Story : A Short Trip to Bromo

Well, it’s been a while since the last post, but still…Hello readers!

Tonight I would like to write about my trip to Bromo. Well, though it’s already 6 months ago but I still wanna share my experience.

What a great experience. That’s what I said.

In the end of my research, I decided to join my friends Abi, Jatu, and Mira to go to Bromo. I already said that I run out of money, but Abi lend me some money and he said “We don’t know whether there’s time for us to have a trip to Bromo, because we almost graduate.” I thought he’s right, so I joined him.

Places I Wanna Go ; Part 5

Hello readers 🙂

5 days ago, I watched an Indonesian movie titled “5cm”. The movie tells about a friendship of 4 boys and a girl and they decided to hike to the peak of the highest peak in Java called Mahameru at Mount Semeru, East Java, Indonesia.

In that movie, we can see some beautiful scenery from the hiking track of Mount Semeru including Ranu Pane and Ranu Kumbolo. Both of them are lakes, beautiful lakes at the slope of Mount Semeru. And you can find “Oro-oro Ombo”, it such a grassland with a beautiful scenery too…

But if you wanna come there, you have to be careful. Like other mountains in Java, there are so many mystical things. If you walk toward the last post of hiking track, called “Arcopodo”, you have to be silent, just praying, don’t joke around or else, you’ll face bad things. That’s what’s people around Semeru’s said.

You can go to Semeru or Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park from Malang, East Java, and then you can look for public transportation to Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park 🙂

You can check some pics below…

Mount Semeru, East Java, Indonesia

Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia

Places I Wanna Go ; Part 4

So, this is my 4th review about awesome places with awesome scenery.

4 months ago, I lived at a village, in the slopes between Merbabu and Merapi Mountains, Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. It called Wonolelo village. I lived at that village for 1 and a half month for my college task.

At Wonolelo, in the morning, you can see a beautiful scenery of Merbabu and Merapi Mountains. You can see the peak of both mountains clearly. You rarely can see those peak above 10 a.m because those might be covered by clouds. The people mostly work as farmer. They’re horticulture’s farmer.  You’re not only pampered by the mountain’s view but also the fields. Very beautiful!

Mount Merapi

I Found My Passion : Verti-Culture and Gardening

Yesterday, I watched Korean drama “Love Rain” and I love the set place of this drama. YoonA as Ha Na who’s a gardener and works at resort’s garden rises up my old possession as a gardener. Yeah, since few years ago, I wanna be gardener and study about it but I ended up study about Agriculture. But that’s related, right? And now, I looked  for an extension study about tropical garden. I found an extension program for gardening at College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources in University of Hawaii. But, how to get there, guys? I don’t have much money 😦

Then I looked for a garden center in my city, but I can’t found it, damn!

If I can found it, I wanna work and study in that garden, without payment, it’s fine because I really really want to study about it.

I love to see a beautiful landscape and I love to see the flowers which are blooming and make some beautiful color. How refreshing 🙂 Then I attended a seminar, agriculture seminar, they discussed about verti-culture planting (Verti-culture planting system is a system of planting in the pot arranged/assembled horizontal and vertical or stratified. This is the way to overcome the problem where the planting area is limited. The kind of plants that could be plant in here are vegetables and flowers) actually, it made me interested to do verticulture in my own house.

Tomcat Phenomenon in Indonesia ; Paederus sp.

Hello readers, I’m back with my new review about Paederus sp. This beetle has made a big phenomenon in Indonesia especially in Surabaya City as Tomcat. Why? Because those insects have poisoned some people in an apartment. Those people suffered from dermatitis because of them. In 2005, an outbreak in Malaysia has reported.

That’s a beetle called Rove Beetle (Coleoptera; Staphylinidae). Paederus sp. has known by its poison. A potent vesicant contained in their haemolymph which can produce a skin irritation called dermatitis. This beetle can be distinguished from its short elytra (a hardened forewing of insects) from other Coleoptera beetles. It has a black caput, both of thorax and abdomen have an orange color.

Originally, this beetle is a biological control for some pests, but it can be dangerous for human who has contacted directly with this beetle. If you check inside Google with keyword “Paederus outbreak”, you can find many articles or journals which explain about it. And most of them happened inside building. An expert said that this beetle is nocturnal insect and attracted by the light so that it came to the apartment.

What you have to do when this beetle stands on your skin?

Don’t you dare to touch it, better you blow it away from your skin. Because it can secrete its poison when this beetle feels a danger situation.

Paederus sp.

 

Image Credit : kompas.com

Chrysochroa fulminans, The Jewel Beetle

Hello readers,

Today, I’m gonna make a review about Chrysochroa fulminans. That’s a beetle (Coleoptera, Buprestidae) with a green metallic color all over its body. I’m interested to this beetle because its color. If you look it from different side, you can see the different color on each side. Most of Buprestidae family are colorful so that the beetles were targeted by many collectors of insect.

Back to the Chrysochroa fulminans. I wanna know more about this beetle because of my task in Basic Entomology course requires me to collect insects.  This beetle is common insect of Hibiscus tiliaceus tree in Indonesia. When I was little, I liked to find this beetle at the tree around my house. But people nowadays said that this beetle is rare to be found. Then I checked at that tree, I found just 6 beetles whereas 15 years ago, I could find more than 20 beetles at a tree.

These beetles are hunted, that’s why they’re difficult to be found. If you search in Google with keyword Chrysochroa fulminans, you’ll find so many sites which sells these insects preserved. No question why, because of its color and its hard elytra, the beetle is widely used as a pendant or other accessories. But, commonly in Indonesia, it used as “susuk“. From Wikipedia, “Susuk” are needles made of gold or other precious metals, which are inserted into the softtissues of the body to act as talismans. Susuk has various supposed purposes, ranging from the purely aesthetic to the treatment of joint pains and other minor ailments. This practice are also used as protection against injury and accidents.

But you know, this beetle is quite difficult to be stabbed 😀

Chrysochroa fulminans preserved

Image Credit : http://www.butterfly-designs.com/insects/2299.htm

Places I Wanna Go ; Part 3

Hello readers,

I’m back again with old topic : Places I Wanna Go. Yeah, that’s a review about a place that I wanted to see.

And now, I’m talking about Batu City.

Batu is a region in East Java, on highland and has so many beautiful places to be visited. I once lived in Batu because I worked there for a month. Then I visited Selecta, BNS (Batu Night Spectacular), and Jawa Timur Park 1. I wanna visit Songgoriti (a hot spring pool) but I don’t have enough time 😦

Why do I wanna go there?

I’m an agricultural student in an university in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. I really really love nature (but I don’t brave enough to join nature lovers organization at my college). At Batu, I found so many beautiful scenery. Next to Selecta, there is a cultivation area which has a good landscape, so that if you look it from Selecta, it looks beautiful. Then if you wanna go to Songgoriti, you can see a beautiful hill behind the spring pool and you can find a traditional market which is selling apples with low prices.

Batu has been developed to be a tourist city. You can find some water parks, night market, vehicle parks, and nature tourism spots.

You can check images below 😀