Mayura Park ,Recreation in the centre of the city

The front side of Mayura Park

           Build by Balinese King, Anak Agung Made Ngurah in Lombok at 1744,Mayura park was built as the court temple,in the early days the park was named Klepug park,the name "Klepug" came from the sound of the water that fall in the pool,at those days there's a lot of snakes around the pool and it makes people around the park ecspecially Balinese that want to pray in the temple in the park feel scared and didn't feel comfortable during praying, so the priest suggested the king put some peacock bird in the park because the peacock would eat the snake. Slowly the population of the snake more decrease,and nowdays there's no more snake to be afraid of.
           Because a lot of peacock that guard the park,there's a suggestion to change the park name in to Mayura (or "Mayure" spelled by Sasak and Balinese people) because Mayura it self means peacock in Sanskerta languange.Nowdays, Mayura park not just only for Hindu's people that want to pray,everyone can go to the park as it become the tourism destination.

Bale Kambang

      There are few part in the park, there are a large size of pool with a green garden viewe surround it, and in the centre of the pool there's a house with traditional and unique architecture named "Bale Kambang". In the early days, when age of Deutsche colonialsm, Bale Kambang used as a court house to court the people the had troubled with the law. Beside the pool and Bale Kambang, there are also several Pura that Hindhu's people use to pray. There are Pura Gunung Rinjani,Pura Gedong,Pura Padmasana and Pura Ngelurah. These Puras open for public, it's closed certain time,used by the Hindhus people to pray,ecspecially when the time celebration for Galungan,Kuningan, and any other Hindhu's holly days celebration.

Place for relax

        It's not too difficult if you want to visit or go to the park, because it's located in the centre of Cakranegara,there's a lot of public transport that you can use,from traditional like "bemo" or "angkot" or maybe taxi,you can also rent a motorbike so that you would feel more free to go to anywhere even after you visiting the park. The cost to enter the park it's not too expensive only five hundred Rupiah including for parking and entering ticket.If you looking for more alternitive tourism destination beside beaches,forrests,and waterfalls, the park could be an alternative to bring all your family in vacation.

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Topat's Fight in Lingsar,harmony between two religion

Preparation before "Topat Fight"

            There's a said that "if you go to Bali,you couldn't see Lombok,but if you go to Lombok you could see Bali",litteraly this said had a point,because in Lombok we still can see many Bali's traditional culture, like temple that the Hindhu peoples goes to pray,or few traditions like ogoh - ogoh parade which held once a year before Hindhu's new year, although majority of Sasak people are muslim,but both religion could live in harmony one another,many these Balinese culture we could find in Mataram and West Lombok Regency and also North Lombok Regency,because only these Regencies that could be dominated during the Karangasem kingdom invasion in late of 17th century.One of the temple that still exist until now is  Pura Lingsar in West Lombok Regency, located in Lingsar district,9 kilometers eastwards Mataram make this temple not so hard to find.

People bring "sesaji" as an offering to the Gods

           Built around 1759 by the Karangasem King,Anak Agung Gde Ngurah during the Karang Asem dominitation,the temple originally was to prevailing animist belief at the time.The "Topat/Ketupat Fight" it self is to preserve the spring in the temple,sasak's people call it Kemaliq which mean sacred and they believe that the spring could bring prosperity to the people around the temple,so the Sasak people brought fruit and "topat/ketupat" (rice cakes that had been boiled and steamed and covered by coconut's leave) as an offering to the Gods.

People ready to do the topat fight

             This event held once a year in the 6th full moon in Balinese Calender called "purnaming sasih keenam" and also in the 7th full moon in Sasak's Calender,The event usually held in the afternoon in the time that called " Raraq Kembang Waru" (When Waru Flowers Fall) which is believe it's the sign for the muslim people doing Ashar pray,so after the muslim doing Ashar pray,and the Balinese done with their pujawali praying,the topat fight is ready to be held.Usually it began by the speech from the local government representing by Bupati Lombok Barat (Goverment officer in charge of Lombok Barat regency),and procession followed by traditional dancing and Sasak traditional musik instrument such as kecimol and gendang beleq.

The Balinese people and Sasak people doing topat fight

              After all the opening ceremonial done,Muslim people (from Sasak ) and Hindhu people (from Balinese) ready to do the topat fight,theiy make two groups and stand face to face each other. They start to throw the topat each other,there's no anger or hate in this ceremony,it's symbolize the harmony between the Muslim and the Hindu.After the fight is over people usually brought topat's home,because they believe if they spread it their rice field or plant it could be as a fertilizier and could bring prosperity to the land.

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Tanjung Ringgit, a bay with war history behind it

View from the cliff

             In the south east part of Lombok,at Jerowaru district,we can find an enchanted bay view from the cliff on Tanjung Ringgit,the location is only 1 kilometer eastwards from Tangsi Beach (Pink Beach),beside the cliff,in the same location we can also find the cannon gun that has been abandoned by the Japanese army.The cannon had been using by the Japanese army to fight the allied forces during the world war II,there's also a cave that they used to hide inside it.
           Local people were used to construct the railroad,the cave,(which more likely a tunnel) and emplacement the cannon gun to the top of the ridge, nearby the lighthouse.The gun originally located to prevent the Allied submarines from getting to Lombok.

The Cannon Gun That abandoned by the Japanese army

        If we had a plan to go to the location, maybe there's several things that we might have to prepared before we go.since there's no restaurant or any store that sale any food or drink,we might have to prepared for food and drink before we go,instead the weather is hot in the area,and since there's no public transport that we use to get there, we should use personal transport like rent car or our own vehicle.

View of the bay

            Although some of the railroads in southest Lombok are particularly rough,and specially to Tanjung Ringgit is not easy,it's worthed and fascinating area to explore for those who like more adventure on their trip and vacation.
           

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