Serawak, Sabah, and Tronoh - Malaysia, 13-18 August 2007

I had a chance to visit Malaysia again, but this time a bit different. If normally I go to big cities, this time I went to rural areas to see the implementation of USO (universal service obligation) facilities in Malaysian villages. They assigned me and some friends to Serawak and Sabah, two states that I've never been to.

Malaysian villages are not much different from Indonesian's. However, their public infrastructure such as roads, electricity, and telecommunication are much better than ours. I imagined that our visits will take much energy, but that proved wrong. Even at places with no access roads, alternative transportation such as boats and ferries are available.

Their people are similar to ours: friendly and sincere. Even some of them cannot speak English, communication was not a problem since Malay language is very similar to Indonesian language. In Sarawak, there are 3 major ethnics: Malay, Chinese, and Dayak (Iban and Bedayuh). In Sabah, there is more diversity since Filipinos and Bugis are also there.

An interesting experience for me was the opportunities to taste Malaysian's unique cuisines. Among of them are teh tarik (pulled tea - because one has to "pull" upside the teapot to pour the tea to the glass), laksa Serawak, and red and pink durians. Foods are cheap here, a normal meal costs RM 3-4 (1 RM = Rp 2600, US$1 = RM 3).

On the way back, I had the chance to visit the University Teknologi Petronas (UTP) at Tronoh. Some of my colleagues study here, so it's worth to visit them. The campus is new (built in 2004). It has modern architecture with curvy theme. It is located in a remote area (around 1 hour from Ipoh, the state capital, and 4 hours from Kuala Lumpur - going there from Yogyakarta really takes time). Almost all students live on-campus, only students with familites live outside the campus. And since UTP is owned by the rich Petronas oil company, all students get scholarship from Petronas !

Padang, 3 August 2007

This is my second trip to Padang. In contrast to my first visit, I only had one day to explore West Sumatra. So I picked Maninjau Lake, the only lake I missed when I went to Padang last year. When I mentioned my plan to my friends, they also offered me to revisit Bukittinggi. Fine, I think. We then planned to go to Bukittinggi first, then to Maninjau and stay overnight there.

So we went to Bukittinggi at around 10am. Too late, in fact. We had Jumat prayer at Padangpanjang, where we also had the original sate Padang. I was surprised with the tenderness of the meat. It was so tender that I almost thought it was a chicken satay...

When I entered Bukittinggi, I felt the same calming atmosphere. The city has changed since last year when a big earthquake shook the area. Ngarai Sianok looked brighter due to the peeled topsoil during the quake. Some people said the quake has damaged the view of Sianok, but some others prefer its current appearance.

The road from Bukittinggi to Maninjau was narrow and winding. In fact, there is the famous "Kelok 44", the 44 bending curves along the route. The view when we approached the lake was breathtaking. Green paddy fields with a traditional Minang house standing, with the background of the lake itself. I was also astonished to find a beautiful mosque near the like. It turned out that the mosque was built with the donation of a prominent person in this country.

After enjoying the panorama, we evaluated our plan. The journey time was longer than we had expected, so we thought it would be too risky to stay in this place because my flight was early in the following morning. So we headed back to Padang, and got to the Bumiminang hotel at about 10pm.