Jakarta is at sea level while Bandung is @700 meters above sea level, its about 4 C cooler and the air feels fresher 💋
Friday, day 1: After a few hours sleep and a splendid buffet Brunch, are party were ready to be tourists. We all agreed to take a "GRAB"[Ed.GRAB is an Indonesian alternative to UBER, though 5 of us squeezing into the car was really not the best option] car to the Maribaya forest walk.
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| Liz and Nick on not scary rope bridge
A very relaxed day out walking down a valley with waterfalls, monkeys and lush vegetation. Though there were some unusual caves/tunnels cut out of the cliffs. One called the Dutch and the Japanese cave. The latter was used as an ammunition store and dug out by Japanese POW's during the 2nd World War, I wonder if any allied troops died doing this hard labour?[I didn't go into this cave]
Travelling back to the Grand Ardjuna Hotel Bandung we were ready for a siesta before going out for dinner. Its certainly worth a mention that the Hotel staff and manager could not have been more helpful. It was under new management and recently renovated to a high standard. The manager is keen to attract more foreign expat guests. Going home to avoid another nightmare drive back was sorted, the Hotel booked us train tickets, then since this would be 4.am on Sunday morning [ only available seats] they drove us for free to the station 😃 Then for our next days tourism they arranged a driver with a 7 seater car who spoke good English. They also invited us to free afternoon tea, with entertainment the next day.
We didn't go far for a cafe for dinner since here was one on the hotel car park. Very good it was too though we did not choose the fish that were swimming around in a giant tank in the corner. I suppose its fresh but as newbies to Indonesia a bit out of the comfort zone.
Saturday Day 2 : We are met after breakfast by our driver for the day which will end with afternoon tea at 5pm. We are off to Tangkuban Perahu Volcano
 
The top of the mountain is 4000 meters and so a lot higher and cooler. It smokes and last erupted in 2013. Then a long walk down and we put our feet in sulphur pools . For a fee you could have your arms and legs massaged with volcanic mud. Liz and I were happy just to paddle. Of course the crater top was surrounded by stalls selling all sorts of stuff for tourists, as "Bule" [slang for westerner] we received top dollar attention.
We then moved on to see a Hot Springs resort near Lembang, a once noted hill resort used by Dutch Colonials based in Bandung.
Well there was no sight of Dutch colonial elegance but democratic Indonesian family fun park. It was chokka and any thought of changing into swimmies was abandoned as we would no doubt have become the "Bule" tourist attraction, featuring in a thousand face book posts. If we had little children it would have been great fun for them.
Saving the day our lovely driver took us to see his family farm and meet his wife and son. It was brilliant to see something normal and so welcoming. We had tea and he told us how it had been to hot and dry this summer so there was a bad harvest. Certainly one of the highlights of our trip. Then back to the Hotel for afternoon tea and entertainment.
 We had an early night as catching the 4am Sunday train was never going to be easy. Sunday Day 3: Helped by the hotel we were safley delivered to Bandung station. Rather like an airline we had to check in having already booked on line. The machine printed our boarding passes/ticket. Then we joined a queue to have our ID checked and join the platform. The train was seat allocated and air conditioned with comfortable seats and a restuarant car. Only 3 hours later we pulled into Jakarta central station on time. [Next time we will take the train there and back] We were met by our car and driver but it then took us 90 min drive to get back home through Sunday morning traffic. What we have learnt? Well it was nice getting to know some people and we met some really friendly Indonesians. There seem to be lots of people everywhere you go, too many people if your hoping for isolated open countryside. That travelling is very difficult and time consuming. We are wondering just how and when we wil get to use our lovley new car? Will we forever be just staying in our home on Country Woods La La land residency as its just to difficult to leave? Prehaps we just have to take a jet plane somewhere, but that has its problems. Coming soon:
This is all the stuff I've been involved in or planning to do
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