Archive for May 31st, 2007
Bandar Seri Begawan - Travel agents from Anthony Tours and Travel, Halim Tours, Jasra Harrison, Pan Bright Travel and Straits Central Agency recently attended the 8′ Majapahit Travel Fair and Surabaya educational trip, sponsored by Royal Brunei Airlines with cooperation from Surabaya Tourism Promotion Board.
Some 92 buyers from Asean as well as Sweden, Australia, China and Japan were invited to the event, which ran from May 22 to May 26.
The buyers were also treated to a half-day city tour, full-day Madura Island tour, which included a bull race. A cultural dinner was hosted by the governor of East Java Province on May 23 at Pakuwon Golf and Family Club.– Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
Brudirect.com News — By Yusrin Junaidi
May 31st, 2007
You’ve seen it on the Discovery channel and vaguely remember your sixth grade geology teacher lecturing on it. Well, now you live right next door to Krakatau, the site of what was once of the world’s mightiest volcanoes. So grab your gear because I’m going to tell you how to live the legend.
You can base your trip from Tanjung Lesung, a scrub of land on the tip of West Java, where the Sailing Club is located. Not exactly the gleaming marina filled with rows of luxury yachts you might imagine it would be, but still a good place for info gathering, tasty tuna steaks and a place to swap tales with crusty seamen. If you arrive early enough, you can spend the day swimming the warm waters pouring in from the Indian Ocean, rent a mountain bike for a leisurely pedal through the freshly burned down jungle, or take a sailing lesson.
At 8 a.m. you board your boat, hopefully skippered by Steady Eddy, a local tourist guide. The boat seats eight, though if you have a group of fifteen you could try to cram them on Indonesian-style, ultimately drowning yourselves in choppy waters. I doubt Steady Eddy will allow this though, as he is a consummate professional. Zoom and you’re off across the Sunda Straits with a herd’s worth of horsepower rocketing you through choppy waves.
Dave, the owner of the Sailing Club and himself a seasoned sailor, let us know that roughly ten fishermen die each month in the brutal waters of the Sunda. “If you fall out of the boat, I figure the next time they’ll see you is in Dar Es Salaam,” he had quipped the night before, adding “There really ain’t no point in even wearing a life jacket, there ain’t no one out there that’s gonna save you.”
Krakatau is anywhere from 20 km to 40 km from Java, depending on who you ask and where you’re measuring from. It is not a volcano per se, more the remnants of one. A few hundred years ago it was a real goliath of a rock, but in 1883 it got too full of itself and detonated. After all was said and done, it had snuffed out 36,000 lives, displaced 15 square miles of terra firma, submerged islands and villages with 30 meter tall waves, lowered the earth’s temperature a few degrees and packed the atmosphere with sulphuric gas and grit. But with daddy gone, a space had been made for a child to grow. Like a scene from Hellraiser, just when you thought the Krakatau nightmare was over, its spawn is found to be crawling from the depths of purgatory to continue the legacy.
This, my brave and adventurous reader, is where you are headed: Anak Krakatau, the child of a geological Satan. You reach it by 9:30 a.m. and you’re on the slopes in minutes. It’s a slog; pure and simple. For the next 45 minutes (if you’re strong) to 2 hours (if you aren’t) it’s all scree under a hot sun. You will be climbing a giant pile of hot, black ash and lava bits, dredged from the centre of the earth and deposited like a large, cancerous wart on a beautiful face.
The top, like most, makes it all worth it. Crusty, steamy walls plastered with bright oranges, dried-blood reds and egg-yolk yellows give a cheery face to a blackened head. Looking down from the crest, you can witness the growth spurts this rowdy fellow is going through as layer upon layer of lava is being deposited; its girth expanding and might growing. The actual crater is quite small and could be climbed down into should one want to stand right on the throat of ‘Anak’. But then one is reminded of Steady Eddie’s story of a foreigner who came here and never made it home alive. Not to mention it’s just not polite to go poking around someone’s trachea. They might burp and blow your head off.
After your climb, you hop back in the boat, scarf down your pre-packed snack-pack and go snorkelling around the backside of the kid. Steady Eddie has great gear and will take you to where black tongues of lava are licking the sea. If you’re of the opinion that breathing through a plastic tube should be saved for people in the hospital, then it’s instead a good spot for impressing the Indonesian boat boys by doing back flips from the boat’s bow.
