Adventure in Malay Land (Part 2)

Finally the plane had landed at Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport around 10.40 AM. Thankfully Andreas and I arrived to our homeland safely, although we had a very bad sleep in Kuala Lumpur airport last night, even I had a neck pain when I woke up.

That day, August 5^th 2016, was the first day of Indonesian Parkour National Jamming in Pekanbaru. After vacuum in 2015, finally this event is held again in 2016. The theme was “JOM”, which stood for “Jamming on Melayu” (Jamming on the Malay). ‘Jom’ itself is a Malay word which means ‘come on’/’let’s..’ (some kind of initiation). And by the way, this was our first visit to Pekanbaru.

From the airport, we were picked up by the committees to Bayu’s house. He was the chief organizer of this event. There were other participants that had been arrived there before, they came from various cities in Indonesia. After a break for lunch and Friday praying for the Muslim friends, we walked straight to the first day spot at Taman Budaya (Cultural Park). Although the distance was quite far plus the hot weather of Pekanbaru stroke us, but it didn’t reduce our enthusiasm through this national jamming.

Soon as we got on the location, everyone of us did a re-registration first, then followed by an opening speech from the committee, and also not forgot to warm up together before we started to jam. In the next 2 hours we were satisfied exploring this spot.

By sunset, the jamming session was ended and all of the participants checked-in to the guesthouse provided by the committee. Just for the info, this guesthouse had been used by national athletes in PON 2012 (Pekan Olahraga Nasional, an Indonesian national multi-sport event). We rested for a while, took a shower, and looked for dinner. Then by night, there was a meet & greet session, which everyone had to introduce him/herself. Compared to the previous national jamming in Jakarta (2014), there were many new participants in this one. And actually I was happy with that, because it’s my opportunity for making new friends, especially from Sumatra region.

Day 2, the jamming location was begun in Pekanbaru MTQ building. Until midday, all of the participants did a free jamming around the building yard. Then after exploring MTQ, we continued to train in a gymnasium at Rumbai sports center. While waiting the gym arena was cleared, we took a short break and had some lunch.

Finally, when the gym arena wasn’t used anymore, everyone started to do the flip training there. Meanwhile I just did a simple flip because I wasn’t really good at it honestly. For the next 2-3 hours, all of the participants trained as pleased as they wanted with adequate gym facilities. Later before sunset, we were really tired and soon finished the training session with cooling down together. Therefore, the 2^nd day schedule of National Jamming 2016 was officially completed.

Probably because of the exhaustion, nearly all of the participants got up late on the next day, including me. As a result, we only could enjoy car free day in a short time. Too bad indeed, but despite of that, thankfully the event still ran smoothly. The 3^rd day jamming was started around Monumen Perjuangan Rakyat Riau. Although it wasn’t as wide as Taman Budaya or MTQ, but it still had a great spot to be explored. And by the end of the jam session, we took some group pictures there.

Next, we moved to the urban forest. This was the last spot in National Jamming 2016. If thus far we just trained in the park/building, so it’s time to be back in nature. The shade of the large trees made all of the participants feel more comfortable in jamming. And of course Andreas and I didn’t forget to sell Avolution clothing there, together with Ibnu and Selly who sold Malingkondank pants.

After the lunch break, it’s time for the closing session of National Jamming 2016. Starting with the closing speech, then followed by door-prizes, and ended with a voting for the next year host. Based on the voting result, most of the participants chose Bukittinggi. And... with the end of the closing session, that means Indonesian Parkour National Jamming 2016 was officially completed. Some of the participants returned to their hometown immediately, while the others still stayed in Pekanbaru, including me, who returned to Surabaya on the following day. Meanwhile Andreas continued his trip to Jakarta in the same night.

Honestly, during this 3-days-event, my preoccupation to the parkour jamming maybe made me rare for taking self-photos. Behind the satisfaction of exploring many training spots, there is a little bit regret because only a few photos of me in social media. But it doesn’t really matter, at least in the end of the closing session I could take pictures with some friends, and also with the unique "living doll" from Pekanbaru, Chen Chen :p

Overall, I’m so impressed with this national jamming. Besides making new friends, I also could gain a new experience. Hope next year we can meet and train together again in Bukittinggi :)