Indonesia Traditional & Arts

Ubud is a town on the Indonesian island of Bali. The town is located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the island’s central foothills in the Gianyar regency. One of Bali’s major arts and culture centres, it has developed a large tourism industry.

Ubud has a population of about 8,000 people, but it is becoming difficult to distinguish the town itself from the villages that once surrounded it.

Stories, photo, and maps contributed by all source.

What I intended to see was the grassroots of pottery in Central Java - a small village outside the town of Bantul called Kasongan. Kasongan became a village in its own right. It had for centuries, been infamous as the centre for ‘erotic’ pottery. Many pieces can still be found in museums within Indonesia, but to find them in Kasongan nowadays was like, as they say, looking for a needle in a haystack.

The morning had already become hot, the sun fierce and unrelenting, when we set off for Kasongan. From the city of Magelang in Central Java, the trip should have taken ninety minutes at the most. A flat tire, a boiling radiator, and some ‘pit-stops’ for yummies and drinks, made it more like a day trip. Romadi, my old friend in Magelang, who ran a craft shop, and I were extremely happy to see the flat open plains after the drive down from the mountains which are the backbone of Java. This was the fertile area. Like a multi-green coloured patchwork quilt, the paddy fields stretched seemingly to the horizon, the farmers tending the rice crop, the women planting the seedlings - a backbreaking job I would never desire to do. The long straight road seemed to fall off the horizon together with the paddy fields, and as I became impatient, Romadi assured me it was not much further. He had said the same thing fifty miles back. As the road became narrower, started dipping and rising across small creeks, my impatience soon dissipated.

Source : Bootsnall Travel

Klepon is traditional rice cake from Indonesia. It is basically a boiled rice cake, stuffed with gula jawa (palm sugar), and rolled in grated coconut. The color of Klepon is green because it is flavored with Pandan paste made from the Pandan plant whose leaves are used widely in South East Asian cooking.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups glutinous powder
• ¾ cup lukewarm water
• 2-3 drops green food coloring
• 8 tsp. grated Java dark brown sugar
• 1 cup fresh-grated coconut, mixed with ½ tsp salt

How To Make

1. Mix the rice powder with the lukewarm water and green food coloring into a firm but flexible dough.
2. Pull off one full teaspoon of the dough and shape it into a ball with approximately 1-inch in diameter.
3. Push a finger into the center of the ball to make a hole, and put in approximately ½ tsp. of the grated sugar. Seal, and roll it back into the ball shape with the palms of your hands. Prepare all the balls and set them aside.
4. Prepare a pot half filled with water and bring it to a boil.
5. Drop the balls into the boiling water. Remove the balls with a spoon once they float to the water surface and then roll the balls in the grated coconut. Serve at room temperature. Makes 30 rice balls.

For the second consecutive year, Emirates Towers Hotel, part of Jumeirah International, the Dubai based luxury hospitality group, has received the award for ‘Best Hotel in the Middle East’ during the Business Traveller Germany awards ceremony held in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Business Traveller Germany awards were presented at a lunch reception that brought together the international hospitality industry. Awards were given to companies that were selected as the best hotels for business travellers in different regions by over 3,000 readers of the German edition of Business Traveller. It is the second consecutive year that Emirates Towers Hotel was acknowledged by readers of Business Traveller Germany for being their preferred hotel in the Middle East.

The award-winning Emirates Towers Hotel, a landmark in Dubai and dominating the skyline since its completion almost three years ago, is strategically located in the central business district of Dubai, next to the World Trade Centre on Sheikh Zayed Road, and adjacent to the Trade Centre Exhibition Halls.

The 400 – room hotel is, at 305 metres high, the third tallest hotel in the world while the adjacent Office Tower is the tallest building in the Middle East at 350 metres. The 51-storey towers, connected by the Emirates Towers Shopping Boulevard, are a dramatic backdrop to Dubai’s central business district and a highly visible statement of the region’s corporate success.

Since its opening in April 2000, Emirates Towers Hotel has won many prestigious international travel & tourism awards including ‘Best New Business Hotel in the World’ by Business Traveller Magazine UK, ‘Best Business Hotel in the Middle East’, by Business Traveller Magazine Middle East, ‘Business Hotel of the Year 200’, by the DEPA Middle East Hotel Awards, ‘Middle East Business Hotel of the Year’ during the MEED Awards for Business Excellence in 2002 and Emirates Towers Hotel was voted the ‘World’s Leading Business Hotel’ during the World Travel Awards in 2001.

Easily accessible and just 15 minutes from Dubai International Airport, Emirates Towers Hotel is designed for the modern business community. The property has proved to be one of the leading corporate hotels in the world during its first two years of operation.

World-class facilities include 14 restaurants, bars and lounges each with a distinctive décor and atmosphere, a 24-hour health club with fully equipped gymnasium, sauna, steam bath, massage room and an outdoor swimming pool. In addition the hotel offers an around-the-clock business centre providing complete secretarial services and extensive conference and meeting facilities with 25 boardroom-style function rooms, a 2200 sqm ballroom and pre-function area as well as a garden events area that can seat 3000 guests in comfort.

Director of Corporate Communications
Jumeirah Group
PO Box 214159,
Dubai, UAE
Telephone number: +971 4 364 7777
Fax number: +971 4 301 6655
Email Address: pr@jumeirah.

Source : http://www.jumeirah.com/press_centre/current_press_releases/index.cfm?task=detail&id=PR_040130_22595809_51CFV

Seorang driver di sebuah perusahaan kutanya mengenai aktivitas luang selain tugas dikantornya bekerja. Di sela-sela waktu tersebut melakukan usaha pembuatan makanan seperti pastel, donat isi, donat sate, martabak, molen coklat sangat antusias memasarkan prtoduknya.

Produk yang dibuatnya telah merambah beberapa lokasi seperti warung sayur, sekolah, mini market, ada juga tempat arisan, ulang tahun, pertemuan, dan lain-lain. Ternyata penjual yang sudah berputra 3 ini mulai menyiapkan bahan dan memasak sejak pukul 02.00 dini hari hingga pukul 05.00 pagi setelah Shubuh.

Modal yang dimilikinya adalah keuletan, kemauan, kerja keras, dan sedikit uang untuk membeli bahan. Makanan ringan tersebut ternyata telah memberikan keuntungan walau masih kecil. Namun rasa syukur dan penuh percaya diri menyongsong masa depan lebih baik terus dicapainya dengan penuh semangat dan antusias. Luar biasa semangatnya. Kita patut mencontoh segala daya dan upaya yang baik.