Bandung Technical Institute

Day 6, January 16

Breakfast at the Tune was not much different than the last few days. It has been consistently good during out stay. The staff has been very nice and helpful. Would stay here again in a heartbeat.

We checked out of the Tune Hotel in Dago, Bandung, Indonesia this morning. We will be off to Bekasi last today to prepare for the wedding on Sunday. Arief had to tutor some students in physics this morning from 8 ’til 11. After we checked out and had the hotel store our luggage for us we sat around and waited for Arief.

At about 11:30 Arief arrived and we were off to tour the Bandung Technical Institute. The campus is large with a mix of new and old buildings that ahead of their time when they were constructed. Went up on the roof of one that was relatively new and got a nice view of the city and some of the surrounding country side. There was a super hero club initiation going on and it was fun as we moved around campus to various things the students were doing for entrance into the club. It looked like it was more or less a scavenger hunt. One interesting feature of the university is there are many more motor cycles on campus than automobiles and the parking areas reflect this relationship.

From the university we went on to the bus station by taxi. Bus fare for Bonnie and I was 180,000 rupiah. Not bad for a three hours bus ride. The bus left about 15 minutes late. The bus center in Bekasi is in the Hypermall. Our hotel, the Amaroosa, was right next door to the mall. We walked. Along the way we were asked at least 5 times if we wanted a taxi. It was very interesting because they didn’t ask Arief if he wanted a taxi on Bonnie and I.

On our way to dinner in the Hypermall we stopped and got Bonnie a phone case for the phone we bought before we left Anchorage. The case cost 60,000 rupiah, $4.30. The same case in Anchorage would have been $30. So there are bargains in Indonesia other than the hotels and food. So now it was off to dinner. I was little dubious of having dinner in a food court at a mall but we did it in Seattle with good results so why not? We ate at a place called Cobek Penyet. When we walked in we were the only customers. However, Ariefs friend assured him the food was very good. We ordered our dinner and it indeed was great. Bonnie thought her’s too spicy but she was able to eat most of it. So far my experience has been that the Indonesian food is wonderful.

After dinner strolled around the mall for a while and then returned to the hotel. Finanda’s brother is supposed to pick us up at 7:30 in the morning so we need to be ready.