13°C in Ciwidey, a nature promise with Lembang

The epic story starts from a betrayal from Grabcar, where we couldn't get any car to pick us up to the airport in the morning. At last resort, we called up a taxi which arrived 30 minutes after. Unexpectedly while we were en route, uncle missed a turn to reach the airport which leads us to take another 30 minutes to arrive at the airport. We didn't blame him, for I think he was too tired driving from the highway that never seemed ending. I prayed in the car in hope that we wouldn't miss our flight and called the airline to take note of us but to get a reply saying that we probably couldn't make it. When we arrived, all we could do was just to sprint throughout the airport, taking a train to our boarding gate and arrived just in time for the final call. A delay of perhaps another 5 minutes would render us missing our flight. And that is the beauty of not having to check in your luggage at the airport since we just had handcarry with us. 🧳🧳🧳

✈The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bandung takes approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes.

💸 From the airport to our hotel (at city center) takes around 65,000rp. That's actually the approximate average rate from the airport to your hotel at the city centre. (MIGHT VARY, this is just for reference!)

💡TIPS: do install and keep a few apps in handy like OVO, Grab, any translator app and also a map app. OVO is highly recommended because you can take car/bike rides at a much more cheaper rate when you have promotions in the Grab application (sometimes even up to 50% or more). Using OVO to dine/shop in places could also gain you some cashbacks! Really worth it!

1. Gormeteria

📍Address: Jalan Pasirkaliki No 176, Bandung 40173, Indonesia

Probably the anxiety and running had burned up some of the calories and drained up my energy. After we settle at our hotel, we headed to Gormeteria to refuel ourselves.

Es Podeng cake slice and Thai Tea Layer cake 

Highly recommended by many people, this restaurant has a lot of pretty instagrammable corners for selfies and wefies. But yours truly was too tired for the photos. (I prefer the nature more!)

This place doesn't exactly offer many choices for vegetarians so I opted for desserts. Le fam went for:

Main course
Aglio Olio Spaghetti 60,000rp (approximately RM18.00)
Tuna Tataki Pasta 65,0000rp (approximately RM20.00)

Dessert
Es Podeng Cake 41,000rp (approx. RM12.00)
Thai Tea Layer Cake 41,000rp (approx. RM12.00)

Drink
Hot Ginger Honey Tea 32,000rp (approx. RM10.00)

So overall, my family love it! For me, I think the desserts were still okay. 

2. Ranca Bali

📍Address: Ciwidey, Bandung

Located at the south of Bandung city, it takes around 2 hours to reach Ciwidey. You might want to rent a car with a driver here (you can get many sources online!). I'm a fond of nature, therefore its one of my favourite place eventhough I would freeze myself here at 13 degree Celsius at 6am in the morning here. Our first stop was this tea plantation, and I can't help but to fall in love with this place which has been around for 200 years ever since the Dutch colonials set their foot here.

The plantations were really huge, and they were akin a labyrinth in this valley.

💡TIPS: It gets pretty warm in the afternoon despite the really cool weather in the morning. Do depart a little earlier, I promise it's worth waking up early for!

3. Glamping Lakeside

📍Address: Ciwidey, Bandung

After visiting the tea plantation, we visited the ship perched at the side of a lake called Situ Patenggang. Since the early bird gets the worm, we got the whole ship just for us with absolutely nobody to interfere in the photos = no crowds!

The scenery is magnificent. It's definitely worth to come here!

💸 Entrance: 20,000rp/person (approx. RM6.00)

Stealing some vitamin D and just to warm up myself in the freezing cold morning (no joke!)

4. Kawah Putih

📍Address: Ciwidey, Bandung

The recent drought has dried up most of the lake.

Known for the tiffany blue sulphur lake, kawah putih is actually the remained crater of a dead volcano. And due to the sulphur, the air is reeked with pungent smell. Do bring along a mask although sometimes they do provide at the entrance.

💸 Entrance: 75,000rp/person (approx. RM22.00) for foreigners, 150,000rp (approx. RM50) for the car to drive in 🙃

5. Ranca Upas

📍Address: Ciwidey, Bandung

This deer is a little old, hence it's more cooperative 🦌

💸 Entrance fee: 15,000rp/person (approx. RM4.50)

To buy carrots to feed the deers you will need to pay an additional 10,000rp (approx. RM3.00) for a small bundle. Yeah, good business. We even pay the food for the deers 🤔 Be careful not to step on the golds on the field 💩.

6. Sapu Lidi

📍Address: Jl. Sersan Bajuri, Kompleks Graha Puspa Cihideung, Lembang

As planned, wanted to bring le fam to try out some local Sundanese food. My favs were none other than TEMPEs and TAHUs.

