Madura
The Island Across The Bridge From Surabaya, Where Bulls Race In Pairs Behind A Standing Driver And Salt Is Still Raked By Hand Out Of Coastal Pans · Bangkalan, East Java
Madura is twenty minutes from Surabaya across a bridge and feels like a different country. IT IS DRIER, POORER, MORE CONSERVATIVE AND MORE PROUD than mainland East Java, with its own language and a reputation for bluntness that Madurese people cheerfully confirm. THE THING IT IS KNOWN FOR IS KARAPAN SAPI - BULL RACING, in which PAIRS OF BULLS HARNESSED TO A SLED HURTLE DOWN A TRACK WITH A MAN STANDING ON IT, and the animals are groomed, fed and valued like racehorses. It is a serious cultural institution with a season, heats and regional finals, and IT IS ALSO CRITICISED ON ANIMAL WELFARE GROUNDS, with practices varying enormously between events. THE OTHER MADURA IS SALT: coastal pans raked by hand, supplying much of the country, hard work in white glare. The SURAMADU BRIDGE changed it. Race dates are local and unpublished, so you ask in Bangkalan rather than planning from a distance, and the island is conservative enough that modest dress and Ramadan hours are not optional courtesies.
Pulau Madura, East Java, Bangkalan, East Java, Indonesia
REACHED BY THE SURAMADU BRIDGE FROM SURABAYA in about twenty to thirty minutes, with a toll; ferries also run. THE ISLAND IS LONG and driving from end to end takes several hours. KARAPAN SAPI IS SEASONAL AND SCHEDULED - heats and regional finals run across part of the year, generally in the dry months, culminating in a grand final; DATES ARE LOCAL AND ARE NOT PUBLISHED FOR VISITORS, so ask in Bangkalan or Pamekasan. THE SALT PANS are worked along the south and east coasts and are open landscape rather than an attraction. MADURA IS NOTABLY MORE CONSERVATIVE than mainland Java - DRESS MODESTLY, and RAMADAN IS OBSERVED STRICTLY, with much closed during daylight. SATE MADURA is the obvious thing to eat.