Coverstory

The Great Wall of Bromo

Since mid-day yesterday, even before we set foot in Ngadas village, heavy rain, strong winds and fog have been here to greet us. The trees seem like black shadows wreathed in white fog, as do the terraced rice fields on either side of the village road. "When the weather is clear, the view here is magnificent," says Purnawan, a lecturer and researcher on the Tengger community, who is accompanying us to Ngadas

Kalimantan’s Crown Jewels

The ces boat piloted by Acong slowly docked on the west side of Melak Harbor on the Mahakam River. Syachraini and I, the only passengers, leapt out of the small canoe with its 16-HP outboard motor and onto the wooden pier. It was now 12 noon. Since 7.45, we'd been traveling up the Mahakam from Muara Pahu in search of the pesut, or manatee (Orcaella brevirostris), a rare water mammal similar to a dolphin that lives only in the Mahakam. But though we'd had our visual radar on these past four hours, we hadn't seen even one

Going North

The motorboat Elang, piloted by Pak Boyo with the help of Pak Pendi, slowly slipped away from the south side of the pier. The 17 of us on the boat began to relax. Though this boat was rather small, it was a great relief after the trip in public water transport that had taken two and a half hours to bring us from Jakarta's fishing port of Muara Angke here to Pulau Pramuka, in Kepulauan Seribu, the Thousand Islands. This was my second trip in the Elang. The first time was a few months before, when we went to Pulau Semut and Pulau Bira. Three old friends who'd been on that previous trip were on this one as well – Aya the trip leader, Charlie, and Sas. The other ten people I hadn't met before, and we only got introduced once we were on this boat, as I'd been sitting apart from the tour group

Features

Surviving Sundoro

I'm not really a mountain climber, though I have been to the summits of Krakatau and Bromo. For me, mountains are too big to climb, especially since I'm rather small myself. But when I saw these two mountains, Sundoro and Sumbing, seemingly so close to the side of the road just outside Parakan, near Temanggung, I immediately wanted to climb again

Bersepeda di Ayutthaya

Kereta api yang mengantar saya dari Stasiun Hualamphong Bangkok dari pukul 8.20 tadi pagi, pelan-pelan berhenti di Stasiun Ayutthaya, kota kecil 85 km utara Bangkok. Waktu menunjukkan pukul 9.40. Sungguh mengagumkan, kereta ekonomi yang bertiket hanya 20 baht –sekitar Rp 600– itu berangkat dan tiba tepat waktu

Singaraja’s Secret Garden

The morning sun gradually illuminated the hills to the east of Sambangan village. The dense woods in the deep, foggy valley below, where the Banyumala River flows, slowly emerged from the shadows. I quickly finished my breakfast, because Komang, the guide who was going to take me trekking to the villages around Sambangan, was already waiting

The Secret Way to Green Canyon

Vikram stumbled along, stopping from time to time as if he was unsure whether to continue or not. He slapped his bare feet onto the floor of Gua Kalong – the Bat Cave – slimy with a mixture of water, mud, and bat feces. Kang Mamat, leading the way with a flashlight, patiently encouraged him to keep walking through this 100-meter cave

Villages of Smoke

"Kressh… kressh… kressh..." The gobang slicing the tobacco leaves made a crisp sound that morning. Three men, each sitting on a wooden bench in the living room of a house, were racing to slice tobacco leaves, and there were still huge piles in the room behind them. They would take ten tobacco leaves that had turned yellow after three days and nights of storage, roll them up, cut the wad in half, then insert the two sections into a wooden tool

Pearls of the Gods

As soon as we saw the sign by the side of the road reading "Atlas south sea pearls, 600 meters", we turned right and proceeded along a narrow, dusty road lined with homes and cattle pens. A few men were sitting outside a house; one waved as we passed. After another right turn, we passed behind a modest beachside hotel and entered the yard of a new-looking, long two-story building, and Bree –Atlas's marketing manager– stopped the car

Reef Revival

Don't judge a book by its cover, and don't judge a sea by its beach. The second motto is appropriate when you visit Pemuteran, in northwest Bali. At first glance, the black sand beach here seems nothing special, though the beach is clean and the sea is calm. There are a few foreign tourists sunbathing far from the shore, at several resorts to the west of the Reef Seen Aquatics Dive Center

