Bali, the Most Important Tourist Place in the World

I was walking home the other day after a lecture. I looked around the neighborhood, there were simply big houses and fences with a tree every here and there. That day, the lecturer said that Bali was the most important tourist place in the world. I understand that Bali is indeed an outstanding island but, why is it though? I was curious myself. What’s so important?

In the following year, I had the opportunity to visit Bali for the first time. It was quite as promised. It was beautiful and magnificent, except for the littering at the gorgeous Kuta beach. The trip firstly took me down to the south of Bali that had many picturesque beaches and good food. Then I went up to the unexpectedly cold and magical Kintamani and Mount Batur. Yes, I was undoubtedly attracted to those places.

However, what captivated me the most is when I kept my eyes on the Balinese houses while being in a speeding car along the trip or walking around the neighborhood. Wherever, whether it’s a humble living house or a big office building, they all had a front sacred temple for the occupant to pray and worship in front of. The inhabitants also had a somewhat small offering made from leafy dish to serve Gods and spirits right in the front gate. As it is a spiritual tradition, one thing foreigners should do was simply respect the offerings by walking carefully around them, not to step on them for sure. I also happened to be sightseeing in a souvenir market when I saw a merchant lady prayed by bowing down in front of her small store with her fresh offering in hand. At home, at place of work or place of attraction and so on, Balinese people put God first by having their surroundings ready for worship and to me, that is a beautiful sight to see.

My question however, why is Bali the most important tourist place in the world, is answered.

There are many beautiful beaches, waterfalls or other natural attractions. There are also many cultural attractions with beautiful culture within although you will find them mostly in cultural heritage or museums. But where can you find a place or region in which the people still hold on to their spiritual culture and practice their tradition as a normal way of life nowadays?

Of course, there are changes in Bali in many aspects. But what will Bali always offer you is its convenient culture to be enjoyed by the walkers on the streets. What you want to see in Bali is actually it’s tradition that is held by its people and is showcased in their humble environment. That alone is an idea of tourism, that’s why visitors enjoy Bali thus much. Sociologically, Bali’s tourist attraction is not about the beaches, the clubs nor even the Kecak dance. As said previously, wherever you are in the land of Bali, you will find culture. It is found in its people as they practically worship and pray in front of their yards or stores. That is when you are served with captivating culture as your primer tourist attraction and you will not take your eyes off of them.

Deadline

Sebagai mahasiswa, selalu aja ada tugas yang keteteran. Nggak jarang juga sih kita lupa dan baru inget tepat di hari tugas itu harus disetor, iya nggak?

Nah, ternyata hampir sebagian mahasiswa secara umum kalo nggak karena punya kesibukan yang luar biasa atau emang masih nyantai dan lebih suka asik-asik dulu.

Namanya juga mahasiswa semester awal, apa-apanya nyantai dulu lah. Apalagi kalo udah ngumpul sama temen-temen tuh rasanya, pengen ini-itu yang gak ada hubungannya sama perkuliahan, tapi (lucunya) dilakuin disekitar kampus juga. Jadi sebenernya kita tahu koq ada tugas-tugas yang harus diselesaikan tapi kita ngerasa kalo itu abstrak (?).

Menurut saya, ada 2 hal yang bikin para (sebagian) mahasiswa nggak menunjukan kredibilitasnya, pertama adalah kurang pekanya mahasiswa pas dosen ngasih tugas disela perkuliahan. Kedua adalah kita nggak memprioritaskan perkuliahan.

1. Kurang Peka

Kita lagi duduk (ngantuk) dengerin dosen ngajar. Pas jam kuliah itu selesai, kita kaya A : "eh, tadi si Ibu ngasih tugas kan?".
B : "Iya kayanya, gak jelas ngomong apa".
C : "Emangnya si Ibu ngasih tugas gitu?".
D : "Iya tauu, tugasnya.......".
A,B,C : " Ooo..".

