Sumatra Coffee, Experience The Luxurious Flavor Of Indonesia

by: Joey Maldonado 

Sumatra coffee is an essential strain of the Sumatran culture, and the location is famous for producing one of the most decomposable coffees in the world. In general, Sumatra coffee tends not to be sold by quantity like in some other countries, but instead strict guidelines are used. These guidelines are supported around the picking activity and processing of the beans. There are several kinds of brands available, such as beans that are grown in the Sumatran West called "Gayo Elevation". This coffee tends to be sweeter than other varieties. It is produced just inland from the South coast and has taken its name from the Indonesian people that were once responsible for its production.

Sunset at Zakat Beach (2)

Courtesy of  D. Cahyadi (2011)

Another view of Pantai Panjang

Courtesy of D. Cahyadi (2011)

Gold in Bengkulu: Hidden treasure?

Many people in Bengkulu, especially those who live in the Municipality of Lebong believe that their area somehow deposits natural gold mineral under their ground forest. This might be true as Lebong used to be well known as one of gold mining area since 18^th century. In fact, until now the traditional mining still remains as one of the living source and is particularly practiced in the area of Lebong Simpang. Here in this area where people traditionally mine the gold, using the man natural power, digging, digging and digging manually.  Right now, there are also some companies in the preparation to settle their exploration in the Municipality of Lebong. However, but they do not focus in Lebong Simpang area. Once a mining company gets operated, it would be the answer to the presence of significant amount of gold. Otherwise, it is just a rumor.

Sunset at Zakat Beach

Courtesy of D. Cahyadi (2011)

View from the Fort of Malborough

Courtesy of D. Cahyadi (2011)

Who to Avoid When Travelling

By: Richard Armen

We’ve all heard the stories. A great vacation takes a sharp turn for the worse with a confrontation that ends in robbery or violence. Although you should be aware of any particular location-related dangers while traveling, you should also be aware of your surroundings. Criminals are predators, and, as such, are often looking for the easiest target. If you look like an outsider – a tourist or vacationer, for example – you may become a target. There are a few simple things that you can do to maintain your awareness of your surroundings and decrease the likelihood that you may become the victim of a crime.

Tabot Festival 2011

Annual festival, Tabot Festival in Bengkulu has been celeberating since November 27 to Desember 6, 2011.  This date will change next year since the celebrating time follows the Islamic Calender, i.e. 1 Muharam to 10 Muharam 1433 H.  Tabot festival is one of the celebrations in Indonesia to welcome the Islamic new year.  This  festival commemorates the death of grandson of The Prophet Muhammad, PUH, i.e. Husein bin Ali bin Abu Thalib.

Official Website of Lebong Municipality

The government of Lebong yesterday (28/09/11) officially launched its municipal website, http://www.lebong-kab.go.id. Bengkulu Ekspress, the provincial newspaper, reported that the Bupati (Mayor) expected that this site will be extensively used to promote the economic development of this municipality by promoting this municipality to the people around the world.  

Fireworks for iedul fitri's eve?

Change? it's probably yes!. I still hard to believe to find the fact that many of young people,  of course teenagers, of Bengkulu spend their iedul fitri's eve by having firework party along the beach, especially around the port of Malborough. The fireworks were personally managed, they take it from home or the store and play it with a small group. Other group will do the same things, and the fireworks then start to continuously take place.  So many people watching the fireworks, hang around in groups in the tent's cafe, enjoying the soft drinks and snacks. They seem really to have a wonderful time, enjoying the party.  But, I personally find a little bit weird, or more precisely i notice that there has been a change in term of the way teenagers of Bengkulu to celebrate their iedul fitri's eve. 

Although I still caught in sight many teenagers celebrating the iedul fitri's eve in front of the mosque and doing other religious activities, the fireworks along the beach still somehow bothers me.  I need to accept this change.  The point that I want to underline that there has been a shifting way of teenagers of Bengkulu's town to wrap up their ramadhan, from religious activities to less religious, from the mosque to the beach. My neighbors said that more people and more fireworks involve this year compared to the previous years. Time  goes, people change, but belief and the way to practice it should not change!. I will see how this thing will take place in the next coming years.

