Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh, Yes

When the high-speed train started operating, many Indonesians were excited to try. That includes me and my parents. Therefore, I asked my parents in Jakarta to come and visit us in Bandung.

On Saturday morning, my family drove me to Tegalluar station, located at the eastern side of Bandung. We took the toll road, passed the newly built residential area “Summarecon”, and nearby the relatively famous Al-Jabbar mosque and Gelora Bandung Lautan Api stadium. I took the train to Halim station, where I would meet my parents and helped them checked in into the train. My son D was envy of me but we managed to calm him down. The Tegalluar station was relatively remote and not fully built. There were no cafés or shops opened yet. Parking space was limited, but there were many blue bird taxis waiting there, ready to drive you to the city.

Check in was smooth, and the train was on time. Despite the euphoria, taking the train itself in my opinion is nothing special. It’s just like taking MRT/LRT trip, only further. The 350km/h maximum speed can only be confirmed by looking at the running text display. If you look outside the window, there is actually not much difference compared to running 100km/h. What’s interesting yet disturbing, is that every announcement made, it ends with their slogan “Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh,… Yes!”.

At exactly 10.30 AM, I arrived in Stasiun Halim. I was hungry so I ordered two pieces of lunpias (definition) and an americano. Shortly after, my parents were also arrived at the station, and we checked in and traveled to Bandung.

We stopped at the Padalarang Station, then took a feeder train that went to the city. Transfer from high-speed train to the feeder was not so smooth, with 500 passengers (rough estimation) had to pass through 3 gates within only a few minutes.

In Bandung station, my wife Y was just in time to pick us up. We then had lunch at the Lotek Mahmud restaurant, a hidden culinary gem in Bandung. After lunch, my mom (kids’ Oma) did some shopping at a cosmetic store nearby “Toko Mahmud”, also a hidden gem. We then went to the hotel, checked in, and took some rest.

Around 4 PM, Opa was eager to walk out to find some coffee. We then walked around the hotel and had a light meal and coffee at Circle K. My daughter P was feeling unwell, probably because she was playing in the bathtub too long, and got masuk angin (cold). I went out with Oma and my dad (Opa) to have chicken rice dinner together outside at Olly Hai, inside Haji Mesri alley. The main road was very crowded, so walking was not very fun. However, it’s faster to walk than to drive because it’s a one way road, and, well, very crowded. I ta pao-ed (take away) 3 portions of food for people at the hotel.

That night P couldn’t sleep well, so did I and Y. In the early morning, D was already woken up, so I brought him to Opa and Oma‘s room. Opa wanted to walk around, so I left D at Oma‘s room, watching YouTube videos. We walked through some alleys, heading to the GOR Pajajaran (Pajajaran sport center). Despite the fact that it’s a sport center, in the morning it’s a culinary heaven. I and Opa had porridge for breakfast, and I bought steamed kuo tie (dumplings) for the others.

P was still feeling unwell, but we had to have breakfast anyway. My car was all cleaned by the hotel staff, so we drove to a nearby Rijsttafel restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast, I drove everyone back to the hotel. I and Oma continued walking to a nearby Kartika Sari snack shop. It was inside an alley but very packed with tourists.

Finally, I drove Oma and Opa back to the station, for them to take another Whoosh trip back to Jakarta.