Zerosugars

Pray for Indonesia

2010-10-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

Mentawai island before tsunami source: picture

Assalamualaikum,

It has been a long time for me not to post anything since I am very busy with my the blog which is about social knowledge. Here is the address 2download-books.blogspot.com.

source picture

At this time, I would like to talk about the disasters which had happened in Indonesia lately. The first one is Tsunami in Mentawai islands which is located 500 km off Sumatran coast, Indonesia. (source: wikipedia.org). The Tsunami happened in Mentawai islands at October, 18th 2010 night and more than 400 people dead and 300 people missing (source: smh.com). The Tsunami happened after the 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook Mentawai island and caused the tsunami which was height 12--15 meters. The Tsunami destroyed at least 27 villages in Mentawai islands and 52 homes in one villages destroyed.

The problem of Tsunami became complicated after the statement of the parliament chief who blamed on the Mentawaian people. He said that it was the risk for those who live in coast if they became the victims of Tsunami. This statement made hurt to the victims of Tsunami (source: Tempointeraktif.com--Bahasa Indonesia). It is much better to him to ask for forgiveness to Indonesian, especially to Mentawaian people.

source picture

Mbah Maridjan source

The other disasters which had happened in Indonesia was the eruption of Merapi volcano. Merapi is one of the most active volcano in Indonesia has indicated the signs of eruption lately. In Kaliurang street--one of the nearest location to Merapi volcano--there have been the dust rain lately. Besides that, the sign of eruption of Merapi volcano had caused the death of the care taker of Merapi volcano which is his name Mbah Maridjan. He was death after the cloud heat from the Merapi volcano attacked his house near the Merapi Volcano. The government had warned him about the eruption of Merapi and the dangers if he stayed however he did not notice the government warning. As the result, He passed away after the cloud heat of Merapi volcano attacked his house. So far, at least two people died because of Merapi eruption and more than 47,000 people who live near the Merapi are staying in barrack which was provided by the government.

Well, I think that is all of my posting. I hope the victims of Tsunami and Merapi may rest in peace and their families are given rigidity to face life. Let us pray for Indonesia for a moment.

Mudik (Back to Hometown Bandar Lampung)

2010-09-07T22:53:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum

how is life?

I hope everything is Ok. :D

well, Happy fasting month for all of us. It has been the last day of fasting month since the Idul Fitri day will have come in three days (in Indonesia it will be September, 11th). In Indonesia, there is a tradition who usually do before Idul fitri called mudik or go back to the hometown in English.

People who have moved from the town to city or from one city to other usually do mudik to visit their family or relatives. Besides that, they do it to show off their success after working on the city in a year. The destination of mudik is the place that they were born or the place that they grew up. Therefore, some people do not have destination to mudik if they were born, grew up, and work in the same place. Well, I would like to tell you about my experience doing mudik from Jakarta to Bandar Lampung (my hometown).

picture from blog sangiang.wordpress.com

In Jakarta, as the capital of Indonesia, I do not work but study in one of the colleges. After final examination of this semester and the celebration of Idul Fitri, my colleges gave the students holidays which is a month. Since I really missed my hometown so I decided to go back to my hometown in Bandar Lampung. I took a bus to Lampung in Gambir station. The bus would depart at ten o'clock however I should go from my rent-room at a half past seven in order to prevent the traffic jam in Jakarta. For your information, traffic jam always occurs in Jakarta.

Finally, I arrived at Gambir at a half past nine and ,lucky me, I was not trapped in the traffic jam. The bus departed at ten and it would take eight hours to reach Bandar Lampung. Bandar Lampung is located in Lamppung province, Sumatera island and Jakarta is located in DKI Jakarta, Java island so the bus would be picked up by ship to cross the strait. The strait between Sumatera island and Java island is Sunda strait.

It took two hours from Gambir to reach Merak port. Merak port is the only in Java port which provide ships to cross people, buses, and trucks to Sumatera. Lucky me, I went to my hometown not in crowded time of mudik. The crowded one usually occurs in H-2 before Idul Fitri (H-2 means two days before Idul Fitri. In this case, H indicates the day of Idul Fitri). If I had been in the crowded time of mudik, It would have taken more than two hours to reach Merak port. In Merak port, bus would go to the place which is provided especially for buses and trucks. Buses and trucks were prohibited to turn on their machine during the voyage in order to prevent the fire and pollution. However, there was still pollutions came from the trucks. The pollutions irritated my eyes and it smelled bad so I decided to go to the deck besides that I wanted to pray.

On the deck, I found many people sat enjoying the air which was fresh and enjoying the scenery. When I was on the deck, there were some rules which is read by the operator of the ship to the passengers. The rules mostly about the prohibition to throw away the garbage to the sea, do fishing and turn on the machine during the voyage. Besides that, there was a suggestion not to buy jewelry since it may be the imitation. The deck of the ship was clean enough and if you were hungry, you would find many people who sell foods. However, the foods was very expensive or two or three times more expensive than the regular one. So it is much better for you to bring your own food. If you want to take a rest or watch television, the ship provides places to do so. You need to buy the ticket which costs IDR 10,000.00 to enter the room which has that facilities. Well, just be careful when you take a rest, because you can lost your goods or even oversleep that you can miss the bus when the ship has arrived.

