Since my involvement in the local guide program two years ago, I have always had one more reason to explore when I visit a new place, writing reviews. I am always excited to tell information that might be useful for others to decide their destination. I also try to capture good photos to describe my reviews in more detail. And when I get a notification telling that people marked my reviews as useful, I feel happy and satisfied. It energizes me to actively write comprehensive reviews about places I visit. Here are three of my reviews I love to tell:
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Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). I wrote a review about UGM when I visited this one of Indonesia’s best universities last year. Because this is a very popular university, there have been thousands of reviews about it. But, still, I wanted to write the updated one. I included information about achievements of the university and its notable alumni that Joko Widodo, the current President of Indonesia, Anis Baswedan, the current governor of Jakarta, and Ganjar Pranowo, the current governor of Central Java are graduates of this university. Surprisingly, my review was viewed 11.289 times and got 9 likes. As I know it is one of some reviews that got 7 likes or more among 3.083 reviews.
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Rumah Yogurt Dworowati. I visited this place six months ago when I attended a local cultural festival. It is located in a small village in East Java called Ngabab. Almost half of the residents of this village work as dairy farmers. Rumah Yogurt Dworowati is a new home industry that processes milk into yogurt. Then, I searched in Google Maps and I found it was added and reviewed by only 1 person in three words. I thought this local business needs more words to introduce to its potential customers. Then, after short interview with the owner, I wrote a longer review. Until I upload this post, my review is the only informative writing posted in Google. Perhaps, I need to update the latest progress to complete information of the place in the future.
- Curug Panjang. In 2019 my family and I spent end-year holiday in Puncak Bogor. One of the destinations we visited was Curug Panjang. It is a beautiful waterfall with fresh air and clean water. Unfortunately, the road to reach the waterfall was not good and was slippery when the rain fell. This tourist destination also didn’t have sufficient public facilities like toilet. So, when I wrote my review I made a suggestion for the tourism manager to make them better. We believe that better public facilities and public services will result more tourism advantages. Happily, my review was replied by the manager or the operator. In that response, he/she thanked for my suggestion.
To me, writing reviews is an effective way to provide useful information as well as to make a suggestion for the owners. Through my little contribution I am able to help a growing local business by sharing its profile and giving suggestions. All in all, writing reviews is the most interesting and useful thing I have done as a Local Guide.