The most famous monument in Indonesia shaped these ninth century–inspired feasts.
Often described as the world’s largest Buddhist monument, Borobudur rises from the jungles of central Java: a nine-leveled step pyramid decorated with hundreds of Buddha statues and more than 2,000 carved stone relief panels. Completed in 835 AD by Buddhist monarchs who were repurposing an earlier Hindu structure, Borobudur was erected as “a testament to the greatness of Buddhism and the king who built it,” says religion scholar and Borobudur expert Uday Dokras.
Though Buddhists make up less than one percent of Indonesia’s population today, Borobudur still functions as a holy site of pilgrimage, as well as a popular tourist destination. But for the Indonesian Gastronomy Community (IGC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating Indonesian food culture, Borobudur is “not just a temple that people can visit,” says IGC chair Ria Musiawan. The structure’s meticulous relief carvings, which depict scenes of daily life for all levels of ninth-century Javanese society, provide a vital source of information about the people who created it. Borobudur can tell us how the inhabitants of Java’s ancient Mataram kingdom lived, worked, worshiped, and—as the IGC demonstrated in an event series that ended in 2023—ate.
The IGC sees food as a way to unite Indonesians, but the organization also considers international gastrodiplomacy as a part of their mission. Globally, Indonesian food is less well-known than other Southeast Asian cuisines, but the country’s government has recently made efforts to boost its reputation, declaring not one, but five official national dishes in 2018. To promote Indonesian cuisine, the IGC organizes online and in-person events based around both modern and historical Indonesian food. In 2022, they launched an educational series entitled Gastronosia: From Borobudur to the World. The first event in the series was a virtual talk, but subsequent dates included in-person dinners, with a menu inspired by the reliefs of Borobudur and written inscriptions from contemporary Javanese sites.
In collaboration with Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other partner organizations, the first meal in the Gastronosia series was, fittingly, held at Borobudur, with a small group of guests. The largest event, which hosted 100 guests at the National Museum in Jakarta, aimed to recreate a type of ancient royal feast known as a Mahamangsa in Old Javanese, meaning “the food of kings.” The IGC’s Mahamangsa appeared alongside a multimedia museum exhibition, with video screens depicting the art of ancient Mataram that inspired the menu and displays of historical cooking tools, such as woven baskets for winnowing and steaming rice. Another event, held at Kembang Goela Restaurant, featured more than 50 international ambassadors and diplomats invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
But how does one translate 1,000-year-old stone carvings into a modern menu that’s not only historically accurate, but appetizing? “We have to have this very wide imagination,” says Musiawan. “You only see the relief [depicting] the food…but you cannot find out how it tastes.” The IGC designed and tested a Gastronosia menu with the help of Chef Sumartoyo of Bale Raos Restaurant in Yogyakarta, and Riris Purbasari, an archaeologist from the Central Java Province Cultural Heritage Preservation Center, who had been researching the food of Borobudur’s reliefs since 2017.
The range of human activities depicted in the reliefs of Borobudur is so wide that it has inspired research in areas of study stretching from music to weaponry. There have even been seaworthy reconstructions based on the “Borobudur Ships” displayed on the site’s lower levels, exquisitely rendered vessels like the ones that facilitated trade in ancient Southeast Asia. So it’s no surprise that Borobudur has no shortage of depictions of food-related scenes, from village agricultural labor, to the splendor of a royal Mahamangsa, to a bustling urban marketplace. Baskets of tropical fruit, nets full of fish, and even some modern Indonesian dishes are recognizable in the reliefs, such as tumpeng, a tall cone of rice surrounded by side dishes, which is still prepared for special occasions. Some images are allegories for Buddhist concepts, providing what Borobudur archaeologist John Mikic called “a visual aid for teaching a gentle philosophy of life." Uday Dokras suggests that these diverse scenes might have been chosen to help ancient visitors “identify with their own life,” making the monument’s unique religious messaging relatable. The reliefs illustrate ascending levels of enlightenment, so that visitors walk the path of life outlined by the Buddha’s teachings: from a turbulent world ruled by earthly desires at the lowest level, to tranquil nirvana at the summit.
