Hey there, today I would like to share something about my experience visiting Indonesia last year for a humanitarian project and cultural exchange in a village near Jogjakarta. For the first time visit, my friends and I went to the village by a mini coaster that took us from Jogjakarta Airport. Then, our journey took about 8 hours (it's quite long with a few stops). That was tiring but we're delighted by some picturesque scenery around the road that we passed especially the paddy fields.
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| A picturesque scenery at paddy field. |
It was very cool as I came from a modernized city life that makes me amazed when seeing those huge green paddy fields around the road in this country. Well, Indonesia is the world's third-largest rice producer and also one of the world's biggest rice consumers. Rice is the most important food crop in the country. Prime Javanese paddy fields roughly 6 metric tons of unmilled rice) per hectare. The fertile volcanic soil of much of the Indonesian archipelago and particularly the islands of Java and Bali has made rice a central dietary staple. Rice harvesting in Central Java is often performed not by owners or sharecroppers of paddy, but rather by itinerant middlemen, whose small firms specialize in harvesting, transport, milling and distribution to markets.
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| A farmer is assembling the paddy seeds. |
After the arrival, we were brought into the paddy field which is located exactly around the village. It was really interesting for me to watch those local farmers busy arranging the paddy seeds in the muddy paddy field. One of them asked me to join. Wow, that was the most exciting moment that I've before. Yeah, dumping in the mud for the first time! For that first time, it was an awkward moment since my feet were sticky inside the paddy field plus cools my feet in the hot and sunny weather. Every mistake that I've done were patiently corrected by the local farmers. They giggled at me when I fell down into the mud. It was a hilarious moment for them so do to my friends who watched my silly scene. After a few trials, I've managed to assemble paddy seeds for two boxes of field. It was very tiring that made me feel exhausted which affected me during the night when my friends noticed me that I snored a lot while sleeping in the living room of the village's chief house as our homestay.
