Culinary: Nasi Goreng Gila Menteng, Five Stars Hotel Taste at Low Price

Know about 'nasi goreng'...? Perhaps fried rice is more friendly name for 'nasi goreng'. For you who have stayed in Jakarta for a while and have tasted what 'nasi goreng' is like must have sometimes missed it so much when you have been staying here in Jambi. But no more worries, now you can find a Jakarta's taste guaranteed of 'nasi goreng' called 'Nasi Goreng Gila Menteng'. Located in two separate places, the first counter is located in front of entrance gate of Villa Gading Mayang Estate and the second booth is in front of state library building TAC. The owner of 'Nasi Goreng Gila Menteng', Mas Slamet, guaranteed that you will sense same taste and aroma of his 'nasi goreng gila' as if you buy them in Jakarta because this menu is his creation when he vended fried rice with same name in Taman Suropati, a park in Menteng, Jakarta Pusat Regency. Since the park was forbidden for street vendors, Mas Slamet migrated to Jambi and he has been staying here for almost 2 years vending his trademark 'Nasi Goreng Gila Menteng'. Just come and taste the real 'nasi goreng' from Jakarta there, this culinary brought to you a five stars hotel taste at as low as street vendors price.

Various menu of 'nasi goreng'

Try this one, 'Nasi Goreng Gila'

Culinary: Ketoprak "Kedai Almas"

So you have been in Jakarta and now you are in Jambi City and missing kind of food what in Jakarta is called Ketoprak. It's so hard to find ketoprak in Jambi but you may find same ketoprak as if it is served by culinary street vendors in Jakarta, just visit "Kedai Almas" in Telanaipura, precisely in front of IAIN campus buildings. For those who have tasted what Ketoprak Betawi is would like their ketoprak seasoning blends that close to ketoprak you can find in Jakarta.

Open from 16.00 to 23.00 daily, "Kedai Almas" brings the original taste of ketoprak and it is very suitable for those who missed Jakarta typical culinary. Ibu Sri, the owner of "Kedai Almas" built her ketoprak cart similar to the one you can find in Jakarta, so you may taste and feel the real "Ketoprak Jakarta" atmosphere in Jambi City.

"Kedai Almas" cart

Ibu Sri, owner of "Kedai Almas" is preparing and mixing ketoprak

Ketoprak

News: 2011 Edition of Smog Seems to be Ended on This Month

In last 15 years, smog in Sumatera have expanded to wider areas and have reached neighbor countries, Singapore and Malaysia. The smog itself is not a natural disaster since the local governments reported that many of fire spots were commonly triggered as the impact of land clearing by local people when they are opening lands for farming or companies that have forestry concession are opening new plantations by burning their area concession which this way is the cheapest and easiest way to open the new areas. Bigger wildfires are usually occurred when land clearing touch areas that contains peat area and when it is happened in the dry season like past two months which many smog cases reported, it is just like a candle light being thrown into big gasoline tank.

Article: Get Acquainted with Sumatran Tiger

A special subspecies of tiger, Sumatran Tiger is the smallest "big cat" that called as tiger and exclusively live only in Island of Sumatera. They have darker brown skin compared to their families, other kinds of tiger like Malayan Tiger or Bengali Tiger. Since experts told us that stripes on a tiger's skin are like our finger prints then we know that Sumatran Tiger own their typical characteristics. Estimated only last 250-300 of Sumatran Tiger exist on 2008 and distributed in Aceh, Riau, Sumatera Barat, Jambi, and Sumatera Selatan. Sumatran Tiger is critically endangered on the World Conservation Union Red List of threatened species. This species needs our help to make our grandchild will be able to see this amazing "big cat" in the future rather than to imagining what Sumatran Tiger is like.

Merangin: Lake Pauh, a Quiet Inland Lake

Lake Pauh is actually a volcano lake, means the lake was formed from volcano activities. Situated in Jangkat Regency, an administrative area to Merangin Regency, western Jambi. The location is approximately 95 km westward Bangko, the capital of Merangin Regency and can be reached by vehicles. The road infrastructure to the lake is in very bad condition, considering prevailing weather is great for people who want to go there to avoid being trapped in muddy roads.

