petit customer

father's son

Father and son selling bubble liquid at alun-alun Bandung (the city square).

fishy square

The alun-alun (Bandung's city square) is a fishy place. It's dirty and chaotic like a fish market, smells like fish, and has a fishy reputation. One can even go fishing there - even without the pond or fish. And the mayor - whose official residence is just to the south of it - apparently loves it as it is.

Despite all this, it's a wonderful people observatory and a great place to do street photography.

strapped and stared

Another look at life in one of the dirtiest and messiest places in the city.

bubbly game

Another bubbly game at Alun-alun Bandung.

bubbly bubble

Bubbly is a show of good spirits; a descriptor of a lively or effusive character. Bubble, its noun counterpart, is a hollow and light globule; a small body of gas contained within a liquid; and, figuratively, something delusive and unsubstantiated.

This is another picture in my alun-alun series.

"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.

"pengamen"

A young pengamen (singing beggar, busker) entertaining a couple of park visitors at Alun-alun Bandung.

The word pengamen used to refer to a traveling performer or group of performers who make a living from the tips given by their audiences. In this sense, it is the equivalence of the word "busker" in English. However, the shifting emphasis of the practice has changed the connotation of the word. Different kinds of non-artist performers are now roaming the streets for money. This includes children and those who do not have the performing art capability. Thus the practice is now considered only as a trick of beggary.