TAKENGON - Gayo HORSE Racing, COFFEE, Mie Aceh & Putri Pukes (Central Aceh)
what's up you guys and welcome back to the channel my name is Kristian Hansen in today's episode we are in the Gayo highlands in Central Aceh or more specifically the city of Takengon world famous for it's arabica coffee the 17 kilometre long Lake Laut Tawar and home to the Gayo Racing Let's ride! this is a very small taxi Welcome to the Gayo Land coming from Berastagi the day before i had arrived at Blangkejeren a sub-district economic hub and capital of the Gayo Lues regency here i had stayed the night at hotel Mulia for 350 000 rupiah good morning guys it is a beautiful morning here in Blangkejeren Aceh oy we got a bit of morning traffic Morning' Mates and I have around 150 - 170 kilometers to go Takengon so let's hit the road and see what kind of landscape we can expect here from Aceh today It's already beautiful! big fan of Aceh already big fan of Aceh and I just learned yesterday that here in this area this area is called Gayo Lues and they speak their own language here which is called bahasa Gayo so i've only learned one thing so far and that is Thank you is Berejen in the Gayo Language but hopefully i can learn some more because in Takengon they also speak the Gayo language you know guys i just love the life in these small villages you know it's like its own little planet its own little world people are riding slower on their bikes the cows are walking free got the vast view over the fields it's so far from traffic from stress from yeah a normal business life i would say I love it! i wish the roads in java was like this on top of the world holy smokes! sometimes you gotta remember just to stop and enjoy the view (gibbon sounds) i don't think you guys can hear it on the camera but i can hear the gibbons saying and I can hear Orangutangs as well that's just crazy while i'm stopping here see if i can spot any gibbons or orangutans someone drives past me here in the middle of nowhere up in the mouth and he's saying hello Kristian Hansen the power of youtube that's just crazy you can just hear the gibbons [ __ ] me it's good! I wish Magnus could be here (younger brother) the road's on the way to Takengon are like a wet dream for motorcyclists great, curved, inclined roads and almost no cars but this can also be dangerous because some drivers then think that they can drive like its Moto GP (DUMB: sign language) so please cars and bikes stay in your own lane for the safety of yourself and others all right guys it's time for a lunch stop i found this place on google maps actually Pangmoed here on my way to Takengon on and this is honestly the best coffee i've had in a very long time i already finished my iced coffee it's only fifteen thousand rupiah and it's has a special name here in Acehnese coffee i guess it's called Sanger, right bro? The person I told you about earlier who was shouting Kristian Hansen as I was driving he is right here so nice to meet you ya nice to meet you he has actually been watching my channel ever since i started the journey what are the odds that we need here yeah all right time to dig in and back on the road i had finally reached the city of Takengon famous for its view over the 17 kilometer long lake Laut Tawar which means the tasteless sea I had found a great little hotel called Fairuz hotel just a little over a year old and named after the owner's son, Fairuz the rooms looked really good spacious clean and with the euro toilet I messed it up quite fast though as i spent the first many days editing from the room All right guys, I made it here to Takengon the capital of central Aceh i've been staying here at hotel Fairuz now for three days editing my new videos so now i thought it's time to show you guys the Takengon on i've been seeing the last few days i've basically just been yeah staying in hotel and just during the lunchtime dinner time i've been walking down these small streets trying to find some food and there's plenty of these street vendors where they usually focus on Aceh noodles, So Mie Aceh is the famous noodle dish here from the aceh province it's super tasty so many ingredients it's very spicy i've already had it a few times and i absolutely love Mie Aceh good morning guys so since Aceh is famous for their coffee i thought let's go ahead and try some of the coffee because right behind me is the store called San coffee and they have everything from the wine process, fermented wine, the full wash, the half wash so let's go ahead and try some coffee and say hi to the guys Good morning How are you? Good Can I try some coffee? yes ready All the coffee made in Gayo is Arabica different types of Arabica there are many ways the coffee can be processed into many varieties, there are wine, special kinds and many more Gayo coffee is very famous in foreign countries Why is it so popular? maybe because the process start from the planting the care until the process of picking the berry which are very red then continuing to the drying process so guys this is gayo expresso yes? yes the bean is full wash? full wash ya let's try it ya the level of roasting is medium medium ya? yes medium there's so much flavour in this coffee i also tasted their very popular wine coffee even though the name refers to an alcoholic beverage it's actually