Bandung! and food

Well, I'm now in Bandung for the rest of orientation. The city is a couple hours away from Jakarta, and it's a lot nicer. Jakarta was super crowded and smoggy, and Bandung seems a little less congested. The view from the hotel is very nice; we can see basically the whole city and the mountains to either side.

Bandung is known for its clothes shopping, but it's also a place where you can get any kind of food you want. I've eaten pizza and pad thai, as well as traditional Indonesian, of course. I end up eating fish pretty often.



The food is cheap, but we're not supposed to eat the cheapest food, which is from the street vendors. It's not recommended because we don't know about what kind of water they've been using, and we're not to drink from the tap. Could make us sick.

We've gone a couple of times to eat at the nearest mall (of many; this one is within walking distance). At sundown everyone is going out to eat after fasting for Ramadan, so the mall is very busy and there are lots of families out with us.

One thing that's great about Indonesian cuisine is the fruit. There's so much fresh fruit, all sorts, and growing seasons aren't like the US. Indonesians drink a lot of fruit juice, and, for example, strawberry juice is just strawberries pureed in a blender and poured into a glass. It is also fantastic.



Here's me at the Holland Bakery by our hotel, with some komodo dragon-shaped bread. I'll talk more about food later, and about stuff that we're doing, but for now I've got to get to Bahasa Indonesia class. Sampai jumpa lagi!