Theme Day: Save Energy and Be Green

A garbage bin with a green message attached onto it that says "Conserve Energy and Save the Earth". The garbage bin was put on an old bicycle parked on Dago street during the Car Free Day which is held every Sunday morning here. This campaign was sponsored by PT PLN - the state-owned Indonesian Electricity Company.

The old bicycle, the green sticker on which the message was written, and the event in which they are place all speak about being green.

This post is Bandung Daily Photo's participation in this month's City Daily Photo's Theme Day. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Photo by Alda Agustine, a Bandung Daily Photo contributor.

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

CDPB July 2010 Theme Day: Watery Reflection

In a reflection, everything is upside down and left side right, but everything is true to original.

This is CDPB July 2010 Theme Day post. Please "Click here to view thumbnails for all participants".

Theme Day Post: Waiting

Waiting is probably one of the most boring things to do. To "offset" their boredom, people do different things to get themselves occupied. Some read books, magazines, or newspapers. Some play games, listen to their MP3 players, or do things with their cell phones. But there are also people who feel comfortable doing nothing while waiting.

Here's my photographic interpretation of this month's CDPB theme day: waiting. I took this photo at Gado Bangkong, a small suburban railway station in the west of Bandung.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants of this month's CDPB Theme Day.

Theme Day: Kosong

Kosong is an Indonesian word for empty, which happens to be this month's theme at CDPB (City Daily Photo Blog).

Photographically, I think it is impossible to visualize emptiness, for even in an empty space, there must be something, a few things, visible or invisible. In a photograph, one of those things is the frame.

So, visualizing emptiness is about interpretations. And this is mine. An empty bench in an office waiting room. Is it a good sign (that every visitor has been served timely that one one has to wait)? Or a bad one (that nobody wants to deal with that office)?

Happy Theme Day, everyone!

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

CDPB January 09 Theme Day Post: Best Photo of 2008

First of all, Happy New Year to you all. May this year be a peaceful and prosperous year for us all.

This month's CDPB theme is the Best Photo of 2008. Frankly speaking, I was having a hard time choosing which photo was the best for 2008, but after much consideration, I came to the decision that the above photo should be Bandung Daily Photo's best for 2008. And here's why ...

This photo was one of the three photos I put in my first post. The decision to start BANDUNG DAILY PHOTO is, I think, one of the best things I did in 2008. With this blog, I have come to know a good many friends from many parts of the world: you! With this blog, I've also played my part to help introduce to the world the city of which I am a proud citizen of: Bandung.

This photo, by the way, is of two child entrepreneurs selling pet rabbits at Gasibu Square (Lapangan Gasibu) Sunday market.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants of this month's CDPB theme.

CDPB Theme Day and Monochrome Maniacs: Sepeda Onthel

This month's City Daily Photo Blog (CDBP) theme is "circles or spheres," and this is my interpretation of it.

"Sepeda onthel" or old bicycles have their own aficionados and they are on the increase. There are quite a number of old bicycle clubs in Bandung. They often have convoys, tours, or exhibition rides around the city and the countrysides. The owners of these old bicycles love them very much and are very proud of them.

I took this picture at Jalan Braga (street) in one of the exhibition rides they had recently.

This post is Bandung Daily Photo's participation for this month's CDPB theme. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

This post is also Bandung Daily Photo's participation in the weekly meme "Monochrome Maniacs".

November 08 CDPB Theme: Books - My Blogging and Internet Reference Books

These are some of the blogging and internet books I have been reading. Honesty, this kind of books never was my cup of tea. I never was interested in technical stuff simply because - I thought - they didn't contribute much to enlightening the mind. I would prefer reading literary works, phylosophical/religious books, biographies of great personalities, history books, and books about arts and photography. All that, however, changed when I got to know blogging and became hooked to it. At first, I bought and read these books out of necessity, that is to find answers to my questions and help me solve the problems I had with my blogging. Then, as I began to grasp the basics of it, I began to want more of it - not in the addictive sense, but rather because I began to see the possibilities of using the internet and blogging for my teaching, which is my job, and my photography, a hobby which I call "a love affair" because of the joy it has given me.

Anyway, this kind of books still are not the primary kind of books I would read. My home library (and my wife's and my children's), which I can proudly say quite sizeable, are still dominated by my cup of tea's books.

Just in case you are curious: How many internet and blogging books have I read? Not many. I'd say about 20 something.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants of this month's CDPB theme.

Or, you can also click any of the following direct links to the participanting blogs.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

