Tag: indonesia

Motoran Pulang ke Purwodadi

Dua mingguan yang lalu, terbersit ide di kepala saya untuk pulang ke kampung halaman naik motor, sendirian saja tentunya. Setelah mengantongi izin dari istri, maka berangkatlah saya di suatu Sabtu pagi yang sudah menjelang siang.

Awalnya saya berpikir, dengan rute perjalanan harian yang mencapai 40 km, rasanya akan mudah untuk naik motor menempuh jarak 150-an kilometer dari Bantul ke Purwodadi. Ternyata saya salah.

Mungkin karena sudah lama tidak naik motor jarak jauh, ternyata susah juga mengondisikan pikiran agar selalu siaga terus-menerus. Beberapa kali tiba-tiba saya melamun di atas motor, bahaya!

Maka begitu sampai di Terminal Kalioso, motor saya belokkan ke sebuah warung bakso di barat jalan. Kali ini saya tidak jajan mie ayam karena ingin merasakan kembali rasa bakso ala Jawa Tengah.

Dugaan saya benar. Rasa khas bakso Jawa Tengah dengan kuah yang berkaldu kembali saya rasakan di warung bakso tersebut. Rasa yang susah (hampir mustahil) saya temukan di warung-warung bakso di Jogja.

Setelah makan dan cukup beristirahat, motor lanjut saya gas ke arah utara menuju Purwodadi. Sensasi jalan rusak yang menyerupai aliran sungai yang mengering kembali saya rasakan ketika melewati ruas jalan di Sumberlawang, Sragen.

Sebenarnya ada jalan alternatif yang kabarnya lebih layak, yaitu belok kiri sampai tembus ke area Waduk Kedungombo. Tapi saya sengaja mengambil jalur normal karena penasaran.

Lalu lintas kendaraan berjalan merayap, banyak kendaraan yang hanya berjalan dengan kecepatan 20-30 km/jam di ruas sepanjang beberapa kilometer tersebut. Ruas jalan tersebut cukup sepi karena kebanyakan pengguna jalan memilih jalur alternatif demi kesehatan kendaraan mereka.

Dua atau tiga tahun yang lalu, knalpot mobil istri saya patah saat pulang ke Purwodadi. Saya tidak tahu apakah patahnya di ruas jalan ini atau di ruas jalan yang lain (yang waktu itu kondisinya lebih buruk) karena kami baru mengetahuinya ketika sampai tujuan. Saat kami bawa ke bengkel las,  ada 2 kendaraan lain yang antri karena masalah yang sama 😂

Long story short, setelah menempuh jarak 150 kilometer dan 5 jam perjalanan, akhirnya saya sampai di rumah tempat saya dilahirkan.

Tak lupa saya mengambil foto ruas Jalan Siswa di Purwodadi sebagai pengingat bahwa jalan inilah yang mengenalkan saya, seorang anak kecil dari desa, dengan kehidupan baru saat mulai masuk SMP yang terletak di jalan tersebut.

 

 

 

Pawang Hujan di MotoGP Mandalika

Sebelumnya saya tidak mengikuti berita tentang MotoGP di Mandalika, tapi hari ini jadi tertarik gara-gara sorotan pemberitaan mengenai pawang hujan di gelaran even internasional tersebut.

Dalam banyak foto dan video yang tampil di timeline akun medsos saya, tampak seorang perempuan berjalan di sirkuit, bertelanjang kaki, sambil tangannya memegang singing bowl dan melakukan gerakan-gerakan tertentu.

Dan dia berhasil! ??

Setelah itu linimasa jadi riuh membahas hal tersebut, dari pujian, cibiran, hingga makian. Komplit ?

Kalau pendapat saya pribadi, pemakaian pawang hujan ini adalah bagian dan ikhtiar/usaha untuk melancarkan acara dan saya mengapresiasinya.

Kalau ada yang tanya apakah ini kegiatan syirik atau bukan, perlu pembahasan panjang dan saya bukan ahli agama. Jadi saya taruh koper saja (rest my case).

Positive thinking saja, mungkin doa pawang hujan tersebut lebih didengar Tuhan daripada kalau saya atau Anda yang berdoa hehe..

Shariah shouldn’t be this ridiculous

Yesterday I read a kind of ridiculous news from my beloved country, Indonesia.

A Harvard’s student named Bryan went to Banda Aceh for a research and learning Aceh culture. But he got a big surprise at his first night on the city that was swept by tsunami at 2005.

In the middle of night, a group of shariah police, cops, officials, and  reporters were banging the door and broke into his room. They later investigate the room, perhaps looking for any girl(s) that might be there.

The hotel manager said that “the raid” was performed to welcome the holly Ramadhan month, a month where mosleem fasting from dawn until evening.

Here’s the news: They shouldn’t harass foreign tourist.

It’s funny because they do this  inconvenience thing while Banda Aceh goverment is proclaiming  “Visit Banda Aceh Year 2011” movement.

Wait, I think I see a female officer there..

hi maam

Was her husband with her at that middle of the night?

