I'm still somewhat drained from our short Bandung getaway.

The bags are still pretty much unpacked - except for the dirty laundry bag of coz, will try to get it done during the weekend.

Well, the short trip was awesome and since it's our 1st getaway of the year (& the little one's 1st international jalan-jalan), I'm going to write bout it for memory sake. We shopped a lot, ate a lot. Had our bits of the usual touristy stuff - Tangkuban Perahu, Kampung Daun, Pasar Baru etc - and if you asked me, there are only a handful of worth-going factory outlets tho there are like tonnes of em, as the rest are pretty boring with dull outdated looking clothes and stuff - rasa macam shopping kat Warta.

Tho we got there on Thursday, our shopping spree and sight-seeing officially started on Friday - as we decided to do nothing but to settle down at the hotel and went out for dinner at Kedai Belacan, yea it serves Indonesian food, bukan jual belacan.

We stayed at the Golden Flower hotel during our stay in Bandung, our room was pretty neat as it's quite spacious (big enough for Myra to run and hop around) and comes with a big king-sized bed, a playpen for the baby and the usual utilities - except that the bathroom was way too small for my liking. Breakfast buffet was decent as you get to sample the local delicacies as well as the usual western breakfast - arrays of fresh breads and toast, made-to-order omelet, sausages, pasta and the lot. We usually tapau some of the food (fried rice, fish fillet, corn etc) for Myra's lunch besides the pasta that I cooked every morning (yea, we brought along a portable cooker/steamer).

Moving on, on Friday, right after breakfast. Our driver drove us straight to Pasar Baru - as it's wise to be there early and preferably during weekdays. Lemme just say that I'm not that crazy about this place so my catch was pretty boring, a couple of telekung, printed shawls, some cottons and 2 yards of silk for Myra's EID caftan. No exquisite laces whatsoever for me, thankyouverymuch.

Owh, to commemorate our 1st visit to Pasar Baru, the little one actually decided to do her big business there. It goes without saying that there's no such thing as baby room. So yea, imagine me, cleaning a little bum in a sink(whilst people were staring) and the water supply was puny. Rasa macam nak menangis. We even had to put on her diaper and pants whilst standing - but thank God for diaper pants.

Yea, the joy of parenting. No, I'm not complaining. he he.

After we're done with the cleaning up. We decided to just hang out at one of the fabric shop that we went to earlier - as I was already sick of the place by then (the place was stuffy, people in there were actually smoking like chimneys indoor and we're constantly being tailed by the souvenir sellers). We sat at its seating area and fed Myra lunch whilst waiting for our friends to be done with their shopping. We finally left Pasar Baru by noon and headed to Restoran Sederhana for our nasi padang.

Right after lunch, we started to roam the factory outlets. Managed to get a few stuff here and there. My favourite of the day hafta be Secret, their selections are not as kodi as the rest. he he. Later we went back to the hotel and went out again after Maghrib for dinner at the Rumah Sunda. After dinner, we went back to our hotel and kong out. End of day two.

On Saturday, our day started pretty early, right after breakfast, we're already on our way to Tangkuban Perahu by 8am. It took forever to get there and the roads sucks - not recommended for someone who's prone to motion-sickness (like me, but somehow I managed to refrain myself from puking).

We finally got there after an hour drive, it was pretty cold and really windy up there - as you could actually smell the sulfur even before you could actually spot the volcano. We were not dressed for the weather so I was freezing for a bit but I carried the baby in Boba SSC, so she was kept pretty warm and close to me. C***? He didn't mind it for a bit tho he was only in his cargo pants and tshirt.

The place is worth a visit tho it's obvious that it's going to be the 1st and the last as there's no point of revisiting a volcano. Like any other tourist spot, there were like tonnes of those souvenir sellers which will bug you endlessly and tirelessly. If you are into berries, rabbit-fur tissue holder, key chains, spoon made of horns, fridge magnet and the sort, you might like em. I don't - tho not like I detest those stuff they were selling, tapi kalau dah beli kat sorang, mati la kena hurung by the rest of em - so my one and only souvenir are 3 packs of fridge magnets which we managed to grab hastily. he he.

After we're done with the volcano. We headed straight to Kampung Daun, which was another hour drive. T_T

Yea, the roads leading to this place are equally bad but to compensate the hardship, the place is a gem. We were assigned a hut once we registered at the front desk. We had to walk up the endless stairs and a bridge to get to it. So yea, we quickly made our order and it came pretty quick. I had the bebek bakar which was scrumptious.The drink on the other hand adelah quite bleh, I blame my adventurous-self for wanting to order a drink with a name that I couldn't even pronounce, sekali sampai, super la tak sodap.

After 2 hours of lepaking and few mosquito bites later, we decided that we had enough of Kampung Daun, so we proceeded to roam the FOs & Rumah Mode is my favorite of the day - as we managed to get quite a good haul for the three of us. Jeans for C***, tops for yours truly and a down jacket and tops for the little one. Our trip in March will be a rather cold one - at least for me (because I'm a cold person) and the little one, C*** lain cerita, dia orang Jepun T_T - as the temperature is going to be lower than 10°C at times tho it's going to be the beginning of spring.

Right after we're done with Rumah Mode, we decided that we're already sick of factory outlets, so we went to Paris Van Java mall instead. It's huge, probably as big as One Utama, so we window-shop for a bit but somehow managed to be lured into buying a Converse sneakers in purple with white and pink laces for Myra - on 40% discount, so it's pretty cheap. I like.

