Wednesday, November 21, 2007

INSIDE PADANG



Padang can be hot and humid.
Culture-wise it is the homeland of the Minangkabau race. The Minangkabau, a bold, proud, adventurous warrior of the past and today,the men are encourage to look for better and greener pastures and this is still the pratice today. The society has a well preserved system to ensure that the family weath remains with the woman's side forever.
The town is very clean by Indonesian standards, in comparison to other indonesian towns. The unique buffulo horn shape roof is typical to this place. A well organised and ethical business community, with many business women - in fact, they excell in all type of business and are very good business men and women. (Especially the woman - salute to the females of this community). These people are very good in the cooked food business, the well known minangkabau padang food is popular worldwide. Very good place for beef perparation, Rendang (a dry spicy (curry) beef stewed in santan is recommended).

Bakso (beef ball) in noodles, is also a popular dish. Other more exotic dishes are prepared from cattle's organs: deep fried skin,liver, lung, bull penis, stomach, and instestine and ox tail soup are all considered delicacies by the locals and for more adventurous people.



Bukittinggi
Bukittinggi (translate literally: High mountain) is a cool, mountainous town. Very beautiful and unpolluted. At the town centre, near the clock tower there are many souvenier stores selling local handicraft and embrodery material for dress making
Nearby you can also find stalls selling local plants and the fruit markets.There are horse carts (Angkong) for tourists and local to ride around the town. You can also try the locally-made instant noodle dish (Pangsit)available for breakfast (morning only). Also try the local tea and coffee; the locals have a sweet tooth, so you should request the stall owner not to add milk or sugar to the drink, and then add the milk and sugar yourself .
The locals also bake very nice layer cakes (flavoured with cinnamon harvested from the local tree bark). The local sometimes use a roll of cinnamon stick to stir their coffee, adding flavour in the process.

Lake Minanjau
The view of this fresh water lake is very scenic as you approach from the top of the hill. And as you approach the lake there are many monkeys on the trees, stretching their thier hands to ask for fruit and peanuts.

When you reach this vast lake, the enviroment is very refreshing and windy.

Having lunch at the lake side restaurant is a very pleasant experience. The speciality here is the tiny local fishes, used to make a very nice soup, or deep fried to make cripsy dishes . You can also stay here - there are many homestay and hotels available here - it's very affordable.

Travel Tips on Local Customs
Always use right hand shake (never with the left hand),
Point with the thumbs (impolite to use the finger for pointing to anything)
Never touch the head and headgear of a local (a taboo).

Padang is the nearest airport, about 2-21/2 hours traveling time.

