Sunday, February 28, 2010

"penguin dance"



Penguin dance is part of the alun-alun series. (You can identify it from the tag.)

Alun-alun is a park at the heart of the city. Despite the title, it actually looks more like a market than a park. It's lively but like many traditional markets, it's also dirty and messy. Shamefully, it all happens right in front of the grand mosque (located adjecent to it in the west) and under the mayor's eyes and nose whose official residence is located just to the southern edge of it.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

misplaced



In a system, one misplaced thing leads to another and another.

Friday, February 26, 2010

all is quiet



It's raining. And up there, everything's quiet. Empty. Cold.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

semi-feral



City cats: instinctively wild, partly domesticated.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

keeping informed



Stationery vendors in front of Kantor Pos Besar Bandung (Bandung Grand Post Office). Business is getting quiter for them as fewer and fewer people are sending mails through the post. More and more people prefer emails, text messaging and other faster ways of keeping in touch with one another.

Monday, February 22, 2010

"jajan"



Jajan: (1) noun. various snacks or drinks usually sold on the treets by street vendors. (2) verb. the act of buying such things.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

"viking bonex"



Viking is the name of PERSIB (Bandung Soccer Association) supporters club. Bonex (also Bonek), which stands for bondo nekat (have nothing to lose), is the name of PERSEBAYA (Surabaya Soccer Association) supporters club.

The latter is notoriously known for being ruthless hooligans. I'm not sure if the former is any better. Its members are known to be destructive too in many occasions.

Those riding on the train roof are Vikings on their way to PERSIB's home game against PERSISAM (Samarinda Soccer Association) yesterday.

This post is linked to Monochrome Weekly. Please check other participants' photos there.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

tire - 0



A street full of tires. Jalan Stasiun Timur.

Friday, February 19, 2010

unforgiven



On the corner of Jalan Ir. H. Juanda (Dago) and Jalan LLRE Martadinata (Riau) one afternoon.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

irony



It's a place where "don't" means "please do". [Written there is "Don't throw garbage here."]

Under the Cihampelas section of the city's icon of pride, the Pasupati Flyover.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

in tandem



That man is a cigarette vendor, carrying the things he is selling in a wooden box. That young girl could be his granddaughter. Together they were roaming Jalan Ibu Inggit Ganarsih (formerly Jalan Ciateul) to make a living.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

monkey see monkey do



Jalan Pasteur. Under the Pasupati flyover.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Sunday, February 14, 2010

desperate equation



Read the black ink only:
"Do not pee here unless you are a stupid monkey"

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Friday, February 12, 2010

lightmen



Lightmen taking a break on the corner of Jalan Ir H Djuanda (Dago) and Jalan LLRE Maradinata (Riau). They were advertising incadecent light bulbs and compact fluorecent lamps.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

autotrian or sideautolot?





The English language may not have a single word to name this phenomenon. There is pedestrian which, as a noun, means a person going on foot; or, as an adjective, something related to walking. Then there is sidewalk, a paved walk for pedestrians at the side of a street. There is also the parking lot where motor vehicles are supposed to be parked. But in this chaotic city, these things are never differentiated, all at the the risk of the pedestrians' safety.

How do we name the blending of these things then?

What about: autotrian or sideautolot?

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

floodpreneur



Some people make the flood. Some people get the benefit from the flood. A lot of people are suffering from it. Welcome to the mountain city of annual flood.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

off track



The KRD commuter train does not come on time most of the time. Waiting is expected. This boy and his mom are just trying to kill the time and their boredom, not themselves.

Monday, February 8, 2010

"pitnah"



Pitnah is the Sundanese word for slender, libel, or backbiting.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

location, location, location



Big or small, location is one of the most important things for a business to thrive or just survive. If most best locations are slotted for the big players and none cares to give the small ones their due attention, then they (the small ones) may have no other choice but find and claim them on their own, wherever it may be.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

punk feet



The dictionary says they are young, rebellious, and members of a counterculture group. But more than that, they are a symptom of a larger problem that not many of us care to admit: that of social inequality and injustice.

Friday, February 5, 2010

multiple perspectives



In a world so compartmentalized, we rarely see beyond our own chambers without some sort of reflective distortions from our own.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

traffic like dancing



If traffic was a dance, it must be a delicate one.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

as only a mother can



On board KRDE Baraya Geulis commuter train one quiet afternoon.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

jalan purnawarman









I have previously raved about pedestrians having no rights in this city. And I didn't mean it as an overstatement.

In a lot of places in this city, there are either no sidewalks or the existing sidewalks have been invaded by street vendors and/or other usages.

Jalan Purnawarman (Purnawarman Street) - a busy commercial area featured in these pictures - is just another example. Bandung is generally not a walkable city, except for the brave citizens who have been so used to it and/or those adventurous souls who are willing to risk their lives on the streets.

Sadly, the city's government has never done anything consistent about this problem.

Monday, February 1, 2010

privileges



In a country with no effective law enforcement, everybody can have their own privileges. The president, the ministers, and the legislators are free to determine how much public money they will get (in terms of salaries and other facilities: luxury cars, houses, etc.) withouth much concern of the people's poverty. The judges, attorneys/public prosecutors, and the police are free to determine how much money they can extort from the legal cases they are handling. And once one is convicted of a crime and sent to jail (at a bargained sentence), he/she can buy his/her jail privileges if he/she can afford the prices set by the wardens.

Why should becak (pedicabs) not have their own privileges, then?

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