BANDUNG - THE BOYS DAY OFF (PART 4)

A mixed feeling greeted us on the morning of Wednesday; sad that it would be our final day here and glad that we’ll be reuniting back with the families soon. Our 3:30 pm flight gave us free time in the morning. Shopping had been very much completed yesterday with all the goodies nicely wrapped and cramped into our bags. What was left in our pockets would be some remaining Rupiahs for a last round of golfing, at least a 9 holer.

Pak Madi, the boss of Pak Wawan earlier suggested that we try the Saesko Golf Club which is not far from Casa de Ladera. Taken into consideration of the time, the budget and the distance, we agreed to try it out.

The 20 minutes or so journey took us climbing Jalan Setia Budhi, passing winding roads and several kampong settlements. There was this one particular stretch with a number of roadside stalls selling live and cute little kelinci (rabbits), which, according to Pak Wawan, can be bought as pets or for their meats.

Before reaching the course, you will pass by a small town of Lembang. Here, alongside the heavy traffic, you can see quite a number of pony-carts transporting passengers sharing the road together with other modern transportations.

Cart Type YT (Yellow Top)

Cart Type AC (Airy Convertible)

Saesko Golf Club is actually an air force course, situated within the vicinity of an Indonesian Air Force training camp in Lembang. A walking course, the green fee is relatively cheap, at Rp70,000 you can play for as many rounds as you like, (if you can survive the walkings and climbings). The all male, single handicapped caddies told us that armed forces personnel from all over the world came here for training on helicopters, including Malaysians. That explains why I could not see any airstrip around the base.

Ni sapa punye design ni...

Like many other armed force courses I have played before (especially Lumut Naval Base course. urrgh!), Saesko offers a challenging layout in terms of tight greens sitting way high from the tee box, and undulating cow-grass narrow and steep fairways. Put it this way, imagine teeing-off to a green located more than 100 meters uphill from your tee-box at a mere dimension of 16 ft by 20 ft, protected by a bunker that is 4 feet deep. After doing some climbings, the only sound that came from Rashid was those short, whistling breathings. 

 

huhh.. pheew...!@#$..%#*"... punye course!!
Mintak Nyawa.! Mintak Nyawa!

According to the caddies, not many Malaysian golfers play here, either because it is only a 9 holer or it was not popularly known as compared with the likes of Mountain View, Dago Indah or Giri. I think not because of the course, but most probably due to the fact that the caddies do not wear any bras!

Look Ma,. No Bra!!

Caddie #1 : Kiri OB nya Pak!
Caddie #2 : Kanan OBnya Pak!
Caddie #3: Tengah OB nya jugak Pak!

Reza's birdie putting  = a triple bogey.. value for money

The view from this course is outstanding. The caddies said that other courses are actually situated lower than Saesko. In fact, Tangkuban Perahu, an active volcanic mountain looks quite near from here.  

We adjourned back to the hotel right after the game ended at 10:30 am. Today’s exceptionally humid weather saw Rashid losing his breath and tempo for the game. Nevertheless, we had some lucky shots and an enjoyable time, poling fun at each other along the fairways. The single handicappers’ the male caddies provided some useful tips, and for that, we gave them our loose change on top of the fees.  

Final packing saw us stuffing our golf bags with stuffs from our luggages to minimize our hand-carries and trying to maximise the allowed 20kg weight for sports equipments check-ins. Our bloated golf bags almost did not fit into the back of the Suzuki van but we managed anyway. Pak Wawan got his little escort aged 7 to come along to see us off at the airport.

Peter Porn  II in the making

 We decided to stop for lunch at Restoran Ampera somewhere near the airport. It was a cozy setting and our dinings were entertained by some local boys belting out contemporary numbers unplugged. It was an excellent concept to engage young talents for performances that should be imitate by restaurants here in KL.

As for me, the sambal belacan was something out of this universe. Besides making me sweat under a whirling ceiling fan, I wish that I had tapau-ed some home. I was very glad that Tjepy Hidayat decided to join us for lunch. As good-looking and polite as before, the pleasure to meet a long-time buddy after all these while made me, well, lost my appetite. We do not have much time to catch up with things as there was a plane to catch. Anyway, I promised Tjepy another visit here with my family sometime soon as I would prefer to meet his too.

Pak Tjepy and Pak Helmi

The restaurant was in fact very near to the airport. It provides an excellent stop-over makan spot for air travelers. Reaching airport with our hefty loads, it was a relief to get rid of the bagggages as we check-in the golf bags. Even with the additional stuff inside, none of the bags reached the maximum weight! I was not sure when I will see Pak Wawan again but I would like to engage his services again if ever I return to this city.

The feeling of lethargic from the morning golfing added by the heavy lunch sets an excellent ambiance for an afternoon nap. Conversations were kept to a minimal, replaced by our observations on people’s behaviours, as we decided to reserve the rest during the flight home.

The plane took off at 3:40pm heading towards LCCT Sepang. After some final glimpse of Bandung and Java Island from the air, my eyes grew heavy. Manaf, Rashid and Reza were seated together and that leaves me the privacy of a well-deserved nap. Somehow rather, it was not long after a group of young travellers decided to be noisy that made my wide awake. But waddahell, everybody was having a good time that I do not consider it as a disturbance.

Touched down Sepang was approx. 6:00 pm. That was the “landing-of- reality” for me, but one thing for sure, I was glad and grateful that the four of us decided to just drop our commitment for a while to materialize this dream, at least this once in our lifetime. Thanks to our families for letting the boys to have a good time on our days off. I do hope that Bandung trip would not be our one and only getaway. Maybe the next trip would be other exciting places that offer comparable or better excitements for us, subject to the approvals from Ministry of Home Affairs.

Thanks dear wife, thanks guys, and thanks Bandung.