Bandung Trip (Day 1)

The bus of 45 people's first pit stop was Damai Hadi Batik (don't really remember the name). The tour guide said it was the best quality batik in Bandung. But as it was more of a boutique batik, the price was "boutique" price. Some of the item was above 5,000,000IDR. I didn't buy anything here, though I was very tempted to.

After lunch, our second stop for the day was Pasar Baroe. The first shop we went to (recommended by our travel agent) was Vogue, on 2nd floor. Here I ordered a suit (coat & skirt) for 1,600,000IDR and a white skirt for 600,000IDR. Mr.H got influenced by us (me, Dato' & Datin who ordered tailored made suits here) and ordered one suit for himself too, priced 1,600,000IDR. Vogue told us that the normal price they give for it (this cloth material type) is 2,200,000IDR and the lowest they usually give is 1,800,000. But since FOUR of us were ordering, Dato' managed to strike a bargain of 1,600,000IDR. The price of suits depends on the type of cloth (material) used so you can't expect all of them to be the same price for different quality cloth. Can't "pukul rata" the price. I noticed the price range was as low as 400,000IDR to as high as 6,500,000IDR. Me & Mr.H did our baju raya here. Mine was a plain cotton complete sewn with border lace for the price of about 600,000IDR.

Bought at Jilbab Q

After Vogue, we prayed at a mosque on the rooftop level. Then, we had drinks at the food court. I asked for extra chocolate in my avocado drink and the guy complied. He told us he had been to Kuala Lumpur before, visiting a friend. That made me assume that Malaysia is no stranger to Indons.

Neck Covering Inner Scarf  @ 17,000IDR

I excused myself from Dato' and Datin coz I only had less than an hour left to buy my own things. On my list (beside the suits) were tudung, telekung sembahyang, and anak tudung. I only managed to buy anak tudung for 17,000IDR/pc (some shops sell them for 25,000 to 35,000IDR though I think the quality's the same) and telekung sembahyang one for 250,000IDR and another for 350,000IDR.

Dinner @ Belacan

While we were waiting for our bus, which was late because it was raining heavily, a lot of beggars came.  We were told that once you start giving, a lot more would come and swarm you. So, i tried to turn a blind eye towards them. However, i failed when a beggar came holding a baby which i think was only a few months old. When she made the baby reach out his little hand for money from me, I couldn't stop the tears from falling. I gave. How heartless can you be to make a little child beg for money in this heavy rain? How would this baby with bright eyes grow up? The women had the nerve to ask "Mengapa ibu menangis?" over and over again to the guys around me, including Mr.H. The guys told her to just leave and formed a barrier around me so that the other beggars couldn't approach me. We were earlier told that they were actually part of a syndicate and giving them money would encourage this "industry" to grow. I agree that it's better to donate at mosques. I know that my act of giving money wouldn't improve their living condition but hopefully, it would help the baby survive another day.

That night, after dinner we were given an hour to shop around. There were many outlets around but with the limited time given, Mr.H and I only went to Cascade and Heritage. We were on the bus a few minutes before the hour was up. Unfortunately, other people weren't punctual and we spent almost another hour on the bus just waiting for them. I was about to start nagging about how unfair it was (I could have been shopping instead of wasting time waiting) but Mr.H cut it off by saying "Contoh tak baik jangan la diikut. Jadi teladan yang baik. Awk tu kan Timbalan Pengarah." Pffft. Poyos. I don't like it when he says that. As if when you become jawatan whatever-whatever, you are all-business-and-no-play, acting high and mighty.

Anyhow, I think that's the biggest problem when you are travelling with such a big group. Punctuality.