Indonesia and World Tourism News

Getting High on Mount Kerinci

I had never thought of climbing Mt Kerinci. I hesitated somehow when friends of mine asked me to join them in a one-night camping and mountaineering activity. Frankly I had never done this type of challenging activity before. I could not really refuse because I had a lot of spare time in my semester holidays. As far as I knew, Mt Kerinci was located in the south-western part of Jambi near the town of Singai Penuh, the capital of Kerinci Regency. Many of my classmates came from that region. With five other young fellows, two of whom were mountaineers, we began the adventure. It took us about eleven hours to get to Sungai Penuh by bus. We then went to a small restaurant where we had special Minangkabaunese food for breakfast.

At 9 am we left the town of Kayu Aro for an area closer to the mountain. Two hours later we came to a vast and wonderful tea plantation where we stopped to look at the giant mountain standing and waiting for us. While walking to the foot of the mountain we were accompanied by the blowing wind and the warm smiling faces of the local farmers. We finally came to what we called Pintu Rimbo, a kind of gate that marked the borderline between the farming area and the jungle.

We started to walk upwards through the bushes first and then into the real jungle. As we moved on we heard wild animal noises and saw monkeys jumping from one branch to another. Judging by the plants we were sure that we were in a rainforest area. It was getting dark when we arrived at Shelter One - the first out of three on the climb upwards. One of us collected small pieces of wood and we made a fire in order to warm us up a bit. After that we continued our journey to Shelter Two. Cold winds blew and drizzle fell causing the path to become slippery.

Shelter Two was then in front of us but we decided not to stop and we continued on. I was told that Shelter Three was still a long way off. As the path was getting more and more difficult, we had no other way to move forward than by holding the robust tree roots tightly. We could have slipped easily. By observing the trees I could also see that the higher we climbed the shorter the trees became. The trees I saw were quite strange. It seemed as though the trunks, branches and roots twisted wildly in and over everything in their path.

I could not imagine what was going to happen next. Overall, I had never been so impressed by a challenge as I was by this one. The rain became heavier so we hastened to set up camp and set about preparing our tent. The tent saved us from getting wet and the rain was pretty heavy that night. The next day we were awoken by the chirping birds and the morning light. We were soon on our way to Shelter Three. There we found beautiful flowers indigenous to the area but even more flabbergasting was the splendid landscape we could see. We could observe the Indian Ocean and the Sumatran coastline.

At midday we cheerfully came to the peak of the mountain and we saw the large crater. There was a white flag there to remind us of the dangers. The crater produced smoke which grew thicker and thicker over the top of the volcano. The smoke also spread an unfriendly odor around us.

We took our photos and then we began the rush down the mountain. Our challenge was nearly over. Interestingly our trip down was often interrupted by fog. Sometimes the fog kept us standing or sitting for many minutes until is vanished. It was often so thick we could not continue our journey. A sense of relief appeared on our faces when we returned to Shelter Three. We then ran down quickly like a group of soldiers at war. One of us slipped on the ground. Luckily the backpack he was wearing prevented him from injury. Dusk had already arrived when we passed by Pintu Rimbo and the vast tea plantations caught our eyes again. The moonlight and the twinkling lamps from houses were like magic really. We all had hopes that one day we would climb this mountain again.

kangguru.org-Joni Budianta

Add comment February 20th, 2007

Rumah Gadang is a Traditional House of the Minang Kabau people

Rumah Gadang (Big House) is a traditional house of the Minang Kabau people. Most Minang Kabau people used to live in Rumah Gadang with their families. It was caused by the matrilineal pattern of the tribe line. It is the only matrilineal pattern in Indonesia. But nowadays Rumah Gadang rarely to be occupied. People tend to build modern house. It might be caused by the changing of the era.

Actually there is no valid information when this big house firstly built. But the Creator / Architect of the big house is Tantejo Gurhano. His burial is in Pariangan, Batusangkar; the original and the source of Minang Kabau culture. This village is considered the early village around Minang Kabau area.

In Pagarruyung (still in Batusangkar area) there is a very big house that we can call Pagarruyung Palace. This Palace is a symbol of the successful and the glory of pagarruyung kingdom in the 13th century. But the palace which we can visit now was rebuilt in 1976.

Usually Rumah Gadang has three small buildings in front of it. People call them ‘Rangkiang’. The name of each building are 1) Sitinjau Laut, 2) Sibayan-Bayan, and 3) Sitangka Lapa. Each building has different function but how ever the main function of it is to save the rice field. The philosophy of the Rangkiang is first: the rice saved in Sitinjau Laut is to serve the guests / visitors who come to the area. Second, to feed all family. The third, to eat in crisis.

People also use Rumah Gadang to conduct a meeting if a family or a tribe has problem to be solved, the family or the tribe leader will be invited to attend the meeting to make a decision or a good solution. It seems that the process of democracy has been running well in this area since years ago. Besides that Rumah Gadang is also used to conduct a wedding party or any ceremonial party. Then when one of the tribe leader dead, people will look for another person to be the leader by inviting many people to Rumah Gadang. The construction of Rumah Gadang is unique enough. No nail, and foundation is not kept into the earth. In other words, the foundation is built on the surface of the land after putting several stones on it. If the earthquake quake the big house, it will move slowely and flexible as it can. As one of the story shows that a big house felt down or destroyed by the earth quake. Most of the material was made of wood. So, the first enemy of Rumah Gadang is only fire.

Today we still be able to see and observe several Rumah Gadang around Minang Kabau area. But what we do expect every much is to preserve the old building. There are many stories about Rumah Gadang to write, it will be reported as complete as possible next time. I will send you any kinds of West Sumatra Culture later.

From Irwan, M.Pd - Language Counseling Service (UPB)
Source : www.kangguru.org

Add comment February 20th, 2007