Recommended references to know more about Bengkulu

The use of bamboo tube for pepper establishment

zie, 2011

This technique might not be sophisticated, it is a local wisdom indeed. It does help farmers to have successful pepper transplanting in the mulched soil bed.  Farmers practice this method as they always find that their peppers often suffer from transplanting shocks.  I would presumed that  pepper seedlings successfully have field establishment as the bamboo tube protects the young  plant from heat stress, or from the air borne pathogen, or from the wind stress. Anyway, this local wisdom is practiced by many farmers. They also said that the tube could also serve as ‘canal’ to provide supplementary fertilizers. However, further research should be established to determine the benefits of bamboo tube during the pepper establishment after transplanting.  

Animal worker in Palm-oil Plantation

Here is another local wisdom in agricultural practices. The use of cow as animal workers is increasingly introduced in several palm-oil plantations in Bengkulu to reduce the harvesting costs and manage the hilly topographic. The use of cow is very smart indeed, as it could contribute to the efforts of palm-oil industry to develop a zero waste policy in the plantation areas. (Picture taken by Dwatmaji, 2005).

Words of the Day

Here are several wise words that might help you, my dedicated readers, to think about.

Remember that what's right is not always popular and what's popular is not always right (Anonim)

If you want to do something and you feel it in your bones that's the right thing to do, do it!. Intuition is often as important as the acts (Anonim)

Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out (James B. Conant)

Pengumuman hasil SNMPTN Ujian Tertulis 2011

Lulusan SMA/SMK/MA yang telah mendaftarkan diri untuk ikut SNMPTN jalur Ujian Tertulis dapat melihat pengumuman hasil SNMPTN 2011 jalur Ujian Tertulis secara lengkap di laman SNMPTN (http://www.snmptn.ac.id)
Mudah-mudahan anda sukses.

Export's profile in April 2011

Coal remains as a leading export commodity from the province of Bengkulu. On April 2011.  Total export of coal accounts for 65.82 % of total exports (USD 9,752 million), followed by crumb rubber (34.18 % or equivalent to USD 5,064 million. Coal was exported to India, USA, Sierra Leone, Philiphine, and South Korea.  The export of this province could have been higher in values if the seaport of Bengkulu, Pulau Baai, ran well. Since the last two years, this seaport experienced docking problems. Hence, fragile products like Crude Palm Oil, coffee, and cacao were shipped from other Indonesian seaports. [summarized from BE, June 3rd , 2011]

Going In A Hot Country: What To Pack?
by Jack Wogan

When summer comes all we can think about is our vacation. Most of the times we cannot decide what we want to take with us so we pack a lot of things, most of which we will never even wear. In this case we have to take a step back and decide what is really necessary and what not. 

Make it your goal to take a single carry-on bag, this why you will travel light and you won't been additional help to lift your luggage. The first thing that you should focus on are the cosmetics that you will take with you. There are things that you will not need to take with you because the can be found everywhere.

Tiger appearances : An ecological message

Rakyat Bengkulu, leading local newspaper, yesterday (27/05/11) reported that during the last one month the villagers in the sub-district Padang Bane, Municipality of Lebong, have caught insight the appearance of Sumatera Tiger (Panthera tigris Sumatrae) as many as three appearances around the sub-district.  It was on Wednesday, May 25, 2001,  Suarnardi and his wife were extremely shocked when they open their door around 07.00 a.m. and surprisingly found a tiger of 2.5 m length and 1.25 m height  was sitting lousily in their veranda.  The tiger left the house then, went back to the forest and ignored the crowd of the villagers. 

Car free day at Pantai Panjang

Every Sunday morning at Pantai Panjang, the beautiful beach in the city of Bengkulu, from 05.30 - 09.30 a.m is assigned to be a car free day. The car free zone spans from the intersection Horizon hotel to the corner of Bengkulu Indah Mall, takes about two kilo meters in length. This area covers the sport center areas, where many sport facilities are presented, such volley ball, tennis, soccer, futsal, basket, takraw, jogging tracks, etc. Many people enjoy this policy to safely take opportunity doing sports. Some people prefer to take a walk with their family along the road, or along the jogging track, or along the beach.  Some others play their favorite sports with friends, while others kill their time by cycling.  Visitors admit that this session is a very good policy and expect that there will be more coverage of car free day areas, or car free time in this city.

Words of the day : 'Happiness'

Happiness does not depend on what we have, but it does depend on how we feel toward what we have. We can be happy with little, and miserable with much (W.D. Hoard).

Kebahagiaan tidak ditentukan oleh apa yang kita miliki, tetapi oleh bagaimana kita menikmati apa yang kita miliki. Kita bisa bahagia dengan memiliki sedikit, dan kita bisa sengsara dengan memiliki banyak.

