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Last December, I went to Bandung for vacation with some friends. The primary objective was to do shopping plus catching up with old friends. One of them came back from Dubai for Christmas. The choice of location was between Langkawi or Bandung. Everyone chose Bandung for obvious reason - Shopping.

For this trip, we stayed at Malya Hotel, formerly known as Chedi Bandung. This hotel is located at Ciumbuleuit which is a short distance away from the busy streets of Bandung. At least, it gives you the peace and serenity after a hectic day of shopping. Malya Hotel was build on a slope in a valley. What is nice about this hotel is that every room faces the hills.

December is not a good time to visit Bandung or any part of Indonesia because its their raining season. Once it rains, it really pours. Road will be partially flooded and caused massive traffic jam like Kuala Lumpur. To be fair to Kuala Lumpur, any other Asian cities I have been like Bangkok, Jakarta or Manila are no different when it rains. The rain usually starts around 3 - 4 PM daily. We had to plan our trip itenerary around the rain and traffic jam.

Shopping was great. In fact, better compared to my previous trip. There were more branded goods to buy. Some of my favorite brands were there like Dockers, Calvin Klein, Crocodile, Mont Blanc, Lacoste, Burberry and Ralph Lauren. But, I did not do much shopping. I spent most of my time looking after my daughter who went around grabbing stuff for herself. This trip, she got herself an IKEA toy snake, rain boots, trumpet, pink umbrella and a few dresses. We did most of our shopping in Jalan Dago and Jalan Riau. Patronizing factory outlets like Rumah Mode, Oasis, TheMen, Heritage and others which I could not remember their names.

For me, the most memorable trip was the visit to Tangkuban Perahu. Tagkuban Perahu in local Sundanese dialect means ‘upturned boat’. According to my guide, one can only see the shape of ‘upturned boat’ on the volcano from Bandung. From the peak, there were a few craters which were emitting poisonous fumes. There had to hike down a trail for about 30 minutes to another crater which was ‘tourist friendly’. We could boil eggs and even dip our feet in the pool of hot water.

Unfortunately, it started to rain when we arrived at the crater. Luckily, there was a little canteen there for us to take shelter until the rain stopped. Then, we went to the pool of hot and boiling water to ‘play’ with it. The sky poured again but lighter this time. We decided to walk out to our car.

Now, the trail was muddy and my daughter, being a city kid, was not used to walking on muddy trail. After so much persuasion, I decide to carry her on my back for the next thirty minutes. I was amazed that I am still fit. I could walk very fast and overtook many people along the way. At least, I know I am still fit :)

Now, I can start planning for another conquest on Mount Kinabalu. The last and only time I went up to Mount Kinabalu was 15 years ago.

Moving around Bandung is easy. Hiring a car and driver for a day cost me only $30 excluding other expenses like petrol, parking fee, tips and meals for the driver.