Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Braga Street - Bandung

Braga is one of the streets which is popular in the city of Paris Van Java - Bandung. There are many of the streets here well-known by people outside of Bandung. Some of them are Cihampelas, Setiabudhi and Cipaganti. I am keen on now sharing with you all about the Braga Street that I visited few weeks ago. I am sure they are many explanations about it if you do search on Google or any search engine. So, this excerpt is not a totally new piece of information for you – the Bandungers. But, for those who are not really familiar with this town, I think you need to consider this post. Most importantly, you need to pay a visit this street if once you are here. Why? Because if you visit Bandung but don't visit the street,“it's like tasting salt-free-soup”... :)

Braga, to me is a quite awesome name, I don't know for sure. You might think anything anyway. But I just have impression it must be sort of cool. Or at least it's not the same as others. I don't know what language it is though. 15022011(002)

In my shallow knowledge about this city, Braga is one of the heritages that the people of Bandung is quite proud of since there are not lots of sites left. This legacy has been lasting for quite long. It is kept by the people and government of Bandung. One of the ways of government to keep it is by making the street different from others. The government of Bandung placed certain rocks as the surface of the streets. It will for sure give us different sense as others are usually made from asphalt. 

The quite attention-grabbing thing now in Braga areas is the existence of art showrooms and paints seller. If I am not wrong, there are more than 3 art exhibitions spotted there. Unfortunately I don't know for sure the things they exhibit and all things about them since I only stayed there for a while.

The paints shown and sold at Braga are various. To me, the novice-art-appreciator, they all look quite the same. I mean, I have no a good sense or art so it's quite hard to value and differ every single of them. But, one thing for sure, I loved them, that is why I shot them. 15022011(001) 15022011(003)

Well, aside from the arts and historical stuff, there are also cafe, restaurants, convenient stores and pubs at the area. Their presence, what I know, results pro and con in society as it might blur the prior concept to make Braga as the precious historical site and world heritage. This thing has been some sort of confusing to me. In one side they are sometime helpful to the people. But in the other side, they make the site look little bit weird. I mean, it's supposed to be somewhat old and memorable, but it looks modern, too.

All in all, you need to visit this street so you may know the real situation there. Please do share with me if you find beneficial information. Although I've been living in Bandung for years, I know only minuscule thing about this street and the entire city. Keep writing, keep loving Bandung :)

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Night Cruise

Assalamualaikum wr wb,
Back to write!
It was at around 10.30 pm driving from a quite far place from my dorm - Cicaheum to Ledeng. I and some friends drove our motorcycle. The streets we passed by were mostly empty from cars and other vehicles. I just wondered and actually thanked God as we didn't meet traffic jam we pretty much have during the daytime. It was completely different indeed as in the day the streets are crowded. We barely loved that situation.

We hope for the better Bandung and one of the signs is that, less cars or motorbike on the road. But the question is that, is this possible while I personally own that? I then asked myself, am I contributing to the problem of this city? Ok then, I'm going to first try to this situation.

As a Muslim of course we have to obey and follow the rules stated in our Holly Book – the Quran and Sunnah. The Quran says we've got to work and live ourselves as Allah ordains us to do so. Aside from earning some money for life, this action is for sure aimed to make us closer to our God as He has given us one of His Mercies – money. The little issue then appears when we do some mistakes in our efforts, realized or not. We for sure have ever made some wrong doings in our action to find so-called fold-able stuff. We just tend to overlook it or maybe find hard to recall it. To me, polluting the air in this beautiful city is also a mistake I do. But again, I can only entertain myself by talking to the God that this is merely one of my ways to get closer to Him. Then I do hard to make atonement as I think this is the most right thing I can do to deal with mistake I mentioned above, forgive me and other people my Lord, please, amiin.

Talking about making some betterment of this city might not as easy as applying its idea. Tons of brilliant concepts have been made, discussed or proposed to the government. What I can feel and remember so far are the problem of traffic jam and sanitary. I feel these directly as I am an active experiencer. I drive almost everyday and see the dumped trashes at almost all the street's corner.

The solution we have realized (but hard to apply) is that, we limit the number of vehicles and at the same time we provide the mass transporter as soon as possible. Making restriction in the business of automotive is sort of difficult as the city of ours is now in the phase of development – way to far from advanced. It is then sort of forgiven for the developing town or even nations to make some little mistakes. To make it clear we can believe to this statement “How can we chase up or compete with the well-developed ones if we are restricted?” This is what is said by China, Indonesia and India when they are tackled by the developed nations regarding to the global warming. Yes, the nation such as America has been using abundance of energy of the earth, fuel, since long time ago to boost it economy. That is why this country is now leading in industry and trade.

Going back the case of Bandung, no one can deliberately blame the motorbike or car owners when they jamming the road. Yes, they can easily say “I am doing betterment for myself, family and my city. How can I compete with other cities if I don't drive?” Well, I think I am one of them who says this.

The next thing I am trying to highlight is that the mass transporter which is for sure effective. This must be able to comply some requirements I am solely proposing here. First, it has to accommodate as people as it can. Then the fare must be cheaper than if we pay for the gasoline for driving. Third, it must be comfortable and easy to be accessed. The last, the routes and the number of this transporter must suffice the need of all people in this city. The reason for delaying this establishment is terribly bad as the problem will remain and even get worse. The problem mentioned the most is usually the money – investment. Yes, it does need lots of cash to execute this project. Time also matters. Cons from society about this project will might appear as it's human nature, people! But please, keep looking my, Govt! I am sure the investors are not that hard to find. China or countries in middle east are some of the promising investors to be.

Well, I am saying this quite easily as it's simple my coming out from my mind. I just feel I need to share this as the problem is so mind boggling. I simply write this idea as it's been quite awhile not producing piece of writing. This night drive at least nudges me to come back writing. Sleeping time anyway, bye!
Wassalamualaikum wr wb.