In Bandung

The other day, I had an interesting experience – Tim took me to an acupuncture specialist. For a long time now, I have been curious as to this procedure having heard many people swear by it.  All summer long, my feet have been acting up (plantar fasciitis) and nothing has helped (which is really unfortunate considering all the walking we’re doing) so I decided to give it a go.

Apparently this specialist is quite famous in Bandung and has studied and practised Chinese medicine for years.  He asked me several questions then had me lie on a bed where I rec’d needles in my hands, inner knees, and sides of my ankles. I remained still for 10 minutes then all needles except those in my hands were removed. He wanted me to walk about the room to see how my feet felt. Of course, trying to get off the bed with pins in my hands was an impossible feat and one of the needles moved, causing me excruciating pain (as well as, contorting it into a weird position) – a little flick by the good doctor and all was well again. My feet didn’t feel any different but I had had enough so he removed the remaining needles. He said I might need another treatment but I had already decided that was the last one for me. Acupuncture was not my thing.

A better experience was last night’s movie event.  Tim had been telling us for some time about the ‘Premier’ movie opportunity that cinemas provide here so we decided to give it a whirl – the Fast and the Furious was playing so Ian and I bought the tickets earlier in the day.  We went to the usual box office location but were directed to the ‘Premier’ cinema through a set of glass doors.  A woman ushered us to take a seat in two very nice chairs in front of her desk where we were waited on. We had to choose our seats in advance and the computer screen revealed a very tiny theatre (maybe 20 seats). The three tickets totalled 15 dollars.

Let me tell you – this was the BEST movie experience I have ever had.  One arrival, we were SHOWN to our seats: large leather lazy boy chairs (I kid you not) with side tables and cup holders. The usher demonstrated the lever that reclines the chair and then opened the drawer under our tables to reveal warm soft blankets. He then took our drink and food orders. We removed our shoes, covered ourselves with the blankets, and reclined our seats. I had popcorn (of course) and Ian had noodles served on a china plate with silver cutlery. The movie was pretty bad but we didn’t care.

Ian and I went for a couple of walks in Tim’s neighbourhood. I discovered that around the corner, right up against his house, is a shack with roosters and hens owned by a local. This explains the rooster crowing at all hours.  It amazes me how there are these incredible homes right beside little shacks.  We found a beautiful subdivision with landscaped gardens, a community park with tennis courts and swimming pools and HUGE homes – this road ran alongside the subdivision:

Note the ‘sidewalk’ we have no choice but to use. It actually looks better in this shot than it was – pot holes and loose gravel made it a dangerous path. Inside the subdivision (the entrance is manned by security guards) we found some interesting plants running along the street:

This shot is of one of the smaller homes in this particular neighbourhood.

On the other side of Tim’s neighbourhood are narrow streets only big enough for motorbikes to get through.  Ian and I also walked along those streets:

On the left of this shot you can see vendor carts for food: noodles, rice, meatballs, and other various dishes are sold from these carts.  There seems to be little government control of vendors – they can set up shop anywhere, often right out onto the street causing serious traffic issues. Tim says the current mayor isn’t dealing with the problem and probably won’t get re-elected.