In Bandung, Indonesia (Part 1)

Having arrived safely in Bandung, Indonesia we were met at the airport by Carolyn and family - Sule, Peter, Jim and Katie - in their blue Zebra. With Sule at the wheel, we were taken through the horrendous Bandung traffic to their little house in Dago Pojok. Although in the city, the house is quite rural, in a little kampung, on a steep slope facing rice fields. The house is reached by following a path down the hill and the talk of the kampung was the efforts by State Electric Company of Indonesia to errect a 2-metre concrete wall blocking access. Below a few photos.

View from near Carolyn's house. Not bad, considering it is in the middle of a city of 2.5 million.

Carolyn and Peter talking in the living room. During our visit poor Sule was engulfed in a flood of English.

Sule cooking a snack before heading off to the mosque. And since you ask, he was cooking tempeh, which Hwei-Ming very much enjoyed.

All the children got on very well together and were all very well behaved.

Henry and Jim.

Katie, Thomas and some penguins.


Hwei-Ming with Katie, who is about to head off to school.

Peter is a little shy, so there are not so many photos, but we got him in the end, keep reading the post.

After a good night's sleep, we all set off towards Lembang and the live volcano, Mt. Tangkuban Perahu.

The crater of the volcano. If you look carefully, it is possible to see some smoke rising.

A closer view of the lava.


A team photo in front of the volcano. From left to right; Peter, Jim, Sule, Katie, Carolyn, Thomas, Hwei-Ming, and Henry.

Jim posing by the volcano.


Peter, Katie and Jim.


Henry, Peter and Thomas.

The volcano is a popular tourist attraction and there are lots of stalls selling souvenirs and trinkets, as well as local fruits - strawberries and blackberries.

A group of giggling girls, preening, posing and pouting for the camera.

Our group was not immune to the sales patter of the salesmen and we ended up buying local fruits, an anklung, and some other bits and pieces.

An angklung is a bamboo instrument played by shaking. In an angklung orchestra, each player has one note and shakes it when it is his/her turn.

A small angklung.

To listen to some angklung music, click here. (No guarantee that the link will work.)

After the volcano, we went to the Sapulidi café for our main meal. Sapulidi is a café and resort with small huts set around a pond. Each hut has a low table and the guests sit on the floor. Henry and Thomas particularly enjoyed the fact that in Indonesia eating is with fingers; no need for cutlery.

The Sapulidi Café, our eating hut is in the background.

Sule and Katie and our Sapulidi meal, Nasi Timbel Komplit, served on banana leaves. Note the lack of eating implements.

While the food was good, the serice was glacially slow. which left plenty of time for playing around.

Katie and Thomas with green hair.


Peter with green hair.

Carolyn, up-to-date with the latest style, as usual!

The meal ended with surabi, Sundanese pancakes.

Surabi being made.

With full stomachs we set off back to the little house in Bandung.