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Nias Island, Indonesia






Nias Island is located off the northwest coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatera. Nias is famous for its waves for surfing and a lot of world champion surfers come to this place to take pleasure in surfing. Even though I’m not a surfer, luckily my pervious job at an NGO brought me to Nias. I was assigned to lead a capacity building training for the local staff at the Nias Office which located in Lolowa’u.

When I arrived at the airport check-in counter to head to Nias, I was queuing with a lot of Caucasian guys with their big and long surf boards!! I had to duck down and moved aside a little bit here and there everytime they moved. Haha!

I could tell they must be serious surfers because Nias Island is considered a small, remote and undeveloped island in Indonesia. If those surfers could almost kill me to go to Nias Island, that means there is something special about this island. Being there myself, I have to tell you that Nias Island offers world class waves for surfers. The well-known beach for surfing competition is Sorake and Lagundri Beach.

The venue of the training workshop I led was at Moale Beach. It is only one of the many beautiful beaches in Nias. The training was a fun learning process and everyone seemed to really enjoy the activities.

Besides better known Banda Aceh, Nias was also affected by the earthquake and tsunami in 2004. One thing that I found was a lot of dead corals around the beach. This happened after the earthquake and tsunami since the water level is now lower than the corals on the beach. It made me so sad that this natural disaster not only destroyed human life but beautiful nature as well.

*Something I never forget about Nias is in the morning I left that Island, I saw Nias kids wearing their school uniform to go to school and they used banana leaves to cover their heads because they didn’t have umbrellas. It was such a heartbreaking moment in my life and I couldn’t hold back my tears*




20 comments:

原味.风铃 said...

what job you are working? so good! can go so many place play...
i also like those job can go to travel anywhere. hope when i graduate can find those job. haha~

Rintjez said...

原味.风铃
Yeah, I'm so lucky to be able to work and travel at the same time :)
Haha..you should find a job that will allow you to travel! It's fun! Haha!

Oman said...

beautiful landscapes. i would definitely have the time of my life if i am there.

Rintjez said...

Lawstude:
Thanks for visiting :)

Yes, you totally would have the best time of your life there :)

nca said...

wwaahh pengennn ke sonoo..tapi lum bisa..hehe..btw u backpaker yah?

Rintjez said...

Nca:
Iyah, biasanya aku backpacking kalo traveling sendiri dan ga dibayarin kantor. Haha!

Yuukk...kapan-kapan backpacking bareng!

Poppus said...

lu gak motret anak-anak yang pake daun pisang itu? kalo ada fotonya pasti jadi moment yang ngena!

Poppus said...

btw, lu nyobain lompat batu khas nias gak? hahahah! eh gw mah bingung kok bisa ya mereka melompat setinggi itu, yang jelas mah badan mereka gak mungkin segede gw kaan untuk bisa melompat kayak gitu hahah

nca said...

katanya kerja sambil jalan2?? kerja apaaaa?? seru banget tuhh..
baru pulang dari anyer nih, tapi kayanya pantai anyer ga da apa2nya deh dibanding di nias..gw suka foto pasirnya..

menurut gw, di indo sebenernya ada banyak banget objek wisata yang bagus2 selaen bali, cuman ga keurus aja, publikasinya juga kurang, makanya yang terkenal cuman bali..sayang banget...

btw dah pernah ke bunakenn?? bagus yaa??

Rintjez said...

Brokoli Sehat:
Gw ga foto karena pagi itu hujan lumayan deres :( I only have a mental picture in my mind :)

Gw ga sempet liat lompat batu, tapi temen2 gw liat dan katanya keren gitchu! Bwahahaha, gw ga mau bahas deh mengenai ukuran-ukuran badan!!

Nca:
Belum pernah ke Bunaken :( Tapi pengen banget! Pengen scuba diving disana!

Iya gw setuju, publikasi keindahan Indonesia kurang banget, padahal nature dan culture kita unik sekali! Yuukk..kita bantuin publikasi lewat tulisan-tulisan di blog kita aja :D

laurencia said...

wow keyeeeeeeeeeeeen

Rintjez said...

Laurencia:
Thanks banget....

Keeeuurreeennn dong....
INDONESIA gitu lhooo!!!!

Ivana said...

saya suka artikelnya.
Foto-fotonya indah dan tak lupa dibumbui dengan cerita mengharukan di akhir (halaah!!)
O iya sis, ada award buat blog kamu di blog aku. Diterima yah?

Anonymous said...

By the way..have i told you that i like your blog..hehe...Keep it up and yeah Indonesia is Beautiful, not only Bali (because Bali is always exposed more than any place in Indonesia)...But whole of beautiful places in Indonesia...Cheers

Anonymous said...

wow! you;ve got great photos! and cool blog too.. keep it up!

Lalaine's World
From Asia and Beyond
Day to Day Miracles

mencobahidup said...

wah fotonya hde euy, sepertinya anda seorang profesional. Sambil kerja minum air laut : }. Pleasure job

Rintjez said...

Ivana:
Melankolis dikit kan ga papa. Hehe. Lagian emang sedih banget, masak sih payung aja kudu pake daon pisang??

Awardnya akan segera di publish say! Thanks ya!

Budget Traveler:
Thanks mate! I will keep up the good work :)

Mencoba hidup:
Anda salah! Saya bukan propesional. Saya cuman modal jepret dan untungnya ada juga hasil yang bagus..

Daniel said...

The picture with the two little rock islands in the wave totally remnd me of the Oregon coast! So u don't have to go the States, too :D

Check this one:
http://barnu.fotki.com/travel/usa/oregon/haystack.html

And this one is from Washington State:
http://barnu.fotki.com/travel/usa/washington-state/first_beach.html

So similar - fascinating! :)

DuDuGi said...

It's very nice pictures. I like this blog

Rintjez said...

Daniel:
Thanks for sharing your pictures :)
Yes, they are very similar!! Unbelievebale!

Blogendeng:
Makasih udah mampir! I'm glad you enjoy my blog :)