Bandung West Java

I woke early the morning of our flight to Jakarta, There was plenty of time to get ready, making sure I had everything I needed for the trip and my four day stay. I had packed my breakfast things, bananas, nuts and seeds, all except the milk, I even had a shot of coffee and milk made and frozen for my first day in Bandung. I wasn’t leaving anything to chance.  I had thought I had done the check-in on line as Gayle said she was unable to but it turned out I had done it for our return trip not the one there.

Mega picked us up and of course she was late which didn’t help my traveling stress levels and then we were caught in peak hour traffic. Praise the Lord we arrived at the domestic airport in good time to check-in and wait for the flight.  We then waited on the seats right in front of the boarding gates but looking the opposite way.  We had been checking the signage but missed the announcement and when I saw passengers starting to board, I noticed the sign had changed the boarding times. We were boarding earlier than previously announced. Thank God I had turned around when I did.

It was a short two hour trip with another of Gayle’s friends, Kirsty, picking us up at the airport and driving us to Bandung.  We first drove into Jakarta to pick up Kirsty’s husband, Arif, who was preaching at Jakarta stock exchange which was in the centre of Jakarta.  Kirsty told us that to help with traffic numbers there were restrictions on cars by enforcing days for vehicles with odd and even registration numbers.  The roads were still congested.  Arif was waiting outside the building and took over driving which meant we were a little cramped in the back seat.  At our next stop we rearranged the suitcases in the back so that we could set up the back seats for Josh to sit there. This stop was also for a late lunch at 3pm.  Jakarta is an hour behind Bali so it was my usual 2pm lunch time.  Kirsty wanted to stop at this particular chain of restaurants as she heard I had been to West Sumatra, Padang, during my BC (Before I came to Christ) travel days.  Arif’s family was also from Padang so he was delighted to treat us to his home town cuisine.  We were ushered to a table full of food which was covered with gladwrap (yes, more plastic), the arrangement being, what you opened you paid for.  Quite a different style of ordering.  We could order more of what we liked too.  There were some familiar dishes like beef rending, curried chicken, red rice and of course white rice.  There was also green beans and another plate of greens I’d not tried before.

It was a two hour drive in total, with about an hour stop for lunch and another toilet stop where everyone (bar me) bought a coffee.  I went for a walk to stretch my legs having sat most of the time since leaving the house in Bali.  On this walk I saw a closing down sale for men’s clothing and knowing Josh wanted some new jeans I went to find him.  He took a while to choose the right pair before we set off again on the last leg of our drive to Bandung.

The next stop was our hotel where we checked in before everyone but me went out for dinner.  I stayed to unpack and had an early night.  My room was the only one with a fridge which is very inconvenient when you need to put medication in it, as Gayle does.  I needed it for my milk and yogurt which I later bought downstairs in the mall below the hotel. I was in bed and asleep before 9pm but didn’t sleep well as Gayle had requested rooms near to the lifts and being a light sleeper I heard everyone coming to our floor plus the noisy fridge which seemed to come on every half hour.

The hotel systems these days turn off the power to the room as soon as you remove the room card from the holder.  Gayle and I put a spare card of a similar size in the card holder to trip the switch so it remained on.  She wanted constant air-conditioning and I wanted a cold fridge, which really didn’t get very cold at all and no ice tray to make my ice!  Praise the Lord I was able to get some ice at the breakfast bar each morning.  My room fridge I turned towards the window as the light, which remained on, shone through the transparent door and bothered me when I was trying to sleep.   I had also put a towel over the light on the TV which remains on 24/7.  I hadn’t turned the air conditioning on as I dislike the cold, the room temp was perfect so I took the doona out of the cover and just used the cover to sleep under. My room was now set as much as I could get it to how I like it and yet I still didn’t sleep well, waking just after 2am but thankfully was able to go back to sleep after about two hours, waking at 5am

That morning the church holding the conference, was putting on an early morning praise and prayer time at 6am so I was ready when Gayle called to say she and Josh were going down.  We got a bit lost looking for the right lift to take us to the church which is in an adjacent building but sort of attached via the mall and carpark.  I stayed awhile for the worship then returned to my room as the rest of the meeting was in Indonesian.  I put my breakfast things together and took them downstairs to the dining area where I ate my food and waited for the others.  When they arrived they had been invited to go to breakfast elsewhere with some of the pastors so I finished my breakfast and went back to my room where I worked on the blog updates and posted the last one.

