Visiting Pasar Punclut, Bandung.

It was Sunday Morning, 10 October 2010 (10.10.10).

When some fresh married couples were busy with their wedding ceremony and lots of 'moms to be' got ready to deliver their babies on the interesting date', we woke up early morning, not for fancy things, but to enjoy the beautiful morning at Pasar Punclut (~stands for Puncak Ciumbuleuit), located in north part of Bandung.
Hohoooow ... it's true, it was enjoyable!
pic : 'Cepots'Morning breeze, beautiful sunshine, very friendly people, colorful fresh fruits and vegetables, the tantalising aroma of traditional cuisines, and Cepot's smile ...all of them were coloring our morning.

We feel so grateful having family time in a different way.

It was our 3rd day vacation in Bandung, West Java. Our body (and soul) just woke up and recovered from a tiring day previously when we spent almost the whole day in Lembang (located 20 km north of Bandung), doing outbound activities, enjoying Maribaya water fall and of course we had a great traditional lunch there.

The sun had just raised when we stepped into this market.

Most of the sellers seem to have already started their preparation. We were amazed and excited to see lots of things that we hadn't seen for quite long time.

Food Glorious Food!Shortly after we walked a little further down the road, we stop in a Serabi Seller.
"Serabi, surabi or called srabi is an Indonesian pancake that is made from rice flour with coconut milk or just plain shredded coconut as an emulsifier. Each province in Indonesia has various serabi recipes corresponding to local tastes". (source : wikipedia)

We couldn't resist ourselves not to grab the fresh-warm serabi and without asking the price we enjoyed it while the cake was still steaming. It's so good! Serabi with 'Sambal Oncom' topping, one of the old time favorites.

The style of making serabis has not changed over the years. Neither has the commitment to quality or the purity of the ingredients (they still use good quality rice flour and fresh coconut milk), and most of them still cook the serabis using traditional way (using clay wok & firewood). The variety of serabis to offer has increased. People were only familiar with plain serabi and serabi oncom, before some serabi businessmen & businesswomen began to make new varieties. Now, we can find lots of flavour of serabi (pandan, chocolate, durian flavors) or plain serabi with varieties of topping (chocolate rice, cheese, sausage, chopped fruit, peanuts, etc).

On one serabi seller, my son found serabi with colorful chocolate rice topping. He really enjoyed it. Unfortunately it was the only one left and my daughter wasn't happy while watching her brother eating the serabi, until I promised her to make it when we are back home.

*Surprising Market*It only opens on Sunday Morning and it's only a temporary market. We call it 'Pasar Kaget' (*Surprising Market*, meaning there is no market at that particular place during normal days or normal hours, but in certain time 'all of sudden' there is a market there for a several hours... surprise-surprise!!).

As a temporary market, Pasar Punclut doesn't have any permanent buildings. The sellers just set up their 'shops' using tables on either sides of the narrow road or even laying their merchandises simply on the ground .

This market has been overing people a one of a kind shopping experience.

Here, there is no separation among type of things to sell. Raw food was sold side by side with cooked food, or with non food merchandise. So we just have to walk through the road as a market corridor, and we will find different exciting views every time we step. Interesting!

Raw Food, Cooking Ingredients... all are colorful, very fresh, some of them are very rare in this day.

So are the cooked foods. All are fresh cooked, and most of them are authentic traditional meals. The boiling groundnut (kacang tanah rebus) was sold with some soil stick on its skin. Amazing view!

Some traditional savory snacks like cilok (~stands for aci dicolok, means "stabbed tapioca balls") or (cow) skin satai served with peanut sauce, probably not familiar for you, but it's worth to try.

Watching the sellers preparing their traditional food merchandises is another interesting part in this market. Many-many times, I saw my children stood still for quite long time in front of one seller, with their curiosity watching them cooking or baking the food, until we had to call them before they got lost.

Last, not only food, this market offers lots of interesting non-food merchandises, as well. From clothes to fancy sunglasses, from local 'crocs' to vintage style cutleries.

So, as I wrote before... in every step, we could find different interesting objects. You have to agree with me!

If Martinus Antonius Weselinus Brouwer said that "land of Pasundan (refer to Sunda-West Java) was born when God was smiling", I think Pasar Punclut was born when God was laughing.