a halal beverage with the taste of wine but without any alcohol content cheers (danish) so i ended up having a long talk with iksan and Windi because they were so passionate about coffee hey guys in Takengon it's called Bentor 3 wheeled taxi like taxi of Takengon? yes like Takengon taxi TTDJ be careful when riding see you guys Thank you (gayo) you are welcome (gayo) bye guys hello guys so this is the parking guy that always waves at me when i come by hey bro hey bro! how are you? good good smiling and kind people all over here in Takengon as i was looking for oil for Turangga i came across a young crew listening to some typical indonesian techno so i asked them how to dance to that and they were happy to show me all right so time to go back to the hotel and regroup but i have to try this local taxi this is so cool it's like a small car this is a very small taxi thank you Mr. thank you (gayo) you are welcome (gayo) all right guys it's time for dinner here in Takengon and i've gone here to my favorite place Mila Sari 2 where i will be having aceh noodles so Aceh noodles are very famous dish here in Aceh it's basically noodles with a ton of different spices usually it's a bit spicy and that's the way i like it so i thought i would show you guys tonight how they cook it so let's get some dinner do you even say that? makan malam? let's get something to eat! good job! thank you Iqbal while i was waiting here for the guys to cook the aceh noodles i met Eric and Dinar here on what'sapp so Dinar is in Bandung right now and she's a subscriber yes? yes! dinar, say hi to youtube she is a big fan of you dinar when you're watching this on youtube thank you so much for your support ya thank you so much bye bye so i actually had a ton of thing planned out for today but this is what can happen when you're on a trip uh by yourself eating tons of different food so i'm super sick at the moment so i thought this might be a good time to answer one of my Orang Baik members, Matt's question where he asked me what about the like mental challenges of being alone on the road and this fits perfectly to one of them because if there's one thing that's not nice it is being in a in a new place by yourself when you're sick luckily this morning the hotel they brought me some breakfast when they realized i didn't show up at the buffet so.. yeah all right.. back to sleep good morning guys it's another beautiful day here in indonesia and luckily i'm feeling well again the hotel staff that are super kind to me yesterday bringing me snacks and food making sure i was okay and i really appreciate that so the plan is today that i will be visiting one of the most biggest coffee factories here in Aceh and learn some more about coffee let's get to it and let's get back on the road all right guys change of plans so apparently the jockeys they ride early in the mornings so i will come back instead tomorrow morning so now we will go straight to the coffee factory and see how they process the coffee here before sending it to starbucks in USA so PROTIP guys if you want to see the jockeys practice you must come in the morning from seven to nine or afternoon from around four and I had then arrived at the KBQ coffee factory welcome please welcome in KBQ Baburrayan so guys i've been texting with Mr Harris because Mr Harris he knows a lot about coffee right? okay thank you we just do the drying and then sorting and packaging in green bean, not roast bean not roast bean? yes USAID helped the farmers for 3 years for taking care of the farmers because many farms had been damaged after the Memorandum of understanding the Tsunami was in 2004 the MOU was made in 2005 and continued so in order for me to understand the process the best we started from the beginning in Mr. Harris backyard with the picking of the coffee berries most of the 3500 farmers that sell to KBQ are located up in the mountains the Arabica plant thrives best in higher altitude tropical climate, sufficient rain and temperatures between 18 to 26 degrees this is why the arabica coffee is often referred to as the mountain coffee after the farmers are finished with picking it's time for pulping the process of separating the coffee bean from the berry the beans are left with a white sugary layer called Mucilage after pulping the beans are put in a plastic bag for 24 hours for fermentation where the breakdown of the mucilage brings sweetness inside the coffee bean we then went back to the factory where KBQ buys the dry coffee from the farmers first the farmers brings the coffee here from the harvest to be checked we smell cupping test then we pay if it's not okay if the coffee is damaged the coffee is not good then we send it back if the coffee is good the price is also high right now, the price is 80.000 rupiah per kg wow it is incredibly hot in here guys so this is where they are drying the green beans before they export it and you know the smell it reminds me of being at my father's farm in Denmark he has these big silos full of wheat for making bread and it's exactly the same smell this bag is for Starbucks so guys if you are drinking starbucks coffee some place in america it could be coming from right here yes? because Starbucks have many distributors right? but if you are lucky it might be coming just from here let's go