Indonesian Archipelago Series-9: Artsy Bandung

There is an Indonesian childhood song about taking train from Bandung to Surabaya that inspires every child to go to Bandung. I was lucky because my father used to be placed there for his work. Bandung is a capital city of West Java and famous for its pretigious technical university which is a dream for every highschool students in the whole country including me: Institut Teknologi Bandung. Besides, it is also known as the city of mode of Indonesia, therefore, called de Paris Van Java. I was planning to watch a music festival called Lalalafest which was featuring one of my favorite band: Kodaline in Cikole pine forest. I took the train from Surabaya for around 12 hours. However, to be able to enjoy Bandung you will probably need your own motorbike or car because some places are to complicated to be reached by public transport. 

Selasar Sunaryo Art Space 

As what I always visited in other cities, I am always looking for the best art spaces to enjoy some exposition and embrace my hidden artistic interest. The first one is Selasar Sunaryo Art Space which is built by the famous Indonesian artist: Sunaryo with his private non-profit organization. They are active on making exposition, art discussion and other contempory art-based activities also some collaboration with international organizations. Sunaryo himself is a great painter. This artspace is located in Bukit Pakar Timur, Bandung. Not only about painting and sculpture, we also have a huge open space consist of an amphitheatre and a coffée shop called: Kopi Selasar. It was such a cozy place to have your brunch and reading art magazine. This place is more like a contemporary art play ground than a traditional gallery. I really love the architecture. Here is a glimpse of the space: http://www.selasarsunaryo.com

Wot Batu

Just opposite the Selasar Sunaryo Art Space is his other masterpiece: Wot Batu. He described this work as his spiritual bridge. You will be guided through all the important stories of the stone installation in a huge garden which is taken care really well. He aimed to create a history to tell from the 21st century. He really has stories behind how he put every stone arrangement. There is also a point where you can enjoy the view of Bandung hills across a pond that he made. You can also ended the tour by having a coffee with the view to his 2000 meters square masterpiece garden. It is like another world in the crowd and messy Bandung. There is also a cave where you have this kind of travel time installation and a single candle in the dark. It was a bit scary, though. So far, this is the most unbelievable place I could spot in Bandung. This place is not just a mere stone installation but the spiritual journey and energy constellation of his progress that he tried to share with the world. Here is the link of the place http://www.wotbatu.id

Lawangwangi Creative Space 

Located a bit higher than Wot Batu and Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, it offers you with the amazing view of Bandung hills. There was a temporary exhibition but the highlight of this place is its café which has the bridge to a balcony with the view of the hills. It was all about modern art installation with colorful concept when I visited it last time. We had a pleasant lunch in the cafe https://creativespace.lawangwangi.com

NuArt Sculpture Park

I have to admit that the location of this gallery is a bit unpredictable: inside a luxurious residence complex. NuArt is actually comes from the name of the owner artist: Nyoman Nuarta. Nyoman is a typical Balinese name. Nuarta part of his name accidentally also match with the New Art path that he choose to work on. In the entrance you will be welcomed by his giant installation of half face of a woman made from metal. He is indeed the real talent sent from the sky. NuArt is indeed an amazing journey in a sculpture park. He also made this interesting bottom part body of a whale in his park. The building itself also had interesting architecture and consists of three floors of his paintings and sculpture made of copper and brass. For your important information, Nyoman Nuarta is the designer of the tallest and the most noble Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue in Bali which you can see whenever you are about to land in Denpasar, Bali. That is why, he is awesome, no question about it. At the end of the park, they have a restaurant called N-cafe where you can have a nice view of the sculpture park. I ordered their famous Balinese Crispy duck which was so good but also took a very long time to be served. I was alone at that time, so I just waited for the meal while sketching the view of the restaurant. There was not many visitors at that time. However, if you really want to have an impactful artsy visit in Bandung, this place is a must go to. 

Now, I am going to switch to other spots in Bandung which is normally visited by families. These are no longer art spaces but themed-park where you can take lots of cute photos. As I told you before, we, Indonesian have a very simple way of happy holiday: lots of photo spots to explore. Most of the spots are not costly and really child friendly. I will start with Farmhouse Lembang which located in the higher part of Bandung. Bandung is normally divided as Upper Dago and Lower Dago with tons of cafés to chill with your friends and family. 

Farmhouse Lembang 

This recreational place took a lot of consideration in its design to resemble like European-styled villages where you can find cows and the farm feeling. It has mini zoo for the educational purpose for the kids where you can feed calfes and little sheeps. The little sheeps part were the most crowded one because they can be a bit anarchist whenever they see you with the carrots to feed them. So please be careful in this area. The interesting photo spots are the hobbit houses themed area and also the European kind of street where you can also rent Dutch costume. I know maybe for you this does not make sense, but for us, everything from Europe is like so amazing and you kind of worship them and dream to go there. They also have interesting design for the food booths and everything was so well designed to take photos. Definitely a place where you can make your mothers happy (if you mom are an average common mom with the common hobby). Another interesting fact , is that you can have your wedding reception here! So far, I only spotted couples taking pre-wedding photos. 

