Back From Trip - Part 2

This was our third time to Bandung. We stayed at Rumah Ebo (our second time there), a homestay in the Dago area. What we like about this homestay is that it's cozy, clean and cheap. They even give free breakfast, which is served at their lovely garden. Their location is awesome, too, as it's only 5 minutes walk to the famous Dago factory outlets, like Jetset, Grande, Episode and Blossom.

Husband and I are not really a fan of sightseeing. We prefer to shop. And that's why we enjoy going to Bandung so much. But, unlike most people who go there to shop at the factory outlets, we shop at their distros. For those who have never heard of distros:

"Distro is a shortform of the Indonesian word distribusi, or distribution. Generally distro differ from other youth fashion outlets by their links to the independent music industry, the age of those involved, and collective ownership styles." From TripAdvisor Bandung.

Another thing that we both like to do is eat! At Bandung, the foods are good AND cheap. It can't get any better than that. Just stay away from the stalls by the road sides unless you're in for some food poisoning.

I would have to say we feel safer walking around in Bandung compare to here in Malaysia. The people there mind their own business, we don't get stared or ogled, and we don't have to worry about getting snatched whenever a biker pass by. They may look like they can bite your head off, but once you talk to them, they're actually polite and helpful. However, the way they drive is insane! They're good in the sense that they don't crash into each other, but still, pretty crazy. We've never seen an accident the whole time we were there, not even one. In KL, you see accidents left and right everyday.

Back From Trip

Traveling for the first with a baby (an aggressive one at that) was definitely challenging. We were in Bandung for 4 days. The journey there was not so bad. The first hour of the flight was spent playing with a little bit of tantrum here and there, but for the next hour the baby was asleep until we touched down. We were lucky that there was an empty seat next to us because the extra space made the flight more comfortable. He didn't get any air pressure in his ears, thanks to breastfeeding during take off and being deep in slumber when landing.

The rest of the trip was a fast blur. It was raining almost every day, starting from noon till night so getting around was difficult. The baby refused to eat the banana, avocado and rice cereal that I brought along, so he ended up eating only Farley Rusk's. He didn't seem unsatisfied or hungry, though. So, yeah. Probably it was the change of surrounding. Anyway. When we went shopping, he was either ecstatic to see all the new faces (he can get a bit too friendly) or angry because he wanted to get down on the floor and crawl. Bedtime was not so bad. He's used to sleeping in his cot back home, so he had all the space to himself to roll around before falling asleep. Therefore sharing beds with his Ibu and Ayah on this trip was a bit frustrating for him due to the lack of space. But he complied, such a good boy.

The flight back to Malaysia was almost disastrous. Compare to the plane going to Bandung, this one was smaller. Leg space was so tight, and I'm only 155 cm tall short! The baby was screaming right before take off, fell asleep almost instantly during take off, woke up 30 minutes later and continued throwing tantrums for almost the rest of the flight. There was no empty seat this time around. A teenage boy sat next to us kept throwing irritated looks whenever the baby started screaming and stared whenever I was nursing. The husband was this close to poking the kid's eyes out. I had a nursing poncho on, but nursing an aggressive baby means having him grabbing everything from my hair to the poncho while lifting his legs up and twisting his body around. There were times when I happily took off the poncho and realized that I forgot to zip up my top, baring my brassiere for the whole world to see. So I don't know whether the teenage boy managed to catch a glimpse of that. It'll either make him very happy or very disturbed by the image.

I think the best tip for flying with a baby is to bring along some cute stickers. Yes, stickers. These stickers were our lifesavers! It kept the baby entertained for a good period of time. His other toys that I brought along was thrown on the floor every time I handed one to him.

He almost put a sticker on a man's head who was seating in front of us.

Though challenging and difficult, we couldn't be happier to have the baby along with us. At the end of the day, patience and a sense of humour made this whole trip possible.