Talking bout cheap, do you know that toiletries are like dirt-cheap over there? My usual shampoo that usually set me back RM18 (more or less), is actually being sold for RP25000, which is less than RM10. How fantastic is that? So yea, I bought bottles of em and some random facial cleanser that never made it to our shore - and only if I knew that our luggage were still 10kg lighter than the allocated weight, harus borong shampoo and toiletries lagi banyak - but fret not, Jakarta's C*** 's second home now, he could easily be requested to get em for me. :P

We later left the mall and had our early dinner at Rumah Nenek and went back to the hotel to rest and start packing as we're going back home the next day - well, I should thank C*** for being such an awesome other half, as all I have to do was to gather and dump all our stuff and the 3 days worth of shopping haul next to the luggage for him to pack. Thanks darling. :x

On our final day, we got up early, had breakfast and dropped by at nearest Kartika Sari for their famous brownies. I'm not a fan of their brownies, so I settled for only a box of them, a box of Bika Ambun (my favourite, but those from Medan are much better) and a bunch of local snacks. By 9.30am, we're already at the bandara (airport). The airport is small and boring, so expect nothing interesting whilst waiting for your flight.

Owh yea, we took Air Asia as we couldn't bear the thought of taking MAS from KL-Jakarta and another few hours ride by car from Jakarta-Bandung. It would be too much for our little one - so we braced ourselves for AirAsia. It was a quick flight on the new Airbus  - less than 2 hours - so all was pretty dandy tho the tight seating arrangement sorta hurt my back.

That's about it, for friends and families, pictures gonna be uploaded on FB.

p/s: Now that I know that we'll survive the whole travelling-with-a-toddler thing, we should do this quick getaway more often C***, yes? ;)

It has been more than a week since the new year and I'm yet to write a single post in the brand new year.

Owh well?

I'm never keen of new year celebration or whatnot. Call me indifferent, but honestly, it doesn't have to take a whole new year for us to finally resolve to be a better person or write up an endless list of resolutions etc.

Yea, new year resolutions give people like tonnes of reasons to procrastinate. Yes? I'm quite awesome in procrastinating, so I resolve not to have any - besides the customary I-wanna-be-a-better-person resolution that is - I'll just set my goal as I go (trust me, I have many), so there won't be any case of 4 years old resolution yang tak jugak tercapai.Ehem.

Anyway, I slept my new year eve away with the little one. It was blissful. Woken up for a bit by the exploding fireworks but I'm no longer a 5 years old who could be mesmerized by fireworks so I couldn't be bothered to stay up for em.

We spent the 1st day of new year with a trip to Seremban to visit C***'s grandfather at the GH. Seeing him at the massively crowded hospital was somewhat heartbreaking.

Instead of giving out money for those young people to get themselves a smartphone so they won't be denied the chance to camwhore on Instagram,(if they could even consider buying an Ip5, obviously kena la mampu, yes? Buat ape la nak bagi rebate bagai for an expensive phone. Lain la kalau setakat nak beli smartphone brand Cokiah pon kena 4 tahun menabung. Like, owh takde Ip5 yer? Tak cukup duit? Kesian, nah duit. Pi beli. Nanti amek gambaq muka duckface banyak-banyak yer. Blurrgh.)

It would be better to use em in refurbishing the hospital instead. Replacing the horribly faded bed sheet and hospital attires would be a good start. Awesome sangat la kan, orang sakit bagi pakai baju dengan color yang equally sickening. What a way to boost their spirits, reverse psychology kot?

Owh, I have nothing against government rebates scheme. I'm all about helping the needy and whatnot. Some are good, but this one is rather funny. T_T

Moving on, C*** has to work during the weekend, so I brought Myra to our favourite Paed for her scheduled immunization with the MIL. The queue was pretty long, so we had to wait for more than an hour before our turn. How she screamed her lungs out the moment the doc started with the checkups. I reckon she's still somewhat traumatized from the recent incident. Poor baby.

I even asked the doc to prescribe something better to cure the rashes on her right knee. Like yea, it has been there since as long as I can remember. Surely a toddler and itchy rashes are a bad combo. Baru je nak baik, dok pi garu-garu until it was a bloody mess. Pehtu kena ayaq, tau pedih. Stress mak nak. *pull hairs*

The more reason for me not to dress her up in fancy schmancy thousand layers dresses - which gives her an easy access to scratch on her knee. I like her better in simple (but insanely cute) short dress/tops/tunic paired with a legging/quarter jeans. No messy fairy princess dresses please. Forgive me for your non existent fairy princess dream baby as it's such an overkill for me. Malaysian weather and fancy dresses don't go well together, unless you live in a house that comes together with a throne.

On a lighter note, we'll be off to Bandung for our 1st getaway of the year sometime this week - a plane ride to better prepare the little one for the 6 hours long flight coming in March. It gives me goosebumps just by thinking of it. Balik Kedah 4 jam pon dah mengelupuq, how lah to be cooped in the plane for 6.

I have nothing much on my shopping list. A shopping spree with an active toddler and the not-so-shopaholic other half could be such a bore sometimes as I could never ever shop hastily like a man. Where's the pleasure in that kan? Kena la belek empat puluh baju like seratus kali dulu before eventually, ended up buying the 1st baju that you saw. :P

So yea, I'm just going to enjoy my time with my babies whilst hauling whatever that caught my fancy as long as my moolah permits.


 Owh, Happy New Year people.