We’ve been thinking of visiting Bandung for some time now, and finally decided to brave the traffic there over the long weekend. We left on Thursday night, thinking that the drive there might be better at night, and I guess everyone else thought the same way, because what was supposed to be a two-hour drive ended up being a 5.5-hour drive. We left our place at about 8+pm, and took four hours to clear 50km of bad traffic. The remaining 100km was a breeze, and took us about 1.5 hours. Jakarta traffic is no fun at all, I tell you. The kids all fell asleep after a while, though Didi went berserk initially, because it was way past his bedtime, and he wanted me to hold him. The long car ride also killed my back, and I ended up with a really tense back that hurt throughout our trip.
Before our trip, I called Padma Hotel Bandung to let them know that we would be arriving really late at night, and to request for two cots to be set up in our Premier suite. We didn’t want to run the risk of not having enough space/beds for the babies, nor did we want to wait around for the cots after we checked in, since we were hoping that the twins would sleep through the transfer from the car to the hotel.
When we got to the hotel, all three kids woke up, and were very curious about everything they saw. The suite was spacious enough for them to run around in, and the bathroom had a lovely bathtub that they were instantly attracted to. We were surrounded by greenery, and it really helped to get us into the holiday mood.
Welcome to Padma Hotel!
Love the view and the two heated pools!
The hotel lobby
Our premier suite
The bathroom
Happy kids bathing together one morning
N was really excited about the tray of free snacks
Three monkeys wide awake at 3am
It took quite some time for us to get all three kids to go back to sleep, and we hoped that they would wake up later than usual, but none of them got that memo, so we were up again after a few short hours of rest. We had a leisurely breakfast at the restaurant on the first floor (the hotel is quite interesting, in that the top floor (where the main lobby is) is the 1st, and the bottom level is the 8th), before heading to the 8th floor to explore the hotel’s facilities. The buffet spread was pretty good, though C and I agreed that the local fare such as the noodle soup, chicken porridge, and nasi kuning were way better than the Western dishes.
Happy faces at breakfast
Buttering his waffle
Part of the breakfast buffet
Padma Hotel is a five-star hotel, and extremely child-friendly. The staff we came across were always polite and friendly, and I especially liked that one of the staff went round to every single table during breakfast to chat and check if everything was okay. She told us about the different daily activities for children, but unfortunately, we didn’t manage to do any of those, because our kids happened to take their naps during those timings. She also arranged for the restaurant to prepare complimentary bowls of porridge and hard-boiled eggs for the twins’ lunch/dinner, which was really nice.
Activities available
In my opinion, the main attraction of the hotel has to be the mini zoo. There were rabbits, ducks, goats, and fish to be fed, and the kids absolutely loved spending time with the animals. N got to carry a rabbit for the first time, while Meimei fed the rabbits fearlessly, and Didi erm, manhandled the rabbits. It’s a miracle none of them bit him for being so rough with them!
Hello, rabbits!
The trio also enjoyed feeding the goats, though I was quite nervous about letting the twins feed them, because I was afraid that the goats would bite their fingers.
Goats
The twins checked out the birds, then yelled at the ducks for a bit, before we all moved on to the sports available. (The fishing area was a bit of a disappointment, because there wasn’t any equipment or staff there, so we couldn’t try it out at all.) N and Didi played soccer for a while, before N excitedly tried out the archery station. He was shorter than the bow, but the staff kindly helped him with the bow and arrow. C and I both tried it too, just for fun, and while C was able to hit the board a few times, my arrows didn’t even make it to the board. Haha. There was also a mini golf station which we didn’t try, and a basketball court next to the archery station.
Looking at birds
Ducks
Fishing?
N kept asking if we could go trekking, but we said no
N loved the treehouse
Flying fox station, which we were all too chicken to try
Playing soccer
Trying out archery
Shorter than the bow
C brought N swimming after we all took our afternoon nap, while I brought the twins to feed the koi. The pools are heated, but because the air there is generally quite cool, we decided not to let the twins swim. They had plenty of fun feeding the koi, although Didi tried eating the fish food a couple of times. The twins also enjoyed splashing in the puddles, and touching the puddles, so I ended up bringing them to wash their hands twice or thrice, before dragging all of them back to the room.
The pools (plus yoga lesson on the deck)
Swimming
Splashing in puddles
Feeding the koi
One of the main highlights of our Bandung trip was the horse-riding. The horses are stationed outside the main lobby from about 8am to 2 or 3pm. They aren’t part of the hotel, so you’ll have to pay for the horse-rides, and you can choose if you want to go for a short or long ride. N and Didi loved it, and Didi bravely sat on the horse by himself. He enjoyed it so much, he had a meltdown when we carried him off the horse! (If you follow my Instagram account, you would have seen the hilarious video of the twins asleep on their horses.) We went for one last horse-ride before leaving Bandung on Sunday morning, and I had to accompany Meimei, because she didn’t dare to ride the horse on her own.
Horse-riding
Our drive home took only 2.5 hours, probably because we left at about 9am, and it was so nice not to be stuck in traffic. C and I agreed that we would definitely bring the kids back to Bandung again, but perhaps we will have to go in the middle of the week, when traffic will hopefully not be that bad. There are so many more places to explore in Bandung, and it was such a pity that we didn’t check out any of the places recommended by our friends, because we just weren’t up to facing the bad traffic in Bandung city. Oh well, better luck next time, hopefully!
Padma Hotel Bandung Address: Jl. Ranca Bentang 56-58 Ciumbuleuit, Bandung 40142, Indonesia Tel: +62 22 203 0333 Website HERE
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