Bandung With Train – Luxury II

Bandung, the capital city of West Java, Indonesia. A city that will always have my heart. I spent some years lived in Bandung during my university years. The thought of coming back always spark some excitement and this time, I went there using Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI ) Luxury train. One of the latest class type released by KAI.

It was happened around mid of 2022, a friend of mine asked me to join her into a trip to Bandung and I thought why not? It is also as if I get the light of trying the Luxury train as I have been curious about it for sometime so there I was booking the trip from Gambir to Bandung train station. Excited!

Booking the trip

You could go into several websites to purchase the ticket online or if you want to buy it offline you could also go to the train station. Once you get into the site make sure you choose the luxury type. Afterwards you will see some class, I have been informed that those classes are different depending on the seat position to the train facilities. They said there is a price difference perhaps due to the extra convenience a position has to offer e.g. closer to the train restaurant. However, within my experience I had the same price though it has different class. not sure if it is expected or not.

Going on the Day of the trip – Departing station

If you can, come earlier because you will still have to exchange your booking with a boarding pass and there is no separate place for the luxury class to get the boarding pass. A bit different concept with an air flight. You could exchange it in the self service machine. The process was rather quick as you just need to enter your booking code reference and print the boarding pass. By the way if you depart from Gambir station, there was one machine on the right side near to the boarding gate in which most people weren’t aware of ( including me ) that machine didn’t have any queue while the others are pack. It is actually intrigued me of how for Luxury train they didn’t have a separate place to get a boarding pass but who knows it might be me who didn’t know or maybe there has been an update right now.

Once you get your boarding pass, off you go to enter the boarding room. Again, don’t do it like me whereas I wasn’t aware that luxury class has its own dedicated waiting room in Gambir. So i can’t really say anything on this. Let me know if you have tried it and how’s the experience? 😉

The Train and Its Facilities

Alright now the train has come, the luxury carriage is located in the prime location towards the beginning of the train or I would say the most convenient place possible to board a train. Likewise, the clumsy side of me I went to the different end. ( crying ) It will be quite prominent on which carriage you are in since there will be a steward/ess wearing different uniform in front of the door.

Entering the train, it reminds me of an airplane. It is spacious with 2 & 1 seating arrangement. Only limited seat within the carriage that has extra leg room seat arrangement either in the front or at the back row. If you are planning to bring a big luggage try to get this seat as it will be more comfortable for you. ( talking about the experience getting bumped in a train by the neighbouring luggage ) I am not sure why but train carriage in Indonesia don’t have that med – big luggage storage space.:( Anyway, when you get into your seat you could see that you have a reclining seat ( not flat bed type i have tried ) with its adjustable leg and foot rest too. You have a small screen, if you get into the front seat as I did, it won’t have much use as it is located quite far away from you. Other than that within your seat you will have a foldable tray, charger for you and only you and reading lamp. In terms of privacy, it wasn’t as private as I thought it would be. When you are in fully reclined position ( perhaps only me ) you feel a bit more vulnerable and some separator will be much appreciated, won’t it? Overall, the interior has its luxurious feeling with all the colour and the wood ambience.

Other facilities within the train, there was minibar with a stewardess on my trip, in which you could request for some drinks. I didn’t try tough because they have provided you with some food to be eaten along the way and drinks which were enough for me. Oh, and although I found it weird not sure why many people reviewed its toilet. The toilet between man and woman are separated, one each and it’s dedicated only for the luxury carriage that you are in so with only little passenger (26 total per carriage ) there was no problem in toilet queue. The toilet was clean and the design was indeed looks like the airplane toilet.

all in all the journey was quite enjoyable. I didn’t really remember though. do they have in train wifi? I made some IG stories along the way so it seemed that I didn’t have an issue with my connection. At least that, I could say. Basically you have everything set for you so just enjoy the ride.

Arriving – Arrival Station

Nearing the arrival station, I got a refreshing towel handkerchief handed by the stewardess. Afterwards, you could go down. Another perks in the luxury class is the location is at the most convenient to the exit pathways but once you are out nothing much different to the other classes facilities. So nothing really specific in this area. I was actually more awed by the New Bandung Train Station. Some construction upgrade have been finished and some are still underway. No more walking between rail / train to get into your intended gate. the pathways are nice, clean and modern.Looking at the one that has been under operation I think I could put hopes and looking forward to its final result. Here are some pics for you to see.

