Bandung too

Much as I’d like to give myself a pat on the back for an extremely well planned trip to Bandung, I would especially like to give the committee members a big hand for their tremendous help. To the rest of the group, we really appreciate their cooperation and contributions for making this trip such a fun filled, enjoyable and successful trip. They were punctual to the point of being early, very cincai, easy to get along with, very accommodating and open to suggestions. All in all, I must say that this trip was certainly fulfilling in all respects.

There were many anxious moments during the planning stages. E and I really put in a lot of effort, especially in the choice of hotel. Choosing a hotel not only meant right price, good location, clean but none of those converted from shop-lots kind. It included picking the correct website or source to make your reservation, because not every website offers the same rates for the same hotel. Some bloggers had shared in their postings that even though reservations were made and confirmed prior to their arrival in Bandung, there were many instances when rooms were not available upon arrival. This was very worrying … Of course we could always find another hotel if the rooms we had booked were not available but that would have been time consuming… and time was something we did not have enough. This was an extremely short trip meant for shopping, shopping and more shopping and NOT to be wasted on looking for a replacement hotel. Anyhow, we did the best we could, took a lot of advises from sites like virtual tourists etc and left the rest to fate.

Thankfully, as E said, the travel company we hooked up with gave us 1st class services. Jack from Total Transport booked the hotel as well as provided us with transport during our visit. He even recommended us where to eat and every suggestion came with an estimate on how much the food would cost. Food was surprising cheap but tasted good even though the places we went for dinner looked pretty exclusive… I have never been adventurous where food is concerned but Bandung’s suited me fine.

E’s friends were all housewives, slightly older than us and I was wondering if we could get along. They turned out to be pretty nice and right from start, we managed to hit it off. Pauline was appointed treasurer and did an excellent job. (clap clap!!) We did a costing and believe it all not, airfare/accommodation/food & transport came up to just below RM500.00! (clap ..clap.. can go again!)

Since E did such a good job telling us about the trip, no point for me to repeat la. I’d like to thank E for her help though. I went with a noble intention to get clothes for the nephews and nieces but what do I know about teenage fashions or brands, for that matter? (The clothes I wear all hand-me-downs or bought from Thailand-mah!) I would have ended up buying those loose fitting male type T-shirts for both nephews and nieces alike but fortunately E gave me lots of tips on what attires young girls would like. I believe my nieces are very happy - got new clothes to wear wo, somemore branded stuffs wo, and the best part, no need to pay one-leh.

Pauline was a great help too. She helped me figure out what size T-shirts to buy for Mei Cheng. (Hers should be 1 size bigger than Pauline.) She helped with my selection for men’s wear ie. whether the quality was good etc… as well as clothing for tiny tots. She would tell me that Baby Gap is considered “branded” along with 1 brand that sounded like “Omigosh”. Hmm... even as she was the one preventing E from overbuying, she also stopped me from buying a windbreaker.... Aiyo,,, regret I didnt buy-lah.

Anyway ... Thank you .. thank you. Everyone contributed in making this 1 hell of a fun trip... and we can’t wait for Air Asia’s next offer….

P/S.. I think I deserve the steamboat treat.... everything went so smoothly...

F