Visiting Tangkuban Parahu, Sari Ater Hot Spring, an accident, a theft and hitting the shops!

Continuing Day 2 of the Clinic Celebration Trip to Bandung, Indonesia…..

We started the day early … 8 am after a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel, we assembled for the Historical Tour to Tangkubam Parahu, the live sulphuric volcano, which is a must-see if you ever visit Bandung.

The drive there was rather long and winding up vegetable terraces but Anton, our guide, kept us entertained with a colourful rendition of the local legend and the meanings behind it.

He said the first time he was told the legend by his father, as a bedtime story, it was frought with morals and ‘pengajaran’… his father gave him the ‘long version’ which took 2 months to tell … he was giving us the abridged version which would take about 45 minutes!! 😉

Once at the top, we were again warned of the do’s and dont’s of being a tourist in Bandung. Anton then set us loose to take photos, buy souveniors and take in the pungent smell of the sulphur all around us.

The girls and guys bought the mandatory T-shirts, keychains, fridge magnets, Idayu bought a bow and arrow set and I bought and began to plot how I was going to ‘smuggle’ in a fascinating bonsai set in drift wood …. I just had to have it!!

After storing our treasures away in the van, we set off to Sari Ater Hot Spring, a huge sprawling recreational place that was packed with locals and tourists. It was drizzling but we went in anyway as we wanted to soak our feet in the hot springs!

To my amazement , there was just SO many people and some were happily sitting and bathing in waters that were as hot as 41* … ouch!

It was when my sons rolled up their trousers to dunk their feet in a hot pool when the accident happened … Shamir, my youngest, had a camera in his jacket pocket and just as he stepped into the pool, the camera fell in! His elder brothers were flipping mad at him as there were plenty of photos on the memory card that were lost! Oh no!!

It was there too that we suspect Aliessa’s handphone got stolen … she noticed her bag was open and zipped it up without checking the contents. What a shame.

The girls posed and snapped away at the Hot Spring … it was amazing as though there were SO many people there were plenty and enough places to dip your feet and more.

The heavens opened up which made us run back to the van to head off for food and what the girls and guys were waiting for …. Factory Outlets, Rumah Mode!

Once at Rumah Mode, Anton gave everyone instructions to meet again after one and a half hours. The girls split up and disappeared, each with a gleam in their eye which said … shop! shop! shop til you drop!

The guys were no less fixated! As you can probably tell, I am not particularly fond of shopping normally but I must say I enjoyed Rumah Mode as not only were there a lot of things to shop for, the surroundings were beautiful too. We even took photos in their restroom!

Once everyone reassembled, we moved onto to dinner where there was live music and pocho-pocho. Idayu and Amy were quick to jump up to dance and were soon joined by Anton, Aliessa and Shanaz. I was amazed that Shanaz knew the steps!!

The day was over … we went back to the hotel to examine our purchases, cross off things off the shopping list and rest in readiness for yet another day of serious shopping!