Unseen Bandung: Kampong Party at The Cikapundung River Bank

This is a scene that many visitors to Bandung would not probably see:

Just across the river where I took the fishing photo (see previous post), I saw a small party going on. The party, with dangdut music and dancing, was apparently part of a political campaign held by a candidate of the municipal legislature who sought votes from the slum river bank community in the recently held general elections.

As you can see from the picture, sanitation at densely-populated kampongs along the Cikapundung river is a big environmental issue in Bandung. Open sewer and garbage flow into the river which in turn flows into one of the dirtiest river in the world: The Ciliwung.

Fishing at Cikapundung

Photo caption: a group of men fishing in a makeshift pond set at the bank of the Cikapundung River.

The Cikapundung is the main river that cuts across the city of Bandung from the north to south. It flows and merges with the Citarum, the longest river in West Java, that flows to the Java Sea.

Sang Hyang Tikoro

Sang Hyang Tikoro (sometimes also written Sanghyang Tikoro), which literally means god of the throat, is the name of a cavern through which the Citarum River flows and goes underground near Saguling -- some 26 kilometers to the southwest of the city of Bandung. This cavern is said to be about 162 meters in length. However, this has yet to be ascertained as nobody has ever ventured into and explored it. The mouth, shown in the above picture, is about 2,5 meters high and 9 meters wide.

The legend that circulates among the Sundanese people has it that this cavern is the place where the ancient Bandung lake, which has now become the bowl-like Bandung plateau, first leaked and became dry, and should this cavern ever be blocked, the Citarum water will once again flood the bowl and turn Bandung into a lake again.

This belief has geologically been proven to be unfounded. However, a legend is a legend. Many people still believe in the significance this underground tunnel has for the survival of Bandung.