Musiawan says that the IGC research team combined information from Borobudur with inscriptions from other Javanese sites of the same era that referenced royal banquets. While Borobudur’s reliefs show activities like farming, hunting, fishing, and dining, fine details of the food on plates or in baskets can be difficult to make out, especially since the painted plaster that originally covered the stone has long-since faded. Ninth-century court records etched into copper sheets or stone for posterity—some accidentally uncovered by modern construction projects—helped fill in the blanks when it came to what exactly people were eating. These inscriptions describe the royal banquets of ancient Mataram as huge events: One that served as a key inspiration for the IGC featured 57 sacks of rice, six water buffalo, and 100 chickens. There are no known written recipes from the era, but some writings provide enough detail for dishes to be approximated, such as freshwater eel “grilled with sweet spices” or ground buffalo meatballs seasoned with “a touch of sweetness,” in the words of the inscriptions, both of which were served at Gastronosia events.
Sugar appears to have been an important component in ancient Mataram’s royal feasts: A survey of food mentions across Old Javanese royal inscriptions revealed 34 kinds of sweets out of 107 named dishes. Gastronosia’s Mahamangsa ended with dwadal, a sticky palm-sugar toffee known as dodol in modern Indonesian, and an array of tropical fruits native to Java such as jackfruit and durian. Other dishes recreated by the IGC included catfish stewed in coconut milk, stir-fried banana-tree core, and kinca, an ancient alcohol made from fermented tamarind, which was offered alongside juice from the lychee-like toddy palm fruit as an alcohol-free option.
Musiawan describes the hunting of animals such as deer, boar, and water buffalo as an important source of meat in ninth-century Java. Domestic cattle were not eaten, she explains, because the people of ancient Mataram “believed that cows have religious value.” While Gastronosia’s events served wild game and foraged wild greens, rice also featured prominently, a key staple in Mataram that forms the subject of several of Borobudur’s reliefs. It was the mastery of rice cultivation that allowed Mataram to support a large population and become a regional power in ninth-century Southeast Asia. Rice’s importance as a staple crop also led to its inclusion in religious rituals; Dokras explains that in many regions of Asia, rice is still an essential component of the Buddhist temple offerings known as prasad.
The indigenous Southeast Asian ingredients used in Gastronosia’s Mahamangsa included some still widely-popular today, such as coconut, alongside others that have fallen into obscurity, like the water plant genjer or “yellow velvetleaf.” Musiawan acknowledges that modern diners might find some reconstructed ancient dishes “very, very simple” compared to what they’re used to “because of many ingredients we have [now] that weren’t there before.” But in other cases, ninth-century chefs were able to achieve similar flavors to modern Indonesian food by using their own native ingredients. Spiciness is a notable example. Today, chillies are near-ubiquitous in Indonesian cuisine, and Java is especially known for its sambal, a spicy relish-like condiment that combines pounded chillies with shallots, garlic, and other ingredients. But in ancient Mataram, sambal was made with native hot spices, such as several kinds of ginger; andaliman, a dried tree-berry with a mouth-numbing effect like the related Sichuan pepper; and cabya or Javanese long pepper. “It tastes different than the chili now,” Musiawan says of cabya, “but it gives the same hot sensation.” Chillies, introduced in the early modern era by European traders, are still called cabai in Indonesian, a name derived from the native cabya they supplanted.
Gastronosia is just the beginning of IGC’s plans to explore Indonesian food history through interactive events. Next, they intend to do a series on the food of ancient Bali. By delving into the historic roots of dishes Indonesians know and love, the IGC hopes to get both Indonesians and foreigners curious about the country’s history, and dispel preconceptions about what life was like long ago. Musiawan says some guests didn’t expect to enjoy the diet of a ninth-century Javanese noble as much as they did. Before experiencing Gastronosia, she says, “They thought that the food couldn't be eaten.” But afterward, “They’re glad that, actually, it's very delicious.”
AHMADIYAH MUSLIMS PRAY IN THEIR OVER-CROWDED SHELTER IN MATARAM.
