Kampung Indonesia Festival 2017

28 July 2017

Right after my Guided Walk Tour in the City which ended in Kungsträdgården (King's Garden) (pronounced as kungs-treh-gorden), I went to Kampung Indonesia festival which was also in the Garden. I heard loud music when we reached Kungsträdgården and I went to find out what it was and was pleasantly surprised by an Indonesian festival. Yay, an Asean country! It was drizzling and there were not much visitors around. If it is a sunny day, you will definitely the whole place crowded. Everyone loves to hang out in Kungsträdgården. 

There were performances on stage and it feels awesome to be able to watch without being distracted by so many heads. The performers had their costumes on and those who wore minimal, I wondered if they were not affected by the weather. I felt cold walking around. I enjoyed myself thoroughly at this festival! Food, trying out musical instrument and get to speak Bahasa Malaysia (yes, I have missed speaking my own national language). 

They also had a photo competition where one snap photos of themselves with this banner and win yourself 2 tickets to Indonesia. The winner was selected via a lucky draw and I was not so lucky after all. I thought that if I could win, I could drop by in Malaysia.

Since I was still not accustomed to the Swedish prices for Asian food, my jaw dropped when I saw how much it costed. Rendang  for SEK100 / RM50. Ugh. Lost my appetite to eat but I was super hungry and I opted to have Fried Vegetarian Rice which costed me SEK90 / RM45. Not like it was any better but it was a huge portion and I ate it under the drizzle. Feels good to be able to eat fried rice again.

Since it was a 2-day event for the weekend, I came back here again the next day and had Satay Tempe which costed SEK75 / RM37.50. That is why I seldom eat outside in Stockholm. The price is crazy! 

After lunch, the audience get to try a musical instrument called angklung which is Unesco recognised and we played a small number together.

The angklung is a musical instrument from Indonesia made of a varying number of bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. The tubes are carved to have a resonant pitch when struck and are tuned to octaves, similar to Western handbells. The base of the frame is held in one hand, whilst the other hand shakes the instrument. This causes a repeating note to sound. Each of three or more performers in an angklung ensemble play just one note or more, but altogether complete melodies are produced. On November 18, 2010, UNESCO officially recognized the Indonesian angklung as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and encouraged the Indonesian people and the Indonesian government to safeguard, transmit, promote performances and to encourage the craftsmanship of angklung. Source from Wikipedia.