the Lapindo tragedy of East Java

In the record book of growing environmental disasters of the world, the mudflow “volcano” in East Java, Indonesia ranks high.


Camera: Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/320s, f/6.3, 55mm, ISO 100


In May 27, 2006, an oil drilling project of gas-drilling company Lapindo cracked open a natural gas-rich water lode at a depth of nearly 3,000 meters, without the recommended steel casing. When the limestone bed rock got fractured, hot water shot up like a geyser and began flooding villages, rice farms and factory areas. Ground zero was the Porong district of East Java and being near to the city of Sidoarjo, the disaster has been nicknamed by locals as Lusi or lumpur Sidoarjo (lumpur means mud in Indonesian).

The numbers are appalling. According to a special report in the March 10, 2008 issue of Time magazine, in less than two years, twelve villages were swallowed, about 16,000 people were rendered homeless and 550 hectares were erased from the map. Damages and related costs already are running into $3.7 billion and the worst part is, the 50 meter-wide hole continues to pump up to 150,000 cubic meters of mud A DAY.


Camera: Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/250s, f/6.3, 18mm, ISO 100. -1/3EV


As more and more land is turned into a lake of gray bubbling mud, efforts by the government and international community offer some measure of hope, but barely. Neither nature or science can assure that the flow will stop anytime soon. The baffling flow of hot brackish water deep from the earth is unabated, inundating more villages as time progresses.

Last April, when I last passed by the mudscape, traffic was terrible. Lusi has rendered the major toll hi-way between Pasuruan and Surabaya useless and we had to snake around busy choked streets of Sidoarjo. A motorcycle driver offered to take us a shorter “secret” local route. We relented. For about $2, he took us around outskirt a deserted village, through some lesser know bypasses. He delivered and cut our travel by at least 30 minutes.


Camera: Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/640s, f/6.3, 155mm, ISO 100. -1/3EV


Around the “volcano”, gawkers are replaced by tourists who make Lusia a necessary stop. Mud volcano CDs are being touted. Ambulant stores are making some business. On the surface, life seems normal. For now.

Madura

It was only a day trip in Madura.

Time was a constraint so as expected, we could not stay overnight in this island northeast of Surabaya. My flight out of Surabaya was early the next morning so we had to squeeze the visit in only one day.

I have done this before. This was probably my third visit in the last 6 years. The tactic is to leave at sunrise. Madura island is one of the poorest regions of East Java and a vast number of Madurese work in Surabaya but still opt to live in the island. The morning rush from Madura to Surabaya is therefore notorious, as is the traffic late in the afternoon from Surabaya back to the island. Luckily, we are moving against this human mass flow.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/320s, f/4.5, 75mm, ISO 400, -1/3EV


Getting to Tanjung Perak port in Surabaya was uneventful. The streets at Surabaya were generally free-flowing at 6 in the morning. At the port of Tanjung Perak, there was no long queue so our car promptly got a berth in the ferry.

By about 8AM, we already were in the busy port of Kamal in Bangkalan, West Madura. Our destination was about 120 kilometers away in Sumanep, the easternmost regency of the island. Barring any bottlenecks, we should be there in 3 ½ hours. Basically, the hitches would be the public markets (different days of the week would be market days in various places). We went there on a Wednesday so we missed out too potential Friday throngs at the roadside mosques.


a mosque in Bangkalan, West Madura. The more than 4 million people in Madura are predominantly Muslim.
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/2500s, f/5.6, 155mm, ISO 200


It was past 10 in the morning when we pulled into the village of Lobuk in Bluto, Sumenep. Quickly, we checked on the seaweed farms.

Madura uses a unique system of seaweed cultivation, using rafts instead of long off-bottom ropes. (The other place which prefers this mode of plantation would be Serewe, East Lombok).


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/2000s, f/5.0, 230mm, ISO 100, -1/3EV


October, being hot season in Madura, is a productive month for seaweed. Productivity is high. Farmers were busy, either planting seedlings or harvesting mature fronds.


line-stripping the seaweed that are ready for drying
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/1600s, f/4.5, 80mm, ISO 100, -1/3EV



harvesting the seaweed from the rafts, called raket in Indonesia
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/1600s, f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 100, -1/3EV


More work proceeded in a flurry. At about 11AM, we decided to call it a day and made our way back west. Lunch was to be at Pamekasan, the capital at the eastern central part of the island. I was not surprised when we pulled in at the Hotel Restaurant Putri. It must be Pamekasan’s better places as I always got to have lunch there. Menu is Chinese Indonesian and specialty is fresh seafood. Delicious.