2. Prioritas

Saya gak nyalahin mahasiswa yang sibuk di UKM karena itu masih lingkungan akademis plus itu adalah nilai lebih seorang mahasiswa, malah para penggiat UKM sebenernya anak-anak yang jago ngatur waktu lho.

Yang dimaksud kurang memprioritaskan perkuliahan itu, menganggap kuliah semester awal ini enteng-enteng aja atau adem ayem aja. Bisa juga sih karena belum terbiasa atau belum tau gimana rasanya jadi mahasiswa tingkat lanjutan yang waktunya habis buat tugas

M : " Tadi si (senior) X cerita, dia stress ngerjain tugas padahal cuma satu".
O : "Ooo...".
N : " Si (senior) Y juga hampir mau kabur ke Batam tauu, tapi gak jadi soalnya dia dij*k*in (dibaca:sk**si).
O : "Ooo..., eh kita ke WS yuk!"
M : "Gak ah, meningan ke DM"
N : "Aku pengennya ke SM"
Itu tempat-tempat apaaa?...

Sebenernya boleh koq, main kesini lah, kesana. Trus cari tempat makan dan hangout yang asik Tapi itu dijabanin sebagai apresiasi atau istilahnya reward karena kita udah bejibun di perkuliahan yang penat. Bukan dilakuin sebagai jadwal harian, tekor pula kan jadinya?

Raptor

A Story of a Murder Survivor

Years ago, when I was 10 years old, I was once stuck in an unknown island name Coco Island, I made that name up myself.

Actually there were my parents there, my brothers, my sister and a cousin. We were out there high and dry, not to mention that there was no food around that small and creepy kind of island.

However, we found out that the place was properly full of coconut fruits that dropped down from numeral big old coconut trees as we found them in every corner of the island. We were all quite happy that we could eat all of the coconut flesh and drank its quenching water.

In some afternoon, we were willing to have one and only tasty, chewy grilled coconut meat for dinner, as we had always had them for all week and yet it was always good and we loved it. But then I felt something strange, like something or someone was watching us quietly and ready to jump out to scare the creep out of us.

The feeling was right, someone unknown was suddenly creeping out of the bush over there and talked to us nicely, "hello foreigners!". He continued, "what are you all doing out here?". We had been in that island for two weeks yet we met that strange individual just then, how odd.

We were astonished by the presence of this old filthy man wearing big old fish skin and coconut leaves covering his thin body. I thought he was a primeval caveman who'd gotten into time worm and popped into the year of 2000's.

He was just making funny moves and kept chatting weirdly we couldn't understand ended up entertaining me and my family watching him constantly.

Suddenly, I heard something from our right and left side, there were several other men crawling up to us and attacked us wickedly. They were super creepy.

Short story, my family ended up becoming a big dinner for such ravenous intelligent predators. I survived and I am now one of them by the way.

Mengubah kebiasaan

Kalau cerita sebelumnya adalah waktu dimana seorang pelajar masih nyantai, sekarang semua itu harus diubah. Masih tetep ada koq momen santai dan asik-asiknya, tapi itu dilakuin di saat libur.

Beberapa tips untuk mengubah pola dan agenda seorang pelajar / mahasiswa :

1. Prioritas

Apa sih yang kita kedepankan selama kita kuliah? Tentunya perkuliahan itu dong. Makanya, cobalah buat terus pikirin perkuliahan kamu dan mekanismenya maksudnya setiap pagi kamu harus bilang "semangat buat perkuliahan hari ini, harus fokus dan nggak boleh ada kesalahan".

2. Jeli

Maksudnya, kamu harus jeli sama setiap omongan dosen. Karena gak jarang saat mereka ngasih tugas, kita lengah karena ngantuk atau ngobrol sama temen. Walhasil kita gak tau kalau ada tugas sampai minggu berikutnya karena kitapun nggak pernah nanya.