Indonesia is a country which has many islands. Therefore it is called as archipelago or in Indonesia it is Nusantara. I took a picture of an island when the ship was going to cross the strait. This island was still jungle and it seemed become a habitat of animals.

After two and half hours in the ship, it arrived at Bakauheni port. Bakauheni port is the port which is located in Kalianda, South-Lampung, Lampung province and become the main port which provide transportation from Java to Sumatera and vice-versa. It would take about two hours to reach Bandar Lampung from Bakauheni. During the journey to Bandar Lampung, I saw many trees besides the road. Mostly, they were banana trees. No wonder there were so many banana trees since Lampung is the best producer of Banana chips. So if you have time to visit Lampung, try some banana chips, you may like it.

Two and a half hour in the bus to reach Bandar Lampung may be a boring time. However, by seeing the scenery from the window of bus may kill your boredom. The scenery was beautiful and unfortunately, I could not take it well since bus moved very quickly and my mobile phone did not have auto focus feature so the pictures that I took was blur and not good. Besides beutiful scenery, you may also see many ravines besides the road. The ravines was so high that was dangerous if you were not careful in driving. It is not only the ravines which is dangerous but also the junction. The junction is also dangerous since the angles is very sharp and many cars, buses, and truck crashed because of it. So if you decided to go to Lampung from Jakarta by taking this road, it is suggested that you are not a green one in driving car and you must have driving license.

Finally, I arrived in my home. My home is located at Bandar Lampung. It is three days before Idul Fitri, next post I would like to tell you about tradition Idul Fitri in Indonesia.
:)

Indonesia and Malaysia, War and Peace

2010-08-30T01:10:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum,

How are you today?

I hope you are fine and may you are always lucky in life. :-)

Today, I'd like to write about the relationship of Indonesia and Malaysia. As it becomes the hottest topic in the largest forum of Indonesia( Kaskus), so I am really interested to write about it.

Indonesia and Malaysia are countries which are located in South-East Asia.They are both neighbor country with many similarities in many aspects of life. Since their location is very close therefore some of cultures are similar and claimed as their own. Sometimes it can cause conflict between them.

Not long time ago, Malaysia claimed Wayang as their own cultures and that trigger anger of Indonesian. As Indonesian has submitted the patent of Wayang to Unesco, Malaysian should respect to it. Besides that, many conflicts have happened lately because Indonesian think that Malaysian has disturbed their independence and sovereignty. One of the examples is by arresting three Indonesian security of seas by Malaysian police marine in Indonesian territorial. Before Malaysian police marine arrested them, the Indonesian security of seas has arrested seven Malaysian fisherman who has red-handed stole fish in Indonesia territorial illegally. Malaysian police marine thought that they were in Malaysia territorial however Indonesian thought different. Malaysian police marine with fully weapons on hand arrested Indonesian security of seas who brought no weapon. source Antara (source)

Those disturbance of independence and sovereignty trigger Indonesian nationalism. Many Indonesian are ready to defend their country from the attacking of Malaysian and I am as the Indonesian will do so. Our country, Indonesia will never attack other country if we are attacked first. Indonesian principal is defensive. Besides that, It is important to remember that, Indonesia is love war and peace as it has been written in Wasantara dan Hannas(Nusantara knowledge and National security--in English) which means Indonesian love peace however Indonesian prefer independence and sovereignty to peace which means war is possible if independence and sovereignty is disturbed.

However, I prefer diplomacy to war as the way to solve the problems of these neighbor country. I never feel the condition of war and I hope I will never. As I have read in many books war is just pain and there is no advantage in war. As World War had happened from 1939--1945, both country winners and losers were suffered. Many people died in world war II because of different ideology and human greed.

To Indonesia and Malaysia, please remember the Bangkok act, 08 August 1967, which became the act of foundation of ASEAN. Remember one of the purposes of ASEAN to develop south-east Asia countries together in order to be a countries which have no poverty and people live in prosperity. War just ignored them.

Please respect other and try to be patient.

I Love Peace.

Urbanization in Jakarta

2010-08-28T03:42:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum,
How is your life?
well, I have been busy with my problems those are wasting my time.

Oh ya, by the way, happy fasting for moslems who have done fasting for fifteen days or a-half of fasting month in Ramadhan month. One of the traditions which is common to do is coming back to the hometown or we call as mudik.

People in Jakarta, especially, are mostly urban who move from the town to Jakarta with expectation finding better life. This urbanization causes social problems since the urban have no capability doing something which is required in Jakarta. This urbanization can cause crime, for example, since the urban are jobless and they have their own needs to survive. To survive, mostly, they do crime such as stealing, pickpocket, or even robbing. They are even brave to murder somebody if he does not want to give what they ask. They do it just to survive.

Besides that, they who have their own ability are still hard to survive since in Jakarta the competition is very tight and not easy at all. For example, in Jakarta, they are so many people who can cook some foods but one thing that makes the difference between the success one and the failed one is the success one is never give up despite he has faced the failure. The way to success is not only spirit not to give up, but also integrity. Integrity can be the main factor to reach success in Jakarta since people who have integrity is preferred to ones who do not have.