Happiness is a concious choice, not an automatic response (Mildred Barthel).

Kebahagiaan adalah pilihan hidup yang sengaja kita pilih dengan kesadaran untuk bahagia (proaktif), bukan merupakan respon yang spontan (reaktif).

Tapi yang pasti bahwa "kebahagiaan merupakan perjalanan menuju kebahagiaan, bukan tujuan akhir"

Curup : cool n cozy upland town

You might have heard about a small town named Curup, an upland town in the province of Bengkulu. Curup is the capital town of Rejang Lebong Municipality and located along the Bukit Barisan mountain, at the altitude from 650 meters to 2000 meters above sea level (3°27'35"S 102°31'11"E) . 

Pengumuman SNMPTN Jalur Undangan 2011

Lulusan SMA/SMK yang baru saja lulus Ujian Nasional dan Ujian Sekolah yang telah mendaftarkan diri untuk ikut SNMPTN jalur Undangan akan dapat melihat pengumuman hasil SNMPTN 2011 jalur undangan secara lengkap dapat dilihat di laman SNMPTN (http://www.snmptn.ac.id)

Mudah-mudahan anda semuanya sukses...

Bencoolen

Bencoolen? does it mean something?  At the present time, the word of Bencoolen is well known as Bengkulu. If the word of Bencoolen was an English-like word, this word must have referred to something. It is speculated that the word of 'Bencoolen' was originally an abbreviation for  a 'land' that had so many 'coal' in a 'bent' areas. 'Bent' explained that the topographic of Bengkulu, which  is dominantly classified as hilly topography. So, people in the past simply marked this area as a 'bent coal land', which was later accidentally abbreviated Bencoolen'. Does it really make sense? Well, at least this article try to explain something.  

Pantai Panjang: The most beautiful beach in Bengkulu

zie, 2011

Pantai Panjang, means 'long beach' is the most beautiful beach in the Province of Bengkulu. It lies almost 7 km along the city beach facing the blue Indian Ocean. You will be impressed with the white sand, blue skies, white waves as well as the nice pine trees grown along the beach. This beach is also equipped with many affordable hotels, shopping center, sport facilities and beautiful scenery of sunset. 

UniB Share the Earth

That is the vision of Universitas Bengkulu (UniB) Composting  Unit, the 29^th World University ranking  (UI Greenmetric). Rector UniB officially launched the establishment of this  strategic unit on Friday , May 7^th 2011. This launching was also attended by the Governor of Province of Bengkulu, and other relevant important stakeholders.  The existence of this unit is in line with the UniB’s  commitment to implement the  zero waste concept in this green campus by composting all organic wastes, including paper and plant parts (leaves and twigs) in order to produce organic fertilizers.This unit also will recycle the paper wastes to reuse the paper for envelopes and paper bags.

Rice paddy along the Ketahun River

zie, 2011

This is a rice paddy along the Ketahun river in The Municipality of  Lebong. Lebong rice used to be very popular in the past. Since the last five years, the local government have tried to bring back its status as one of leading rice producers in the province. The local government encourages the farmers (which I prefer to say planters) to plant the rice twice a year.   

Bencoolen Street

zie, 2011

You don’t need to get confused, this is not a street in Singapore, it is a street in the city Bengkulu instead. This is a four km street  in the city of Bengkulu, connecting  Tapak Padri  to Sungai Hitam via Pasar Bengkulu, stretching along the beach, facing the Indian Ocean.  Don’t ask why Singapore has similar name  of Bencoolen for its street.  In the past, The British made an exchange with The Dutch. They handed over the area of Bencoolen, later known as Bengkulu,  to The Dutch to get the  island of Singapore.  Cruel huh..? I meant  .. cool huh..?. They simply exchanged  the people, the nature and everything in these two areas, just  like two kids make a toy exchange.

Ecology: Concepts and Applications

This a book for everyone, not necessary for students studying natural science. It presents the concept of ecology using very easy and concise ways to understand. I would say that this book is not only particularly useful for the students and the educators, but also for policy makers.  The  readers will have better perspectives to properly manage the natural resources.

The population of Sumatra Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) is less than 100?

That number represents the estimated population of Sumatra tiger in the Bukit Barisan Rejang Selatan, portion of Bukit Barisan National Park in the province of Bengkulu.  Today, Bengkulu Ekspress, local leading newspaper, reports that a survey conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society of Indonesia since 2007 revealed that the number of Sumatra tiger in that area is estimated to be less than 100 tigers.