inside and see the packaging process wow inside the factory the beans are sorted three times for size, weight and colour they are first sorted into the size separating the smaller beans from the larger beans the highest quality beans will be marked for export abroad and the lesser quality will be sold to the local market the local market quality sells for around 50 000 rupiah per kilo versus the export market quality that sells for around 100 000 rupiah per kilo the coffee husk or the shell are separated first as it's the lightest and it's most commonly used in fertilizer the beans are then cleaned for rocks nails or other metallic things that might have been in the bags from the farmer all this is separated from the beans by using a very strong magnet the beans then continue down the the belt into the next room for the color sorting process previously a manual process but today a 27.000 dollar machine
sorts it into the colour you desire at lightening speed and once again continuing down the belt the beans go through the final cleaning where another magnet picks up any sand that might be left on the beans the final step is the blending machine where large and small beans are mixed together into exactly 61 kilo portions which goes into the organic made coconut fiber bags they are then sewn together and are then finally ready for export the arabica coffee that we cultivate and buy from the farmers this is the origin that we export and this is for Starbucks Seattle in one year we can send to Starbucks Seattle around 70 full containers per year with the assistance from the farmers the process can be good and organic but it can be difficult because if the farmers used chemicals it's a lot faster for them and if they have to grow organic it's a lot more difficult and the process takes longer Mr. Harris continued to teach me about the process and gave me his best pro tips to making the best possible cup of coffee this is wrong then the coffee becomes bitter it bites then many people removes the top you must not do this this is not good for your health really not good for health how can you make the coffee so it doesn't bite don't use sugar and he said don't use boiled water from a thermos because it will make the coffee sour if the water is not hot enough only use one topped tablespoon per cup and don't pour directly once the water has been boiled it needs to sit one minute before it's ready to be poured once you have poured the hot water wait for a few minutes few minutes to let the coffee oxidate before you put on a lid the flavour of the coffee will be blocked by the top layer after a few minutes you can start stirring in the top layer five five rounds of full circles and half circles you can then finally put a lid on the coffee to keep it warm and you know you've made a good cup of coffee if you see white cream like this on your spoon and lastly and most importantly drinking coffee is always best when drinking with a friend cheers see you Harris thank you you're welcome i had noticed that the oil levels on Turangga was getting very low so i had to find a place to change the oil the problem was that there were nowhere in Takingon that had the proper oil for a ktm 390 adventure the 10W50 so i made a quick call to my mechanic and KTM specialist bro Herman in Jakarta and he advised me that it was okay to use 10W40 until i could find a place that had the proper oil thank god that bro Herman from MWG he could help me you know whenever i have anything with Turangga you know i just call him and the MWG crew they will help me out so thank you so much guys i appreciate you because the last time I changed oil was in Jakarta and that's five months ago and around 3500 kilometers so.. always remember to take good care of your bike good girl good girl thank you guys welcome to Indonesia yea thank you (gayo) you are welcome (gayo) besides the coffee, Takengon is famous for their two yearly horse racing events these events has been viewed millions of spectators, since the dutch colonial rule on a mix of Australian and Gayo horses jockeys ride every day to train the next upcoming champion horse this can be a dangerous sport so i sat down with the 27 year old jockey, Jay an expert on training young horses in order to fully understand how it feels to be a jockey during these big events my name is Tam J I don't have wife or kids yet my practice starts from early morning until 10.00 oclock In the afternoon, I do it again For the big events they are in August and February and it's not very easy in the beginning its very difficult but not so much anymore now it's okay I still get scared but mostly because I am afraid to loose just afraid I will loose The horse is already fast and a winner, so If i loose that will scare me just like that when people are watching there is a very big crowd on both sides of the track the risk is quite high the people watching they go in and out in and out this can also be a bit scary for watching the big events there are most of them in Aceh This event is a traditional evet in aceh. the spectators can be up to 100.000 the arena is completely full for these events for example for the practice I get paid per horse and for more events, I can get 20% of winnings and I can make a bit more money from the crowd, it's the tradition in Aceh.