Leaving this spot, you’ll be taken to a snug little cove with monitor lizards, swooping birds and plenty of jellyfish to zap your fleshy, sunburned appendages. Don’t forget though, should you become overwhelmed with jellyfish juice, your friends can all pee on you to neutralize the sting. They can do that even if you don’t get stung; depends on your friends.
With that, you’re done for the day and it’s time to scoot home. For you in the back of the boat this will be a pleasurable romp through giant swells. For your poor, ungainly author, who had to sit in the front and endure the smacking waves, it was like being tied by one hand to a bull’s leg and then having someone kick it in the nuts. Even Steady Eddie wears a motorcycle helmet during the return trip. No joke.
All in all, an excursion to Krakatau is worth its while and easily done in a weekend. Just be sure to bring a wad of cash, as it can easily bust the piggy bank. The boat rental, at roughly Rp 5,000,000, hurts the most. I found that the money from a donated spleen plus a few nights of moonlighting as a becak driver just about covered the cost.
Jakarta Java Kini
May 31st, 2007
Remote places do not always lack facilities and technology, as is the case in Kertosari village, located on the slopes of Mount Semeru in Lumajang regency, East Java.
Remarkably, Kertosari village hosts technology similar to that in big cities, including up-to-date computers equipped with various programs and with access to the Internet 24 hours a day via satellite.
“We hope to alleviate poverty through Information Technology (IT),” said Sahlan Basyar, coordinator of the Semeru Telecenter.
Kertosari is located in Pasrujamber district, Lumajang regency, some 180 kilometers from the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya.
The three-hour journey from Surabaya to Lumajang can be made by public bus or minivan. From Lumajang it takes another hour to reach Kertosari village by local minivan. The road is hilly and winding and is lined with trees and paddy fields.
Semeru Telecenter is located in front of the Pasrujambe field, next to the Pasrujambe Military Command Office.
The telecenter looks like a residential house, the only difference being it is furnished with an assortment of hi-tech gadgets, including an Indosat IM2 satellite dish.
“We are able to access the Internet by using the satellite dish,” Sahlan said.
The telecenter was officially opened in mid 2005, and was built with assistance from the National Development Planning Board and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
Kertosari, with a population of 3,100 people, was chosen for the program after achieving first prize in East Java’s Poverty Alleviation Integrated Movement competition.
“They also considered this place to be undeveloped,” Sahlan said.
The telecenter is an IT-based community activity center and aside from its computers and internet access, it is also stocked with printers and photocopy machines. Local residents are able to use most facilities in the center free of charge.
Although initially it was planned the center would not be profit based, human resources and funding were limited, so it was decided the center would run off its own profits.
In Kertosari, the majority of residents work as farmers. Most people are only educated up to the elementary level, which is why the telecenter also offers computer training.
“Even in large cities, not everyone is able to use computers, especially the Internet,” Sahlan said.
Members of the community are taught how to use the Internet through neighborhood meetings and religious gatherings held every Thursday night. Public awareness drives are also carried out through community radio.
“Through these initiatives, we explain the advantages of being able to use computers and the Internet,” Sahlan said.
These efforts have paid off. Kertosari residents are beginning to realize the importance of being able to use the facilities available at the telecenter.
Since the center opened almost two years ago, 20 people, predominately youths, have taken part in an intensive training program.
Tofan Mukhlis, 18, is just one resident of Kertosari who has discovered the benefits of mastering IT.
“Initially, I was only interested in playing Play Station games, but once I became more familiar with the Internet, I realized I could learn a lot more,” Tofan told the Post.
“I usually surf websites about sport and IT,” Tofan said, adding that he now uses the Internet on a daily basis.
Tofan is also learning about how servers operate and about website design.
“Thank God they trust me and have made me an employee here,” he said.
The center also markets locally made products such as banana and ginger crackers and locally produced silverware through its website, which can be accessed at: http://www.indonetworks.co.id/semerutelecenter/.
Sahlan said products from Kertosari and surrounding villages have been successfully marketed in Malaysia and Togo thanks to the website.
ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Lumajang
May 31st, 2007