Mentawai Islands - The Heaven of Indonesia before Tsunami....

October 25, 2010, 7.2 SR of earthquake had shaked Mentawai Islands. And in the sudden a big wave of water swapped Mentawai Islands and destroy everything. Till today, more than 88 persons still missing and 449 persons have died during the tsunami disaster. All victims are being evacuated in GKPM Church, located in Sikakap, Mentawai District.

Mentawai's Tsunami Disaster have become one of Indonesia's national tragedy. Another one is happening in Central Java, in Madiun city, when Merapi Mountain - in the same day - exploded and 37 people died in the inident. President Soesilo BambangYudoyono had been Mentawai to visit the victims of the tsunami. People from all around Indonesia have gathering fund to help the people in Mentawai.

If you have interest to help people in Mentawai, you can send your fund to :

Bank Central Asia - Cab. Asia-Afrika (Indonesia)

Account No : 0080185740

Name : Mulyady Chandra

But if you feel very difficult to transfer the fund of send the things to help to victims of tsunami (due to the location of youc country, which is not possible to do all those thing), you can help by clicking the advertising that you see in this blog, and buy them. For every purchase you made in this blog, US$ 0.02 of each one of the purchases will be used to help the victims.
 
Any amount would be very helpful for the victims of Mentawai's tsunami.


ABOUT MENTAWAI ISLANDS

Before the tsunami incident happened, Mentawai Islands have been known as one of the most beautiful island after Bali Island. They are a chain of seventy islands and islets off the western coast of Sumatera Islands in Inonesia. There are some islands that offering nice and fresh scenaries. Some of the well known islands is Siberut, Sipura, North Pagai, and South Pagai.

Among the islands, Siberut is the largest one. Located at the nothernmost of The Mentawai Islands, it has 4,030 km2 width and well knwon for its range of primates, such as Kloss Gibbon (Hylobates klossii), Pig-Tailled Langur (Simias concolor), Mentawai Langur (Presbytis potenziani), and Mentawai Macaque (Macaca pagensis).It has protected rain forest ecoregion which called Siberut National Park. The park is isolated from mainland for over 500,000 years already.

The native people who live in the islands is called Mentawai, or also known as Mentawei and Mentawi. They live a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the coastal and rainforest environments of the islands. Their language is Mentawai language, in which belong to Aunstronesian language family.

Mentawai has become a noted destination for surfing. Many surfers from all around the world gather regularly in Mentawai, especially Siberut. Besides surfing, Indonesia Ministry of Tourism is projecting Mentawai to explore Culture Tourim in there. Some villages such as Madobag, Tuapejat, and Bosua are having a lot of ancient cultures that still live till today and able to be promoted to people around the world. Will this project can be happened, due to the tsunami disaster? We are crossing our fingers....

Keripik Kul - The (Almost) Extinct Ancient Snack

Let's talk about something that might be thrill your tongue.....

Dare to try something unique?

How about Keripik Kul (Kul Crackers). Hmmmm..... what is that?

If you see it for the first time, the first thing that came out of your mind is, "What a disgusting food!!!"

Well.... it's true. This cracker chips' appearance just like dried-crinkled skin. It has brown and black color combination. It has no any smelly taste or smell. Just like regular cracker. But you will never imagine if this cracker is made from snail. Yep..... it's true. In some area in Central Java (Semarang, Jogjakarta, and Solo), snail is one of the famous things to eat. Usually it served as Indonesia barbecue (Sate), or mixture for Soto (traditional soup made from coconut milk and the combination of other ingredients, like turmeric and lemon grass), and Pecel (traditional salad).

In East Java region, snail has been made as crackers that been known as Kul Crackers ("Kul" means Snail in East Java's dialect).

To make this kind of crackers, first of all, take out the snail meat from it shell ,then wash till it clean from its mucous . Then mix it with the prepared ingredients, and dried in the sun until crisp and dry. And finally, fried the dry snails, then packed.

Because of the difficulty of making this crackers, not so many people who still able to run the business. And recently, it is difficult to find this kind of snack. We can say it is a rare-kind of snack. So if one day you visit East Java, the first thing you should look for is Keripik Kul (Kul / Snail Cracker). Coz it almost extinct already and it already very hard to find.