TEMPEH

Tempeh or tempe is an original food from Indonesia and is especially popular in Java. Nobody knows when tempeh was first made. But the record about it first appeared in a book called Serat Centhini - a book about Javanese people's life cycle-, written in about 1815. Now, tempeh is consumed by people in different parts of the globe. Many people like tempeh because it is considered healthy for its low fat and high fiber content. Some big tempeh factories can be found in the U.S., the Netherlands, and Japan. One of the big factories in Japan is owned by Rustono, an Indonesian who married a Japanese and has two kids. The Rustonos live in a small village about an hour's drive from Kyoto.

THE WONDERFUL BOROBUDUR

Indonesia is one of the countries rich in ancient heritage. A lot of historical sites are scattered in different provinces-Borobudur is one of them, for sure. Since 1991, Borobudur has been listed as the world heritage site by UNISCO. Built by King Samaratungga from Syailendra Dinasty, who ruled the Mataram Kingdom in Central Java in 9th century, Borobudur took around 100 years to finish. The name of Borobudur, as some people say, means "a mountain having terraces" (budhara), while others say that Borobudur means "monastery on a high place."Using andesite stones taken from a river, the glorious temple is 118 m wide on each side and 42 m high, and has 10 levels - 6 levels of square platforms, 3 levels of circles and one main stupa ( where the main Buddha statue is placed ) on top. The andesite stones were cut, shaped, carried to construction site by thousands of workers, then were put together according to the architect's plan without using any adhesive materials or cement. After all the stones had been put together, the artists carved reliefs all over the walls. There are 2.672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues in all. But sadly, the most of the Buddha statues today are headless.

TOGIAN ISLANDS AN UNKNOWN PARADISE

The name Togian ( or Togean ) islands sounded foreign to my ears. When hearing the name for the first time. I thought it was somewhere outside of Indonesia. After doing some research on Google, I found out that the Togian islands lie in the Gulf of Tomini, off coast of Central Sulawesi. The trip to Togian was not an easy one. From Jakarta we were to fly to Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi. We then would take a 12-hour road trip to Ampana before taking a 5-hour boat trip to the Togian Islands. However, our expectation that our trip would be tiring was shattered when we arrived at Palu's Mutiara Airport: a majestic rainbow welcomed us. That rainbow was just the first of many rainbows we saw during our visit to Togian.

BATIK

The word batik is derived from the javanese word amba (= to write) and titik (= dot or point). The word was first recorded in the Encyclopedia Britannica of 1880. Wax-resist-dyeing technique used in dying fabrics is actually an ancient art form. It was found in Africa, especially Egypt and different parts of Asia. In Europe, it was Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, who introduced this technique to this continent through his book The History of Java, which was published in London in 1817. Indonesian immigrants brought batik to Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Southhern Thailand. Now batik has become part of these countries cultures, especially Malaysia. Of course there are some differences between Indonesian and Malaysia batik. The first difference is in the pattern. Malaysian batik only uses floral and geometrical designs and the butterfly as the only animal design. The second difference is the method; Malaysian batik, which has larger and simpler patterns, doesn't use canting , and tends to use lighter colors.

WORRIED AMINAH

You're wise to be concerned about this if you have a glaucoma history in your family. Glaucoma is a genetic disease and is known as the silent thief of eyesight. It means the disease can lead to blindness. You may not notice that you actually have lost vision until the disease has progressed significantly. Glaucoma pressurizes the eyeball as a result of absorbing disruption of the liquid inside the eyeball. The pressured affects the optic nerves. What you have to do is see an ophthalmologist and have your pressured eyes examined using the tonometry measurement. Only then can you get appropriate therapy and treatment for your eye problem. Don't forget to help the eye doctor in diagnosing your complaint by telling every symptom you have. Common symptoms are pain in or behind the eye ball, headache with nausea and vomiting and visual disturbances with halos around lights ( like seeing a rainbow ). But remember that in some glaucoma cases, symptoms do not exist.

THE KEBAYA

There are two stories behind this traditional costume. The first one is that the word comes from the Arabic word abaya, which refers to a kind of clothing that opens in front. The other one claims that this kind of clothing was brought by portuguese explorers to Malay and Indonesia. At that time it was worn not only by Malay and Indonesian women, but also by Chinese women. That's how we got the term kebaya encim.

From then on, the kebaya has been part of Indonesian fashion style.

JOINT FIT DOWNHILL CHALLENGE 2010

At the end of the year 2010, Jakarta Downhillers Community (JDC), a downhill bike riders organization, held a race in Sebex track, Gunung Pancar, Serpong on December 4-5, 2010. More like a gathering attended by downhillers from Jabotabek and Bandung, the event also raised funds for the victims of the recent national disasters.

There were three categories for the raced: Beginner, for newbies who have never raced before, aged 12-40 years old; Junior, downhillers with moderate skills, aged 12-18; and Elite, exclusively for national athletes. Interested to find out more about downhill bike riding or looking forward to the next competition?.