Today's plan is to hold a commemorative ceremony for the Yamaha GREEN PROJECT in Sumedang and then tour to the nation's capital, Jakarta. Our departure from our hotel in Bandung at 7:30 a.m. was the earliest of our tour thus far. For our JUPITER MX (T135) tour, the route to Sumedang was actually a partial retracing of yesterday's route.
Sumedang lies halfway between Bandung and Cirebon. For the GREEN PROJECT ceremony a special PAN-ASEAN TOURING "IT'S EXCITING!" event site set up in front of the provincial government building and a large crowd of children, students and adults had gathered there for the event despite it being a weekday morning. The members of the JUPITER MX (T135) tour switched from their machines to "Andong" horse-drawn carriages to be escorted to the event site. The provincial Governor, the Honorable Don Murdono, greeted the tour members amidst performances of music by gamelan and other Indonesian instruments and the traditional "Teri Payung" and "Teri Merak" dances of Sumedang. Later, at the ceremony, our tour's representative, Mr. Terada presented the Governor with one of the "Jati" trees that is to be planted.
The GREEN PROJECT plan for Sumedang calls for some 50,000 of these jati seedlings to be planted in various parts of the province. At the end of the ceremony the tour members tried their dancing skills by joining in a performance of the traditional "Jaipang" dance of the region's Sunda people. All in all, it was a gala but very friendly ceremony that afforded us many chances for exchanges with the people of Sumedang.
Our JUPITER MX (T135) tour finally left Sumedang far behind schedule and rode back through Bandung and then on through Cianjur, the famous Jakarta resort area of Punchak and finally into the city of Jakarta itself, where we arrived at Yamaha's flagship shop at 6:00 in the evening. This marked the conclusion of the first half of the Indonesian leg of the PAN-ASEAN TOURING "IT'S EXCITING!" Tomorrow we cross to the island of Sumatra, known for its wealth of natural beauty and biodiversity.
GREEN PROJECT in the Sumedang highlands
Tour representative, Mr. Terada, presents a "Jati" seedling to the provincial Governor, the Hon. Don Murdono
The tour members tried their footwork in a traditional "Jaipang" dance. The crowd showed their appreciation with loud applause
The members after arriving at Yamaha's flagship shop in Jakarta. Here in Jakarta some of the countries' riders are being replaced by their next rider, and you could hear them congratulating each other on the successful progress so far pledging to press on through the coming portion of the tour