SEHABUDIN STANDS IN HIS FORMER HOME THAT WAS DESTROYED BY AN ANTI-AHMADIYAH MOB.
SEHABUDIN SIT IN HIS MAKESHIFT TENT NEAR HIS NOW-DESTROYED HOME.
MUNAWARAH AND HER FAMILY SIT IN THEIR SMALL ROOM IN THE MATARAM SHELTER.
SYAHIDIN AND HIS FAMILY POSE FOR A PORTRAIT IN THEIR OLD HOME. ALL PHOTOS BY AUTHOR
‘The Pain is Still Inside Me’: No End In Sight to the Plight of Indonesia’s Ahmadiyah
By Tsering D. Gurung
18.9.17
Syahidin has been attacked for his faith so many times that he keeps a record in a tattered notebook that lists each instance of hate, each time an angry mob rampaged through his village, and each time he watched helpless as his home went up in flames.
Syahidin is a member of the Ahmadiyah Muslim faith, a sect of Islam that believes that Indian religious leader Mirza Ghulam Ahmad—not Prophet Muhammad—was Islam's final prophet. This belief makes them one of the most-persecuted religious groups in Indonesia. Mainstream Sunni Muslims call Ahmadiyah "infidels" and "apostates," with some public officials going as far as saying Ahmadiyah Muslims should simply no longer exist. And others take their anti-Ahmadiyah sentiment even further.
In 2006, a mob of Sunni Muslim hardliners tore through Syahidin's small village on the Indonesian island of Lombok. Syahidin's home was looted, vandalized, and then set ablaze in a wave of violence that targeted as many as 30 Ahmadiyah households.
He offered to meet me at his old house in Ketapang, West Lombok, so he could explain what happened that day. We were standing in the now decimated village. It was a ghost town. The houses and the people had vanished but the rice paddies were still lush and green.
"This was our living room, this was our bedroom, this was the kitchen," said Syahidin, 46, as we walked through what remained of his family's home. The white cement walls were stained with dark scorch marks. Grass and small trees had grown through the rubble-strewn floor. The roof was all but gone. The home was supposed to be a second chance after Syahidin and his family were chased from their home on the other side of the island—in Pancor, East Lombok—only one year before. But trouble has a way of following Indonesia's Ahmadiyah community.
For the past 11 years Syahidin and his family—along with 120 other Ahmadiyah Muslims—have been living in a shelter for internally displaced peoples in Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tengarra and a short 20-minute drive from Ketapang. Wisma Transito Shelter is overcrowded and lacking the facilities needed for long-term inhabitation. Syahidin and his family share a single room that serves as their kitchen, bedroom, and living room. "I thought we were going to be here for one or two months," Syahidin told me. "I never thought we would still be here after eleven years."
The shelter was originally built to house transmigrants—poor workers from the overcrowded island of Java sent to other provinces as part of a government program—as they transitioned to normal life. It was never meant to house more than 100 people for years on end. The conditions are so poor that the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) released a report in 2013 criticizing the central government for their continued inaction on the Ahmadiyah issue.
"They are living together, separated only by cabinets and curtains," Imadud Rahmat, then the deputy chief of Komnas HAM, told local media shortly after the report's release. "This, of course, has given them no privacy and has caused discomfort."
The community has become emblematic of Indonesia's inability to protect its religious minorities from persecution. The central government recognizes six faiths under national law. There is no mention of a specific strain of Islam, but 99 percent of the country's Muslims are Sunni. That leaves the remaining one percent, mostly Shia and Ahmadiyah Muslims, prone to discrimination and violence.
The persecution of the Ahmadiyah peaked under the administration of former-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who's popularly referred to as SBY. Between 2004 and 2014, more than 30 Ahmadiyah mosques were forcibly shuttered by mobs of hardline Islamists, according to data compiled by Human Rights Watch. In 2007 there were only 15 reported "attacks" against Ahmadiyah Muslims. Only one year later the number of reported attacks had risen to 193. By 2011 the persecution had reached its peak when hardliners murdered three Ahmadiyah Muslims in a brutal instance of mob violence that was all recorded and posted to YouTube.