Life is getting harder day by day. It does not happen only in Jakarta but also in almost all over the world. So just prepare yourself to face the hard life as Queen had sung in their song.
....
Yes it's a hard life
In a world that's filled with sorrow
There are people searching for love in every way
It's a long hard fight
But I'll always live for tomorrow
I'll look back on myself and say I did it for love
Yes I did it for love - for love - oh I did it for love
.........

The 65th Independence of Indonesia

2010-08-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

Assalamaualaikum
How is life?
well, it has rained so hard lately in Jakarta that makes me feel not in good condition,

Today is August 16th it is 23.50, ten minutes to change the day. Yes, tomorrow is August, 17th, the independence day of Indonesia. Indonesia was declared its independence in August, 17th 1945 after 350 years was colonized by Netherlands and three-half years by Japan. The declaration of independence day was done by Mr.Soekarno who became the first president of Indonesia in Pegangsaan Timur street no.56, Jakarta. The text of declaration of independence day was signed by Mr.Soekarno and Mr.Hatta(the first vice president of Indonesia) in the name of Indonesian.

After that heroic declaration, Indonesian always celebrates its independence day by holding flag ceremony. In flag ceremony, Indonesian sings his national anthem called "Indonesia Raya" and raise the Indonesian flag. At that time, the text of declaration of independence day is read. Here is the text(in Indonesia)

Proklamasi
Kami bangsa Indonesia dengan ini menjatakan kemerdekaan Indonesia.
Hal-hal jang mengenai pemindahan kekoeasaan d.l.l., diselenggarakan
dengan tjara seksama dan dalam tempo jang sesingkat-singkatnja.
Djakarta, hari 17 boelan 8 tahoen 05
Atas nama bangsa Indonesia.
Soekarno/Hatta

English version
Proclamation
We, Indonesian, with this declaration the independence of Indonesia
Everything which is about the government will be held in right way and in the shortest time,
Djakarta, day 17, month 08 year 05
in the name of Indonesian
Soekano/Hatta
(I'm sorry if there are mistakes in translation and I do not mean to do so).

This event means everything for Indonesian. As Indonesian concept, War and Peace, Indonesian loves peace but prefers independence and sovereignty to peace which means war is possible if Indonesian peace and sovereignty is disturbed. However, the council is the first things to do before war declared. Indonesia is a defensive country which means Indonesia will never attack other countries if they do not threaten Indonesia first. Therefore the ministries is called security and defense ministries not war ministries.

As the heroes of Indonesia had sacrificed their life for the independence of Indonesia, the young and next generations must continue their struggle to maintain the independence day of Indonesia. Many things that young Indonesian can do to maintain the independence such as studying hard in order to develop this country or working hard as contribution to Indonesia development or--at least-- do not do any crime which is disturbed other Indonesian life. Well, they are so easy to say but in fact it is hard to do. In fact, corruption, the most criminal in Indonesia, is still done in many aspects of life. Therefore, in 2009, the rank of Indonesia as the most corruption in the world was 111 of 126 countries. Corruption obstructs the development of Indonesia and the ones who do obstruction can be called as betrayals.

Well, I hope one day, Indonesia can become a developed country and live in prosperity. Indonesian should work very hard and harder than before in order to become a developed country which the people live in prosperity. Dirgahayu Indonesia.
Once freedom, freedom forever.

Tour to STAN--Part 2

2010-08-03T00:41:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum,
How is your life?
I hope you are fine,
:-)

Today, I'd like to continue my story about STAN. As I have told you before STAN stands for Sekolah Tinggi Akuntansi Negara is the school for students who want to be civil servants under the directions of Financial Ministries. Therefore, the rules of this college are very strict for those who disobey the rules. Warning will be given for those whom disobey it. If you have two warnings, you should be careful. Furthermore, three warnings can cause you drop out(DO). DO is the scariest word for all STAN students. That is why, STAN students always keep away from this word.

Every rules in this college must be obeyed by the students, lectures, and even the staffs. There is no difference who you are in front of the rules. One of the rules that must be obeyed is the way to dress to college. In STAN, you must wear a formal dress. For man, you must wear a long dark trousers but no jeans and white or light blue shirt. For woman, the color of skirt must be the same as man and the length of skirt must be longer than knee. There are still many rules in STAN however they are so easy to obey that there is just a few students who disobey. The rules was issued in order to make students disciplined so that when they become a civil servant they will be the best ones and have a good attitude to serve the people. Therefore the rules are strict.

This college is not only about academic but also human development. As I have read an articles about success people, most of them are not only genius or expert in something but they are also good in interaction with other people. Therefore, there are many organizations that you can take a part in order to increase your ability to interact with other people. In fact, having a formal interaction with other is not as simple as people always think. Some of the organizations that you can take a part for example STAN music club, STAN English Club, or even MBM(Masjd Baitul Mal). Especially for MBM, it is just for Moslem students. For Christian or Catholic you can take a part in PMK or KMK.

