Fish Eye in The Sky

Fish eye, another name for convex or diverging mirror, has a reflective surface that's buldging towards the light source. As a result of this, it has wider angle of view and is called fish-eye (because the eyes of a fish have wider angle of view). Fish-eye mirror also makes the objects it reflects look distorted, smaller, and farther than the actual distance.

Convex mirrors have a variety of uses. One of them is like the one in the picture. Installed at a blind corner or junction, it can help drivers see other vehicles coming from around the corner. This one is at the end of the housing block where I live.

This post is Bandung Daily Photo's participation for the Skywatch Friday. Please check out other skywatchers' posts here.

Warung Internasional

It may be just a small kiosk, but it's international.

Warung Internasional (Internasional Kiosk) is a small convenience store on Jalan Rangga Gading, near Flexi Park, at Dago area. It started as a small convenience cart kiosk. Over the years it has become very popular - especially among night owls - because it has nearly everything, opens 24 hours and 7 days a week (24/7), and is located at one of Bandung's most popular hangout places.

I had not passed the area for quite a long while and was surprised to see that it had now turned into a relatively big convenience kiosk. The owner has even put a couple of "sofas" in front of it for customers to sit, relax, have a cup of coffee, or just chat with other hangouters.

I think this kiosk has done remarkably well despite the competition it's facing from a giant international rival, a 24/7 American convenience store chain that opened an outlet near it a couple of years ago.

NOTE: I set my camera to 16:9 aspect ratio (also known as panoramic format). That's why the picture looks elongated. I did not crop it.

Bandung Beggars #1

"Beggary" (forgive my deliberately inccorect English diction for begging or panhandling) has many forms in this city (as does anywhere else). But all beggars essentially do the same thing: they ask for donation in one supplicating manner or another and do so in public places.

The man with the guitar in the photo is "officially" called "pengamen" (a street performer who performs for tips), but the music/performance is often so bad that it has now become meaningless and secondary to the tip. Practices like this has therefore become a form of beggary than street performance. (See also how he's doing it in the traffic light junction when cars are stopping. It's very unlikely that a good piece of music can be performed in this manner.)

Street baggery is one of the bad sides of Bandung. Unfortunately, the municipal government has not done enough to control it.

Bakso

Bakso (Indonesian meatball noodle soup) is a popular food here. There are several varieties of bakso. The most popular of them are bakso Bandung, bakso Solo, and bakso Malang. They are named according their places of origin. Bakso Malang is from the city of Malang in East Java. Bakso Solo is from the city of Solo or Surakarta in Central Java. Pictured here is Bakso Malang. As you can see, it consists of noodles, beancurds (tofu), 'siomay'(steamed meat dumpling), and 'pangsit' (crispy wonton). Indonesian bakso can also now be found in Malaysia. It was introduced into the country by Javanese people who migrated there.

Falun Gong (Dafa)

Members (practioners) of Falun Gong or Falun Dafa practicing meditation at Gasibu Park in front of Monumen Perjuangan Rakyat Jawa Barat on Sunday morning.

P.O. Boxes

To many of us, a P.O. Box (post office box) is an optional way of receiving mails. We rent it from the post office if - for some reasons - we don't want our mails to be deliverd to our door step. But I was surprised to learn that in some countries, particularly those in the Middle East and Africa, a P.O.Box is a must as there is no home delivery there. That's what uncle Wiki says. I don't know if it's still the case. Can anyone tell me?

KRDE Rencang Geulis and Baraya Geulis

With a population density of more than 13,000 people per square kilometer (2,364,000 plus population in area of about 167 km square), Bandung shamefully does not have a good and working mass rapid transportation system. There are commuter trains, buses, taxis, ojeg (motorcycle taxi), and the notorious angkot - all of which are loosely regulated and without an apparent systematic link to one another. As a result of this, traffic congestion is an everyday experience for Bandungese and visitors as people prefer to use their own private vehicles (motorbikes and cars) to get around. This situation is made worse by hodge podge spatial arrangement and commercialization. Malls and shopping places spring up rapidly without much consideration of the potential for traffic congestions they create.

Several attempts have been made to upgrade the city's mass transportation system. All of them failed because of the lack of funding and the pressure of interest groups - such as those of Angkot owners and operators - who are gaining advantage from the current situation.

