Buyat Bay may be the next great dive destination of North Sulawesi, in the heart of the Coral Triangle. The world's largest privately funded reef restoration project continues there since an American mining giant ceased operations earlier this decade.
This remote, pristine environment has thrills to offer divers willing to stray from the beaten path.
The lone dive operator hosting excursions to Buyat Bay hopes that tourism potential here will be realized to the benefit of both the delicate underwater treasures and the local population left unemployed after the end of the gold rush. Sustainable tourism may be the path to a more broad-based prosperity for the future.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/12/19/buyat-bay-reborn.html
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Say it with SMS
A recent article in The Economist contrasts the cultures of cell phone use and nomenclature around the world. Indonesians are cited for their text-happy culture. On some networks, Indonesian cell phone users send an average 1,000 texts a month.
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15172850
In Indonesia, cell phones or mobiles are called HPs (pronounced like "ha-pay" or "ha-pei"), otherwise known as hand phones. Texts are called SMS (short message service). In many instances, a brief sms is preferred to a brief call, which is more expensive.
Indonesians want to be connected. Like the Spanish, according to The Economist, people keep their HPs on all the time and feel free to interrupt almost anything to attend to an incoming call or sms. In my language class, the instructor will halt everything to take a call if his phone rings during class.
At my first Indonesian wedding, as the bride and groom sat grandly center stage in front of 300 people, the groom's mother, also seated onstage, chatted on her HP throughout parts of the ceremony. Quite an initiation into cell phone culture here!
With the recent new year and holiday season, I received thoughtful well wishes by sms. In lieu of Christmas cards, plenty of Indonesians (especially Christians) send happy holiday wishes to friends via sms. New Year's offers an opportunity for a reflective, poetic sms to ring in the fresh start and look forward to the future.
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15172850
In Indonesia, cell phones or mobiles are called HPs (pronounced like "ha-pay" or "ha-pei"), otherwise known as hand phones. Texts are called SMS (short message service). In many instances, a brief sms is preferred to a brief call, which is more expensive.
Indonesians want to be connected. Like the Spanish, according to The Economist, people keep their HPs on all the time and feel free to interrupt almost anything to attend to an incoming call or sms. In my language class, the instructor will halt everything to take a call if his phone rings during class.
At my first Indonesian wedding, as the bride and groom sat grandly center stage in front of 300 people, the groom's mother, also seated onstage, chatted on her HP throughout parts of the ceremony. Quite an initiation into cell phone culture here!
With the recent new year and holiday season, I received thoughtful well wishes by sms. In lieu of Christmas cards, plenty of Indonesians (especially Christians) send happy holiday wishes to friends via sms. New Year's offers an opportunity for a reflective, poetic sms to ring in the fresh start and look forward to the future.
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