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As it lies along the equator, Indonesia has a tropical climate, with two seasons : dry season (February to August) and rainy season (September to January). The sunshine is expected almost throughout the year, a good choice for the winter getaway. The rainy season which is happened from September to January may ruin your travel plan. The heaviest rainfall will be in December and January. Floods and landslides used to happen in Java and Sulawesi. A large number of volcanoes and earth plates contribute a higher rate of earthquake, especially in Sumatra, Sulawesi, Java and South East area islands. Average humidity is 70 %.
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No matter how much you love travel, the loved ones at home will be still in your heart and mind during the travel time. Telephone call is one of the ways to communicate with them. As usual, telephone call from the mobile phone will be much more expensive than the one from the land line. Furthermore, the call from the hotel will be 2-3 times more expensive than the normal cost. Look for the sign WARTEL or WARUNG TELKOM, they have the good deal for calling. Some will be opened for 24 hours, with the sign BUKA 24 JAM. You have to call the operator first (must do for the collect call) but in some WARTELs, you can call directly by dialing 001 or 008 first then country code-area code-telephone number. Ask help from the WARTEL attendants. For calling from the hotels, the guidance will be given to you. Getting a call from your home country/other countries will be the same like other countries. You have to dial the country code-area code-telephone number. IT IS FOR THE LAND LINE. There will be no area code for the call to the mobile phone in Indonesia. Indonesia’s country code is 62. Some the cities/areas codes are: AMBON 911, PONTIANAK 561, SAMARINDA 541, BANDUNG 22, DENPASAR, NUSA DUA 361, SUMBAWA 371, KUPANG 391, MALANG 341, MEDAN 61, PADANG 751, SURABAYA 31, BOGOR 251, YOGYAKARTA 274, MATARAM 370, JAYAPURA 967, TIMIKA 901, BATAM 778, TANA TORAJA 423, MAKASSAR/UJUNGPANDANG 411. The mobile phone numbers in Indonesia will be started as 08…..The digit 0 will be replaced by the country code 62 if you want to call from abroad to the Indonesia cell phone numbers. Some may have satellite telephone in the remote places, but the signal will not be good most of the time.
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There is no one emergency dial numbers for emergency in Indonesia. Every department will have their own numbers. It will be free of cost, even from the public telephone. Police 110, ambulance/emergency medical service 118, and fire department 113. For asking the telephone directory by the names or institutions, you can call 108. It is not free and the telephone directory will be covering the local area only. If you want to ask the information in other area, you have to dial the area code first before the 108. See my other tip too : How to call to/from Indonesia.
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 JATILUWUH HARVEST TIME by pangtidor
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 Komodo Dragon in the centre of
photo. by kiwi
www.tamansafari.com is 78 kms from Jakarta and quite a long tedious drive, but well worth it when you get there. Being up in the hills it is cooler. They have an amusement park and swimming pool, so there is something for everyone to do when you get there. Plenty of food stalls too.
They are open 0900 - 1700 hrs daily.
The Komodo Dragon is very special being the largest living lizard on the planet. It truly is a relic from a past era, very large and daunting although the one I saw was certainly not fully grown.
With scaley skin and a forked long tongue this reptile is truly out of the story books. They think there are around 5000 left in the wild here in Indonesia, so are now being protected. In their natural environment, they bite their prey first, this usually disables or kills instantly. However if the animal survives the Komodo has a highly infectious saliva which takes a little time but eventually kills the prey. The dragon is there to take over when this happens.
Komodos look slow and awkward, however they can turn on a speed of 25 kms per hour.
so beware!! Leave a Comment
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PERAHU (Indonesia traditional boat) will be one of the things you will see on the beach. It is a small boat, could bring 4-6 persons (small to average sizes) to the sea. It is made from the trunk of the tree and every area will have its own favorite tree for the boat. Perahu will be made by 1-2 people using the simple tools, just to shape the boat and to dig some space in the middle for seat place. It will take less than one week to finish one boat. Take a walk to the fishermen’s village near by the beach and you may watch them making their own perahu. It is a small boat, so the ride on it will not be comfortable with the fishy smell.
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Beside farmers, many Indonesians work as the fishermen, especially those who live at the beach side. Whenever you visit beach areas, take some time to look at the local traditional fishermen. Many of them are still using the traditional way of fishing with their own handmade net and boat (see my other tip: traditional boat). For the smaller boat, 2 fishermen will be going for fishing and you can see them from the beach shore. They will just for fishing for few hours and will offer you their fishes (see the main pictures). For the bigger one, many fishermen will be on the boat and they will go for fishing for one full day or even days. The fishes will be more and will be going to the local traditional market or fish market. Just ask the local people when they will come from fishing (see the second picture). You will have fun seeing them and they will be happy whenever you take pictures. On my last picture, the local fishermen offer me and friend a short ride to the sea when they saw us sitting at the beach. Guess what, it was free and we have a really wonderful time.