Friday, August 3, 2007

Good News from Saudi Arabia



JAKARTA - Polemik yang pernah mengemuka tentang rencana Arab Saudi mencekal pesawat Garuda Indonesia terbang ke wilayahnya berakhir happy ending. Berdasar hasil audit tim General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) Arab Saudi terhadap Garuda, kemarin diputuskan bahwa pesawat Garuda nanti tetap boleh memasuki negara tersebut.
“Tidak ada pelarangan dan restriksi (pembatasan) bagi Garuda untuk terbang ke wilayah Arab Saudi, baik secara normal reguler maupun untuk haji,” kata Menteri Perhubungan (Menhub) Jusman Syafii Djamal setelah pertemuan tertutup dengan Tim GACA di gedung Dephub kemarin. Tim GACA datang ke Indonesia sejak 30 Juli 2007. Mereka terdiri atas lima anggota dan seorang teknisi ICAO.
Selama tiga hari, Tim GACA melakukan verifikasi audit kondisi keselamatan penerbangan Indonesia. Garuda Indonesia dijadikan objek sampel pemeriksaan dan verifikasi. Seluruh aspek penerbangan Garuda, mulai perawatan pesawat, operasi, hingga pelatihan sumber daya manusia (SDM) BUMN penerbangan itu, telah ditelisik oleh GACA. ”Garuda jadi sampel karena secara rutin terbang ke Arab Saudi,” tegasnya.
Menurut Jusman, dalam verifikasi tersebut memang ditemui beberapa protokol operasi penerbangan Garuda yang belum sepenuhnya sesuai dengan aturan. Tetapi, itu tidak menghambat Arab Saudi untuk tetap memberikan klarifikasi dan izin bagi Garuda. Beberapa hal tersebut tidak termasuk faktor utama, hanya minor, dalam masalah penerbangan. ”Hal-hal itu bisa dipenuhi dalam proses ke depan,” tegasnya.
Selain menegaskan Garuda bebas terbang ke Arab Saudi, otoritas penerbangan sipil negara itu juga memberikan rekomendasi mengenai perbaikan SDM regulator. Menurut Jusman, GACA melihat kecepatan pertumbuhan penumpang angkutan udara di Indonesia yang harus diikuti dengan kekuatan regulator pengawasan. ”Mereka (GACA) menekankan pada sumber daya manusia untuk melakukan pengawasan itu,” tegasnya.
Untuk meningkatkan personel pengawasan penerbangan, Dephub berencana memperbaiki SDM regulator. Untuk itu, akan diadakan kerja sama dengan TNI Angkatan Udara serta ahli-ahli dari perguruan tinggi sebagai tenaga penunjang dan evaluasi. ”GACA dan organisasi penerbangan internasional lainnya juga akan dilibatkan dalam upaya itu,” ungkapnya.
Selain itu, lanjutnya, ke depan kedua negara sepakat untuk saling membantu memenuhi segala sesuatu yang terkait dengan peningkatan keselamatan penerbangan. Dasarnya, Indonesia dan Arab Saudi mempunyai visi dan misi yang sama terkait dengan tingginya frekuensi penerbangan dari Indonesia ke Arab Saudi dan sebaliknya. ”Kita sangat puas dengan respons Arab Saudi yang sangat cepat melakukan verifikasi audit, mengecek temuan, melakukan koreksi, dan bersikap,” tuturnya.
Ketua Tim GACA, Capt Berenji M Rashad, mengatakan, pihaknya percaya dan yakin dengan komitmen pemerintah serta stakeholder penerbangan Indonesia lainnya dalam upaya meningkatkan keselamatan penerbangan. Meski demikian, dia menilai Indonesia sedang menapaki proses untuk mencapai tujuan itu, baik dari sisi SDM maupun segi pendukung lain. ”Kami optimistis, itu benar-benar dilakukan,” ujarnya.
Di bagian lain, Dirjen Perhubungan Udara Budhi M Suyitno menambahkan, Tim GACA selanjutnya akan membuat laporan tertulis hasil verifikasi auditnya di Indonesia setelah mereka kembali ke negaranya. Hasilnya juga akan dikirim ke Indonesia, berikut beberapa rekomendasinya. ”Dalam pertemuan tadi, cuma disampaikan pokok-pokoknya,” terangnya.
Budhi menjelaskan, salah satu catatan dalam audit GACA menyangkut potensi kekurangdisiplinan regulator dalam hal pencatatan (recording) segala kejadian operasional penerbangan.
Dia mencontohkan, jenis dan nomor registrasi pesawat. Dua hal itu harus dicatat saat pesawat akan diterbangkan, tiba, maupun ganti pesawat. ”Sayang, kalau berangkat, dicatat; kalau datang, lupa tidak dicatat. Biasanya baru dicatat setelah satu atau dua hari,” ungkapnya.
Menanggapi hal itu, Dirut Garuda Indonesia, Emirsyah Satar, mengungkapkan bahwa GACA telah mengaudit maskapainya. Dia juga mengatakan telah bertemu dengan tim GACA. Mereka menilai tidak ada hal yang patut dikhawatirkan dalam penerbangan Garuda, baik untuk rute domestik maupun internasional. ”Mereka tetap menilai kita safe (aman),” jelasnya. source : http://www.sumeks.co.id

Friday, July 27, 2007

Sriwijaya Air Open route Bandung - Surabaya

Private-owned Sriwijaya Air plan to open new route Bandung-Surabaya.
Beside Surabaya, Sriwijaya Air is planning to fly Bandung - Denpasar and Makasar-Palu. The three new routes will be flown in 2 August 2007.
With introducing the Bandung flight,Sriwijaya Air currently flies to 28 domestic cities;BandaAceh, Medan, Batam, Padang, Pekanbaru, Bengkulu, Jambi, Bangka, Belitung, Palembang, Lampung, Jakarta, Semarang, Solo, Surabaya, Malang, Bali, Kupang,Tarakan, Balikpapan, Banjarmasin,Pontianak, Palangkaraya, Manado, Gorontalo, Makasar, Kendari.
The first regional route is Manado - Davao (Philippina).

Flight Schedule :
Bandung - Surabaya ETD 09:40 ETA 10:55
Surabaya - Bandung ETD 08:00 ETA 09:15

Sriwijaya Air - Your Flying Partner

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

A Country above the Clouds

The road went steadily upward. Sometimes, this route looked like stairs to the sky. A sharp turn made transport trucks roaring and moving very slow like a turtle.The air temperature was getting cooler and bitting the bone. The dense forest was whitening due to the mists. Down there, Padang town was being showered by rainy season of December.Here we felt like staying in a country above the clouds.

Kawasan Taman Hutan Rakyat (THR) Mohammad Hatta adalah salah satu hutan terbaik dan terdekat dengan pusat kota. Bagi penduduk pinggiran kota Padang, taman hutan rakyat ini ibarat tameng tentara Romawi dari kemungkinan banjir atau longsoran dari dinding pegunungan yang sangat curam.

Gunung Talang telah menjadi ajang pendakian para petualang rimba dari berbagai negara. Guide-guide lokal di Solok dan Padang siap melayani pendakian sesuai selera pengunjung.Menurut para petani di sekitar Alahan Panjang,beberpa turis Eropa telah mendirikan villa-villa peristirahatan kecil di bagian lereng gunung dan mereka tinggal di sana selama berbulan-bulan.

