In Search of Sukarno and Nasi Timbel

It is such a joy to be in Bandung again: I took the 12.30pm train--Argo Gede--from Jakarta; treated myself to a nasi goreng lunch on board and sank into my book Sukarno: A Political Biography by John D. Legge.

This is a business trip but as usual I have my own personal agenda: I want to investigate some the places that have played a big part in Sukarno's life before. The father of Indonesian independence and the first President of the Republic of Indonesia, Sukarno studied in Bandung as a youth and it was here that he first became politically active.

Many interesting events in Bung Karno's (Brother Karno, as he is affectionately known) life occurred in Bandung--it was here that he was first imprisoned by the Dutch and while lodging here as a student he also fell in love with his landlady, Ibu Inggit (and wife of his friend, Sanusi). Ibu Inggit was 11 years older than Sukarno at that time.

On one of my previous trips to Bandung last year, I read Sukarno's autobiography (as told to American journalist Cindy Adams, now out of print), and was fascinated by this charismatic leader. His achievements in forming a single united Indonesia out of 17,000 islands is remarkable; his equally monumental failures--which led to the tragic events culminating in the famous Year of Living Dangerously (1965)--have been analyzed and dissected by many historians since his fall from power.

The best book I've read on the subject is The End of Sukarno by John Hughes. I have so many potential blog entries that I could post based on Sukarno alone. But I won't go into them now. I want to talk about something more interesting: what I ate for dinner.

After checking into the Hyatt Regency, I walked to the nearest Sundanese restaurant--Rumah Makan Masakan Sunda, Riung Sari--for my favourite nasi timbel komplit ("complete" with fried chicken, salted fish, tempe, fresh salad) together with sayur asem.

Bandung is the center of Sundanese culture and most Sundanese are staunch Muslims. However it is not surprising to have Sundanese restaurants here serving beer. So I happily washed my meal down with a huge bottle of Anker Bir (which costs me only 13,000 rupiah).

Sundanese food consists of a lot of fresh salad (lalapan) and their cooking is generally very dry--no gravy or curry. It is almost like food one would pack to eat for lunch while working in the plantation fields--fried fish or chicken and rice wrapped in banana leaf, eaten together with sambal. All these taken together with the sourish vegetable soup, sayur asem, makes a very satisfying meal indeed.

Having thoroughly enjoyed my authentic Sundanese dinner (and feeling very relaxed after the beer), I was back in my hotel trying to remember what is it that I'm supposed to do with my customers tomorrow. As usual, I'll figure something out.