BANDUNG

Bandung is the capital of West Java in Indonesia. Bandung is 180 kilometers southeast from Jakarta. Although it has a population of over two million the pace of city life is slower than Jakarta's. Today Bandung has a population of 2 million people, Bandung area an estimated 4 million. Bandung is situated on a plateau 768 meters above sea level with a cool climate throughout the year. Bandung is the most European city of Java. The raining season starts in Bandung a little bit earlier, then the rest of Indonesia. Normally the raining season in Indonesia is from October till May, the peak of the raining season is in January. The dry season is from June until August, temperature is then 25-30 degrees Celsius during the day. In the morning, the sun is almost shining every day, but in the afternoon many times it gets cloudy, for sunbathing we have to wake up early from 6.30 the sun is already there. In the evening when the sun is down the temperature has drops. The average temperature in Bandung is 22 degrees Celsius; the weather is pleasant all year round.

There are short drives up to the mountain resorts of Lembang and the Bosscha Observatory, and higher to the volcanic crater of Tangkuban Perahu, the only crater in Java accessible all the way by car as far as its rim. It is an awe-inspiring sight of emanating sulfur fumes. Descent into all the volcano's 12 craters is only possible with the aid of an experienced guide, because of the presence of suffocating gases at certain spots.
Just a 15 minutes drive from Tangkuban Perahu is a hot springs resort. Here we can swim in warm mineral water pools, good for healing skin problems. The resort provides visitors with a bar, restaurants, tennis courts and cottage style hotels overlooking a beautiful mountain-scope.

In Bandung, try to see the "Wayang Golek" wooden puppet show and hear the "Angklung" bamboo orchestra, as well as the classical Sundanese gamelan and dances. Several institutes of higher education are located here, including the country's prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology.

HISTORY
In 1488, the area now named Bandung was the capital of the Kingdom of Pajajaran. During colonial times, the government of the Dutch East Indies built a supply road connecting Batavia (now Jakarta), Bogor, Cianjur, Bandung, Sumedang and Cirebon. This event was very important for the growth of Bandung. In the 1930s the Dutch East Indies government planned for Bandung to become the capital of the Dutch East Indies due to its location, however World War II disrupted these plans.

It is not known exactly when Bandung city was built. However, contrary to the beliefs of some the city was not originally built by the orders of Daendels, the Dutch East Indies Governor General, but by the orders of 'Bupati' R.A. Wiranatakusumah II. The Dutch colonial powers built wide tree-lined boulevards, villas, gardens, and fountains, earning Bandung the nickname of "Parijs van Java", the Paris of Java, in the early 20th century. Many of these structures survive to today, and can be seen along the road leading to the Dago area north of the city.

After Indonesian independence, Bandung was named as the provincial capital of West Java. Bandung was the site of the Bandung Conference which met April 18-April 24, 1955 with the aim of promoting economic and cultural cooperation among the African and Asian countries, and to counter the threat of colonialism or neocolonialism by the United States, the Soviet Union, or other imperialistic nations.

Banyusumurup, the Village of Keris Accessories

Looking at the process of the making of keris accessories is the most proper agenda after seeing keris collections and keris decorating process. You will get complete description on how keris and its accessories are made. For this purpose, you may visit Banyusumurup village that has been developing since 1950s as central of keris accessories handicraft.

Banyusumurup village produces warangka or keris seath functioning to hold the keris. This area is located to the south of Giwangan bus terminal. From the crossroad of Giwangan bus terminal, you go southwards and when you get to the T-junction, you turn right to follow the road leading to Imogiri. There is no taxi or public transportation to get to this village.

The cool atmosphere of the village will greet you upon your arrival to this area. Even though it has developed as handicrafts village, the atmosphere of this village is similar to villages in general; there is no signing board or direction board as you find in Kasongan village that is famous for its earth ware handicrafts. Most of the craftsmen produce keris accessories at household scale and by far there is no gallery or special brand of keris accessories in this village. Nonetheless, there is one craftsman whose products are famous, namely Mr. Jiwo.

In Mr. Jiwo's house, you can see the making process of keris seath that generally is made from brass sheet. Almost the same as carving keris, the making of the seath also uses very simple equipments namely hammers, carving nails, and the holding base from the asphalt. This process is less sophisticated than the process of making keris decoration since there is no raw material melting process.

