June 5
Bandung, Indonesia
Bandung is on the island of Java, and situated about 150 km southeast of Jakarta. Since Jakarta is the biggest city in Indonesia and the capital (for now, until Indonesia completes building a new capital) city it gets most of the attention.
Bandung is still a large city, but because it doesn’t have the huge skyscrapers it retains a little bit of its “small town” feel.
Bandung is situated up in the mountains, near several active volcanoes. Its altitude and geography means that it is quite a bit cooler than Jakarta. Typically it is 10-15 degrees cooler in Bandung than in Jakarta. That still means that it is 85 or so during the day, but that’s a lot better than 95-100. It cools down into the 60s during the evening and night.
Historically, Bandung was taken over by the Dutch colonizers to be the capital of the “Dutch East Indies” because they felt that Batavia (their renaming of Jakarta) was too hot and difficult to defend.
As colonizers tend to do, they reshaped the landscape and built the city to their own architectural preferences. That lead to the nickname “Paris of Indonesia,” which I assume the Dutch thought was a compliment.
Remnants of the old colonial buildings remain throughout the town, although most have been replaced with different buildings over time.
The city has a rich diversity of cultures. The indigenous culture is Sundanese, but immigration of Chinese, Malay, Singaporean, and others have lent an international feeling to the city. Islam is the predominant religion, but Buddhist temples and Christian churches are found in many neighborhoods.
Bandung Gallery
Apartment Tera, where I'm staying in Bandung
The dome and minaret of the largest mosque in Bandung
The museum of the Asia-Africa Conference, which took place in Bandung in 1955
The Savoy Hoemann Hotel, one of the remaining examples of colonial/art-deco architecture in Bandun
The gardens at the main City Park in Bandung
An example of the huge trees that grow here
Some of the sidewalks are a little creepy
Braga Street, a shopping area and the main tourist attraction in Bandung
Another of the remaining colonial architecture buildings
The main town square ("Alun-Alun")
Tour buses lined up and waiting for customers at Alun-Alun
A mini-branch of the library that forms one side of the town square. The main mosque is on the opposite side.
View from my balcony
One of many, many statues in honor of soldiers
The view down Braga Street from a rooftop cafe
A collection of street food stalls lining the street next to the GOR park
The gateway to another shopping street next to the Mosque
The main entrance to the Alun-Alun
Gedung Sate, the provincial legislative building for West Java
An archway in front of the main mosque
A busy intersection
Nightlife on Braga