3. Buat pengingat

Ini sih udah sering dilakuin sama kita. Kita hanya harus punya notebook kecil yang selalu ada bersama kita di setiap perkuliahan. Langsung catat apa yang disuruh dosen untuk dikerjakan buat minggu depan. Kalo bisa ada juga kertas yang ditempel di dinding kamar, isinya agenda tugas yang akan selalu mengingatkan kita.

4. Pikirin masa depan

Ini juga sangat umum, semua pengen lulus dengan hasil yang baik. Walaupun belum tahu akan jadi apa kita nantinya, lulus tepat waktu dengan nilai yang memuaskan juga sudah patut dibanggakann koq. Syaratnya ya itu, kuliah yang bener 'tong.

5. Pikirin nasib kelas

Artinya pikirin deh, kalo kita kaya gini terus misalnya jarang masuk, suka telat, gak tau ada tugas, gak aktif nanya, dll. Gimana nasib kelas kita? pastinya dinilai buruk dibanding kelas lain. Kenapa? karena biasanya satu sifat itu menyebar, maksudnya di satu kelas sifat buruk yang dominan bisa memenuhi seluruh atmosfer kelas.

Makanya, kita harus berubah sedikit demi sedikit. Tinggalkan ajakan temen yang kurang berfaedah dan merapat ke temen-temen yang memprioritaskan perkuliahan mereka yang berharga. Intinya mulailah dari suatu agenda yang baik.

Tiba-tiba Waktu Menjerumuskan

Semakin lama kita diam semakin tinggi kita akan dijatuhkan.

Dokumen pribadi

Semester III, pertengahan tahun dan lumayan sibuk. Kenalin, saya Fikriyana Hidayat biasa dipanggil Rian, mahasiswa salah satu Perguruan Tinggi di Bandung. Kalo inget Osma kemarin (2016), jadi inget saat dimana saya ngerasa kaya Robert De Niro di The Intern

Dokumen pribadi

"Kamu kedepan!" kata satu host osma, kayanya ini host angkatan tahun kemaren deh.

Anak laki-laki pake putih-hitam disuruh berdiri di depan Maba dan nunjukin joget osma dia dan kapan dia lulus. "2013" katanya dan para host langsung jadi marmut. Kayanya ini orang soalnya dia lulusan SMA 2013 man! Lah gimana saya yang lulusan 2011, jadilah para senior itu tikus tanah.

Salah saya juga sih kenapa ambil kelas reguler, padahal saya harusnya ambil kelas sore. Bayangin ada orang umur 25, masih ikut program S1 semester awal. Rasanya kaya 'Ya Allah, ada gak sih di dunia ini yang nasibnya sama kaya hamba?'...

Semenjak lulus SMA emang nganggur, tapi berlangsung cuma kurang dari setahunan lah. Tapi setelah itu lumayan banyak yang saya kerjain, sekitar 5 tahun saya kerja ini-itu, bantu orang tua di usaha kerajinannya, dan juga masuk satu PTN di Bandung. Tapi baru aja semester 2 saya KO dan DO, mau tau jurusan apa yang saya ambil? yup benar sekali, Sipil. 

Kesukaan saya ternyata emang linguistik, karena saya baru sadar kalau dari dulu hobi dan sering baca, tulis dan gambar. Dan sekarang saya kuliah di pagi hari lalu kerja lepas dan jadi guru les bahasa Inggris buat anak-anak tetangga. Tapi entah kemana sekarang hobi-hobi itu berada, apa masih ada di kepala atau tenggelam di laut Indonesia.

Tapi gak apa-apa lah, toh udah dijalani separuhnya. Dan tinggal beberapa semester lagi lulus, paling nggak itu yang selalu nempel di pikiran saya. Biarin malu dan canggung dianggap seniornya senior (dibaca : tua) yang penting menjalani perkuliahan ini dengan baik dan lulus tepat waktu.

NB : Transkrip-transkrip yang cukup memuaskan itu hanyalah bonus, anggap saja karena saya 'berpengalaman', hehe.