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Monday, April 18, 2011

Kuta Beach, Lombok: Apr'2011

Day 2: Sukarara village, Sade village, Kuta beach

Our last stop before going to the airport was Kuta beach. It is beautiful and pristine just like another beach in Lombok Islands.

I rush the lunch time so I can have more time to play on the beach with Joy and Putri. We went to the coral reef that revealed due to the low tide. Some children were fishing there.

From afar, I watched the visitors enjoy their activities on the calm beach. It’s so calm as if it were a giant swimming pool with the horizon and the hill as the boundaries.





The hawkers give it another flavor to Kuta beach compared to other beaches that I have visited here. They do not know the word “no”. When they do, they will curse you or something like that. Still the alluring beach overruled the annoying hawkers there. Well, I assumed to put up with the hawkers as a challenge. Who’s going to throw in the towel first?

I just hope that anyone from the local tourist industry tell them not to do that. It is not a sustainable way to make a living from tourism.

Sukarara & Sade Village, Lombok: Apr'2011

Day 2: Sukarara village, Sade village, Kuta beach

Sukara
raVillage

On day 2, we were going to explore the southern part of Lombok Islands. Our first stop was Sukarara village known for its woven cloth. On our way to the village, we passed a mobile traditional market. It is called mobile because the market is not a permanent one. You can find sellers sell a lot of things here: spices, tobacco, umbrella, tofu, flip-flops, etc. It’s interesting scenery. Well, we still have the traditional market in Jakarta.



Finally, we arrived at Sukarara village. We were taking pictures of some weavers working in front of a house that has turned into a traditional shop.



There was also a traditional ceremony on the village that time. A group of people playing traditional music along the street while carrying a boy and a girl. It turned out that it was a celebration of a circumcision. What…the little girl also had it? No…she’s the boy’s cousin who accompanied him during the celebration. Neither the boy nor the girl seemed to enjoy it.





Ok…back to the woven shop. We bought some woven fabrics there. If you are a trader, you can make a killing from this deal (if you know how to market it). It’s too bad that I’m not. Shopping malls in Jakarta sell the fabrics for the prices far higher than here (you have to count the distribution, tenant, and margin cost, etc).



Sade Village


Our next stop was Sade village with its traditional Sasak housing. The contradictive part for me is that the village is located next to a main modern road. There’s a donation box at the village’s gate. Some local teenagers were having their relaxing time on the bottom part of a rice barn.

We were welcomed by a Presian (Peresean) dance played along with the traditional music. I found the description of Presian dance as a “folk war dance where young men duel with rattan sticks and shields made out of cows leather.

An orchestra provides the musical background”. A pengembar will find a pepadu (the fighter) to fight with other pepadu that also picked by other pengembar. The Presian dance used to be played with asphalt on the tip of the rattan. But then the government prohibits the usage of asphalt for humanity reason. What is the prize for the winner? The prizes are daily needs such as soap, sarong, etc for them to be sold. Maybe the ego is also one of the prizes.


Some of my colleagues tried to do the war dance in front of the locals. Instead of using the shield to cover them from another fighter, one of them used it to cover his face from the sun. It’s an alternative usage of the shield when you forgot to use the sun block cream.

The most amazing part of our visit to Sade village was when the guide brought us into a traditional Sasak house. That house is still used for a family to live. It mainly comprised of three parts of rooms: a living room and two bed-rooms on the higher ground. One of the bedrooms is also used as a kitchen. Where’s the bathroom? There’s a public bathroom outside the house for the elderly and the children. Other than the elderly and the children should take a bath near the spring.


Next to the traditional houses are the traditional shops selling the woven fabrics, sarongs, necklace, etc. The children will say that the fund raised from it will be used to buy books. I don’t know whether I have to agree on this or not. Try to step into their shoes then as I was about to find the same reason from the hawkers in Kuta beach on our next stop.

Well, not all the children trying to sell things to the visitors. Ton and Kayla didn’t do that. They were playing on balai-balai, a place where the villagers have their village’s meeting, marriage, etc. I showed them some of my pictures from Jakarta’s zoo that are still in the camera. They seemed excited to see pictures. I can’t blame them :)