This vehicle is an open vehicle. It has 3 wheels and the driver is on the back of the vehicle. Do you know what this is? In Indonesia, we called this becak. Like a bicycle, it has paddle and you have to operate the paddle to make it move.
My friend from my university really like riding becak. The reason is simple: to feel the fresh breeze. I can understand the reason if our university located in suburb area or even village, but in downtown like this? We won’t feel the fresh breeze because of the air pollution from other vehicle, not to mention there’s a lot of dust and of course the eat.
I think that’s why becak usually be found in villages or small town. Some big city don’t have becak and prohibit becak on their area. But, in the other town, becak can increasing town revenue. Look at one city in Central Java: Yogyakarta. In Yogyakarta, becak also become a touring vehicle. Many foreigners who don’t have this kind of vehicle on their country try this at Yogyakarta. How does it feel? Well, you have to try this by yourself. It’s really refreshing!
Banana tree is one of the trees that almost each of its parts is useful. In Indonesia as well as in other neighbor South-east Asian countries, if you ever tried the traditional food there or went to the traditional market in those countries – I’m sure you should ever saw banana leaves that is used as food wrapper or plate cover that function just like food oil paper.
Banana leaves wrapper is the coolest plate I’ve ever known. Other than it is waterproof, the banana leave is also easy to be torn that if when we eat we don’t have spoon, we can just torn the leaf a little, then bend it and use it as a spoon.
Another advantage of this: environmentally friendly. When it’s not used anymore, the waste of banana leaves could directly decompose in the soil, we don’t need worrying about recycling it. Other than that, the banana tree also grow faster than other trees that usually used as paper material, so even though we are a bit more often use banana tree as food wrapper, we don’t need to worry about cleared forests as long as we still keep take care of the environment and do not over-use it.
Maybe that’s what foreigners think when they see us eat with bare hands.
Well, I can’t blame them. We do have difference methods of eating. And manners too.
Talk about manners, Indonesian don’t think eat with bare hands is rude. Even the rich eat with their bare hands. I mean, who would use spoon and fork when we eat fried fish?
Of course we have to make sure our hands clean before we touch our dine. We could do that in a water basin, or, this is what makes us more special, we could just wash our hands in a small bowl filled with water the restaurant served. We call it ‘kobokan’.
I had dinner once with my friend in a local food stall, and we decided to eat fried catfish. As we ate, a bunch of Koreans came and sat beside us. While they were waiting for their foods, I noticed that they were gazing the way we eat. I know, maybe we both looks like some psychotic because we were busy toring the catfish apart with our bare hands...
But it’s not like we Indonesian people don’t respect others manners. Outside, of course we don’t eat with bare hands. We eat with spoon and forks, or maybe chopsticks, for the sake of courtesy. So that people won’t confuse us with barbarians? ^ ^;
However, here in our country, eating with bare hands is common thing to do. I personally like to eat with bare hands. The food tastes much more delicious if I eat it with bare hands! You should try it too! ^ ^
But... I don’t know, some food maybe don’t suit for bare hands eating. I mean... you don’t want to grab some mash potatoes with hands, right? I’m getting sick by only imagining it.
Indonesian eat rice for every day food, so it suits the idea of bare hands eating. Then you should try to eat rice with bare hands, and feel the sensation!
This is the traditional game that usually played by the girls. Actually this game is not only for girls, but boys don’t usually play this game. Bekelan consist of one rubber ball and about 12-18 pieces of pawns. To play this game you should sit down on the floor because the floor will be used to bounce the ball.
You can play with 2-6 people (there’s no limit for the player, but too much player won’t be too comfortable). When I was a child, I like to play this game. Usually, me and my friend played this during the school break. We played this on the table since the table is also flat and can be used for bouncing.
This game is so fun. First, you will hold all the pawns and the ball, then throw the ball. While doing so, you should detached the pawns and throw it on the floor. The next step you should catch the ball. After that, throw again the ball, and this time you should collect the pawns one by one.
After that, throw again the ball and then collect every two pawns. If the ball falls, then it’s time to give the ball to your friend. Now it’ll their turn. This is how to play bekelan. Do you want to try?
Other than ‘ijuk’ broom, there is another type of broom I know: lidi (sticks) broom. Lidi broom is made from coconut leaves’ bones those are tied together. Usually lidi broom in the villages is without handle, but if it is added with handle, then you can imagine the witch’s broom. Hehe…
The lidi broom usually used to sweep the yard or grass field. But on the expansion, the lidi broom is also used in other places.
In the area where I live, when people plaster the floor with cement, they usually will pat and flattening it with lidi broom to make the texture become a little rough. Another thing, in some food sellers in tents on the street that cook with flaming fire and they should cleaned up the pan very often to cook the next order, they use the lidi broom to clean up the pan. Of course that lidi broom is NOT the one they use to sweep the floor…
There are also lidi brooms with more flat shape and look cleaner. This one, usually people use it to clean up the bed and pat pillows and bolsters. I don’t know how about in other areas. Maybe there are still a lot of variety of shapes and usages of lidi broom. Next time if I find out some more, I’ll write another sharing. Ciao!
Becak (source)
Another form of Becak (source)