Culinary: Jambi Confectionary

You just have spent your vacation to Jambi and being confused with what gift you should buy for people you love at home. Considering to buy confectionary that Jambi (and Sumatera Selatan) typical is great idea for them. Jambi (and Sumatera Selatan) have many typical confectionary and culinary, from pempek, burgo, gandus, or snacks like onion chips, pineapple lunkhead and durian lunkhead that called lempo. If you take a few days trip going home, you better take dried and durable confectionary. But if your home trip is only less than a day or two, you can buy confectionary that spoiled fast like gandus and burgo. Jambi typical confectionary prices are relatively cheap and are easy to find, from street vendors and traditional markets to a modern hypermarket like Jamtos and Hypermart in Jambi City.

Article: Songket, Luxuries Behind Traditional Weaving Craft

Have you found a traditional weaving craft for millions of rupiah? You will notice that songket weaving craft prices are started from a million to 7 millions rupiah if you buy from its weaver studio directly, or there is additional 1-2 millions rupiah added at retailer level. Traditional weaving craft called songket have luxury impressions in apparently, the difficulties in producing a songket can be reflected from time taken to create a piece of cloth. Averagely, a weaver can finish a cloth of songket in a month or more depending on how difficult to patterning the cloth. If we assume there is order to provide ten pairs of songket, it means a weaver can only finish the job order in 20 months.

Kerinci: Lake Gunung Tujuh, Amazing View From Highest Lake in Southeast Asia

Surrounded by seven mounts: Mount Hulu Tebo (2,525 m), Mount Hulu Sangir (2,330 m), Mount Madura Besi (2,418 m), Mount Lumut (2,350 m), Mount Selasih (2,230 m), Mount Jar Panggang (2.469 m), and Mount Tujuh (2.735 m) makes this young caldera lake as highest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. Situated in Kerinci Regency, precisely in Kayu Aro sub-district about 55 km from Sungai Penuh City, the lake is the most favorite place for mountaineers and hikers who are visiting Kerinci. What you will get is an amazing view of the lake, especially when sun is rising on dawn. For domestic visitors or other people from tropical or desert countries and not accustomed with mount weather, you better bring you thick sweaters or jackets because average temperature at the lake is about 17-18 Celsius degree with lake shrouded by mist on a few corners.

FYI: Flight Schedules From Jambi

Jambi is being served by four national airlines and a few local airlines. There are 10 flights to Jakarta from Jambi daily, with schedules:

A daily flight to Batam is being served by Sriwijaya Airline, depart on 12.00 AM from Jambi.

FYI: Options To Reach Jambi

Jambi position in Sumatera make people who wants to reach it can travel easier with many options may be selected. People can travel to Jambi by plane, vehicle, or speedster. For domestic tourist, normally they start or transit in Jakarta before taking plane to Jambi directly. If you spend your previous visit in northern Sumatera like Medan or Aceh then you can travel by vehicle to southward or flying to Batam where you can have plane to Jambi directly. If vehicle is your choice then you can make trip through eastern state roads from Pekanbaru of Riau Province to enter Muaro Jambi Regency, or you can pick center state roads from Sibolga City of Sumatera Utara Province to enter Bungo Regency, those are the trip lines you can travel from northern. From Batam you may pick speedboat to reach Jambi City via Kuala Tungkal, the capital of Tanjung Jabung Barat Regency whereabouts takes 2 hours before Jambi City by vehicle on next trip. For people who make visit from southern Sumatera like Lampung or Sumatera Selatan, they can travel to northward with 2 options, the first one is to use eastern state roads which can deliver you to Jambi City about 5-6 hours traveling by vehicle from Palembang. The second one is to use center state roads that will make you to visit Sarolangun Regency first before reaching Jambi City on next 3-4 hours by vehicle. Another option is from Padang, the capital of Sumatera Barat Province, which means you come from western Sumatera, from there you may rent vehicle for traveling to Jambi to eastward through Kerinci Regency (275 km from Padang) or Bungo Regency (280 km from Padang). From Bengkulu Province, there is a road from Rejang Lebong Regency of Bengkulu Province that met with center state roads intersection about 2 hours before Sarolangun Regency, this road cut through hills and mountain giving you a different atmosphere of Sumatera.

