Bandung: Paris Van Java (the Island of Java’s Paris!)

This past weekend, a few friends and I decided to get out of Jakarta and head to Bandung for the weekend. Indonesia’s third largest city, Bandung is 2.5 hours away from Jakarta and nestled in a set of small mountains meaning cooler temperatures and a pleasant breeze that prevents stuffy smog from settling, unlike Jakarta. It’s not for nothing that hotels are booked with Jakarta residents looking for a weekend respite.

As happens every week, Sunday morning is kicked up with a massive market where people hawk anything and everything from Durian Ice Cream to knock off Argentina jerseys to Austin Powers’ style male… enhancers – which definitely required a double take though I lacked the gumption to grab a photo. Markets, whether in Barcelona, Beijing or Sao Paolo, are where pickpockets earn their keep: being relatively taller than many others in the market, wearing flip flops, a wrinkled short sleeved shirt with a point and shoot camera attached to my belt (side note: it’s funny how we take up our parent’s habits), I must have looked every bit the tourist I was. Coupled with the fact there are few buleh (foreigners) walking around I must have been walking around with a target on my back. While Jakarta faces many problems, including dilapidated infrastructure and severely lacking mass transit services, personal security threats are one issue that I haven’t felt during my stay. Given the relative dearth of expats and tourists in Jakarta, I’ve occasionally felt like a B film tourist being asked to be included in strangers’ photos.

Priding myself on knowing a few words of Indonesian, markets are a great chance to practice and dispel the myth that foreigners don’t care to learn Indonesian. It usually ends up with me speaking about banalities for 2 minutes before I begin to ask how to translate certain English words. After an hour or so of jalan-jalan (walking about), pondering whether or not a cactus was worth $.025 a middle age man grabbed my leg with as much force as a grade nine boy on the wrestling team trying to grab the attention of an attractive senior. Bewildered, I looked down to see a few cigarettes near my feet. The wrestling man, who had subsequently latched himself onto my leg, ear, quickly moved his around what felt like my upper thigh but it really was a blur. Unsure of what to do, my goal was to back away into a less busy stall and keep my hands on all valuables (camera on belt, wallet in back pocket, ipod in front left and cell phone in front right – basically a walking paw shop/ATM) and try not to create a scene. I clearly failed on this last goal as with a few seconds everyone was looking at us, a few people started talking loudly and the wrestler had dropped additional cigarettes near my feet. Recognizing the jig was up and that nothing was going to be taken, he hurriedly grabbed his stuff and walked off.

I have been lucky in not having had my personal security violated too often but this was an exception. As the adrenaline coarsed through my veins, I couldn’t tell if I was more disappointed that I let myself be targeted or content that the wrestler was unable to make off with any significant booty.

A Notable Career Alternative?

if law doesn’t work then apparently I can make money spending my life on a bicycle.

Alternative Canadian Branding:

Sweet Martabak, a thick waffle/pancake like batter with plenty of dutch butter, condensed milk, chocolate sprinkles and peanuts are a staple of any self-respecting dessert connoisseur of Indonesian stall food. Our boss told us that Canada Martabak a stall in Bandung, was among the best in Indonesia. When asked, no one had any idea as to why Canada was used. At least it was the first time the word “Canada” was used without reference to cold weather or snow… Gordon, another Canadian intern, is on my left…

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Asian African Conference Museum in Bandung Indonesia

While the sky was apparently falling during the G20 in Toronto, I had the chance to see a museum dedicated to another conference, arguably of equal stature when it was held in 1955: the African-Asian Conference Museum.

As Wikipedia notes the conference “was billed as a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place on April 18-24, 1955… The conference’s stated aims were to promote Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose colonialism or neocolonialism by the United States, the Soviet Union, or any other imperialistic nations.” It was an important pre-cursor to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).”

Countries Represented at the 1955 Bandung Conference

Original Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian%E2%80%93African_Conference

There was the Jubilee anniversary of the conference, held in 2005, an event which saw over 43 leaders of Asian and African countries and an influx of funds to update and spruce up the original building to “international standard.” – I goal that I felt was largely met. Captivating photographs and storyboards as well as relevant artefacts such as the original conference gong (8 feet across and 6 feet tall), made the experience a worthwhile visit.

Interesting notes: there was representation of two Vietnams and no representation from Malaysia or Tibet. Notable figures in attendance at the original conference including Gen. Nasser and Indian PM Singh. The 1950s were heady times: with many states in both Asia and Africa sharing similar levels of GDP/capita and heavy European/American influence in their domestic realm, there was common sentiment of wanting to be independent and on the path to development. There were representatives from over a dozen colonies that would gain independence from their European colonial masters in the next decade. What I found interesting is comparing the successes of the various development strategies and that, despite the strong claims of solidarity, countries quickly diverged in attempting to pursue their own self interest. From the Bandung Conference, the loose coalition that comprised the Non-Aligned Movement disintegrated in the following decades as divided interests proved too great to overcome.

At the end of the museum was a room that described the 2005 conference. The gem that I found telling was the statement acknowledging that little follow up work had occurred since 1955 and that basically relations were starting afresh with new ties of solidarity in ensuring Europe and America would not overreach into their domain. Looking at the list of over 43 countries, I couldn’t help but wonder how effective or important the 2005 conference was as counties pursued their onw independent strategies. For instance China’s decision to quietly foster stronger relations in helping to develop and support African leaders, in return for secured access to natural resources, exist entirely independent and perhaps even contrary to goals of such solidarity networks. At least there were no wrestlers!

Too much Godfather?

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