Pontianak - The Equator City

Ever since I was at elementary school, the teacher always told that Pontianak is lying on the Equator. Last week I had a chance to visit this Equator City. This my second visit actually. My first visit to Pontianak I didn't spend enough time, just a very short visit before going to Sanggau.
It was a nice stayed in Pontianak, the foods are delicious. Just walk around Pattimura street, you can find a lot of Pontianak foods: pisang goreng Pontianak (fried banana), Kwee Tiaw, Aloe Vera, Talas (Taro) and many more. If you like to find Malaysian products (mostly food) just enter the Kaisar Supermarket. Still on Pattimura street, there is an area called 'PSP market'. At PSP market, you can find a lot of Kalimantan (Borneo)/ Dayak souvenir .... From Borneo Batik to gems (blue saphire, turquise, cat's eye and many more) - unfortunately I don't know much about all these gems.
Tourism objects around Pontianak are 'rumah Betang', 'rumah Melayu', Taman Sungai Kapuas, Kelenteng and 'equatorial monument/ tugu khatulistiwa'.
Rumah Betang is a traditional Dayak's house. It was made of 2 storeys, at the upper side, there is a hall that are used to sleep people from 1 neighbourhood.... unbelievable!
Just rent a car for 1 day and it is easier to explore all tourism place in Pontianak.

Nias Island, How to get there

Nias changed drastically since my previous visit 4 years ago. First the airport is now bigger, they built 2 storey airport terminal. The second is the number of flight to get there. I remember, it was Merpati and one small aircraft (unfortunately I forget the name of the carrier) which flew from Medan (the capital city of the province) to Gunung Sitoli (the capital city of Nias Island). now Wings Airline (which is from the same group with Lion Air) fly to Nias from Medan, in addition to Merpati Airline, I am not sure whether that small aircraft still fly to Nias. It is easier to book the ticket too. From Jakarta, we just booked the ticket to Gunung Sitoli Nias with Lion Air, but if you want to use Garuda from Jakarta to Medan and then change to Wings Air from Medan to Nias (Gunung Sitoli) is still possible. All those ticket can be bought directly from Jakarta..... Very convinient. As you reach the airport, there are a lot of rental cars (this is still unorganize - private), but the driver will offer you the service right after you enter the terminal building. So we just bairgain the price and go. The fee for car rental is almost the same everywhere in Indonesia. It is about Rp 350,000 - Rp 500,000.- per day.
When you visit Nias, don't expect a five stars hotel, but you can still find a modest and clean hotel. We have stayed at Miga Beach Hotel, it was nice. In the last visit, we stayed at 'Wisma Soliga'. It was nice too but because of its location which is nearby the main road, never choose the front rooms.
I think Nias has the opportunity to develop its area (become one of tourism object) if there is a goodwill from the local government. I'll write more about Nias as I plan to travel around the island this upcoming December.

Ketika nyawa harus direlakan demi mendapat anak laki-laki

Ketika saya mengunjungi mertua di rumah sakit, di kamar ICU, ada seorang perempuan yang terbaring di sebelah mertua saya. Kalau saya lihat wanita itu masih cukup muda, mungkin sekitar 20 tahun lebih. Saya bertanya dia sakit apa? orang-orang cerita bahwa dia baru saja melahirkan seorang bayi laki-laki, anak ketiga. Jadi wanita itu memang punya riwayat tekanan darahnya menjadi sangat tinggi jika hamil hingga pre-eclampsia. Namun karena anak pertama dan kedua perempuan dan di Nias anak laki-laki menjadi sangat diharapkan karena penerus marga, maka wanita itu akhirnya hamil lagi berusaha untuk mendapatkan anak laki-laki. Dan memang betul anak ketiga lahir seorang bayi laki-laki. Namun sayangnya si ibu harus mempertaruhkan nyawa. Akibat pre-eclampsia, ginjal si wanita tersebut menjadi rusak dan tidak berfungsi. Rumah sakit di Nias amat sangat terbatas, walaupun memiliki gedung yang megah (karena dibangun dari dana bantuan) namun prasarana yang ada serta tenaga medis sangat minim. Sehingga apa boleh buat wanita tersebut akhirnya hanya dirawat seadanya hingga meninggal. Menyedihkan memang, demi seorang anak lelaki bagi sang suami dan penerus keturunan marga suami, wanita tersebut rela mempertaruhkan nyawa. Heran sekali di jaman seperti ini koq masih ada hal seperti itu. Saya tidak tahu apakah suami dan keluarganya berbahagia seperti itu, karena mereka akhirnya berhasil mendapatkan penerus marga?

Nias Island

When I visited my mother in law who was hospitalized last week. I had a chance to take some pictures around Gunung Sitoli. Gunung Sitoli is the main city in the island. It was a bit crowded especially around downtown area. Good thing is that Nias economic now grows nicely. But Nias people have to learn how to maintain the important assets in their area. Here are some pictures from around Gunung Sitoli.

Ujung Genteng, The hidden beauty from West Java

It took more than 7 hours to reach Ujung Genteng by car. During the fasting month when we visited Ujung Genteng, It was very quite and peaceful. The weather was cold though it is near the sea. So it was just perfect for us. Ujung Genteng has a clear blue water and white sandy beach. The beach still un-touch so very natural. Waves is big but in some places, corals break waves far from beach so we can play and swim in that area. One thing that unique, in Ujung Genteng we can find turtle conservation, everyday during the sunset (around 5.30 pm) they will release a newborn turtle to its habitat in the ocean. The 'mother turtle' usually lays

eggs at night (around 8 pm - 4 am) and the people from the conservation collect eggs and try to protect and move them to the safe place and keep them until the time for the baby turtle come out. There are a lot of enemies for turtle eggs as well as the baby turtle. That is why they try to protect the turtle. From 100 eggs, there are only 1-3% who will survive. Life is about to survive .... it is true not even for human being but also for turtle.