This college provides places for students to gather. There is CD park which is located between C building and D building. Some students sometimes have a picnic here. The tree makes this park shady and comfortable to study. Besides that, the wi-fi connection with internet which is provided by consulate of students makes this place becomes favorite to study together since the connection of internet is free. However, there is no students who want to study in the evening, besides it is dark, there are so many rumors about this park that scary students to study there in the evening. I can not tell you what it is since I can prove it however you may try to go there in the evening. I suggest you to wear a warm cloth since it is cold. :)

As the government has campaigned the program "Go green", this college applied it. There are many planted seeds of tree from the donation of government in this college in order to make this college become green--many trees and provide enough oxygen. The pictures besides is about the garden in STAN. This garden looks so beautiful. However, you are not allowed to step your foot on the grass or the gardener will be angry with you.
This garden is donation of graduated student of 82's. They did it because they just can not forget the time when they spend their young-age in this college and as their thankfulness to STAN.

I think that is it from me. I am sorry if there are so many mistakes in my posting.
Before I close this posting I'd like to say some words, "Do not litter carelessly, throw away your garbage in the basket", like in the picture besides. Throw away the garbage carelessly can cause flood and not good for people's health.

One more words,
Keep smile despite life is hard.
Have a nice August.
:-)

August 2010, The Independence Day and The Beginning of Moslem Fasting Month

2010-08-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum,
How is your life today?
I hope you are fine.
Today is the first day of August. In August, there will be the independence day of Indonesia and fasting month for Moslem. Before I tell further about fasting and independence day, I'd like to say, "Happy August".
:-)

Talking about the fasting month, Every moslem in all over the world will do fasting in Ramadhan month. In Islam,fasting is no food and no drink from the dawn until the sun sets. Besides that, when you do fasting, you must control your lust at the same time you have no food and drink. Well, some people find difficulty to have no food and drink whole the day. However, it is good for your health.

Fasting is good for your health because it can help you to control your appetite which can help those who suffer obesity. Besides that, fasting can maintain the digestive system. As we have known before, in a year, our digestive system works very hard to digest food that we have eaten and when we do fasting, our digestive system does not work as hard as usual. So it can have a maintenance and prevent from disease in digestive system.

Besides that, fasting month is the time that moslems really wait for. Since in fasting month, Allah give much merit to humankind. Besides that, fasting month is time for moslems to get closer to Allah and ask for forgiveness both to Allah and other people. Therefore, in Ramadhan month, moslems live in peace. Besides that, in Ramadhan month, you should control your anger or you will get nothing from your fasting except hunger and thirsty. There are still many advantages that you can get from doing fasting.

In Ramadhan month, the sun rise is the time that is moslem wait. Because at that time you are allowed to have some foods and drinks. Most Indonesians break their fasting with their relations or family. There is a tradition in Indonesia when they break fasting together to ignite the mini firework (like a picture).

They ignite the mini fireworks and play it. Besides mini fireworks, there are other traditions to do such as igniting firecrackers, tarawih praying, shouting takbir, and many more. Especially for igniting firecracker is prohibited because it is very dangerous and can cause fire. Besides that, the sound of igniting firecracker can damage your hearing. However, igniting firecracker always happens year by year despite policemen have prohibited it. Other tradition that Indonesian do in fasting month is tarawih praying. They do it every evening. Tarawih praying is very special for moslem because it can only do in Ramadhan month.

Besides fasting month, independence day of Indonesia is very special. In 2010, Indonesian is going to celebrate its birthday for 65th. This country declared their independence after 350 years was colonized by Netherlands and three and half years by Japan. The celebration of independence day begins from the independence ceremony. After that, we will have some competition such as climbing the tree, tug of war, and many more. Every competitions those are held need a teamwork in order to win. So you should have good partner to win the competition.

Well, I think that is it. I'd like to tell you further about fasting month and independence day in Indonesia in my next posting. Thank you for your attention and if you find some mistakes in my posting, as human being, I'd like to say sorry.
Ok, have a nice day on August.
:-)

Tour to STAN

2010-07-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum,
how is your life?
I have been busy with my extra work so I can not post anything in my blog. Lucky me, I am in good condition, if I am not, many works will not be done. I'd like to say Alhamdulillah for the healthy that Allah has given. :-)

At this time, I'd like to tell you about one of the colleges in Indonesia. The college is called STAN or Sekolah Tinggi Akuntansi Negara.

STAN which is located at Bintaro street sector V, Jakarta Selatan is an official college of Financial Ministries. So if you have graduated from STAN you do not need to worry where you are going to work since you have been guaranteed the position in Financial Ministries as the civil servant. Therefore, many students which have graduated from senior high school choose STAN as their destiny to continue their education. Nowadays, it is very hard in Indonesia to seek the job which has good salary and worthy.

This college is not like other universities in Indonesia. Besides the job guarantee that has been given, this college requires the students to complete each credit with no postpone. In other word, the amount of credits that students take for each semester must be the same with other students who are in the same grade. If you can't complete each credit at the same semester that you get, you will drop out from this college. However, although you have been dropped out, you may try to take a part in STAN selection for next year as long as you are not older that 21-years-old.

