August
2, Thursday
Hey, my hotel had a pool !
Local taxis in Bandung
On the way up the Mt Tangkuban Perahuto to view the crater
Kahwa Ratu crater
A zoom in to the deepest part, but it is hidden by an emerging mount within the crater
There are actually three craters: smoke coming out of the second one in the middle of the picture and a third one where you see white cliffs in the far background
Looking back along the path I followed from the upper level parking lot. Lots of small stalls to purchase souvenirs
one of the stalls has a snake skeleton on display
Some of the artists use "batik" wood for their carvings. This artist is removing the dark bark to reveal the beautiful natural patterns within the trunk.
Stratovolcanoes are sometimes called "composite volcanoes" because of their composite layered structure built up from sequential outpourings of eruptive materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes. Two famous stratovolcanoes are Krakatoa, best known for its catastrophic eruption in 1883 and Vesuvius, famous for its destruction of the towns Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 A.D. Both eruptions claimed thousands of lives. (To name a few more: Mount St. Helens, Mount Pélée, Nevado del Ruiz which I saw in Peru, Mount Fuji which I saw in Japan, Mounts Colima & Popocatépetl which I saw in Mexico, and much more to come in Java!)
Some of the tea plantations in the area
I get to visit a tea processing plant at Ciater, north of Bandung: The entire process is completed within 2 days from the time the tea arrives in the plant until it is bagged and ready to ship: plants received and sorted in batches, left to wilt and dry for about 20 hours to decrease the moisture content and increase the caffeine, the leaves are moved around by hand (or bruised) during this process to break down the chlorophyll.
The leaves arrive and are placed in these plastic baskets
This is an example of one type of tea they process.
The leaves actually start to ferment during this process. The leaves are then cooked for about 20 minutes to further dry them out. The chopped, cooked leaves are then sorted to remove bad stuff, then bagged & shipped. Grade 1 = white tea: top tiny leaf. Grade 2 = green tea: next two leaves. Grade 3 = black tea: all other leaves. It is the amount of oxidation that makes the difference between these grades of tea. Same as in India and China, the best teas are exported and the tea served in local establishments is not that great.
bruising the leaves after they have been sorted
Feeding wood into the baking ovens
Packaging the finished product
More tea fields on the drive to the spa.
I then got to relax at the Sari Ater Resort & Spa at Ciater. Fed by hot springs, the water was very hot.
I had brought my bathing suit along and hoped that the soak in the hot mineral water would help my legs which are again swollen and full of bug bites.
Houses here are built with small bricks, then plaster is used to cover the walls.
Beautiful tea fields on ondulating hills north of Bandung
There were also rice, beans, tomatoes and chillies growing in the surrounding fields.
This tiny little girl was begging in the street. Her family calmly sitting under a nearby tree.
And this was our teacher and music conductor
Then we had a whole orchestra of angklungs playing some musical numbers
And the finale, where everyone sang us a goodbye song.
On the drive back to the hotel, we passed some parents bringing their children home after a long day at work
You can't see the second little girl, twins; one wearing green shoes and one wearing pink.
and this little guy fell asleep on the way home.
We leave the hotel at 8:30 to visit the volcanic crater on
Mt Tangkuban Perahu. Kahwa Ratu is the
biggest of the three craters.
Local taxis in Bandung
On the way up the Mt Tangkuban Perahuto to view the crater
Kahwa Ratu crater
A zoom in to the deepest part, but it is hidden by an emerging mount within the crater
There are actually three craters: smoke coming out of the second one in the middle of the picture and a third one where you see white cliffs in the far background
Looking back along the path I followed from the upper level parking lot. Lots of small stalls to purchase souvenirs
one of the stalls has a snake skeleton on display
Some of the artists use "batik" wood for their carvings. This artist is removing the dark bark to reveal the beautiful natural patterns within the trunk.
Huge crater of a dormant stratovolcano 30 km north of
Bandung (last erupted in 1983 but there
was an “alert” in 2005 when they stopped visitors from accessing the site ! !
!)
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield
volcanoes, stratovolcanoes
are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive
eruptions and quiet eruptions. The lava that flows from stratovolcanoes typically cools and hardens
before spreading far due to high viscosity. The magma forming this lava is often
felsic, having high-to-intermediate levels of silica (as in rhyolite, dacite, or andesite), with lesser amounts of less-viscous mafic magma. Extensive felsic lava flows are
uncommon, but have travelled as far as 15 km (9.3 mi). Stratovolcanoes are sometimes called "composite volcanoes" because of their composite layered structure built up from sequential outpourings of eruptive materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes. Two famous stratovolcanoes are Krakatoa, best known for its catastrophic eruption in 1883 and Vesuvius, famous for its destruction of the towns Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 A.D. Both eruptions claimed thousands of lives. (To name a few more: Mount St. Helens, Mount Pélée, Nevado del Ruiz which I saw in Peru, Mount Fuji which I saw in Japan, Mounts Colima & Popocatépetl which I saw in Mexico, and much more to come in Java!)