Direct, violent attacks against religious minorities have decreased since President Joko Widodo took office, but hate is still on the rise. The Jakarta-based think tank Setara Institute recorded 270 instances of religious intolerance in 2016, up from 236 in 2015. The state, including local governments and the police, were found to be complicit in more than half the incidents.
A local government in Kuningan, West Java, was caught in July demanding that Ahmadiyah Muslims renounce their faith to receive a government ID card. Last year a different local government told Ahmadiyah Muslims to convert to Sunni Islam or be kicked out of their village.
"Discriminatory regulations towards religious minorities are increasing which is why the situation is going to get worse," said Andreas Harsono, the lead Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch.
To date, 16 provincial governments have issued bans on the Ahmadiyah community. Ahmadiyah Muslims have been present in Indonesia since before the country gained independence. But the faith was declared deviant by the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), the nation's main Islamic clerical body, which issued a fatwa against the group in 2005.
A few years later, SBY's administration issued a decree banning Ahmadiyah Muslims from proselytizing their faith. Those found violating the decree are subject to up to five years of imprisonment.
"The MUI has been spreading false information about the Ahmadiyah faith," Udin, the president of the Ahmadiyah Association in Mataram, told me. "For example, the MUI said that the Ahmadis' holy book is not the Holy Quran but the Tuskira, and that we don't go to Mecca for pilgrimage but to Pakistan. These are all lies."
But these kinds of rumors have a real impact on the lives of Ahmadiyah Muslims like Munawarah. The 53-year-old mother of seven had to send two of her children to live with their grandparents after their one-room space in the shelter became too cramped. Her two teenaged children constantly ask when they can finally move out. The question, which has no easy answer, pains Munawarah.
"I don't know how to explain to them why we are still here," she said. "If I had the money, I would move out tomorrow. Not a second passes by when I don't think about getting out of this place."
Munawarah was visiting relatives in Kalimantan in 2006 when her house was destroyed in the same mob attack that left Syahidin homeless. When she returned to Ketapang all that remained of her house was the walls and a few broken window frames.
It brought back painful memories from her childhood, she said, when she was discriminated against by the school principal for being an Ahmadiyah Muslim. She told me that her teacher would slap her for no reason other than her faith.
"The pain is still there inside me," Munawarah said.
No one was ever held accountable for the violence that left the 100 or so families confined to the shelter homeless. The families told me that they received no money from the central government to compensate them for their loss. They have no idea when, or if, they can return home. Udin, the head of the local Ahmadiyah association, accused the central government of turning a blind eye to their suffering.
"We went to the governor, the mayor of Mataram as well as other authorities and told them we would like this case to be solved as soon as possible," Udin told me. "But they keep sending us back and forth saying it does not fall under their jurisdiction. As a consequence, these families have been forced to live in a refugee camp for over ten years."
Fauzan Khalid, West Lombok's district chief and the public official in charge of the entire region where Ketapang is found, denied the allegations in a phone call with VICE. Khalid told me that his administration had offered to resettle the community on a family-by-family basis, but they had refused the offer.
"Several offers were made in the past to the families including one to resettle them at different locations," Khalid said. "But they rejected the offers saying they didn't want to be separated."
The Ahmadiyah prefer to live among themselves and have always separated themselves from other Muslims, a trait, that Khalid believes, led to the violence in Ketapang.
"It's their exclusivity that's a problem," he said. "They had their own place of worship, their own village. They only became neighbors with their own kind. This is what bothered the other residents."
The Ahmadiyah I met told me that they always enjoyed a friendly relationship with their Sunni Muslim neighbors. That was, they did, until a local cleric named Muhammad Izzi whipped the crowd up into a frenzy during a sermon where he urged his followers to drive the "deviant" Ahmadiyah from their village.
The sermon continues to hold significant sway in the village today. I approached a group of men sitting idly at a gazebo about five minutes from the old Ahmadiyah community to ask them about the violence. But the men grew angry when I mentioned the incident and refused to speak with me.