Picture besides shows you about the condition of the class. Each class can contain of forty students. However, in educational year 2009/2010, the average numbers of students who are in the first grade for each class is thirty seven and there are twenty five classes which named A--Y. Take a look at the picture, the facilities of the class is complete and good. Unfortunately, not all the class is as complete as that one. Many classes which is located in C and D building are not as good and complete as that one. However, for each year, STAN always improve their facilities in each building in order to have a better services for students and people.

Different from other colleges and universities STAN is free from payment. You do not need to pay anything to STAN since it is free. Furthermore, they will pay you at cost IDR 40,000/month when you are in the third grade. Although it is not much but we thank of it. Besides that, they also provide books to help you study. They lend you books for each semester and you must return them in the end of the same semester. Besides that, they also provide a library which has complete books such as accounting, management, cultures, and many more. It is very helpful for students.

I think that is enough. I'd like to tell you more about STAN in next posting.
Thank you for your time.
I'm sorry if there are many mistakes in this posting.
Enjoy your life.
:-)

Tangkuban Perahu--The Largest Boat which Become a Mount(Part II)

2010-07-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum,
How are you today? I hope you are fine.

Now, I'd like to tell you about my story when I was in a holiday. It was in May 2008 when I took a part in my school tour to Java. I'd like to continue my last story when I was in Tangkuban Perahu.

Tangkuban Perahu has a legendary story between its name 'Tangkuban Perahu'. Tangkuban or in English is overturned and Perahu is a boat has its own story why they named like that. i'd like to tell you about it. :-)

The Legend is well known as Sangkuriang legend.

Once upon a time, there was a woman named Dayang Sumbi. Dayang Sumbi had a husband named Tumang. Tumang was a man which was cursed to be a dog. Dayang Sumbi and Tumang had a child named Sangkuriang. One day, Tumang and Sangkuriang went to hunt something for food. They found the pig to be hunted. Then, Sangkuriang asked Tumang in order to hunt it. However Tumang refused it because he knew very well about the pig which was an incarnation of an invisible man. Sangkuriang got angry because of Tumang's deed. Then he killed Tumang and gave it to Dayang Sumbi.
Dayang Sumbi didn't recognize it as her husband and ate up it. After she had eaten up it, Sangkuriang told the truth to her.

Dayang Sumbi got angry after knowing it and threw the wood to Sangkuriang and let him go. Sangkuriang got injured and ran away. Day by day, year by year changed. Sangkuriang had finished his journey around the world and one day he didn't notice that he had just been back to his hometown. Sangkuriang didn't recognize that the beautiful woman that he found in that town was her mother. So he asked her to marry. At first, Dayang Sumbi didn't know Sangkuriang was her child. As time went by, she knew the truth and decided to refuse Sangkuriang's offer to marry. However, it was hard for her to refuse it so she made some requirements for Sangkuriang to accomplish.

One of the requirement was to create a boat and the other was to create a lake. Those requirements must be accomplished before dawn. However, Sangkuriang agreed with the requirements and started to create it with his mystical power. Knowing that Sangkuriang almost finished with his work, Dayang Sumbi became worried and tried to make the dawn come early. She woke the rooster up and the rooster crowed. The crowed of the rooster is the sign for the dawn had just come. Knowing that the dawn had just come made Sangkuriang got angry and kicked the boat. The kicked boat then became a mountain and the excavation became a lake.

After that, Sangkuriang chased Dayang Sumbi to force her marry him. Dayang Sumbi ran away and suddenly she disappeared became a flower. Sangkuriang got confused and finally he disappeared to the faerie.

That's the story between the name of Tangkuban Perahu. The lake in story is still exist and become a sulfur lake(look at a picture). Since It was a volcanic one, as the result of eruption, it spread the mineral like sulfur. Therefore, not far from Tangkuban Perahu there is a hot water bath which is located in Ciater, that's why its name is Ciater Hot Water Bath. hot water bath is good for your skin and for relaxation and the ticket cost is very cheap. It is about IDR 20,000.

Besides hot water bath, there are so many places that you can visit. For example, you can take a tour to tea garden. It is to take a walk in tea garden and see how tea make. Besides that, you can ride a horse in Tangkuban Perahu. It cost IDR 25,000 for one lap. If you want to try a strawberry from Indonesia, you can buy there with just IDR 10,000/dozen. However, you need to negotiate or make some good offer in order to get a good price.

Well, I think that's it the story from me. Since my holiday has just over, I think for the next posting I'd like to write about life in Jakarta. Many interesting story can be told from life in Jakarta.
Ok, see you. Hope you like it and I'm sorry if there are so many mistakes in my writing.
see you.
Hope you like it.
:-)

________________________________________________________________
Because Life can't be as sweet as sugar

Tangkuban Perahu--The Largest Boat which Become a Mount(Part I)

2010-07-13T11:18:00.001-07:00

Assalamualaikum,
How is your life?
May God bless us

Today is July, in Indonesia should be in dry season. However, rain falls almost everyday now It's very unusual since years by years before, in July until August is the peak of dry season. Well, maybe the global warming is the cause of this. Global warming causes the increased of temperature in all over the world. The increased of temperature can cause the change of season which human now can not predict the season and it is not good for farmer--for example. If you care of earth as the only place of our living, so let's save our earth. Start from now, from ourselves, and from the least thing. How? I will tell you in the next blog.
:-)

Talking about global warming that can be caused by pollution, reminds me to one place in which the air is still fresh. The place is Tangkuban Perahu. Tangkuban Perahu is located in Indonesia, West Java(Jawa Barat), or about 20 Km to the north from Bandung (the capital of Jawa Barat).

