A walk in Bandung

Poster for my currently work-in-progress comic about Bandung

Let's take a little walk in Bandung

First off we'll go along the impromptu market along Ganesha Street, just infront of the ITB university. Find all sort of knick-knacks from traditional blades and DVDs to a spare shoelace. Peeking among the foliages you might see the stylized roof of the Universty's famed East halls - Legend has it that the Indo-Dutch architect buried all the plan drawings for the building right beneath it, so if anything happens to it, they'll just have to dig the plans up and make a new copy. Practical sort of person, eh?

Next stop is Cihampelas, with its rows of trees and superhero statues atop their jeans and clothings store. Over the years the district's gone bigger and bigger and newer malls and hotels are being erected. Such a pity that it comes with a price..just down that narrow alley you'll once find the Cihampelas swimming pool- a delightful old place fed directly from a natural spring just behind its building. Since the spring dried up due to the recent buildings, they had to close up. But I guess that's just what business does to places, eh? let's not get carried away by that and sample some of the local delicacies offered by the street vendors here instead :3

Whew, that was a lot of dumplings and Durian Ice cream we had...now let's take a detour from the main route and have a walk through the maze of houses beneath the Pasupati bridge. We'll pass ladies gossiping in warungs and children playing in the rare spots of open spaces that the city still has. Don't you wish there'd be more places for them to play instead of this big new shiny trade centre they're going to build on the end of the bridge?

It's late afternoon, and we're walking along the cobblestones of Braga street. Rows upon rows of old shops, once the most glamorous in all of the East Indies, mingle with CircleK and glittering bar signs. We might feel a bit peckish, and nowhere beats tea and a few old fashioned pastries in the sumber Hidangan bakery, which has been around for decades now. Sink into one of the antique chairs and have a bookepotjes or an almond pastry.

It's getting late, and the traffic cranks up to a slow crawl with much honking abound. Luckily we've reached the heart of all that ruckus, the Dago street. Once rows of private Colonial villas, the street now glitters with shops, malls, cafes, and nightlife. Now let's find somewhere to eat and then perhaps call this a day..


Watercolors on A3 paper
Enjoy the walk