The true meaning of this ancient, awe-inspiring creation has been lost in the mists of time. Was it a temple for sun worship, a healing centre, a burial site or perhaps a huge calendar? How did our ancestors manage to carry the mighty stones from so far away and then, using only the most primitive of tools, build this amazing structure? Surrounded by mystery, Stonehenge never fails to impress (Text from English Heritage).

The best-known of all megalithic sites dates back 4000 years

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Dorayaki ponyo likes to sleep

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Dorayaki and her Peanut!

My first nasi tumpeng: a feast of gratitude, thanksgiving and celebration of success.

Tumpeng is a cone-shaped rice dish like mountain with its side dishes (vegetables and meat). Traditionally featured in the slamatan ceremony, the cone shape of rice is made by using cone-shaped weaved bamboo container. The rice itself could be plain steam rice, uduk rice (cooked with coconut milk), or yellow rice (uduk rice colored with kunyit (turmeric)).

The cone shaped rice erected on tampah (rounded woven bamboo container) covered with banana leaf, and surrounded by assorted of Indonesian dishes.

People in Java, Bali and Madura usually make Tumpeng to celebrate important event. However, all Indonesians are familiar with Tumpeng. The philosophy of Tumpeng is related to the geographical condition of Indonesia, especially Java as fertile island with numerous mountains and volcanos. Tumpeng dated back to ancient Indonesian tradition that revered mountains as the abode of ancestors and gods. The cone-shaped rice meant to mimics the holy mountain. The feast served as somekind of thanks giving for the abundance of harvest or any other blessings.

In gratitude ceremony (syukuran or slametan), after the people pray, the top of tumpeng is cut and delivered to the most important person. He or she may be the group leader, the oldest person, or the beloved one. Then, all people in the ceremony enjoy the tumpeng together. With tumpeng, people express the gratitude to God and appreciate togetherness and harmony (Source: from wikipedia).

Thank you Bandung!

—— MMS —— From:/TYPE=PLMN Sent: Oct 17, 2010 06:28

sunrise @ mabul island

Pudding’s monologue: “As the number of diseases increase over the years, I need a specialized care at least once in my lifetime. When are you gonna get me a health and accident insurance?”

Hello you two.. anyone … ?

The sun was shining when we landed at Bandara Husein Sastranegara Airport, Bandung: a clear indication that this short trip over the weekend would be an exciting one. Bandung is a city in West Java, Indonesia and well known for its many factory outlets and textile industry. In addition, Bandung is elevated close to 800 ft above sea level and therefore enjoys an average temperature of about 23 deg C — the cool temperature throughout the year and its active volcanoes (Tangkuban Perahu) are also the crowd pullers to this city of about 2.6M people.

We stayed at Aston Braga which is a very well positioned hotel on the historic Braga area. The staff was friendly, the decor was modern and we enjoyed the nice beds. Its linked to a shopping mall where you can find many local foods at its food court — and there are cheaper too.

With two rented cars from Mulia Car Rental, our first stop was Tangkuban Perahu (TP) crater. We were fortunate to have come early in the morning as it allowed us to have a clear view of the crater from the mountain top. You can see the smoke and smell the sulphur coming out from the crater which is probably a good thing because if the smell goes away, that would probably mean that there is going to be a volcanic eruption :)

A few things to note while visiting this place: there are so many people trying to sell you something and they are extremely persistent. They can just overwhelmed you pressing you to buy their stuffs. Our driver told us that the TP Park officials are now trying to control this by limiting the number of peddlers to about 800 people (which is still too many). Try to avoid and turn them away nicely. Of course, it would be so much better if there were no peddlers on the mountain top where you can really enjoy the scenery, the rocks and the strange bonsai-like trees.

Also, be aware of the many self-appointed guides that may walk along with you, they would share some stories about the volcanoes and local stories: they will show you their name tags and will continue to press on asking you to buy their stuffs (which are overpriced).

On the way back to Bandung, we had a short stop at Ciater Tea Plantation to pick some tea leaves! Ciater highland is located at the north side of mount Tangkuban Perahu, West Java – we were told that this is one of the 21 tea plantations that cover over 35,000 hectares! The green landscape is certainly refreshing. At the tea factory, a guide walked us through the process of making tea from freshly picked leaves until packaging for export; and afterwards treated ourselves each with a warm cup of tea.

Needless to say any further, the rest of the remaining two days were spent on shopping around the streets of Bandung.

The four areas that are popular for factory outlets are: Jalan Dago, Jalan Riau, Jalan Setiabudi and Cihampelas. Notes: we visited these areas during weekdays so the traffic jams were not so bad. Be careful when visiting these during weekends — these areas can get extremely jammed up! Also, do take note that mass brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Future.now, Eddie Bauer, MAG, Nautica, Fendi, Elle, Hugo Boss, DKNY, Espirit, Calvin Klein, Armani, Crocodile, Balley Apostrophe, Alfred Dunhill, Nike, Reebok, Limited, The Gap, Banana Republic, Guess, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo, Adidas, Puma, Ann Taylor, D&G, BCBG, J. Crew, Allure, Bennetton, Cerruti 1881, Victoria’s Secret, NY & Company, Sag Harbor, Old Navy, Ocean Pacific, Roxy, Hush Puppy, Table Eight, Cherokee, Express, Karen Scott, Sears, MNG etc are most likely real products (they are just overruns or have quality that did not meet the buyers specs); yet specific supersbrands such as Channel, Dior etc — these are possibly real fakes (or called asli-palsu by the locals).

