#bandung

I woke up early for a quick breakfast at 1/15 again, went for a flat white and a smoothie bowl that was just a little bit too cold. Then I could finish packing and check out of this hotel to take the grab down to the train station. It was a new train, with comfy seats and big luggage racks and I’d chosen a right hand side seat from Jakarta to Bandung which was the right option - there were loads of views of rice fields and a big river canyon and lush forest once we were beyond the Jakarta slums. It was a little chaotic to walk around in Bandung, carrying my luggage about 7 minutes from the train station to my next hotel that was on the 7th floor of a building in the central market. I arrived at 1:40pm and they wouldn’t let me check in 20 minutes early… I guess all the rooms magically become ready at 2pm. I left my bag there and walked down the road to Blue Doors for an afternoon coffee and then since I was already halfway to Braga Street I decided to get that sightseeing done now. I think Bandung was the worst traffic of Indonesia. It felt impossible to cross a road, any road, with cars and scooters whizzing by constantly in multiple lanes. It didn’t matter if I had a green walk sign, and motorists had a red light, they’d still drive through with complete disregard. It was truly awful. Braga Street also didn’t have much of interest, I was searching for a restaurant for dinner but it was mostly just cafes, and shopping. I had 2 people stop me in the street trying to ask me questions, they approached with clipboards and the first one I waved off but the second asked my name but couldn’t speak English so I just flat out said “I’m not giving you money” and then she walked away. I think they see a bule (white foreigner) and they think $$! I went for my late lunch at Braga Art Cafe and had a passionfruit mocktail and a chicken satay burger. The drink was nice but the chicken must’ve been from frozen as it was a bit tough, and it had green buns weirdly… I walked back to the hotel to finally check in and the room was pretty cool, I had a 9th floor room with views over Bandung city so I could see the crazy traffic from the top. After some lie down time I headed back out to Sudirman Street which was basically an Indonesian hawker market. I got a shaken mango tea and pork belly nasi goreng. I forgot to say no egg though so it was all through it, but it was cheap and tasty regardless! The 15 minute walk back to the hotel was a bit dodgy, however the street lurkers kept their distance, and I kept mine. There were a lot of dirty, skinny street cats and a family burning a pile of trash beside a lamppost. I was so relieved to get back to the hotel for a nice shower and bed!