Road to Soul Writing

On cloudy Saturday, I was driving my motorbike from Gelanggang Pemuda Mataram while wandering what should I do for the rest of this day. On the stop light, my eyes caught a green board that written Gunung Pengsong with arrow sign pointed to the south. Gunung Pengsong is a name of a hill where the main part of Gunung Pengsong Temple— Utame —stood on. This temple was built in the 17 th Century. Lombok Balinese believe that this the first temple built in Lombok. Gunung Pengsong Temple is situated at Desa Gunung Pengsong, Labuapi, Lombok Barat As I drove to the south, the shops, the people were getting less. They were replaced by the yellow terrace paddy field; the air was getting fresher as it touched my skin. It took me about 20 minutes to get there. When I entered this spot. Some dogs were barking and following me. An old Balinese man tried to send them away and welcome me. He gave me a long yellow veil and asked me to circle my hip up with it. He took me until the...

A Day Island hoping by having fisherman boat was challenging. Even it was more challenging since there was no any life vest provided, the boat had no roof and it was midday. Can you imagine? I was sitting and keeping my balance while holding my blue umbrella on that boat. It took me awhile to send my nervous away.  My boat anchored first on Gili Poh. Gili Poh is quite small. It only hosts some variety of plants. In the southern part of this Gili, there is a small savanna which circles an empty tower. Meanwhile on the eastern part, lies down a jam field. Some family comes here to do the gardening and go back to the main island—Lombok—before the dark. When my watch pointed to 12 o’clock , the fisherman brought   me to Gili Rengit. It took around 20 minutes from Gili Poh to Gili Rengit. Gili Rengit is slightly bigger than Gili Poh. Meanwhile the facility in Gili Rengit is much better than Gili Poh.   Electricity has reached this island, the jetty is well...

Most people assume that Sasak culture is only influenced by Islam and Hinduism. This assumption is not fully true. Last weekend, I have a golden opportunity to chat with one of the elder Buddhist named “Romo Martinom”.   He stated that there are no any references found state about when exactly Buddha came to Lombok. However there are some assumptions about the first time Buddha introduced in Lombok. First assumption is based on the folktale that states the relation between Kingdom of Keling Lombok and Buddhist kingdom—Kalingga Kingdom, Mataram, Java. This folktale has been told since the 4 th Century. The other assumption is based on the “Piagam Pemaru” that now kept in the Museum of NTB. It stated that in the 8 th -9 th Century, Buddhism was spread around Indonesia. The authentic proof of the Buddhism existence in the past can also be seen from the cemetery of Selaparang Kings. The cemetery is divided into two parts. One part is the cemetery for King who had become M...

Kuta is one of the most targeted tourism spots not only because of its turquoise water, sandy beaches and good waves for surfing, but it also has attractive and huge annual event. This event makes people stay awake all night, but I’m not one of them. It was 5 to 5 a.m, I headed to Mandalika beach on a lift of a stranger. It took only a couple of minutes to get there since he was allowed to enter the special VIP road. It was a dark morning lucky day. I didn’t need to get stuck in the busy dizzy crowded road to get that beach. On that day, the beaches around Kuta were fully filled by thousands of people. The light from their torches looked like a shining spots on the beach from the hill where I stood. Those spots moved randomly as they walked, tried to catch some Nyales between the reefs with their circle-shaped net. Nyale is worm-like animal.   Sasaks catch this worm-like animal for eating. Some Sasak believe that eating Nyale can make them more beautiful. Based o...