Jakarta, Jan 1 (Antara) - As part of a long-standing tradition, thousands of year-end holidaymakers nationwide flocked to entertainment and recreation centers to relax and enjoy the holidays with family members or friends to usher in the New Year.
In Jakarta, the most popular places to visit included the Jaya Ancol Dream Land in North Jakarta, the Indonesian In Miniature Park (TMII) in East Jakarta, the Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta, Jalan Thamirn business district center, and the National Monument (Monas) squares.
Year-end holidaymakers also thronged places of interest in the country, such as the Buddhist Temple of Borobudur in Magelang District, Central Java; Lake Toba in North Sumatra; and tourist resorts in Bali, such as Tanah Lot and Kuta Beach.
According to CNN Indonesia reports, some 480 thousand holidaymakers are expected to visit the Jaya Ancol Dream Land, while the TMII is likely to receive some 450 thousands visitors.
On New Year's Eve, thousands of visitors congregated at the Jalan Thamrin and Monas areas to welcome the arrival of New Year 2018.
The Ancol Dream Land Beach was crowded with thousands of visitors to welcome the turn of the year from 2017 to 2018 in an event titled "Pesona Indonesiaku," or The Charm of My Indonesia.
One of the main agendas prepared by the Ancol Dream Park operator was the Gempita 2018 entertainment event held at the Ancol Beach Carnival.
Popular artists performed on stage in a concert guided by Andhika Pratama, Audi Marisa, and Uus, such as Armada, Wali, Kotak, Five Minutes, Siti Badriah, and Setia Band. In addition to Gempita 2018, the manager of Ancol Coast organized several events, such as the Betawi culture in the Art Market, Borneo and Sumatran cultures at the Dolphin Park, Balinese and Eastern Indonesia culture at the Lagoon Beach, and East Java culture at the Ancol Monument.
Several visitors spent the night at the Ancol Dream Land to welcome the advent of 2018. Faizurrahman, one the visitors, stated that he chose the Ancol Beach to spend the night.
"We agreed to go to Ancol after reviewing several options, such as the National Monument or Car Free Night in the Sudirman-Thamrin area," noted a student from one of the universities in Bogor. He and his friends chose Ancol Beach, as they were keen to see their favorite artists, such as Wali and Kotak.
At the Monas Square in Central Jakarta, the "King of Dangdut Singer" Rhoma Irama was the main star of the musical performances themed "Happy New Year Indonesia 2018" for tens of thousands of spectators.
In addition to Irama performing with his Soneta Group, several other artists enlivened the stage, and the performance was broadcast live by a private television station. Among the performers were Rita Sugiarto, Erie Suzan, and the stars of the Dangdut Anugerah event.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan performed a duet song called "Stay Away" along with Irama on the main stage of Monas.
Apart from the musical performance at Monas, entertainment stages were also set up in the center of the city at the Bundaran HI traffic circle, Jalan MH Thamrin 10, and three supporting stages on Jalan Kebon Sirih near Bank Mandiri Syariah, and Jalan Wahid Hasyim around the Jaya Building.
At TMII, East Jakarta, a fireworks display enlivened the New Year's Eve. The fireworks started at midnight at the Chinese Cultural Park and the Archipelago Lake Miniature.
At the Miniature Lake Archipelago, the fireworks combined with the thousands of torches stuck on a miniature map of the Indonesian archipelago.
"In total, 6,815 fireworks were fired from both points," TMII Head of the Public Relations Division Jerry Lahama noted.
For some 30 minutes, the fireworks display entertained thousands of TMII visitors. The management of TMII estimates that at least 60 thousand visitors enjoyed the year-end festivities at TMII.
In addition to the fireworks performances, several supporting events held included the entertainment stage at the PP Iptek complex that began at 8 p.m. local time until 12:15 a.m. local time. Also featured was an all-night shadow puppet performance, with puppeteer Ki Gunarto Tali Lendro, at the Bentar Stage and a keroncong music performance at the Art Village Stage.
Lahama said the TMII has targeted to attract 450 thousand visitors from December 16, 2017, to January 2, 2018.
In the meantime, the roads leading up to the Rangungan Zoo in East Jakarta were packed with visitors on Monday morning. The congestion occurred as several vehicles were headed to the zoo for the New Year's holidays 2018. They also had to queue up while heading to the Ragunan Park.
Congestion also occurred due to the several sellers of mats as well as beverage packaging and hawking merchandise lining up alongside the roads.
Dozens of visitors appeared enthusiastic to enjoy horseback riding being offered to them and to take pictures. The horses belonged to the Directorate of Animal Police Corps of the Police Headquarters, which were patrolling within the area of the zoo.
After entering the zoo, visitors can immediately queue up to ride a horse or just take pictures with the Police's horse. Visitors who climb on the police's horse patrolling for security in the Ragunan area are not charged.
"Visitors who want to ride a horse are not charged," Bambang Wijanarko, one of the police personnel, remarked.
He noted that the police's horse is routinely deployed every year in the area of tourist attraction in Jakarta. He stated that two horses were also deployed at the attractions in Ancol and TMII to help maintain security.
In the meantime, a total of 2,500 lanterns lit up the sky above the Borobudur Temple in Magelang District, Central Java, on New Year's Eve.
Thousands of lanterns were released into the sky by the visitors of "Borobudur Nite 2017 Amazingly Woonderful" in the Aksobya courtyard of the Borobudur Temple Tourism complex. Prior to the release of the lanterns, the main torches were lit by five leaders following Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
This was then followed by thousands of visitors who lit candles provided by the committee. Thereafter, the representatives of religious leaders prayed for salvation and success in 2018.
On the morning of the first day of the New Year on Monday, the temple manager then offered an elephant ride to the first visitors to the Borobudur Temple Tourism Park.
Two domestic and two foreign tourists were offered an elephant ride and souvenirs from the tourist resort operator PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, Prambanan, and Ratu Boko.
Two domestic tourists who got the opportunity to ride the elephant were Aziz from Candimulyo Magelang and Toriqul Huda from Yogyakarta, while the foreign tourists who enjoyed the elephant ride were Martin from Singapore and Agnes from Poland.
A total of four elephants each brought the tourists from the main gate to the entrance of Borobudur Temple accompanied by the Bregodo Samber Wulung officials from Wanurejo Village, Borobudur District.
Agnes expressed immense pleasure on being the first visitor and being given the opportunity to ride elephants.
"I am very happy for being given this opportunity. It is the first time for me to visit Borobudur Temple, and the people here are friendly," she added.***3***(A014/INE)
EDITED BY INE(T.A014/A/BESSR/F. Assegaf) 01-01-2018 15:01:4 |
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