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Indonesia has a different way of thinking in the summer. I am used to heading for the beach and coastal areas during the summer. However in Indonesia, it is so hot in the summer they like to head for the coolness of the bushclad hills. Here you find grandiose and secluded hideaways where the privileged go for relief from the intense heat. The houses are impossible to see amongst the bush and tree cover. Leave a Comment
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 TEA TERRACES by lmkluque
Not far from Jakarta near Bogor there are plenty of interesting things to see or do and one of the most enjoyable journeys of my trip was getting to Puncak Pass Restaurant. This place was actually a resort and I wouldn't mind staying here for a time, but we only stopped for lunch. The view from the huge glass walls, allowed us a panoramic version of the lush tea terraces. Like something straight out of National Geographic! Awesome and beautiful!
Mine is not such a clear picture because of the moisture in the air. Climbing up the mountians is also a wonderful way to escape the heat of the lower altitudes. Leave a Comment
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 by EricLe_RougeLeave a Comment
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 by SharrieLeave a Comment
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There are several towns named 'Cipanas' throughout Indonesia, as the name simply means 'hot springs,' and the volcanic landscape ensures that there are plenty of those in the country. The one we went to was a very small village in West Java that is often called the 'Switzerland of Java,' at least according to the Rough Guide. There is a much larger Cipanas (pop. 50,000) that is only about 60km from Jakarta and is popular with the capital's residents on weekends. This one, on the other hand, is near Garut southeast of Bandung. It took us about 9 hours to get there from Jakarta, which involved a train to Bandung, then a taxi, two buses (because the first one broke down on the way) and a horse and carriage.
All the guesthouses here have the hot spring water pumped straight into the rooms, so you can have your own private jacuzzi in your hotel bathroom, minus the bubbles. Since this was only the second place we visited in Indonesia (the first being Jakarta), we didn't realise what a luxury hot water was. We probably would have appreciated it much more if we'd gone there a couple months later! There is also a public swimming pool fed by water from the hot springs. Women should probably wear clothes to swim in rather than bathing suits, as this is what the local women do.
The village is surrounded by beautiful green countryside and is great for relaxing, meeting locals, and taking aimless walks.
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Bandar Lampung is a city of about 700,000 people in southern Sumatra. I don't think much of big cities in Indonesia in general; they're noisy, smelly, chaotic, and hardly picturesque. This one didn't seem to be much different, until we got ourselves lost in the mazes of alleyways down near the harbour and were adopted by all the children of the neighborhood. There were no honking minibuses here, the paths were too small for that. It was just local people going about their daily lives in their little houses packed with children. As a Westerner, you can't walk down a street in Indonesia without at least one kid yelling out, "Hello, Mister!" Well, in Bandar Lampung it got a bit out of hand, and soon we were like two pied pipers with a huge band of children following us. One of the older girls invited us into her house, where we sat out on the back porch and watched the fishing boats in the mud flats. It was a tiny, dilapidated house made out of bamboo and whatever else was available. It's hard to imagine how a family of seven fit inside it. Once we did eventually find the harbour we were looking for, we were just in time for the fish auction and watched as people strung baskets of fish onto bamboo poles and carried away the day's catch.
I can't really give directions as we were lost the whole time. For the fish market, try asking people for the pelabuhan (harbour), as that's where it is.
For more info see my Lampung Province page
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Bengkulu, a small, pleasant city in the bottom half of Sumatra, facing the Indian Ocean on the western coast. It's large enough to have a few sites of interest, but not so large that it has all the noise, pollution, and chaos found in all big cities in Indonesia. The 7km strip of white sand beach is one of its major attractions. There is also a fort and a Chinese quarter with interesting architecture.
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Krui is a tiny fishing town with a laid-back atmosphere, a bit more character than Kota Agung, and a nicer beach (apart from the dead goat we saw washed up on the shore). As a daytrip from Krui we went back into Bukit Barisan National Park to visit these waterfalls that we'd heard about. We tramped through the mud for awhile until we lost the trail and my camera fell into a river, so we never did make it to the waterfall. We did get to have our first experience with leeches, though. Our bodies were crawling with them by the time we got out of there. Nick even had one on his bum. So, the moral of this story is, don't go trekking in the jungle without a guide.
Krui is starting to become known amongst the surfer crowd for its waves. We saw one westerner when we were there, who was the first one we'd seen since we met up with Nick's uncle and his surfing buddies 11 days before. But tourism all over Indonesia was still reeling from the 2002 Bali bombings at this time, so there may be more tourists there now.
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 Cows on the beach by jungles
It's a very relaxing place with not much to do but watch the fisherman mending their nets, and, of course, surf. This is only for the experienced, though, and if you don't have a board watch out as the waves are really too strong for bodysurfing safely (not that that stopped Nick).
There is an old shipwreck washed up on the reef that you can walk out to, but be aware that there are sea snakes in the seagrass that you'll have to wade through.
There are some waterfalls nearby; negotiate a price with the ojek drivers to take you there (an ojek is a motorcycle taxi, but in this case applies to anyone with a motorcycle as they will all be happy to make an extra buck).
The nearby beaches are also nesting grounds for sea turtles.
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 Fishermen's canoes on Seven
Mountains Lake by jungles, 1 more photos |
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