I joined Gayle at around 11am and waited for Josh who was having some quality time with Kirsty and Arif who had already booked out as they were heading back to Jakarta for a meeting later that day.    Gayle and I waited for Josh till nearly 1pm before taking a Grab to another mall where there were many clothing outlet stores.  Here Gayle looked at some watches to replace hers that had broken, eventually settled on a cheap standby till she had decided on one that had all the health monitoring gadgets she needed.  Josh bought another pair of jeans then met us at a noodle store where we had lunch with Ester, a long-time friend of Gayle’s.

Ester Gayatri was the test pilot for the N219 turboprop aircraft and the only female test pilot in the whole of Asia.  She now runs a business which has built a simulator for training pilots here in Bandung, Indonesia. She was telling me her story, how she was looking after her niece’s children during the Covid lockdown in 2020 when one of the boys said she should write a book about her story and also that she should build a simulator.  It’s amazing how the Lord can use little children to inspire ideas which bring about such changes.  She has now done both.

We also met with Duma, Ester’s friend, who bought me an ice chocolate drink.  We sat here for a few hours chatting while Joshua was shopping for a bargain.  Before leaving Ester and Duma and returning to the hotel we walked a little way down the street where Gayle bought some T shirts for her grandchildren in Melbourne.  We then took a Grab back and while Josh went out exploring Gayle and I relaxed in our rooms.

I couldn’t keep awake so had an early night but woke at 11pm then slept again about four hours later waking at 5am.  I was showered and dressed ready to join the others for breakfast at 8am but had got hungry an hour earlier which was 8am Bali time so I ate before going down to join Joshua.  Gayle had a queasy tummy so passed on breakfast.  Josh asked if she could have some fruit so the staff packed her an assortment of food in a take-away container which I took up to her but she didn’t want it so I ate her omelettes and put the fruit in the fridge.  She joined us later for church which was in the adjacent building, the same place as the previous day.

I sat right at the back.  The church soon became very full and more and more chairs were out for attendees.  There must have been over 800 people attending in total.  I had brought my silicone earplugs plus my headphones but still the volume was far too loud.  I tried out my new noise calculating app and was not surprised when it read over 97%, well above the critical volume of 85 decibels for safe hearing.

After church we took a Grab to another church where we were meeting up with Duma and Ester for lunch before hopping in a hired car to take us to Lembang which is in the nearby hills.  It was a very slow journey, bumper to bumper with the long weekend traffic; this weekend was Indonesian’s 81 years of independence from the Dutch. It took us nearly two hours to go 14km!  Here we caught up with Gayle’s long-time friends Anita and Joshua, who were like family.  Joshua had been Gayle’s page boy at her wedding and his parents have since passed away.  We went a little further, still at a snail’s pace, to a lovely café and gardens where we had some snacks, walked across the suspension bridge (only 3 persons at a time) before returning to the car.  Actually Joshua and I didn’t want to wait for our turn on the bridge coming back so walked down the ravine and back up the other side, reaching there before the others because both ways there was a bit of a queue for crossing.

The drive back to Bandung was again two hours as of course people where returning from their day’s outing. Back at the hotel we booked our tickets on Tuesday’s shuttle bus back to Jakarta and the airport.  Unfortunately we needed to take the first very early 5am bus!  Back in our rooms I wanted to sleep early but couldn’t.  Gayle’s neighbours were so noisy she eventually knocked on their door and asked them to quieten down.  That helped but then a few minutes later below us on the street there were announcements over loud-speakers, I presume it had something to do with the festival.  This went on till well after midnight! I eventually slept but woke just after 4am and forced myself to sleep again but I only dozed off till 5am! Sleep-deprived and lacking energy I decided I wasn’t going to do much that morning while Josh and Gayle attended their meeting.  I went back to bed at 9 and slept an hour getting up to make my special coffee before going down stairs.