We sat in the amidst of the paddy field. Such amazing view isn't it? 

p/s:The chicken belongs to our driver 🙈

Gross price of our order

Tempe 34,0000rp (approx. RM10)

Tahu 23,500rp (approx. RM7)

Sambal Kangkung 16,500rp (approx. RM5)

Fried Chicken 21,000rp (approx. RM6.50)

Lalaban 11,000rp (approx. RM3.50)

Rice x4 28,000rp (approx. RM8.50)

7. Vipassana Graha Theravada Temple

📍 Address: Kolonel Masturi no. 69, Lembang 40391, Indonesia

After having our hearty meal, we decided to drop by a temple which is just located nearby Sapu Lidi cafe. There were many beautiful pagodas here, all mainly in white match with golden touchings.

It's a really great place to meditate too besides a worshipping place for Buddhists.

8. Terminal Wisata Grafika Cikole

📍 Address: Jl. Sindangbarang Raya Tangkuban Perahu, Lembang 40291 Indonesia

You can come here for outbound activities or just chill out with these beautiful camping grounds.

💸 Entrance fee: 15,000rp/person (approx.RM5)

But I just come here for narcissistic *macam yes* photos, not for adventures yet *opppss* (I mean, when your mom doesn't want adventures hahah)

9. Cikole Orchid Forest

📍 Address: Jl. Raya Subang, Cikole, Lembang, Indonesia

💸 Entrance fee: 35,000rp/person (approx.RM11)

It's really a good family place to walk around and enjoy the breezy air with many pretty flowers and scenery. Your ticket includes also a trip of flying fox so yeah get your pants ready!

Forgive me for the gray tuning because someone set some filter on my camera without us realising it.

10. Terminale Gelato
📍Living Plaza Dago, Jl. Ir. H Juanda No. 61-63, Bandung Wetan

And I will save all the crap and leave it the pictures. To all ice-cream lovers, this will be your paradise! I personally recommend mint chocolate and whisky!! nyehehe

We ordered Pistachio almond, Chocolate Mint and Whisky flavoured gelatos

💸 _{^{45,000rp (approx. RM15) for 3 flavours}}

Been fighting with the bad wifi and lagging computer to make this post. Please tell me if you enjoy this post so I can blog more! You may dm me if you happen to have any enquiry too.

Thank you for wasting your time here but anyway hope you really enjoy reading my post 😀,

Love, S.Y

Connect with your innerself

One day you found yourself 

lost in this vast meadow 

desperate for an escape

but you never find the way out

This post is not intended to be sentimental. Just trying to make it poetic. Almost 2 years since you left, and a lot of changes has taken place. Had things got harder? Had it been difficult?

Ohhh. Nothing actually but just changes. Or more precisely,

Adaptations.

Things got screwed up. Not everything went well. But it doesn't means life ends here. It's no sad story. There are things that are definitely disturbing. Not all people are kind, neither are them all nasty. I can pretty much sum up that I got the best of everything and also the worst. But I have no regrets. I welcome disasters and sit with them over a coffee.

Take more time alone and reflect on yourself, your day. Eat food that your liver and kidneys will thank you for. Take strolls or light jog and let the endorphins do the work after a bad day. Keep improving yourself. Share joy and learn to give.

and let go.

This ain't easy. But all of us might eventually need to put down some of these heavy baggage so we can move on again. Yours truly is still learning, no matter how much I hate to do it.

Thank you for reading. Well, I just hope perhaps a little thought here that I have could also help whoknowswho whom might be facing some of the similar problems here too. Just remember, you're not alone!

Signing off

S.Y

Hualien Soultrip (Bits of it)

Heyyy readers! Back again to this space to just to clear off some spideyy webbies here. Here's just like a 5% story from my entire trip due to time restraint (you know I can write lengthy stories whenever I can and super short when I really can't afford to do so at the moment). I'm still composing on some small parts of my memory from this trip. Making a little time everyday to write down some of my thoughts when possible. So here you go!

The train ticket from (Shongshan) Taipei to Hualien.

While in the bus, I caught the sight of Taipei 101. Unfortunately I haven't got the chance to visit there yet. Ahhhh wait for me one day aiteee!

Love how clean the places are!! 

On Christmas eve, we had classes and steamboat for the night. It was cold so when we had something boiling hot, it was just pure blessing for us! 

On Christmas day itself, we put on our rubber boots which some were even too big for our size, walked like bosses (ahh too much don't bother) and followed shifu to their "secret garden" to harvest some vegetables. I slapped on a lot of mosquito repellent generously onto my skin and began to seek out for the hidden organic vegetables planted by shifu. Shifu said they rented an abandon land to plant their own vegetables. Before we start harvesting, we were instructed to use the sickle to knock onto our little plastic stool. For what? You might be wondering. Well, shifu said when we do that we can scared away the snakes. After that, shifu ride on her uber cool and handsome three-wheeled bike back to the abode to take us some snacks. Back she came with a big tray of fried noodle and homemade bubble tea!! I haven't drink it for years and this is homemade by shifu. Our tummies was filled and bloated love. What more we could ask for? It's just too perfect.

