BANDUNG TRIP
This Eid Mubarak, I want to do something new, totally adventurous. I decided to celebrate "raya" in Bandung, Indonesia. My mom and grandma who are still not recovered from the tsunami paranoia are practically against it until I explained that the trip will be risk-free since tsunami will not hit Bandung. Altaf, a long time friend who studied in UM with me is half Sundanese as her mother is from Bandung. Apart from planning for a "different" kind of "raya" celebration, I was also taking this opportunity to shop for my wedding. But let `s forget about that dull discussion of what did I buy, let`s just focus on me and Bandung: no third party.
We ( me, Altaf and her whole family) took the 7.35 a.m AirAsia Flight. The flight lasted for an unnoticeable 2 hours and five minutes. As I walked out of the plane, Bandung greeted me with her most charming scenery and cool air.
Altaf `s grandma `s house has the typical dutch structure ; similar to other houses that I saw during our cab trip to No.17, Jalan Labuan. White walls with wooden window panes and door panels, it won my heart there and then.The house is built teracce-styled and her grandma `s own two lots of houses. So, we, the younger generation get to occupy the house numbered 11 whereas the more veteren people stayed at No.17. Almost all of Altaf `s family came back for the celebration except for Michael, her cousin who had to worked during "raya" in Irian. After putting our stuffs in our rooms, I was later introduced to Ari, Altaf `s cousin whose taking Med, Eric, another cousin studying law in UI, Nike- Eric `s little sister and Puteri- Ari `s youngest sister.
We started our day in Bandung by shopping for goats. Irma and Altaf `s dad wanted to perform qurban. I lamented to Altaf that our Malaysian goats are not as good-looking as the Indonesian goats-theirs have longer horns, curly furs-almost like sheep. Then, off we went to Pasar Baru to survey for my wedding stuffs. The Pasar which is built on an older wet market has various stall which are dominated by textiles business. Cloths, scarves, carpets are sold at very reasonable price.Before our shopping spree, Altaf brought me to "Mee Bakso Akong". It is a nice restaurent that sell Sundanese popular cusine; mee bakso. It consists of a bowl of mee marinated with ketchup and spices ( I took the liberty to assume the ingredients). The mee is accompanied by a bowl of soup with the bakso ( meat balls) in it. Tasted O.K but I actually enjoyed the "jus apuket"(apricot juice) more. It is considered as the national beverage..after the bottled tea, of course!
That nite, we went to a small stall at Cilaki Street. The stall is run by a couple of youths who can really cook! These kids are out of school and support their life by setting up this food stall. We had cumi masak merah, ikan kakap with sos padang, kangkung goreng and some huge prawns with some sort of sauce, ( I cant remember the name of the dish ). Anyway, the food is delicious except that I end up with a terrible case of diarhea. That `s just so me, to fall sick on Raya eve.
As it is widely known, there are many "ngamen" around. These are people that play guitar and sing in public or what we call "basking". Apart from that, there are a lot of child beggars around. A sight not to be missed and also not that nice to be remembered. Each time the car stopped at the traffic light, these kids will go to your car, performing dangdut dances or singing some sarcastic songs like " apa guna harta banyak, jika tidak di kasi...". At the sight of people offering money, they will be shouting gleefully, made me wondered when was the last time I saw such gratitude in the eyes of someone at the sight of such small amount of money. Sad but true.
Another great thing about the trip is that I get to buy lots of Indonesian music cds. For 6 cds, I spent something around 300,000 rupiah which is around RM150. Cheap! I bought the latest DEWA `s CD: Laskar Cinta ( they had this very creative arabic writing for the cover), two bands that play fusion music: tentofive and the groove, "chill" acid jazz group i.e SOVA and two other jazz cds: Cherookee and Syaharani. I find Indonesian jazz singers are well ahead of our local talents and the trip to last year `s International Jazz Festival in Montreal kinda affect my benchmark on what `s good jazz so, now, the Jazz Festival in Hartamas ( the one they have anually) are honestly nothing close to the one in Montreal or even the Indonesian jazz singers. OKlah, before I got "pelankung" from local jazz fans, might as well I shut up!
I didnt buy any VCD but Altaf bought "Arisan"- a hillarious movie on the lives of three different characters which are intertwined by an "arisan". Arisan is something like our local version of "main kutu". Except the arisan potrayed in the movie involved wealthy women/socialites that host their arisans in luxurious hotels. Arisan! directed by Nia Dinata and had won several prestigous awards such as Bronze Medal in Malaysian Video Award and tak salah I, the Indonesian Film Festival itself. OKlah tu! The most interesting subject in the movie is the homosexual relationship between the two main characters. Of course, there also the issue of adultery , family and etc. Realistic and funny. Its one of those movies that make me laughed really hard apart from "Kungfu Hustle".
We ( me, Altaf and her whole family) took the 7.35 a.m AirAsia Flight. The flight lasted for an unnoticeable 2 hours and five minutes. As I walked out of the plane, Bandung greeted me with her most charming scenery and cool air.
Altaf `s grandma `s house has the typical dutch structure ; similar to other houses that I saw during our cab trip to No.17, Jalan Labuan. White walls with wooden window panes and door panels, it won my heart there and then.The house is built teracce-styled and her grandma `s own two lots of houses. So, we, the younger generation get to occupy the house numbered 11 whereas the more veteren people stayed at No.17. Almost all of Altaf `s family came back for the celebration except for Michael, her cousin who had to worked during "raya" in Irian. After putting our stuffs in our rooms, I was later introduced to Ari, Altaf `s cousin whose taking Med, Eric, another cousin studying law in UI, Nike- Eric `s little sister and Puteri- Ari `s youngest sister.