American Fork (UT), USA by Annie, Anderson (SC), USA by Lessie, Ararat, Australia by freefalling, Arradon, France by Alice, Ashton under Lyne, UK by Pennine, Auckland, New Zealand by Lachezar, Aurora, South Africa by shelagh, Austin (TX), USA by LB, Avignon, France by Nathalie, Bali, Indonesia by Anak Dokan, Bandung, Indonesia by Eki Akhwan, Bandung, Indonesia by Bunyamin, Bandung, Indonesia by Harry Makertia, Bangkok, Thailand by UberSand, Barrow-in-Furness, UK by Enitharmon, Barton (VT), USA by Andree, Baziège, France by PaB, Belgrade, Serbia by Bibi, Bellefonte (PA), USA by Barb-n-PA, Birmingham (AL), USA by VJ, Bogor, Indonesia by Gagah, Boston (MA), USA by Ilse, Boston (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Boulder (CO), USA by A Sterling World, Budapest, Hungary by Zannnie and Zsolt, Budapest, Hungary by Isadora, Buenos Aires, Argentina by Karine, Canterbury, UK by Rose, Cavite, Philippines by Steven Que, Chandler (AZ), USA by PattheAZRealtor, Chapel Hill (NC), USA by missleah, Château-Gontier, France by Laurent, Chateaubriant, France by Bergson, Chateaubriant, France by trieulet, Cheltenham, UK by Marley, Chennai, India by Ram N, City of the Blue Mountains, Australia by Richard, Coral Gables (FL), USA by Jnstropic, Edinburgh, UK by Dido, Evry, France by Olivier, Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA by Gigi, Geneva (IL), USA by Kelly, Glasgow, Scotland by Jackie, Gliwice, Poland by prado&fio, Greenville (SC), USA by Denton, Grenoble, France by Bleeding Orange, Haninge, Sweden by Steffe, Helsinki, Finland by PPusa, Herne Bay, Great Britain by Han, Lil n Caz, Hobart, Australia by Greg, Honningsvag, Norway by J., Islip (NY), USA by Bettye, Jackson (MS), USA by Halcyon, Jakarta, Indonesia by Santy, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by Susie of Arabia, Jefferson City (MO), USA by Chinamom2005, Juneau (AK), USA by Gwyn, Karwar, India by Yogesh, Knoxville (TN), USA by Knoxville Girl, Knoxville (TN), USA by hope, Lakewood (OH), USA by mouse, Larchmont (NY), USA by Marie-Noyale, Las Vegas (NV), USA by Mo, Lisbon, Portugal by Maria João, Lisbon, Portugal by Sailor Girl, Lodz, Poland by wikiyu, London, UK by Ham, Madrid, Spain by Tr3nta, Mainz, Germany by JB, Manila, Philippines by Hilda, Manila, Philippines by Heyokity,

October CDPB Theme Photo: Lines

This is my photograph for the October CDBP theme: Lines.

I took this photo at Rancaekek Railway Station. As I mentioned in my yesterday's post, Rancaekek is a small suburban town about 14 kilometers east of Bandung.

These railway lines connect Bandung to other cities east of it, such as Yogyakarta, Surakarta (in Central Java), and Surabaya (the capital city of East Java province).

In this photo, the camera is facing west towards the direction of Bandung.

By the way, today is Iedul Fitr, a major Moslem holiday. So I will probably post another photo later today, if not tomorrow, and share a story about how the holiday is celebrated here.

Meanwhile, please also visit other photo blogs participating in CDPB Theme Day here:
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Bandung's Sister Cities

Text and pictures by Eki Qushay Akhwan

There are currently six cities that are formally linked as Bandung's sisters: Braunschweig (Germany), Forth Worth, Texas (USA), Suwon (South Korea), Hamamatsu (Japan), Cebu (The Philippines), and Bari (Italy).

Braunschweig was the first city to sign sister city cooperation agreement with Bandung. The MOU for this cooperation was signed on May 24, 1960 by Braunschweig's city director Hans Gunther Weber, Mayor Martha Fuchs, and the Indonesian ambassador to West Germany Dr. Zairin Zain. The document was later ammended and signed by Bandung's Mayor R. Priatnakusumah and Braunschweig's envoy Prof Dr George Eckert on June 2, 1960 in Bandung.



The second city to sign sister city cooperation agreement with Bandung was Forth Worth, Texas. The MOU for this cooperation was signed by Bandung's Mayor Ateng Wahyudi and Forth Worth's Mayor Bob Bolen on April 2, 1990. The sister city cooperation agreement was signed against the backdrop of an already existing cooperation between two aircraft industries located in both cities, i.e. Indonesia's PT IPTN (Nusantara Aircraft Industries, Ltd.) and Forth Worth's BELL Helicopter Industries.




Sister city agreement with the city of Suwon, South Korea, was signed on August 27, 1997. Suwon is the third city to have such an agreement with Bandung. Sister city agreements with the other three cities were signed only recently (two in 2005 at the occasion of 50th anniversary of Asian-African/Bandung Conference, and one in 2007.



To mark the cooperations with its sister cities, the people and the municipal government of Bandung have erected commemorative monuments, the photos of three of which I post today.

Note:
Sister city link/cooperation is a form of citizen to citizen diplomacy. This movement got its historic footing in September 1956 when President Dwight Eisenhower held a Conference on Citizen Diplomacy at the White House. You can read more about the history of Sister City Movement here.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

License Plates (Theme Day Picture)

My first participation in the Theme Day, and my 50th post!

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Pictured above are license plates displayed on a street side fence by a street side plate maker.

And here are some interesting tids and bits about license plates:

• Lincense plates have been in existence for as long as automobiles. The first appeared during the transition from horse-drawn carts to automobiles, between 1890 - 1910.
• The first country to introduce a national license plate was the Netherlands in 1898. The first licenses consisted only of numbers.
• In the United States, license plates were not originally issued by the goverment. Individual owners of motor vehicles had to make their own. Masschusetts and West Viriginia were the first states to issue license plates in 1903. New York State required motor vehicles to have license plates in 1901, but did not issue them. Individual motor vehicle owners had to make them themselves.
• License plates have not always been made of metal. At one time they were made of porcelain baked onto iron, plain ceramic, carton, plastic, copper, and even pressed soybeans!
• License plates are collectible objects and there are groups and organizations dedicated to this.

Indonesian License Plates consist of a combination of alphabets and numbers. The initial letter(s) indicate the region in which the vehicle is registered, the numbers are the unique identification number the vehicle, and the letters at the end are the serial code or district identification. Indonesian license plates are basically categorized into the following:

• Commercial vehicles: a yellow background and black numbering.
• Private vehicles: a black background with white letters.
• Government vehicles: red with white fonts.
• Dealer plates: white with red letters.
• Military plates for Army, Navy, Air Force, and also the Police.
• Diplomatic corps: white plates and black numbering with "CD" prefix.