Citarum River

Since I've kicked off the week by posting photos of a stream in South Korea, let's take a peek into one of the longest rivers in Indonesia. 

Last Saturday, my editor finally approved the last Citarum River piece I wrote. Yay!  As usual, after my office published one article, I'd share the behind-the-scene photos and story. While I'm more than ready to bid farewell to the series of articles, it's actually a bit sad to part with it because the Citarum River assignment was the longest I've ever done.

My colleague Bbs now call me with a new nickname: Tifarum (coined from Tifa and Citarum) Sembiring, a twist from Tifatul Sembiring, Information and Communication Minister :P.

Why is Citarum River important?

Spans at 269 kilometer long, Citarum River runs through 13 cities in West Java. Not only does the river cater to the agriculture and industry sectors, it also supplies the raw water for Jakartans, which is flowed through West Tarum Canal, or Kalimalang. There are three dams (Saguling, Cirata and Jatiluhur) along Citarum River, and they generate the electricity for Java and Bali Island.

Here are some interesting photos about Citarum River. The photos that have no credit are mine, some are gifts from T. Bachtiar, a geography expert, and some others are taken from www.citarum.org.

Let's start with a happy picture. This is awug, traditional snack made from rice flour, love this!

Unfortunately the condition of Citarum River is not as rosy as awug. Environment degradation starts in the upstream area (Mount Wayang), with people cutting down trees to make way for vegetable patches (source: www.citarum.org)

The deforestation causes floods in Bandung basin. One of the affected areas is Cieunteung. (Source: www.citarum.org)

Many people use water from Citarum River, including the textile factory and the farmers.

Poor residents living near the textile factories in Majalaya have no option but to use the dirty water of Citarum River for their daily needs, such as bathing, washing the dish, clothes and vegetables and rice. For cooking, they buy bottled water, or water taken from other areas. In Ciwalengke village, the residents suffer from skin disease.

Citarum River not only gives water for the people, but also sand.

Actually Citarum River has a chance to be tourism sites. Just like the Nile River in Egypt, civilizations bloomed along Citarum River. The most famous kingdom ever existed along its riverbank was Tarumanagara kingdom. In the past the river had a political role by becoming the borderline for two kingdom: Galuh and Sunda.

Ciaruteun stone (source: www.citarum.org)

A set of elephant teeth found nearby the riverbanks (source: www.citarum.org)

 The dry riverbed of Citarum River, photographed in April 2011, Courtesy of T. Bachtiar

Sanghyang Tikoro, used to be an underwater cave, Courtesy of T. Bachtiar

Walking Along Cheong Gye Cheon Stream

I came across Cheong Gye Cheon stream during my way to Dongdaemun market. I googled information on the stream and found that it was covered with concrete, but later was removed in 2003. Read more in Wikipedia (sorry, too lazy to copy the info here).

Below is the first glimpse I had on the stream, and I went "Wow!"

I wish all rivers in Jakarta can be like this

A bridge 

Should I walk there?

Definitely! It's a nice place to have morning/evening walk

Stepping stones

People flock at the stream. Oh, wow, look at the clear water.

Information on the stream

The stream stretches at 8.4 long. I didn't walk the whole length due to limited time. There was something that looked familiar about it though. Is it ever featured in a Korean drama? Which drama is it?

How Do You Call Your Parents?

In Indonesia, there are many ways to call parents. The most common is Bapak (Father) and Ibu (Mother), which I also use for my parents. Families living in rural area may use traditional names, like Abah (Father) and Ambu (Mother), that's Sundanese style. Those living in the urban areas usually use Papa and Mama.

Recently I notice that many people use Ayah and Bunda. Kinda remind me of the parenting magazine using the same name.

When I told my Brazilian friend W about this, he broke into laughter.

"OMG, do the words have other meaning in Portuguese?" I asked.

"Well, Bunda means ass and Ayah means many. So when you say Ayah Bunda, it would mean many asses," he said.

Go ahead, check the meaning of Bunda in Portuguese. In the meantime, if you do call your parents with Ayah Bunda, please refrain from calling your parents with those offensive words when you're visiting Portuguese-speaking countries.

Anyway, my colleague Ika, who has just delivered a beautiful baby girl a month ago, chose a new nickname Keka for her daughter to call her as a mother. I think it sounds very fresh!

Guilty Pleasure

Found here

Mine are, among so many, wearing men's outfit, eating ice cream and... observing people.What's yours? :)

Is There Such Thing As A Friendly Shark?

There are many dangerous and poisonous creatures, such as stingray and jellyfish, in the sea, but the one most people dread is definitely: shark. Blame it on Jaws. Disney-Pixar's Finding Nemo helps improve the shark image by showing would be vegetarian sharks Bruce, Anchor and Chum. I love that part! Therefore, I'm very excited when I found a picture resembling the scene in Finding Nemo. Scroll down to see it below.

Source: here

Found here

Information on the last picture : A family were on holiday in Australia for a week and a half when husband, wife and their 15 year old son decided to go scuba diving. The husband is in the navy and has had some scuba experience. His son wanted a picture of his mum and dad in all their gear so he got the under water camera ready to go. When it came to taking the picture the dad realized that the son looked like he was panicking as he took it and gave the ‘OK’ hand sign to see if he was all right.

