Dago Tea House Open Air Theater

This is the open air theater of the West Java Cultural Park, popularly known as Dago Thee Huis (Dago Tea House).

The West Java Cultural Park is located in the northern hills of Bandung's Dago area in what used to be a tea plantation and a club house where the Dutch planters enjoyed afternoon tea in the colonial time, thus the popular name Dago Thee Huis (Dago Tea House).

This cultural park has an indoor theater and outdoor theater (pictured above), where traditional Sundanese performing arts are regularly performed, a park, arts shops, and a restaurant where visitors can enjoy traditional Sundanese cuisines.

Colorful Glass Lanterns

A section of Paris Van Java has just been renovated recently. At the roof of this newly renovated section, they have put these colorful and beautifully designed glass lanterns. They are locally made and have probably been put there as a kind of support the mall's is giving to the local craftsmen and women who produce them.

A Vintage BMW R71 with A Sidecar

This vintage beauty was just parked there at Gasibu square one afternoon, begging to be photographed. If I got it right, I think it is a BMW R71 motorcycle with a sidecar. It was produced in the 1940s and has a horizontally opposed flat-twin boxer engine. The R in the type nomenclature stands for road, thus this type is a roadster (a motorcycle that is used for road touring).

A Glimpse of Jalan Dago

Running north to south, Jalan Dago (now renamed Jalan Ir. H. Djuanda) is one of the longest and most historic streets in Bandung and one that's most celebrated.

Lined up with tall Damar Trees (Agathis Damara), a species of tree that is originated from the islands of Maluku and the Philippines and is considered in vulnerable status, Jalan Dago used to be an idylic street that connected the tea, coffee, and quinine warehouses on Jalan Merdeka in what is now the City Hall in the south and the plantations in the north. Only wealthy Dutch Preanger Planters used to have their villas and houses built along this street. That's how the street gained its prestige.

Over the years, especially during the period of rapid development of the city in the late 1980's through the late 1990's, the street gradually turned into a commercial area. Many of the historic and beautiful residences were - sadly - torn down or made over and replaced by newer buildings that are more suitable for business purposes. A lot of star hotels, restaurants, distros, and factory outlets (FO) have since sprung up along the street. Now it is no longer an idylic street where people could have a leisurely afternoon stoll, but an often-congested busy thoroughfare with a lot of business activities. Thanks to its greenery and prestigious reputation, however, the street remains a favorite place for many to hangout and wander, though no longer for leasure but for the shopping and dining pleasures it offers.

Odd One Out

During the violin perfomance (see my post yesterday), somebody came onto the stage. He was unexpected but brought a lot of laughters among the audience. This guy, a Ganiater, added so much fun (or distraction?) to the music performance.

Can you see what he's doing and point out what's odd about it?

It's always fun to see Ganiaters (the members of GANIATI) perform. Here's one I captured on video.

Ammy, the Violinist

His name's Ammy Kurniawan. He is a Fine Art-ist by education. He graduated from the Fine Art Department of Indonesia University of Education, Bandung. But he is best known as a violin soloist, music arranger and conductor, and an alternative strings and jazz musician. He is the founder and owner of Ammy Alternative Strings, a music school that he established to share his love for string instruments, and a member of 4Peniti (lit. 4 safety pins), an alternative indi music group that he established with his friends.

I love his performances, solo or with the 4Peniti. Here's a sample of his violin students' performance that I videotaped at Galeri Kriya Kulit Jawa Barat (West Java Leather Craft Exhibition) in Bandung on Augutst 7, 2010.

If you'd like to hear what kind of music the 4Peniti plays, you may want to go here. Let me know if you like and enjoy it. I do!

Brownie Bulls-Eye

I spotted this curious looking old camera at a recent exhibition event held in the front yard of Gedung Sate. I didn't know what camera it was until I examined it closely. It was a KODAK Brownie! Since it was a personal collection, I asked the owner if I could hold it and take a photograph of it.

When I got home, I did a little internet research to find more information about it and learned that it was a Brownie Bulls-Eye.

The Bulls-Eye is one of nearly 100 models of Brownie cameras that was ever produced. It was produced between August 1954 and October 1960, used 620 rollfilm, and had Kodak Twindar lense. Its more complete technical specifications can be found here.

The Brownie is a remarkable camera. First introduced into the market in February 1900, it was the first camera that really revolutionized the practice of photography. Not only was it inexpensive (the first model was sold for [only] $1 each), but also portable and easy to use that even the youngest children could take decent photographs. It was with this camera that the concept of snapshot was made possible.