To sum up the journey and within my verdict, I think the whole experience was great! kudos to the team. For sure, things have its area of improvement but what is it that don’t have those rooms? I would recommend this if you in need of a little more quiet environment and extra leg room. It will be better perhaps for longer journey. However, if you are going like me from Jakarta to Bandung, I think executive class will be sufficient yet it isn’t bad either to try new thing once in a while, right?

Hope you had/ will have a wonderful experience too within the train!

Cheers!

Triana Mustika Rukmi

Indonesia Domestic Flight During Pandemic COVID-19

Hi.. how are you? If you happen to come to this page I assume you miss flying, don’t you? I do too. I had couple of flights during pandemic and would like to note it over here with a wish we could fly as we used to pretty soon. Have a nice day and nice flight for you!

Flight Booking and Airline Physical Distancing

I have learned my lesson and I haven’t fully gained back my trust to travel agency ( both online and offline ). Direct booking still become my preference. Reason being ,with a direct booking in case you need to change your plan it will be easier. I had the experience where the airline has published the announcement giving the passenger a leeway but the implementation with service partner is another complexity. It took months to managed one of my old booking therefore when I become very careful for any upcoming trips since the whole process of changing your itinerary was quite frustrating for everyone involved. Another notes, I will suggest to go with Flagship airline of the country.

In 2020 many airlines conduct physical distancing in the airplane but as of now in Q2 2021 many don’t do it anymore so choose yours wisely. The one which still has physical distancing comes with a higher price. It might not stated very clearly for you but the distancing somehow being sold as an add on either you need to choose a higher ticket class or essentially you could purchase a seating zone in booking page just before you go to the payment.

Before Flying Preparation

Good, now you already have your booking you will need another preparation. It may change from time to time so you need to check during your flight time. For Indonesia Domestic flight it usually either PCR Negative result max 3 or 2 x 24 hours from your flight or Rapid Test Antigen Result max 2 or 1 x24 hours from your flight. It may vary depending on your destination. There is also a facility provided at the airport if you need one. Rapid test antigen is quite quick, based on my experience I could always get the result less than 20 minutes. Starting from Q1 2021 there are some health facilities which already connected to eHac ( Health application provided for travellers in Indonesia ) – more about it later.

At the Airport

Aaaahh… now the happy part. I literally smiling ear to ear the first time I put my feet at the Airport. Excited! I went to Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Jakarta Terminal 3 Ultimate. After you get there I suggest you to go to Gate 3 because you will need to validate your rapid test / pcr test result for boarding and the place is just right after you get in through Gate 3. The validation process is very quick and there are a lot of stations so this one could be finished within 5 minute or so. Once you have the validation get into the Check in / Baggage drop area. Well, you could still drop your baggage without the validation but you can’t go to the boarding room so just make sure you provide enough time for this.

When you are all set with all the validation and your luggage is packed you could proceed to the boarding room. When you are at the gate, the officer will ask for your boarding information including the COVID-19 test result validation before you could proceed further into the queue. when they are checking the info they will ask you to open your mask once to ensure that you are the same person as your identity information. If everything’s good then you could go into your boarding room.

Of course there are some measures in place such as temperature checking and the distancing. However, I found that we tend to forget it when we are in queue. My suggestion and this is what I did which seems to work. I didn’t wear N95 mask, i tried but I got dizzy so I opted for another one which by wearing KN95 mask doubled with Surgical Mask. I didn’t open it at all during the flight. So yes, hello fasting. LOL.

During the waiting time in the boarding room, It’s a good time to fill in your eHAC. eHAC is an Indonesia Electronic Health Alert Card. It’s being used by the government to do the tracing and also to give the latest information for travelling purpose. You could get your eHAC by installing the application on your phone. Once you have it installed you need to register yourself then you could go under your Account menu and to the HAC section. Over there you will need to create your HAC either you just arrived from abroad or you want to travel intercity within Indonesia. You will need to put your flight number and your seat number. HAC information won’t be necessary for you to board the airplane in your departure airport but this info will be scanned in your arrival airport. Based on my experience it’s better to fill the HAC before you land so yes boarding time is a good window time.

Without further ado, when you have been called for boarding make sure you grab everything ready mask on and try not to touch anything and distance yourself from others. We tend to forget all this in a queue. When i got into the airplane, well i think it depends on which flight that you choose, some put a stricter measure than the others. Still, I wiped everything down and sanitized my stuff and my hand. I observed that every passenger has their own ritual so relax no one will judge you, well unless you wear hazmat suit perhaps. Throughout the flight, I recommend this Do not rub your eyes or open your mask if it’s not necessary. Well, for me not opening my mask for drinking was not that hard. I think Ramadhan fasting has trained me therefore I could enjoy the flight. How could I not? My excitement level shot up the roof seeing the white cloud and blue water beneath. Enjoy the flight until your landing time.

