DAY TRIP TO BANDUNG CITY From Jakarta

It was a treat to get out into the countryside to walk through a rice plantation to meet the 84 year old farmer and to stroll through a tea plantation in the cool mountain air. To stop at a roadside stall to buy and enjoy the local delicacy of honey pineapple delivered fresh off the adjacent farm, and meet the farmer and his wife. To appreciate the views into the valley from a roadside eatery while drinking milk from a freshly cut coconut. But the absolute highlight was the unique Saung Angklung Udjo traditional music and dance concert in Bandung. The young children were so talented and captivating and friendly. I and other tourists as well as local high school students in the audience were invited to join in the dancing towards the end. It was a lot of fun and an unexpected delight. Thanks to my friendly guide Thomas who was an experienced expert host and driver and had the advantage of speaking the local languages as well as Bahasa, and being very fluent in English.

Had a private trip - car, driver, and guide. Comfortable enough while commuting 2+ hours each way to/from Bandung. Guide spoke sufficient English. Went to all the locations. Most memorable was the performance at Angklung Udjo, playing with the musical instrument was fun. Afterwards had dinner at a restaurant - there was a lot of food, though eating for 1 was lonesome (the guide/driver declined my offer to pay for them to eat). The fajita-style cooked fish was extremely good. Overall it was a good way to spend a day. You must understand however that there is traffic everywhere and delays are inevitable. The commute cuts into the amount of time you can spend in Bandung, but I felt it was worthwhile.

The crew, Yussef the driver and José the guide were a little late arriving at the hotel pickup because of the flooding on Jakarta streets. There had been a massive rain storm overnight and many of the sewers were just not large enough to drain all of the flood water. The driver was able to go around the big backups and take the upper highway to Bandung. We saw Honey Pineapple, and Mangostein that Jose bought samples for us at a roadside stand. It was remarkable to see the tea plantation on the sides of the highway to Bandung. When we get in to city we got stuck in hugh traffic jam. After waiting for two hours to get out, José took the indicative to get out of the car and walk down to see what was causing the trouble. There had been and accident. José decided to hire three motor bikers to come and get us out of the traffic jam. We got on to the back of the bikes and the young bikers took us out of the jam and to the restaurant and performance scheduled for us. The bikers went on to side roads and through the traffic like James Bond on a road chase. We went down back alleys and invisible side streets. I was so impressed. We go to the luncheon in record breaking time with just enough time to see my first puppet show. In the mean time, Yussef got out of the traffic jam and delivered our luggage to the hotel. We chose to start in Jakarta and got let off in Bandung to save time going back in to the big city. I can't say enough for the smart way our guide got us out of an impossible situation. He is just a remarkable innovative guide.