In Indonesia we call this Sawer (crowd support) I dont have my own horse I am just a rider If I can just ride then I am happy why is it so popular here in Central Aceh? Because it's a tradition previously when we had this tradition it was just in the middle of a field in Takengon previously it was in another location, but it has grown rapidly and now become very famous it became famous and it became a part of the culture original central aceh culture the gayo culture there are many who asks why is it in Takengon? how is it a tradition? how is the food? it's because in Gayo we have so much culture and so many traditions in all of Aceh, I think most of the traditions are in central Aceh That is the Gayo Land Takengon, Excellent and amazing Welcome to the Land of Gayo after an eventful morning i took Turangga around the lake to find a hidden cave and to learn the legend of Lake Laut Tawar and the story of princess pukes so guys this is one of the places that you have to visit if you come here to Takengon so right now i'm inside the cave of Putri pukes it means the princess pukes and there's a lot of histories about this princess so i'm going to make a short one because i know someone is going to say that's not the right one there's another real one the story is like this so the princess pukes she wants to marry a prince from another kingdom and originally her parents won't allow her but eventually they give after and let princess pukes travel to the other kingdom to be with her prince but on the night of the departure her parents tells her you can go as long as you don't look back and of course the princess she goes but eventually she looks back and as she looks back the thunder goes down on her heavy rain as well and then she takes shelter inside of this cave as she's up against the walls taking shelter for the rain she can feel the cold starting to come over her body and the rain as she starts to become a part of the rock as the cried here in the cave the story goes that her tears is what make up Lake Laut Tawar that's a story believe it or not but you know Indonesians they always like a good story especially when it's in a spooky cave before saying goodbye i sat down with the head of tourism in Central Aceh to give my five cents on the future tourism for Takengon and he had a few words he would like to share with you all Let's all visit Takengon together my time in Takengon had come to an end and what an adventure it had been the Indonesian hospitality truly lives up to its reputation here it once again reminded me of the importance of smiling it's so contagious so to all the lovely people i met and who helped make this video i say Berejen (thank you) keep smiling i hope this video will inspire more people to come and visit your wonderful city and that's going to be it for this episode guys thank you so much for watching as Turangga and i we traveled around Takengon, Central Aceh Thank you (indonesian) Thank you (Mentawai) Thank you (Batak) Thank you (Minang) or as we say here in Gayo Thank you (gayo) thank you guys see you soon good job Turranga good girl that was a nice outro don't forget to like and subscribe don't forget to come to the event in August in Aceh bye stay tuned for the next episode where the journey continues through the mountains of Central Aceh to the coastal city of Meulaboh along the USAID road before finally reaching the city of Banda Aceh I've received so many comments saying Kris be careful Banda Aceh is not safe but I refuse to believe this so in this episode to prove it to you guys i've invited my mother and her husband John all the way from Denmark and together we are going to explore Banda Aceh Welcome to Banda Aceh welcome guys to Banda Aceh
2022-08-10 03:17
