This was a working visit to Malang, as opposed to the brief interlude last year that formed part of a longer East Java travel odyssey. (Not that it's always easy to separate travel and work in my case.)

You get to know a town in a different way when you're not just passing through. And from a work point of view it's been really useful to be here.



Pity we both got colds... This happened to me last year in Malang. We obviously can't cope with the altitude.

It's been an enjoyable place to experience the first week of Ramadan. I'll remember, for sure, the Koran readings from the mosques outside every evening; the Ramadan songs in the hotel corridors and dining room; the press of traffic as the hour of iftar approaches; the expectant, happy atmosphere in the alun-alun in the evening... Lots of vendors of es degan (ice, coconut water, and coconut flesh) emerge as the day declines. And there have been exceedingly few firecrackers...

Despite work, there's been time to walk. And we've definitely not been fasting...

There are three kinds of streets in Malang:

1. The insanely noisy and busy (Malang has no bypass);
2. The beautifully leafy and affluent (there are lots of these; they are home to some very plush, and very stoutly defended dwellings, and a surprising number of childcare centres...);
3. The kampong-style narrow and twisty (complete with plants, birds, lots of quirkiness, and lots of opportunities for getting lost).

Obviously, when you're walking, you try to major on the latter two categories, and a walk also needs to contain a Ramadan-proof cafe... Several eminently suitable itineraries have eventuated in the course of the week:

-- The Brawijaya Military Museum is surprisingly interesting (don't be put off by the poor reviews -- there are heaps of fascinating, lecture-enhancing photos in there), and if you go early you'll be done in time to have coffee and pancakes at Pepito's in the very useful Mal Olympic Garden (or MOG).

-- A visit to the Cybermall combines well with the very impressive Togamas bookshop (where you can shop very cheaply for research-related material, wondering all the while at the vast quantity of books on Sukarno, and finally giving in and buying one...), with Cafe Wilis, where you can get nice lemper and avocado coffee for lunch, and with the Holland Bakery on the floor below, where you can buy buns to take home for tea.



-- You might not think so, but collecting your train tickets from Malang station combines very well with a walk right across town to the outermost of the Und Corner cafes, which is a very pleasant place for a drink and a sandwich.



-- If you get a taxi to pretty Candi Badut, you can easily walk back, stopping for juice and banana fritters at the very new and trying-very-hard Savoy (slogan: "the story about luscious dining"...).





-- The easiest way to get to Candi Jago and Candi Kidal at the weekend is to hire a motor bike, which enables you to pootle through the beautiful Javanese countryside as in days of yore...







... Once you've handed it back, however, it makes sense to walk home via coffee and home-made ice-cream at the other Und Corner (the one in the Hotel Tugu). From their delightful adjoining shop, you can buy slices of ontbijtkoek (Dutch spice cake) to take home, along with rempeyek, which are really tasty peanut crackers. As it says on the Roti Tugu bag, in a wonderful mixture of old Indonesian and Dutch, the shop sells "de meest heerlijke taarten -- koeweh-koeweh en roti resep zaman Belanda (Oost Indisch) sedjak 1940 -- zonder pengawet". And it was all pretty heerlijke, I have to say.

We've revisited a couple of other favourites from last time -- Toko Oen, the Java Dancer -- but a new discovery was the Harmoni cafe/resto. I can really recommend their grilled ribs, which come with rice, lalapan (raw vegetables) and a tangy soup.

I feel I've established a new connection with Malang. So I hope we can take it further in the future.