I reached the village chief, a man named Murad Amin, on the phone. He promised additional violence if the Ahmadiyah Muslims tried to return to their homes.
"They're not allowed back here," Murad told me. "If they come back, we will attack again."
Murad told me that the Ahmadiyah were "infidels," who had no place in his village. "They are not Muslims," he said. "They should stop calling themselves that."
I found an elderly Ahmadiyah man named Sehabudin working a small garden in his old neighborhood. He lives in a small makeshift tent whenever he can't make it back to the shelter before nightfall. Sehabudin told me that some of the Sunni Muslim villagers have come up to him and apologized for their actions, even inviting him to visit their homes. But the apologies have done little to change his situation.
I asked Sehabudin how he felt about his former neighbors, the men and women who destroyed his life more than a decade ago. Is he still angry? Sehabudin looked at me with tired eyes and broke into a sad smile. "There's no anger left," he said.
Melanjutkan cerita lama dan tulisan lama. Sebelumnya ada di sini: https://janatunrahmilah.tumblr.com/post/160254004369/menyapa-lombok-tulisan-lama-itung-itung
Menurut guide nya, Dusun Sasak Ende belum termasuk ke dalam kategori desa wisata. “Kami sudah beberapa kali mengirimkan proposal baik kepada pemerintah maupun Disbudpar, tapi sampai sekarang masih jalan di tempat saja. Untuk bisa melestarikan budaya disini, kami bekerja sama dengan beberapa travel untuk mengajak wisatawan mengunjungi desa kami ini. Lumayan untuk pemasukan kas desa, kami bisa membuat rumah baru atau memperbaiki rumah-rumah adat dari uang wisatawan.”
Berbeda dengan Desa Sade yang sudah menjadi objek wisata, tak jauh dari Sasak Ende, Desa Sade banyak dijajaki wisatawan, bahkan saat kami melewati Desa Sade banyak penjual kerajinan atau dagangan lainnya di sekitar Desa Sade. Kalau di Sasak Ende ini, masih terlihat alami, saat kami mengunjunginya, tidak ada pengunjung lain yang datang ke lokasi ini.
Berikut adalah foto rumah adat Suku Sasak Dusun Ende.
Foto ini saat kami memasuki rumah adat. Saat memasuki rumah adat, kami harus menunduk karna pintu masuknya sengaja dibuat pendek. Filosofinya sangat bermakna, kata guide nya “Makna saat menunduk itu patuh kepada Tuhan, kita itu tidak ada apa-apanya, kita rendah dihadapan Tuhan. Makna selanjutnya yaitu menghormati sesama manusia. Menunduk itu menghormati yang lebih tua dan menghargai yang lebih muda dibawah kita.”
Foto ini merupakan kondisi di dalam rumah adat. Rumah ini hanya terdiri dari 3 unsur yakni kayu, bambu, dan tali. Tanpa paku atau pun lainnya. Atapnya dari ilalang, dan lantainya dari kotoran sapi. Ditumpuk berkali-kali sampai padat. Uniknya saat kami masuk, tidak ada bau kotoran sama sekali. “Dari 3 unsur tadi, ada filosofinya juga. Tali itu ibarat ayah yang harus bisa mengikat kuat sebagai kepala keluarga, nah si bambu ini ibarat anak-anaknya karna setiap ruas bambu itu akan menimbulkan suara yang berbeda saat di ketuk, sama hal nya dengan karakter anak yang berbeda-beda. Kalau kayu ibarat seorang ibu, harus kuat sebagai pondasi dalam keluarga. Bahkan sosok ibu itu harus lebih kuat daripada ayah.”
Merinding mendengar penjelasan bapak guide nya. Makna begitu dalam yang melekat pada rumah ini dibangun oleh nenek moyang dulu. Ya, saya pribadi jadi mengerti bahwa apapun yang diciptakan pasti mempunyai arti.
Nenek ini sudah sangat renta, tapi paling eksis. Bukan kami yang mengajak, malah neneknya mengajak berfoto. Tidak fasih berbahasa Indonesia, tapi semangatnya menyapa pengunjung patut diacungi jempol. :D
Sebelum memulai peresean, para petarung harus menari atau joged-joged dulu sambil membusungkan dada sebagai tanda keberanian.
