Indonesia. Bandung

We left our non home homestay for the next city of Bandung. This is a small city, but apparently the third largest in Indonesia. As we arrived quite early into Bandung, we could not check into our hotel so we went on a short tour. Out first stop was amazing. It was a coffee shop which roasts it's own coffee. It smelt amazing! We went into the back of the shop and got shown around. We saw the massive piles of beans and the huge store room in which they store them for either five or eight years to improve their flavour by reducing the acidity. Next was the roaster which was from the 1930's and could roast 100kg at a time. It was wood fired and the beans were constantly being turned in a huge rotating ball. We saw how they went from yellow beans to green and then brown after roasting. 

The shop at the front was so busy too. The locals were queuing out of the door. I wished I could have bought some but it wouldn't have lasted until I could drink it at home. It was so cheap too, just 20000 rupiah (£1). I had serious FOMO! 

Typically of this tour, our next stop was a western shopping centre. We were told to fill 2 hours which was a pain. I had my first Javanese coffee which was great, not made from the beans we saw roasting though unfortunately. We ventured out of the shopping centre but found nothing to do there so went back and got some lunch. People were taking sneaky photos of us too and other were asking again to pose with us. So funny! 

We checked in and found out there was nothing to do in this place other than a geology museum and a music show at the local music school. A few of us went to the show and I'm so glad I went as everyone was so bored staying in the hotel. The show was great. It was a bit of a drive but when we got there it was nothing like what I was expecting. We were in an outdoor amphitheatre with musicians at the stage. The show started with a very creepy puppet show, a bit like the water puppets we saw in Hanoi. Very Punch and Judy as they comically fought with each other. Thankfully this didn't last for long and the rest was lots of dancing and music. It was great. My favourite part was a dance performed by three girls as a circumcision dance. They started off very normal and then half way that put a hankercheif to their faces and when they took it away they had really creepy masks on! No idea how it related to circumcision! The school had invented a musical instrument which the kids played and then let us play which was cool. It was made from bamboo and it rattled when you tapped it. We all played tunes together, aparently famous Indonesian pop songs! At the end we did the standard dancing with kids which was cool  I am a great kid dancer!

In the evening we went to a food market which was supposed to be based on Hoi An but just looked like an outdoor food court with lanterns. Our guide talked us through in so much detail how to order food and what is what that I thought we were never going to get to eat! I ordered Japanese food which was a nice change! Had a very strange cake brick for dessert which was fried in front of us. I've noticed that all the butter in this country tastes so cheesy and this made the cake taste like cheese from the frying. Not a good pudding! We went back to the hotel as we had a 6am departure the following day to catch a train to Yogyakarta. Bandung is another place in glad to be leaving!