My ex room mate LOVES walking. Every weekend, she could walk from Harmoni to GBK, back and forth—something that I did not really get, at all. What's the fun with sucking up all the pollution; while the morning heat was another thing to complain about.

But recently I changed my mind.

I used to walk a lot during weekdays due to commuting, that's why the first month moving to Bandung, my body was aching for no actual reason. One day my friend suggested we take a walk at Taman Hutan Raya, and by far it was the highlight of the year. The clean, fresh air and the green scenery were things I never enjoyed for a veeery long time. It reminded me that I got ispa due to how bad Jakarta's air quality was--it was kinda funny though. when I saw the doctor, I told him that the cough suddenly stopped once I entered the hospital (on one hand I did not want to be a covid suspect to my coworker, on the other hand I did not want the doctor to assume that I made up something just to get Surat Izin Dokter either 😂).

First thing that motivated me to 'hike' there along with a friend was to try out the famous perkedel, which, unfortunately, was closed due to the pathway renovation. But we kept going until we were that close to the Maribaya gate. If I let my intrusive thought on what-if-we-just come-home-by-grabcar-once-we-reached-the-gate win, we would've left the motorbike at Tahura entrance 😂

For the following weekend, my friend and I took a different route, by choosing Gasibu as a meeting point. Instead of going up north, I decided to walk down the south. I found life is somehow strange, I 'stranded' to another Ir. H. Juanda. But hey, how is that possible that both RM Sulawesi are located in Juanda Bandung and Central Jakarta? 😬 #TMI

To my surprise, Gasibu was always packed with people—I don't know but people here seemed to be highly motivated to do sport, which amazes me in a way. Yet later got debunked by my friend; she made it clear that the neighborhood that I live was actually the jogging route. It was like the weekend is for going out in the morning to get fit, nothing else. Honestly I can't tell though if it was the locals or Jakartans who currently took a short getaway here, but whatever. Instead of joining the crowd, we mindlessly walk and most of the time getting involved into a deep talk about our future.

And that is how it become a habit.

I promised myself to enjoy Bandung as much as I could, despite the struggle during the course. Apparently I felt like being thrown, once again, to the bachelor era—drowned in the project and the task and the quiz and the exam, and resulting in the allergy to rise. My eyes was once swollen. The sudden itch, reddened face and hands that sometimes appear whenever I was on the edge, were a subtle alarm to remind me to take a break.

My must-go-to: Cwimie Jl Lombok.

Fun fact, I know this place for the first time when A was the one who had important business here and happened to leave me at a cafe at Jl. Progo, and I didn't feel like to have lunch there. I want to eat like locals! So I searched on google and I found this place. I walked there and it was packed (lunch time) so I ordered take outs and went back to the hotel. On the next day I forced A to have this cwimie again before we left Bandung 😂😂 From then on I became a loyal customer 😋

A was once said that my immune booster was something that requires a lot of money. But hey, I confidently say that morning walks was my 'cheap immune booster' actually—depend on how much the food cost me though 👀. There was some time I did morning walk without company, and it was like going on a mini adventure, unconsciously memorise the Cihapit-Siliwangi area that was once confusing for me (don't get me started on how much I got lost 😂), and discover many things as well.