The brass sheet as the raw material is first made a plain seath then soldering process is done. Next, to hold the case firmly for carving process, the plain keris seath is attached to the surface of the base holder made from the melted asphalt. The carving process starts according to the motif to be made. The craftsmen told YogYES that most of the cases are dominated with flowers motifs.

After carving process, the keris case enters finishing step. In this step, the carvings on the seath are brought out to contast by using an iron bar. To get brighter color, the case is polished with acidic substance. In the past, many craftsmen made use of lemon juice to brighten the color, but now more craftsmen use HCl substance for practical reason.

If you visit the other homes producing the accessories, you can see the process of pendok making. In general, most of the handles are made from tamarind wood in two styles, namely Solo style that is bigger and curved and Yogyakarta style that is smaller. Some of them make keris handles with varied designs, ranging from animals such as lion and dragon to human figures. To get the expected handles, the wood is carved according to the prepared designs.

Different from the craftsmen in Serangan village who still depend on orders, the keris accessories craftsmen in Banyusumurup village keep on producing new accessories everyday. When YogYES asked one of the workers in Mr. Jiwo's house, at the average each person produces minimum of 2 cases everyday.

Please visit this village and you will see various keris cases, handles, and other keris accessories in various designs.

Tamansari (Water Castle)

Formerly Tamansari was a recreation garden or a resting house for the Sultan and Family. The other resting houses including Warungboto, Manukberi, Ambarbingun, and Ambarrukmo functioned for the vacation and meditation for the royal family. The other function is used as hiding place for royal family to defend against the enemy assault.

Tamansari is located about 2 km south of Yogyakarta Palace. Built by Portuguese architect in European aquatic construction adorned with Javanese Symbolize ornaments. Tamansari was built in the Sultan Hamengku Buwono I period in the end of XVII Century. Tamansari not only just a recreation, but it's also a compound of bathing pool, canals, rooms and extremerly large swimming pool (if the canals opened).

The Tamansari complex consist of:

1. The Sacred Room
   There is the sacred place in the complex showing a separated building, which once functioned as a hermitage place for the Sultan and his family
2. The Bathing Pool
   This part was formerly a pleasure place for the royal family. Consists of two bathing pool that are separated with a 2-storey building. From this building the Sultan watched all the women swimming in the outer pool. Then he might ask some of them to accompany him into the inner pool. The water sprouts from a forming animal statue into the pool. The pool is also adorned with some big flowerpot.

3. Kenanga or Cemeti Island
   This part compounds of some building such as Kenanga or Cemeti Island (forming Island), Sumur Gemuling and underground tunnels.

   This artificial island is a high building used as resting room and reconnoitering place. This will be the only building surfaced when the canals opened and the water over flew this area. From the higher place it like lotus floating in the middle of big pool.

   Sumur Gemuling is building constructed in circle such a well (Javanese: sumur) where some rooms formerly used as praying room.

   The tunnels in this area were underground passageways to the Sultan palace. The legend says about secret tunnel connecting to the south sea (Indian Ocean) where Nyai Roro Kidul or the Queen of the South has her palace. The supernatural Queen becomes the wife of Yogyakarta Sultan for many generations. This secret tunnels is gateway to the world where the Sultan meeting is supernatural wife. However the building also functioned as a hiding place for the royal family against the enemy attack.

Tamansari is an interesting place to visit. Besides the location is very closed to the Sultan palace, Tamansari has it owned speciality in attraction reflecting in some unimpaired ancient building and its atmosphere as the main tourist object of Yogyakarta.

There is Masjid Sokotunggal, a unique mosque with a single pillar that is different from Javanese traditional architecture. Although built in the early of XX century, the mosque gives another attraction of this area. Kampung Taman that lies in the Tamansari complex nearby known for the batik craft. Visitor can buy or watch handmade process for both batik painting and batik clothes. Therefore people from all over Indonesia and abroad have visited this village. Not for from Tamansari is Ngasem traditional market, the biggest bird market in Yogyakarta. All of those attractions have made Tamansari become one of main tourist object in Yogyakarta besides Yogyakarta palace.