Mahasiswa mencoba menunjukkan kejantanannya untuk mencoba peresean. Tak mau kalah, dosen pun ikut turun untuk bertarung.
Foto ini menunjukkan kalau petarungnya mahasiswa, tingkahnya lucu. Seperti meluapkan emosi kekesalan terhadap lawan mainnya. Haha
Waah.. Ini baru hari ke-2 loh, disini masih tersisa 5 hari lagi! Selanjutnya goes to Desa Sukarara, ada apa ya disana? Next trip!
Hundreds of Hindus across Indonesia performed the Abhiseka ritual of sanctification for the first time in 1,163 years, at the Prambanan Temple located between ...
Sleman, Yogyakarta (ANTARA) - Hundreds of Hindus across Indonesia performed the Abhiseka ritual of sanctification for the first time in 1,163 years, at the Prambanan Temple located between Sleman, Yogyakarta, and Klaten, Central Java, Tuesday. "After we discovered the inscription written on the day the temple was established, which is November 12, 856 AD, along with rituals conducted, Hindus then prepared to perform the same ritual. So it is basically to commemorate temple's inauguration by Rakai Pikatan Dyah Seladu back in that year," Made Astra Tanaya, a member of the committee that performed the Abhiseka, said.
Abhiseka is also held to denote the golden era of the old Mataram Kingdom, which was not conducted earlier since Hindus usually performed the Tawur Agung ritual to sanctify human beings and the universe.
The ritual of Abhiseka is considered a turning point in returning the energy for both human beings and Mother Nature, said Tanaya, who officiates as the coordinator of the Indonesian Parisada Hindu Dharma (PDHI) Yogyakarta.
It was a series of rituals which began Saturday, November 9, opened by the Matur Piuning ritual as a way of requesting permission to the ancestors.
It continued with the pageantry of the eternal flame of Mrapen and holy water of eleven wellsprings around the area starting from the Boko Temple to the Prambanan temple where people then performed a prayer and pradaksina or circumambulation.
The main ritual was held today with such offerings mentioned in 25 inscriptions of Hinduism during the Mataram Kingdom era.
Another ritual performed was Manusuk Sima, based on the inscription, with the whole ritual ending with a traditional dance performance of Siwagraha which narrates stories of the Prambanan temple reconstruction. (INE)
Safari masjid adalah satu dari sekian targetku dan mba @nisa_hd dibulan Ramadan kemarin. Setiap harinya kita usahakan berpindah tempat. Ajakan buka bersama dilain tempat kami undur sebagian. Bukan mencari tempat buka gratisan lho ya,ehehe,makanan adalah bonus, yang terpenting adalah kami berdua bisa mendapat suasana yang berbeda dari biasanya, terutama mengulik sejarahnya sebagai bahan tulisan. . Salah satunya adalah disini. Masjid Gedhe Mataram yang berada di Kotagede Yogyakarta, masjid yang menjadi satu dengan kompleks makam Raja Mataram dan Sendang Seliran ini merupakan masjid tertua peninggalan Kerajaan Mataram Islam di Yogyakarta. Masjid bergaya akulturasi Hindu dan Islam yang didirikan oleh Panembahan Sutawijaya. . Sambil menunggu bedug Maghrib kami ikut kajian bersama masyarakat setempat. Disini anak muda diberdayakan dan diikutsertakan dalam acara-acara masjid seperti menjadi panitia dalam kajian tersebut. Setelah berbuka dilanjut dengan sholat isya dan tarawih, kemudian tadarus Al-Qur’an diadakan oleh warga sekitar. Kami berdua juga sempat mengobrol dengan salah satu pengurus masjid. . Hening dan hawa dingin yang berbeda dengan dinginya lembab hujan, yang ada hanyalah suara gemerisik daun yang dibawa angin, dicampur dengan suara lantunan ayat suci yang sayup-sayup terdengar. Suasana ini mengharuskanku untuk membaca lagi riwayat masa kanak-kanakku bersama kawan di surau kampung. Kami menyebutnya Langgar. Langgar adalah kehidupan penduduk untuk belajar sembahyang dan membaca Al-Qur’an. . Aku ingat masa-masa ketika tertidur diatas sajadah, dan bermain dengan teman disela menunggu giliran mengaji, aku juga tidak lupa bau kertas usang kitab suci yang penuh dengan jejak masa lampu dan sedikit dimakan rayap, baunya selalu berbeda dan unik. Kenangan itu sudah cukup menyeret rasa rinduku pada kampung. . "Sering-seringlah main kesini dik, anak muda harus mengerti sejarahnya sendiri” ujar pengurus masjid tersebut. #herritage#yogyakarta#Mataram #mataramislam#storyteller #ramadan#pakualaman#kauman #islamicstory#travelling#javanese (di Kotagede, Yogyakarta, Indonesia) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bza-YOTnQN5/?igshid=1a599arjyqr3l
Banyak oleh-oleh yang di petik sepulang dari perjalanan kemarin, tentang Lombok-Sumbawa yang tak akan habis untuk dikupas.
