On Board Argo Parahiyangan

I'm on my way to Jakarta this morning. And this is the train I'm taking: the executive class of The Argo Parahiyangan.

There used to be two train services that connected Bandung and Jakarta: Parahiyangan and the Argo Gede. Early this year, however, the Parahiyangan service was discontinued and was attached to The Argo Gede. Hence the name 'Argo Parahiyangan'.

The Indonesian railway company (PT KAI) decided to merge the services because of the steep competition it was facing from shuttle bus services that could offer better fares and faster travel time between Bandung and Jakarta since the opening of Cipularang toll highway.

This is a mobile upload. My apology if the picture quality is not that good. I took the photo with my mobile phone's 2MP camera and uploaded it right after I took it.

BTS - Base Transciever Station

With the booming of wireless or cellular telecommunication, this kind of tower called BTS (Base Transciever Station) becomes an everyday sight almost everywhere here now. For the sake of area coverage, they have sprung and been erected in nearly every strategic location you can think of: high-rise buildings, hills, etc., some of them even by disregarding their aesthetic effect on the overall landscape.

BTS basically connects the end-user telecommunication devices, such as the cell or mobile phone, with the network(s) that provides the service.

Mobile communication industry and services are among the fastest growing and most lucrative businesses in Indonesia. As of 2008 more than 50 percent of Indonesia's approximately 240 million people have used or had access to mobile or wireless telecommunication services. This penetration rate is predicted to grow exponentially and reach 80 percent by 2012.

I Love Traffic Jam?

"I love traffic jam!"

What?!!!

Yes! You did not misread it. That's the advertising slogal written on this car with wings parked on Jalan Diponegoro, in front of Gedung Sate gubernatorial office mansion, in Bandung.



What does it advertise and sell? Cell phones!

What do cell phones have to do with traffic jam? It's not that difficult to see.

I'm just wondering if this uniquely designed car is also found anywhere else.

Exam Time

These students of mine were doing their mid-term test. They look very serious, do they?

Written tests or exams are a common educational practice today, but it has not always been so. The first written tests known in history were conducted by the Chinese in the 6th century CE. In the West (read: Europe) tests used to be given orally and were conducted in Latin. According to historical records, the first written exams in Europe were conducted at Cambridge University, England, in 1792 (that's only slightly more than two hundred years ago).

I took this photo with my 2 megapixel camera phone, Nokia 5320 ExpressMusic, which I just bought about two weeks ago. I desatured the colors a bit in my image editor program, so the colors you see in this photo are not the original colors captured by the camera.

Bandung Street Documentary # 8: Responsible Street Behavior

Can cell phones kill?

Yes they can, do, and have killed many. According to the results of a recent study published in the Journal of Human Factors and The Ergonomic Society, cell phone distraction on the road, i.e. talking on cell phones while driving, causes approximately 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries in the United States every year. The reasons, as found by the study, are actually quite obvious: Talking on cell phones while driving slows the driver's reactions and retards their alertness. It was found, for example, that cell phone use while driving makes the driver's reaction to brake light 18 percent slower.

One might argue that with the hands-free device, such a thing does not necessarily to be the case. However, two studies at least have found that hands-free cell phone use still do distract drivers. The reason is that the cell phone conversation makes the driver absent minded (they look but don't see).

There have not been any similar studies in Bandung - or in Indonesia for that matter - about how dangerous it is to use the cell phones while driving, let alone riding a motorbike. Referring to the above studies, however, it makes a lot of sense that such a street act is indeed very risky. Unfortunately, I have seen more and more drivers and even motor bike riders doing it here. In that regard, this guy on the photo, I think, deserves a thumb up.

I took this photo a couple of days ago on a Bandung street. I was walking from a bank to a service station when I saw this guy stopped his motor bike to pick up his cell phone and received a call just a few meters in front of me. I was very lucky that I had my pocket digital camera with me when this happened - and so, voila, another street photography photo op caputured.