  Indonesia
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 19837 Indonesia Tips.36847 Indonesia Photos.0 Indonesia Videos. Indonesia Pages by kokoryko
| Page Views: 799 Last Visit to Indonesia: 2001 I Used To Live Here | Guess, what is the fifth element ? by kokoryko - last update: Jul 27, 2007 |
The country of fire, water, air and earth. | Sulfur miner at Kawah Ijen volcano, East Java |
Looking for the fifth element? People of course, to me, they are even the first element of this country.
Fire: there are 400 volcanoes in Indonesia, of them, 149 active ones (number varies according to the definition of “activity”), and only on Java there are 60active volcanoes. Some of them are easy to visit, accessible, and going into a roaring crater is a unique experience.
Water: everywhere, around the islands, ocean, seas, but also on land, fierce rivers, beautiful lakes, and. . . . rain, lots of rain sometimes for days and days and days. . but it makes the nature so beautiful here.
Air: ah, this is a difficult subject, specially in Jakarta and other big cities; the air is heavily polluted and only after rain you can see the volcanoes (Gede, Pangrango, Salak. . ) from Jakarta. Air is best in the mountains or far from the big cities, and there the fresh air is just good to breathe, looking at the mountains, the people in the fields or villages.
Earth: the gods blessed many islands of Indonesia with a very fertile volcanic soil where people can grow several harvests of rice per year, grow orchards of all sorts of fruits; mixed with water, it gives such beautiful landscapes of rice fields.
People: writing about people of Indonesia in a few lines is a non-sense, but I like non-senses! People are really kind and welcoming, be it in the heart of big cities, in the fields, in resorts, on the beaches, mountains, everywhere where I was; some parts of Indonesia, I did not visit and I cannot tell about. I tell mainly about Java, Bali, Sumatra, Kalimantan (Indonesian part of Borneo). I loved to watch at the people, loved to answer their questions (everywhere, the Indonesian were very curious about the foreigners, specially in the off the beaten path areas), try my Bahasa Indonesia, ask lots of questions myself, learn a lot in the small villages. . . People of Indonesia also erected treasures of architecture and monuments, built cities and palaces, carved the landscapes, this also is somehow fascinating with Indonesian people. |
|  | Too long or too short? I still hesitate.. . . . I spent four years in Indonesia, had the opportunity to travel, learn a lot, this country has “marked” me in some way; here I share a very small part of what I experienced in Indonesia, mainly Java island, (I will make pages on Bali and other places), and it is a bit old stuff (1995-1998) and the pictures are old, have suffered from a flooding some time ago in France, the colours are not at their best and my scanner is an old one. The stories appear as tips, and they are real tips, still valid and serious, and other are just stories and experiences.
This page is not always touristy, tourist activity related, but it is travel and discovery (for me at least!) and you may not find much information on surf spots, sunbathing, nightclubs, luxury resorts, etc. . .but if you like off the beaten path places, or something “exotic”, you may find some lines and pictures which may interest you. |
| Offerings for the gods, Bali |
| | Jakarta, city of sins! And Jakarta, a bit a special place to me! I will not write a lot of tips about, I was not a tourist here and, well, I worked here, and was sometimes happy to leave this city for a few days or hours. But thus city is amazing, huge, diverse, I also spent some week ends walking in the streets, some whole nights in the streets and . . . . eeuu not very recommendable places, I will not tell a lot more; Block M, Tanah Abang (with the world famous Tanamur and JJ’s), Jalan Gajah Mada were not exactly upscale nightspots but I liked them; I also witnessed when islamists raided the JJ’s and threw out all supposed muslims which were in this night club. Worse was when they burned the Tambora night club in Block M, luckily there were no casualties. . . Night life is a hectic life in Jakarta, I was often out at night for . . . . my job, believe it or not. . . hahaha, making some sort of scouting and intelligence work, and information had to be retrieved from where it was available. . . .
And Jakarta, this megalopolis, polluted with thousands of stranded cars, hours long traffic jams, with people people, people, everywhere day and night, always awake, always something to do there, I liked this hectic city!
This Indonesia page is dedicated to Java, and the tips will appear in geographical order, with four main parts:
West Java,
Jakarta,
Central Java,
East Java.
The links above go to the page where the first tip of the area appears; it is sometimes at the bottom of the page; you will not need to browse too long, (but you may miss something (-: ) to find the area in which you are interested.
So there will be tips on fire, tips on water, tips on earth, tips on air, and lots of tips on people; of course, some tips could be in one or other category, and categories are good for classification, but classification sometimes takes off a bit of poesy. Bali is on another page already; Other islands will also have their pages, but Java is the most documented one. |
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| Pros: | "So kind people !" | | Cons: | "Pollution, rampaging violent islamism" | | In A Nutshell: | "Not only bali, beaches and surf" |
kokoryko's Indonesia Travel Tips
| Overview | Things to Do
Tips: 65 - Photos: 290 | | | | Restaurants | Hotels & Accommodations | | | | Nightlife | Off The Beaten Path
Tips: 2 - Photos: 8 | | | | Tourist Traps | Warnings Or Dangers | | | | Transportation | Local Customs | | | | Packing Lists | Shopping | | | | Sports Travel | General Tips
Tips: 2 - Photos: 6 |
 Comments for kokoryko about Indonesia | | | | |
Glorija Sun Jun 8, 2008 10:55 UTC
I am thrilled about going to Indonesia again. Thanks for lovely wish. When I returned we will chat more. Enjoy, G | fachd Sat Feb 16, 2008 06:30 UTC
Great report, terima kasih. Top of the class mate. One day I'll be back. | JLBG Thu Aug 23, 2007 04:12 UTC
Une page superbe avec des photos qui sont de précieux documents; Je reviendrai pour continuer une visite tranquille de ta page. Bravo! | lukluk_wal_marjan Fri Jul 27, 2007 05:14 UTC
Good write up & pics. Will b back for more :) |
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