We stayed at Grand Serela Hotel at Jalan Riau and this proved to be the right choice for us. There are many factory outlets (FO) in Bandung but not all are worth mentioning or visiting. A few of the good ones are actually located at Jalan Riau and are walking distance from the Hotel. We visited so many FOs during our 4 full days at Bandung and if we go back to Bandung again to shop, we would just stick to the few good ones, namely Rumah Mode, Summit, Rich & Famous, Secret, Heritage. Except for Rumah Mode, the rest are at Jalan Riau towards the left of the Hotel as you exit.
The Hotel provides free airport transfer and free wifi. The Air Asia office is also located in the same building.
This is our room. It has a double bed on the mezannine floor with its own TV and a twin bed downstairs. Room is fairly comfortable.
We arrived late on the first day due to delay of our flight. We didn't know where to eat so we walked around the Hotel, towards the right direction as we exit. We saw this Bebek van Java and decided to try out their bebek. It was a total disappointment. The bebek(s) have some strong smell and it was all skin and no meat. None of us could finish the bebek because of the smell so we sort of ended up eating white rice with chillies. Feeling so hungry and dissatisfied after that, we hopped over to Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) to have our second dinner. The KFC is merely a 5 minutes walk from the Hotel and they opened 24 hours during the weekends.
The next morning was a Sunday. We asked the Hotel for alternatives to reach Rumah Mode and they suggested that we take the Hotel's taxi which cost 60,000 Rp. We didn't want to so we stopped a taxi by the road instead. We managed to bargain from 50,000 Rp to 30,000 Rp for a ride to Rumah Mode. The road to Rumah Mode was fairly jam that morning due to the nearby morning market.
Initially we wanted to have lunch at Bumbu Desa in Rumah Mode but we saw many flies inside the restaurant and some of the flies were resting on the food. Feeling disgusted, we went next door to Sosis n Sozis which is also in Rumah Mode. It's a food court with varieties of food choices.
Two of us ordered noodles from this shop called Tjwie Mie at the corner of the food court. It was deliciooooous! Hmm, now I am salivating .....
Durian coffee anyone? Didn't managed to try this but would love to hear your feedback if you did.
After lunch is dessert time. This costs 25,000 Rp each.
This is the Angkut, their local mini bus. We took a few times and each journey is 2,000 Rp per person. There are a few types of Angkut that goes different directions so make sure you take the right one. It is better to ask the locals and have someone trustworthy like the Hotel staff to stop the Angkut and tell the driver where to stop you. Also to advise you how much to pay and whether to take the Angkut or Taxi to your destination. It seems a ride will cost between 1,000 Rp to 3,000 Rp depending on the distance but we always gave 2,000 Rp and there was no complaint so far :-)
That evening, we visited Cihampelas Walk. It is just a shopping center.
We were told that Holland Bakery is famous for layer cakes. We went in to check the price of the layer cakes and came out empty handed. Know what I mean?
Continued shopping at Heritage FO at night.
Then we had our dinner at Dailycious which is next to Summit FO at Jalan Riau. There is free wifi here and the Avocado juice is superb.
Before we ended the day, we tried the massage at the Hotel's Spa on the 1st floor. The aromatherapy massage cost 150,000 Rp for 1 hour while Reflexology is 90,000 Rp for 30 minutes. Since there were 3 of us, they gave us a 30,000 Rp discount for the massage. After the first try, we didn't want to visit them again. They are not very professional. After they are done with the massage, my masseur actually walked in and out of the room while I was still changing and made small talk with me. I felt so uncomfortable, also because she didn't close the door properly when she walked in and out. After that, I found out from my friend that her masseur did the same thing while she was changing and even asked her for tips.
The 3rd day, we hired a car & driver from Mulia Rental company for 475,000 Rp for whole day. We visited Tangkuban Perahu in the morning. Traffic was smooth on a Monday.
Reached Tangkuban Perahu.
After the crater, we asked the driver whether we should have lunch at Sapulidi or Kampung Daun. He strongly recommended Kampung Daun because he said it is much cleaner. So we asked him to drop us at Sapulidi first to check out the place and take some pictures. This is truly an amazing place. It was so beautiful and relaxing. There were no mosquitoes and surprisingly it was very cooling to sit in the hut under the sun. This place is really an unique dining experience.
We decided to have a drink here to relax and enjoy the peaceful surrounding. The Avocado juice costs 23,000 Rp (with tax) and it was delicious.
Even the washrooms are so beautiful and unique. I couldn't resist not taking photos.
We proceeded to Kampung Daun for lunch next. We had very high expectations of the place after reading all the reviews of this restaurant. Well, we were kinda disappointed. It was not as unique as Sapulidi although the dining experience is also an experience. This place is very commercialised and there were many tourist buses here. Nothing wrong with this place but we still prefer Sapulidi.
Hit the bamboo when you need the staff's attention like ordering your food, asking for the bills and etc.
We had gurame here. 
We asked our driver to drop us at Dago for shopping at the FOs there. Unfortunately we didn't find any interesting FOs at Dago area and none of us bought anything. We accidentally stumbled upon Akar Spa which is inside Edward Forrer's shop after a long walk. Prices here are reasonable and they were soooo good. Highly Recommended but far from Grand Serela.
That evening we had dinner at Sierra, a hilltop restaurant. Prices here are slightly more expensive than Cocorico next door. You get a very good view of the Bandung city here and the air is very cooling.
After that, we walked to Cocorico which is just next door to have our second dinner. Haha ...
My mushroom soup.
Day 4 - we started our shopping at Rich & Famous. The whole day is practically shopping for us. Besides Rich & Famous, we also shopped at Secret. Both are at Jalan Riau.
That evening, we had one of the best dinner at Bandung. You must try this place. It's a mere 15 minutes of walk from the Hotel. Walk towards the right direction as you exit the Hotel and go all the way straight. They serve very nice pastas and desserts. Nice ambience too.
These are the menus and the pastas that we ordered. Yummy!
Then the must try is the Blueberry Cheese Roll. The Banana Fudges is also not bad.
Air Asia notified us of our flight delay 2 days before our departure so we had some time in the
morning for more shopping before we checked out. Calamus FO is also worth checking out if you have a bit of time to spare. We also shopped at Cascade shopping center. They have some really nice clothes here but of course not FO price. Still very reasonable and not overly priced if you compare the price of the same quality back home.
Well, that's it. 5 days is a little long if it is just for shopping and now that we know which FO to target, I think 4D3N is sufficient. Will be back again.
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