Pekal : an ethnic group in Bengkulu

I believe very few people realize that there is another ethnic group who live in the Province of Bengkulu, i.e. the people of Pekal.  This ethnic group, accounts approximately 30.000 people (2000 cencus), mainly lives along the river of Ketahun, in the Municipality of North Bengkulu, along the border with the province of Jambi and the province West Sumatera.

Environmental Science : Toward a Sustainable Future

If you want to love this planet even more than you do, you must read this book. The global environmental issues are presented in a very easy way to understand with coloring pictures.  This eleventh edition is really a book for everyone, makes everyone to think more about our lovely planet, the earth, and, each in your way , you will know better what you can do to strengthen a peaceful future for human being.

Environmental Science

Book of inspiration to encourage critical thinking. Provide you better knowledge of how member of ecosystems should properly played their individual roles. Readers are expected to have better strategies to maintain the ecosystem's equilibrium and in the long term will  sustain the natural resources. This book is very good for the students  as it has been been updated with new learning tools, the latest content, and an enhanced art program.

Philodendron

It is another diversity of our backyard. This picture is an inflorescence of  an exotic plant, Philodendron (Philodendron bipinnatifidum). Although it is widely found in the humid tropic areas, many people find this species to be unique and exotic species. Some people make it as potted plants, but in our experiences this plant grows well in the open soil. It is very easy to take care anyway.

Mak sumai : ghost in the shape of tiger

I almost forget this word, mak sumai! The local paper yesterday reported that  61 years old man in one of the village in the Municipality of  Seluma has been missing since four days ago. People in that village believe that man has been hidden by a mak sumai, a ghost in the shape of tiger.  Mak sumai is a one of old-time popular belief of the Bengkulu people. Does really mak sumai exist? 

Rejang Lebong : The Second Vegetable Producers in Sumatera

Rejang Lebong highland is the second largest vegetable producers in Sumatera after Kabupaten Karo. (North Sumatera). This highland produces many kind of vegetables, such as hot peppers, tomatoes, cabbages, carrots, cucumber, beans, potatoes, shallots and many other fresh vegetables.  These vegetables are mainly  marketed to Palembang and Jakarta.

Palm sugar vs forest conservation

W. Marsigit et al, 2005

Palm sugar is one of the products produced by villagers in the province of Bengkulu. This  home-based traditional  industry has been practicing a long time ago by many villagers to support their family incomes. 

Must-read Reference : The 2011 Economic and Product Market Databook for Bengkulu, Indonesia

This book would be a very
good reference for investors, 

makers (to have  a better

down to earth programs),
researchers and students.

Such book will usually 
provide the economic
prospects based on the

economic potential of
Bengkulu.

The people of Bengkulu : Serawai

Serawai is the name of an ethnic group natives to the Province of Bengkulu. This ethnic is indeed the second major ethnic live in the Province of Bengkulu, after the people of Rejang. They mainly inhabit the area of Southern part of Bengkulu’s province. However, they are also spread over across the province, and also another part of Indonesia.  They do have their own dialect, a derivation of Malay language. 

Cross-country cycling : Sports & leisure time

The use bicycle for fun, leisure and sport is getting more popular in the city of Bengkulu. The bikers make use of the beauty of Pantai Panjang and other tracking path to have cycling activity. Some people groups themselves  into particular fun bike club to have regular cycling exercises.  In Pantai Panjang, the long white- sanded beach in the city of Bengkulu, we can easily find companies  that rent the bicycle in hourly basis with a very cheap price for a good and reliable bicycle, 1 – 2 USD per hour. 

Coal river-mining: Blessing or Disaster?

During the last three years, there has increasingly coal mining activity taken place in the river of  Bengkulu, a river that ends up in the city of Bengkulu.  The miners simply take the coal from the bottom of the river, pile it and sell it. Many people make this activity as additional source of income, or as their part-time job.  Buyers, which are more appropriated called as middlemen, pick it up and cash the divers. Individual can earn around USD 2-5 per day, depends on how compromise the weather or how good their mood to dive the coal from the bottom of the river.

The fort of Marlborough Bengkulu

The fort of Marlborough Bengkulu, which is believed to be established during the period of  1713 to 1719, is located near the beautiful long beach of Bengkulu City. I do not really comfortable to mention that this fort was established by The British during their stay in Bengkulu. What I truly believed that this largest fortress in Southeast Asia was painfully constructed by the local people of Bengkulu. 

