TRIP TO BANDUNG

I went to Jafila Travel and Tours in Alor Setar inquiring about the trip to Jakarta. The salesman convinced me of the excellent trip to Jakarta, Puncak and Bandung. I paid RM1200 for the trip including the single supplement and tips. The man told me that I would be informed 3 days before the day proper of the trip ie on the 13th. of June. It was the 4 day/3 night package.

On the 10th. Jafila did not call me. I went to the office and was told to come back the next day. On 11th. I went again at 9 am. The office was close. In the evening while passing thru the office with my wife, I noticed the office was opened and decided to drop by. I waited for almost 30 minutes just to get my electronic ticket. He asked me to come back on the 12th for the itinerary. In fact on the 12th after a very long wait he handed me with a piece of paper listing some informations as to the time and where I should wait and a few other things.

I was first told to wait at the pick up place at 5am. The paper told me to be there at 6.30 am because the bus will pick a group at Kuala Nerang about 22 miles away. At 6.00 am I was there. Finally the bus arrived at about 7am. Together with the group we depart for Bayan Lepas Airport.

The group consists of 28 persons and mostly teachers from Sekolah Kebangsaan Padang Terap. Mostly brought spouses with them. Later at Penang airport another 2 from Taiping joined us. They too were teachers. Because the group said my name was not in the list, I went to get the boarding pass by myself. The whole process from getting the boarding pass till boarding the plane was easy for me. In fact I bit them because I was faster.

Almost 2 and half hours later we arrived Jakarta. I was very surprise to see a huge crowd at the immigration office. It took more than 3 hours to clear the passport point. Jakarta was getting dark.

Everyone felt hungry and we request dinner from the tour leader, Kiki ( lady ). "You are on your own. No lunch is included. If you want package lunch it will be 40000 rupiah". Everyone was computing the equivalent to ringgit but agreed to it. Kiki took us to Nasi Padang. As far as I am concerned I really love the food.

After meal Kiki took us to Taman Mini. It was almost 8pm. I could not see anything and therefore could not do any snap shot. Imagine what kind of tour was that. But Taman Mini was in the list. From the dark Taman Mini the bus continued to Puncak. Again we saw nothing in the dark. A few hours later we arrived a hotel, took a very lousy dinner and went to bed.

At 7am the next morning we moved to a volcano area called Gunung Tangkuban Perahu and a hot spring well.

At about 4pm we left those places and moved down the hill to Bandung. When arriving the city the group were brought to the Jean's and Batik's shop. Bandung went dark but the shopping went on. I only bought 3 batik sarong for my sister in law who took care of my wife when I was away. Then we checked into a hotel which is a four star abode. We were told be ready at 8am next morning.

Because a few thought it was 10am so we had to wait for another hour on the bus. We were taken to Pasar Baru for the final shopping in Bandung.

I bought 3 telekungs only. That's all. But the rest really had a good time at the shopping complex. They must have brought a few thousand ringgit with them. The pictures above shows the street vendors selling bags and other stuffs. Since I finished shopping very early, I just lepak on the stairs and enjoying the sight of people around.

I don't remember the time we depart Bandung. The traffics was very heavy, jammed and the rain was heavy. Again we arrived Jakarta at night and brought to another shopping complex. After about 1 1/2 hours we checked in another hotel.

Kiki informed us that the wake  up call would be at 1am. By 2.30am we must gather in the lobby. At 3am we arrived at the airport.

Here was another inconvenient experience took place. The immigration took our departure card. And when we wanted to enter Air Asia the ground Air Asia staffs stopped us because I did not have the departure card. So were 18 other people in the group."It is between you and the custom. You can't fly without the card. You have to pay RM50 each to go up the plane." I told them I would not pay even a single cent even if I have to put up in Jakarta another night and told them this thing only happen in Jakarta. The other group member rushed back to the immigration and brought back some cards including mine. He too was very angry and asked the rest to board the plane."No money...nothing," he said.

I remember I and Rusli were cheated the last time I visited Indonesia. Now the Air Asia members were demanding RM50.

Somehow we finally reached Penang. The bus from Jafila was not there. We rang up Jafila and the man seemed to be surprise that we already arrived. And we have to wait almost another 2 to 3 hours before the bus arrive to take us home to Alor Setar.

It is not a matter of Jafila but it is a matter of the inept of the Malay entrepreneur.