Okay, just forget my last question.

Best Instant Noodle

This is Indomie, best instant noodle in the world. Those who leave Indonesia for their study or working abroad, will mostly miss this instant noodle.

I also heard that this instant noodle were produced outside Indonesia, to fulfill demand from some countries where many Indonesian live. They said, the taste are localized so they still miss Indonesia's Indomie.

I had a pleasure to write all about instant noodles, called Ramen Rider. But it's currently discontinued.

Spread Opera across Archipelago

As seen on States of the mobile Web, Indonesia is the leading country for Opera Mini users all around the world. With this great number of users, Indonesia is a very promising market for Opera.

Top countries snapshot

Most of My Opera Community members from Indonesia whom I know use only cellphone to write blog post, upload photos and make friends. Some of them don't even have any PC nor able to operate PC. Based on this phenomenon, what Opera needs is not a fancy technology –because Opera already has it– but rather a way to make Opera Mini's user's life become easy and easier.

And it was an amazing thing when I received a private message from my childhood friend through Facebook because as far I know there wasn't any internet connection in my parent's hometown. He managed to send me private message using his only cheap cellphone, using Opera Mini! :up:

It passionates me more. I fall in love with Opera and start to recommend this browser to friends, friends of friends and as many people as I could. Now they come to me every time they have problem or question with Opera. And I love to answer their question, not forget to mention Tamil's blog that helps me much.

Later on, to spread Opera features all over Indonesian users, I have made a blog named Opera ID. It's written in Indonesian language and is a fun project. Well, it's not my first blog about Opera. I wrote any posts related to Opera on my personal blog and I was happy when Opera Watch put a link into it.

I'm very sure with the wide spread of cellphone all over Indonesian archipelago, more people will get connected into Internet and into each other. And by the help of Opera Mini, knowledges are belong to all human being.


Credit: A photo of woman with cellphone was taken from amity3's Flickr.

Komodo Island – The Prehistoric Heaven

I was searching on Google using ‘Komodo’ as a keyword to find out informations about Komodo dragon. Just for the shake of my curiosity because I never see Komodo in my real life.

It’s sad to see that my first page of search results on Google gave me a list of computer software named Komodo instead of a reptile named Komodo which reside on an island called Komodo Island (lies between the substantially larger neighboring islands Sumbawa to the west and Flores to the east).

I’ve heard about this reptile since I was a young boy and I could only imagine that this reptile ought just like lizard. But lately I found that I was wrong because in fact Komodo (Varanus komodoensis) is an ancient carnivore, growing to an average length of 2 to 3 meters (6.6 to 9.8 ft) and weighing around 70 kilograms. Wow, that’s a giant lizard! :up:

Their body size is an affect of so called island gigantism, a phenomenon that caused by the lack of carnivore predators in their habitat and their low metabolism. Thus, they dominate the ecosystem (no other animals eat them). Komodo will eat almost anything, including carrion, deer, pigs, smaller dragons, and even large water buffalo and humans! :doh:

Komodo dragons were first documented by westerner in 1910, when rumors of a “land crocodile” reached Lieutenant van Steyn van Hensbroek of the Dutch colonial administration. Later, Peter Ouwens (the director of the Zoological Museum at Bogor, Java) published a paper on the topic after receiving a photo and a skin from the lieutenant, as well as two other specimens from a collector.

Komodo was a name given by W. Douglas Burden on a second expedition at 1926, while the locals call the lizard as Ora. Komodo is a very aggressive animals even when they looked very tame. Phil Bronstein (Sharon Stone’s ex-husband) was a victim of violence by the dragon. He was bitten and need serious surgery to recover.

The interesting part is this carnivore only inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang in Indonesia. Not only the Komodo, local people also reside on that island and endanger the life of Komodo (well, sometimes Komodo endanger humans too).

These volcanic islands are inhabited by a population of around 5,700 giant lizards. They exist nowhere else in the world and are of great interest to scientists studying the theory of evolution.

I like to say that Komodo Island is a unique tourism destination, where prehistoric animals still alive and shares the land with human being. The island also known as Taman Nasional Komodo by The Government of Republic of Indonesia or Komodo National Park.

It’s not difficult to get there. To see the real Komodo with our own eyes, we can go to Bali and go to Labuan Bajo, Flores by land transport.

While most visitors enter Komodo National Park (KNP) through the gateway cities of Labuan Bajo in the west of Flores or Bima in eastern Sumbawa, the departure point for your trip is actually Denpasar, Bali. Komodo National Park website..

As a gate to Komodo Island, there are many travel agents at Labuan Bajo that serve tours to Komodo Island. There are various itinerary and the cost is started from US$ 250 for 3 days and 2 nights trip. We can also take travel agent from Bali with higher rate, including flight from Denpasar to Sumbawa on Fokker 50.

