Monday

Equator Monument





Touring this time to West Borneo, some place there in Indonesia.


Equator Monument  located at the Khatulistiwa (Equator) Road, North Pontianak, West Kalimantan Province. The location is about 3 miles from the center of Pontianak City.

This monument became one of the tourist icons of Pontianak City and always visited by local community and the tourists who come to the Pontianak.
The history of the construction of this monument can be read on the records on wall  within the building.

According to records on the wall  within the building, the construction of this monument as follows:

  1. First monument built in 1928 by a Dutch geographer.
  2. 1930 completed, in form of bollard radialy and dart
  3. 1938 rebuilt with completion by architect Silaban. The original monument is still visible in the interior.
  4. 1990 renovated with the addition of a dome to protect the original monument and also making of duplicate of monument of the size five times bigger than its original size.
  5. Its grand opening on 1991 September 21

The monument consists of four iron wood poles, each with a diameter of about 0,30 metre, with frontage bollard height is two pieces as high as 3,05 radian place backside bollard and the signpost dart as high as 4,40 metres.

Diameter circle in with the "EVENAAR" writing in the middle, is a 2.11 meter long. And there is a signpost dart with 2.15 meter length.

The important and amazing events is while the culmination of the sun, which is a natural phenomenon when the sun was right on the equator. At that time the position of the sun will be directly above the head thus eliminating all shadows of objects. At the culmination time, the shadow of the monument will "disappear" for a few seconds, so does the shadow of other objects around the monument

The sun's culmination time occurs twice a year, ie between 21-23 March and 21 to 23 September. This natural event becomes an  annual event of Pontianak City which attracted many tourist to arrive.

How to get there.

Flying from Jakarta to Pontianak city with a directly flight. Then you can hire a taxi to guide you to the Equator monument. There are many hotels in the Pontianak city. Most popular and famous hotels are The Aston Pontianak Hotels and MercurePontianak Hotels.


Thursday

Mentawai Island and Mentawai Surf Adventure




Mentawai is one of the districts in Indonesia, located in the province of West Sumatra. Mentawai District consists of four main island, are Siberut Island,  Sipora Island, North Pagai Island  and South Pagai island that inhabited by a majority of the Mentawai tribe

Mentawai tribe is a primary resident in this district, Most of the residents of this islands in comes from Siberut. Mentawai tribe communities have a bit of ancient cultures. Half of the population in this district are animists, others are Christian and Islamic. After the independence day of Indonesia, these people in this district have to mingle with other tribes that exist in Indonesia.

On the Siberut Island there are a Siberut National Park. Siberut National Park is a nature conservation area which has a native ecosystems, which can be utilized for scientific purposes, as well as also for the culture and tourism.



  
Siberut island is 155 km from the city of Padang. Siberut National Park has 60% area covered by primary forest Dipterocarpaceae, a mixture of primary forests, swamps, coastal forests and mangrove forests. This National Parks has many large trees with an average 60 meters height.

Mentawai Islands is a famous and beautiful beaches. They has a high waves and very suitable for surfing activities (surfing). Surfing is an icon for Mentawai island and that has been famous throughout the world. The international surfing competitions have been held here. No less than 400 "Surfing Spot"  that can be used as a surfing location. Waves in the Mentawai islands surf  is the third best after Hawaii and Tahiti. Most visit time occur in July and August. It was the time of the waves reaches 7 meters.


Surfing activity can do at several beaches located in the Mentawai islands.  Nyangnyang beach, Karang Bajat beach, Karoniki Beach, and Pananggelat Mainuk beach which all of the beaches are located in the District of South Siberut. In other side, in  District Sipora there are also several beachessuch as Katiet Bosua beach and the South beach. And in the District of North Pagai there is the West Coast. Mentawai sea has a fantastic wealth and potential seabed. The extreme high waves making the Mentawai as one of the popular tourist attraction in the world surfing.



Surfing activities usually conducted on April to October. Becouse the waves in these months reaches the highest level and the surfers can use it for surfing. Meanwhile, it is not happen in November to March, so not challenging enough for surfing.

Access to the Mentawai islands is from the Padang City, the capital of West Sumatra. There is a Minangkabau International Airport. The daily flights from Jakarta and Medan. There is also a Garuda and Silk Air from Singapore, and Air Asia from Malaysia.


From the Padang City towards the Mentawai islands can be reached using sea and air transportation. No ground transportation. Sea transportation is served by KM. Ambu-Ambu with a scheduled route. In addition there are also rental boats provided by other private companies. And the air transportation using only small aircraft with the flight schedule is not every day.

Resort in mentawai island:

1. The resort of Botik is situated in the north part of the island in front of the islands of Mainuk and Nyang Nyang.  It has two private bungalows of approximately 100 square meters to sleep four people very comfortably. Large rooms and a lot of space ar

2. Hosting guests since 1998, WavePark Mentawai Surf Resort is the original full service land-based surfing resort in the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Our all inclusive price includes a private chartered speedboat transport from mainland Sumatra to Mentawai and return, guided surfing and fishing speedboat service, 3 meals a day, drinks, snacks and accommodation on the island. With a maximum capacity of 12 surfers, the WavePark Mentawai surf resort guests have the entire island for their exclusive use.
Located in northern Mentawai near the Playgrounds anchorage, the wave park offers 21 different waves to choose from that we have designated beginner, intermediate and advanced. We are proud of our extensive knowledge of secret Mentawai waves as well as Mentawai weather conditions; built up from our combined 20 years of experience hunting waves in the wave park area. With unrivaled speed and comfort between lineups you will get better surf, more often with less crowds.  http://www.wavepark.com/

3. Welcome to Mentawai Surf Camp a private 3 bedroom guesthouse catering for just 6 people. Situated amongst the world renowned waves of “Playgrounds” in the Mentawai Islands.  Our beach front location, with views towards Beng Beng (and other waves), is second to  none. We proudly boast a number of waves within just 5 minutes from our shore aswell as nearly 20 world class waves within 35-40 mins. http://www.mentawai-surfcamp.com/