As most of you would know, I recently went on a trip to explore the wonderful places of Indonesia together with 39 other influencers from South East Asia. It was an honour to be part of #TripOfWonders and it was nice to meet every one of them. We certainly enjoyed ourselves and experienced the beauty of Indonesia we never knew. And here, I would like to share part one of our trip where we spent 2 days in Bandung.

We arrived in Bandung from Jakarta via the Argo Parahyangan train. It was a comfortable 3 hours journey. I slept throughout most of the ride while the other influencers were hard at work snapping pictures away.

All ready to sleep during the train ride!

The first thing on our to-do list was to visit the NuArt Sculpture Park.

NuArt Sculpture Park is located at the northen part of Bandung. It is where the famous Indonesian sculptor, Nyoman Nuarta, is based. After watching a 3-part film about the magnificent sculptures Nuarta has dedicated his life to, we were brought on a gallery tour.

One of the sculptures I remember the most is this of a woman laying on the ground. When asked, NuArt mentioned this was influenced by the Indonesian political crisis in the 1990s. Many people died in the riots and at least 168 cases of rape were reported. (credit: Wikepdia)

A sculpture in the making.

While my friends were taking photos of their outfits, I wandered around alone and found myself in awe of the passion and dedicated his team has put into making these world-famous sculptures.

NuArt Sculpture Park is located at:
Jl. Setraduta Raya No L 6, Bandung, Jawa Barat 40151, Indonesia

The next morning saw us visiting Armor Kopi, a hipster cafe joint nestled in the woods.

The weather was cooling atop the hills and tall pine trees were towering over us. We made use of the enchanting forest photo spot and spent quite a bit of time there without realizing that everyone else in the tour had already started on their breakfast! 

So we placed our order for coffee and sank our teeth into the chewy cireng, a local snack delight made of tapioca starch. Time passed real quickly while we were enjoying our small talks and enjoying the cool breeze.

Deep Fried Banana Fritters topped with Cheese! We do have Goreng Pisang (Fried Bananas) back home in Singapore but I never knew it could taste so good with cheese.

Top from: http://carrislabelle.com/products/kiely-crochet-offsie

Armour Kopi is located at:
Kolonel Masturi KM 11, Cisarua, Bandung Barat, Indonesia

Dusun Bambu is one of the places I remember the most about Bandung because there is an Alice in the Wonderland playground for kids. They even have real bunnies hopping around! If time permitted, I would have gotten a ticket just to experience that piece of wonderland myself.

Feast your eyes on the greenery and have fun taking photos here. This place is perfect for all! Families with kids, young couples and the elderly would surely enjoy the environment here.

Taken by the talented Wahyu, @iwwm.

@iwwm

Dusun Bambu Family Leisure Park is located at:
Kolonel Masturi KM 11, Cisarua, Bandung Barat, Indonesia

Saung Angklung Udjo – It was an absolutely fun experience over at Saung Angklung Udjo where we sat through 9 short performances. During the last portion, the audiences were given an angklung each and we took part in the performance too! Some of us were even joined the young performers to dance together.

Back in primary school, angklung was introduced to us as a traditional music instrument and it didn’t interest me much. But at Saung Anklung Udjo, it was truly an impressive showcase because I never knew we could use angklung to play different genres of songs including, classical, latin and even pop.  

(Picture credit: http://www.angklung-udjo.co.id)

Did some shopping at the store! 🙂

Saud Angklung Udo is located at:
Jl. Padasuka 118, Bandung 40192West Java – Indonesia

Of course, we can never miss shopping at Bandung! It is known for outlet shopping as many factories are located there.

  Photo Credit: http://bdgexpat.com/listings/rumah-mode-factory-outlet/

At Rumah Mode, be ready to squeeze through the crowd and you will find Guess t-shirts at less than SGD15 each. Although most of the designs were off-season, I think my mother would enjoy shopping there. My best buy was a denim jacket that I’ll be bringing for my upcoming trip to Seoul!

Ruman Mode is located at:
Jl. Setiabudhi, Pasteur, Sukajadi, Kota Bandung, Jawa Barat 40141, Indonesia

(Photo credit: http://www.bandungtourism.com/tododet.php?q=Paris%20Van%20Java)

An Indonesian friend we made on the trip, Indra from Kulinermedan, brought us to Paris Van Java Mall for some night shopping. The guys from our group were looking to get some board shorts for the water activities. Well, I can only say luck was shining on us because the first store we came across read “SALE” and the brands included were Billabong, Roxy, Ripcurl, and the likes. I score myself a Roxy top (which you will see in my Borobudur outfit in the next post) and a tube dress at less than SGD 14 each. You will also find many familiar international brands such as New Look, Victoria’s Secret and Mango there.

Paris Van Java is located at:
Jl. Sukajadi No. 131 – 139, Jawa Barat 40162, Indonesia

Let me end off the entry with some random pictures taken at the cafes we visited in Bandung.

At Java Bean.

At Vanilla Kitchen.

Here is a summary of What to do in Bandung:

For Arts & Culture 
1) NuArt Sculpture Park
2) Dusun Bambu Family Lesiure Park
3) Sauna Angklung Udjo

For Shopping
4) Rumah Mode
5) Paris Van Java

For Food/Chill
6) Armor Kopi
7) Java Bean (beside Rumah Mode)
8) Vanilla Kitchen

Thank you for reading this post, I know it’s long but I wanted to share as much as I can with you guys! Don’t forget to stay connected with me on Instagram @urbandollsg. 🙂

xoxo,