The Ardjuna Boutique Hotel & Spa Bandung

Today, I go to the reception to extend my stay for another night and am told that the hotel is fully booked for tonight!!!! I really don't want to change hotels as that will take too much time so I decide that I will leave today for Bogor. I ask at the receptionist for a door to door AC minivan and they make my reservation to leave at 1pm. There is really not enough time to do more visiting so I decide to walk to a mall close to the hotel ...

... and then I continued on to Cupu Manik puppet factory where of course they manufacture the puppets. All puppets here are handmade and handpainted. Quite interesting to observe the work in progress.

Bandung is alsoknown for its cultural performances and there was one at 3:30 today at Saung Angklung about 8 klm from the hotel. This place is very well known ...

... not quite in the same condition as the one in Ciberon but it is the best I could find at that price. Others that I checked out were in the 800,000 range or same price with no wifi. After checking in and getting my luggage at the other hotel it is close to 6 pm so I decide to have diner at the hotel and go back to the room and plan my stay at Bandung.

Learned about the earthquake on Sumatra via email from the US. We didn't feel a thing and the locals don't complain to their guests, I guess.

We;re off to Bandung today. Very slow day, waiting for our ride. The route takes us thru Puncak Pass, a resort area for the locals. Its elevation makes it refreshing, but the traffic is a horror. On weekends it is so bad that commercial transport, like our mini bus, has to bypas it and take a long way around.

... At long last we arrived at the foot of this volcano. Seto told us to get out and we began a good hike up the hillside. I was in my element; jumping from rock to rock and taking slightly tougher, though more direct, routes. We saw various steam vents and a great lake that bubbled ominously as well as encrustations of sulphur that I was fascinated by.... ahem.... The views across the volcano were astonishing with burnt trees, steaming vents and in ...

... and taking some pictures enjoying the views when I noticed some rail workers were on the track making repairs. As the train passed they were gesturing for me to give them some cigarettes, so I throw out cigs to around half a dozen of the guys, they replied "Thanks Mr!". In many ways I enjoyed this journey more than my luxurious one from Surabaya. OK, it wasn't as comfortable but the train had a real buzz, with people laughing and joking, I could ...

... weren't many corals, coz they anchor their boats on them. I tried to tell the captain that they should be careful, otherwise they'd destroy the whole reef, but he didn't quite get it. In the afternoon we rented some mountain bikes and went exploring the island. My map reading wasn't up to par, so we got lost a couple of times, before ending up at Sunset Beach. It was a nice one, surrounded by cliffs, but apparently there's a strong current (and big waves), so we decided not to go ...

We only c*me to B*ndung bec*use we h*dn't been *ble to t*ke * direct tr*in from Bogor to Jogj*k*rt* but we ended up r*ther liking the pl*ce. True, there is nothing much to do here but it is * rel*tively ple*s*nt city - *fter the unple*s*ntness of Bogor - *nd we were *ble to get * pretty nice room on * promotion*l r*te. The bus journey from Bogor h*d st*rted off with the usu*l shen*****ns (the usu*l shen*****ns being the bus tout telling us th*t the bus is le ...

... a picture. I was told that the one I liked made me look like I didn't have an I.Q., but it didn't matter. My head is too Big! Yep, we started at a reasonable size, and started working our way larger. We got close, but when I said that I thought we were only a couple sizes away, I was told that there were not any larger hats...so much for looking like a local. Then we got to a little closet sized shop inside this building. In there is a small table, three ...

... Tiket masuk untuk ketiga tempat yang disebut di atas rata-rata sama: Rp 3000-4000 per orang. Khusus untuk Ranca Upas, tarif ini adalah untuk berkemah disana. Harga yang sama juga berlaku untuk satu unit kendaraan. Makan Malam Ditemani Alunan Suling Sunda Kami menikmati makan malam di Sindang Reret, sebuah restoran a la Sunda yang juga menyediakan kamar hotel. Di antara menu yang mereka tawarkan, yang menurut saya wajib dicoba adalah oseng kangkung yang rasa dan aromanya ...