6.26.2008

What's on in Bandung

Bandung is located in West Java Province, about 180 km southern from Jakarta, the capital city of Republic of Indonesia. It takes only 2 and half hours by car from Jakarta via Cipularang toll road. Bandung is the coldest city in Indonesia. Based on its geographical location, Bandung becomes a city surrounded by cool and nice mountainous areas. You can feel the cold and fresh air in Puncak or Lembang. There are a lot of tea gardens along the street, the view is very beautiful. Indigenous people are extremely busy during the harvest time. They pick and gather the tea leaves. Newcomers who are interested in picking the tea leaves can also try to do that.

Not only that, Bandung is also famous for its strawberry farm. We can pick fresh strawberries by ourselves. I like strawberry juice, so delicious. Due to its beautiful panoramas, friendliness of the people with beautiful girls called "Mojang Priangan", Bandung is well known as the “Flower City” or Kota Kembang.

Though this city is not really big, but Bandung is not a boring place. Coz it has lot entertainments to offer its visitors. Famous places are:
Mount Tangkuban Perahu (Tangkuban: flipped and perahu: boat, mean the shape of the mountain looks like a flipped boat. You can look into the huge crater or hike down into it, stroll through the forest on its slopes, or simply enjoy the splendid panoramic view); Saung Angklung Udjo (Angklung is a traditional South-East Asian musical instrument, made by bamboo. Udjo Nalagena, a famous angklung artist, created an Angklung House in the outskirt of Bandung, where angklung is made, learned and played. You can enjoy an angklung orchestra played by 12 year old or less children or even be a part of this orchestra, holding one of the angklung instrument); Geological Museum (the geology of Indonesia, the history of life and the geology of human life); Maribaya (waterfalls); Boscha Observatorium (the only observatorium in Indonesia); Pangalengan (known for its beautiful tea plantation, milk factory, kitchen garden, natural hot water); Ciwidey (strawberry farm & Kawah Putih -a white crater, made by sulfuric activity in the area); Dago (a famous area for young people to hang out, especially on Saturday night Dago is still crowded till midnight); Cihampelas (shopping along the street); etc.

There are some malls in Bandung, such as:
Bandung Super Mall (BSM), Istana Plaza (IP), Parijs Van Java (PVJ), Bandung Indah Plaza (BIP), Bandung Electronic Center (BEC), Cihampelas Walk (Ciwalk), Bandung Trade Center (BTC), Paskal Hypersquare, Setrasari Mall, BiMall.

And places to buy something cheaper: Tamim (a place to buy fabrics, materials to make jeans, clothes, etc); Pasar Baru (clothes, carpet, bedsheet, etc -you can bargain the price); Kings (I suggest you buy clothes here, for the same cloth, the price is cheaper than in BTC. In Kings everything exists. By the way, you can also buy cheap DVDs in Kota Kembang, next to Kings); Vertex (If you want a better air conditioned store which also sells cheap DVDs, this is the right place. You can try to play the CD there or return if it’s broken).

You can also find something cool and stylish in Bandung. Bandung is known as a fashion center, so you won’t be able to be old fashioned. Every month new fashion comes and decorates the factory outlets. Many people from Jakarta or other cities come to Bandung only for shopping. (To tell you the truth, I hate this, it causes the traffic heavy!) People come over to Bandung to buy clothes at factory outlets. Because factory outlets have 2 characteristics: The cloth is limited produced & the price is cheaper than the branded one.

These are some famous factory outlets:
The Summit; Heritage; Cascade; Formen (men clothes); and the others FO in Riau Street: China Emporium (with an old Chinese dynasty setting), Oasis, Metropolitan, Renarity, Emirates, Terminal Tas, Edward Forrer, Victoria; Rich N Famous (Dago Street); Coconel, Glamour, Blossom, Uptown, Dago Stock Centre, M&M, Justine; FOS Clothing Gallery; Rumah Mode (Setia Budi Street); Mooi (Cemara Street), XO (Sukajadi Street), Otten One, BOS (Otten Street), Diaz (Sederhana Street, mostly shoes), Cat 17 (Eijkman Street), Est Fashion Gallery (Sumatera Street); etc.