We started our day in Bandung by shopping for goats. Irma and Altaf `s dad wanted to perform qurban. I lamented to Altaf that our Malaysian goats are not as good-looking as the Indonesian goats-theirs have longer horns, curly furs-almost like sheep. Then, off we went to Pasar Baru to survey for my wedding stuffs. The Pasar which is built on an older wet market has various stall which are dominated by textiles business. Cloths, scarves, carpets are sold at very reasonable price.Before our shopping spree, Altaf brought me to "Mee Bakso Akong". It is a nice restaurent that sell Sundanese popular cusine; mee bakso. It consists of a bowl of mee marinated with ketchup and spices ( I took the liberty to assume the ingredients). The mee is accompanied by a bowl of soup with the bakso ( meat balls) in it. Tasted O.K but I actually enjoyed the "jus apuket"(apricot juice) more. It is considered as the national beverage..after the bottled tea, of course!
That nite, we went to a small stall at Cilaki Street. The stall is run by a couple of youths who can really cook! These kids are out of school and support their life by setting up this food stall. We had cumi masak merah, ikan kakap with sos padang, kangkung goreng and some huge prawns with some sort of sauce, ( I cant remember the name of the dish ). Anyway, the food is delicious except that I end up with a terrible case of diarhea. That `s just so me, to fall sick on Raya eve.
As it is widely known, there are many "ngamen" around. These are people that play guitar and sing in public or what we call "basking". Apart from that, there are a lot of child beggars around. A sight not to be missed and also not that nice to be remembered. Each time the car stopped at the traffic light, these kids will go to your car, performing dangdut dances or singing some sarcastic songs like " apa guna harta banyak, jika tidak di kasi...". At the sight of people offering money, they will be shouting gleefully, made me wondered when was the last time I saw such gratitude in the eyes of someone at the sight of such small amount of money. Sad but true.
Another great thing about the trip is that I get to buy lots of Indonesian music cds. For 6 cds, I spent something around 300,000 rupiah which is around RM150. Cheap! I bought the latest DEWA `s CD: Laskar Cinta ( they had this very creative arabic writing for the cover), two bands that play fusion music: tentofive and the groove, "chill" acid jazz group i.e SOVA and two other jazz cds: Cherookee and Syaharani. I find Indonesian jazz singers are well ahead of our local talents and the trip to last year `s International Jazz Festival in Montreal kinda affect my benchmark on what `s good jazz so, now, the Jazz Festival in Hartamas ( the one they have anually) are honestly nothing close to the one in Montreal or even the Indonesian jazz singers. OKlah, before I got "pelankung" from local jazz fans, might as well I shut up!
I didnt buy any VCD but Altaf bought "Arisan"- a hillarious movie on the lives of three different characters which are intertwined by an "arisan". Arisan is something like our local version of "main kutu". Except the arisan potrayed in the movie involved wealthy women/socialites that host their arisans in luxurious hotels. Arisan! directed by Nia Dinata and had won several prestigous awards such as Bronze Medal in Malaysian Video Award and tak salah I, the Indonesian Film Festival itself. OKlah tu! The most interesting subject in the movie is the homosexual relationship between the two main characters. Of course, there also the issue of adultery , family and etc. Realistic and funny. Its one of those movies that make me laughed really hard apart from "Kungfu Hustle".
The second last day, Altaf and me was really missing our coffee treatment, so we went to this really nice coffee house called Dukhan. When I say coffee shop, I literally mean a house. Dukhan `s interior design is meant to look like the inside of a house with bedrooms, dining halls, etc. For 200 rupiah, the six of us get to enjoy caramel latte, tiramisu, chocolate truffle and the works. With the nice atmosphere, good coffee and lots of time to kill, that evening was my version of heaven.
Oh yeah! and when you speak of Bandung, of course you have to take note of the prestigous ITB-Institut Teknologi Bandung. After Altaf when for her skin consultation, we went to ITB with the angkutan. Actually, we wanted to check out the toko buku but we cant find any that is open except the one at the mosque. "Now, I can brag to my fiancee that I `ve been to his dream college before he does!". Ijan has always dreamed of continuing his studies here in engineering. Well, if rezeki permits, I dont see any problem of moving to Bandung and let him continue his study here. Unless he could make the entry test which I heard is damn hard. Anyway, we walked around, watched some really young toddlers rode their horses around the campus.
All in all, I guess the first trip to Bandung is great. I am looking forward to go there again one of these days. With Air Asia offering tickets that you could afford, you could always go on-line and book your ticket with ease. Now, I am sounding like their ad model, minus the red suit and the hour glass figure, of course. At least, I used up my Eid Mubarak `s time to wind off from my busy life and discover new interesting things ( or people...heheheh) in Bandung. Cool!
posted by GEE at 9:39 AM
1 Comments:
I have been trying to purchase Dewa's album Republic of Love, but haven't had any luck finding it. I live in Rhode Island, USA. None of the stores in my area have it. All of my web searches have come up empty. Can you suggest any websites that might carry the album? If so, please contact me at rwill3@hotmail.com Many thanks.
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