Berangkat dari Bandung, Selasa 12 Mei 2015 pukul 01.00 sampai di Bandara Soeta pukul 05.00 WIB. Take off pukul 09.05 WIB, sampai Lombok pukul 12.00 WIB (13.00 WITA)
Pertama kali menjajaki perjalanan dengan transportasi udara tidak membuat kami merasa jetleg kok hhe. Memang sih awalnya norak (seperti antri tiket check in, boarding pass di Soeta, makan permen karet saat take off) ya pokoknya hal-hal yang biasa dilakukan para pemula hhe, tapi itulah pengalaman. Dan yang lucunya, kami bilang dengan mimik yang ‘songong’ “Nggak ah biasa aja naik pesawat tuh, serasa naik bus aja” :D
Sampailah di Bandar Udara Internasional Lombok.
Tentu jika ingin mengenal Lombok-Sumbawa lebih dekat, sapalah dulu orang-orang yang tahu seluk beluk tempat itu. Kami dibagi tiga instansi (tiga bus) yakni menuju Disbudpar, Bappeda, dan Dinas Pertanian.
Banyak informasi yang kami dapatkan dari masing-masing instansi. Saya mendapat informasi menarik dari Disbudpar mengenai destinasi wisata yang banyak dikunjungi turis luar misalnya Gili Trawangan dan Gunung Tambora. Setelah ada event Tambora Menyapa Dunia, Lombok-Sumbawa menjadi destinasi penting yang wajib dikunjungi. “Banyak orang yang bilang NTB itu Nasib Tergantung Bali, ya itu celotehan saja, tapi buktinya wisatawan setiap tahunnya meningkat apalagi setelah event tersebut, bahkan Pak Jokowi menjadikan event Tambora Menyapa Dunia ini menjadi event tahunan untuk kedepannya,” ungkap Disbudpar.
Banyak Guide Book yang diberikan kepada kami, salah satunya adalah Guide Book Lombok Sumbawa NTB.
Tanah Lombok datar, berbeda dengan Bandung yang cekung. Lombok artinya cabe. Kata tour guide nya, Lombok penghasil cabe terbesar. Yang uniknya orang sana (termasuk tour guidenya) menyebut Lombok itu Lombo. Setiap kata, satu huruf dibelakangnya selalu hilang. Sangat lucu kalau mendengar logat bicaranya. Suhu saat kami disana sekitar 27-33°C. PANAS broo!
Tour guide di bus kami bilang, mengapa Lombok plat kendaraannya DR? Karna DR itu Daerah Romantis. Sa ae ah pak. Seromantis apa sih pulau ini? Penasaran? Sama saya juga. hhe
Itulah hari pertama di Kota Mataram. Mari istirahat dulu di Hotel Limoes. Besok jadwalnya menuju UMMAT (Universitas Muhammadiyah Mataram) dan desa-desa wisata. Seperti apa ya? Next trip…