I went there in May 2008 as my school had a Java tour (my school is located in Bandarlampung, Lampung--one of the province in Indonesia). Due the journey to Tangkuban Perahu, I saw the rice field from both left and right side of the road. Here are the pictures

You can see the scenery of rice field from both of right or left side. The scenery was beautiful and looked so fresh.
In Indonesia, especially in the town, the rice field is so easy to find since Indonesia is the largest consumer of rice. There is a tradition in Indonesia, most of Indonesian will not be satisfied if they do not have any rice in their food. So it will not be called as a lunch--for example-- if you do not have any rice in lunch despite you have some carbohydrate as the substitute of rice in your lunch. Therefore Indonesia becomes the largest consumer of food.

This picture was taken from the bus when I was going to Tangkuban Perahu. There was so many rice fields during the journey because the land in which rice was planted is a volcanic land. Volcanic land is the land which has got the eruption of the volcano. So there will be the mineral in land which is needed by the rice in order to grow well.
Well, when I opened the window of the bus, then I took a breath, I could feel the fresh air which had no pollution. I think it is good for those who suffer asthma disease. The air is still fresh and no pollution, something that is hard to find in almost all big city in the world. Besides that, the green view of rice fields is so eye-catching that can entertain us. So you may enjoy your journey to Tangkuban Perahu. :-)
Besides that, you can find many food that you may not find in other place. For example, sate kelinci. Sate kelinci is the food that is made of rabbit's meat which is roasted and stabbed with small wood. The meat of rabbit which will become sate should be given some ingredient to make it more delicious. However, I do not know what is the ingredient.

After some hours enjoying the journey, finally I arrived at Tangkuban Perahu. To see the peak of Tangkuban Perahu, you should take a walk about 2 Km or take a mini van to go there. When you have arrived, you must feel cold since you are in height of 2084 m. Besides that, whenever you take a breath, the air must be fresh and cold enough. That's why you need sweater to keep you warm.

This is the first part of my holiday in Tangkuban Perahu. Next part, I am going to tell you about the legend behind the name of Tangkuban Perahu and my experience there.
Thank you for your attention. I am sorry if there are so many mistakes as human being.
enjoy your day and your life.
see you.
:-)

_____________________________________________________________

Because Life can't be as sweet as sugar

Golden Mosque Indonesia--The Grandest Mosque in South East Asia.

2010-07-09T23:23:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum,
How is your day?
I hope today is a good day for you.
:-)

Today I'd like to write about my holiday experience which happened in May 2008 visiting Dian Al-Mahr Masjd

( we use the word masjd as the substitution of mosque). This masjd is well-known because of its magnificence since the dome is coated with gold which has thickness about 2--3 mm. This masjd has five mosque which consists of one big dome and four small dome. The masjd which is located in Raya-Menurung street, Cinere, Depok, West Java(Jawa Barat) was build in 2001 and finished in 2006. This masjd was opened for people in December, 31st 2006 or the same day with Idul Adha at that time.This masjd can contain of 20,000 people at the same time. Therefore this masjd becomes the grandest one in the south-east Asia. As I remember there are just five masjd who have golden dome and this is one of them.

From the picture beside we can see there are five towers in this masjd. From the past, tower was used to declare if the time to pray had begun. Moslems call it as Adzan. In a day there are five times when moslems do adzan as the amount of praying for moslems in a day to pray are five times. If you have seen a Blue Masjd (Sultan Ahmed masjd) in Istanbul, Turkey, you can conclude that the tower of this masjd looks like the same as. Maybe the architect of this masjd was influenced by the Blue Masjd.

This is the tower if we get closer.

Ok, that is from the out side, Let's come in.
The first time I came in to the masjd, I felt this masjd was so luxury that It seems it will be very expensive if I want to buy (just kidding). :-)
The art-designer of this masjd had a wonderful imagination that can make this masjd looks so great. If you pay attention to the up of the tower on the picture, you may assume that is coated with gold. You are right. The up of the tower in the picture beside was coated with gold which has less thickness than the dome.

If take a look to the roof of this masjd, you will find a painting of sky. There must be a reason why the painting is the sky. However, it looks very beautiful.
:-)

In Islam we know that for every praying there must be a leader between them. Therefore in this masjd there is a place for the leader (Moslems call it as Imam--Imam maybe the same as priest in Christian).
If you take a look at the picture beside, there is a podium. Maybe you ask what it is for, if the Christian has Sunday as his day to listen for the priest to give sermon, so the Moslem will be Friday. The sermon on Friday for Moslem is called as khutbah. The design of the podium is good and very artistic. Therefore many people want to take a picture of it but it is prohibited.

