Jakarta Seminar 2010 - Part 1

It was a late decision to participate - more of catching up socially with friends from other countries. How often can we all meet together? Informal learning through after diner discussions are very informative too.

The flight from Bangkok arrived late at night. We checked into hotel past midnight. Good that the seminar was held there. Getting up late for breakfast only to find seating space at the rear. An opening remark from Ben Chai - "It has changed from a hobby into a business." Good for him!















Attendees seemed to have doubled compared to our last attendance. P'Jiap noted, many here are multiple bird house owners and some are builder/developers. Very true too, as we met more people to gain an insight to their activities.















Many of us at the back were not paying attention - created a bit of nuisance to new attendees.















See..chatting away caught on camera! I were just as guilty as a party to it here.






The most interesting gadget to me is this feeding hopper demonstrated.





















Many crowd around to get a close look. The conical pan to retrieve fallen pellets; its catchment area can be increased with extension plate attachments.














See the food pellets at the base of the cone, blown into air space above like a fountain.















The air blower doing the job mounted below.





















When the event was over, everyone puts up broad smiles to remember the day.














Visited EKA Walet on day before departing for the airport. This entrance hole steel frame caught my eyes. Its design is small and narrow to prevent burglars entry - only seen in Indonesia.

Jakarta Seminar 2010 - Part 2, the field trip

The field trip was to Panimbang again, western tip of Java. I wasn't keen initially but changed my mind when I heard Pak Hen was going to show us his revamped bird house. That would be an eye opener.

The two large tour buses were in full capacity for a 3 hr ride.














A routine stop for toilet break & refreshments, nothing fancy.





















Just few steps behind, the scenery in the backdrop was beautiful.




























See the crowd gathered in front of Pak Hen's bird house, waiting for their turn to enter.














A small group of five at a time... notice the bazooka beside entrance pointing towards a neighbor.





















I can't take the heat waiting in the yard, so I wandered off to check the neighborhood.





















When the internal tour was over, we visited another part of the town with cluster of bird houses. A re-visit I would say.





















This looks like a fortress!















Bird house, bird house & more bird houses!





















To local residents, it seem like an invasion of camera wielding aliens.















An alley fronted by bird houses both sides.






















Row of bird houses along the road. Residential houses are amply overshadowed.















The village money changer sells LPG gas too!














This is supposed the 70Kg (probably per harvest) bird house. Local residents said the sight of birds is awesome on rainy weather. We all decide to wait.















Boredom sets in as everybody idled to kill time waiting for the swiftlets to return.















It was a bit of anti-climax as not many birds as expected. Maybe we set our expectations too high in the first place. By then it wasn't bright to take good pictures so I gave it a miss.

Pak Hen's seminar in jakarta

Soon as the word went out to my group of farming friends in Thailand, response to Pak Hen's seminar in Jakarta was unexpectedly positive. My first concern was the language used in seminar presentation. But Pak Hen was kind to assure us he would conduct additional sessions during the evening in English.

Came 7th August '09, we gathered at Suvarnabhumi Airport to depart for Jakarta.
















Checking in with good spirits.
















Attendance was good - more than a hundred and probably 1/2 from Malaysia.
















Though several topics were covered in Bahasa Indonesia, the visual projections helped to keep interest alive.
















All participants gathered for a photo shot after 2 days.
















The third day was an optional tour to farming towns to the western end of Java - Panimbang, along the Sunda Straits between Java & Sumatra.















The journey took perhaps 4 hrs, so you can imagine the outcome of the first toilet break.
















Norodin Top's wanted poster was prominently displayed on the toilet walls outside. Andy posed beside and thought he has the bounty on his head!
















Midway we visited a small processing center at a village en-route.
















The ladies continue with their work pretending we were not present.





















Of course snapping photos of each others is another activity.
































P'Moo pretended he is the new owner of the processing biz!





















We had sea food barbeque - Indo style for lunch. Simply delicious.





































Getting off the bus finally reaching Panimbang.
















This huge bird house is sadi to produce 70Kg per harvest!
















Most Indo bird houses we saw has small entrance holes, located at multi-levels.
















'Saw-tooth' metal plate installed on top to protect against bulgary.

















Not far is what thje local named "Malaysian Complex", a group of bird houses by Malaysian investors. The compound is protected by 4m wall all roound.
















This bird house has sliding metal barrier gate to keep owls away, manually lowered each evening.





















Pak Hen's bird house in the area.
















This swiftlet was seen struggling to get off the 'parabolic' wire mesh. Something to watch out for in selection the wire mesh.
















We find this ferris wheel on a tricycle more interesting than bird house actually.
















On the day before departing, we dropped by at EKA Walet's shop to check out what are in store.

Fascinating to see these newly incubator hatched chicks.
















We purchase 100 eggs back to experiment with. They will be distributed in some of our bird houses to hatch.
















Overall, it was an informative and enjoyable trip.