Sejenak kita melewati kebun teh milik PTPN VI yang terawat rapi. Perkebunan ini sudah aktif sejak jaman Belanda dan masih menjadi eksportir teh yang produktif hingga sekarang. Hamparannya menutupi bukit-bukit landai dan berbatasan langsung dengan dinding Gunung Talang. Bayangkan, satu panorama hijau yang kemerahan oleh pucuk kayu manis, terbentang luas di bawah naungan gunung. Inilah yang ditemukan setelah menembus lapisan kabut di lereng hutan THR Mohammad Hatta. Inilah negeri di atas awan.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

GOES to KALIMANTAN

Pontianak

A pontianak or kuntilanak (as known in Indonesia, sometimes shortened to just kunti) is a type of vampire in Malay folklore. The pontianak is usually a woman who died during childbirth and becomes undead, seeking revenge and terrorizing villages. She often appears as a beautiful woman, usually accompanied by the strong scent of frangipani. Men who are not wary will be killed when she morphs into a hideous vampire, she will also eat babies and harm pregnant women.
People believe that having a sharp object like a nail helps them fend off potential attacks by pontianaks, the nail being used to plunge a hole in the back of the pontianak's neck. It is believed that when a nail is plunged into the back of a pontianak's neck, she will turn into a beautiful woman, until the nail is pulled off again. The Indonesian twist on this is plunging the nail into the apex of the head of the kuntilanak.

Palangkaraya

Palangkaraya is the capital city of the Central Kalimantan province of Indonesia. The population of the municipality is 160,018 (2000 census).
The city, along with other parts of central Kalimantan, was the site of ethnic violence between the indigenous Dayak people and Madurese immigrants in 2001. Several thousand Madurese, who had moved to Kalimantan as long as twenty years earlier, were evacuated to other islands to escape the violence.

Banjarmasin

Banjarmasin is the capital of South Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is located at 3°20'S 114°35'E, on a delta island near the junction of the Barito and Martapura rivers. As a result, Banjarmasin is sometimes called the "River City". Its population is about 444,000 (1991), making it the largest city on Borneo.
An important deepwater port, it is the trade center of the rich Barito basin; exports include rubber, pepper, timber, petroleum, coal, gold, and diamonds. There is a large oil refinery, and coal mines and sawmills are in the vicinity. The city is a centre for boatbuilding, especially of the pinisi sailing schooners used for inter-island trade.
The city is laced with flood-prone waterways, and many houses are built on rafts or stilts over the waterr. A floating marketplace, where buyers and sellers visit by boat, is located on the western outskirts of town.
The Sabila Muhtadin Mosque, located along the Martapura riverfront, is a major landmark in the city. Built in 1980, it accommodates thousands of worshippers for Friday prayers. A state university (Universitas Lambung Mangkurat, UNLAM) is in the town.



Balikpapan

Balikpapan is a city (population 309,234 1990) on the island of Borneo, in Indonesia. It is the second largest city in the province of East Kalimantan, located on an inlet of Makassar Strait about 115 km from Samarinda, the capital of East Kalimantan province. Mostly surrounded by sea, Balikpapan is an important center of the petroleum, mining, and timber industries.
The city is sometimes called the "Main Gate" of East Kalimantan. It has an international airport, called Sepinggan, several harbors such as Semayang and Somber, and a port devoted to the petroleum industry.
Surrounded by Balikpapan Bay, the city also has potential for business, such as trades and tourism. Dayak, Bugis, Javanese, and some foreigners live here.

Tarakan



The name of Tarakan City comes from Tidung language formed by two words, Tarak means "meet" and Ngakan means "eat". It tries to tell us long ago Tarakan island was used as a meeting place by Tidung ethnic which live as fisherman. As time goes by Tarakan city which was known as city of oil at that time has only one subdistrict, Tarakan.
Tarakan is island town, which located near with Sabah, Malaysia frontier. According to history, Tarakan have ever become location of venomous encounter at Second World War between Japan armies and Australian army. 235 Australian armies died at the encounter. Some houses in Tarakan still having stripper cannon rest of world war that put down in house yard as supply of garden and lawn. In Tarakan there is Australian army cenotaph in location, which is become a military complex. This cenotaph is built in memory of coping to die Australian army to free Tarakan from Japan occupying. In other location there is Japan grave residing in ex Japan bunker in hilly area.
This tourism object in Tarakan for example Amal Beach is a parting 11 Km from the downtown. This beach has coconut panorama to wave with beautiful panorama.Amal Beach is a beautiful beach with white sand, located at West Tarakan Subdistrict. Visitors can watch public shows every Sunday. To reach this place, visitors can go through Kampung Empat, then they go east as far as 6 km by passing native people's field.
About 4 Km from the downtown, in Masjid Markoni Street Gang III there is 'Tugu Perabuan Jepang' that built in 1933. This monument is square equipped with article Kanji and is place of obsequies the dying Japanese corpse.
Based on government regulation No. 47 1981, the status of Tarakan subdistrict was developed as administrative city, authenticated by the Minister of Home Affairs on March 23rd 1982, so 23rd March becomes the date of The Birthday of The Administrative City of Tarakan.

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