Begonia Flower Garden

For the lovers of flowers, this is a must place to go. You can also borrow the typical garderner straw hat during your visit. To be honest, I have minimum knowledge on plants and flowers so I could not really tell the name of the flowers that I see. Of course you will see the begonias but also some geraniums. All the made installations are really aimed as photo properties and background. There were thousands of species there which are really taken care well by the management. Like the farmhouse, this place biggest aim is also as a photo spots for families, pre-wedding and normal visitors. You can also pick some fruits and vegetables for yourself in its special area. They also have a cute café to spend your afternoon and enjoy the field of colorful flowers. You do not need to worry because in Indonesia we only have 2 seasons: dry and rainy season so most of the time of the year all the flowers will be always there. Unlike when you travel in Europe, some places were just empty and dry due to autumn, winter or almost spring. I was deceived when I went to Austria to see the bed of flowers garden. 

Chinatown Bandung 

This place is relatively new and inside the chinese quarter of Bandung. I was mistakenly found this place because actually my friend meant the old part of Chinatown but this one has admission fee and more fancy restaurants. But here we are, and I love it! The gate, decorations and the little shops are so cute and really made me feel like I was in China. The souvenir shop was literally made me spend a lot of money thanks to their cute little stuff that I could not resist. I bought a buddhist bracelet, cute paper wraps and pins. In each part of the area, you will have different rooms with different themes to take photo. For instance, there is an old chinese living room, an old chinese game room and a lot more to take cute photos with your squad. Visit the page to have a peek on their menus too https://www.chinatownbandung.com. They also sell a lot of dumplings which looked nice, I did not try but I had a nice noodle soup. 

Not far from this place you will arrive at the real chinatown which has hundreds of street food stall. You can find all amazing food here from grilled octopus, chasio, noodles, fried bananas, desserts, grilled toast, every finger-licking good snacks that you have never expected to have in rainy days! I really want to go back to this place and buy more food in the future. At that time we did not buy a lot of food becaue we were already full from the first Chinatown version. 

Pagerwangi - Lereng Anteng 

Another instagrammable place to visit! Here you can find several terracing cafés facing the green valleys view. It is definetely the romantic spot to have your dinner. The place is indeed far from Banund central city but it was not bad to visit. I was having a hot plate in a cafe which has transparent floor and colorful bean bags so it feels like you eat while seeing the whole hills below your feet. 

Factory Outlet Tour 

Bandung is famous with its series of factory outlets. Before the era of Zara, H&M and all those kind of brands, factory outlets are the place people go to Bandung. I used to stock my yearly outfit here in Bandung and I can not say I will stop do that. Several name of the outlets include Rumah Mode or literally translated as House of Mode. The most populated street with factory outlets is Riau street. You can find Heritage, The Secret, Passion and many more. The fun stuff about this F.O. is that you have a big and nice eating place that you can have between your shopping time. They are friendly for kids and the husbands that wait for the ladies to be done by their massive shopping. Not far from Riau street area, it is the most crowded place of cute and happening cafés in Bandung. 

I would just mention some eating place that give me good memories when I spent my days here. Most of them serve western food like pasta, burgers, steak or tiny bits like cakes. Here, I can see that the lifetime of a cafe in Bandung is way longer than the one in Surabaya. Maybe because here people really like eating outside and the cafés are really commited to create good food. I would reccommend: Two Cents and Pleasepleaseplease eatery. Cihampelas walk is a nice walking area with a mall, series of clothing lines and street food along the bridge. Paris Van Java shopping mall and Supermall Bandung was also not bad to look for munch. For your information, Bandung will be super crowded in the weekend because people from Jakarta normally go home or go refreshing to Bandung. So, do not be surprised by the crazy load in every eating places and the street. Bandung is most of the time gloomy and cold so it is really a perfect weather to have nice food and spend money on clothing. 

Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB)

I used to dream to be a student here but my mark was too low for the entrance exam. Even you are not a student, strolling inside the campus area is also a nice thing to be considered. The campus is so cozy with its old architecture. Some parts are so dark but it really gives you a feeling of being in an important education institute. It has many fontains and landmark between the way from one building to another. It has been several times I went inside because I had many choir competition here and also a visit to the Environmental engineering department also a meeting with a membrane specialist before I departed for my master. ITB has the highest passing grade for its most favorite majors: faculty of mining and petroleum engineering, school of electrical engineering and informatics, faculty of fine art and design, well mostly all the majors available there are targeted by the best students of the country. 

Despite its messy city planning and the gloomy weather, Bandung is now progressing and trying to repair some parts the city like creating more open spaces and park and many mitigation strategy to defend itself from its most wanted enemy: the flood due to the high rainfall (that mostly go down to the cities around it). The mayor of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil is also so famous because of his friendly style in public and because he is humle and humorous. Well, I do not live there to really witness what kind of improvements that Ridwan Kamil has brought but I guess the people are happy so far. Despite the fasionable city and inhabitants, the massive tea plantation is one of Bandung's wealth. Here are the photo of happy tea farmers:

Photo gallery