Bandung - a city or a drink

We went for a 5-day holiday to Bandung, Indonesia. When friends asked what's nice in Bandung, I quickly replied, ‘That sweet pink drink was the tastiest I had in my life’. Oh please, we did not even see the existence of such drinks during our Bandung stay. I wondered who came up with this name.

It seems uniquely Singapore. Afterall, I had the pleasure to play host to 3 Dutch consultants some time ago. After a meeting, I brought them to an air-conditioned food court. One asked – for the local specialities. Being the friendly Singaporean, I recommended food that were unique, such as chicken rice, laksa and fried kway teow. One of them bought the latter and commented on the wonderful taste. Of course, it tasted wonderful. I mean, anything cooked with excess oil would taste wonderful.

When it came to drinks, they asked me to buy – the local drinks. I bought chin chow, soya and bandung. To think that they were generally adventurous – was my mistake. They drank the chin chow and soya drinks. But none wanted to take the bandung. One said, ‘Anything pink – is not a food colour and it’s not edible’.

If what he said - makes sense, then Singaporeans definitely love drinking odd-coloured inedible drink that’s uniquely Singapore.