Another huge Indonesian City

After many comfortable hours on the train, we arrived in Bandung, the fourth largest city in Indonesia (7 million in the metro region).  Bandung is at a slightly higher elevation than Jakarta, so the temperature is not quite as hot (read 28 compared to 33).  Bandung was once known as the "Paris of the East"; but like so many things in Indonesia, the old colonial building preservation is spotty.

Our hotel was within walking distance of the train station, an after getting settled we set out to explore Bandung with our guide, Nova, and a local driver.  We had a fantastic lunch in a covered open air "galleria" of sorts.  Food here is very good, not too scary at all for my more conservative friends, and of course ridiculously cheap.  A huge plate of fried noodles with chicken and vegetables plus a Sprite in a very upscale place was about Rp 30,000 (approx $3.).

We did a walking tour of the colonial area of town, and it was very nice.  Among other things, Bandung is famous for holding the first Asia-Africa conference, presided over by Indonesia's first president.

We then proceeded to Bandung's Technical University, one of the finest in the country.  Many of Indonesia's leaders went to school here.  The University features some beautiful architecture, build with gorgeous exotic Indonesian hardwoods.  We walked around and got to snoop inside some of the buildings.  Most of the University is non-smoking, with a tiny outside area designated for smoking.  I have not mentioned this yet, but Indonesians smoke like chimneys... but at least is it usually their own type of clove cigarettes that have a somewhat pleasant smell.

We then drove a little outside town to see a traditional Sundanese bamboo music performance by Udjo Angklung.  It was to last about 1 1/2 hours, and I must admit I thought it was going to be tedious..... Not!

The group, which has toured all kinds of major world cities, played traditional Indonesian instruments, which are mostly percussion.  There was a couple of good (but very corny) MC's.  But the cute part was all the dancers, including lots of cute little kids that danced to the music.

They also did a traditional Javanese hand puppet show, where a single and very talented puppeteer manipulated 6 different puppets while providing the voices.  It was in Bahasa Indonesian, and again, pretty corny, but we got the idea.

Then came the fun part.  They handed out these bamboo instruments to all of the audience members.  The little girls in the picture below are holding examples.  Our instruments were labeled 1 through 8, corresponding to the notes of a C major scale (I was E).  The notes were scattered randomly throughout the audience.

Now as we all know, many people cannot read music.  No problem, the clever Music Director "conducted" us using a system of calling out numbers and using hand gestures... he was a master!  We warmed up doing Doe Rey Me, and by the end of the program, were doing somewhat complex numbers in harmony, aided by a giant chart (again using numbers).

The audience was full of people from all over the world, including lots of local Indonesians.  Everyone was laughing, having fun, and grinning ear to ear.

It ended with a kinda "We are the World" finale where everyone danced around together on the floor.  This was not a tedious performance!

I just love moments like this!