Category: Indonesia

25 Dec, 2012

Diving in Bali and quick getaway to Lombok-Gili Trawagan

After some surfing and commerical atmosphere in Kuta and breeze of culture in Ubud I continued my trip towards the east of Bali to do what many come to Indonesia to do: DIVING! And partly snorkeling. Amed We made our way to Amed, one of the 7 villages that make up the eastern coastline of fishing villages. The life here is slow and the scenery quite stunning which makes for a perfect place for a relaxed holiday in Bali. Amed is a recent tourist development area in Bali. They just started laying tarmac here in 2000 and telephone lines in...

Indonesia / South East Asia

24 Dec, 2012

Paradise island Bali: popular Kuta beach and cultural Ubud

I’ve finally arrived in the place many people call paradise. A popular honeymoon getaway for couples and lovers. However, it’s not all just about lovey dovey couples here in Bali. Before getting arrival, I had no idea that Bali was such a big island. I’ve always thought it was a rather small island with resorts and honeymoon suites but to my suprise, the island itself is pretty big and there’s actually more to do than just lie around on the beach. Kuta beach One of the most popular tourist areas in Bali is Kuta. Because of its long broad Indian...

Indonesia / South East Asia

23 Dec, 2012

The volcano tour to Mt. Bromo and Ijen crater/plateau

After spending a few days in and around Yogyakarta I got on the train and made my way further east to visit some more volcanoes. The first one on the list was Gunung Bromo, Mount Bromo. There’s an extensive railway system running all the way across Java which makes it really easy to travel from city to city. No need for long distance buses and personally a really pleasant change of scenery as well. I was heading to Probolinggo from Yogyakarta, but had to transit in Surabaya. However, the connecting train was about 3 hours late which kinda ruined my...

Another temple in the Prambanan temple complex

Indonesia / South East Asia

22 Dec, 2012

Visiting Prambanan and Borobudur in Yogyakarta

The next stop on the Java island is Yogyakarta, one of the main touristic destinations in Indonesia. Mainly because of the 2 major sights around the cities. First major sight was the temple complex of Prambanan. Its the grandest and most evocative Hindu temple complex in Java that features some 50 temple sites. Many suffered extensive damage in the 2006 earthquake though. The temples survived but there are tons of stone blocks collapsed on the ground or cracked. The Shiva temple is the biggest one and also suffered a lot of damage. At the time of visit the temple itself...

Indonesia / South East Asia

21 Dec, 2012

Jakarta aka The Durian and the white crater at Bandung

After the modern commercial metropolis of Singapore I was really looking forward to my visit to Indonesia and Jakarta. I did some research on Jakarta and apparently they gave Jakarta the nickname “The Durian“. Now for people that haven’t been to Asia much, the durian is a quite famous fruit around many Asian countries. It’s distinctive for its large size, stomach-churning odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. Western people often are appaled by the strong smell before even letting it touch the their tongues, but in most cases, there are always people that love it and hate it. With this said,...