Beautiful Bandung

In between volunteer time, I loved exploring my host city of Bandung, Indonesia.  Every Thursday, a hiking group sets out from town, sometimes with nothing more than a snap of Google earth with what looks like it might be a trail.  They’re a hearty bunch, ranging in age from 30s to 60s and expect anywhere from 4-14 to join for several hours of trekking through the hills that surround the city.  Our first hike was the tea plantations.  The boxy hedges wound through the mountainside in mosaic mazes, inviting you to get lost in exploration.  Fortunately, we had someone with a plan.  As lovely as the Victorian garden-like maze hedges looked, I hoped that the plan did not include getting lost, which apparently happens on the just the rarest of occasions.  This was not one of those occasions, and the views were gorgeous.

We made our way up and down the hills, passing a group of tea leaf pickers on a short break.  We finally emerged at a beautiful river, where six vibrant butterflies, yellow, turquoise, orange, were playing on the rock bridge.  I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to photograph them.  They are fast little things.  On the way back, we stopped and bought some vegetables and carnations from a farm, and then had lunch at an Italian restaurant for recarbation, also because carbs are absolutely delicious and a gift from God.

The next week, we had a cultural day with a zip tour of some of the rich and varied history of the area.  Our tour guide was the zesty and delightful Josie Josie, English teacher, intercultural ambassador, knowledgeable historian.  Josie legally only has a first name.  When she was born, her dad went to register her birth certificate and the authorities asked for a bribe.  He refused to pay, so she only got one name – Josie.  When she went to register for her passport, they required a last name, but she doesn’t have one!  So she just used her first name twice.  I don’t know who got the last laugh out of that government corruption, but Josie seems pretty happy in general, so I say points to her.

We started in the morning with some locally roasted coffee called Aroma.  The owners were fastidious in their explanations of exactly how the coffee should be ground, the temperature of the water, and the use of Robusta vs Arabica for various physical ailments.  It was delicious!

We stopped at a sweets shop and then visited a handicraft store, where you can watch them carve and paint wooden puppets that represent characters in their legends.  The artists can spend three days finishing just one doll.  A group of women sit around a table in the back, sewing clothing and accessories that give life and color to the figurines.

Then we were off to see ancient art of batik, the traditional textile patterns.  The designs are created by tracing patterns with wax.  Then the cloth is dyed by running it through a trough and laying it in the sun to dry.  More patterns and colors are added, until the multi-color textile is finished.  Hand-designed batik clothing can take months to complete and are considered exquisite.

After that, we had a Sundanese feast, laid out on banana leaves and eaten with your hands.  Chicken, fish, vegetables, and sauces are scooped up with balls of rice.  I don’t have too many OCD tendencies, but I really don’t like food on my hands.  However, with support, and enough temptation of a delicious meal, I somehow survived.  I did have to wash immediately afterwards to release all the built-up tension of messy hands, but was sent off with cheers of triumph, quite a bit of laughter, and a little bit of teasing for having made it through.

From there, we went to a cultural center where we watched the traditional musical instrument called an Angklung being carved out of bamboo.  We had wandered behind the main performance stage while waiting for the next show and saw the man who had been making them for 42 years.  He had a xylophone next to him that he would use to tune his carving.  He hit a note, listened, and then picked up the bamboo and shaved a little off one side, then a little off the other, and then checked the note again.  “You listen with your ear,” he explained, “And with your belly.”  He took obvious pride in his work and his eyes sparkled at having an interested audience.

The show featured traditional dances and performances over several hours.  Many children were part of the show, and just like with Christmas pageants, the most interesting part was watching that one 4-year-old doing her own thing on stage.  At the end, they passed out Angklung instruments to the audience, each carved to a different note, and we all played “Do-Re-Mi” from “The Sound of Music.”

As we were exiting the performance, I was accosted by a group of school children who all wanted to take pictures with me.  This isn’t an unusual occurrence in Bandung, but it always takes me by surprise. They took turns posing with me before scurrying off to join their teachers.

The cultural day was only a few stops, but traffic made it an all-day event.  Bandung is a crowded city and driving is a feat requiring all your wits and wisdom to make it through.  The streets are narrow, with no additional space for backing, parking, or turning.  Instead, every business and block has dedicated attendants who help you park and stop traffic while you back into the street to exit.  The parking positions are assigned by a group that is part public safety, part mafia, part community organizer.  It’s a job, and every driver will give them a small tip for their essential service.

Wages are low in Indonesia.  Taxis, restaurants, and services are ubiquitous, as human powered options are more affordable than purchasing more autonomous solutions.  Most middle-class families have a house helper, who assists in washing, cleaning, and meal preparation.  Providing employment is seen as a duty if you can afford it, although it often takes quite a mental adjustment for most Westerners.

Because services are so affordable, there’s been an explosion in innovative delivery options.  Go-Jek is a locally designed competitor to Uber (which was bought out in Asia by Singapore-based Grab, the app-based taxi of choice for most of SE Asia) and offers both quick and cheap transportation in cars and motor bikes, but also an array of mobile services.  Go-Clean is their maid service.  Go-Glam, mobile make-overs.  Go-Box, delivery, Go-Massage – just click yes.

The city is developing rapidly, sometimes too fast for the existing infrastructure.  The neighborhood where I was staying had recently added four massive new apartment complexes, without adding capacity in the local utilities.  Tap water only worked several hours a day, and every house was equipped with a large rooftop water tank to supplement the city supply.  There’s a famous building that was constructed quickly, with the investors bribing their way through the permitting process.  It’s visibly leaning over the roadway beneath and no one is interested in occupying a building completely lacking safety inspections.

Bandung is filled with charming coffee shops and delicious restaurants and many familiar comforts.  But you can’t go for too long without being reminded of the unique additions that are constantly surrounding you in the tropics.  Critters are everywhere.  Even in well-built houses, cleaned and constantly maintained, the ants will find you, or rather, any crumb of food you leave out.  Small sugar ants, larger…some other kind of ants, and all their various sized cousins in between.  Food must be kept airtight, preferable in the refrigerator, or you will quickly see a parade coming to feast.  Geckos stand sentry against mosquitos and spiders and are kind of cute once you get used to them. Cockroaches also have an adventurous spirit, exploring and surprising you when you least expect it, like for example, when you just finish washing your face and open your eyes to see one inches from your nose.  Fortunately, soap dispensers make terrific cockroach killers, in case you ever wondered.  Next!

The people of the city, though, are what make it memorable.  Indonesians are warm, friendly, and welcoming.  I loved listening to them roll their”Rs” – stretching out the sound like verbal spiraled confetti. Several times, I was invited to be a guest teacher at an English language class and thoroughly enjoyed the discussions.  One night, the lesson was on travel, and it looked like the teacher pulled the vocabulary from a Buzzfeed article, written on a caffeine-fueled desperate grasp for content.  Staycation and glamping were ok, but I wasn’t sure if I should mention that I’d never heard of mancation, flashpacker, or bratpacker.  I decided not to say anything, and we just discussed our favorite cultures and countries.  Later, the class invited me to join them for dinner.  It was essentially sit-down street food and it hit my system just like you’d expect, but the evening was so warm and sincere I’m glad I went, even if it took me three days to recover.

The people, the places, the experiences – Indonesia was a beautiful stop.