We had to sleep early the night before as we had to start our journey early in order to witness the magnificent beauty and treasures of Beautiful Bandung, but truthfully I could hardly contain my excitement and was tossing and turning in bed! Thank goodness the bed was so comfy, so I fell asleep soon enough.
Morning came and so we freshen up and had our complimentary breakfast, at the beautiful English style dining area of the hotel. We were the first two guests there and I could hardly eat as I was still admiring the interior design of the dining area. It was too pretty!
Raka and Haekal came to fetch us from the hotel around 7.30 am and we made our way to the first stop in our itinerary of the day, which was Tangkuban Perahu, an active volcano that last erupted in 2013.
The journey took us around 2 hours from Noor hotel. Raka has been there before, so he knew the way pretty well. As we entered Lembang area, we get to take in the breathtaking view of the Northern part of Bandung, with the stretch of mountains and green pastures. It was an escape into nature, away from the busy town and the air was refreshing.
Driving up to the rim of the volcano was really challenging for drivers. The road is steep and there were narrow turns, so you really have to drive slowly and cautiously, as you might not be able to see oncoming vehicles. Thankfully Raka was a pretty experienced driver :D
As we reached, and stepped out of the car, the odor that was coming from the sulfur fumes emitting from the volcano was pretty mild. To get a clearer and better view of the volcano, you’ve gotta climb a few stairs.
SubhanAllah, although the stairs were pretty steep and we were almost out of breath, the climb was definitely worth it.
We have heard of the local legendary that says that Tangkuban Perahu means an “upturning of a boat” or an “upturned boat” in Sundanese. The local legend was intriguing, and I was hoping I could figure out the shape of an upturned boat as described in the legend. I think I might have spotted it (check out the picture below).
Not sure if that was the upturned boat that the legend was talking about, however, you could see that the sulfur fumes is still emitting from the volcano. We were pretty anxious that we were standing near an active volcano, but thank goodness it was not so active that day! The view from the high point after the climb was indeed worthwhile as we all get to view the magnificent beauty of mountainous area. Subhanallah!
There were little souvenirs sold by the sides of the mountains. You just have to politely smile and decline cause they will come and approach you.
As we were leaving, we saw horses! Hid and I were anxious to ride the horses, but it was one of our list of things to do in Bandung when we were doing our research about things to do in Bandung. So we went for it nervously! It costs us 150,000 Rupiah which was pretty pricey, but I guess it was worth it as we get to see the highpoints of the area. Too bad, I was too scared that I’d dropped my brand new phone that I only manage to record the head of the horse and was too nervous to lift up my camera. Lol. Nevertheless, here are some beautiful shots of the horses we rode, Joy and Bayu!
I was riding the female horse Joy and Hid was riding Bayu, a male horse.
One funny incident that was unforgettable was when Bayu decided he could not control his bladder so he peed even though Hid was still on him! Lol! What an experience.
After Tangkuban Perahu, we headed down towards the Floating Market. It’s like after seeing the upturned boat, we were hoping to get on a real boat next! Lol. It costs us 20,000 Rupiah each to enter the floating market.
It’s really quite a unique market; in fact, it was more like a garden than a market, really. The place was clean and pretty peaceful, unlike any market that I have been to at home. Heh. Oh, if you want to purchase anything there or even have your meal there, you will have to exchange cash with tokens.
As mentioned, the market was more like a garden, so I had to take some #ootd shots here. Hehe.
From afar we thought this was a real sampan selling fruits and vegetables, however as we walked closer, they were just plastic models of the actual thing.
As we venture further into the place, I realize why it’s called floating market; the vendors were in cute little boats selling local delicacies.
We tried the Singkong with cheese (cassava), which tasted pretty much like sweet potato and it was really addictive! Haekal on the other hand, tried the hotdog which looks hard at first, but according to him it was tender.
We wanted to try the boat ride but we were quite tired and hungry so we quickly explored what was captivating about that place and made our way to our next destination for lunch, which was Kampung Daun!
Oh as we were leaving, I spotted this pretty cottage house! Apparently it is floating! I wouldn’t mind staying in such a cosy home, despite the fact that I am floating on the river.
So the next thing on our itinerary was lunch! We headed to Kampung Daun, the much-recommended place to head for authentic Indonesian cuisine. You can choose to sit in one of the booths for 'lesehan' where you sit down without chairs (more or less like Japanese traditional way), or sit on chairs, while enjoying the cool air and the sound of the streaming water. We sat at the booth with chairs as we couldn’t get the one for ‘lesehan’.
There was an interesting way to call the server as the place is huge. So we had to hit on this thing called the Kentongan to call the server. :D
We had a nice lunch experience with the sound of streaming water and cool air.
We ended of the night by shopping at Heritage factory outlet!
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