Discovering Semarang, The Dieng Plateau

Surrounded by mystic mountains, Semarang is an appealing place to unwind the mind and soul through excursions along the clay trails. Semarang has a mesmerizing old world charm towered with Dutch colonial architecture fused with contrasting modern mid-rises. Far away from the hustle and bustle of tourist destinations, Semarang presents itself as a place where you can enjoy the serenity along with the composite mix of Javanese, Chinese, Indian and Arabian cultures. The simplicity of Semarang is bound to strike an invisible chord with the traveler who has the passion to discover the natural ambiance of life as it is. Semarang is the capital city of Central Java in Indonesia and is located on Java's northern coast. A trip to the...

Read more »

Kawah Putih (White Crater) at The Flowers City, Bandung

Kawah Putih ('White Crater') is an extinct volcanic crater located south-west of Bandung. The drive from Bandung city will take about 2 hours. There will be pickup vans at the base of Kawah Putih to take you up to the actual crater itself. Driving up with your own private vehicle is possible, but very expensive. These pickups only cost 15,000RP and use open-sided 'safari-style' pickup vans, which makes the ride up very interesting.   The view of Kawah Putih itself is stunning and at times, surreal. Occasionally, the clouds will intermix with the sulphuric gases from the crater, forming this entirely white backdrop. A stunning location for photographs and a must-visit! A word of advice though,it gets really cold at the summit...

Read more »

Diving in the Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi

The Wakatobi is a remote archipelago situated in the center of the Coral Triangle in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is home to Indonesia's second largest Marine National Park, covering 12,500 square kilometers of protected and pristine coral reefs, white sandy beaches and remote traditional villages. As such the Wakatobi is a great destination for scuba diving enthusiasts from all over the World. It is becoming increasingly popular with recreational divers, underwater photographers, marine biologists, and backpackers. Until recently the Wakatobi has been a difficult to reach due to its remoteness, but that is now changing with the introduction of an airport on Wanci Island. There are now daily Express Air flights (except...

Read more »

The Exotic View of Toba Lake

   Merely a three hours drive from Medan, Toba is the largest lake in Southeast Asia and covers a simply enormous area of 1707 square kilometres. Sitting in the middle of this massive expanse of water sits Pulau Samosir (Samosir Island) which is almost as large as Singapore! The lake was formed by an absolutely gargantuan volcanic eruption some 70,000 years ago and sits in what is the largest caldera on earth. In fact, you'd probably have to head into outer space to actually get a good view of this enormous, dormant, fire breather, such is its size.  Samosir Island and the Toba area in gneeral are the spiritual and cultural homes of Indonesia' mainly Christian Batak population, one of the country's most vibrant...

Read more »

Longer Holidays at Berastagi, North Sumatra

Berastagi is situated in the upland of North Sumatra Province. Wedged between Mount Sibayak (2,049 m) and Mount Sinabung (2,451 m), it has cool climate, beautiful scenery, and several tourist attractions. With a well-developed infrastructure, the city is perfect for weekend getaways or longer holidays. Berastagi has always been a favorite weekend spot for Medan’s citizen since the 1.5 hours trip from Medan (Capital of North Sumatra Province) is relatively shot. The city, however, can also be a worthwhile destination for Jakartans. It only takes a total of 3.5 hours to reach: 2 hours of Medan Berastagi drive.  There are vast forest along the road from Medan and occasionally, you can see buildings with unique Karo (a tribe...

Read more »

Ubud vacation spot for an inexpensive travel

What is the best thing for having vacation in some destination spot? One will answer getting to vacation on beautiful destination for less. Try to find for your coming vacation destination a spot who offer things like that. If you be like an opportunist then you will end up having more on your vacation and also will see more and even do more on your vacation. Of course things kind of thing would not worth to be doing if you have unlimited budget. Visiting the island of Bali specially on area called the Ubud village was my last vacation with such a limited spending. There are many places in the world which can be the most interesting destination in the world but having to travel to this destination with inexpensive budget is a bliss. many...

Read more »