A Compilation of Travelogues

Islamic Tourism: Cold Area, Warm People By Yusril Ihza

Bandung is the largest city in West Java province, often referred to as Paris van Java, the flower city, and the City of fashion. The city is also known for its cold temperatures, although now it feels less because more vehicles are running on the asphalt. I still remember when I was a child how cold the city of Bandung made my skin shiver even though in a daytime. Unlike the current situation where I do not feel the same as when I was a child, even I did not feel a significant difference with the temperature in Bandung and in the place where I live now, which is Bandarlampung, the weather are the same especially in the afternoon. Many of uniqueness of this city, such as the variations of special foods like surabi, batagor, and what I favor most is mochi because chewy, sweet, and better eaten in cold conditions. The city is also known as a fashion city, where we can find many outlets that sell clothing, bags, accessories and other interesting items. Another uniqueness of the city is its people, they are very gentle when talking, even a punk with a hairstyle stands up firmly. They appearance is fierce but soft in saying something. One of famous places as religious tourism in Bandung is Daarut Tauhiid boarding school, which was founded and led by KH. Abdullah Gymnastiar or better known as aa gym. This Islamic boarding school has its own uniqueness compared to other boarding school, there is high economic activity of trading inside the environment. In this writing, I am going to share my experiences when visiting Daarut Tauhiid boarding school area, starting from the journey from my place which is Bandarlampung to the boarding school, seeing economic activities there, and social life inside it.

I have not visited my favorite city for a long time, until my sister and her husband invited me and my other sisters to have vacation in Jakarta and Bandung using they car. Inside the car there are me, my 4th sister, my 2nd sister, her husband, and they two children named Fathya and Faiz. We departed one day before Eid al-Fitr, from Bandar Lampung in the morning and arrived in Jakarta in the afternoon. We lived in the parents home of my sister's husband, in srengseng sawah, close to the TNI military base camp. The next day, we went together to the TNI field to do Eid prayer. On that day after prayer, of course, we were in touch with our neighbors and relatives, forgiving each other, even though we rarely met or even we had never met, had never spoken or never had made mistakes each other, we still said, "Mohon maaf lahir batin", in english "please forgive my body and soul".