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Indonesia lies along the equator between Malaysia and Australia, covers the bigger size of width than the length. It makes Indonesia having three different time zones: Indonesian Western Standard Time (WIB: Waktu Indonesia Barat), Indonesian Central Standard Time (WITA: Waktu Indonesia Tengah), and Indonesian Eastern Standard Time (WIT :Waktu Indonesia Timur). Its western time (WIB) is 7 hours ahead of GMT/UTC and applied in Sumatra, Java (including the Indonesia capital: Jakarta), Madura, West Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan. The Central Time (WITA) is 8 hours ahead of GMT/UTC and covering Sulawesi, Bali, Nusa Tenggara (Lombok-Sumbawa included), East Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan. The other one, the Eastern time is 9 hours ahead of GMT/UTC, applied on Maluku,Ternate, and Irian Jaya/Papua. Indonesia does not have daylight-saving hour as it has only 2 seasons a year. So beware for the time : Bali is one hour ahead of Jakarta time.
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Like most of the countries in the world, the weekend in Indonesia will be on Saturday and Sunday. Indonesia’s national days will be on August 17 (Independence Day) and it will be public holiday. Some national days like Sumpah Pemuda (October 28) and National Heroes’ Day (November 10) are not considered as public holiday, but national ceremony will be held all over the countries at schools, government offices, and national heroes’ cemetery complex. During those days, you may expect some traffic (from the officers’ parade on the street) or delay on bureaucracy. The moslem holidays are Eid Fitr (Idul Fitri), Eid Adha (Idul Adha), Hijri New Year (Tahun Baru Hijriah), the birthday of Prophet Mohammed (Maulid Nabi), and Isra’a-Mi’raj. The dates will vary year by year, depend on the lunar calendar and they will be public holiday. You may see some unique festivals in some areas on those dates. The Christian holidays will be on Holy Friday=Jumat Agung (March or April), Easter = Paskah (on Sunday, automatically as a holiday), Resurrection=Kebangkitan (depend on the Easter Day), Christmas=Natal (December 25) and New Year=Tahun Baru(January 1). All of them will be public holiday in Indonesia. For Moslem areas, no bussiness will be opened on the Moslem holidays, as well as Christian areas for the Christian holidays. The malls and the big stores and department stores will be opened daily in the big cities. For the Hindu, Nyepi festival will be the public holiday and the date varies. PLEASE BE ALERT FOR NYEPI DATE (ASK THE LOCAL PEOPLE), especially when you travel in Bali because this ‘silence-no activity’ day is strictly applied on that day all over the Bali island. You may end up in jail if you break the rule there. Buddhism has Waisak as the public holiday and the date varies. During this festival, there will be an interesting Buddhism ceremony in the temples. Be up dated with the local news when you travel in Indonesia so you will not miss the big events.
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The signs will be written in English in all international airports and 3-4+ star hotels. For the rest of the places in Indonesia, the signs will be written most probably in Indonesia’s language. When you travel alone, bring a small note for the common signs in Indonesia’s. Open=BUKA. Closed=TUTUP. Enter=MASUK. Exit=KELUAR. Push: DORONG. Pull=TARIK. Toilet=WC/TOILET/KAKUS. Men/Gents=PRIA. Women/Ladies=WANITA. Cold=DINGIN. Hot=PANAS. Spicy=PEDAS. Danger=BAHAYA. Be quiet please=HARAP TENANG. Special=KHUSUS. Adult=DEWASA. For Public use=UNTUK UMUM. Free=GRATIS. Custom=BEA CUKAI. Tax=PAJAK. Cautious=HATI-HATI. Please be on the line/queue=HARAP ANTRI. Fixed price=HARGA PAS. Do not…/…Prohibited=DILARANG. Smoking=MEROKOK. Pharmacy=APOTIK/APOTEK. Hospital=RUMAH SAKIT. Mosque=MASJID/MESJID. Church=GEREJA. When they are digging the roads for the pipes or drainage, there will be a sign=ADA PERBAIKAN JALAN. Coffee house=warung kopi. Dead end road=JALAN BUNTU. Right=KANAN. Left=KIRI. Straight ahead=LURUS.
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