The Missing Ingredient: Notes from the Streets of Southeast Asia: Bandung, Indonesia

Mango and smiles

I have been interested in visiting Bandung for a long time. As a fan of the author Richard Wright I had first heard about this city when I read a biography of Wright and it mentioned that he had written a book about the Bangdung conference in 1955, this lead to the formation of the non-aligned movement that is currently still in existence. Although I did not see many remnants of the conference I did get to see what is currently happening in Indonesia youth scene. I was once again taken in by a friend of my vinyl friends in Jakarta. He showed me his great record collection and later we drove to the top of the hills in Bandung and attended a huge party being thrown by Levi's. The world is flat, what one group consumes another can simply log on and participate in that community. The attendees were incredibly hip but also in the midst of clove cigarettes and people drinking beer were young woman with hijabs. It makes me think that Indonesia has found some middle ground at the moment where both the modern and the traditional can coexist.