Mangrove, The Greener Site In a Metropolitan CIty

Tips : better come before 9 a.m. or come later after 3 p.m. because the sun won't hit so bad and the air won't be too hot. Bring water. Put waste into dumper always. Ticket? no ticket. only spare change to pay parking lot. I paid 2,000 Indo' money (spend more to get on boat to the mangrove wood, 25,000 Indo' money or $2 )

Pasar #market

Watercolor 

Village Up The Hill

The village is located in Tulung Agung, East Java. I went there for visiting before I went to beach. Tulung Agung is known as a marble production. But I had to go upper to the hill, about 20 kilometers from the city downtown to reach the place. Of course, I was worried because I passed so tiny crooked roads with an extreme slope, deep valley on side, and cliff on the other side. But since I knew the driver has full of experience with hilly roads, I was kind a relieved.

Behind this hill is Popoh beach. The beach is facing south sea or Hindia ocean which is popular with its high waves in all season. That day wind was blowing really hard while the heat shine on us strongly. I can guarantee, the air is so refreshing, relaxing, and cooling down. So, I didn't feel the heat burned so much. The road there hasn't been constructed yet with solid asphalt like in a city road and each house is separated about some meters away with the other house. There are several houses alongside the main road and several house spreaded at behind or we can say it's not facing the main road.

The soil there is considered as hard. Only certain crops can grow there such as cassava, long bean, coconut, papaya, and some wooden tree which is able to survive in the dry soil. It's hard to get water because of the soil type and they have to dig the well for some meters deep to get water. The rain is not so much there as well. 

Coconut and cassava have been their primary crops for years. The nature gives people that for living, beside they grow them. They cultivate and sell the crops in the market where it goes down from the hill near to the busiest spot. This place can grow the best taste of cassava from other places. The cassava is popular here. It has so yummy brought taste, soft moist texture, and really white which is good for staple food.

I met this boy. He works as a coconut climber in his spare time. He just moved so fast like squirrel, going up and down really fast. He can climb several trees a day. That day he climbed about 5 trees to get coconuts. Then he had his time to do pose for me 😄lol.

The house there is built mostly with a traditional material such as from coconut tree bark, bamboo stick woven, and other materials. Most of people let their floor still with ground, no ceramic like other modern house or they just cover the ground with a mixture of sand and cement. Houses there seem to be randomly set. I mean, the house could face other house's front or back sides.

For houses in front of the main road, they are just like any other normal house. House faces each other. Roads there are still with rough rocks and soil. The local districts office built a smooth lane for motor bike. So people with motor bikes will pass there easily. Motor bike is people's main vehicle there beside traditional bike.

Actually, it's not easy to reach this village. Beside there are so many crooked roads, the road isn't smooth even it is so difficult for car to pass in. Motor bilke will be the only best means to mobile people. If you want to visit the house at back, the car absolutely can't reach, so you have to park your car on the main road and walk on foot inside through the neighborhood.

Only this tiny path connects each other house with some bushes along side the pathway. The electricity had just reached this village in some years back. The main road doesn't be lightened by a common night lamp at night. Only with small watt of neon lamp provided by each owner of the house. Also, you don't wish the path way will be some light at night. People just do not set the light to light the pathway, for night. They travel from one to another house with flash light or just with torch. 

The acceptance for tv sometime bad there. They have time when the tv can't get better view because of the signal is failed to transmit. They have big parabola that's connected with their tv's. Their way of life mostly is still traditional. They used wood to cook, to fire the brick stove.

Oh yeah one thing, watching tv is people's favorite activity. I think that could be watching tv is the only entertainment way they can have. Some people there have job out of the area. They work as migrant worker overseas, household assistant, or other. Just so rare people there work as farmer since it s hilly site with hard soil. I saw so many elder people there or I can say people who aren't in the work force age. 

I posed in front of the house. Lol pardon me to wear crocs 😛, since I thought it was really helpful to wear one.. And it was, indeed.

There are a lot of papayas grown there. They grow themselves and people there use the leaves for vegetable cooking.

This food has several variants. Chicken curry with small tunas and papaya leaves coconut grate called "urap-urap". Since the back of the hill is beach, people there are often to eat fish, small tunas. The fish really tasted good. The papaya leave was tasted so yummy too, really delicious. Papaya leave is known as too bitter vegetable but it wasn't bitter at all. They has a way to make it plain without bitter taste. They told us, they boiled it with clay soil. .. Lol don't ask about hygiene😝 I'm still alive until now. I had food then drank with coconut water. Really a fresh feeling.

Their staple food is not really a rice. It seems to be replaced the rice by cassava. The cassavas rice texture is tiny round bullets. It's really small. Cassava rice is made off from raw cassava. Cassava is grated and dried into a flour and gave some water. Stir slow with hand until it makes tiny round bullets shape. It has another sensation compared with eating rice. Some people say it makes stomach feeling hot, like full of gass. 

Then I had some exploration, I went down a crossing bushes. The access from one house to the other house is passing on other's vegetable garden. Some bugs came out when we passed there. Quite annoying though.

I found this spot there. It looks like a forest for me. As I know from people there, they live not really on their own land. The land there are majority owned by the government there under forestry department. The forestry department maintain the unused land with some wooden trees like teak, coconut, and one tree.. Hmm, I don't really know these trees name. It looks like "Petai-petai an" tree in Bahasa. A tree with tiny leaves and long fruit like beans. Like in that picture.

I stopped at this place, a small bridge with two paths going up. I still couldn't believe it, when I knew there were several houses there. I thought it was the last 😝. The river looked clean when I saw it. I think people do not waste there. For the sanitation, they build a traditional bathroom to bath and traditional loo. I was thinking, I wish I wasn't there at night and had to deal with my bowel movement at night 😝. 

That's the other s hill place. So far, that's Really relaxing place. I will visit here again. I still have something in mind, maybe I can have one overnight there. I'll figure out how lol..