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Showing posts from June, 2019

THE QUEEN HARBOUR AT SUKABUMI

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Image by Hiroshi sanjuro - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 The Queen Harbour or Pelabuhan Ratu is one of the well known beaches which is usually visited by domestic and international tourists. It is located at Pelabuhanratu bay and it’s about 60 km from the capital of Sukabumi. As it shares the border with Indian Ocean, the sea is rough and dangerous. Tourists should be very careful because a lot of people drowned after being struck by massive waves. Sometimes the sea looks calm, but the underwater currents are so extreme and awful. The beautiful panorama and the high waves attract a great many world class surfers to demonstrate their skills. Rocks that jut out into the sea become the ideal location for fishing. The restaurants and food stalls sell various delicious food and drink. There’re also the cheap and five-star hotels. It’s worth staying overnight and enjoy seeing the view of this beach by night. While walking on the sand beach, you can see the sparkling lights of the fish

THE MYSTERY OF JAKARTA CASABLANCA TUNNEL

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Image by Pexels from Pixabay Indonesia has a lot of urban legends and all of them are very interesting and amusing. A great many people like listening and reading urban tales. Some are glad to collect horror stories, goosebumps rituals, rural and urban myths. This is something like a hobby of collecting antiques and they also write weird stories in their spare time to escape reality. One of the eeriest places in Jakarta is Casablanca Tunnel. The citizens are curious to know why the ghost stories of this place are so well known. Casablanca Tunnel is an underpass at Kuningan, South Jakarta. It is said that the location was in fact a mass grave before the tunnel was built. The authorities relocated the remains for building the highway. While the workers were digging, they discovered a corpse was in its undecomposed condition. After the underpass was completely built, some drivers had strange experiences while they were passing the Casablanca Tunnel. Many people believe that

THE CHICKEN CHURCH IN CENTRAL JAVA

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Image by Matt Smith - Matt Smith on Flickr, Public Domain from Wikimedia Commons There is a unique worship house at Rhema hill in Magelang Regency, Central Java Province. People call it the Chicken Church because it looks like a sitting hen in the middle of the forest. After becoming the “What’s wrong with love?” movie shooting location, tourists are willing to visit this Chicken Church. They would like to know what kind of religious edifice it is. A lot of visitors come to this strange building and the number increases on the weekends and vacation. They’re glad to bring their families, relatives and friends and take some photos as a memento. In the founder’s opinion, it’s not suitable to call the building a chicken church. He said he built this worship house because he saw a religious edifice resembling the shape of a dove in his dream. Afterwards, he had a strong desire to build it in the real world. When he was in Magelang, he discovered a location that looked somewhat l

THE OLD TOWN OF JAKARTA

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Image by Gunawan Kartapranata - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 from Wikimedia Commons Kota Tua or the Old Town is a little town of the past in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is about 1.3 square kilometers, extending over the area of the north and west of Jakarta. It was crowned the Diamond of Asia and the Eastern Queen by the European sailors in the 16th century. As this old town was so strategic and had a large amount of resources, it was considered the business centre of Asian continent. In 1526, the Sultan of Demak sent Fatahillah to attack Sunda Kelapa harbour which belonged to Pajajaran Kingdom. Afterwards, the conqueror built a 15 hectare Javanese tradition port town named Jayakarta. In 1619, Jayakarta was destroyed by Jan Pieterszoon Coen's troops. A year later, the Dutch East India Company established a new town called Batavia. This town lay around the east side of Ciliwung River. Nowadays, it’s the Fatahillah square. The native inhabitants of Batavia were called Batavians and

THE NATIONAL MONUMENT OF INDONESIA

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Image by Peter Dunne - (Zoinretep) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 from Wikimedia Commons MONAS or the National Monument is the icon of Jakarta City. It was designed and constructed by the Indonesian architects in 1959. Ir. Sukarno, the first president of the Republic of Indonesia inaugurated the National Monument on August 17, 1961. Later, it was officially open to the public on June 12, 1975. The purpose of building the National Monument is to commemorate the heroes and heroines of the revolution and inculcate patriotism into the young generation. Besides that, it has become a tourist attraction and the center of educating the population. Not only do the Jakartans have recreation at Monas, but also the citizens from all over the country. The National Monument has a unique architectural style and on the top of it is a large flame shaped metal which looks like a fire that will never go out. The everlasting fire symbolizes the strong spirit of struggle of the Indonesian people. The

THE BOROBUDUR TEMPLE IN INDONESIA

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Image by Geoffery iGV from Pixabay Borobudur is an ancient Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, Central Java Province. It is one of the biggest Buddhist temples in the world and is often referred to as the very inspiring cultural heritage site. Borobudur was built in the days of Syailendra Dynasty. It is believed that the architect who designed the temple was Gunadharma and it needed almost a century to complete all the hard work. The legend says that Borobudur temple was built by djinns in a night. Nevertheless, the archaeologists still lack evidence and no one else knows exactly who the real creator was. Scientific research shows that there was an ancient lake around Borobudur temple a thousand years ago and the width of it was eight kilometers. Villagers took water from the lake to grow rice and vegetables. The temple looked like a lotus in the middle of the ancient lake from a distance. It’s a pity that the lake dried up and disappeared due to climate change and

THE COFFEE CULTURE IN BELITUNG

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Image by Waldemar Bajda from Pixabay Coffee has been widely known in Belitung since the era of Dutch colonisation. In those days, some merchants and Dutch soldiers brought the Arabica and Robusta coffee beans to Belitung and sold them to the locals. That’s why coffee has become an important part of societal norms on that island. In the Dutch occupation, CafĂ© Senang is an elite hangout place in Tanjung Pandan Town. The staffs of the Tin Mining Company and the Europeans usually went there to have a cup of coffee in the morning or in the afternoon. Some cheap coffee shops were often visited by the labourers who worked at the Tin Mining Company. The coffee shops in Belitung only sell black coffee and coffee with milk. Coffee lovers can also buy some traditional cakes and nasi bungkus (banana leaf rice) for breakfast. You may smoke cigarette to add more pleasure and satisfaction because the traditional coffee shops use electric fans and all the windows and doors are open. People like