User:Rtnf/Survey Report/Bandung - 23 July 2025

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“Isn’t this near way Leuwipanjang?” he asked, while showing me a photo he had just received via WhatsApp. The slightly blurry image of the back of the invitation card showed an illustrated map of the wedding hall’s location.

“After node exiting Pasir Koja Toll Road, there’s way an intersection with traffic lights. If we take a Primajasa bus, it usually turns right, toward way Leuwipanjang Terminal. Now, to get to this place, we turn left instead. Then keep going straight until we reach way a roundabout. After that, turn right. Go straight again, and node the building will be by the roadside, on the left,” I explained at length. I hoped he understood and wouldn’t get lost.

“Huh?” He still seemed confused and didn’t quite get it.

I immediately showed him a simulation on my monitor using Google Street View so he could understand better.

Oh.

Wait.

After checking Google Street View, it turned out that from the roundabout you can’t turn right directly. It’s a one-way road.

“Oh. Turns out you can’t turn right directly from the roundabout. So from there, we have no choice but to keep going straight. Then we loop back to way Jalan Sudirman: turn right, turn right again, then turn left. There, we’re on Jalan Sudirman. Just keep going straight, and the building will be on the left side of the road,” I explained. I hoped he understood this time and wouldn’t get lost in Bandung.

“Huh?”

“Oh right. You’ve lived in Bandung for a long time, haven’t you? Come on, sit in the front, next to the driver. Be the navigator.”

At first, I didn’t want to come along. Traveling all the way to Bandung just to attend a wedding, then going home again on the same day? Ah. Exhausting.

Still, it was an honor that I had been appointed a certified urang Bandung™, according to the group consensus that afternoon.

For some reason, Bandung has always felt like a second hometown to me. Every corner holds memories. From junior high school study tours to way Cihampelas, way Tangkuban Parahu[1], and the way Geological Museum. In high school, staying overnight at way Hotel Bumi Makmur Indah in Lembang as part of the informatics contingent from Bekasi Regency at the West Java Province Science Olympiad[2], then spending a full day at way UPI for a web-design competition[3].

And during my university years, more than four years of roaming around way Bandung and way Jatinangor.

July 23rd, 2025.

Around three in the afternoon, we had all gathered at way the agreed meeting point, in one of the parking areas of a well-known shopping complex in this city. Most of the group this afternoon consisted of the families of traders who run shops inside the complex—textile stores and pharmacies. way This shopping complex is directly encircled by a large one-way arterial road, which then branches out toward all four cardinal directions at once. Truly strategic and iconic.

Despite its extremely strategic location, the condition of the building is fairly neglected and tends to be dirty. On the walls and pillars, countless public notices have been repeatedly pasted, filling every corner of the structure. A quick glance at them is enough to reveal what has really been going on in this building. The City Government took over the shopping complex from a private company. However, it seems the private company has tried to fight back. The dispute process is still ongoing. Nevertheless, de facto, the building is already under the control of the City Government. Uniformed officers bearing the City Government logo occupy the parking fee collection post, and others roam around collecting levies from every shop that is still open.

Out of curiosity, I tried to look up the chronology of the case in local online media. It turns out the plan to revitalize the building had already begun in 2003. Opposition then emerged from the traders, because they were required to repurchase their kiosks, even though some of their usage rights were still valid until 2014. Even so, the revitalization of the building continued until completion. Then, on April 23, 2024, the Mayor decided to take over the building asset from the private party that had previously been the main contractor for the revitalization. However, in October 2024, the District Court declared that the (Acting) Mayor’s decree on the unilateral termination of the cooperation agreement had no binding legal force. The City Government was also ordered to pay compensation of Rp 10 billion to the private company.

According to the latest reports, the city government lost in court. Yet, based on the reality on the ground, the city government still claims de facto control over this shopping complex, and it seems they are preparing to fight back in court. “This building remains under the control of the city government until the ruling becomes final,” is more or less the message posted throughout the building.