The son took the picture and swam to the surface and back to the boat as quick as he could so the mum and dad followed to see if he was OK.  When they got back to him he was scrambling onto the boat and absolutely panicking. When the parents asked why, he said ‘there was a shark behind you.’ The dad thought he was joking but the skipper of the boat said it was true but they wouldn’t believe him. As soon as they got back to the hotel they loaded the picture onto there laptop and that was what they saw.

P.S. These pictures are also my favorites:)

Bolting For Bukchon

 

  One of the many guest houses in Bukchon Hanok Village

Annyong haseyo! If you are a regular to this blogs, you know that I spent three weeks of Ramadan and celebrated Idul Fitri in South Korea last year. This year, I'm celebrating Idul Fitri... here in Jakarta:). So, to reminisce the good old days in the ginseng country, I want to make a post on my last days there.

"Oh no, it's another South Korean post! How many more are there?" That must be what's on your mind. Ahem, it seems I still have many photos on my South Korea trip. Rather than keeping them in the dust, I want to share them here. Bear with me, please:).

So, why Bukchon? When I traveled to Beijing, I walked through hutong (narrow street with traditional courtyard houses) and it was an interesting experience. I figured that Seoul would have similar thing, so I googled "traditional house Korea" and found out about Hanok villages, including the one in Bukchon.

Traditional houses vie for space with new buildings

There are several Hanok villages, but I decided to explore Bukchon because it is near shopping street Insa-Dong and I needed to do some shopping too. It's like hitting two birds with one stone or rowing past two islands with one paddle or...anyway, I digress.

The following information is taken from the official Korea Tourism site:

Bukchon Hanok Village was once a village of aristocrats long ago, and its luxury tile-roofed houses called giwas have been preserved since the Joseon dynasty. Located in the middle of Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace and Jongmyo, Bukchon Hanok Village boasts 600 years of history in the region. The preserved village sits between two large palaces in the traditional hanok regions where the eggplant-shaped streets show the six-centuries-old beauty of the city.

 The traditional house with not-so-traditional cars (photo above). Information on the house (photo below)

Now, the village operates as a place where visitors come to experience the ambiance of the Joseon Dynasty, offering a cultural center and hanok-style restaurants.

 I entered one of the houses and snapped those photos.

Wonseo-dong, Jae-dong, Gahoe-dong and Insa-dong all lie to the north of Cheonggyecheon Stream (I'll make a post on this, since I went here too) and Jongno, thus being named Bukchon, meaning north village, an area popularly known at that time, as the residence of the royal family and high-ranking officials.

A potted plant-flower shop?

A shop selling hand-made stuffs

A book shop. Those looks like school text books. I wish I can read Han-geul.

I don't know what those are, but they are quite cheap!
 

Ok, this is totally irrelevant, but I love her hat:)

Bukchon is not exactly a tourist site methinks, but it shows that Seouls has more than just skyscrapers and well-dressed people toting gadgets in the subway. I kinda like this place for it suits the quirky side of me:P.

1001 Answers For "The Question"

During the family gathering on Idul Fitri (or any other religious) holiday, there is one question that all single women dread most: "When are you getting married?" Argh.

Sometimes that question does not come from our own parents, but from concerned aunties and uncles. While I know they mean well, I just can't stop shuddering whenever there's a family event scheduled within the next few weeks. Usually I avoid such event by going to work. Pathetic, I know.

Anyway, my friend @alfianidris and several other friends had this funny hashtag in Twitter about the answers to "the question", depending on who is answering. Since we all work in the media, most answers are journalism-related. The answers are so funny and witty, I feel they deserve to be posted here.Without further ado, here they are.

When are you getting married? | What did you ask? What was I saying? *long pause* #FinanceMinisterEdition

When are you getting married? | The question is too technical. You should ask my director general instead #EnergyMinisterEdition

When are you getting married? | When the oil lifting hits one million barrels per day #EnergyMinisterEdition

When are you getting married? | Year-on-year will see a decrease, while the month-on-month increases #BankIndonesiaGovernorEdition

When are you getting married? | Excuse us, missus. Bapak can not pass. Make way, please #BankIndonesiaGovernor'sPersonalAssistantEdition

When are you getting married? | After the IPO #IndonesianStockExchangeJournalistEdition

When are you getting married? | I'm still waiting for the acquisition #EconomicsJournalistEdition

When are you getting married? | We're still searching for two more evidences #CorruptionEradicationCommissionSpokespersonEdition

When are you getting married? | Sorry, we can't give any statement #PublicRelationEdition

When are you getting married? | Wait a moment, I want to close my unitlink #FinancialPlannerEdition

When are you getting married? | The flow of soul mate to the heart is jammed, and so does the other way around #TMCPoldaMetroEdition  

When are you getting married? | Say what? You never got chili on your mouth? #CruelEmployerEdition

When are you getting married? | How much asset do you have? #ForbesJournalistEdition

When are you getting married? | I'm following the government decision #DelayedIdulFitriEdition

When are you getting married? | I'll do the unregistered marriage (nikah siri) #InfotaintmentJournalistEdition

When are you getting married? | Alhamdulillah yah, it's really something #SyahriniEdition

When are you getting married? | I have to find the seven horcruxes. Then I'll think about that #HarryPotterEdition

Have a witty weekend, guys:).