Saturday 23 November 2013

Bandung and Beyond

We left the city for some more mountain air but this time towards the city of Bandung. We broke up the three hour journey with obligatory snack stops. The specialty of Lembang is tahu susu. Roughly translated it means milk tofu. We're still not quite sure how it differs from normal tofu but it didn't matter because it was delicious! The tofu literally melted in your mouth and the deep frying created a delicious salty thin crispy layer. We tried it in various form, as batagor, as part of a curry puff, as tofu martabak. There were all very tasty.

Breakfast offering today...bubur ayam

The requisite snack stop to try the specialty of the area

Soy milk to go with the food

Happy to get his own cup

Tofu before being deep fried

The final product. Looks ordinary but oh so smooth and silky!

Last one left!

The family eating

Batagor
The drive up was so pretty with tea plantations lining both sides of the mountain roads. Our first destination was supposed to be the top of a volcano. However, they insisted that we showed our local citizen's ID. As half of us didn't have one, we had to pay the tourist price which was double the local price. Being the cheapskates that we are, we abandoned the volcano crater and headed for the Hot Springs of nearby Ciater instead. The driver kindly suggested using the Hotel entry instead of the public entry. It was a good call. We had the pools to ourselves and the entry price of around AUD$5 got us one free drink each as well.

The water was hot! It took a while to acclimatise but once in, it was very relaxing. For those who left swimmers behind, you can buy one for a bargain price of $4.50...We finished up, showered and headed for a Sundanese lunch. We had to hurry if we wanted to visit the Outlet malls and avoid the traffic rush back to Jakarta. Oh how I wish we had more time at the Outlet malls. Things were so cheap! As it was we didn't arrive back in Jakarta until close to 9pm and that as without a dinner stop. Fortunately my parents had planned in advance and bought munchies for all in the car. I had a quick walk around with my Mum to look for a place to get a massage. I was really looking forward to a 1.5 hour massage for $10! It was not meant to be as the massage place had closed for the day...Oh well. Time for a rest now in preparation for a wedding party tomorrow!

Time for a dip in the waters from the Hot Springs

The gorgeous surrounds of tea plantations

Awesome lunch. Sundanese food

Best fried chicken

Indonesian satay beats any other type hands down!

Amazing drink. Soursop, strawberry and starfruit juice

Another one of Michael's random photo of strangers. Once, if he's brave enough to take it, I'll post it!

More childhood favourites, sugar loaded tea drink!

My Uncle and cousin

Time for one last play before the long drive back to Jakarta

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