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Published: March 25th 2006
Rice Paddy field
Java is a fertile soil island, where many rice paddy fields are still operating.Java’s train system is very reliable for a third world country, passing through the remaining of lush green rice paddy field of West Java province of Indonesia. After a 2.5 hours train ride from Jakarta, Beau and I arrived in hectic Bandung train station which was built by the Dutch during Colonial period. It is a modern station now, with some stores and restaurants, including the Hoka Hoka Bento, a franchised Japanese fast-food restaurant which was my favorite restaurant. Growing up, I remember many times my sister and I went to the restaurant to have their teriyaki beef served with sticky rice.
Although being the fourth biggest city in Indonesia, Bandung is very different compared to Jakarta or Bali. Needless to say, Bandung has a long way to become an international city; most of the native Bandung has not seen a white person before. So, Beau becomes a local celebrity everywhere we go, having all the attentions and all the admiringly stares, but by now it seems like he’s accustomed to it. He even knows what a “bule” means, which is an Indonesian slang for a Caucasian, literally means “pale”.
Mentioning the Dutch occupation in Indonesia before, Bandung’s pre-1945
A tea-lady
A warm welcome from a tea-lady. Independence architecture has a lot similarities with Miami, USA. In fact, the two cities share the same 1920s Art Deco architectural style, noticeably those of Gedung Satay (the Governor’s mansion), Savoy Homann Hotel where they had the 1955 African-Asian conference, the Grand Preanger Hotel and IKIP campus in North Bandung. Remember the Miami Vice, filmed in South Beach, Miami? Unfortunately the city just realized on how important to preserve the buildings, after several significant structures were demolished to allow strip malls and factory outlets emerge from the site, including the BIP (Bandung Indah Plaza - the first mall in Bandung). It would be interesting to do an architectural tour of Bandung to observe these structures before it’s too late.
It is a weird feeling to experience a reversed culture shock on my part, partly because I’m not accustomed to Asian culture after living in the States for years. That’s what Iowa does to you. The ‘Montazuma revenge’ took over several times, but I’m over with it in about two days. Beau, on the other hand, has a lot of urges to go to the bathroom, notably when we were in a funeral home, where he was forced to use
Angklung
A set of Sundanese angklung, made from bamboo, produces gurgling sound as the hollow air inside the bamboo vibrating. a squat toilet. Imagine on how a Westerner would react when he walks into a bathroom with an urge to do a number two, but just finds a hole in the ground with a bucket of water and a water scoop next to it. No toilet paper, no toilet bowl or paper towel. Poor Beau had to ask me on how to use the bathroom facility.
What is a trip to Indonesia without visiting one of its famous volcanoes? Bandung was built from a dried out volcanic lake; a caldera that eventually became a city. Mt. Tangkubanperahu (literally means overturned boat) in Lembang region, north of Bandung, has it all, starting from sulfuric smell, sudden smog, rainforest and openings on the ground with a misty smoke coming out from them: yes, it is an active volcano. Ironically Bandung sits on the foot of Mt. Tangkubanperahu, which can be a direct path of hot steamy lava coming from the volcano. Judging by the current tsunami event, who knows that this part of the world is in the state of active and kicking? With that idea in mind, we were exploring the volcano on foot, experiencing a sudden thick fog covering
Gedung Sate
An art deco building in Bandung which serves as the Governor's mansion. in and lifted up the whole area only within minutes. Mt. Tangkubanperahu is a local get away place from Bandung, so domestic tourists were everywhere. In fact, we were so stand out that two teenage girls were approaching Beau and me, and asked to take our photographs with them. With the ‘photo shooting’ taking place, my sister and my parents were smirking in a distance and teasing us pretty cruelly about the event.
Bandung is located in a higher plateau that offers a cooler temperature despite of the approximate location to the equator line. The mountainous condition creates a perfect environment for tea plants to grow, as the one we visited nearby Mt. Tangkubanperahu. Local women with huge rattan baskets in their backs, secured by a piece of cloth, wearing the ‘farmer’s cover’ while picking the fresh tea leaves off the plantation. It looks like a hard work to do, but they seem to enjoy what they’re doing, judging by their smiles in their faces and waving at us when we were watching them harvesting the tea.
In a nearby hill, a Thai Buddhist temple is emerging with its white-washed wall and golden steeples. It is very ornamental,
Rambutan
Rambutan (literally means "hairy"), a tropical fruit that is one of my favorite. complete with said to be 10,000 gold Buddha statues surrounding the main hall with one big Buddha statue for meditation and prayers. After observing the traditional Buddhist meditation of donating coins to buckets surrounding the building, it is our turn to pray in front of big Buddha. After all, you don’t have to be a Buddhist to pray here, just be on your knees, close your eyes, and clasp your hands together praying for a world peace. I didn’t know before our visit that Beau is very fond with Buddhism.
The West Java’s tribe of Sundanese has its own distinctive culture, especially in the culinary expertise. Nothing beats the experience of having the raw leafy vegetables with a traditional fried chicken and tofu dish, served with hot steamy white rice and hot pasta sauce. The restaurant is located in the setting of rice paddy field, wooden structures with grass roof amongst the ‘natural’ stream irrigating yellowish rice paddy plantation surrounding the shacks. During our visit so far, we have tried as much as 40 different krupuks, or tasty fried chips. Indonesian diet consists of this element, made out of flour, sometimes shrimps and/or corn. There are no exact names
Mt. Tangkubanperahu
One of many active volcanoes of Indonesia. for each individual krupuk types, which can be frustrating because most of the time I want to eat a particular krupuk, and have no idea how to describe it, let alone calling it by a particular name.
How about two weddings and a funeral? Well, my parents invited us to come along to two separate occasions of wedding ceremonies, and we had an opportunity to observe how Indonesian weddings are conducted. As much as 2,000 guests come and go to a big room filled with booths that serve different type of food and desserts, and on a stage, the newly wed couple and their parents are staging or as if they were ‘displayed’ under a spotlight the whole time. If the embarrassment is not enough, they need to greet every guests that come up to the stage and congratulate them, and for nearly three hours, the camera rolls and filming every moves they make on stage. Dad is more relaxed on weddings like this; he showed Beau on how to acquire an orange from the special table where the groom and bride are designated to sit, and we had a good laugh watching him enjoying his favorite fruit. Unfortunately,
Sundanese Shacks
Sundanese shacks, in form of restaurants, in the middle of rice paddy fields. one of my high school buddies’ mother passed away a couple days ago, and Beau and I managed to pay a respect to her and family by attending the viewing in a funeral home.
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