local produce

These vegetables sold at Pasar Baru traditional market in the city center are locally produced.

More than 90 percent of our vegetables are locally produced in the valleys and mountains sorrounding the city. They are sold in the local markets as well as for exports to other cities like Jakarta.

Vegetable markets here begin at midnight when farmers transport their produce to Pasar Induk (lit. mother market; traditional markets that function as distribution centers). I took this photo at about mid-day when most of the vegies have already been sold out.

flowery cart

A street vendor selling flowers and other decorative plants on a cart at Jalan Aceh (Aceh street).

Thanks to its volcanic soil and temperate high-altitude climate, a lot of flowery plants grow well here. The city was even nick-named the flower city by its Dutch colonial rulers in the early 20th century. As some of you may remember, I have also previously posted a story about a village here whose farmers are specializing themselves in cultivating local and foreign flora.

Old Railway Crossing Flagman House

An old railway crossing flagman house on Jalan Braga next to Bank Indonesia building.

This house was built way before railroad crossings had automatic gates. Now it's empty and not in use anymore as the level crossing now has automatic gates. Over the years, the house has changed colors and been renovated several times. But I'm glad that most of the original architectural design is still in place. I hope PT KAI (Indonesian Railway Company) will preserve it for its historical value.

Face-lift at Ciwalk

I have previously told a story about Cihampelas Walk or Ciwalk.

Throughout last year they did some face-lift and construction extension to the premises. Some new features were added. These include a boutique hotel and a skywalk. Quite a few architectural features of the extension buildings are very interesting. This bright-colored, futuristic looking ark-shaped building at the gate, for example, is very eye-catching. So are the tilted columns and brightly colored roof of the corridors at the entrance.

The ark-shaped building may have been inspired by the Noah's ark facade of Perahu Jeans shop located nearby it.

If you are interested in learning how the site looks like after all the construction projects are completed, you may want to visit Ciwalk's official website here.

Oh ... oh ..., what's going on?

Who says window shopping is not as exciting as the actual shopping?

(Forgive the playful side of me.)

Sky: January 27, 2010

This is what the sky looked like in the west of Bandung at about 3:25 PM on Wednesday, January 27, 2010. I was facing east towards the direction of the city.

About three minutes after I took this photo, the rain begin to fall. Heavily!

More photographs of the sky from different parts of the world from the participating photo blogs at The Skywatch Friday. Please do check them out.

Peuyeum Bandung

The word Bandung is part of quite a few collocations when it comes to food and beverage naming. Here are some examples: siomay or baso tahu Bandung, mie kocok Bandung, soto Bandung, bakmie Bandung, brownies Bandung. For our Malay friends in Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei the phrase air Bandung may also be a familiar phrase although we don't have a beverage by that name here.

Of all those names, none is probably more closely associated with Bandung than peyeum, the Sundanese word for tapai or tape.

Tapai or tape as some of you may know is a kind of fermented food made of carbohydrate food source such as cassava or glutinous rice. It tastes sweet with a little bit sour flavor. As you can see in the picture, Peyeum Bandung is typically made of cassava.

Wall of Mementoes

These momentoes are the wall decoration at the Katjapiring restaurant that I was talking about yesterday. You can see there items that may remind you of your parents or grandparents' time: Old scale, china porcelain, 'grandpa's wall clock, antique telephone box, etc.

Nasi Lemak and Teh Poci

A few weeks ago, I went to Katjapiring, a restaurant at Paris van Java specializing in peranakan cuisine, and had nasi lemak and Teh Poci.

Peranakan is the term used to refer to the descendants of the 15th - 16th century Chinese immigrants to Nusantara (what is now the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, and Singapore).

Nasi lemak is a Malay rice dish consisting of fried anchovy, chicken or beef curry, etc. (See the top picture and check the link above.)

Teh poci is fragrant Javanese jasmine tea served hot with lump sugar in a small clay teapot (called poci). Teh poci is originally from the areas of Tegal, Pemalang, and Pekalongan in the northern coast of Central Java.

The nasi lemak I had was not as good as the one I once tasted in Malaysia, but the the teh poci was as good as I had expected.

Steering Wheels

These steering wheels displayed on the road side of Jalan Banceuy are for sale.



Jalan Banceuy is an auto part and car accessory street. It is lined up with stores and street vendors selling all kinds of auto parts and car accessories - used or new, original or counterfeit - at prices that are cheaper than you'd get anywhere else.

Peterpan Handprints

No, they are not the handprints of Peter Pan the fictitious mischievous boy character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie (1860–1937). These handprints at Ciwalk (Cihampelas Walk) belong to the members of Peterpan, a top contemporary Indonesian pop rock band.

Graffiti

I think these graffities are trying to communicate what many of the citizens already feel about their city: overdevelopment, overpopulation, and years of mismanagement and lack of consistent law enforcement have deteriorated the life quality and livability of the city.

The top photo (rotting apples) is a graffiti on Jalan LRE Martadinata (Riau Street) and the bottom one ("Who runs Bandung?") is painted on Jalan Braga.