The price is excluding Komodo National Park‘s conservation fee (US$ 15) and travel/personal insurance. Insurance is an important thing because the island is a large and dry savanna and a tropical island. One more note to remember, Komodo’s saliva is very poisonous. We don’t want them to bite us, especially when we have no personal insurance :no:

Not forget to mention, bring jacket or any warm clothes. It’s hot in the day but could be very cold in the night. Sun block cream is also suggested. And since the tour package and price might be changed, we better ask for any information from hotels in Bali first or refer to information of how to go to Komodo Island (there are information of how long the trip will be).

Don’t forget to bring snorkeling/diving equipments because there are some beautiful snorkeling/diving spots that you should not miss. It’s suggested to bring our own diving/snorkeling equipments although we will also find many rentals there. Snorkeling/diving rate (and equipments) is excluded from the price above, otherwise mentioned.

They have oceanic regulators and gauges, buddy BCD, prescription masks minus 1.5 up to minus 8, 5 and 3 mm suits, long and short, boots and fins, computers. In case it is not available because of any reason, they will suggest us to take along or hire them in Bali before travel to do dive in Komodo.

As mentioned on Komodo National Park’s official website, there are many diving spots shown on the website. Tanjung Rusa, Toro Oi, Lohwenci, GPS Point, Tukoh Serikaya, Tukoh Lehokgebah, Banana Split, Batu Saloka, Letuhoh Reef are just a few. It’s not a place for beginner, but if we’re lucky enough, we might encounter 8 meter manta ray. What a wonderful place to visit!

Because of its exoticsm, The Komodo Island should be nominated and voted on the New 7 Wonders of Nature campaign. I don’t have to wait to experience the adventure on Komodo Island to put my voice on the campaign. It’s the only place where human and dragon live together, in a real world! :yes:

Apart from its beauty, the park is facing another problem. Blast ReelChase fishing, cyanide fishing, reef gleaning, fish traps, over-harvesting and live reef fish trade are threaten the ecosystem. UNESCO has put the site as world heritage and together with Komodo National Park they manage to save the site.

To spread the name of Komodo National Park around the world (and internet), Bubu Internet (a web developer and media company) in collaboration with Ministry of Culture and Tourism set up a blog writing contest to escalate the voice. Everyone may take a part in the contest and get a chance to win the prizes.

Aside from the prize, the blog competition is a great effort to increase the awareness of the people. Beautiful place such as Komodo Island should be heard and known by the world.

Credits:
Images in this post taken from National Geographic, Jenny Huang’s Flickr and Komodo National Park. Copyrights are belong to their respective owners.

Bahasa is not Bahasa Indonesia

It’s been a common thing to see people using the word bahasa that refer to bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language). While I disagree with this, the number of people who use bahasa instead of Bahasa Indonesia are increasing.

People thought that it’s correct just because westerner use the word bahasa, not Bahasa Indonesia. I think they should learn that not all western things are good to follow.

Bahasa means language, then how come a word language is referred to Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian Language)? We can use bahasa everywhere, for example bahasa tubuh (body language) and Bahasa Jerman (German language).

I don’t think that we can use bahasa as a replacement word for Bahasa Indonesia. This is a mistake and we can’t be proud of it.

Indonesia dan Israel?

screenshot us-israel.org

Sejak pertama mengetahuinya saya selalu bertanya-tanya, kenapa situs ini menggunakan peta Indonesia dengan beberapa titik merah di dalamnya? Tampilannya memang mirip situs yang domainnya expired dan diparkir, tetapi yang ini agak beda. Sepertinya disengaja tampil seperti itu.

Ada yang membisiki saya bahwa negara kita turunan Nabi Nuh, yang berarti adalah saudara tua mereka orang Israel yang keturunan dari Ibrahim itu. Tapi bener enggaknya saya nggak tahu, ada yang tahu mungkin?

Movie Trailer: Merantau

Merantau Trailer (SD) from Merantau Films on Vimeo.

Merantau is a movie about young man of Minang who wanders into a big city. As many people has known, young men of Minang have to leave their hometown and take their own adventure.

What I like from this movie is the hero play martial art with karambit, a traditional knive of Indonesia which is well known by knive lovers all around the world. :up:

Can't wait to see the movie! :yes:

Opera University Tours – Chapter Yogyakarta

Last week, I got a chance to join a seminar held by Opera and Gadjah Mada University. Yes I missed Pesta Blogger but I got another good event for my weekend. I wrote about the seminar in my another blog.

And today I walked around the Net, found this photo gallery:

Visit this photo gallery to view all images.

Related link, a blog post by ODIN about Opera Indonesian Tour. Thanks guys! :up:

Hotspot Hunter

Now I put my butt over a wooden chair on a local cafe with two friends. It was five but two of us had left. Spending the nite here with coffee, tea, salads etc with a friendly prices and free internet connection.

I do have my own internet connection at home but I can't get tea, salad etc rite? 😀

Happily Sunday!

I'm enjoying my coffee at the same cafe as I wrote yesterday, enjoying the independent day of Indonesia.

The best thing is from my country, among other things, is the freedom. I know that government failed to provide jobs for the citizen, but this made the citizen strugling their life and raised up their head to get more welfare, and made them stronger.

Enough for the contemplation, I wanna taste my black coffee :cheers: