The Asia Afrika Conference of 1955

With my packs strapped to my shoulders i caught an ojek to Stasiun Gambir - Jakarta's main train station - and boarded the express train for Bandung.  When the train finally emerged from beyond the Jakarta city limits, i found myself moving through flat fields of rice.  But the north western plains were coming to an end and soon the land outside grew increasingly rugged.  A few hours from Jakarta I looked outside to see a landscape of high ridges and deep ravines.  Up ahead i saw the rail tracks stretching out over the ravines with all the apparent delicateness of a single strand of spiderweb.  All around the land glowed light green save for the brown of turbulent waters deep in the ravines.
 
We pulled into Bandung station at about 2pm and i found myself a room in a dilapidated Dutch  lodge complete with faded moulin rouge prints and colonial furniture.  It was called the Hotel Surabaya.  My mouldy room reeked of stale tobacco, but i'd seen rooms closer to the station that were a lot worse so i took it anyway.  I fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon and just before dark left to explore the city.  With no functioning street lamps, no footpaths and furious traffic Bandung is quite menacing at night.  My goal was to find a small restaurant on the other side of town that served cheap traditional Sundanese food.  After about an hour of wandering and copious amounts of direction asking, I'm proud to say i found it.  My hosts were kind but i left feeling ill and returned in a daze to the Surabaya where all night people loitered in its cavernous room and halls while i slept warily.