FYI: Public Transport Availability in Jambi City

As capital of Jambi Province, City of Jambi have many varieties of public transport services. From "angkot" or "ojeg" to airplane, and from boat to large size buses. When you need vehicle for your trip, except within the city and you are not planning to rent a vehicle, you need to make sure which direction your trip is from Jambi City. It helps you to pick which company of public transport service correctly. And it also helps you when you catch the public transport service not in their official ticket box which it means you will pay cheaper for its ticket price.

Tg. Jabung Timur: Berhala Island

And now, we will fly to the easternmost of Jambi Province, to visit and experience another side of Jambi, Island of Berhala. These unique island originally are groups of isle with coastal boulders, hills, white sand, cliffs, groves, and bushes. If you imagine it would be a great place for a romantic atmosphere, yes, there you go. But once again, you may find the trip to reach there is not as easy as starting a romantic dream. Berhala Island is 10 kilometers square small isle and have a few populations there. Presently, Jambi Province is claiming the isle as part of the province while the neighbor province, Province of Kepulauan Riau is doing the same. Both provinces have same reasons and arguments, history background. This dispute puts them trying to leave their mark at the isle, you will find that the isle have 2 docks which were built and being managed by two local governments. And population is also divided into two locals that represented to each province. Okay, let it be. :)

We assume City of Jambi would be our home base, then your first checkpoint is to reach Nipah Panjang, a little riverside town, capital of a sub-district in Tanjung Jabung Timur Regency. There are 2 options to travel the route, the first one, you may travel by vehicle to Suak Kandis and then from Suak Kandis to Nipah Panjang by boat. This first option would take about 1:30 hours (Jambi City to Suak Kandis) and next trip about 1:10 minutes more (Suak Kandis to Nipah Panjang). Even takes time much longer, this option will give you various scenery and panoramas. The second choice is to take boat from Jambi City directly to Nipah Panjang, it would be about 2:30 hours traveling the trip.

Nipah Panjang is situated in eastern of Tanjung Jabung Timur Regency and is the capital of sub-district of the regency with same name. Most population there are living from marine and plantation products. Even though Nipah Panjang is a town in Jambi but Buginese is dominant there. This little town faces sea lines to Malacca Straits and Java Sea which make this town have been rising to be a port town. From this town, we will take next boat to Berhala Island directly, that trip will take about 3 hours in a good clearly day to arrive at Berhala Island.

Shortly before really arrive there

And now, we've just arrived at the island. The dock is not really giving us a great welcome, too dirty and nasty, contrast to what we may imagine for the tone. Once again, just let it be. After touch the dock, the first thing we should do is to make sure which one better for our shelter, to build a tent or to pay a lodge. When you are done with shelter stuff, then it is up to you. You can go hiking, fishing, snorkeling, swimming, sunbathing or just sleeping.

This one is great for swimming

Or, snorkeling there

Or, diving there

Or, sunbathing there

Or, sleeping to catch moment like this one

 

Muaro Jambi: Temple of Muaro Jambi

Considered as one of the richest cultural and archaeological sites in Sumatera, Muaro Jambi Temple, a Buddhist temple, was built estimated earlier than Borobudur Temple in Central Java province. It can be seen from the journal of a famous Chinese scholar, I Tsing who visited Jambi in the seventh century. Situated in Muaro Jambi village, Muaro Sebo sub-district, Muara Jambi regency, 40 km northeast of Jambi city, Muaro Jambi temple, covers an area of 12 kilometers square, along the side of Batanghari river. There are eight main temples in the complex. All of them are located in the center area, fortified by walls. Three of them, Candi Tinggi, Candi Kedaton, and Candi Gumpung - are already renovated.

Archaeologists conclude that the site was the center of Old Jambi, the capital of ancient Malay kingdom which reigned supreme about ten centuries ago. The capital was siege and destroyed in 1377 by armies from Majapahit. For centuries, the site had been lost and forgotten deep in the jungle, only to be rediscovered in 1823 by SC Crooke, a British lieutenant is to map the Batanghari river watershed for military purposes. In 1982, a 32-centimeters tall female bronze statue was found at Koto Kandis, in the Muara Sabak sub-district. It is believed to be the goddess Laksmi, holding a lotus bud in her left. In addition to the archaeological sites, many visitors find the riverside an ideal recreation and picnic spot.