Time to set off.

I opened the Vespucci app and started mapping based on what I could see from the front of the car while en route to Bandung. From here, all I could see were industrial buildings, large advertising billboards, paddy fields, pedestrian overpasses, and communication towers and masts. I’m interested in mapping such towers and masts, since their existence implies good signal coverage in the surrounding area.

This was my first time traversing way the MBZ Elevated Toll Road from end to end. Smooth ride. No need to perform terrifying maneuvers against large trucks. Suddenly, we were already in Karawang.

The passengers commented on the trains running alongside the MBZ Elevated Toll Road: relation the LRT on the left and relation Whoosh on the right. As the only passenger in the car who had ridden both trains, I began a brief public lecture session : an introduction to the LRT and Whoosh.

After exiting MBZ, the driver suddenly asked me, “When do we turn left?”

Hmm?

I had no idea at all. I usually go to Bandung by Primajasa bus or by Whoosh, so I had no clue at which kilometer one needs to exit the Jakarta–Cikampek Toll Road.

Fortunately, there was Google Maps. Just set the destination to Bandung and start navigation. It would then tell us how many kilometers remained before turning left into way the Kalihurip Interchange, so we wouldn’t accidentally continue toward Cikampek and on to Cirebon.

“Oh right, is there a rest area ahead? Let’s stop for the Asr prayer.”

Luckily, Google Maps provides a feature to add an intermediate destination. So even while navigating toward point C, we can insert point B before reaching point C.

Alright. As it happened, way Rest Area KM 72A was coming up ahead.

Entering the rest area, we initially had some trouble figuring out where to park. Fortunately, the directional signage there was quite helpful.

The next problem was finding the mosque. This time, OpenStreetMap was more helpful. way The mosque’s location was much easier to find on OpenStreetMap than on Google Maps. Without needing to zoom in too deeply, OpenStreetMap prioritizes displaying the mosque icon right away.

After finishing the Asr prayer, we continued the journey. From now on, I began mapping the place names displayed on each pedestrian overpass.

I failed to catch all the place names I saw. Either the car was moving too fast, or I was too slow to type, or maybe the Vespucci app’s user flow is too long and complex. To add a single object, I have to (1) download a portion of OSM data for the area, (2) add a new node, (3) choose a proper tag preset, and (4) add the name. By then, the car has already moved on, so I have to download a new set of OSM data for the next area and repeat the same loop.

I wish it were simpler. For example, the slippy map could automatically move according to the device GPS, then I could tap the target coordinate, add a simple label, and be done, then continue to the next target. No need to upload to OSM immediately, and no need to apply a proper tagging scheme yet. Just focus on collecting as much field data as quickly as possible.

As dusk approached, we exited through the Pasirkoja toll gate. I immediately stepped into the role of main character, guiding the car’s maneuvers through the streets of Bandung.

“After exiting Pasirkoja Toll, there’s an intersection with traffic lights. When we take Primajasa, the bus usually turns right toward Leuwipanjang Terminal. Now, to get to this place, we turn left instead. Then go straight until we reach a roundabout. After that, turn right. Keep going straight, and the building will be by the roadside, on the left.”

There was a small blunder after passing the roundabout. I was too late in directing the car to turn right into way the first alley. The car’s actual speed on the road is sometimes not well synchronized with the GPS movement speed on the phone. Decisions have to be made quickly, and the problem was that the distance between the roundabout and the turn was very short.

Luckily, we didn’t have to make a long detour. way The next right turn allowed us to immediately correct my earlier mistake.

Turn right. Turn left. Straight ahead to the T-junction. Then turn left. Straight on. The building will be on the left.

“There it is. That’s the building. On the left. See, there’s already the yellow palm-leaf decoration.”

“Oh. Okay. Let’s go to the mosque first,” the driver said, continuing straight ahead and passing the building with the yellow decoration.