Not only factory outlets, there are also places to buy cloths for youth, called Distros (Distribution Outlets), such as:
Ouval Research (Buah Batu Street); Invictus (Pager gunung Street and Trunojoyo Street); No Label (Sumatra Street); Oink, Soul Artist, etc.

Besides factory outlets and distro, café and restaurant are also varied. These are some good cafés and restaurants:
Sierra Café & Lounge (Bukit Pakar Street), Rumah Sosis; Kampung Daun (Sersan Bajuri Street); Dakken (Riau Street), Atmosphere Cafe (Lengkong Besar Street; Kedai Nyonya Rumah (Naripan Street); Rumah kopi; Kafe Halaman; Rumah Nenek; The View; The Valley; Amigos Restaurant (Mexican Food); Sushi Tei, Hoka Hoka Bento, Tomodachi Resto & Hanamasa (Japanese Food), Myeong Ga & Kimbab House (Korean Food).

There are many kinds of delicious foods in Bandung, such as:
Soto Bandung (a soup with beef meat, soy beans and some vegetables); Cireng (with many kinds of flavor, I like mashed peanut flavor); Peuyeum (a sweet food made of slightly fermented tubers); Colenak (a baked Peuyeum); Surabi (rice flour pancake with many kinds of flavor); Ayam Penyet (rice with abon flavor -shredded meat that has been boiled and fried- and combined with spicy chicken which can make you drool at the mouth); Siomay (steamed ravioli filled with meat and open on the top), Batagor (It’s similar to Siomay, but the different is Batagor has to be fried and eat with mashed peanut); Bakso keju (meatballs stuffed with cheese); Mie Kocok (a noodle soup, served with beef foot, beef skin and tauge); Lotek (a mixed boiled vegetables, served with peanut paste and some chilies, similar to gado gado); Nasi Timbel (the famous Sundanese dish. It is a tube-shaped rice that has a distinguish flavor, because it is cooked inside a banana leaf); Laksa (the famous old traditional dish. This dish is kind of chicken soup using coconut milk with turmeric for the stock, and it contains rice cake (cooked inside a banana leaf), bean sprout, vermicelli, shredded chicken and for the finishing is garnished with holly basil and Oncom Bandung the traditional fermented soy bean cake); Tongseng (lamb meat in a coconut milk soup); Yoghurt Cisangkuy (It has many flavors of fresh yoghurt with fresh fruits); Susu Murni (sometimes known as Sumur, this is a place to drink fresh cow milk); Sate Kelinci (rabbit satay); etc

Usually, foreigners like Sate Ayam (small pieces of chicken meat roasted on skewer, the different is you will eat this with mashed peanut and soy sauce.. Yummy), Bakso (meatballs with delicious gravy), Cah Kangkung or Kangkung Tumis (leafy vegetable usually growing in water which sautéed with garlic and sometimes with cornstarch); Fried Rice (Indonesian fried rice is more flavored than other countries fried rice, you can taste more red onion and soy sauce, I bet you’re gonna be addicted). You can find these foods in every place in Indonesia, I think.

And you can also find delicious foods and cakes in:
Ampera; Ayam Bakar Sariwangi; Nasi Bakar; Sajian Sunda Sambara; Bumbu Desa (places to eat while lesehan -sitting on the floor without chairs. A Sundanese way to eat, with dish of raw vegetables and a spicy sauce); Mie Ceker Akung, Bakso Mandeep (meatballs, tofu, Siomay, rissole with delicious gravy); Bubur Ayam PR and Bubur Ayam Mang Oyo (porridge); Bakpao Chick Yen (steamed bun stuffed with meat, chicken, green pea, etc -it is more delicious to eat fried Bakpao, but only for chicken and meat Bakpao); Amanda (delicious steamed brownies); Kartika Sari (bread, pisang molen, brownies); etc

To cap it all, Bandung is the BEST place to live, take a rest and have fun. But honestly, Jakarta is much better than Bandung, especially for the job and the salary. Well, if you need a guide in Bandung, don’t hesitate to contact me. I can speak both Japanese and Korean a little bit. But I prefer to use English.

So, see ya in Bandung!!

Tidak ada komentar: