Bandung (万隆游记) - Shopping & others

One of the main reasons to Bandung is definitely shopping! If you are not aware of this, Bandung is well-known for its factory outlets where you can find branded clothes at affordable price! Those factory outlets are located almost everywhere in Bandung and you can easily spot at least 10 of them in one day!

Our shopping spree started at 9am. In order to save all the hassle, we hire a driver to drive us around Bandung which last for 12 hours for 400,000rph (RM144), which inclusive of car rental, petrol, parking, toll, and driver's meal. Though it is quite expensive for only 3 of us, it is highly recommended to those who want to enjoy their shopping without worrying catching a cab. Besides that, you wouldn't want to drive around Bandung city where the traffic conditions are much worse than what you see in Bukit Bintang! Hence, it is highly recommended that you hire one driver to drive you around so that you can have fun hunting for your clothes!

After spending hours and hours in those factory outlets, our wallets became so thin that turned out just enough to buy us lunch during our last day in Bandung. Overall, the shopping experience in Bandung was good, but not as great as what I expected. Most of the factory outlets sell similar clothes where at the end of the day, we were so sick and reluctant to enter another outlets @.@ Besides that, there are lots of counterfeit products sold in those outlets, though they said it is authentic which I doubt. If you have the experience buying authentic Ralph Lauren, Burberry and etc, you should be able to spot the counterfeit one. However, there were also lots of authentic apparels available too. The only thing you have to do is search properly cozmind you, those outlets ain't small and the variety of clothes available is amazing.

Here is the list of factory outlets that we went during the trips:
- Jalan Dago: Happening
- Jalan Riau: Summit, Stamp, Terminal Tas, Secret, Heritage, Cascade, ForMen
- Jalan Setiabudi: Rumah Mode (Nice one!)

Besides factory outlets, another must go place in Bandung is distribution outlets. At here, you won't find any branded clothes but instead, you can find nice and creative apparel from the local designer at low prices too. I personally prefer to shop at these outlets as the products offered are more attractive. Who cares if they aren't branded... ^.^ You can find these outlets located mostly at Jalan Sultan Agung.

One of the outlets in Jalan Dago

It is common to find outlets decorates their store with beautiful landscapes like this

Durian ice-cream stall outside the outlet (Isn't the durians are kinda huge?)

Taking rest in Rumah Mode's cafeteria, Java Bean

This is what we had at the end of the day! ^.^

Impressive? :P

p/s: No more shopping in coming months :(