Sculpture

Another sculpture

Pieces of sculpture

This temple may not be as attractive as Borobudur which was made of volcanic stones displaying the great work of art and whose statues and relief are still intact, but Muaro Jambi was built, just like any other Sumatran temples, with terracotta bricks, which undoubtedly prone to weather. Yet, the remains speak of its glory during its heyday.

There are several temples that can be found in Muaro Jambi Temple site and some of them have been restored; Gumpung temple where the statue of Pradjnaparamita was found. It is the second most beautiful statue after Ken Dedes statue in Singosari, Tinggi temple, Kembar Batu temple, Gedong I and Gedong II temple where Dwarapala statue and Gajah Singa statue were found, Kedaton and Koto Mahligai.

The temple itself or precisely the temple complex can be reached only in half hour by vehicle from Jambi City via the new route. This new route was established since Batanghari II Bridge completely built in east are of Jambi City. The old route takes about 1 hour via Batanghari Bridge in west area of Jambi City.


At a particular time, like Vesak, you may catch how Buddhist monks that come from Jakarta and other countries organize their religious rituals. And it would be more crowded by people (mainly Chinese descents) to visit the temples at the peak of event.

Kerinci: Lake Kaca, as Clear as Glass

Regency of Kerinci have many tourism objects to see. Beside Mount Kerinci, Lake Kerinci, Kayu Aro tea plantation and Semurup hot spring, we may find Lake Kaca is an interesting place and worth enough to make a visit. This lake is located in Gunung Raya sub-district and is part of Kerinci Seblat National Park area which makes the lake surrounded by forest. Unfortunately, the accommodation to reach lake location is not good enough, you may find an annoying trip. But once you are there you would think that the scenery you get pays your effort to reach there.

You may reach lake location from Sungai Penuh City, it would take about an half of hour to Fort Depati Parbo by vehicles. From this point, you have to hike through grove and forest for, at least, 3 hours. Yeah, it's "just" 3 hours and just keep your smile while you are hiking or a famous Sumatran tiger would pounce you. No, I'm kidding you, but seriously, you may encounter them in your trip if you were lucky enough. And still on your trip, you will have to cross a creek (10 meters wide) with swift water currents, swamps, and many leeches (specially in rainy day), so be prepared. And the last stage is to down the 6 meters cliff before you are really at the lake location. If you plan to camp there, consider to pick lakeside area that can cover about 10 dome tents.

Lake Kaca is a small lake, approximately 10-15 meters depth in 900 square meters area (about 30 meters length and 30 meters breadth). The most interesting scenery from this lake you will get when you arrive in lakeside is you can see the bottom of the lake from lakeside because the water is so clear. The perfect time to see Lake Kaca is in clear weather and moonlit night. An amazing scenery would wonder you when you are looking at how the lake shines as if it has light source from the deep.

Lake Kaca, from lakeside in a sunny day

A view from another corner

The "Kaca" itself means glass, this name given to describe how clear the lake water is as clear as glass. A beautiful thing that would accompany and entertain you while you are hiking to lake location is song whistled by various birds. You may catch horn bills, sriguntings, and endemic Sumatran birds, tangkar uli. Beside birds, you may hear roars and cries of primates like siamang. And when you reach the lake and standing by lakeside, you will find semah fishes dancing there.

Here are tips to make your trip to Lake Kaca:

• If you plan to make round trip in a day you need to prepare your physic condition, since accommodations you will get are too minimum, including public health accommodations.
• Try to start the trip on 06.00-07.00AM, it would help you not in hurry when you make home trip.
• Considering to wear boots is good choice, it would help you in mud holes and when you cross the creek.
• Try to apply mosquito repellent to prevent leeches' bites.
• And don't forget to bring your raincoats to anticipate local tropical forest rain.
• And the last one is to bring your emergency medical equipment.

Good luck and have nice trip then... :)