Pangandaran Shopping

along jalan jaga lautan at the east coast of pangandaran you can see many hawker stalls which sell kind of salty fish. their specialities are ikan jambal roti [red snapper type look-alike] and rebon or ebi [small shrimps] which are dried using salt methods.

i think this is the best you can have from shopping activity! or another option is dried seaweed to make jelly and pudding.

i would never recommend about another souvenirs just like giant turtle [oh no! it's prohibited i think and there's a conservation area nearby? :(] or baby sea horse in the plastic bag! and for sea shells themselves, i am not sure about death shells which can be found along the shoreline or it's caught for a purpose.

What to buy: definitely salty fish. it's so crispy whenever fried at home and served with hot steam rice and chili sauce!

What to pay: depend how much [in kg] you like to buy. from idr 10,000 - 100,000

Once avoiding these 3-dimensional wooden puppets I love the weird-looking figures. And always sneeking into the shops around where you can buy these, even the common touristy ones. Better ask around for someone who can take you to a privat puppet master, Northerly of Pangandaran. Beautiful exceptionally fine Wayang Golek puppets!!!

What to buy: These 3-dimensional wooden puppets probably originated on the North coast of Java and are particulary popular in West Java. See the beautiful details and exceptional refinement, hand-made cotton clothes and, symbols all over!

What to pay: From 10 to 100 Euro for some fine Wayang Golek

Traditionally almost all of Indonesians uses red & white as their sacred colours (Indonesian flag is red-white), resembling the colour of sugar (red in colour because the sugar comes from palm-sugar, "gula aren" = palm-sugar) and rice (white in colour). So you always can find rice and sugar in the daily Indonesian cuisine.

The Javanese "gula jawa" (coconut palm), however, is more well-known as "gula aren" (sugar palm). It is used on a daily basis as a sweetener. Did you know the sweet sap from various palms is used to make "toddy", which is the well-known "arak" and tastes like white rum?

What to buy: I've watched how palm sugar (gula aren) got extracted from the coconut flower or aren palm and, boiled and packed into molds to make sugar with a faint caramel taste. Remarkable is that the Orang Baduis (original West-Javanese race) produce the best "gula aren" which you can buy on the market, or sometimes along the road. It is that ridiculously cheap (some Eurocents) so I got the chance to buy a lot of Orang Baduis-gula aren near Pantai Batu Keras. I knew I had to "tawar" (bargain) and felt so embarrassed to do ... read some more with VT friend BelgianChocolate >>>

How to make palm sugar

What to pay: Some Eurocents a piece ... unbelievable

We saw them all over town ,
but in this little street it was the worst.
Prepared sea turtles. I think it is sad to see
these endagered species varnished and
sold as a souvenir.

For your information , it are illegal souvenirs.
They are illegal on Java so IF you get them out
of the country , chances are little that you'll
get them into yours.

I know there are people who think that
C.I.T.E.S-law is a lot of bull.
And it probably isn't perfect.
I think it would be sad to loose a magnificient
species like this , just because some people
think they look better on a wall.
(and because of some profit made by selling them)

What to buy: NOTHING!


Not knowing things is not an excuse
Ignorance is a disease that can be cured.

I hope in the feature the government can
work out a plan to offer alternative ways of
getting an income. Most likely it will be
foreign organisations that will set up some
aid program.
.

A lot on the sign was trying to convince us
this was a tourist shop with a lot of
international goodies.

Well we did find some things we found
acceptable. Everything has got that holland
bakery feeling. Meaning , rubber , sticky...lol.
But it was okay.
I think it was quit fresh also. Fresh from the
oven they say themselves...and it had real
butter in it. That is rather a rare ingredient overhere.

What to buy: Donuts , rolls with banana in it and chocolate....

What to pay: Donut , 2500ir

One day we went to the market...
I got a perfect orientation feeling. So we first
did our walk through the fields and
the we went searching for the market we
saw the day we arrived , not that far from
the bus stop.

It looks like every other market in Indonesia ,
a lot of wooden stalls , some food corners ,
a bit muddy , a ....

What to buy: Whatever you feel like buying.
Food , music , soap , sweets.....

What to pay: verry little , this is not the tourist shop.
This is were the locals come shopping.