When you have time to visit this masjd, you shoul take a look in other part of this masjd. What I have written about is just a little thing that you can find there. Explore more.
:-)

I think that is it from me. I am really sorry if there are so many mistakes that I have made since I am just ordinary human. Hope you can enjoy it. Enjoy your day.
:-)

________________________________________________________________
Because Life can't be as sweet as sugar

Sea World--The Largest Aquarium in Indonesia

2010-07-09T06:43:00.000-07:00

Assalamualikum,
Hi, how are you today?
I hope you are fine,

Today I'd like to tell you about my last holiday in A large Aquarium in Indonesia called "Sea World Indonesia" (in short SWI). SWI is located in Ancol, North Jakarta (Jakarta Utara). To reach there from Blok M by using public transportation you can take a Trans Jakarta Bus. First you have to buy a Trans Jakarta ticket that costs IDR 3,500( on August 2010 it will be IDR 5,000). Take the bus until you arrive in Dukuh Atas shelter. After that you should take another Trans Jakarta Bus in which has direction to Pulo gadung. It will take 15 minutes before you have to transit in Matraman Shelter. If you have already arrived at Matraman Shelter, you should go across the bridge in order to take a Trans Jakarta bus which has direction to Ancol. Ancol is the last destiny

of this Trans Jakarta, so you don't have to transit any more.

If you have reached Ancol, you should buy ticket in order to come in to Ancol. It will cost IDR 13,000. Then you can come in. After that, to reach SWI, you can wait for a bus that can pick up you to SWI. This bus is free or you can walk to reach SWI, it's free. :-)

Then you get SWI. Buy the ticket first cost IDR 30,000--50,000 then you can come in to walk to see the fish in a large Aquarium. There are so many fish there but I just took a few of them. Besides fish, there is also crocodile and snake. Especially for snake, it comes from the Amazon Jungle. However, when I was going to take a picture of it, It seemed ashamed that it didn't want to appear. :-(

Ok, here are the pictures,

I am not sure it is catfish (Indonesian call it as Ikan lele) or Arowana (Scleropages formosus). Seems they are very similar and I just see it in quick time. However, I guess it is Arowana since there is no weed or alga those become a food of catfish. However, if you have another opinion, you can comment.
:-)

This fish is like coming from a long time ago from the ancient era.Its teeth are sharp and its eyes are so sharp that as if it had been ready to attack you. However, this fish is just a fossil that had been canned in order to prevent from decay. This fish has length about two-arm-span of adult. however, this fish is like Indonesian food known as Bandeng, delicious.

The next one is the crocodile. There were about six crocodiles that I had seen there. One of the crocodiles seemed albino since its leather is white and different from the others. However, this difference made it well-known. Because it was the unique one. If you are lucky, you can feed them by giving meat. Be careful, because crocodile can jump as high as its height of body.

This is the aquarium which has been designed like the habitat of fish in the sea. The fishes looked very beautiful and awesome. Maybe the tough they were in their own habitat since the owner of the aquarium decided to have an aquarium filled with the coral reefs that was original from the sea. One of the fish that I saw there was Nemo or clown fish.

This fish is like the stone. So whenever you are in the sea find this fish you must be careful of its bite. Although it doesn't have any poison, but it will hurt you. This fish uses it camouflage as the way of self
defense and hunted some little fish
as its food. This fish is ashamed
since it rarely show off itself.
:D

This fish is full of spotted that makes this fish
can have camouflage in the coral reefs.
This fish lives in the coral reefs waiting for its
prey come to it. Besides this fish is also hide
inside the coral reefs in order to prevent the
attack of its predator.

It is not an Alien. It is a fish named stingray. The fans of
Steve Irwin maybe knows very well about this fish
since this fish cause death to him. The poison of its fish
is located on its tail and it can cause death just in a short
time. However, the stingray in SWI is saved since it is
inside the aquarium.
:)

OK, thank you for your attention.
I'm sorry if there are so many mistakes since I'm just ordinary one.
:-)
Enjoy your life today.

#Because Life can't be as sweet as sugar

Taman Sari--The Palace of Mataram Sultanate

2010-07-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum,

This time I would like to continue about my holiday in Jogja. Another place that I had visited is known as Taman Sari that is located not far from Pasar Kembang (Sarkem). Taman Sari is a palace of Mataram Sultanate. Mataram Sultanate is different from Mataram Kingdom since the sultanate is Islamic and the other is Hind.

I began my visiting from the back entrance. Why from back one? Because it is free since Taman Sari palace is located besides home resident and there is no gate or even high wall to separate them.

It shows us that the Sultan was very close to his resident. Besides that the back entrance is very lower, maybe it's about 1 meter high. It was made like that in order to show residents respect and politeness to the Sultan. So when they are going to come in they must kneel.

I went straight from the gate that I came in and I found there was a pool. A pool was used to swim for concubine. A pool for the sultan was separated from his concubine and so was the empress.

King pool

concubine pool

The next room that I visited was The Sultan's room. The room was so simple that was no many decoration. However, It was a large room.

Under the bed's Sultan you can find fireplace that was used to warm the Sultan.