When we get back down the mountain, we are surrounded by
tea plantations. Tea plants as far as
the eye can see. Daniel informs me that
these are all government owned.
I get to visit a tea processing plant at Ciater, north of Bandung: The entire process is completed within 2 days from the time the tea arrives in the plant until it is bagged and ready to ship: plants received and sorted in batches, left to wilt and dry for about 20 hours to decrease the moisture content and increase the caffeine, the leaves are moved around by hand (or bruised) during this process to break down the chlorophyll.
The leaves arrive and are placed in these plastic baskets
This is an example of one type of tea they process.
The leaves actually start to ferment during this process. The leaves are then cooked for about 20 minutes to further dry them out. The chopped, cooked leaves are then sorted to remove bad stuff, then bagged & shipped. Grade 1 = white tea: top tiny leaf. Grade 2 = green tea: next two leaves. Grade 3 = black tea: all other leaves. It is the amount of oxidation that makes the difference between these grades of tea. Same as in India and China, the best teas are exported and the tea served in local establishments is not that great.
bruising the leaves after they have been sorted
Feeding wood into the baking ovens
Packaging the finished product
More tea fields on the drive to the spa.
I then got to relax at the Sari Ater Resort & Spa at Ciater. Fed by hot springs, the water was very hot.
I had brought my bathing suit along and hoped that the soak in the hot mineral water would help my legs which are again swollen and full of bug bites.
We drive back to Bandung via a very narrow mountain road,
from which I get a beautiful view of Bandung
Beautiful tea fields on ondulating hills north of Bandung
There were also rice, beans, tomatoes and chillies growing in the surrounding fields.
This tiny little girl was begging in the street. Her family calmly sitting under a nearby tree.
We were supposed to be visiting a jean outlet this
afternoon, and for once I was looking forward to shopping since I need to
replace my Simon Chang jeans. No luck,
we bypassed the outlets and headed for a musical concert. I guess because of all the traffic jams in
the streets of Bandung, there simply was not enough time for the shopping
portion. Saung Angklung Udjo is a
private school where children learn traditional dancing as well as how to play
a unique bamboo instrument called Angkung or angklung.
The tiny performers
They sang and danced
Here is an series of octave angklungs
Beautiful dancers gave us graceful performances
This is the angklung that I played.
And here is the audience, participating in the playing
It was really cute and reminded me of Sydney and Emily’s dance concerts. At one point the children distribute one angklung to each person in the audience. They are each identified by a number between 1 and 8, corresponding to the musical notes on a scale (Do, re, mi, etc). The teacher shows us the hand sign he will use that corresponds to each note so that we know when to “rattle” our instrument. We end up playing five tunes in total and everyone is really into it. I wanted to film the performance of the audience playing, but that would have meant putting my instrument down and not playing, and I wanted to keep playing! It was wonderful. They kids performing were also great. Some of the tiny boys and girls were quite the characters and had us laughing at their antics. They weren’t exactly doing what they were supposed to, but their toothless grins and their endless energy were priceless.
This is the trio that really cracked up the show. They were just so cute
The tiny performers
They sang and danced
Here is an series of octave angklungs
Beautiful dancers gave us graceful performances
This is the angklung that I played.
And here is the audience, participating in the playing
It was really cute and reminded me of Sydney and Emily’s dance concerts. At one point the children distribute one angklung to each person in the audience. They are each identified by a number between 1 and 8, corresponding to the musical notes on a scale (Do, re, mi, etc). The teacher shows us the hand sign he will use that corresponds to each note so that we know when to “rattle” our instrument. We end up playing five tunes in total and everyone is really into it. I wanted to film the performance of the audience playing, but that would have meant putting my instrument down and not playing, and I wanted to keep playing! It was wonderful. They kids performing were also great. Some of the tiny boys and girls were quite the characters and had us laughing at their antics. They weren’t exactly doing what they were supposed to, but their toothless grins and their endless energy were priceless.
And this was our teacher and music conductor
Then we had a whole orchestra of angklungs playing some musical numbers
And the finale, where everyone sang us a goodbye song.
On the drive back to the hotel, we passed some parents bringing their children home after a long day at work
You can't see the second little girl, twins; one wearing green shoes and one wearing pink.
and this little guy fell asleep on the way home.
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