Mobile Skateboarding Boutique

A mobile skateboarding boutique parked near Bandung Skateboard Park. A place where a community meets is also a marketplace for their needs -- a proof that the existence of themed parks is good for the city's economy. :)

Bandung Skateboard Park at Balubur

Photo caption: Bandung's skateboard park at Balubur last Saturday night.

Bandung Skateboard Park is one of the newest parks in Bandung. The park, which is located under the Pasupati flyover adjacent to 'Taman Jomblo' (single's park), was dedicated on 4 January 2014. This park is said to be the first instalment of a more extended facility promised to Bandung's skateboarders' community. A more elaborate facility that meets international standard is to be dedicated later this year, according to the current mayor.

Bandung has quite a significant number of skateboarder communities. Prior to the construction of the park, many skateboarders used to practice their skills at the road sides, which of course was unsafe.

Road-side Skateboarding

A young man practicing his skateboarding skills at the sidewalk of Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan Street. This section of the street's pavement in front of Bank BNI Bandung branch office - about 30 meters in length - is unusually broad. As such, it becomes a favorite place for some skateboarders to practice their skills.

Strangled Skateboarder

Oh, oh ... what happened to this skateboarder? He didn't see a cable in front of him and was strangled in his action.

Fortunately he's not a real living skateboarder. He's just a statue. I don't know if its placement near the electric cable was deliberate. It might be. As far as I know, the electric cable had already been there before the statue was put in the front yard of the building next to the one where the cable was. Perhaps the maker of the statue was very much aware of it and deliberately put his/her work there. It might also be possible that he/she was not aware of it. Either ways, it creates a funny scene.

Bandung Go Skateboarding Day 2011

This belated report of "Bandung Go Skateboarding Day 2011" is made possible by the generous contribution of Aries Rachmandy, a freelance photographer and a journalism student at STIKOM Bandung.

"Bandung Go Skateboarding Day 2011" was held on June 21, 2011 at Gelora Saparua (Saparua Sports Arena). The event was attended by hundreds of skateboarders from all over the city and showcased different skateboarding attractions as you can see in these photos. It was also used by the skateboarders to demand that the municipal government provide them with more decent skateboarding facilities (see the banner they displayed in the last photo).

Skateboarding is increasingly becoming a very popular sport among the city's youths. But the lack of decent facilities for skateboarding have forced some of them to practice and do their actions in unlikely places like the sidewalks, which of course are not a safe place to do it. Quite a few times, I've seen them practice and do their actions along the Asia Afrika street and the sidewalk of Perintis Kemerdekaan Street, some of the city's more popular locations among the city's skateboarders because they are wide enough.