i thought this will be my travail for love. yet, it was really more of a trip of smoggy days and a very loud music. maybe i've passed this place before when i was a kid and really forget about it, if not this should be one interesting first encounter.
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'ladies and gentlemen, we are now going through a bad weather... yadda... yadda... return to your seat.... seat belt.... and soon we are going to land in Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport of Pekanbaru. The visibility range is around 400 meters....'
whattt??? yup... you got it baby. when they say less than 100 meters visibility you should NOT land. we are way too close to stay up in the air.
you know there's something wrong just as you get down from the airplane. it's in you nose, up and down to your lung... something is burning. really-really bad. so, the whole thing in the news about pekanbaru and the smoke is happening. it's like layers of angel hair (as in joni mitchell sees clouds), but a rather lanky hair i guess. the smoke hangs just between the ground and the clouds, yet leaving the whole day looked like morning. quite beautiful indeed, although doesn't smell as good.
but hey, i finally made it to pekanbaru. the city i wish to be for plenty of thoughts... a place of a name. i never thought that a person can be a place, until that day.
statistically speaking this is the province where more than 50% indonesia's oil is produced, where they have the famous durian (well, also every other places in south east asia may claim), a home of siak river - the deepest river in the country, and also lancang kuning; the tunes of melayu people. buthhh... again.... to me, this place is a person. the person is the place... well, you know what i mean.
so, off the airport -lung-adjusting- you need no worry to find transportation. the blue taxi is there awaits you. hop on! and already you can taste the real juice of pekanbaru. it's called HOUSE MUSIC. haha... the industrial music designed for all the club hopping populations of the world. notoriously known to be best enjoyed under the influence of chemically engineered substance in a form of a pill. yet, you can just hear it banging in every corner of the place.
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| Favourite spots: |
- the little food stall in the corner of the street. and again, the big gigantic speakers will always be at your service. next than the food coming to your tummy, they are really concern in feeding your ears as well. it's like crazy ibiza, only no tinny bathing suit and burning-tan-peeling skin.
- all the place near the airport. the air force base with its tight-faced provoost yet nice blue colors of the offices. this is about the place where i can see quite wide areas of land surrounded with trees and off course the sound of take-offs.
- the aroma coffee shop in jalan nangka. just by the trans-city bus station. old and dingy, yet nothing but warm feeling. you might be a little uneasy sitting by yourself, since most people waste their time waiting for their next ride -- or filling up the lottery numbers. but next to all, a good place to sit and write.
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| What's really great: |
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the divine intervention of the dj
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-- the way that the whole day seemed like morning. the sun shily shimmers...
-- a walk down the street at night, while you can still hear the echo of music playing in speakers somewhere.
-- go have a trip in the local minivan buses... still the mighty invasion of marvelously ENORMOUS speakers. yet, this is not the place where you can request songs... we all know that dj is that close to being god when in comes to what you will hear next.
-- to see the person of the place
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| Accommodations: |
- hotel dyan graha -- at jalan gatot subroto... just off jalan jenderal sudirman. the hotel is quite old ... yet notso expensive.
- hotel pangeran -- at jalan sudirman, quite new. peachy color, and slightly expensive but rather nice.
- hotel aryaduta -- four star, no further question.
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| Nightlife: |
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this place really have only two clubs... well, more of a pub slash arcade slash cafe slash casino.... go to MP, you can see plenty of woman in paintings --- purely woman.
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| Restaurants: |
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they have plenty of restaurant here. you can try to find 'sate rusa' which is deer kebab. quite tasty. or you can also have their 'ikan patin' some tender fish cooked in coconut oil and spices. (i think the column should say food rather than restaurant :))
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| Other recommendations: |
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the feet that takes me around
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--- danau buatan in rumbai. the area is has some nature feeling on it. this area also near to the caltex oil drills.
--- meeting the people of sakai. the people of the forest with their beautiful knowledge of the land.
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Published on Thursday February 24th, 2005
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Publish on Facebook
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Sun, Feb 27 2005 - 03:36 AM
 by picasso
| I had a great enjoyment reading it.***** |
Fri, Feb 25 2005 - 03:24 PM
 by davidx
Fri, Feb 25 2005 - 02:55 PM
by rangutan
| Great! Poetically written, I can "feel" the place. |
Fri, Feb 25 2005 - 12:08 PM
by johnnye00
| I enjoyed your report, it really shows some of the more unique aspects of the place |
Fri, Feb 25 2005 - 11:19 AM
by britman
| Information: |
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| East Timor |
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| Indonesia |
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| Korea, South |
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| Malaysia |
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| South Africa |
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| Thailand |
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| United States |
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