November 16,2009 - The Night Life

The life of nocturnal butterflies has never been this surprising.
It seemed to me that before you actually get to know someone's life in depth, you really have to prepare yourself for the odds.

Night life patterns that deviated from our usual circumstances could be enthralling, yet pitiful.

While other civilization were asleep, they flew out from their nests, hunting for pleasure that was seek for evermore.

What was exactly their goal?
Nobody knew, nobody cared.

It was just another day spent by dreaming, and living forward laid on every breath they inhaled for survival.


- Caesius_Helios161109

Bandung - not a drink, but a city

My Hometown

Written by: Felicia Chen (13-9-07)

Do you know where to find branded clothes cheaper than the original ones? Many people from all around Indonesia come to this city to explore the pleasure of shopping in the factory outlets which are spread out to every part of the city. Not only Indonesians, many foreigners also love to buy some clothing there. This is Bandung, the city of fashion.

Bandung is the capital city of West Java Province, Indonesia. It is a historic and wonderful city. A long time ago, a French man came to Bandung and found how lovely it was and he thought that it resembles Paris with the bright coloured flowers that blossomed everywhere. That is why the city is also called ‘Paris Van Java’ which means a Paris town in the Java Island.

Believe it or not, on March 26, 1946, Bandung was burnt down by the citizens before they left Bandung. In those desperate attempts, the citizens decided to burn the city before the Dutch came and used the important facility the city had. This incident is called ‘Bandung Lautan Api’ or ‘Bandung the Ocean of Fire’.

Nowadays, Bandung has already become a developed city. Even though there are many new modern-style buildings, when you travel to certain places, you may find some of the houses and buildings are still built in the old Western style. The effect from Dutch colonialism seems to appear in flashes from this type of area. The government tries to keep them in their original style as heritage buildings.

Not only Western style, we can also find an area which looks like Chinatown. It is the area where most Chinese citizens dwell and do their business such as selling ‘bapao’, Chinese food, Chinese clothing, and Chinese traditional art work. Some temples are hidden inside the community but you can easily find them during Chinese Festivals as many people will come to see some attractions like Lion dancing, Dragon dancing, and martial arts performances from different wushu schools around the city.

Unfortunately, there are also some places in the city that are underdeveloped. The shanty town is usually hidden inside the well-developed areas and the government finds it hard to help them. Many people in that neighbourhood are uneducated and prefer using the old traditional ways of life to the modern ones. Some crimes may happen inside this area and nobody dares to maintain to bring anyone to justice. The people who live here are poor and unhygienic as they use the murky water from the river to do their daily activities. They wash their clothes, while the children are having their bath and some other people use the river as public toilet, wash themselves with the same brown wetness as what they take inside their pots, boil it, and drink it. Most ‘pribumi’ live in this uncivilized area as they cannot afford to live in better places.

You may find many beggars and ‘pengamen jalanan’ at every traffic light. They are usually orphan kids and unemployed people. The government has introduced a new regulation not to give them money or else giver and receiver will be penalized. Instead of decreasing the number of beggars, they are remained calm and do their activities as usual. This problem can definitely increase the number of crimes if the government does not make any effort to control this problem. Their lifestyle is also not good and some of them may sell illegal drugs and carry unlicensed guns. Many pickpockets hang around the congested shopping areas and disappear easily in the crowd. What a pity it is to see that there are often police officers who are supposed to patrol the area but instead of doing their job, they just sit inside the police post and sleep.

Despite these social problems, Bandung also has some interesting places to be visited. What you must never forget to go is the famous Dago Street. Along the more than three kilometer street, you can find many factory outlets on the road side. They sell different items in various prices, which make the women usually addicted to the pleasure of shopping there. Some of them sell fake ‘Guess’ jeans, watches, and many other popular brands where the original price may be about Rp 2000000,00. They are very well made and sometimes you cannot spot the fake from the original items.

Every Sunday, around the district zone of Bandung, the hawkers gather together and block the main street of Ir.H.Juanda and start to promote their items. The vendors and the customers are normally ‘pribumi’ and they come from certain well-off areas around the zone. It is not unusual to see the Moslems wear ‘tudung’ walking to and fro, do some window shopping while some Chinese college students also try to receive donations for the people who suffer from natural disasters. This place is known as ‘Pasar Minggu’. I have to inform you not to cross the area because all forms of transportation will be jammed inside the zone and it will be very annoying to see yourself behave like a fish in an aquarium. The hawkers sell various items from clothing, shoes, DVDs’ usually pirated ones, food and beverages, toys, and vehicles. You may see some bikes on top of open ‘cap’ cars with the paper in front ‘SOLD’.

Unlike Singapore where buses must stop exactly at the bus stop, in Bandung they can stop everywhere, even in front of the sign ‘Do not stop’. Public buses are usually used by people not as well-off as the fare of the bus is so cheap. It is about Rp 1500,00 less (about S$ 0.40). Based on this fare we can predict how ‘good’ the facility is. The buses are usually old and produce black misty smoke into the air, whenever the driver presses the accelerator. This causes air pollution as well as sound pollution.

There are various types of transportation that you can find in Bandung, not just buses. Angkot is the friendliest form of transportation in the city. Every time, everywhere, even we stretch out our hand, they will come over and stop in front of us. Another kind of transportation is ‘ojek’. The driver of the motorcycle will deliver us to the place where we are going to at a low fare. This is one of the fastest forms of transportation in Bandung to go through the congested streets. Traditional transportation which is also provided in Bandung is ‘becak’, the three-wheel transport with human power and ‘delman’ which you can find during the weekend in highland areas.

Many visitors choose to stay in the hotels which are located on the Dago hill. The weather is cold and quiet so you can rest peaceful in that area. Many restaurants and café’s are located around there and Dago is the best place to hang out alone, with friends or boyfriend/girlfriend. You can enjoy the fantastic city lights on the hill next to the café, Stone Café. A large variety of food is sold there and they taste delicious. They are not so expensive and fit the student’s budget.

People are usually attracted to Bandung and wish to visit it again as they find many enjoyable places and exciting moments that they can get in Bandung. Indescribable moments, the peace and quietness of the city and this are why I think that Bandung is the best place for living.

~@~@~