Fun things to do in Indonesia

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One of the reasons I visited Bali was to attempt to see the endangered Bali Starling in the wild; when this failed, I visited to Bali Bird Park to see it in captivity. I was very impressed by the walk-in aviaries which create a natural habitat, for mixed species, in incredible tropical vegetation. The park provides sanctuary for almost 1000 birds and is instrumental in the protection and conservation of many endangered species. The “biosecurity” enforced by the park, e.g. foot baths at all entries has helped prevent the spread of bird viruses. I work with wildlife rehabilitation here in the U.S. and was impressed by the cleanliness of the bird enclosures they obviously practice good animal husbandry. As well as the 20 keepers they have a resident veterinarian on staff. Many of the birds are indigenous to Indonesia, but the park is also home to some South American exotics, including Scarlet Macaws and Toucans. One of my favorite birds was the Cassowary, native to New Guinea. The entrance fee is $25 U.S., and worth every cent, your ticket will also give you admission to the adjacent reptile park where you can see the Komodo Dragon. The park is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. I took a taxi from Ubud (about 30 a minute drive).

The concept of “tourist villages” (desa wisata) came about several years ago when the governments of several regencies realized there was much more in the Jogja area to offer travelers than the familiar Keraton, Borobudur, and Prambanan. Villages were given the choice of participating in the program or not, and those who accepted in some areas were given assistance in developing home stays and simple traditional meals, education in basic hygiene, and promoting their natural attractions. This is also an opportunity for tourist revenues to extend to the local people, which is welcomed by all. Overnight stays are available at villages that offer home stays, usually in rooms with private toilets added on to a family's home.
While the term “tourist villages” conjures up visions of Disneyland, rest assured that they are all traditional hamlets where life goes on – with or without visitors – like it always has. Travelers wishing to experience genuine Javanese hospitality and friendliness in settings that have changed very little over generations will be delighted. Activities range from lessons in whatever skills the village folk have to offer (even climbing coconut palms!) to guided trekking for breathtaking views of mountains, forests and plantations.
For information, directions and reservations, or ask someone at your hotel to call for you the contacts listed below. In planning your itinerary, it is helpful to know that the villages in Sleman Regency are north of Jogja; Bantul Regency is south; and Gunung Kidul Regency is southeast. Day trips to either Bantul or Gunung Kidul Regencies could include a stop at the south coast beaches.

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The flower garden of the Archipelago; this is the translated name of this big botanical garden located on the heights of the Puncak, located 80 km south of Jakarta.
The garden was quite “new” when I visited it in 1996, as it was founded in 1995 by Soeharto and his wife (did the dictator love flowers or had he another project in mind?). But still at this time lots of wonderful flowers were on display; I just can imagine how it could be now, with the plants growing so fast in the tropical climate.
It is laid out over 35 hectares and displays theme- type gardens like rose gardens, orchid gardens or Balinese, Japanese, etc. . .gardens. It must be at its best now.
There is a website (in Indonesian!) telling about the history and most remarkable features of the garden.
On the main picture are ginger flowers (not the spice ginger, but a related plant!); the second picture shows a general view. I did not photograph really original flowers when I was here, and there are interesting ones in other parts of my pages; on picture 3 is an orchid, hibiscus on picture 4 and water flower (white lotus) on picture 5.

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Seribu means “thousand” in Indonesian; Seribu stands for Pulau Seribu, thousand islands, a small archipelago located two hours speedboat north of Jakarta. Several islands are fitted as resorts and are a week end destination for Jakartans (expats or Indonesian), or even for a longer stay. Most travel agents in Jakarta propose trips to the seribu and the prices are very variable, as are the services from one resort to the other. I stayed myself at Sepa
and found it pleasant to stay with the family in a bungalow on the white sand beach; comfort was a bit “limit”, but nobody, never, complained; usually on week ends, meals are comprised in package price.
On sepa is a dive shop and for me the interesting part of the week ends was diving in some “protected” areas of the 1000 Islands national marine park; you are not allowed to go there by boat, but when you dive. . . nobody can see you and the boat fetched us one hour later on the other side of the marine park. . .
I learned scuba diving in Jakarta and on the main picture is one of my first dives in Seribu.
On the second picture are some French divers waiting to go in a short moment.
I had no waterproof camera, and this picture (picture 3) has been taken with a disposable camera; not the true colours, garanteed!.
On Sepa Island which you can walk round on the beaches within less than one hour, you may meet one of those big monitor lizards (picture4), which are not even shy and quite big! (well, not as big as the Komodo “dragon”); and at the dive shop they had behind a fence this casoar (picture5) which was probably having long long time and boring there.
More detailed descriptions are in these VT pages: on sepa and surroundings:
Freshia’s page
and this one about islands more close to Jakarta with an interesting historic insight:
Ukirsari’s page

