Starting Small - A Short Visit to Bandung

So, with 2013 well underway and Vietnam a happily but gradually receding memory, it was time to get cracking on at least one new year resolution. 2013 is absolutely and without a shadow of doubt going to be the year we discover Indonesia, heading out of Jakarta at least once per month.

Well, strictly speaking, that resolution has already been broken. With various commitments, not least a trip to Singapore for me and a model’s party for Soma, our first trip had to wait for early February. Not to worry, we’ll get up to date by the end of this month I’m sure!

Anyway, enough faffing around.Our first trip of the year was to be a short overnight visit to the city of Bandung. Bandung is the third largest city in Indonesia and is the capital of West Java. Apart from its amazing Sundanese food, its main claim to fame outside Indonesia is as the venue for the 1955 Bandung Conference, an important step in the formation of the non Aligned movement. Conveniently for our first trip of the year, it is located a mere three hours away, up in the hills, and, to Rohan's especial delight, is directly accessible from Jakarta by train. 

So, first thing last Saturday morning saw the four of us, plus three of our good friends drawing into Gambir station ready to climb aboard our first ever Indonesian train. We had decided upon the very cunning wheeze of using our drivers to the utmost, while at the same time ensuring we had the chance to experience the local rail system. Our friend’s driver had left their house an hour or so earlier, car full of luggage and was, hopefully, speeding towards Bandung, our destination, ready to pick us up at the other end. Our driver was given the slightly less challenging (and less lucrative in terms of overtime) task of driving us to the station and picking us up on our return- he didn’t look overly thrilled.

Gambir Station on a Saturday morning

Uttering the optimistic words “perhaps we should stay in the car” one of our friends was approaching this with more than a little trepidation.  Not to be put off, we got out and headed to the main entrance, ready to fight our way through the crowds and confusion, and hopefully board a train heading to Bandung. In fact, it was nothing like that at all. The station was busy but not overly crowded. The ticket inspector was very helpful and pointed us to the right platform. Signs were easily understood and when our train pulled up, each carriage had a stewardess at the door ready to reassure us that we were in the right place.

View from the train

We boarded the air conditioned carriage, found our very clean and comfortable seats- not quite airline business class but not a million miles off- and settled down to enjoy the novelty of moving through Jakarta without having to stop.

The three hour ride was a real pleasure, provided you were able to mentally filter out the on board movie (2 Fast 2 Furious- don’t bother renting it). Slowly but surely, cityscape blended into suburbia, then into a procession of paddy fields before we started through the truly spectacular mountain scenery as we approached Bandung.   Having said that, three hours of paddy fields and hills was probably enough and it was with a little relief that we drew up at Bandung station almost exactly on time.

With driver waiting for us, all seemed to be proceeding exactly to plan, I felt. Big assumption! At this point, the major flaw in our plans started to become apparent. The trains had been booked and planned assiduously, so had the hotels and the drivers. The only missing link was that we hadn’t really set out what we were going to do.

Not to worry, we were in Bandung, the sun was out, the weather was beautifully cool and we were off to go look at Tankuban Perahu, a dormant volcano which last erupted back in 1983. This volcano, whose name translates into “upturned boat” in recognition of a local legend, is found just outside Bandung and was approachable by car pretty much all the way to the top. An hour or so later, we’d crawled our way through traffic every bit as bad as Jakarta to find ourselves at the aforementioned crater. It was certainly pretty cold- a rare and well appreciated bonus in my book. However, two factors made visibility a problem. Firstly, the sun had disappeared, replaced by a steadily strengthening rainfall. Secondly, the crater was belching out huge amounts of sulphur, something Kieran only realised after accusing his fellow passengers of an outrageous breach of etiquette in the car! So, between the sulphur and the rain, we had to take it on faith that a crater existed- no worry, just being able to shiver was a nice enough experience!

Soma and the boys at the crater's edge. Behind them a grey wall of rain and sulphur

Crater done, we climbed back into the car and headed off to see some hot springs which apparently lay pretty close by. Another hour later, we arrived at what seemed to be a resort- not quite the prehistoric deserted geological wonders we’d been expecting. Not to worry- mistakes happen, so we took ourselves off for a stroll around the place. Nice as it was, it did rather have the feeling of doing a walking trip round one’s local swimming pool so we headed off. Wondering what to do next, the weather stepped in and decided for us. Within minutes, a torrential downpour had gently guided us to a nearby restaurant, where the seven of us enjoyed a late and somewhat prolonged lunch.

By now it was evening so we headed back into Bandung to find our hotel, a locally owned establishment going by the curious name of the Banana Inn. Being a pretty large city, there is an array of upper and medium range international chains to choose from.  My first instinct was to choose one of these reassuringly familiar places. However, my wife’s Indian instincts drew her unerringly towards this far cheaper alternative, so the Banana Inn it was. Well, hats off to the lady- while not a 5 star hotel, it was definitely around 4.5 stars. The rooms were clean, spacious and fully equipped. Service was prompt and polite, and the evening meals were excellent. For a very reasonable Rp 430,000 per room per night (around GBP 28) we’d come across our home for this and all future trips to Bandung.

Maribaya Waterfall- taken from the top

After a very comfortable night, we got back into the car for a morning’s exploration. This time we drove out toward Maribaya waterfalls. As you’d expect, the waterfalls are located in a steep gorge but were pretty easily accessible with only a short walk from the car park. To be honest, the waterfalls themselves weren’t that impressive- we’ve seen bigger and better in the Lake District to be honest. However, that wasn’t the point. Again, after so long in hot, humid Jakarta, to be able to walk through cool, almost cold forest, to look up on steep slopes and down onto a fast flowing river was something we’d not experienced in Indonesia before. When you’ve spent 8 years living in hot cities, a cold country scene is a tourist attraction well worth travelling for!

Too soon, we were back in the car and headed towards to geological museum, an educational experience to improve the mind of our younger passengers. Ok, so that bit was something of a failure. The museum was well removed from the imaginative, interactive museums that have sprouted up lately. Petrosains in Kuala Lumpur, the Natural History Museum in London and many others have succeeded in completely entrancing our boys. This one, sadly was a little like the inaccessible museums of my childhood- we were in and out in fairly short order.

Bandung in the morning- taken from our room in the Banana Inn

So, that pretty much concluded our trip to Bandung. After checking out of the hotel, we returned to the station, boarded our train, and settled in for another three hours of looking at some very impressive scenery before hitting the Jakarta traffic and preparing for another working week.

All in all, despite not having done quite as much as we’d hoped to,  I enjoyed our first adventure of 2013. I think the others did too. The train ride was a real treat, the climate was fabulous and the food and accommodation as good as could have been hoped for. We could maybe have organized our schedule a little better, and spent a little less time in the car- however, we’ve plenty more trips to do. For better or worse, if they all work out like this one, 2013 won’t be too bad a year.