Bus Trip From Jakarta to Bandung

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Upon arrival at the Sukarno Hatta Airport in Jakarta, I was trying to decide how I should proceed to go to Bandung. There are a number of transportation operators at the Airport that can offer to take me by car or passenger van to Bandung. After going through their service packages, I decided to make my first trip to Bandung by bus.

I approached the Prima Jasa counter and purchased a bus ticket to Bandung. The Prima Jasa counter is located next to the Macdonald restaurant. If I can still remember clearly, I paid RP60,000 for a one way trip to Bandung. The journey takes about 3 hours and the bus is air-conditioned. The lady at the counter issued a ticket to me and asked me to wait near the counter for the bus to arrive.

As the bus embarked on a non stop 3 hour journey, I took the liberty to go to the toilet (attending to nature's call) at the airport and also bought a bottle of mineral water before boarding the bus. When the bus arrived, I showed my ticket to the bus attendant and boarded the bus. It was a coach bus, comfortable and spacious enough. At that time, there were only 11 passengers on board. So I have the liberty of choosing any seat I want.




The journey on the bus was smooth and unassuming. When the bus traveled on the toll highways, it was speeding away on the road. You get to see many beautiful hills, landscapes, rice plantations, bridges and houses. The bus also passed through small towns with congested roads. On congested roads, this bus literally had to crawl itself out of the traffic mess.




The final destination for the bus is Bandung SuperMall ( BSM ). When the bus arrived at BSM, it stopped just right in front of the office of the bus operator. I alighted and picked up my luggage. I saw people waiting at the office perhaps to take the bus back to Jakarta. I took a stroll inside BSM and it is a beautiful and spacious mall. There are many food outlets in this mall if you are hungry. However, when I wanted to take a taxi to my hotel, I found out that I have to wait for about 20 minutes to get one. Perhaps it was due to the fact that it was a Sunday afternoon and there were lots of people. When I finally board the taxi, the cab driver initially did not want to use the fare meter. I insisted on it and reluctantly he agreed to it.




Traveling to Bandung by bus in my opinion is economical, fast and comfortable. If you hire a private car for the trip, it would definitely cost much more. However, the disadvantage is that it would not stopped at your desired destination such as at your hotel lobby. To me, alighting at BSM is no problem, as it gave me an opportunity to take my lunch at the mall and do some shopping. However, getting a cab is a slight problem during weekends.



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Rumah Mode Factory Outlet in Bandung - Indonesia

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Bandung is a well known for its numerous factory outlets located mainly in the city center. Among the most popular factory outlet is the Rumah Mode Factory Outlet. Ask anyone in Bandung with your queries regarding this outlet, you will definitely get some answers. Some are positive - obviously they are the ones that love this place. And some feedback will be negative - perhaps they feel that there are better factory outlets offering better value and merchandise. Whatever the reasons may be, in my opinion it is a worthwhile place to visit even if you do not buy anything. I will explain why.




Getting to Rumah Mode is easy. It is located in 41 Jl. Dr. Setiabudi. If you are still clueless, then just throw away this address and tell the cab driver to take you to Rumah Mode - that is it. Any cab driver in Bandung who doesn't know where is Rumah Mode is not worthy to be a cab driver. Do remember to take a cab that uses the meter, otherwise you may be paying a lot more than the usual fare.




I would advise you to visit Rumah Mode during the day and preferably not on a weekend, that is Saturday and Sunday. I was there on a Sunday late afternoon at about 5 pm. The place was crowded with people and therefore the shopping experience is less pleasant - unless one prefers to shop with a large crowd. And also when I left the place in the night after taking my dinner at the restaurant there, I find difficulty in getting a cab back to my hotel. I waited about 45 minutes before being able to get a cab. The cab driver refused to use the meter - so do I have a choice at that time? To cut the hassle, I negotiate a price with the cab driver. With a smile on his face, he drove me back to my hotel knowing that he got a good deal. So my advice is that it is easier to get a cab during the day and also not on weekends.





Rumah Mode gives me an impression of a laid back cottage like resort. You see a single storey houses spread across the entire compound. The first thing that catches me eye was the rows of restaurant and food outlets as well as the small car park. As I looked across the entire compound, I can see the factory outlet as well as the fountain with the figurine of a beautiful Javanese lady. What attracted me more is the Javanese lady figurine. So the first thing I did is to take photos of it before proceeding to the factory outlet. There is a emphasis on greenery around the compound. But I feel that they can improve on it further to make it look like a beautiful garden.





Once I entered the factory outlet, the first section was the ladies section. I saw lots of ladies - young and old jostling and helping themselves with the clothes on the racks, shelves and bins. There are countless number of international brands to choose. I just wonder how does so many world class branded ladies wear ended up here. I was told that the clothes were either past seasonal or rejects due to QC (quality control). Anyway, it doesn't seems to matter to at all to the many ladies who were happy with their purchases. There is a section for men and children. In the men section, I am not able to see clothes with Size S (small). The clothes are mainly Size M (medium) which looks like Size L (large). As for the range of merchandise, I feel that it is definitely adequate. The prices seems to be reasonable too - considering that you are buying famous branded wear at a huge discount of more that 60% and more. The entire floor is clean and clothes are arranged neatly. There are many staff there who can also attend to your queries if you have any.





There is a restaurant there which serves Java coffee, fruit juices and hot meals. The food selection is quite limited but the atmosphere is quite relaxing. There is a mini pond inside the restaurant where you can see beautiful koi fishes. However, the restaurant seems to be quite empty when I was there. Perhaps people are too focus on their shopping and forget about food.
Personally, I did not buy any clothes from
Rumah Mode when I was there. But I do enjoy the having dinner at the relaxing restaurant and walking around the compound. I saw plenty of happy faces with their shopping bags, for them it is definitely a good catch and a worthwhile trip.

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