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KangGURU Travels to Jakarta in August 2005

Kevin went to Jakarta to visit the Australian Embassy, IALF Jakarta and to conduct an interview with Ade Rai.

KGRE Travels - Jakarta Aug. 10th to 13th, 2005

It always amazes me every time I fly to Jakarta. The sight of Mt. Semeru exploding smoke and ash high into the air above the Java landscape is always spectacular. I guess it is not really erupting in the true sense - there's no lava for one thing, just dust. The smoke or ash billows into the air every 10 minutes or so. But on Wednesday the 10^th of August there was also a significant dust or ash cloud covering the nearby hills and valleys too. I look forward to the seeing the bursts of smoke and ash from Semeru each time I fly past.

This photograph does not really show just how huge the billowing smoke and ash is. Look at the height of Mt Semeru. It is 3676 meters high so that smoke must be high in the air as well. Can you see how much above the mountain the smoke is?

Kevin took this photo from the plane

Semeru is the tallest volcano on the island of Java and is also one of its most active. This volcano, also known as Mahameru (Great Mountain), is very steep and rises abruptly above the coastal plains of eastern Java. Semeru lies at the south end of the Tengger Volcanic Complex.

Semeru's eruptive history is extensive. Since 1818, at least 55 eruptions have been recorded there (10 of which being fatal) consisting of both lava flows and pyroclastic flows. Moderate explosive eruptions
(VEI 2-3) have also been recorded with some regularity.Semeru has been in a state of near-constant eruption since 1967, a state which continues today. At times, eruptions occur regularly at intervals of about 10 minutes.

Check out this WIKIPEDIA website for more information.

I met with computer whizzes, Tony and Daniel, in Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon to discuss about changes and improvements to the KGRE website. Although the basically simple website is pretty popular there still needs to be changes made in layout and content. Keep a look out at the website during late August to early September 2005.

On Thursday I visited IALF Jakarta to work together with Geoff Crewes, CEO of the organization. It is a big job to plan for the future months and years of KGRE in Indonesia. Geoff and I spent many hours thinking about KGRE - the clubs, the readers and listeners, the next magazine and so on. In the afternoon I worked in my hotel room on the August 2005 Reading Class Set.

On Friday I visited the Australian Embassy. I met with Amber from ACIAR (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research),to talk about how KGRE can help to promote the very important work of that organization. ACIAR works in Indonesia but also works in the agricultural field all around the world. Amber gave me some wonderful prizes from ACIAR to use on the KGRE website - Quickies Page. Keep a look out for those in September.

In the afternoon I met with Gene Sugandy of Yakindo Web Designs to chat about the KGRE website and the introduction of Dreamweaver as a website tool. It is always great to go to Gene's house in Jakarta because her cook makes the best rendang in the world - well, I think so anyway.

On Saturday I visited the Balai Sarbini in Jakarta. I was there last year interviewing Joy and Delon from Indonesia Idol but this time it was an interview with well known Indonesian fitness athlete, Ade Rai. He was waiting for me in Starbucks at the mall and we quickly got on with the interview. Ade spoke clearly and confidently about his career in body building, his passionate interest in fitness and his fight against drugs, especially in the sport of body building. Our interview lasted close on 60 minutes and we covered topics such as nutrition and healthy eating plus his career and future plans. Ade will be on KGRE soon and will be featured in the December 2005 magazine.

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