Although originally founded by the Dutch as the Technische Hogeschool in 1920, the Institut Teknologi Bandung (also known as ITB, ee-tay-bay) received its current name in 1959. It is Indonesia’s oldest university in the field of technology, and is also one of the most well-regarded and highly selective universities in the country.
Whenever I visit a location for the first time, I just walk. Even if there are only about two sidewalks in the whole city (Jakarta), or they are made of rubber (China) or are overrun by lunch meat (Manhattan), I’m every bit as determined to explore. In general, Indonesian cities aren’t pedestrian-friendly- for instance, every now and then, you’ll be walking and nearly fall into a got, a gutter. That’s particularly true at night, so you might as well whip out your Blackberry or Acer to light your way. However, taking a constitutional has its advantages too; finding a local hole-in-the-wall, striking up a random conversation or in this case, ending up at a beautiful college campus with fascinating architecture to boot.
Should you be interested in paying a visit to ITB, Bandung is only about a three hour (almost non-stop) train ride from Jakarta. I’ve heard that the burgeoning metropolis is growing in popularity amongst Malaysians and Singaporeans as a place to buy jeans, but it’s not like I needed to know that either… Also of note is that the climate is a bit cooler than Jakarta’s because Bandung is at a significantly higher elevation. What does this translate to? Less sweat, but no less pollution.
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