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Friday, October 5, 2012

Jogjakarta : Mount Merapi

The path to Mount Merapi was still coated with dust from earlier eruption. True enough, the place is now a historical site, or locally called “wisata”. Parking is chargeable. Rides (normal bike, dirt bike, jeep) are chargeable. Guide is chargeable. What else? They have stalls selling souvenirs along the way up. Undoubtedly the eruption had created such income for the villagers.
The surrounding was clearly depressing with the after-effects. Burnt trees and sapless land, with little bit of greenie grass that starting to cover the whole area. I prayed to Allah that nothing will happen while we were there. I turned 360 degree and sulked, questioned hubby and his family, where Merapi is. And I, again, felt like cursing someone, or something, probably the cloud, for hiding it. We didn’t get the chance to view the Mount Merapi at Merapi Golf, and we didn’t get the chance to view this marvelous, fabulous, tremendous mount, at its own location?? Double punched! Allah the almighty. (Mengucap.)
Hubby and I decided to ride “ojek”, where each of us rented two bikers and bikes to bring us uphill. The rest stayed. Along the bike ride, we saw Mount Merapi, NOT STILL! The clouds were thicker than Alleycat’s hair then. Anyhow, we stopped at the site and one of the biker tagged along with us, doing the story-telling. The house was totally burnt out and ashes were what left. There were vehicles like van (that came back to save Mbah Maridjan) and bikes that burnt and rusty (own by the villagers).
There was a mini mushola on the upper left side of the house. Opposite the house ground, there were souvenir shops that run by Mbah Maridjan’s daughters. All of them (including the wife) are safe and sound, coz they did run away before the eruption. And everyone knows that Mbah Maridjan didn’t make it (he didn’t even move a step), for he thought that he will be protected since he’s the Mount Merapi’s keeper. Well, Allah is almighty. What is written, is written.
I remembered that Eny used to say, the villagers are quite believe-in, somehow, with this supernatural and mystical thingy. Moreover, they didn’t want to leave the place coz they didn’t believe in the forecast (of eruption), they didn’t trust in technology (on the forecasting), and they afraid of their “sapi” (cows) being stolen by the volunteers. Like, seriously?? Who wants to steal and drag a group of cows down the hill when hot magma chasing behind you?? You can’t even drag a cow, I tell you! But if I was in their shoes (villagers) I would understand that, coz this is where they live, this is where they shepherd their animals, this is where they harvest their plants, and what not. It’s a hard life, you know. Ok, I love Malaysia.

Since the site started to occupy with school kids, we decided to turn back. We then unable to see the rest of the family, for almost an hour! We lost them! At this point of time, I swear that I will kill Ridz if he was to bring Abah and Mama to the site, in jeep! Expensive you know! And I wanted to try the jeep too! Unfair! Huh! So we waited.
But they actually didn’t. (Drama.) They just walked up and get some souvenirs. (Buruk sangka.) Mama got herself a wooden spatula with Merapi written on it, and Putri got herself a Hello Kitty cap, from her beloved intan payung grandpa. Whatever you insist, Putri, you surely own it. Hahaha!

12 comments:

  1. hai.. best jalan2 sana ye.. tapi mmg nampak cam sabah... lebih kurang je kat sana..

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  2. Salam kak biq.. before i read this entry, i tak pernah terpikir nak pergi jogja.. hihi.. i asyik nak pergi jakarta, bandung or bali (padahal dah pernah pergi).. but after baca this entry, jogja dah jadi a must place for me to visit one day.. i nak tengok semua tu.. ya Allah... at least i nak pergi wpon sekali nak tengok sendiri..

    one more thing i must say, kak biq u mmg good writer.. u know, u punya font dlm ni sangat kecik, pastu background hitam plak, actually first impression tak tertarik lgsg nak baca.. dah la u tulis pjg2, hahaha.. tapi cara u tulis make me always nak baca and nak lagi dan lagi.. esp cite new zealand you.. keep it up kak!!

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  3. wow kak biq, ade peminat! tumpang bangga! eh jap...asal ko dah bukak tudung balikkk? *larikkkkkk*

    teringin gak nak sampai kaki merapi ni. teringat yg entry fatt and zilla tu. kelabu je warna yg ada. kuasa ALLAH. sape sangka kan.

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  4. jard, been to kundasang, aah cam sama! hahaha! lagi sama kalo kundasang tak nampak kinablu, tempat ni tak nampak merapi hahaha!

    jasnani, lebih kurang jer sbb cam bukit2 gunung2 kan...

    syima, tx ye baca :D bckground itam ni mmg tak leh nak watpe, suka kaler itam hahaha! thats y i keep it simple. i tulis berdasarkan pengalaman yg berlaku, sbb tu apa yg terjadi ada la ceritanya sendri :) good to know that i membuatkan u nak ke sana. actually if u baca trip jogja i yg lama (2008) lagi banyak tempat i gi, this time, i gi ngan family so tak jln sgt pun :D

    john, terima je la mak esah sebelum berhijrah, aku malas nak edit sbb gambar sume dah ready hahaha! make sure korang gi merapi ni n DPT kan gambar merapi tu ye! cantik gile weh! aku dpt tgk ngan mata jer, ngan camera tak sempat hahaha!

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  5. masa i gi dulu, baru jek meletup, bumi merekah... even kat town... some road were scary coz cam terbelah

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  6. hai kak biq, saya juga akan ke jogja, terima kasih diatas info yang sangat2 berguna ini. Sekian terima kasih

    *ada woooden spatula lebih?? hahahah

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  7. lily, sama mcm i pegi 2008, masa tu baru lepas meletus 2006, jalan raya sume merekah...homeless ramai!

    BE, moga anda bergembira di sana ye. pastikan trip anda menarik lebih tertarik dari trip aka yg tak seberapa ni. time kasih.

    maaf, akak tak beli pun. hahahaha!

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  8. lain bebeno rupa Merapi dengan yg aku pegi dulu...jauh sangat beza...baguslah dorg dapat sumber rezeki dari situ...susah jgk nak bangunkan balik semua yg ada selepas semuanya musnah

    peringatan utk kita

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  9. fatt, tiap2 tahun pi mesti lain2 kan? tu la, at least ada la mata pencarian kat situ...nak harapkan gomen, aduyai...sian tul...

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  10. jggl, actually gunung merapi tu BESAR dan CANTIK mmg terpesona ko melihatnya. tapi aku tak dpt capture on camera sbb cepat sgt awan berarak. tinggi dia ada la mcm ko tgk gunung fuji seketul dari jauh gitu.

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