Konferensi Internasional Antar Universitas Se Borneo Kalimantan (KABOKA)

I had just came back from a working holiday in Indonesia. Am very, very excited at the prospect of visiting Indonesia again, as I have always loved my shopping escapades there and the people of Indonesia are definitely very warm and friendly.

This time, I had the opportunity to visit Palangka Raya, Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia. I attended a conference named KABOKA (Konferensi Internasional Antar Universitas Borneo Kalimantan) organized by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) located at Universitas Palangka Raya (UNPAR) in Kalimantan Tengah (or known as Kal-Teng). Apparently short-forms are all the rage so one has to familiar one-self to the different meanings these short-forms stand for.

So, what can I say about Palangka Raya? Small town. Pretty as a picture but hot as a stove. I definitely could feel myself being stuffed and cooked under the hot, hot sun. And the lack of trees certainly aggravated the whole scenario. But then again, the warm welcome that we received certainly made us feel that this trip is indeed going to be a memorable one.

My travel to Indonesia took me about 8 days. Since there is no direct flight to Palangka Raya, we had to travel to Jakarta first and then take the first flight out to Palangka Raya the next morning. Luckily there were a lot of flights to Palangka Raya. So, first night in Jakarta, we spent the time scrounging the shops in Emporium Mall, Pluit. The mall is super nice. Love the smell of bread and biscuits wafting welcoming us into the mall. It all smelled super-delicious, I must say.

There was a bridal fair going on in Emporium. Nice mannequin! =)

The conference was held at the post-graduate centre, UNPAR but we had our opening ceremony at the governor's office. Unfortunately the governor was tied up with another engagement so we had to make do with a representative from his office.

These are photos from our opening ceremony:

In terms of the conference itself, I must admit that there are many subjects of interest to me; one of them was on the use of magic (or the dark arts if you may) in daily life and another touched on the theft of Dayak icons and symbols (including the theft occurrences in Dayak cemeteries *yikes*) and another on the recent Sarawak voting situation (which was very, very interesting).

This is Kak Ratna. She's presenting on behalf of our paper. Thanks Kak! You did a super nice presentation! =)

And this is our paper on mixed marriages in Sarawak.

FYI, this is my first paper being presented for this year. I have a few more planned to be presented and let's hope one (or two) of them brings me back to Indonesia *amin*.

Cheerio y'all and Selamat Hari Gawai Dayak to all my Dayak friends =)

xoxo Fashionista in Action xoxo

Ps: My shopping blog will be next *wink*.