tuned for day 2 where the real shopping began! Tat folks, these pictures are actually making me hungry so am gonna be off for dinner!
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