Wedding for a Potato Farmer

R to L: The older brother of the groom who is one of 18 children in their family; Pak Firdaus, the director of BALITSA (Indonesian National Vegetable Research Center) and a former Kansas State University Grad (1985-89) where he received his Ph.D. in Agronomy; Ibi Egi, the wife of Pak Firdaus; the bride; the groom, who in cooperation with his brother owns one of the largest potato farms in West Java; some random woman, maybe she was the first guy's wife; the big tall white guy.

When we arrived at this wedding, Pak Firdaus and wife and I were given the "seat of honor." I told Pak Firdaus that he must be a pretty important man to get to sit there. His response, "It helps to bring a white guy along."

Mt. Semeru - The Top of Java

I conquered Java - or at least I was successful in climbing to the top of it. Actually climbing to the top of an active volcano makes you realize how powerless you are as a human. Mt. Semeru, near the East Javanese city of Malang, tops the map at 3676 meters (12,060 ft.). Here's my story of climbing to its peak.The trip began with a nearly two-hour ride standing up in the back of jeep with our gear piled on top.We arrived at the village of Ranu Pani, the highest village in Java. The temperature was already much cooler, and many of the locals used sarongs - which are usually worn around the waist and legs - as scarfs.The hike began through some local vegetable fields.It continue on through some jungle-like forested areas, tall grass on both sides of the trail.We hiked for nearly 5 hours through fog and some misty rain before the clouds broke on this gorgeous lake.We camped the night in tents at this lake called Ranu Kumbolo.I woke up shivering at 5:30 in the morning, got up the courage to climb out of my sleeping bag, unzipped my tent, and was greeted by this fabulous sunrise. These two panorama shots were taken at the same time and same place, only with different exposures.The sunrise was accentuated by the steam rising off the lake.
My friend Mike and I slept well in this two-person tent. Around 10am our group of 8 packed up and took off hiking again. The climb out of our campsite was steep and breath-taking... literally.The trail leveled out and cut across a dry lake-bed.As we hiked through a sparely covered forest area, we came across some of our first great views of Mt. Semuru looming above us. It erupted irregularly - sometimes only a few minutes between eruptions, sometimes up to 45 minutes. Each eruption sent billowing smoke rising into the sky in the shape of a mushroom cloud, eventually being carried away by the wind.After about 2 1/2 hours of hiking we arrived at our next campsite early in the afternoon. We replenished our water supply at a natural spring about 20 minutes away, and then settled in to rest. Clouds obscured the mountain above most of the afternoon, breaking just before sunset to give us this amazing view.We started hiking at 12:20am that night, leaving most of our gear behind and taking only the essentials. A little over an hour of steep, winding trails brought us to the tree-line. From there it was straight up. For four plus hours we drudged our way up through sand and gravel. Each step up was followed by half a step of sliding back down the 45 degree slope. As some consolation, we were able to enjoy some incredible views of the landscape below and the eruptions above in the moonlight. The picture above came about 5:00am, just a few minutes before we reached the peak.Within a few minutes of our arrival at the top, the sun peak over the low-lying clouds.Our group of 4 Americans and 4 Indonesian friends were among close to 30 people at the peak.We landed on the moon! The rounded peak had the appearance of something from a NASA photo book.The crater lies an estimated 300-400 yards from the peak where we stood. Eruptions often begin with a big boom or sharp cracking sound, throwing ash, sand, gravel, and boulders up into the air. The mushroom cloud of ash rises 300-800 meters into the sky. It's vital to climb to the peak when the winds are blowing the ash and poisonous gases away from you.
After about and hour and half on the peak, two larger eruptions in a span of 5 minutes sent us scurrying back down the mountain. Our guide, along with the mushroom cloud of ash towering straight over top of us (winds had changed a little), quickly convinced me it was time to get going.
The section of mountain that had taken 4 hours to get up took less than an hour to get back down. We more or less skied down through the loose gravel and sand.
Our fearless guide Adi. Another volcano, Mt. Bromo, smokes in the distant background.
After leaving the peak at 6:45am, we hiked down to our second campsite, packed up our gear and rested for an hour, and then hiked two hours down to our first night's campsite. There we rested an hour and half, with several friends taking a swim to wash off the volcanic dust and ash.
From there we took off again, hiking all afternoon and finally arriving at the base camp around 6pm in the evening as it was growing dark. The views, obscured on the hike up by the fog, were amazing.

Going Shopping

Making Gravel

Road construction projects utilize Indonesia's ample labor force for a very important task - making gravel. That's right, in Indonesia they don't just haul in gravel. They make gravel. Large rocks are hauled in (in background) and then guys with hammers do the rest, pounding for hour upon hour to make huge stones become large stones, large stones become medium-sized stones, medium-sized stones become small stones, and small stones become gravel. For this service the gravel-makers are paid less than $2 per day.

Indonesian Luge

On a recent trip an mountainous area of East Java, while traversing a rocky, forest path, I discovered a new mode of transportation . It's called the Indonesian mountain luge - at least that's what I called it. But this is no sport, no attempt to add a new event to the 2008 Summer Olympics. Instead this is matter of survival. Poor families without jobs hike up into the government-owned, mountain forest areas to gather sticks and small logs to sell as firewood, necessary for cooking when you're too poor to buy propane or other kinds of gas. Lawfully, only already fallen sticks and fallen logs can be gathered, although when people are desperate to make a living, sometimes they "help" the sticks and logs fall. To bring this wood into the small city below, low-tech luge-carts are hand-built, complete with hand-breaks. The ride down-hill is exhilarating, but not so smooth. Rocky paths, a wood seat, and the absence of suspension systems make the ride a tail-bone-buster.

Indonesian Food

The Indonesian diet is based upon rice. As my Indonesian friends say, "if there's no rice, there's no meal." Rain or shine, we eat rice three times a day. Sometimes its fried, sometimes its yellow, sometimes is wrapped in banana leaves, and sometimes is just steamed - but its always there, the essential foundation of every meal. The above plate is topped off with a mixture of cooked veggies to the right, and beef with potatoes on the left. Due to economic constraints, beef appears on our plate just about as often as the full moon appears in the night sky. Instead, we are usually nourished with protein from fish, chicken, or soybean products such as tofu.
The white swirly thing is called kerupuk, a crispy crackerish creation made from cassava. Mixed in with the green beans is tempe, a fermented soybean product.

The yellow sauce is called gule, which adds flavor and spice to the otherwise bland rice. Another option to flavor rice is sambal, a red chili sauce with a good kick to it. Food is usually eaten in one of two manners. 1) with a spoon in the right hand as the main "scooping" utensil and simultaneously a fork in the left as a "mixing" utensil. 2) with the right hand.

Institut Pertanian Bogor

I recently had the opportunity to spend 3 days in Bogor - hanging out with a family I know there, touring the famous botanical gardens, and meeting with professors and other government officials in agricultural and community development. Institut Pertanian Bogor (Bogor Agricultural Institute) is the top ag school in Indonesia, boasting more than 25,000 students.

Afif (above), my personal tour guide for the trip through the botanical gardens, is the son of an Indonesian man, Pak Firdaus, who studied his Ph.D. in Plant Breeding at Kansas State University from 1985-1989. When I first met Pak Firdaus, who is now the director of a national vegetable research center, we felt an immediate bond as fellow KSU Alumni. He's since been a great help as I pursue experience and opportunities to understand Indonesian agricultural development better. He and his wife dusted off their photo album to show me their memories of living in Jardine Hall, driving through corn fields, and protesting in front of the Union.

Don't let anyone fool you. Bamboo trees are not small.