Welcome to EASTS Conference 2009

Beautiful Indonesia

Indonesia has so many beautiful and exotic location s. It is enriched by rich culture which lays across the archipelogo. If you are interested in traveling around Indonesia, the following is some of the "have-to" to visit tourism sites.

Surabaya, Out and Around the City

Surabaya is a historical city. It has a long history of dutch colonialization. It also has been known as heroic city due to the period of the revolution for independence in the late 40s. Like other north coastal areas, Surabaya has been the center of financial and administration of East Java for decades, with business and industrial centers spread out around the city. It is the second largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta, with around 3 million inhabitants. These are some popular places out and around Surabaya.

Tugu Pahlawan

Although there are many military statues in and around Surabaya, this one is certainly the most imposing. The heroes monument stands, like a rocket pointed towards the moon, in Taman Kebunrojo opposite the East Java Governor's office in jalan Pahlawan. A statue as tall as 45 yards erected on Pahlawan street is not ornate or even decorative, not particularly large, but its simplicity may have been the deliberate plan of its architect to convey humble, rather than bellicose, pride. The monument becomes a centre of major attention every November 10th, the day in 1945 when Surabaya commemorates those heroes who died during the independence war.

Sunan Ampel Mosque

The mosque of Sunan Ampel was built in 1421 as the center of islamic missionary in Surabaya by Sunan Ampel, one of the biggest ulama as well as father of tons of Indonesian islamic scholar. Sunan Ampel is also believed as the heir of Prophet Mohammad. The mosque architecture is unique as influenced by both javanese and arabic cultures. Even though the mosque is not big and less glorious than other mosque in Surabaya, the regular visitors reach 10.000 people in a single day. The number can be doubled when fasting month of Ramadan comes.

Kya-kya and Jempatan Merah.

Kya kya is a unique chinatown situated next to Sunan Ampel Mosque area. Kya kya is on JL Kembang Jepun (Kembang Jepun road). Kembang Jepun literally means The Japanese Flower. The place was a japanese prostitution area during World War II. Now the area has been developed into a busy small trade city with various human-races and religions involved.
Jembatan merah [literally means Red Bridge] is a historical place in Surabaya. The Allied Armies lost their General in this place. Brigadier General Mallaby of England died in a bomb car accident during World War II. His death triggered one of the biggest battle in Indonesia, Peristiwa Sepuluh Nopember. The 3 weeks battle killed thousand of people both in Indonesia millitias and Allied Forces. Since then, the indonesian government made the first battle day 10th of November as National Heros Day
The death of Mallaby is often considered as the most humilitating tragedy for Allied Forces since they had never lost their general in any battle in world war II even in the battle of Normandia.

House of Sampoerna

Situated in “old Surabaya”‚ this stately Dutch colonial-style compound was built in 1862 and is now a preserved historical site. Previously used as an orphanage managed by the Dutch‚ it was purchased in 1932 by Liem Seeng Tee‚ the founder of Sampoerna‚ with the intent of it being used as Sampoerna’s first major cigarette production facility.
The compound consisted of a large central auditorium‚ two smaller buildings on the east and west sides and numerous large‚ single story‚ open-space structures behind the central auditorium. The side buildings were converted to family residences and the large warehouse-like structures were used to accommodate facilities for tobacco and clove processing‚ blending‚ hand-rolling and packaging‚ printing and finished goods processing.
Today‚ the compound is still functioning as a production plant for Indonesia’s most prestigious cigarette‚ Dji Sam Soe. In commemoration of Sampoerna’s 90th anniversary in 2003‚ the central complex has been painstakingly restored and is now open to public.
The original central auditorium is now a museum and the east side has been transformed into a unique structure containing a café, a merchandise kiosk and an art gallery. The building on the west side remains the official family residence.
The Museum offers a truly unique experience for visitors. From the story of the founding family to closely watching a real hand-roll production facility and ending up with an unforgettable experience of rolling a stick of Dji Sam Soe cigarette yourself. Yes‚ you can join the 3‚500 women in this plant‚ hand-rolling cigarettes using traditional equipment. They do it at a speed of more than 325 sticks per hour

Lumpur Lapindo (Lapindo Muds)

The Sidoarjo mud flow or Lapindo mud, also informally abbreviated as Lusi, a contraction of Lumpur Sidoarjo (lumpur is the Indonesian word for mud), is an ongoing eruption of gas and mud in the subdistrict of Porong, Sidoarjo in East Java, Indonesia (20 kilometers south of Surabaya). It is considered to be a mud volcano. It appears that the flow will continue indefinitely and so far all efforts to stem the flow have failed.
The daily flow was estimated at 7,000–150,000 m³. By early September 2006 a hot torrential mudflow had inundated rice paddies and villages, covering an area of approximately 240 ha. and resulting in the displacement of more than 11,000 people from eight villages in the Porong subdistrict. Twenty-five factories had to be abandoned, rice fields and fish and shrimp ponds were destroyed, which further threatened Sidoarjo's status as the biggest shrimp producer in Indonesia after Lampung. The Marine Resources and Fisheries Ministry has estimated a financial loss of 10.9 billion rupiahs (US$ 1.2 million) to the fisheries business in Tanggulangin and Porong subdistricts. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared the 400 ha area inundated by the mud flow as a disaster-prone area unfit for human habitation. As a consequence, 2,983 families had to be relocated to safer places.