Night Butterflies

Still from the same place I wrote about in yesterday's post ... Here, the butterflies don't only fly during the day, but also at night. And yes, I do think they look more beautiful at night.

Paris Van Java

During the early twentieth century colonial era, Bandung was known as "Parijs van Java" or the Paris of Java. The nick name was probably given because of the city's European atmosphere. Nobody, however, knows exactly when that nick name was first used or who gave it, but an excursion guide book for the Priangan area (where Bandung is located) published in 1906 had already used the name. Many things have of course changed since then. While the city still has some European heritage, the European feel has since then been replaced by more local colors. The name, however, is still frequently invoked to bring back the memory of the good old days when the city was a beautiful high land resort town of less than 200,000 population.

As part of the efforts to bring the good old days back to life, a resort lifestyle market place was built and completed in July 2006. The place is appropriately called Paris Van Java or PVJ as it is locally known. Located in Sukajadi area in the north of the city, this lifestyle mall occupies an area of nearly 5,000 square meters. It has four floors, green walk gardens and more than 200 European-styled shops and cafes serving a great variety of delicious international and local cuisines, including a huge cineplex, a book store, an open-air stage, and a couple of international-chain supermarkets.



The photos I am posting today are a glimpse of the place that many consider as an oasis in this busy and crowded city. The top photo is the gate to this open-air resort lifestyle place. The second and third photos are some corners of the place. I will try to post more photos of this place at some later occasions.

Beauty Contest of the Street

Is this a beauty contest?

Looking at the participants' colorful clothes and fashion, it could very well be. The strange things about it are that these beauty pageants are obviously not humans and that the show takes place on the road side.

These colorful stuffed dolls are locally made (proudly made in Bandung) and many of them are sold at the road side like this. Of course there are similar dolls that are sold at supermarkets, fashion boutiques, and toy stores, but these street dolls are a lot more cheaper and are not necessarily of lesser quality because they are made for export. They may not be as perfect as those that are bound for sales in other countries, but they are still good and adorable.

Where can you find them?

This vendor is at Tegalega Square. You can also find similar vendors at Kepatihan Street near the city center and Cihampelas.