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Pantai penyu (Turtle beach).
A unique experience is to watch the turtles struggling for their life, for the existence of their species, for the future at a special location where they come on shore and lay their eggs.
On West Java are few places where this can be observed and a famous place is Pangumbahan beach.
The best is to get there in the late afternoon, with sandwiches for dinner, lots of water to drink; take contact with the rangers (it is a national park, despite it is very open and circulation is free) for: first guiding you to the spot of interest; second, he makes sure the tourists do not disturb too much the turtles which are exhausted after their journey in the ocean and the hours crawling on the beach.
First we begin, waiting for the night to come, because the turtles land at night to go to lay their eggs on the beach; waiting when you have wonderful sunsets like this one (Main Picture) is not too difficult; the kids play on the beach in the mean time.
Later, (midnight, or later) you have to wake up the ones who sleep; the ranger comes and tells “OK we can go now”, and we walk on the beach in darkness, with only the torches light from time to time; we notice big trails left by the turtles when they crawled ashore; we follow one and. . . here is one, in her hole; she has already finished laying her eggs (picture2).
Look at the big hole she (she, yes I know in English, “it” would be more suitable, but these animals, as old as the dinosaurs, surviving since Triassic (230 million years), deserve a bit our respect) dug with her finn shaped legs; as big as herself to lay about one hundred eggs, cover them with sand (picture 3). Then completely exhausted the mother turtle goes back to the shore, and goes back to where she will disappear (picture 4).
After having watched at this show from the nature, million years old, you go back on the spot where you were waiting on the beach and can sleep until the next morning (mosquito repellent is a must!!) or you drive back to your place.

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The train is not a very common transportation means in Indonesia, a bit a pity as it goes through very scenic areas; I show here the trains circulating in the city of Jakarta, and the railways and the vicinity.
There were (in 1995-1998) two classes for train transportation (at least), and the fare system was a bit complicated, but it is cheap (40.000-60.000 rupiah for Jakarta Bandung: 5-7 US $ for 3 hours #150 km in the rice fields and volcano landscape, who can make it cheaper?) compared to buses (which are usually faster) ; remember in Jakarta there are 4 train stations : Senen, Gambir, Kota, Jatinegara, the three firstly named have trains bound to big cities of Java (Bandung, Semarang, Malang, Surabaya). Best is to have a look at the Persero (official train company) website: http://infoka.kereta-api.com/jadwal_dan_tarif/
Local travel agents are efficient and they speak English, which is not the case of the employees at the stations (but it is very exotic to buy tickets at Kota station!!), and they arrange easily a train trip.
My train experience in Indonesia is mainly the one of the main picture: trains passing on the level crossings with the streets.
The two next pictures show there the area close to the railway is densely populated, and the last one show again a train at the level crossing..

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If you travel far deep in the countryside of East Java, do not look for hotels, better try home stays; well, the average Indonesian do not make home stays, but the coffee or tea estates sometimes do it.
We stayed at Catimur coffee estate home stay, in an old Dutch colonial house, very old fashioned and also very charming, in some way; very far from luxury, but the luxury there, was the warm hearted welcome, the smiles of the people, their kindness.
On the main picture is the colonial house, with the main entrance, , and from the rooms, inside (picture2), almost no walls, only windows. . . really charming (I do not use that word very much. . . . ).

Catimur home stay, located between Sempol and Belawan estates on the North-West flank of the Merapi-Raung volcanic complex; turn to the East at Wonosari on the road from Bondowoso to Situbondo, 10 km North of Bondowoso; then better is to ask for Catimur;
The homestay belonged at the time to PT Timur Cipta pesona, the coffe estate.
Tel:0331-84238; ask for Pak Purwo (Mr Purwo) (ooops in Indonesian, if I remember)

In 2006 it was still existing according to the website. . .
http://eastjava.com/news/2006/06/22/tourism-object-in-bondowoso-ii/
I think this tip is better in the "to do" section; it is not a usualk accomodation.

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From Labuanbajo in Flores you can go on a day-tour with a boat to Rinca Island, one of the three islands that make up the Komodo National Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 Komodo dragons living on Komodo, Padar, and Rinca islands. Komodo dragons, as it turns out, are not fun and cute and cuddly like Orang-Utans and their heads look rather like those of velociraptors. They are also the laziest predators on earth, so the dozen or so that we saw were mainly taking their afternoon siestas. On the way back to Labuanbajo we stopped at a tiny uninhabited island where we snorkelled while our guide collected live shells to cook for dinner later that night. The snorkelling here was really excellent.