The recent path to industrialization takes shape at a dramatic scale. And it remains to be seen how fast and active the residents of Babelan will react to social changes when this road eventually gets crowded. Continue reading The dwindling farm land
There are 11 major tea-producing provinces in Indonesia that contribute to the country’s seventh place in the world’s biggest tea exporters. At the top spot of these provinces is West Java with nearly ten thousand hectares of lands in total for tea plantations. Continue reading Hidden tea hills
Centralistic government of the past and its marked downfall in 1999 has given rise to a system overhaul that offers autonomy rights across the vast archipelago of Indonesia. Years later, some said in apprehension that we may not be ready yet for such dramatic changes. Continue reading Westward desolation
There are cases when highways are laid out at the expense of existing frail connections of particular areas. Prof. Dr. Ir. Sedyatmo toll road which connects Jakarta and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, for instance, separated the vast and living space in Cengkareng. The solution was building crossing bridges available to transport people and goods on motorcycles. Continue reading What lies beneath the highway
The three-meters-wide dirt road that spans 20 kilometers deep into the forest in Central Java has existed since early 90s when loggers began exploiting the area. The hidden activity increases during summer as the road mostly turn muddy in wet season, thus obstructing trucks transporting the lumber. The fact that the plain, green area of a hundred hectares in total size is labeled a non-productive forest, coupled with the Land Protection Act issued by the Forestry Department, have little effect on preventing illegal logging. The locals told that logging culminated between 2001 and 2003. Continue reading “TEAK FOREST OF WEST JAVA”
Trekking on East Asia’s prehistoric humans site, unremitting wind whispers an exclamation of silence at Zhou Kou Dian, 50 kilometers southwest of Beijing, China. Continue reading Dawn at silent hills
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