A Cell Phone Cult

A cult is a pejorative term that is usually ascribed to a group of people who are believed to have a strange set of beliefs or practices. This derogatory sense of the word emerged only in the late 20th century and is considered subjectively judgmental. The term was invented - sort of - by an anti-authoritarian movement who considered exploitative authoritarianism as a potentially dangerous thing. The term "cult" is usually applied to a minority group in a society.

With this definition in mind, can a group of people who believe or do strange things with (or because of) their cell phones be considered a cult? And if so, are we not a member of it? (Just a naughty thought and question here ... ^_^)

Bandung Pinhole Community

This is the exhibit of photographs taken with pinhole cameras at the booth of Komunitas Lubang Jarum Indonesia (KLJI) Bandung at last Sunday's West Java Leather Craft Galery event.

KLJI is a member of Pinhole Indonesia, Indonesia's network of pinhole photography lovers.



Here is one of the cameras used to take the exhibit photos. As you can see, a pinhole camera is very simple. It has no lense and consists of a light-proof chamber, where you place a photographic paper or film, a hole the size of a pin (thus the name pinhole) to let in the light that is needed to expose the paper or film, and a lid that opens and closes the hole to control the exposure. The chamber may be of any shapes. In the above photo, the chamber is triangular. This kind of chamber will produce a wide-angle or panoramic image.

A pinhole camera can also have an zoom in and zoom out capability. To do that, the chamber has to have the shape of a rectangular beam and the medium of exposure (film or photographic paper) has to be placed on a seperate slider (see the above photo). If you are interested in making your own pinhole camera, this Kodak article may be of interest to you.

Origami in Bandung

A variety of creative communites was also taking part in yesterday's exhibition. One of them was Maya Hirai School of Origami.

Maya Hirai School of Origami was established by Maya Ismayanti, a housewife and a mother of four children, on November 11, 2009. Maya learned the art of origami from Takako Hirai San, one of the most respected origami teachers in Japan, when she accompanied her husband to study there.

Maya's origami school is the offspring of the origami internet community that she established (while she was still in Japan) to share her enthusiasm for this old Japanese paper folding art. The enthusiastic responses she received from the members of her community and the continuous overflow of invitations she received to conduct workshops throughout the country eventually made her decide to open her own origami school.

Maya, who is now considered to be a foremost origami sinsei (teacher) in Indonesia, is the holder of Nippon Origami Association (NOA) certificate. She now lives in Bandung with her family.



These paper dolls are some of the items that were exhibited at her school's booth at the exhibition.



An intricate and colorful paper cube chain. It's amazing what origami can do.

West Java Leather Crafts Gallery: The Outdoors Fashion Show

Quite a few interesting events are taking place in Bandung this past few weeks. One of them is Galeri Kriya Kulit Jawa Barat (West Java Leather Crafts Gallery), an exhibition of West Java's leather craft products, that is taking place this weekend. The event was held in front of Gedung Sate, the West Java Province Gubernatorial Office. The fashion show that I'm featuring today was held as part of the event to show some of the leather products being exhibited. Look at the leather boots the models are wearing. They are made in West Java, Indonesia.

Getting Multilingual, Getting International

This multilingual sign/direction at Stasiun Hall (Bandung's main railway station) could very well be among the first in town. Most signs and directions in this city are written in Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) and only few of them are written bilingually in English and Indonesian. I think it has been put up only recently. It was not there when I passed the station about two weeks ago.

This multilingual sign is probaly a good sign that the city is getting more international. In the past couple of years, Bandung has indeed been receiving more overseas visitors, easpecially since the opening of direct flights between this city and Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

A Withering Tree (A Skywatch Post)

If I remember it correctly, this huge tree on Ranggamalela Park (now Flexi Park) used to be green all-year round. (I know it because used to work at an office that was located just across the street from this park.) Even in the dry season, this tree was never as bald as this. I don't know what has made it this bald. The unusually wet summer may have played a part or the worsening air pollution level.

It's Friday and time for the Skywatch Friday meme. Please check out what the participating blogs have here.

The Longest Murals in Town

These murals along the Stasiun Timur Street (Jalan Stasiun Timur) is the longest murals in town. They are painted on the walls that border the railway tracks east of the station.

August 2010 Theme Day Post: Bright Colors

These brightly colored velvet letters in boxes are sold on the road side at Pasar Baru (new market) area. As with any letters, you can compose them into any words you like. And words are the magic thing that can turn the unknown into something or somebody, turn hatred into love and vice versa, etc., etc.

This post is Bandung Daily Photo's participation for CDPB August 2010 Theme Day: Bright Colors. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants