Medan, My Lovely City

Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra is the third most populous city in Indonesia and also the biggest city in Sumatra Island. Medan is a city with mixing cultures. Not only Batak people that live there, but also Chinese, Javanese, Tamil, and Malay. The great number of mosque, church, and vihara in Medan is also a fact that Medan has so many cultures. There are many interesting places in Medan. Maimun Palace is the legacy of the Deli Sultanate. The Maimun Palace is located in Brigjen Katamso Street. The other legacy of the Deli Sultanate is The Great Mosque of Medan that was been built in 1906. This mosque is located only 200 m from Maimun Palace and people still using it for pray everyday. Medan also has a zoo. The Medan Zoo is located in Bunga Rampe IV Street. This zoo is get so many interest from Medan people. Medan also well known with its delicious food. Bika Ambon is one of the popular cake from Medan. Even though the cake’s name is Bika Ambon, but the cake is not come from Ambon. Bika Ambon is made from egg, sugar, flour, and coconut milk. This cake has some flavors, such as pandan, durian, chocolate, and cheese. You can find many of Bika Ambon sellers on Mojopahit Street. The unique thing from Medan is come from one of its transportation that is called Becak Medan. The difference from the usual one is Becak Medan is a motorized becak, so it can take its passenger anywhere in the city. Good work.

ACEH HAS CHANGED

ACEH HAS CHANGED I always remember about Aceh when the conversation about Aceh is brought up. I had lived there for 9 years and it had been great years. I lived in Lhokseumawe, a small town in north of Aceh. When I was there, Lhokseumawe was a very quiet and safe place, but now Aceh, especially Lhokseumawe, has changed a lot. Back to 1996, Aceh was a peaceful place to live in. The people lived a simple way of life and they amused them selves by going to the traditional markets because a lot of attraction are located in those markets and also because there is only one mall in the area, Cunda Plaza , which is far from the center of the city. People feel safe to go anywhere to look for amusement because there were little risks of damage or harm. But now, everything has changed. Nowadays, Aceh is not as peaceful as it used to be. Eversince GAM started to rebel against the government, Aceh became a problematic area and an unsafe place to live in. A lot of non- Aceh people were kidnapped by the GAM and they asked for money to free this people. The money was then used to finance the GAM. GAM also enforces moslem’s law, Acehnese like women or girls have to wear scarves. Today, Aceh is no longer a comfortable place to live in because of all the security measures enforced by the government. Good, please avoid using spoken language in your writing.

Semarang, The Acculturation City

Have you ever visit Semarang? Or you have just heard this name? After hearing a little bit story about Semarang, may be you should consider this city as your next visiting destination.

There is much to know about Semarang : the place, the climate, the culture and even the people. Semarang is the capital city of Central Java which located on the north coast of the Java Island. The city's name derives from the Javanese words "asem" and "arang" which literary translate to "rare tamarind." It was founded by Ki Pandan Arang. Another version is that Semarang is originated from Chinese word Sam Po Lang (San Bao Loong), meaning the city of Sam Po (Admiral Zheng He). The Javanese call Semarang ‘the hot city'. The average yearly temperature is 30º C. The city weather is hot and humid. It’s better to wear cotton clothes. You do not need long sleeves shirt, instead a T-shirt and knee-long trousers are comfortable.

Semarang is more a commercial center than a city tourist. However, there are plenty of historical places that can be visited in Semarang. One of them is “Tugu Muda” (Youth Monument). “Tugu Muda” commemorated the 5 days fierce battle (October 14, 1945) between Indonesian freedom fighters and Japanese soldiers. “Tugu Muda” has become one of Semarang’s landmarks. The buildings around “Tugu Muda” are some from the Old Dutch Buildings; the famous one is “Lawang Sewu”. The name “Lawang Sewu” in Javanese language means “Thousand Doors”. “Lawang” means “Door” and “Sewu” means “Thousand”. “Lawang Sewu” in real doesn’t have a thousand doors for sure, but it surely has many doors that make it like a building with a thousand doors. During the World War II, the building was the Japanese army’s headquarter. In Semarang, there is also the beautiful “Sampoo Kong Temple” (“Gedung Batu”), which was built to respect the Muslim Chinese commander named Cheng Ho of Ming Dynasty who visited Semarang in the early 15th century. The Old Dutch Indies’ building in the northern Semarang, such as “Gereja Blenduk” is the eldest Christian Church in Central Java built by the Dutch community in 1753. It shows the Church architecture of the 18th century with its huge dome and a baroque organ inside the building. Nearby the Church, there are some buildings from the Dutch colonial time. “Stasiun Tawang”, the main railways station with its ‘old time’ architecture located also in this area.

As a commercial center, many companies open their manufacture sites in eastern, western and southern part of Semarang. That’s all make Semarang becomes an industrial city. Traffic jam is considered fewer than other big cities in Indonesia.

While we’re visiting the historical places, Semarang offers the visitors with its variation on food. Many restaurants and food stalls are ready to make your stomach full. You can find delicious food with cheap price, either in the downtown or in the southern hilly part of Semarang. For example, “Kalasan” fried chicken (fried chicken with “Kalasan” spice), “Lumpia” (a kind of spring rolls with bamboo shoots filling), “Bandeng Presto” ('Bandeng' fish with soft thorn), “Wingko Babat” (sticky rice and coconut in a variety of flavors), “Soto” (chicken soup with rice), “Gudeg” (Javanese steam sweet sour vegetables), Chicken porridge –especially in the morning, and “Jagung Bakar” (grilled corn) –especially in the night. As information, most travelers will buy “Bandeng Presto”, “Lumpia”, and “Wingko Babat” as souvenirs from this city, because these three foods had become an identity for Semarang itself.

I really proud to be born and grew up in Semarang until I was in high school. It’s a pity if there are many people haven’t known this city yet. I’m sure Semarang will show you other perspective of a city with fabulous culture and religion acculturation.

Good, please avoid using spoken language in your writing.

Two Faces of Jakarta

Two Faces of Jakarta

Many people talked about Jakarta as the city of happiness. A place where you can get anything that you want. A place with a lot of opportunity. A place that you can live happily ever after with your family. It can be true or false. Some people reach success and live happy in Jakarta, but the others just get the sadness and the rudeness of Jakarta. Many people, including the citizen's of Jakarta, didn't knew that Jakarta has two different kind of personality. Realize it or not, may be it is happen around us.

When you step your foot for the first time in Jakarta, your eyes will be shocked by a lot of wonderful things. There are many beautiful building with a great touch of architecture, big street that always pass by a lot of cars and motorcycles, luxurious resorts and residences, and many more. If you want to see it for yourself, I suggest you to visit semanggi area. In there, you will see a lot of beautiful building. Like Plaza Semanggi, one of the famous shopping center in Jakarta, Sudirman Palace, a shopping center also a bussines center too, one of the newest thing in Jakarta, Da Vinci Tower, a furniture shop and also an apartment ( but I thing its to expensive for an apartment, and many more. Besides the bulding, you will see many big roads with cars and motorcycles in itm,m and also the most famous bridges in Jakarta, Semanggi Bridge. If you aren't satisfied, you can go to senayan, its not far from sudriman. In there, at least there are four shopping places that makes senayan is one of the most complete shopping area in Jakarta. There are Plaza Senayan, Senayan Trade Center, Sogo Senayan, and also the brand new Senayan City. These places has it own unique in architecture side. Senayan is also known as a luxuxrious residences area. Besides the sudriman and senayan area, there are still lot of wonderful places full of building and lot of luxurious things. It makes jakarta more sophisticated and people start to call Jakarta as The Metropolis City.A place with modern facility, great, and presticious place. And its change the lifestyle of the citizen. From the usual life, to the glamourous, luxurious, and also lot of prestise life. It makes Jakarta look more delicious in the eyes of the other city in Indonesia. But, the reality said the different things

Besides the glamorous places and lifestyle, there are still more sadness in Jakarta. Example, when you go deeper in Jakarta, you will see a lot of semi permanent residences area that actually its not a good place to stay. That kind of residence belongs to the people who being a victim of the glamorous thing that we have talked int the second paragraph. Went you want to build a bulding, you will need some space to make it real. Since Jakarta have a lot of people, and its increase every years causes by the imigration and also the birth, the empty space in Jakarta decrease every years. Since there is no more space to build, the companies try to buy the civil residence area. Some companies give a good price, but the others try to buy it with the lowest price. There is a lot of case that some companies takes the residences area by force, and claim the space belongs to them, and destroy the residence without thinking about the citizen's feeling. Usually, this case happen int the conflict area. If its happen, who will be blamed?. The citizen that lost their treasure on the destruction event have to build their life again from piece to piece. They try to get a job but its so difficult to find a job event for the s1 graduate today. Since most of the victim only graduated from high school, they can do more. except hope. And this things going to more complicated with the came of the imigran. Every years, a lot of imigran cam to Jakarta to get a better life. And it makes the real citizen have to fight with the imigran to survive. Like a game, there is the winner and the looser. The winners get what they want, better life and success carier, but the looser get nothing except paint. And usualy they, the victim of this competition, take a shortcut to get some money. They do a lot of bad things like stealing, prostituting, and even killing other people to get some money. It makes the number of the criminal scenes in Jakarta increase every years. It makes Jakarta no longer safe to stay and also make the name of Jakarta mor ugly in the eyes of world.

This kind of poor lifestyle is very different from the first one. When the first one enjoyed thier lifestyle, the others still have to survive with their life. This significant different of society needs help from the goverment. If the goverment just sit behind the table, Jakarta will have a great damage of the material and also morality soon. Ad it brings Jakarta to the Gate of Destroy. So, its a challange to the goverment to solve the problem, and also our task to help. Wiseman said that Jakarta has been called a study in contrasts, traditional and modern, reacg and poor, spiritual and wordly stand side by side in this bustling metropolis. Jakarta, with a lot of variety, should have reach the equilibrium so the citizen can live in peace. God create the different things to complete each other. And I thing, Jakarta have to be the representative of what The God's created.

Lots of typos.

Bandung

Bandung is the capital city of west java. As a capital city, it becomes the center of public activities such as government, education or even tourism.

Bandung is surrounded by mountains. So it has cool climate. The agronomical business has developed much there because of that supported weather.

Tourism also has good prospect here. Bandung is full of interesting places to visit, beautiful scenery to see, and other city facilities to enjoy. For those who love shopping, there are a lot of factory outlets which sell branded clothing line at low price! And it is always on sale! How can a shop-a-holic avoid that? Another shopping place to visit is “indie” clothing line shop. They offer their own original design. And now, “indie” shop is becoming very popular at Jakarta too, especially for young people. Beside factory outlet and “indie” shop, there are still many shopping spots to enjoy such as Bandung Indah Plaza, Paris Van Java, Cihampelas Walk and many more. People who prefer to enjoy the scenery of the city can see many historical and unique places like Gedung Asia Afrika, Gedung Sate, Savoy-Homann Hotel and of course the old-and-famous Braga street. The street is very classic since the buildings are still in the original Dutch architecture. Once a year, a big festival called “BraFest” is held in there. The festival presents live music performances, art exhibition and food stands. And for anyone who loves food, Bandung is the best place to go. Why? Because you can find restaurant, café, or food stall in almost every corner!

Not just tourism, education is also well-known in here. Many famous colleges were built in Bandung. Three of them are Institut Teknologi Bandung, Universitas Padjajaran and Universitas Katolik Parahyangan.

Good, please avoid using spoken language in your writing.

Bandung, nice place to stay

Talking about my hometown is talking about Bandung. Bandung is the capital city of West Java. It’s located in the center of West Java and surounded by beautiful mountains. It makes Bandung has a cool weather. Its comfortable weather and its beautiful view make Bandung one of the best destination for your holiday.

Bandung is also called Paris van Java. It is because Bandung has a very beautiful look and popular by it’s sense of fashion. Just like Paris, Bandung become the role of fashion. Bandung is well known as the good shoes factory and best place for shopping. People from other cities usually come to Bandung on the weekend just for shopping. They spend a lot of money here. That makes FO and other fashion store grow fast in Bandung.

For the art lovers, Bandung might be your favourite place to stay. Bandung also well known as an art city. Many artist like singger, actress, musician born and grow up here. Art is growing fast here so you can find a lot of art gallery in Bandung. It’s spread from the northen Bandung to the eastern Bandung. If you like music, specially indie music, Bandung will be your paradise. You can find indie album in almost everyindie store which is spread across Bandung.

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Jakarta

Jakarta is my hometown. It is located near Java Sea, usually known as Laut Jawa. Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia. Like other capital city in the world. Jakarta also has a lot of problems. The biggest problems that Jakarta has to faced now is the problem related to sanitation. In most of street in Jakarta especially in alleys, we can find piles of garbage outside the trash bin. The piles of garbage usually followed by many flies around them. As we know, flies are the source of disease such are diarrhea, and typhoid. That’s why many Jakartans, citizens of Jakarta, said that old Jakarta is more beautiful than Jakarta now.

The problem that Jakarta faces now especially in sanitation comes up from the Jakartans itself. The Jakartans have less awareness of the importance throwing their trash in to the garbage. They are too lazy to find garbage. Most of Jakartans prefer to throw their trash their trash in any place near them than to spend their energy to find a trash bin. They don’t know that what they’re doing could make a serous problem to themselves not only the bad odors comes from the trash but also diseases and flood.

It is hard to find solutions but there are still possibilities to solve Jakarta from becoming a city of
garbage. The solution must be come from two sides, the government of Jakarta and also the Jakartans. From the government’s side, they have to be strict to the people who not obey the rules by throwing the trash improperly. Also from the Jakartans, they have to aware that by throwing their trash in the trash bin, they can avoid themselves from any disasters such as
disease, bad odor and also floods.

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Jakarta, the Central of Indonesia

Jakarta, the capital city and province of Indonesia, is the biggest city in Indonesia. Located on the northwest of the island of Java, it has an area of about 660 km² and a population of 8.7 million at 2005. As a province, Jakarta consists four cities, these are Central Jakarta, East Jakarta, North Jakarta, South Jakarta, and West Jakarta. Jakarta also have one regency, the Thousands Islands (kepulauan seribu), formerly a subdistrict of North Jakarta.

As a biggest and major city in Indonesia, Jakarta also suffered many problems. Being on the top ten of the most densely populated city in the world, it suffers a serious problem about the traffic. In the busy time, for example 7:00-9:00, almost all of major roads are "jammed". The government also had to face that the population has risen sharply from 1.2 million in 1960 to more than 8.7 million in 2005. When the wet season comes, Jakarta suffers flood because the waterways are clogged by the citizen's trash that thrown into the river. This city also suffers a once on five years great flood. Start from 1997, then at 2002 almost entire city is flooded, and getting much worse at 2007.

Despite of all problems above, Jakarta has many reasons for you to live there. Firstly, as the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta is the center of many activities in Indonesia, especially trading and bussiness. It has the Jakarta Stock Exchange (Bursa Efek Jakarta), which is only one of two in Indonesia (the other is in Surabaya). Jakarta is also the home of many companies, from the commercial-based company to state company owned by the Country. Bank Indonesia, the only bank that produce money in Indonesia, also located at Jakarta, central Jakarta for precisely. Beside that, Jakarta has a lot of shopping mall and market, for example the Plaza Indonesia, Ambassador Mall, the Mangga Dua trading center, and many others.

Located near the edge of Jakarta, there is Universitas Indonesia, one of the oldest and most favorite state university in Indonesia. there are many non-state universities too in Jakarta, for example University of Bina Nusantara, the first non-state choice for those who want to continue their study as an Information Technology master. Beside university, Jakarta also have many great high school, junior school, elementary school, kindergarten and even for the playgroups. For an international community, there are some international schools too, such as the Jakarta International School, Australian International School, the Ghandi Memorial International School and many others.

For the entertainment and welfare needs, Jakarta has many facilities too. There are about one hundred hospitals in Jakarta, consist of some specialized hospital, such as Dharmais Cancer Hospital. There is a blood bank too, organized by Indonesia Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia) located beside the major hospital of Indonesia, the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (Rumah Sakit Cipto Mangunkusumo). Jakarta has many entertainment and tourism spots, for example the Ancol beach located at the north of Jakarta. From Ancol beach you can sail to the Thousand Islands or go to the Dunia Fantasi, and the Seaworld aquatic park. In the center of Jakarta, there is Monumen Nasional (Monas), a monument for recalling the memories of heroic fight against the invaders built in 1960. Or if you want to know more about Indonesia, you can go to the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII), located in the southwest of Jakarta. in TMII you'll see a miniature of Indonesia and it's provinces, represented by an anjungan (bridge), for example anjungan Sumatera Barat, anjungan Irian Jaya, even anjungan Jakarta.

Jakarta nowadays also have several transportation facilities that would help us to avoid the traffic problems. It has some turnpike and highways that connect all of it's cities. At 2004, the government of Jakarta opened the TransJakarta first corridor, the busway system that connect Blok M to Kota. And at 2006, the construction of second and third corridor was completed, serving the route from Pulogadung to Kalideres. The two lines of Jakarta Monorail are under construction, the green line serving Semanggi-Cassablanca-Kuningan-Semanggi and the blue one serving Kampung Melayu-Casablanca-Tanah Abang-Roxy. Furthemore, there are plans for a two-line subway (MRT) system, and also the waterbus ferries as a transportation along the canals in Jakarta. These Project plans under consideration would begin around 2007-2011.

Considering of that many benefits you'll have, maybe you should think of living in Jakarta! =)

ps : finally can post at this blog, just discovered that my IE have problem with the site, so i use firefox otherwise =D

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BSD--Small City Big Opportunity

Bumi Serpong Damai or BSD is a name of a small, yet beautiful city where I have stayed since I was born. I really enjoyed living there. Although, there was a time when this city was only a silent area with a very low citizen. But now, it already becomes a lively town with complete facilities in it. The growth of this city is so unbelievable. The last time I came back home there was a new mall built in BSD and also a new hospital was going to operate there. I believe that the development of this city is not going to stop there.

The concept of BSD is an independent city, where the people don’t have to come out from the city to get things done. So, the facilities have to be complete. And that’s what happens. Although BSD is a small city but it has it own malls, hospital, housing, nice school and university, and also recreation area. However, BSD still has plenty space to grow green areas. There are some parks, which are full of trees, grasses, and other plants. So we can enjoy the scenery and feel the fresh of the air in the middle of the city.

Recently, BSD has also built the biggest water recreation park in South-East Asia, named ”Ocean Park”. This gigantic pool is surrounded by sculptures, like aero plane, castle, and various of animals. There are whirl pools in it and they have a machine that can produce 3 or 4 different type of wave which will come out in certain time. It's a fun place for both youngster and adult.

So, what are you waiting for? Start to pack up your things and visit my town. Or if you really like the facilities, why don’t you just move in? Well, whatever you choose, one thing for sure, that you will never regret it! Enjoy.

Good, please avoid using spoken language in your writing.

Bandung -a City of Irony-

“Paris van Java”, the saying which strengthen Bandung as a wonderful place to visit and a warm place to live in. Since the day when Indonesia was under control the Netherlands Monarchy, Bandung has been in the top list of recreation site for the official and the functionary of the Netherlands who worked and lived in Indonesia because of its beautiful scenery, climate and topography. This history of 3, 5 century continues into this ages of information, most people in Indonesia would love to visit Bandung if we asked them. Therefore the government has cleverly encouraged the entrepreneur to build shopping center, FOs, recreation site, etc to attract tourists and of course money. And so Bandung has became more and more beautiful and modern.

However, the government has been misleading by the "money". The aim of the "win-win solution" for both the profit and the environment is distorted. Money takes control of everything, even if it means a forest clearing. For example, the northern side of Bandung is going to be a residential area. And it isn't stop here, because of the "domino effect", flood is happening everywhere in wet season, conversely, in dry season we are lack of water; and poverty has been a common sight, in slum areas there are still famine cases, cyst and more which shouldn't happened in a peace city like Bandung. All of these situations are the aftermath of the developments which are not planned well. The government takes plunge by risking the life of the people, not just a mere "life and death situation", but also the quality of their life.

This contradiction makes Bandung a city of irony. The spirit of "Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development (ESSD)" is being conducted wrongly. When some people are having easy and glamour life, some are having 180 degrees different. This has to be a reflection for all of us, and we have to start doing an action to stop all of this.

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Semarang -- My Beloved Hometown

I called a place as my hometown if I feel comfortable living in that place and I don’t feel like a stranger or foreigner there. I actually come from a pure Batak family, a tribe from North Sumatera. My father’s job forces us to move from one city to another city or even island. I ever lived in Manado (North Sulawesi), Medan (North Sumatera), Magelang, and Semarang (Central Java). As a Batak person I should choose Medan as my hometown but I’d rather choose Semarang instead because I lived in Semarang longer than I did in Medan and I spent my high school, regarded as the happiest time in life, in Semarang, too. So, now Semarang is my beloved hometown.

Semarang, the capital of Central Java province, is a comfortable city to run daily life. It has been a big and modern city but the situation there is not like other big cities. It is not too crowded. We seldom face traffic jam because the number of vehicles is not as many as it is in other big cities and the street is relatively wide. Many people there also choose to use the public transportation. It can also decrease the risk of pollution. Though, it has been a modern city, it hasn’t left the traditional touch of the city. We can still find old buildings in area called ”Kota Lama”. They are the Lawang Sewu building, Blenduk church, and the Ronggowarsito Museum. They used to be used by the Holland government when they colonized Indonesia. We can feel like being in the past time and learn about the history. Nowadays, the local government starts to launch them as tourist destination. In addition, if you wish you would have a special amusement by living in Semarang, you’d better throw away your thought because Semarang could be a wrong place for you to get what you want though it is a modern city. Semarang can be considered as a very quiet city and doesn’t give you special entertainment as in another big city. You won’t find luxurious shopping centre or many night clubs. Most people choose to have a simple life.

Semarang is also known as a beach city. There is a famous beach there. It is the Marina Beach. Many family come to the beach to have recreation at the weekends and this is very advantageous because automatically it can increase the income of the region but this situation makes Semarang has a very hot weather. Semarang also faces an annual flood disaster. People whose house located near the beach could have been accustomed with this disaster. The biggest flood happened at the year 2002 that caused big lost. It became a very serious problem that made the local government think of ways to minimize the risk of flood. They have started planting trees at the bold land and also stricted the regulation that forbid people to throw garbage in any place. Then, they work. Flood still happens but doesn’t cause deep impact and big lost anymore.

Semarang is well-known for its many traditional and delicious foods. The most famous one is Loenpia but people usually say it as Lumpia. It is made of flour that covered what we say as rebung inside. We usually eat it as snack accompanied with a special sweet sauce. There is also a famous traditional food called Bandeng Presto. The Bandeng fish is pressed by a special pan in high temperature that makes the fish bone tender. So you don’t have to be worried to get choked by the fish bone while you are eating. Actually, there are many other Semarang traditional foods.When you come to Semarang, just visit the Pandanaran street, as an area that sells gifts from Semarang, then you can find them all and buy them as gifts for your friends and family.

I’m grateful for ever spending my life in Semarang for its many comfortable things I may feel there besides the inconveniences that I may also feel. Wherever I am now, I always miss it. For me, hometown doesn’t have to be a place where you were born or you come from. It can be a place that you always want to come back to when you are far away from it.

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Bandung, My Mother's Hometown

You know Bandung? I'm sure everyone in Jakarta knows Bandung. Why? Because Bandung is one of the most popular place in West Java. Why is it so popular? because it has many interesting tourist object to be visited. Bandung has a good scenery too. We can see it in lembang. Many tourists come to see the beautiful scenery up there. Bandung is also a good place to shop. There are a lot of factory outlet there. For someone who wants to continue their study, Bandung is the right place. There is insitute in Bandung named ITB.

People in Bandung are very friendly. They will help us if we get in trouble there. They always smile when they meet other people. The way they speak, the way they look, it's so relaxing. So what are you waiting for, just come here and feel its beauty by yourself.

For sure you do not get the idea of TOPIC SENTENCE, TARGET READER, AND UNITY.

Jakarta, The Principal Gateway

Despite my status as a citizen of Tangerang, I would say that I have spent most of my life in Jakarta. I was born, spent my childhood and went to schools in Jakarta. So even though my home isn’t in Jakarta, I always proudly refer Jakarta as my hometown. My home is at Ciputat, Tangerang which is about 2 Km from the south of Jakarta. It’s not very far from the heart of Jakarta, but it could take about 2 hours with traffic. Tangerang lies from part of the north of Jakarta to the west then part of the south of Jakarta. Other than that, Jakarta is boarded with Bekasi at east, Depok at south, and Java sea at the north where thousand islands spread. So basically Jakarta is located at west of Java making Jakarta strategically positioned as the principal gateway to the rest of Indonesia.
Being the principal gateway, Jakarta is truly a meeting point for every ethnic groups in Indonesia along side immigrants from around the world making Jakarta a truly metropolitan city with its wide variety of language, culture and religion as well as its economic growth. Within the following paragraph, I would like to show you the variety of language, culture, and religion in Jakarta and how the migration especially the urbanization had influenced them.
The native ethnic of Jakarta is Betawi, but due to a great urbanization, the majority of ethnics that have settled in Jakarta are now Minang, Batak, Jawa, Sunda, and Tiong Hoa along side immigrants from foreign countries. So not only distinct languages and dialects of Indonesia’s very own that have influenced how citizens of Jakarta talk, foreign languages have also influenced the way they talk and have setting a new trend of language called “bahasa gaul”.
The folklore, dances, and music of Betawi are very much influenced by the history of Jakarta. It was in the 16th century that the Europeans began to come to Jakarta after the culture of Arab had grown, and started running the city. By the early 20th century the Japanese are in favor of replacing the monarchy of VOC. So it was not a surprise that the cultures of the Europeans especially the Dutch and the Japanese appear in every bit of Betawi’s culture. The clear example is within the Betawi’s most famous folkore which is Si Pitung. In this story, Pitung in war with the “kompeni” which is the call for VOC officer. The other clear example is how close the similarity between Tari Jaipong and The Opera Beijing’s costume. And of course the music of Betawi like the Tanjidor is very much influenced by the combination of Arab and the Dutch.
Beside bringing foreign cultures into Jakarta, the immigrants like Arab, India, the Chinese and of course the Europeans are also responsible for bringing religions that have settled in Jakarta such as Islam, Christianity, Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu, and Kong Hu Chu. But despite having different religions, people in Jakarta are peacefully living side by side. The wide variety of culture have created a lot of opportunity that brings Jakarta into its economic growth. But not all the faces of Jakarta are good, aside from the economic growth there is still a poverty problem caused by the high number of migration that ended up with tight competition that is in need of solution but after all what’s a metropolitan city without its poverty, criminality, and busy traffic. But aside from that, Jakarta has a unique influence that makes people keep coming and remembering.

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Jakarta and Its Interesting Places

Jakarta, well known as capital and largest city of the Republic of Indonesia, has many interesting places to visit. Interesting places in Jakarta are not only the recreational parks or shopping centers, but also historical places and religious buildings. In the following paragraphs, I will mention some of those places.
Let see some historical places first. National Monument (Monas) is the most famous structure in Jakarta. Monas is a 140 meters high structure of a marble obelisk that commemorates Indonesia’s independence from the Netherlands in 1945. Monas is located at the centre of Merdeka Square in Central Jakarta. The other interesting historical place is Istana Merdeka, which is the presidential palace now. Formerly, this site used to be Dutch Governor’s palace during Netherlands’ colonization over Indonesia.
Jakarta has many interesting recreational parks and amusement parks too. Dufan, or Dunia Fantasi, is the most visited amusement park in Jakarta and the biggest one in Southeast Asia. If you want to get both recreation and knowledge of Indonesia, you can go to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, which is located in the southeast area of the city. Taman Mini Indonesia Indah is a large cultural theme park depicting the arts, customs, and lifestyle of each of Indonesia's provinces and districts. Or else, if you want to see many kinds of species of animals, you can visit Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta. This zoo is quite big and has some unique animal species.
Istiqlal Mosque and Cathedral Church in Central Jakarta must be considered as one of interesting places in Jakarta. Istiqlal Mosque is the biggest mosque in Southeast Asia and Cathedral Church is the biggest church in the country. It becomes more interesting since these two religious buildings were built next to each other. If we travel through the street that bounds these two gigantic structures, we can feel the harmony of religious activities between two religions, Islam and Catholic.
Have you ever visited Jakarta and its interesting places? If you have not, why don’t you plan to visit Jakarta in your next vacation? I bet you won’t regret your visit to Jakarta. If you have, what is your opinion about Jakarta? It is so interesting, isn’t it? If you want to visit Jakarta once more, please let me know so I can show you the other interesting places in Jakarta which I can’t mention in this passage.

Very well organized, a red rose for you.

Subang, a Fascinating Regency

Geographically, Subang is located in the north of West Java Province. It’s located among Bandung, Karawang, Purwakarta, and Indramayu. Subang is so unique because it has three topographic zones. In the northern region, it’s coastal area whose local temperature is relatively hot. In the middle region, it’s plain area whose local temperature is not too hot as in coastal area. And in the southern region, it’s mountainous area whose local temperature is relatively cold. It has 2.051,76 km2 area which populated by 1,35 million people in 2003.

Subang has a lot of tourism spots. Such as Sari Ater Hot Spring Resort, which very well known in Indonesia. It’s located in the hillside of Tangkuban Parahu mountain. The hot spring water is coming from the Tangkuban Parahu mountain itself. The hot Spring Water flows and serves in a natural pool and lido. In the holiday, there’s a lot of people come here to enjoy the hot spring water and also the beautiful scenery. Another tourism spot is Cijalu waterfall which located in Sagalaherang subdistrict, about 37 km from the downtown. The sprinkling water from the waterfall serves the visitors a beautiful scenery. It’s 800 m from the sea level. The water is so fresh, clear, and uncontaminated. Near the waterfall there’a a camping ground which provided for the visitor. This tourism spot is very suitable for people who like to adventure. And in the northern region there’s Pondok Bali beach. Pricisely it’s located in Mayangan village, about 40 km from the downtown. It has a beautiful scenery especially the sunset. It becomes the fascination for the tourist. There are another tourism spots like Capolaga Adventure Camp, Ciater Horse Race, Mang Adang Fish Pond and so on. So Subang has a good potency in tourism.

Subang also popular for its horticulture commodities, such as pineapples, rambutans, and mangosteens. Pineaples are planted in the southern region of Subang, because that region has a condusive climate for pineapple. We can find pineapple plantations in Jalan Cagak, Tanjung Siang, Cisalak, Sagalaherang, and Cijambe. Rambutans are planted in the northern region of Subang. We can find them in Kalijati, Purwadadi, Pabuaran, and Pagaden. And mangosteens are planted in the southern region, such as Cisalak, Tanjung siang, Sagalaherang, and Jalan Cagak.

Subang is a clean city. The regent, always instructs all of the citizen to keep cleaning the environment by mutual assistance. My city has achieved Adipura Award for its cleanness. Therefore Subang is sloganized Subang Berseri, which stand for “Bersih Sehat Indah Rapi” (Clean Healthy Beautiful and Neat).

Very well organized but you made minor grammatical mistakes.

Thanks a lot for the correction Sir! Hopefully I'll be better!

Jakarta, A Complete Hometown

Jakarta, My Hometown, nowadays has growing to be a metropolis city with many of culture and adopted lifestyles. The title Capital City of Indonesia makes Jakarta become the center of politic, economic, and social life of this country. With all of the facilities and life style, Jakarta becomes most modern city in Indonesia. Here many of skyscraper building such as office, apartment, and mall continuously built. These things makes Jakarta don’t look like ain’t other city in Indonesia.( This paragraph has many topics)

One kind of life style in Jakarta’s is high mobility life. The reason is mostly who called themselves Jakarta’s people don’t live in this city. They mostly live in Jakarta surroundings, such as Bogor, Depok, Tanggerang, and Bekasi. All of those commuters with high mobility life make Jakarta’s people feel they need their own transportation. Not only public transportations such as Trans Jakarta (bus way), taxi, and bajaj, but also millions of private cars and motorcycles fully loaded Jakarta’s road. This situation makes either weekday or weekend Jakarta has a heavy traffic. The strange thing mostly Jakarta’s people felt this life style is always be the part of their life. (Is it the life style? Is it the need of high mobility? Do you think high mobility is the life style?)

Jakarta also completed with many of facilities and places to go, from the educated places to entertainment places. This city has a great number of schools and university that have a good reputation. Not only for the students to educated, but Jakarta also have many museums and monuments for everyone who want to learn about past. Offices here are uncountable anymore, because millions of people work in Jakarta either they are this citizen or not.

For the entertainment part, uncountable places located in Jakarta. In North Jakarta, there is a place called “Ancol Bay City”. This tour place offered you many kinds of entertainment, such as Atlantis pool, bay and beach with lot of water sports, Seaworld, and Fantasy Park called “Dunia Fantasi”. Jakarta is also full of places of night life like night club, pub and bar. There so many cinema, malls, salon and spa, and other entertainment places to go too in Jakarta. It will satisfied you with all of the spots.

If you love sport you can find many sport places. The center actually is in Senayan area. However you want other experiences you can go to horse riding stadium and Go-kart race. If you kind of person who prefer doing sports in indoor place, so you also can go to fitness center at the mall.

In addition for who loves culinary you will pleasant too in Jakarta. It because Jakarta is like a culinary heaven which are many kind of restaurant, cafe, and good food spots places here. If I can suggest places like Muara karang, Kemang Street, Gading Food City, Setiabudi One Building can be worth to fulfill your eating experience.

Nothing you can’t get to complete what you need in Jakarta. There always many places to shop you can go by. A big range of classes makes Jakarta have several different classes shopping area. You can get what you need with your own budget. If you an upper classes, you will pleasant with a great number of shopping malls in every part of Jakarta. That shopping mall such as Plaza Indonesia, Senayan City, Sudirman Place, Pondok Indah Mall, or many else sell brand in good atmosphere, good presentations, high quality, and definitely with upper prices too. Unless you have a big budget you can also have goods with middle prices. The shopping malls that sell in middle prices are ITC or WTC, such as Mangga Dua, Ambassador (Kuningan), and Cempaka Mas. These malls were selling a small industry brand and many of them were selling the high branded imitations, such as Prada, Gucci, Channel, LV, and many else. For the lower budget, you don’t have to worry, because Jakarta is full of public markets that selling goods in very low prices. This market places in every part of Jakarta, for example Tebet Market, Senen Market, Poncol, Mayestik Market, Benhil Market, and Tanah Abang Market. So, I think an aphorism of those all is “Someone who says money can’t buy happiness, they don’t know where to shop”.

So that’s it that I want to tell about Jakarta. Not about the culture what I’m talking about but mostly about what Jakarta has. At the last Jakarta is complete city where the people can do their total activity life here. Experience lives in Jakarta as a hometown make me want to say, however this city become anything tomorrow Jakarta always be my complete hometown.

Thanks for posting.

Bandung, My Hometown

Bandung, my hometown, is a very interesting place that you can visit. If you like shopping, you should go to Dago and Cihampelas. In Dago and Cihampelas there are so many factory outlets and 'distro', which apparently attracted many Jakarta people who like to shop. This kind of shop is famous because the price is cheap. If you went to Dago, you will see cafes also. The famous one, such as Sierra and Valley, is located in the upper part of Dago. These café is famous because you can see a beautiful view of Bandung and eat very delicious food at the same time. The air is cold and fresh, because there is no factory near by and very limited number of cars there, just like Bandung in the old days.

Another place that you can visit is Lembang. Lembang is located a little bit outside the Bandung city. It is famous for the cold air, which is perfect for villas, or just when you want some time out of the city. Lembang is also famous for the cow’s milk, baked sticky rice, and also the strawberry plantation. In the strawberry plantation you can pick and eat any strawberry you want for some amount of money that you have to pay. You can also eat some food which its main ingredient is strawberry. This strawberry plantation is the most recent thing that cause more and more tourist come to Bandung. Bandung is also famous for the tea plantation and the mountains such as Tangkuban Perahu and Kawah Putih. Bandung has a lot of mountains, because Bandung is a city that is surrounded by mountains.

Bandung is also famous for the schools, especially college that we have here. In Ciumbeluit we have Parahyangan Catholic University, which is famous for the accounting and architecture. Maranatha Christian University, which is located in Pasteur, is famous for the medicine and design and last but not least is ITB or Institute Technology Bandung. Just like its name, ITB is famous for the technique.

This is just a few of interesting places that you can find in Bandung. Of course Bandung has a lot of other things that are interesting too such as the foods we have here and also the people.

Thanks Vita for the well organized writing. A red rose for you.

If you talk about the greatest place in the world, I guess it will be jakarta as the answer. Since I born and grown up in Jakarta, I thing Jakarta is the most valuable place that i ever visited. Jakarta have a lot of wonderfull thing to welcome all of the visitors. And I guarranted that you will be satisfied if you come to Jakarta, my lovely hometown.

Jakarta is the most big city in Indonesia. Since Jakarta is the Capital of Indonesia, Jakarta filled by a lot of high building that will make your head break off if you look at the top of the building from bellow, cool apartement and hotels with modern facility so you will be satisfied , shooping districs ( a place that you can find everything that you want if you have MONEY). (Are you comparing Jakarta with Sumedang of Kuala Lumpur?) You will not borring if you visit Jakarta. Jakarta as a Metropolis citi offered you a lot of wonderfull thing to enjoy. In jakarta, there are lot off shooping distric that provides everything that you want. One of the biggest shooping distric in Jakarta is Senayan. In senayan, you will find Senayan City, Plaza Senayan, Senayan Trade Center. You will be satisfied if you go there. Because not only you can find everything that you one, your eyes will be pleasured by the very beautiful interior and also eksterior of the building. You can shooping or just hang out in there. And also, there are still lot of shooping distric in other areas like Mall Kepala Gading, Pondok Indah Mall 2, Mall Taman Anggrek, and many more. Perhaps it takes more than 1 week to visited it one by one. Not just the shooping district, Jakarta will offer you with the great panoramas. As you know, Jakarta is filled by a lot of big and tall building with a variety of architecture that makes it so modern and sophisticated. But, there is no beautifull panorama like Jakarta At Night, were the light turn on, and the light from buildings, houses, street, and vehicles join to makes a great harmony. You will be very surprise if you see it. Moreover, Jakarta also offered you lot of great accomodation including the hotels, genereal transport like busway,taksi, etc, so you dont have to be affraid if you want to stay and spend your time with your family or friends in Jakarta. But, the most importang thing of all is the history of Jakarta itself. In Jakarta, there are many museum like Mueum Gajah, Museum Perangko, Museum Wayang, Museum Fatahilah, and also Monumen Nasional that recorded every single moment of Jakarta from the past. I think you have to see those museum because it is very wonderful. And also you can enrich your knowledge about the history of Jakarta by visited those place. I guaranted that you will be satisfied in Jakarta. One last thing, in Jakarta, there is a once a year festifal named Pekan Raya Jakarta (PRJ) that held every June 22. That festifal held to celebrate the Jakarta's birthday. There will be a lot of fun. You can go there and try our traditional food like kerak telor, karedok, soto betawi and many more. I hope that you can come to the festival and enjoy it by your self.

After I wrote a lot of wonderful thing about Jakarta, I hope that you will be interested and want to visit Jakarta someday. Prepare your self, cause Jakarta will give you a lot of surprises.

I Cannot comment on your writing. Please print out this writing and bring it to my office and we can have a nice discussion over a cup of tea. SMS me first.

Bandung-My Beautiful Hometown

Bandung is the real beautiful city in Indonesia. Bandung is surrounded by mountains. That makes Bandung has cooler temperature than other Indonesian cities, because of that I am very happy live in Bandung. I don’t need air conditioner, the weather in Bandung is fresh and cool. Bandung has many good places to visited. Dago and Riau are the central area of factory outlets and distros because in that areas there are many shops which provide many kinds of clothes with cheap prices. Bandung has many plazas and malls, likes Istana Plaza, Bandung Supermal, Bandung Trade Center, Ciwalk, etc.

I think Bandung has the best food at Indonesia, there are a lot of kind of food in Bandung, likes "batagor" (fried tofu and fish), "martabak" (fried meat stuffed egg), and don’t forget “brownies kukus” (steamed brownies). Not only that, there are chinese restaurants, european restaurants, and sundanese restaurants. Mmm, very delicius. For refreshing places, lembang is the best choise. Lembang lies at the north of Bandung with cold weather and beautiful panorama.

Thanks for posting, very well organized.

Home Town: Duri

I grew up in a small town at Riau Province. It was Duri. Duri lives because of the existence of a giant world petroleum company that operates there. The company is Chevron Pacific Indonesia. People called it Caltex, the well-known name before rename on 2004. Most Duri people work in that company, include my father. Some work at Chevron’s partner company. Such as Schlumberger, Halliburton, Dwell, Tripatra, etc. Rest are working at the Government Public service or teaching as teacher, or selling food at market.



The city structure of Duri is unique. Why unique? Duri is separated as two part characterized district. The first district is called Outside Camp. This district has common character like other common cities. It has same city contents that normally found in other cities. There are government, public service, school, hospital, police office, post office etc. The second district is called inside camp or Complex. There are main office of Chevron here and residence for its employee. Most Chevron employees stay at this district. This district is designed to facilitate the employee and his family. All the entertainment, sport, education, medical facilities are available, but those can only be accessed by the employee and family. Hence, common people still can enter this district. Inside camp is also a favorite place for jogging or walking because the area is clean, neat and save. People can enjoy riding bicycle and jogging, without rush and being scare of crash. It only happens as every rider keep speed below 40 km/h.



For me, there is always something that makes me miss my hometown. It is the people. Like other small town, people in Duri are kind and care about their neighbors. Every good or bad situation, neighbors must be care and always ready to help everyone who needs help. I remember that night when I got fever and I need doctor help. My parents didn’t have car to bring me to the hospital. So my neighbors helped us and lent them car, so Doctor could help me as soon as possible. This was small help, but always touched my heart therefore that I am longing the time when I get home.

Martha Febi

Good, thanks for posting.

A SIMPLE PONTIANAK

Pontianak, capital city of West Kalimantan Province, is one of largest towns in Kalimantan Island. It is located at the junction of Kapuas River (the greatest river in Indonesia) and Landak River. There’s nothing really special about this town, except one of three towns in Indonesia which lies fit in equator.

Does Pontianak have any tourism objects? Yes it has, but so few. They are Equator Monument, Keraton Kesultanan (Sultan’s Palace), Province Museum, and several others. Frankly speaking, they are even not so interesting. How about traditional foods? Well, not everyone likes tempoyak, a fermented durian, are they? So I won’t talk nonsense ask you to visit Pontianak. I just want to tell why I love this town.

The reason is Pontianak is a good example how a town should be. That’s what I think. First is the environment, the air in this town isn’t much polluted, since there are still so many trees and not so many vehicles. The weather is always sunny and windy, but when rainy season comes, it rains a lot. When sea-tide happens, water from sea flow into the river and could cause minor flood inside this town. The soil here is not fertile because Pontianak was a swamp a long ago, so people here live from trading or working for government. That would explain why there are many market here.

Talk about people, second reason why I love this town is the people. Generally, they are heart-opened, polite, and friendly. There are three largest ethnics: Malay, Dayaks, and Chinese, besides immigrant like Bugis or Javanese. Thank God, massive conflict never happen because of its difference, at least until now. They get along very well. I think it’s because they have a simple life. Simple life in real: many of them live in wooden houses, and kids often take an evening bath in the river beside a busy street. But don’t imagine they do it because they have no choices (like what happen in Jakarta), they here do it because they like it. Simple life in ‘not real’: They know their neighbors well, even who live in street’s end. They prefer to spend afternoon visit each other, or hang out in town square, than to stay at home. Most important, they don’t care about what others have, higher or better than them, as long as they aren’t bothered. And luckily, they don’t like to bother each other.

I think it’s hard to find such nice environment in a large town, a capital of one province. Every time I visit Pontianak, I feel a nice and peaceful atmosphere that I can’t feel in Jakarta or Bandung. I feel very welcomed by people here. It’s true that Pontianak is not a cleanest town or tourism’s heaven. Above of all, Pontianak is a warm and simple town.

Thanks for posting, your writing is still very much influenced by spoken language.

Pekanbaru - My Growing Hometown

Pekanbaru, my hometown, is a capital city of Riau. Its name comes from pekan which means market and baharu which means new. According to its name you can guess that Pekanbaru is a city which grows from a market. It is also a multicultural city. You can find many ethnics there such as Melayu, Minang, Batak, Jawa, Tionghoa, etc. It is about 446.5 kilometer squares with population about 700,000. Like other city in this country, Pekanbaru also has its own slogan: Kota Bertuah. Bertuah stands for bersih (clean), tertib (disciplinary), umum (public), and usaha bersama (mutual work). Bertuah itself means magic or advantageous. Your topic sentence??

Pekanbaru doesn’t have well-known tourist spots, but at least there are several places to take recreation at like Great Mosque of An-Nur which is the biggest mosque in this town, Alam Mayang Fishing Garden where you can fish together with your family, Sang Nila Utama Museum, a place where you can study more about history of this town, Riau Cultural Park where you can find many interesting aspects of Malay's culture, Princess Kaca Mayang Garden, and Sari Valley Artificial Lake. You can also take a look at Siak river , the special characteristic of Pekanbaru. It is also the deepest river in Indonesia. Unfortunately, it has been polluted by disposal of factories located near the river. This must be stopped. However I, personally, still can enjoy the view of this river. If you need something for food, you can buy roasted corn sold by many peddlers near the river.

One thing that I ‘m proud of Pekanbaru is that it is one the cleanest big cities in Indonesia as it received Adipura award in 2006 in the category of large city. It is far cleaner than Bandung. (I realized it when I had arrived at Bandung). However Pekanbaru also have several problems that must be solved as soon as possible. It regularly suffers from smog due to forest fires, especially in the dry season. Most of people in Pekanbaru have accustomed to this :-). Pekanbaru also has problems with traffic jams and its system of drainage. (Your topic sentence is not clear)

Pekanbaru is not an interesting city to spend holiday at like Bandung. Its weather is not so good to be enjoyed. If you come from city with cooler weather you will find that it is not a good idea to stay at Pekanbaru for long time. However, there are still many people want to go to Pekanbaru. Indeed, they don't go there for having fun. Almost of them have businesses there. Many investors like to invest their money there because it has quite conducive climate for investment. It also has high economic growth index. So, it's not surprising if it will grow to a metropolitan city like Jakarta.(Your topic sentence is not clear)