In this situation, the launching of KRDE (Electric Diesel Train) Rencang Geulis commuter train in April this year is a good news. This clean and comfortable train that serves Cibatu - Bandung - Padalarang route is part of PT KAI (Indonesian Railway Company) efforts to help reduce traffic congestions in the greater Bandung area and provide better services for its commuter customers. Earlier, PT KAI had also launched KRDE Baraya Geulis that serves the route Cicalengka - Bandung - Padalarang, and Bumi Geulis that serves Bogor - Sukabumi.

As good as they, Baraya Geulis and Rencang Geulis are not a long term solution for the city's dire transportation system. For one, the commuter trains only serves points along the East - West axis of Bandung metropolitan area. They also have limited scedules and capacities. Baraya Geulis, for example, only runs twice a day during the peak hours and with a capacity of only 650 passangers.

By the way, Rencang Geulis are Sundanese words that mean "beautiful friend".

Photo caption:
The top photo is the interior view of KRDE Rencang Geulis commuter train.

Bamboo Fashions

These bamboo fashions are designed and made by a group of students of STSI or Sekolah Tinggi Senirupa Indonesia (Indonesian Higher School of Art) Bandung. They were exhibited at Paris Van Java at the occasion of the Bambu Nusantara Festival that I reported earlier.

Twelve pieces designed by nine different student designers were in exhibit. I'm showing you two of them here. The one in the top photo is entitled "Warrior" and the one at the bottom is entitled "Porcupine". Both are designed by Afridanessa Chita Dewi.

Images of Unity in Diversity

With about 300 ethnic units and 737 living languages, no other countries and territories are probably as diverse as Indonesia. Indeed, cultural diversity is this country's proud heritage embodied in the national motto "Bhineka Tunggal Ika" (Unity in Diversity).

The following pictures are only a small part of the pictures I took at Kemilau Nusantara 2009, one of the festivals that celebrates the Indonesian archipelago's (Nusantara) cultural diversity.

As I reported earlier, Kemilau Nusantara is an annual event organized by West Java Provincial Office of Tourism and Culture. This year's fest was attended by 14 (out of 33 Indonesian provinces) and 18 regencies and municipalities in West Java.

This post is Bandung Daily Photo's participation in this week's My World Tuesday meme. Please visit other participating blogs by clicking on the link.



Pencak silat dance from the Province of Banten.



A bride and groom from the Province of Lampung in the southern tip of Sumatra Island. Lampung has several ethnic-based wedding traditions. This is one of them.



A Jaipongan dancer from West Java.



A folk art from Sukabumi, West Java.



The Kancet Ledo/Gong dancers from the Dayak Kenyah tribe in East Kalimantan.

Kemilau Nusantara Fest 2009

Festival Kemilau Nusantara 2009 (literally: the glitter of the Indonesian archipelago fest 2009) was opened today by the governor of West Java Province Ahmad Heryawan (the man in the middle in the inset photo) this morning.

The festival is an annual event whose purpose are, among others, to showcase the Indonesian rich cultural heritage and to promote tourism. This year the representatives of 14 (out of total 33) Indonesian provinces and 18 cities and regencies in West Java take part in the festival.

To encourage quality documentation of the event, a photo contest was also held. A large number of photographers took part in the contest. I was one of them. For this reason, I will not be able to post my best shots because entries must have never been published prior to submission and judgement.

The top photo here is of some dancers waiting for the opening ceremony at the back stage. I'll post some more photos and stories about the fest tomorrow.

Colors in the sky

Slowly but surely rainy season is setting in. Some days the sky is just dark and grey. But that doesn't mean that there are no colors anywhere. In fact, there will be a lot of colors in the city in the next three months as we are gearing up for the Helarfest. More than 70 events and festivities hosted by more than 30 creative communities are going to take place here from this month till the end of December. Sunny or rainy, it's always a perfect time to visit Bandung - and this week's skywatcher blogs.

Covered in Snow

On that car, it's not the real snow, of course. We live in the tropic, and the only real snow we have here is the eternal snow glacier at the top of Jayawijaya mountain on the Indonesian province of Papua (see inset picture courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism).

"Snow" is a term used for the snow-like soapy foam sprayed from a special machine called foam injector that is used in a car wash like the one in the top photo. Snow wash, as it is called here, is very popular.