Le mea

Le mea..., it is not the words of French !. It is the name of Rejang's cuisine instead. Le mea is made of fish-fermented bamboo shoots. How to make it ?. The washed bamboo shoot was chopped into small pieces, typically less than 1 cm3, and then mixed with fish and small amount of water, and finally fermented for 3-5 days in the closed media.

Enggano

Enggano island is one of the Indonesian outermost islands located in the Southwestern coast of Sumatra (+/. 170 km away), facing the Indian Ocean and is administratively governed by The Province of Bengkulu. Here are some related references to this unique community you might be interested to go through.

Morfologi dan sintaksis bahasa Enggano

Menguak Tabir Enggano

A new Burmannia from Enggano (Sumatra)

PS. Bengkulu needs Sponsor or Consortium

It is sad to mention that the only soccer team of Bengkulu playing in Ti-phone Indonesian League, PS. Bengkulu, is currently facing financial crisis. The local newspaper, Bengkulu Ekspress, together with PS Bengkulu management and the fans, Panglimania, has initiated (17/04/2011) a fund raising in order to maintain this club in the national league. They call for donations and charities from the people of Bengkulu or anyone like to donate.  Contributors may come to PS Bengkulu Secretariat or send their donations to Bengkulu Ekspress account, namely BENGKULU EKSPRESS PEDULI, account number 0115-01-044574-50-5. It is worth to mention that currently PS Bengkulu ranked 10th out of 13 teams playing in Ti-phone league.

Economic & Product Profile of Bengkulu

This is a highly recommended book for better investment plannings and strategies in Bengkulu. The local government, however, should also read this book in order to have better and reliable policies for the advancement of this province  economic growth.

Bengkulu must develop industry for (agricultural) product processing

It has been a long history that the province of Bengkulu is well known to produce many plantation crops, including coffee, rubber, cacao, black pepper and sugar palm. In addition, during the last 20 years there has been another fast-emerging crops that has been widely grown is palm oil. 

ni yao caifu ni xian zuo lu

I couldn’t agree more with this old Chinese proverb ‘ni yao caifu ni xian zuo lu’, which means (approximately) ‘build a new road, if you want to get welfare’.  The idea to establish a new road, connecting Muara Aman to Sumatera highway, in the province of Jambi is very important to the people in the Kabupaten Lebong.  Kabupaten Lebong, as we all might aware, located along the Ketahun River, surrounding by National Park Kerinci – Seblat, will remain isolated if the access to get this old gold miner’s town  relies only on its current connecting roads, from Curup and from Kuro Tidur’.  Establishing  another path of transportation, especially with Sumatera highway, will benefit not only Kabupaten Lebong, but also the province of Bengkulu in general. 

1000s of tombs discovered in Lebong.

A leading local newspaper, Rakyat Bengkulu, (03/11/11), reported that people of Lebong were surprised with the discovery of thousands of ancient tombs in the village of  Air Putih, Kecamatan Pinang Belapis. It is predicted that there might be more graves around rubber and durian trees around and covered with the shrubs.  Whose graves were those?  It was speculated that those gravestones numbered 1 – 987 belong to the gold miners who passed away between the years 1905 to 1938. Please note that since the 19^th century, Lebong Municipality has been well known as one of gold producers in Indonesia. It also found that most of the cemetery were tombstone-shaped cross, written with Arabic letters. Interestingly, most just a stone tomb, all of which have each successive number between one another.

This daily paper, however, also mentioned that people around this area has known the presence of these graves since tens of years ago, but they don’t really think it is important  to pay attention to these tombs.  In addition, in order to have better description of these tombs, local authority is planning to invite archaeologists in the near future to determine the importance of this discovery

Way to know Bengkulu

This is an excellent reference to know better about Bengkulu

Bunga Rafflesia sebagai simbol atau slogan?

Pemilihan lambang atau slogan harus mampu memberikan inspirasi bagi yang melihat dan mendengarnya, harus punya nilai filosofis yang mendorong orang untuk berkinerja dan mengaktualisasikan dirinya. Masyarakat Bengkulu sangat bangga mengatakan provinsinya sebagai land of rafflesia, diekspresikan dalam banyak simbol, slogan dan nama. Menurut saya tidak pas dan tidak pantas?. Karena :

anthurium

zie, 2010

Our wonderful backyard  flower is easy to manage, all you need is patience... :-)

Kamus Baso Jang !

