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.

Skywatch: Noah's Ark Landing Site

I often jokingly ask this question to my friends, "Where did Noah land his ark?" Or "Do you know where Noah's ark landing site is?"

When everybody is getting serious about the answer (many would say it was Mount Ararat in the eastern Turkey), I'd say, "Nah ..., it's much closer than you think. It's in this city."

They'd be confused of course. Then I'd say, "it's on Cihampelas street." And they would all laugh. They of course know what I mean. It's the Perahu Jeans shop facade.

Have fun with Skywatch Friday, everyone!

Raincoats, Rain Jackets, and Rain Pants

Raincoats, rain jacket, and rain pants are very useful on a rainy day.

Five Storeys of Electronic Goods on A Dirty Street

Here is the facade of Istana Bandung Electronic Center (BEC) on Jalan Purnawarman.

In terms of size, BEC is small compared to many other malls in this city. It's even located on a narrow, crowded, and dirty street with no functioning sidewalks which - since the opening of this mall - has been invaded by unrully street vendors and panhandlers. Amazingly, this mall is still a favorite destination among locals as well as visitors. That's probably because this mall has five-storey of stores of electronic goods and gadgets: cell phones, computers, laptops, cameras, and their accessories offered at competitive prices. So, it's a kind of one-stop shopping destination for gadget lovers.

Bikers' Insignia

Pick your choice: DKW, BSA, Harley Davidson, Ariel, and a lot of other names I haven't even heard of before.

Photo taken at Braga Bikers Fest last December.

Klastic

These old and cheap-looking cameras belong to the members of KLASTIC, Indonesia's plastic and toy camera community. The desk exhibit was part of the workshop that Klastic was giving to introduce its community to the rest of Bandung's photographic and creative communities and the interested public in general at Braga Fest last December.

Klastic is a unique photographic community in that (1) most of its members are young people (teenagers and those in the early 20s), (2) they use film/analog plastic and toy cameras, many of which are cheap and salvaged from flea markets, (3) their approach to photography (photo-making) is what may be called as "don't think, just shoot" (there are no rules there, just follow your gut feeling). The practices in (2) and (3) are also what lomographers (the practitioners of lomography) do. Although lomography itself was initially associated with a certain brand of cameras and accessories, i.e. those produced by LOMO PLC of Russia, it has now become the proper name for this kind of photographic practices.

Klastic, by the way, was established on December 7, 2008. So, it's a pretty young community.

PMB Web

This is the PMB stand at Braga Fest last December.

PMB (Perhimpunan Mahasiswa Bandung) or Bandung Student Union is an extramural student organization. The union was established on March 17, 1948 and has about 6000 members. The photos on the web are the documentary pictures of some of the activities they have had recently.

Some of PMB's alumni are Indonesian prominent public figures. Among them are Adnan Buyung Nasution (a prominent lawyer and member of Presidential Advisory Board), Ginandjar Kartasasmita (member and the former speaker of DPD - the Regional Representative Council, one of the two chambers of the Indonesian parliament), and Arifin Panigoro (a tycoon, owner of MEDCO Energi group of companies, and - according to this Forbes report - one of the the top 40 richest persons in Indonesia).

Sketching

A girl was having her face sketched by a professional sketcher/painter at Braga Festival 2009 that took place from December 17th to 30th last year.