Rumah Mode on Jalan Setiabudi – has a very good collection of various clothes, for ladies, guys and kids. They also have a store just for handbags! The best part — a large dining area and a cheap foot reflexology centers. Verdict: spent at least 4 – 5 hours here. Will come back!

Heritage Factory Outlet on Jalan Riau – we were told that this place have many selection of good clothes. We actually found it quite limited and the ambience was quite dull. We noted that there is a cafe next to it but we didn’t try the food. The interior deco is really lacking too. Verdict: Dont bother to come back – well may come back if we were at Cascade — seems like these two outlets are one big family.

Adjoining Heritage is Cascade. Looks like just a shopping mall that sells only clothings with very good selection of mass brands: ICH, Bauhaus, Badger, Skaters, Raven Reich, Salt, Nymph, Magnum and many others. Its unfortunate that they do not provide jeans or pants alteration service. There is a big restaurant on the second floor that serves local Indonesia cuisines as well as mix selection of western foods. Verdict: 1 -2 hours is ok. Will come back again.

Grande Fashion Gallery on Jalan Dago – Nice collection — even for men too like Burberry and Hugo jeans. Verdict: will come back (if got money).

Rich & Famous on Jalan Dago – They have wide range of brands including Gap, Old Navy, Abercrombie & Fitch, Calvin Klein, Guess, Reebok, Nike, Levi’s. Verdict — will come back, of course — to Dago area.

Fashion House and natural Factory Outlet on Jalan Setiabudi – the two outlets are just next to Rumah Mode. Good collections too. If you are visiting Rumah Mode, there two are just within 2 – 3 minutes walking distance.

Other outlets that are worth spending more time:

- Secret Factory Outlet on Jalan Riau
- Jeans Street or Cihampelas Shopping Street – you’ll see many superheroes featured on top of each individual shop to attract shoppers: Ironman, Superman, Ultraman, Wonder Woman and so on. Worth checking them out. In any case, if you expect higher quality jeans, you can get them at Toko Tiga on Jalan Ahmad Yani — they sell overruns Levi’s or old stocks of high quality Levi’s jeans at a very reasonable price! A 505 Levi’s jeans is sold at about IDR299,000 or at about RM90! Plan to spend at least 1 – 2 hrs here.
- House of Donatello (Dago & Setiabudi) – this is actually a local brand selling mainly leather goods such as shoes, wallets, purses, belts and handbags. Good quality too.

Lastly, if you are not brand-conscious, a must-visit place is Pasar Baru. This is a big, multi-storey textile, garments and gifts center in central Bandung. We were told that the market was built in 1906 and certainly has had many old stories as part of its histories; it also has some share of bad reviews in the past due to over-crowdedness, pick pockets and smelly sewerage. The market was rebuilt in 2003 with a lot of modernization — in fact, Pasar Baru literally means New Market and is quite modern now and with different ambiance. If you like to bargain, this is a great place to be. We will certainly come back here again.

We ended up spending a few millions rupiah; a lot of clothes, jeans, some news bags, happy hearts and of course, a lot of baju baru dari Bandung!

MORE PHOTOS @Bandung.

Special dish (especially when you ran out of LPG and you only have oven and salted fish): Oven baked salted fish with bambangan + tuhau.

Salted fish mixed with a bit of cooking oil or butter, add white chillies, onions, ginger and garlic. Those go into the oven for 30 minutes at 230degC. Add some lemon, bambangan and tuhau — This one really tastes like home. Try it for yourself.

[notes]
tuhau – a type of herbs from the ginger family, commonly found in the rainforest of Borneo
bambangan – fermented flesh of a fruit from the mango family of mangifera pajang.

These are actually fresh bamboo shoots: yes — obtained from bamboo grass – these are young bamboo shoots at about 3 – 4 weeks old. The shoots have tough, layered skins but after peeling them off, you will have tender inner cores shown in the photos. These can then be sliced into smaller strips, boiled in water for about 30 minutes before deep-fried with meat. Super delicious!

MORE PHOTOS @Toboh 2010

Baby’s house (by Steve Miller)

Inside her silver house, alone
She sings a song
Of water turned to sand
She waits, her time is her own

Inside her looking glass
Black is the color she sees
While waiting for the sun
She lives, so patiently

Young man travelling along
Passes by a window
Singing a song

Feel the wind blow
As my blood flows
Through the shadows
Of my soul, today

See the rainbows
As my love grows
My heart knows
What my mind won’t say

The living is easy
I’m born to be free
The living is easy
There’s no reason to explain

Sitting in her sitting room, patiently
She waits for a change, suddenly
Oh, the changes come
Hearing a song, her blood begins to flow
She no longer is alone

Lying in her sitting room, silently
He touches her hand, joyfully
And so love has begun
With joy in her heart
She receives his flowing soul
And love grows
And it grows
And it grows

Inside her purple house
Oh Lord, filled by her man
A child begins to grow
Oh Lord, who can understand