Napal Melintang, a Small Village in Bukit Bulan Karst

Morning at Bukit Bulan.

For those who want peace, you can come to Bukit Bulan. No electricity, cellular telephone networks, radio signals, and almost no infrastructure. Really an area far from the city. This morning, I walked along the village road. Citizen activity is visible.

I walked along the dirt road to the end of the village. The streets are still quiet and only the sound of the River Limun can be heard flowing along the road. It seems that some residents have been doing activities in the river such as washing, and bathing.

Going to school.

I am interested in elementary school children who want to go to school. They wear uniforms, walk to school. School distance, which in my opinion is quite far about 2 KM from their home. If the road is good, flat, not a problem. The road here is still in the form of land, puddles, hilly.

Buffalo on the rice field.

My feet stepped to the end of the village. Seen the buffalo grazing on the paddy fields which are full of grass. Meanwhile, the fog still covers the Bukit Bulan, Bukit Raja, and  Celau Tengah.

We walked in the bushes following the path. "Be careful, there is a lot of hirudo here" said Pak Rusli. At first glance I saw my feet, there were no black round objects attached. 5 minutes we walked, we arrived at a dam.

Napal stone crossing in the Limun river .

"That's napal" Mr. Rusli shows rocks that are submerged in water and transverse. This is what becomes the topology of this village, namely the marl across. Napal in their language is limestone. In geological terminology, marl is an edible red clay, some are defined as rocks consisting of clay and potassium carbonate/lime.

At the dam, we crossed to get to a substation which is an electric house. Inside the substation appears a turbine that is driven by water then moves the generator then there is an electric current regulator. From this generator, it is able to provide 1 hamlet of electricity consisting of 109 houses.

Electric house.

This village has not yet received electricity from PLN, even though the electricity and cable poles have been installed. Since 2007 they have relied on electricity from micro hydro. They hope that PLN's electricity will immediately turn on so that they do not discontinue every night. I asked Mr. Rusli, "every month residents get retribution how much is it to pay electricity ...?". "Free" he replied.

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