Indonesia is a net exporter of textiles - clothing, shoes, purses, belts. All of the major brand names - Gap, Nike, Versace, Armani - have clothing factories in Indonesia, and most are in Bandung. Outlet malls in the US sell clothing rejected by the retail establishments for having a thread out of place, a slightly uneven cut, or some other barely noticeable blemish. Outlet malls in Bandung have items rejected by the factory's quality control, often for the same reasons. What this means for the consumer is an absence of tariffs, transport costs, and US wages. Armani jeans - made at the same factory as the jeans you'll find at high-end stores throughout the world without a loose thread - sell in Bandung for $10. Calvin Klein sweatshirts sell for $12. My wife found several dresses for her and for my daughter under $10 each.
As a large, metropolitan city, Bandung is lacking. Despite its size, it really lacks a nightlife, or any high-end restaurants. We stayed at a 5 star resort which, in Bandung, means the Holiday Inn. Bandung's streets are not as crowded, and they are also less clean. Bandung had the dreary feel of Batman's Metropolis, or Chester Gould's unnamed city in his dark comic Dick Tracy. I'm sure the rainy weather contributed to the overall sense of melancholy, though I'm not sure sunny skies would have helped much.
Saturday we left Jakarta around 8 AM and, after a quick detour back home to get my daughter's beloved blanket - "Dee Dee", we finally made it to Bandung around 10:30 and checked into our hotel. We shopped and ate at a few of the factory outlets and then did a quick visit to the Governor's office building, Gedung Sate.
On Sunday, we awoke early and my daughter and I went swimming in the ice torture pond the hotel referred to as their "pool". Even my daughter was ready to leave after just twenty minutes of shivering...I mean swimming. It turned out to be a cold start to a colder day.
After a buffet breakfast, we decided we would visit Kawa Putih, "White Spring", in the mountains south of Bandung. Kawa Putih is a sulfur spring created by the magma under the mountains surrounding Bandung. The other major, active volcano near Bandung is Tangkuban Perahu, which means "Capsized Boat" because it looks like a boat flipped over. There are hot springs and mud pools near that volcano. I thought Kawa Putih looked more interesting.
The drive to Kawa Putih was an experience of contrasts. While Bandung is a large, busy city with lots of cars, the mountain villages surrounding Bandung are exponentially poorer, with even greater degrees of beauty. The streets were still crowded, only this time cars mingled with bicycle taxis and horse-drawn carts.
The rolling mountain landscapes covered in rice, strawberry, and tea plantations are strikingly beautiful. The wild chaos of the jungle blends harmoniously with the cultivated civilization in a beautiful tapestry of green and glimmering water. Each turn of the road elicited gasps of wonder as they revealed hidden visual splendor.
When finally we reached Kawa Putih, and paid the $1 per person entrance fee, the rain and wind were causing us to second guess our decision to visit. The moment I opened the umbrella, the wind turned it inside out, which the locals found quite humorous. I didn't spend two hours in a car to let a little rain stop me, so, when the rain let up a little, all but my mother-in-law and new baby ventured down the short path to Kawa Putih. It did not disappoint. Though clouds obscured much of its size, what we could see was spectacular. A beautifully pristine white lake, with green accents, Kawa Putih emits a light mist that gives it a mystical, magical quality unlike any place I have seen.
I got the impression they don't see a lot of Bule in Bandung and the surrounding area because several people kept asking me to stop and take pictures with them. I think I'll start calling them the Bule Paparazzi. The cold rain, biting wind, and cool temperatures were not conducive to the short sleeves and shorts we had all worn, so we did not follow one of the many trails around the lake. Low visibility made it a bad idea, too.
Though my wife wants to return to Bandung to spend more time at the outlets, I don't have any interest in returning. I do want to see more of Indonesia, however. We'll be visiting Yogyakarta, a city in the southern part of the island that has a National Heritage Foundation site (Borobudur, the worlds' largest Buddhist temple), when my father-in-law visits in January. I'm tempted to visit Krakatoa, the worlds most dangerous active volcano, but Dangerous and Volcano are a two-word combination I try to avoid. Maybe we will visit Bogor, which has the national Botanical Garden and is just an hour outside Jakarta in the next two weeks when my sister and father come for a visit.
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1 comment:
Less than 1 week...I'm SOOOOO excited!!!! Tell your wife I'll happily go to the outlets with her! :-) I would also be willing to visit the dangerous + volcano!
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