The moment I decided to reside in my hometown two years ago, a sudden pang of fear ran through me. In addition to the absence of malls here in our town, my wife and I love eating a lot. We normally enjoy food crawling and often compete when evaluating how good a food stall or bistro is.
The boredom instantly grew as we failed to find eatery that sells tastiest dish of local richness. Lamongan, where I live now, is a small town where people do not enjoy traveling as a hobby. The only mall in town finally closed down after two years of its operation. Most locals choose to hang out at coffee shops to have chitchat about lots of stuff, but mostly trivial ones. I can estimate there are hundreds of coffee shops all over the town that are run traditionally.
The coffee shops normally take a typical form. Most of them have an L-shaped table on which various snacks and even wrapped meals are placed. Other than coffee, some shops also offer fruit juice and French fries or gorengan as we call it in Javanese. It is no wonder that I put several coffee shops into my favorite list. While the fun of visiting those places is always authentic, I have transformed into a genuine local guide even more.
The following are some reasons why I believe that being a local guide does pay off.
1 - Helping local business grow
It is very exciting when shopkeepers or business owners comment on my review of their place. What’s more enthralling is any question raised by readers of my review so that I can help them more. In this way I may be able to help businesses, most run locally and managed conventionally, to grow better by inviting new visitors due to the review I make. In some case, I can introduce local potentials to people of other towns nearby across East Java by adding a missing place for everyone to know.
There is one story I remember the excitement of being a local guide. I once added a very small bike repair shop in the neighborhood on Google Maps. The old man who owns and manages the repair shop knows nothing about the Internet so I decided to help promote his tiny business. The existence of bike repair shop is getting rarer and rarer. While his service is valuable, going by bike will be more eco-friendly and keeps us healthy.
2 - Supporting social cause
I have always enjoyed participating in any social activities since I was in Bogor, West Java. I am currently an active member of Nasi Bungkus Community (NBC)—literally meaning wrapped meal community—that gives out 200-500 parcels of breakfast every Friday morning, all free of charge. In addition, we also distribute clean water during a severe drought where dozens of villages are stricken by water scarcity. On some occasions, we also help out those suffering from flood.
There is a famous saying that tends to ridicule the condition of our town, “Yen ketigo raiso cewok, yen rendeng raiso ndodok,” which means that we are unable to wash after micturating and defecating during the dry season (as water is scarce) and unable to sit down during the rainy season due to overflowing water. Being a local guide, I can add my community on GMaps so that local guides and other netizens will be able to contribute to assist us in many ways.
3 - Connecting and networking
Posting a review of various places on Google Maps may lead to a new friendship after answering one’s questions on particular issues. A review may take us to know someone or an organization better so that we can then build connection and networking to do something or a beneficial project. I can link with other local guides who share similar interest and passion.
4 - Exploring new spots
Being a local guide requires us to visit a new place including a newly opened food stall so that we can help other people in town to decide a visit based on our review. We have to make a visit in order to take photos of the place. It is even more important to come when it is a new tourist destination. While intending to provide a good review, we can also explore the new place.
5 - Gaining new skill
My experience as a local guide of level 7 confirms that photos are of paramount importance. Viewing good pictures set in a unique angle offers great pleasure to readers that they may be tempted to make a real visit only by looking at images we post. Producing remarkable photos, however, can be very challenging. It takes techniques and practice as well. The good news is we can learn in the process.
Serving as a local guide entails our readiness to learn to take great shot while improving our skill in writing better. That’s what we believe as members of Lamongan Local Guides (LLG) when we met up in the public library on April 25, 2019 where five of us enjoyed discussing about blogging and book writing as well as the plan to join the MUN 3 (National Meetup) in Bandung this August.
What do you enjoy about being a local guide?