“Huh?”

“Let’s find a mosque first. It’s already Maghrib. Where’s the nearest mosque around here?” the driver said, circling the streets of Bandung blindly, looking for a mosque by the roadside.

Huh?

My original plan was to park directly at the wedding hall. Then we could just walk out and look for the nearest mosque on foot. But apparently, that plan was immediately vetoed by the driver, and the majority of the passenger. Oh no.

“Where’s the nearest mosque here?” the driver asked me again. Oh dear. I didn’t know. This wasn’t my “territory.” This wasn’t North Bandung; I had no familiarity with this area at all.

Quietly, I directed Google Maps on my phone to way a mosque I already knew. I didn’t know whether it was near or far from here, and I didn’t care. I was going to force the group into my “territory.”

“Straight!”

“Oh… okay…”

“Turn right!”

“Alright, alright. Ah, it’s already time for the call to prayer.”

“Keep going straight!”

“Why is it so far? Isn’t there a closer mosque?”

“Turn right!”

“Ah… okay. Okay…”

From here, go straight ahead. But the car had to pass through a lot of traffic lights. The driver and the passengers were starting to get restless. They had no idea where I was taking them. I deliberately kept it a secret to avoid triggering bigger protests.

“Still straight?”

“Still!”

“Now?”

“Still!”

“Now?”

“Ah. Up ahead, turn left.”

Moments after the car successfully turned left onto way Jalan Dewi Sartika, a node giant tower suddenly appeared ahead.

“There it is! That’s the mosque!”

At last, everyone in the car could relax. There was the mosque! Right ahead! Huge. Bandung Grand Mosque.

The next problem suddenly emerged: where were we supposed to park? I had no idea. In the past, I went to the Grand Mosque by angkot, not by private car. But I was confident there had to be adequate parking facilities here.

At first, I assumed the car could probably park legally along the roadside. If I wasn’t mistaken, many cars park along way Jalan Skanda, for example.

Suddenly, right in front of way Plaza Parahyangan, there was a directional sign reading “PARKIR MASUK,” pointing into something like a busway lane with separators. So we went in. Straight ahead, then turn right, and then another sign appeared, reading “BASEMENT PARKING : ALUN-ALUN BANDUNG.” This was it.

But there were way two lanes: left and right. The left lane looked crowded with motorcycles. The right lane looked empty and had a sign above it saying “IN.”

We tried to enter the right lane.

Suddenly, a parking attendant came over and shooed us away. What? So it was wrong after all. Then what did the “IN” sign mean?

With a bit of difficulty, we reversed briefly, then entered the left lane. Oh. Even though the front was crowded with motorcycles, cars could still enter by immediately turning left, avoiding the row of bikes.

After successfully parking, I asked where the exit was. Go straight westward, then there would be stairs. The exit would be near the square, right in front of the main entrance of the Grand Mosque. Once there, I asked again where the ablution area was. Turns out, it was inside the main building. Shoes were deposited in numbered lockers, and we took a locker card as proof.

After Maghrib, we just had to walk straight along way Jalan Asia Afrika, a one-way street, until returning to Jalan Sudirman, a two-way street. Google Maps said that after entering Jalan Sudirman, we just had to turn right, cutting across traffic coming from the opposite direction. The wedding building was on the right.

Once again, there was a small blunder here. The way entrance and way exit of the building turned out to be at different gates. I directed the car to the right too quickly. As a result, we were once again chased out by a parking attendant. Wrong gate. Backing out turned out to be rather complicated, because there was traffic behind us that we had to cut across.

Notes

  1. ↑ Well, I’ve never been able to reach its peak. The last time I went there, there was heavy fog, so it was dangerous to go any further. My friends and I only hung out for a while in node the parking area and then went back immediately
  2. ↑ I lost and failed to reach the nationals, by the way, but at least I got a free batik!
  3. ↑ This time I won, although it wasn’t first prize
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