Once you landed, the changes are about the same as the one in Soekarno Hatta Airport. The main difference is the eHAC checking part. So you need to show your HAC, there is a QR code generated for your visit and the officer will scan it through. Since you get it all ready before you depart it’s all good the process will be quick. After the scanning you could get into conveyor belt and there you are off you go to wherever your destination is.

Wish you could travel safely wherever you are.

Cheers!

Triana Mustika Rukmi

How to Apply for India Visa For Indonesian?

Good news! if you are Indonesian traveling to India, you could apply for e-Visa and it’s free for the tourist visa. This was the case of mine in 2019 and until this writing there is no change yet. I hope it won’t change. There are some scumbag websites which try to fool you to pay. be careful. i repeat be careful. I nearly fooled as well. the correct website to go to is https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html

For you to apply, you will need to prepare some of the following details.

Passport and your personal detail information.
passport photo size > actually, there is no specification. i follow the Schengen standard and it worked.
Family Details.
Flight information. No Booking proof required, you will only need to put the info of your arrival and departure date along with which airport. Please ensure you will arrive in India Airport which accept e-VISA.
Itinerary. only in summary which cities that you would like to visit.
Hotel Information. No Booking proof required.
Countries that you have visited within the last 10 years. the provided space can’t cope with mine so i chose from the most recent to the oldest.

The process is quick. Once you have submitted your application, you will receive the submission information through email and the review process itself will take around 72 hours. In my case, it took 2 days until..VOILA! the visa has been granted. you will receive the information of your VISA approval through mail. You need to print this and bring it along with you. refer below on how it looks.

I quite like the e-VISA process though it was a bit confusing at first due to all the fake websites which try to take an advantage from you. It really simplified many things such as No physical queue, not much of a documents required, No more printing all the bank record, getting the employment letter, and all of the other ordeals. It will definitely helps to boost one country tourism. I understand that it also comes with certain complexities but isn’t it the world is getting more borderless each day?

Wish Indonesian passport could get more access and wish to see you within the process!

Cheers! 😉

Triana Mustika Rukmi

The Science Behind Ordering Tea in Malaysia

Sipping my cuppa in these past few days has flown me back to my early days living in Malaysia. For those who wonder : Indonesia and Malaysia are located very near to each other. somehow, seeing the physical appearance and knowing the culture, you will think that these two countries are very similar with each other. But hey, how it was wrong! One of the example is about the “tea” we call it “teh” in the local language.

In Indonesia, when you order a tea, you will be served with a black tea + sugar and that’s what i expect when i got here. I ordered tea then… TADA…! What i had was Milk Tea that was super sweet. >_< Day after, i asked my colleagues and these are what they have told me :

Teh = Tea + Milk ( condensed Milk )
Teh C = Tea + Milk ( evaporated Milk )
Teh O = Tea + Sugar
Teh O Kosong = black tea with neither sugar nor milk
Teh tarik = Pull tea? haha.. they will pull the tea in between of two cups to mix and cool it down. personally, the taste of Teh and Teh Tarik are very different for my palate. I like Teh tarik better than Teh. It’ll be slightly foamy and i love foamy texture! :9
Ais = Cold
Suam = Lukewarm
Kurang Manis = Less Sugar.

When i head them i was like.. What? On the other hand they ask me, “You don’t have it?”. I shooked my head. Tea tradition in Indonesia is quite simple or is it me who doesn’t know? most probably the 2nd. 😛

in general, Indonesian don’t really drink tea + milk which then bring me to the other side of the story when my friend visited Indonesia for the first time last year. They didn’t understand why :

Most of the tea that they ordered came in Jasmine Flavour
When they ask for tea they have been given “Teh O”
When they ask for Milk Tea which is equal to ( teh susu) they have been given 1 glass of Tea ( teh ) and 1 glass of Milk (susu). This story like smack me on my forehead!LOL. =)))) Don’t get us wrong. My friend ordered it at the small stall. in a middle or high end restaurant/caffee they will know.

Seeing these two sides was interesting for me. Over the time when my Indonesian friend visited Malaysia they will shared with me in surprise. “You know what i ordered TEA and they served me a MILK TEA?!” I can’t help myself but chuckling. Been there done that.

Isn’t it amazing? how similar and how different we are? I am kind of enjoying any difference that i found over the time in any country that i visit. Keep your mind open and hopefully you are able to get your desired type of tea!

Wish you were here so that we could talk over a cuppa. Cheers! 😉