While we were hunting for the vegetables among the wild grass, occasionally the train would passed by us in a whoosh in the distant. Mist formed faraway at the top of the mountain. And quite regularly, you would see the locals here riding their scooter passing by us.

We harvested 6 baskets of vegetables and we stacked up all of them on a hand trolley and pushed them back to the abode.

Look at the mist

Homemade bubble teaaa!!! Haven't had one for a decade.

The weather was cold but bearable. The only unbearable part is that only we have plenty of pesty mosquitoes there. Look at how small they are! Tiny yet despicable. 

Embraced by the beauty of nature. Tantalizing my taste bud with this precious and immersing myself into the dreamy sight, sound and air.

When it's dark, the place is almost light-pollution free. I bet those who stay long here enough might get the chance to catch a meteor here!

At the bewitching hour of the day.

Every morning, we could only wake up at 3.50am in the morning (not earlier, nor later as long as you can make it on time at 4.10am to assemble at the chanting hall). Every day we move at a speed of light, making our beds and make sure they are perfectly folded at 90º at the edges, wash up, have our hair braided and etc. Def one of the most memorable thing back then! 

Prison

When I first step foot into this place, I was completely awe-struck. The place was situated in a secluded place at a quite hilly area. Before the bus made its way there, we passed by a huge and vast park for tourist to visit. The weather was cold, and as the bus continue to made its way in. Along the journey you can spot misty hills there. As we arrived, we could see that the gardens were very well maintained. Beautiful plants and flowers can be seen here. Perhaps you could have thought that you have been leaded to the wrong place. The place was beautiful, I would even believe if they tell me it's a homestay area or touristic area.

The place and air were clean. As we descended from the bus, we were first greeted by a friendly black dog there, who actually led us to the hall where we were supposed to go. I didn't take photos of the place since it's forbidden to bring in cellular phones.

When we have arrived at the hall, I was quite shocked at first. Seeing a huge hall filled with the prisoners all seated on their chairs and all of them turned back to see a whole bunch of us people making way into the hall. We did our first performance, but I see that they were not quite amused into what we were doing in front. After that, as we performed the second sign language song called 很幸福, I could see they became more involved in what we were doing. As if on cue, many of them decided to follow our repeating sign languages at every chorus. There was also a session where we do group singing, and the mic was passed to some of them to also sing together with us.

Why were they locked here?

What's our difference with them? I'm not completely sure what got them in there. They look perfectly fine and neither do they look exceptionally despicable. Some of them were so young, some look like they were at the same age as me. Sometimes I wonder, how do they really feel in there. When they were singing, some began to tease the ones sitting next to them, resting their arms across their pal's shoulder and laugh like old friends. Sometimes it's painful to see this and when I see that they got accepted in our eyes, they began to open up themselves and smile and respond to us.

Old Folk's Home 荣明之家

JX and me were the emcess for this visit. I haven't really been to any old folk's home before and it's my first time doing such a visit. When we have arrived, we pushed the elderlies in their wheelchair to the main hall to entertain them. 

Mosquito stings.

On New Year eve, we volunteered at the hospital. A place where 李师伯 told us to: 见苦知福.

Indeed, many people would be celebrating out there to count down on the arrival of a whole new year of 2019. Despite the excitement out there, there were still many patients at the hospital moaning with pain and agony and their only wish was to get out from there and lead a normal life.

I met an old grandfather who was very pessimistic at first at his own condition. Tears flowed when he said those words and his caretaker would help him wipe his tears away in a very positive attitude, asking him not to say negative things. He was a very kind person I could see, from how he treat his caretaker and how his caretaker communicate with him. What touches me was after a long leisure chatting with him, he changed his view by saying he would get better soon and shalt not have negative thoughts anymore. He said he used to travel a lot of places, a traveller he is. But due to his condition he couldn't make it anymore. 

There's indeed no better time than now to achieve whatever you want.

At the ICU, many patients were bed-ridden, some couldn't even open their eyes, some were in coma mode. Sometimes just can't help to think how blessed we are when we are still healthy. 

We moved so quickly that I ain't got the time to collect these maples. Woe is meee.

The train moaned and creaked at every swaying on the railway. We passed by many beautiful sceneries. Feasted my eyes on the beautiful coast which were mostly secluded. The gradient of the seawater was really alluring.

Too many things have happened and when you don't immortalise your thoughts into some kind of writing, that's as if those things have never took place at all in your life. Our thoughts and memories, lose a little as each day passes. Didn't afford to write down everything but whatever matters to me, I have them simplified into a photo, a word or a thing that might somehow evoke the whole memory in it. Sorry I can't write too much here for the moment but I'm glad you dropped by, thank youu and I hope some things, somehow that I have mentioned in here will be able to motivate you. Well, somehow.

Signing off,

S.Y