Bandung to Jogja: by Train

It's around 8 am and I got to go to Jogjakarta since there'd be plenty of things to catch up there.

Bye Bye Bandung, for now. 

Not many people on board the train. 

A 7-hour train ride!! Gee. Luckily I could enjoy the scenery ..which were mostly lush green of paddy fields...along the way.  

mata rasanya hijauuuu dan seger memandangi semua ini. what a relaxing time...well spent on the train. 

A monotonous view, yet...eye-soothing. 

A slice of Java captured. 

What a trip indeed.  

Especially when the train was right above the mountain. I could see this magnificent view. 

Seeing kids..and other activities...  

The interior of the train... 

sort of helping me relaxed..enjoying the outside view. 

  

But..boy..it's a loooooong trip to Jogja.

yet...this reminds of me of how much I miss my hometown...^^ 

  

you're getting used to these greens that your eyes started to get sore...^^ but that's fine.  

 

and..then...we're approaching Jogjakarta... 

and...with that in mind...

I was transported back to time...during my travel to Jogjakarta.

*more stories on my next entries.

On Marriage & Family: Should We Change Our View?

Almost all known societies recognize marriage. Yes, almost. Different from what most people would know and believe, I learned that there is the Na people in Yunan, China where marriage is absent which thus generate no concept of husband nor father. Men are considered simply as the ‘waterer’ for the land (women) to ‘create’ children.  This simple fact alone indicates that marriage is almost a human universal.

Then, there is a term called family. Do people have to get married to form a family? Is the term ‘family’ necessarily refer to the married couple with its children? Of course not. There are way more intricate facts that constitute what family is or what families are. What about kinship? It turns out that despite the rapid industrialization in some parts of the world, kinship still play an important role in maintaining and securing what constitute a family. For example, where one resides after getting married has something to do or influence what kind of family he/she will have eventually.

Why most culture prohibit incest? Why certain cultures/societies consent poligamy or poliandry? Why certain countries have (until recently) legalized same-sex marriage? Why transnational or/and multicultural families have flourished? What about religion-based marriage? These used to be so incomprehensibly hard to grasp but now...things are changing. And other ‘whys’ that concocts our mind regarding ‘marriage’.

Based on those points of view, we really need to open up our mind to the diverse facts about ‘marriage’ and the consequences that entail its process.
For instance, the fact about postmarital residence is one of the determining factor about what kind of family a woman or a man will have after marriage. In Korea, as we know of, women are supposed to live with her husband’s family/kin after marriage (virilocal residence), but now—to what I know of—more and more married couple prefer to live separately from their parents and form a nuclear family, thus creating an independent household (neolocal residence). The reason is simple, i.e.modern couples’ reluctance to be regarded as inadequate/incapable of managing their new family.
Although less common, there is also a uxorilocal residence where the groom/husband has to move into his wife’s family. ( I was one of these examples).  Not that it is a common practice in Java, it is just that due to some circumstances, I was compelled to live with my wife’s family. Even when we have our own house, I must live with my parents-in-law  because my wife happens to be the only daughter living in the same house. Especially after my father-in-law died, the pressure of having to stay with my wife’s family could not have been greater. We must take care of our mother. And this is a common practice in Java. No matter how desperate we want to form a nuclear family, if you happen to marry the youngest daughter of a family, there are chances ( I said 'chances') that you may have to live with your wife’s family.

Now that some technological advancements have taken places in (at times) an  unprecedented manner, the way people think about their own kinship or family have also changed. Artificial insemination, surrogate mothers, adopted kids by same-sex couples (in some countries) turn out to be a challenging frontier in term of deciding as to whether ‘kinship’ or ‘families’ should be based on (pure) blood ties alone. 

2012 Korea-ASEAN Culture and Arts Forum (part 2)

It was the 2nd day of the Forum or the main event of the program.
The Forum was held at Korea National Museum at Yongsan.
The place--I think--was a perfect venue for the occasion since it had what this Forum needed. all of the gadgets available...even the interpreting booth and its devices for all of the participants were available. Not to mention, the stage. It was relatively small, but big enough for a forum like this.
That day I managed to see the Thailand, Brunei, and Indonesian delegates' presentations.
Too bad..I came after noon so I did not have a chance to see the Korea's parts--which I heard was a marvelous one.











So, Thailand delegates portrayed the intricate movement, gestures, mimics of dancers in portraying the dynamics, the feeling, the attitudes of people of different classes, the monkey, and even the demons!!!

Indeed, judging from the fact or the sheer seriousness of the delegates, I could learn that Thailand's version of Ramayana stories performed by those dancers t have been the best ones ever.
They have evolved and developed such an intricate details in capturing human's as well as non-human's expression through arts and dances.










As for Brunei's delegates, I learned some things about Pencak Silat, an Indonesian by origin, a Malay martial art form. Well,,,,not much to say about this...apart from the fact that...one participant's remark did strike me most since he asked or wondered as to whether Pencak Silat would be able to kick opponent's butt as he saw or thought of it as being too subtle and tender and soft and looked to him as having no....power whatsoever....as opposed to Taekwondo^^
Well,....what I could say was.....well...you should see what the real Pencak Silat is, then.^^

then, Mr. Eddy's turn came.
I was helping him preparing the show...well..not much...or sort of accompanying him in preparation.
Pak Eddy was performing the modern traditional shadow puppet called "wayang kancil"

It was like being zapped into the whole world of Javanese culture when I listened to pak Eddy's voice imbued within the echoing surround gamelan orchestra....that was being played on a CD^^
at least...I thought it was a remarkable show....and forum...highlighting the best that ASEAN and Korea have to offer to each other.

The mere fact that culture and arts do exist...simply show that people do evolve in conveying their humanity...and that was something in common that we should cherish as a human.
--
at the end of the Forum, we took pictures with Dr. Lono Simatupang, Mr. Eddy, Prof. Yang Seung Yoon and my friend Seon hee.
A nice afteroon well spent!!!