Materials for a Rejang-Indonesian-English dictionary (Pacific linguistics D-58)

Another book about Rejang

The Rejang of Southern Sumatra (Occasional papers / Centre for South-East Asian Studies at the University of Hall)

Another thrilling book of Hoesel

Elisha's Bones

SNMPTN 2011’s Destination : Universitas Bengkulu

This 29^th years old university, located in the city of Bengkulu, is one fast-emerging university in Indonesia. Since 2007, it has become one of 50 Indonesian Promising University out of more than 3000 higher education institutions in Indonesia.  In this 2011 academic year, Universitas Bengkulu offers 34 sarjana programs (one year longer than Bachelor program) and 8 Diploma programs as well as 12 master programs.  These study programs offered by the Faculty of Education and Teaching, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Basic Science, Faculty of Engineering, and Medical and Health Science programs.  High school students who want to go to university will make a good decision to attend this university. Detail info about study programs are available at this university official site (http://www.unib.ac.id).

This 29^th world university ranking (UI Greenmetric) is attended by almost 12,000 enrolling students, supported by more than 750 faculty members.  All the study programs have national accreditation,  excepts those of new established study programs.  Universitas Bengkulu  is a very cozy campus and  environmentally well managed, hence makes the students enjoy the academic atmosphere and able to complete their academic programs with competitive attributes. This university also offers a credit transfer program with Rajamangala University Technology of Sriijava, Thailand, and University of Malaysia Kelantan.  Student facilities including housing, unlimited internet access, digital library, sport facilities, gymnasium, campus bus are continuously strengthened to makes university’s motto, conveying better future, apply to every students.  

Managing economic growth in the conservation areas

As previously reported in my article entitle ‘Brief info of Bengkulu’, the province of Bengkulu occupies 1,978,870 ha of land, lies along the Bukit Barisan Mountain. This leads to the situation where only 46,5 percent areas are classified as conservation regions, either as National Park, Conservation Forest or other form of protection areas.  However, many reports indicated that this conservation region is no longer serves as conserving area, since it has been widely exploitive; illegal logging, illegal farming, etc. The rest of areas are available to support the 1,7 million people for inhabitants, plantation and other economic activities.

get register !

http://www.prelaunchmalaysia.com/bengkulu

The syllabic alphabet of Rejang : ka ga nga

Once you get Bengkulu, you don’t need to worry about how to communicate with local people. They don’t only primarily speak the national language (Bahasa Indonesia), but also many people here are able to speak English. Most people at the hotel, restaurant, mall or at the government office speak English.  You may also find that some people  here (by some minor ethnic group) speak their own local dialects, including Rejang, Local Malay, Serawai and Lembak). In addition, there is another local dialect which is spoken by a very little number of people, Pekal.

How to get Bengkulu?

It’s easy !, it’s only 55 minute flight from Jakarta (the capital city of Indonesia). There are 5 to 7 flights  from Jakarta  every day. So, your travel agent can arrange your visit to Bengkulu at your most convenient time.  However, you may also take a direct bus from Jakarta, Bandung, Palembang, Padang, Jambi, Pekan Baru, and Lampung. Once you get Bengkulu, you may take a rental car to visit any destinations within the province you plan to.  All the other towns is reachable within a day.  Although they offer visitors with various type of hotels or motels, I would suggest you to stay  in  Bengkulu City.  You could choose one of the hotel  located along the beach, Pantai Panjang, where you can enjoy the beautiful  sunset, white-sand, jogging and cycling track, and of course the place where you can enjoy the coffee. To learn more about the City of Bengkulu, please visit http://www.bengkulukota.go.id     This helpful site is managed by local government.   

Brief info of Bengkulu : Location and Population

The Province of Bengkulu lies between  101 20'  -  103 45' EL  and 2 25' - 5 00' SL, along coastal line the western part of Sumatera island, Indonesia.  Geographically speaking, this province  covers  ± 1.978.870 ha  of land and is located in the western part of Bukit Barisan mountains, faces the Indonesian ocean with 433 km of coastal line.   This province could be considered as a tropical rain-forest area as its  average annual rainfall is 100 mm/year , with the number of rain-day  between  100-250 days/year.

According to the 2010 census, the population of this province is 1.7 million people (875.663 males and 837.730 females), scattering  into 10 major towns, i.e, Bengkulu (a municipality as well as the capital city of the province), and other municipality towns, including Curup, Argamakmur, Manna, Muara Aman, Kepahyang,  Tais, Bintuhan, Muko-Muko, and Karang Tinggi.   For further info, I would suggest you to visit  http ://bengkulu.bps.go.id