Next place is a tunnel.
The tunnel is so dark and stale that can make a mystic image. From the people there who I asked to they told me that there was a secret tunnel that can reach a South beach. (In Jogja, there was a legend of Nyi Roro Kidul who placed in South beach). Besides the mystic story about the tunnel, the tunnel was used for residents in the past for praying. There was a path that they used to take to go to Masjid (we use the word "Masjid" as the substitution of word "mosque"). They made a circle and everyone who did praying faced to Kiblat that is to Ka'bah, Makkah.

The last place that I visited was the entrance. The decoration for the entrance is very good and marvelous. People in the past had already had artistry.

Ok, that's it.
Since my holiday in Jogja was just in a few days so there was just a few good places that I can tell you.
Next story maybe I will tell you about Jakarta.
Thank you guys.
:)

#Because life can't be as sweet as sugar.

Aal iz well

2010-07-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum,
How are you today? I hope everything is alright. However, if you have some problems, solve it as soon as you can because problems can be like a bomb. If you save the problems too long, it will explode, but still remember, everything is gonna be alright. If you have watched the Bollywood movie titled "Three Idiots", they use words aal iz well in order to make themselves feel better after getting some problems in their life. Well, I have tried to use it and --believe it or not-- it works.
How it works?
Just put your hand on your chest and say aal iz well then

smile. It can reduce your stress of problems.

I am as a student of one of the college in Jakarta have ever felt stress when I was in senior high school. I felt it because all of my classmates had already accepted in the famous college. Actually, I had accepted in one of the university but I decided to reject it since it didn't match with what I want to. So I rejected it. Test by test I took in order to get what I want and at that time I felt regret because of time that I had wasted when I was senior high school (in Indonesia we call it as SMA). I studied very hard to reach my dream and finally I got what I want.
Your-realized-dream didn't come by itself but you should chase it and work more and more to get it.
Sometimes we fall, but the only thing that differ the losers and the winners is the time they wake after falling. The winners wake as soon as they after fall, but the losers will not wake. They just blame other people as if it were not their mistakes.
So are you the loser or the winner?

#Because Life can't be as sweet as sugar.

Trip to Jogja

2010-07-08T00:15:00.000-07:00

Assalamualikum,

this is my 2nd articles in my blog and now I really excited to write something here. Now, I'm going to write about my last holiday in Jogjakarta in June 2010.

Jogjakarta or D.I. Jogjakarta is located in Java Island or about 10-hours-travel from Jakarta by train. To reach Jogjakarta from Jakarta you can go by bus or by train. I went there by train since it is cheaper and faster. I took a train from Pasar Senen Station and it would depart at seven. KAI.corp (the corporation who provides trains transpportation) selected Pasar Senen station as the station to depart to Jogja for economic and business ticket class. Especially for executive class, it departs from Gambir station to Jogjakarta. I took the business class one which costs IDR 135,000. If you take the executive one, the cost of ticket will be double than the business one.

The train finally came at 07.10 pm or 10 minutes late based on the schedule. The travel began and it would take 10 hours to reach Tugu station in Jogjakarta. During the travel, there would be so many singing beggar who would sing a song to entertain you. Give them IDR 1,000 and there will be happy (just share your happiness). :)

The train arrived in Jogja at 04.35. I came out from the train and went to the gate of Tugu station. I found that there were so many people offered you to take you to your destiny by their own vehicle. Most of vehicle that they used were motorcycle and that is we call as ojek or ojeg. Before you go by ojek, it is much better for you to ask how much it will cost and --if you can speak javanese-- negotiate it. However, if you do not want to take ojek, you may take a pedicab. Feel the sensation by taking pedicab. The same as Ojek, you should ask the cost first. Another transportation that you can take is a taxi. Taxi is the safest one but you should pay more for Taxi than Ojek and pedicab.

I took a rest in my home on Magelang street. Then I tried to have some snacks to eat, I got lambang sari and risoles. Lambang sari is a food that is made of wheat flour and banana inside, then it is wraped with banana's leaves. Risoles is a food like a croissant but it is smaller and filled with potato and carrot. They are very delicious for a hunger.

The first place that I visited in Jogja was the monument that is located in Kranggan traditional market.

People in Jogja believe that the palace of Sultan (known as Keraton), Merapi volcanic mountaint, and South-beach are in the straight line. So they believe if we go straight from the monument, we can reach Keraton, Mount Merapi, and South-beach.

From the picture, there was a green bus. That is Trans Jogja. Trans Jogja is different from Trans Jakarta since Trans Jogja doesn't have its own track.

I still have interesting story to tell about Jogja, I will write it later. So see you soon.

Hope you like it.

Introduction

2010-07-07T23:04:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum,
well, this is my first time to have and create a blog. I have some accounts of Facebook and Twitter but I feel bored with them, so I try for something new which is Blog. Since I'm still newbie, I think I need time to improve my skill in writing and blogging. So I'm sorry if there will be some mistakes in writing or expressing my opinion.
What I am going to write in this blog is about life in Indonesia (mostly Jakarta) from other point of views that is sometimes unusual in other place.

So just read it and I need your feed back to make it better.
Thank you.
Wassalam

NB: in Indonesia, no matter of your religion Assalamualaikum and Wassalam are common to use as the way to greet people.