Leaving the hotel I crossed the busy road on the pedestrian overpass and walked up the far side of the street to the large durian selling place, it was in open air under a canopy, they had eight different types of durian including the Malaysian Musang King and Thai Montong, both of which are grown here in Indonesia.  I found out there are around 9-11 edible varieties of durian.  Under the canopy they had tables where you could sit and eat what you bought.  Unfortunately I couldn’t buy them in segments, only the whole fruit.  That was too much for me to eat, Gayle was still unwell and Josh wasn’t that keen on them and it was forbidden in the hotel.  I then walked to the famous satay restaurant, which was also open sided under a tin roof.  I took an order sheet with me to convert it from Indonesian to English back at the hotel, and kept walking planning to come back later. Before returning to the hotel stopped at an Indomaret and bought some bananas so I didn’t have to go shopping the day I got back to Bali.  Back at the hotel I took a shower to cool down and washed my hair, it was so dusty walking along the main road.

Gayle and Josh came back for a short lunch break then back to the meeting till 3pm.  I returned to the satay restaurant but decided I didn’t want to buy the minimum of five sticks of all the same meat.  I wanted to try a bit of everything just to try goat as well as beef and chicken.  Instead I returned to the hotel mall and bought myself some noodles, and a dessert I hadn’t tried before.  I thought it was one I’d previously tried with ice but this one was without the ice.  Still it wasn’t too bad although typically sweet.

Gayle who also hadn’t slept well the previous night had an afternoon sleep then she and Josh headed off to a pastors’ dinner. I packed and had an early night so I could get up very early the next morning.

I woke with my alarm at 3:30am and was packed and checked out well before time, waiting for the others and then for bus which was supposed to leave at 5:15 but was running late. We soon picked up time as the bus weaved in and out of the traffic as it raced along the terribly-made freeway to Jakarta.  The engineers who built the freeway have been sentenced to fifteen years of prison for skimming funds from the freeway project causing it to be badly built and giving us all a bumpy ride. Gayle had thought there was a stop for breakfast half way but there wasn’t so we arrived at 8am and had even more time to wait for our 10:30am check-in for our flight at 12:20pm.  We found a café where we could sit and relax and where I ate my breakfast and Gayle had a coffee and some cakes she had been given by a friend.  Once our suitcases were check in, we found our departure gate and sat there till boarding then a quick flight back to Bali. Here we took a local bus, Gayle and Josh getting off near the church to join the Indonesian independent celebrations there.  I remained on the bus getting off at the terminal and then a Grab back to the house. It didn’t take me long to unpack and climb into bed at 8pm. Only five days before I fly back to Perth.

Photos:  1. Queen’s-wreath Petrea volubilis    2. Arif & Kirsty take us to lunch    3. 81 yrs Indonesian Independence    4. Coffee at Lembang    5. Owl at café gardens Lembang    6. Types of durian    7. In costume Jakarta airport

Prayer & Praise Points:

Praise the Lord for the opportunity to visit Bandung, Java, for safe travels there and back and meeting more of Gayle’s Christian friends and family.

Please continue to ask the Lord to keep me safe during my last days here in Bali, that I will be a blessing to others and continue to grow in the Lord during my time here.

Pray for a safe journey back to Perth on the 24^th Aug, that I will not have a problem with the flight, boarding or the immigration on my arrival in Perth.

Please pray for those caught up in the earth quakes in both South America and Flores Indonesia.

Please continue to pray for the Karen families not only in Thailand but also left in Myanmar. Persecution continues as churches are not only bombed but landmines are placed within their grounds. Pray for those applying for visas and permanent residency to join their families abroad.