Robeto's essay

The Real Paradise of Bukittinggi and Batu

The pearls of Khatulistiwa (equator) is the exact title for Indonesia, because it has so many beautiful and dazzle places that are separated into thousand islands from Sabang to Merauke. Every year there are million foreign people from many countries around the world come to Indonesia, they visit and enjoy happily the wonderful nature and cultures of this country. Including Bukittinggi and Batu are two of the famous places in Indonesia which have many interesting places, the existence of those attractive places really pull the tourists to visit there and never let the solitude come into those cities. Both of Bukittinggi and Batu are like twin girls who have inner and outer beauty which can be enjoyed and spent every time we want. However, there are not only some awesome similarities which beautify these two cities but also some differences which characterize both of them entirely.

Both of Bukittinggi and Batu had ever been important cities in this country. Bukittinggi is located in West Sumatera province which had ever been a Capital city of Indonesia long time ago after Jogjakarta, and Batu is located in East Java province which had ever been one of major cities of Dutch colonialism. Bukittinggi and Batu are located in highland and surrounded by mountain.  It makes both of them have cool weather which let the people slurp the real sensation of fresh air and cold wind. However, the road which must be faced through both of these cities are quite upward so the tourists are recommended to fill the fuel up into their vehicle before starting the vacation. Even though the roads are upward, the traffic jump in Bukittinggi and Batu rarely happen.

There are still many trees in Bukittinggi and Batu because of the fertility of their lands, so it makes both of them still look green. Moreover, they have many wonderful nature places that always ready coddle the people who are tired and surfeited because of their works and the noisy in their offices. In Bukittinggi we can find Lembah Anai  and Ngarai Sianok which hide hundred species of rain forest plants and Asian wild animals, in Batu we can visit Jatim Park 2 and Eco Green Park and we will see there are so many species of  rare and wild animals which are kept and looked after carefully. In Bukittinggi we can enjoy taking bath in the waterfall of Lembah Harau which gives us the fresh relaxation of water Spa, and in Batu we can feel the freshness of Coban Rondo and Coban Rais waterfall which always ready to fall down the enjoyment of paradise water.

Well, the wonderful natures not only the special things for both of Bukittinggi and Batu, but they are also the paradise of foods for international and domestic tourists.  In Bukittinggi the tourists will easily find the real Masakan Padang (Padang traditional foods) which are well-known as very spicy foods, such as rendang, gulai ikan kakap, sate padang, cumi saus padang etc. Otherwise, Batu has its favorite foods which totally different from Bukittinggi, it is famous as one of large apple commodities in this country and as the productive city of fresh milk and yogurt.

Move to the other sides, Bukittinggi and Batu have different languages which really give identity or icon. Baso Minang is the mother language of people in West Sumatera Province, especially in Bukittinggi. This language actually one of the branch of Malayan language because of the accent and some similar words in both of Baso Minang and Malayan language.  Boso Jowo is the mother language of people in East Java province, including Batu. This unique language has its character which has such a stratification in which the young people should speak more politely, that we call it Boso kromo inggil. Languages cannot be separated with the cultures, when the language is different, the culture must be different too. The people of Bukittinggi and Batu still keep the traditional cultures from their ancestors. Both of Bukittinggi and Batu have the traditional dances, but the differences are looked that traditional dances in Bukittinggi such as tari pasambahan, tari rantak, tari galombang and tari piriang are combined with Silek ( Bahasa ‘Silat’) that make them more attractive, and the traditional dances in Batu have their own characters, the people combine animal aspects in the dances which make them more unique, such as tari kuda lumping, tari reog, tari remo. Moreover, there is the most famous traditional dance in Batu in which the dancers wear masks, people call it tari topeng malangan.

The beauty and the enjoyment are not always about the similarities, but the differences also exist to complete about what the paradise is. Bukittinggi and Batu provide some similar beautiful places which have been mentioned above, and they also show us the different interesting and wonderful aspects, such as foods, languages and cultures which will give us great experience in our lives. We should not see to other countries which have amazing places and try hard to go there because our country, we should be proud of our country, because it has more wonderful aspects that can be enjoyed whenever we want. “People don’t want to go to dump and have a picnic, they want to go out to a beautiful place and enjoy their day. And so I think our job is to try to take the environment, take what the good Lord has given us, and expand upon it, without destroying it”. (Jack Nicklaus) Thus, enjoying those aspects is not enough, because we are as the native people of this country have to keep and conserve them, so we can give those enjoyments to our next generation later.