April 27, 2013
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Bandung Trip.
This past week I went out of town for a couple of days of business trip, to accompany my Japanese guests to visit our customers in the city of Bandung, in the western region of Java island. On our second day, we had some free time in the morning for some sight-seeing. We left our hotel early after breakfast and headed up to the nearby mountain region of Lembang to visit a volcanic site called Tangkuban Perahu, an hour ride out of the city. It was a clear sunny morning and we had ourselves a little hike to enjoy some fresh mountain air and a scenic view of the volcanic area, complete with its sulfur smell.
After a while, we decided to rest for a little bit at one of the many huts of vendors selling charcoal-grilled corn and charcoal-grilled glutinous rice cakes. We ordered ourselves some bottled tea and local raspberries to quench our thirst. The raspberries were a pleasant surprise. It was my first time trying them local-grown raspberries. They were as delicate as the raspberries I’ve tried overseas, but with a better tart-sweetness that came with a hint of floral scent that I never tasted before. We ended staying at the volcanic site for about an hour before we decided to head back down to Bandung.
Feeling hungry, on the way down from Lembang we stopped by at a local tofu factory/shop/café for some snacking. There were various kinds of local dishes available using the tofu made on site. We ordered only a couple of fried tofu dishes, for we still had a lunch appointment to go to later in the city. The cool mountain air and the exhaustion from the hike made the piping hot fried tofu seemed like a gift from God. They were scrumptiously addictive. Crisp outer skin, delicate interior, combined with sweet-spicy dipping sauce, made it tasted like the best tofu one could ever have. It's not much of a surprise, really, for Bandung is also know for their tofu products. My Japanese guests gave their approval for how their morning turned out. I’m just glad they were able to enjoy the brief sight-seeing session, which made the whole business trip seemed more worthwhile.
Comments (9)
Beautiful scenery - love the flower! OK, so I love the food too
. I would enjoy visting the site.
All fruits in the tropics taste so much better than anywhere in Europe or the States. Love that red flower amidst the rocks. Brings to mind passages from my Scripture, where He says that a plant can sprout out from a rock only by His command.
Rudy is the tofu covered with wrappers (egg roll wrappers) before they are fried? I have tried to fry tofu without the cover, and invariably it is a fiasco. What are the rolls in the last two pictures?
I am now officially hungry
Wow, the volcano is quite a spectacular landscape.
What a lovely region ! It's truly a magnificent place and I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't be impressed by the amazing natural beauty. I think it's great that there was time to show the visitors from Japan the place, even though they had just come over on a business trip. They will truly head back feeling so much better than if they had traveled there just for pure business.
Sounds like you got to enjoy a lot of delicious food that day, especially since you stopped at the Tofu place before going for lunch later. With all of the walking you all did though I'm sure you were all hungry. More people will have to take some pages out of your book and try to make business trips a little more exciting. Take care and have a great start to the week, bye for now.
Kyle
Ooh, interesting scenery. I like tofu, goes well with hot' spicy sauce too!
Wonderful shots! Thanks for sharing!
@Fatcat723 - yeah, i too liked the flower. it was an unexpected find. but i LOVED the tofu. food is always better
@ZSA_MD - that flower grew out of an old tree trunk. yeah, it was old enough that the skin of the trunk looks like the texture of a rock. as for the fried tofu, they were fried as they are. no wrappers or skin added. i'm not sure how they did it, i assume they must have used tons of vegetable oil and enough room for the tofu to swim around in the oil as they are fried, so to avoid them sticking or breaking.
@NIMOnkey - that makes us BOTH. yeah, i can get hungry looking at my own posts.
@beowulf222 - yeah, it was indeed. the weather helps. the last time i went there, it wasn't as nice. it was foggy and windy and cloudy.
@kyle061685 - yeah, the japanese guests had a great time. they accompanied me during my visit to japan to their factory last year. this time it was my turn. i'm just glad to be able to return the favor.
@CurryPuffy - the tofu was DELISH!!
@CareyGLY - you welcome, carey. glad you enjoyed my post.
I was trying to imagine how the flowers smell like. I was doing business in Jakarta for several weeks. On weekend the company driver took me to visit the multiple huge shopping malls. Somehow reading your blog made me wished I ask him to drive me way out of town to see the country side. I did stay in Sumatra island for several weeks on company compound. It was nice.