Can you believe it? It's been 15 months since my trip to Jakarta and Bandung in February 2023.
My friend R in Bandung said it was time for me to renew the Jakarta-Bandung trip except for this time, he himself would be free to show me around. Woohoo!
I did all the necessary plans like booking the return flight to Jakarta and hotels. His mom offered their home for my stay in Bandung and I was truly grateful for that. I stayed at their place on the first night before heading to Ciwidey on the next day. More on that later.
My flight to Jakarta was at 7:20am in the morning. I woke up early to take a Grab to KL Sentral to catch the first KLIA Express train to KLIA at 5am. By 5:28am I reached KLIA Terminal 1 and made my way to the MAS check-in counter. I had placed a bid on MHUpgrade and managed to get upgraded to business class. Woohoo. It was much cheaper than booking a Business class seat directly 😊.
I just walked into the Golden Lounge when I bumped into a friend from school. Another friend just shared his pictures in Switzerland in our whatsapp group like 4 days ago. He too was heading to Bandung via Jakarta on a company trip. What a small world! 😅.
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| dgn idola 😁 |
Our flight was delayed for half an hour, so we landed in CGK at 9am after 2 hours of flight time. Just like Singapore, Indonesia too offered auto-gate entry into the country so besides filling in the Customs Declaration online prior to arriving in Indonesia, there is a QR code that we can scan to fill in our visa application before using the auto-gate. Travel to ASEAN countries are getting much easier.
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| My mugshot taken at the autogate 😆 |
Here's the summary of the modes of transportation that I used to get to Bandung on this day:
| From | To | Mode | Price (IDR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CGK T3 | *SHIA | Kalayang (Skytrain) | FOC |
| SHIA | BNI City | KA Bandara | 70,000 |
| BNI City | Dukuh Atas | Walk | - |
| Dukuh Atas | Halim | LRT Bekasi Line (BK) | 5,000 |
| Halim | Padalarang | Whoosh KCIC (Kereta Cepat Indonesia China) | 275,000 |
| Padalarang | Bandung | Feeder train | FOC |
* SHIA: Soekarno–Hatta International Airport Station
Kalayang was pretty straightforward. I purchased the KA Bandara to BNI City at the counter by using cash. You could also purchase the train tickets at the kiosk, which uses QRIS as the mode of payment. We can use our Maybank app and scan the QR code.
To get to Dukuh Atas LRT station, I exited the BNI City KA Bandara station and re-entered at Sudirman station. It was at Sudirman where I purchased a train card at the counter. If you already have a train card, you could tap at BNI City and walked along the platform towards Sudirman. I had misplaced mine from last year's trip. Bummer.
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| The walking route from BNI City to Dukuh Atas |
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| Heading towards Dukuh Atas |
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| The inside of the LRT coach |
Halim KCIC station is on the LRT Jabodebek Bekasi Line (BK) heading towards Jati Mulya.
I only purchased my Whoosh ticket a couple of hours before getting to Halim because I was not sure when I would get there. By then, the premium economy fare had jumped by 100,000 rupiah from 175,000 on the day before to 275,000. I wasn't sure what happened, but unfortunately I didn't get my chosen seat when I purchased my ticket via the Whoosh app. I got the 8A seat in Coach #2. The travelers in the internet recommended choosing odd seat numbers, like 3A, 5A, 7A to get unobstructed window view.
Whoosh was excellent. We arrived in Padalarang just 30 minutes later. My only negative feedback was the single escalator at the train stations especially to get to the platform at Halim and to catch the feeder train at Padalarang. These escalators became a bottleneck for the passengers. They should have planned for more escalators due to the high passenger volume.
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| Waiting for the gates to be opened. I was in the middle of the queue. And there was another gate on the other side. Huge crowd |
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| The Padalarang-Bandung feeder train |
The feeder train was packed. Since the seats were limited, we had to stand throughout the 20 minute train ride. Good thing I didn't bring a bigger bag which me, which my friend labelled it as beg umroh😝.
R picked me up at Stasiun Bandung when I arrived via feeder train at 3pm. He took me straight to lunch at Skyline Best View Resto. It lived up to their name because they really have an amazing view even though it was slightly overcast. I ordered sup betawi and rice, while R had chicken salad in the name of dieting 😁.
After lunch, we went to R's home and relaxed for a bit. I got a small taste of the sinetrons that they had on telly 😂.
At night, his mom took us to dinner at Wheels Coffee Roasters. Terima kasih tante! She didn't stop there. She kept on feeding me with cookies and kuihs! 😅
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| Love the ambience and everything. You could only see a wall of bricks from the outside |
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| Forgot what the name for this pasta that I ordered |
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| Burayot. Tastes like jenderam |
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| Burayot and Bala-bala (or bakwan sayur) at the back |
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| Bandung map to show where Padalarang, Skyline and Wheels are |
Half of the day was pretty much spent on travel. Bandung BDO airport is no longer operational, so we have to fly into Jakarta and then continue on the journey via buses or trains. Last year I took the 3-hour Argo Parahyangan intercity train ride. My friend prefers this over Whoosh because it'd take you directly to Stasiun Bandung even though it takes much longer. There's also the panoramic train ride to Bandung that costs Rp.450K. Perhaps I'd try that out the next time I come to Bandung.
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