Fantasi FantaSea

Petang itu, suasana gembira sudah mulai terasa begitu saya memasuki pelataran depan Phuket FantaSea, di sisi utara jalan yang menuju Pantai Kamala. Tiga orang gadis, yang tampaknya dari Jepang, bergantian berfoto di depan patung kinnaree (bidadari berbadan separuh burung) yang berpose melayang di dekat tempat menurunkan pengunjung

Malang’s Big Apple

The weather gradually got cooler as the motorcycles brought Arif and me closer to our destination. I could feel the difference even though I was wearing a jacket. I was carried by Dul on his bike, and Arif was carried by Guguh. The two of them met us that morning at the Tumpang crossroads, 24 kilometers east of Malang, to take us on a tour of the apple orchards in their village, Poncokusumo

Poul E. Bitsch: “Jakarta itu kota yang indah, namun kurang promosi.”

42 tahun bekerja di bidang perhotelan membuat Poul E. Bitsch paham seluk-beluk bisnis ini, dan tahu akan ke mana arahnya di masa depan. Dan sebagai orang yang sudah 8 tahun tinggal di Jakarta, sekaligus menjadi ketua JIHA (Jakarta International Hotels Association), Poul merasa bahwa kota metropolitan ini tidak kalah dengan ibukota negara-negara lain

A Hidden Paradise

The sounds of monkeys calling to one another and the leaves of oil palms rustling awakened me. I opened the window of the big tent, the headquarters of the Tangkahan Community Response Unit (CRU), where I was sleeping, and saw a lot of long-tailed monkeys jumping through the palm branches to the right of the tent

Garut’s Hidden Waterfalls

When I read a backpacker's report of a trip to Garut, which stated that Curug Orok (curug = waterfall, orok = newborn baby) was too far to reach, I was immediately fascinated. Could it really be that difficult to get to this famously beautiful waterfall? So as soon as I finished covering the story on silkworm cultivation in Garut, I made a point of stopping off at the Garut Regency Tourism Service and talking with Ibu Pepy, one of their tourism promotion staff

As Time Goes By

The morning was still misty as the fishing boats returned from sea to the estuary of the Serang River, heading toward the fish market at Karangantu Harbor, two hundred meters upstream. The fish market, already busy at this early hour, was directly across from the simple two-story wooden house where we had spent the night. The river seemed quite narrow; it's only about 20 meters wide, and small boats were lined up along both shores

Purser’s Pursuits

A silver-haired Caucasian man stands outside a workshop with a relieved look on his face. Dozens of local people are busily working inside the workshop, producing various handicrafts from pandanus bark, natural stone, and marble. Some are weaving pandanus; others are painting the finished pandanus containers

Departments

Solo Batik Carnival Nafas Baru untuk Batik

"Kapan tho, mulaine?" (Kapan sih, mulainya?). Suryo, yang sudah hampir dua jam berjongkok di sisi utara Jalan Slamet Riyadi, bertanya kepada sang ibu. Mereka sengaja datang dari sisi utara kota untuk menyaksikan Solo Batik Carnival (SBC), yang menurut rencana dibuka jam 2 siang. Begitu mendekati jam 3 dan kereta-kereta kuda di depannya tak juga bergerak, anak berusia 8 tahun ini pun mulai gel

Travel Notes

Renaissancing Bandung

If you've ever been to upper Bandung and stayed at the Green Hill Cottages, you will be surprised to hear that the cottages'

Coffee with a Personal Touch

No matter how many times I visit Aroma Coffee in Bandung, it's never boring. Yes, I'm a coffee freak, and the Robusta and Arabica that

Ultimate Holiday at Amanpuri

The first impression you get when you enter the Amanpuri complex in Phuket is: This resort is really big! With a total area of 77 acres,

MICE - Business in the Soul of Java

Adi Sumarmo International Airport in Solo is getting busier by the day, with more and more airlines opening routes to this city known as

Roemahkoe: Solo’s Must Visit

So while I was waiting for the Solo Batik Carnival opening at two that afternoon, I was browsing through the Solo Tourism Catalog a

Gateway to Adventure

The disruption to transportation between Surabaya and Malang caused by the Lapindo mud volcano has been a disaster for many

“Hot” MICE in Cipanas

People often say that the small town of Garut is lucky to have Cipanas. This district capital 7 km north of Garut, or 60 km from Bandung,

Explore Penang from the Berjaya

There aren't many places in Malaysia that offer interesting tourism venues, great business opportunities, and health care

Amanjiwo Holds Borobudur Exhibition

A cattra, the stacked-umbrella-shaped stupa from the central summit of Borobudur, rises high in the middle of the lobby at the Amanjiwo