While waiting for the food to be cooked, I had some downtime and took some photos of a fully carved wooden screen. It features the distinctive Madurese wood carving. Referred to as Karduluk carving for the village in Sumenep where it originates, the style is generally larger in size and cruder in stroke than the Javanese. The finish is often polychrome paint, usually in red and green. The motifs are Chinese- bird, flower or dragon. (I’m planning to commission one for our home in Cebu so I know lots about carvings).


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/40s, f/4.5, 100mm, ISO 100, -1.0EV


After lunch, we were on our way home. In the same haste, we had no time at all to stop inasmuch as I wanted to. All I did was merely put to mind several scenes that I would love to photograph someday. My photos are just “drive by”, that is, taken only from a moving car.


children by the roadside at Sampang, Madura
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/1250s, f/5, 150mm, ISO 200


Maybe some day, I would be able to go there on a more leisurely pace. Next year, the long delayed 5.4-kilometer bridge connecting Surabaya and Madura might already be finished. It would then be the longest bridge in Indonesia. And it has a nice name to boot: SURAMADU. I couldn’t wait for it to be completed.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/2500s, f/5.6, 155mm, ISO 200

Loving Masakan Padang

Whenever I visit Indonesia, and it could be anywhere in the country, I inveterately find myself in a Masakan Padang restaurant. Masakan Padang or Padang Cuisine is the unique and popular cooking of the Minangkabau people of Padang, West Sumatra.

I could not find a more UNIQUE way of serving food in Indonesia than here. Custom is to deliver all the dishes in an elegant yet efficient stack of platters on one hand and spread them all in your table.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/125s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 800
at Sari Bondo at Jln May. Jend. Sungkono, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia
phototip: Waiters are quick and don’t wait for your shot. Prepare your camera at it a wide aperture and high ISO to prevent blur.


Typically, everything that is already cooked will be offered right in front of you. In fastfood Padang-style, the table will quickly be set with dozens of small platters filled with highly-flavored and often spicy food.

This is no ordinary buffet. Everyone is expected to follow an honor system. You eat what you like and you get charged only with what you consumed. If you didn’t touch the dish, you don’t pay for it. And quickly, the unspoilt food are passed on to the next table for the next hungry customer.




People from the West probably would find this buffet unhygienic. Health risks are definitely present but for Asians, it is all about proper etiquette and care. Masakan Padang is certainly not for the faint or sensitive stomach. More so when the cuisine is known for being spicy hot. Just the way I like it.

The best known Padang dish is rendang, a dark spicy stew of beef. There would also be curries or fried spicy dishes of beef (sapi), squid (cumi-cumi), fish (ikan), chicken (ayam), vegetables (sayur) like water lettuce (kangkong), string beans (kacang panjang), jackfruit (nangka) and eggplant (terung). Padang is Muslim so there would be no pork. On the other hand, you could find other delicacies like shrimps (udang), dried fish (ikan asin), egg (telur balado) and selected beef parts like brain (otak), lungs (paru), liver (ati). Of course there would be a ubiquitous selection of sambals or chili sauces in various colors and degree of spiciness


Canon PowerShot S40, 1/30s, f/2.8, 7.1mm


Masakan Padang recommendations

1. Sari Bundo. This is a popular chain found in Jakarta, Surabaya and probably other major cities in Java and Sumatra. My favorite one is just a few hundred meters from Shangri-La Surabaya at Jln May. Jend. Sungkuno but I heard from a friend that they have already moved to another location early 2008. Too bad.

2. Minang Saiyo. This chain from Sumatra is in Bali so this is my haunt when I am there. Their branch is in Jln Bypass Ngurah Rai near the airport.

The restaurant also has a wedding banquet hall. For the photographer, the embellishments there are fantastic! After all, the Minangkabaus are difficult to beat when it comes to traditional use of colorful sutra (silk) and songket (brocade) fabrics and to the incorporation of glitter, sequins and metallic threads in just about anything. Here are a few pictures.


Canon EOS 350D, 1/60s, f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 1600, -1/3EV

In the collage below, you can see a triangular ceiling overhang (upper left) made of fabulous Minangkabau songket brocade and bright buntings. By the banquet hall’s walls are large drapes of (polyester) silk hangings featuring unique embroidery using gold and silver threads and sequins. Also prominent is the 2-layer payung or umbrella (lower right) which is reserved for the bride. The Minangkabau ethnic group of West Sumatra, while Islamic, remains strongly matriarchal.




3. Khas Minang Surya . This is probably another chain. Last April 11, we were on a road trip from Bali to Surabaya and we found ourselves hungry. We decided to have lunch in a popular East Java stop at Pasir Putih (literally White Sands), Situbondo and chanced upon this Padang restaurant. For me, their food isn’t up to par to the other two but their spicy chicken is good.


Canon EOS 350D, 1/80s, f/5.0, 40mm, ISO 100, +1/3EV