INDONESIA, Indonesia Travel Blogs

Bikes, dragons, and Kecak
Jun 30, 2008 (11 photos)

Up and at 'em! Our transport picks us up for a bike tour at 7:30. Kat and I are a little sleepy after watching the Euro Cup finals in the middle of the night but we're good to go. Up to the base of Mt. Batur for breakfast, good to get a look at what we ...

Sanur - Beautiful Bali
May 6, 2009

Swapping Laos for Indonesia was a master-stroke; Bali is sensational. The beach at Sanur isn't a patch on the Perhentians but the streets and their architecture are a joy to be around. The Balinese people are highly spiritual, going beyond ...

Holy Grail of Pig
Jun 29, 2008 (21 photos)

I wake up around 4 a.m. Much to my dismay the chickens did in fact follow me to Ubud! Kat and I walk around and find a new place to stay, I'm quite determined to get a decent nights sleep. We decide to stay at the White House which has modest rooms but ...

Day 51, Pt.1: My First Motorcycle Ride
Jul 12, 2008 (7 photos)

3am Friday morning, my "Argo Elis, Eksekutif Klas" (or something like that) train pulled into the Yogyakarta train station. I woke up to find that my glasses had somehow lost a screw in the middle of the night, setting one of the lenses loose. Not to ...

Day 59: Into the Wild!
Jul 20, 2008 (7 photos)

... in the Garden Inn, what turned out to be one of the cheapest and best lodges in the village. Score another win for the Indonesia section of the guidebook (the Malaysian section has been much more hit&miss thus far.) It was a basic room of four walls, ...

*Day 53: Ary's Hospitality
Jul 14, 2008 (18 photos)

... first stop was Surabaya's Chinese mosque. Strangely, it was a Chinese explorer from the Ming dynasty who spread Islam across Indonesia and there are several monuments to him scattered throughout the city. The mosque itself wasn't more than a small recently ...

the orangutans of Bukit Lawang....
Jun 23, 2008 (99 photos)

... Udin, minutes after we get off of the plane in Medan, Sumatra.  I was never aware of the fact that Sumatra is part of Indonesia...thought of it as it's own country...and the culture is very unique, just as it was in Java and Bali.  My primary ...

the snake charmer...
Jun 19, 2008 (65 photos)

Maybe the snake charmer isn't exactly the right name for this guy...actually the 'snake slapper' would be more appropriate....well it all starts with a trip to Solo - or Surakarta being its real name...in Java.  It's about 2 hrs east of Yogyakarta ...

The Gift of Sickness
Feb 21, 2006

The gift of sickness. I think sickness hits us all. Everyone that has gone over seas ends up sick some way or another. I have in every way embraced this malady. The gifts sickness gave me....projectile vomiting and diarrhea simultaneously, mind you! Oh ...

Day 62: Falling in Love With Bukit Lawang
Jul 22, 2008

... in love with the village. It took two weeks to find, but I think I'd finally found my one secluded special corner of Indonesia that could take its place alongside Gimmelwald & Pepsikola in my heart. The locals were friendlier than any locals I'd yet ...

DRIVING 101
Feb 23, 2006

Hey guyz, guess what? I learned to drive today in a foreign land. Everything is on the opposite side. Everything is opposite from what I've learned. I now sit where my passenger once sat. The gear shifter is now on my left side, I now drive on the ...

Peter Pan Concert!
Feb 23, 2006

Winter, Rini, Nurel, Winter, Elijah, Rance, Richo, Judi, Derrick, Randy, myself and a few other Acehnese guys all went to the Peter Pan concert. Peter Pan is a very popular band here in Southeast Asia and I'm huge fan as well. Yes, I know, Wyndi a huge ...

Home Sweet Home
Jan 26, 2006

Hey All! I'm home.. joy is bursting from every fiber of my being. I pray it overflows. I'm EXACTLY where I'm supposed to be at the very moment I'm supposed to be here. What an incredible feeling... My job here will be running the guesthouse/ ...

Vroom vroom
Jun 19, 2008 (17 photos)

We rented a motor bike after breakfast and drove down to the southern tip of the island on Bukt Peninsula, saw Dreamland (a fabled surf spot), but continued down to Pura Luhur Ulu Watu Temple that is built on cliffs to the spirit of the sea. Monkeys live ...

Days 56-58: Moped Drives & Sunset Dinners
Jul 18, 2008 (34 photos)

... water rolled in. Pure magic. I've been taking it easy in preparation for the intense next two weeks. Tomorrow I fly to Sumatra, Indonesia's angry dark heart, long exploited by Java and given little in return, where I will take part in a jungle dark in ...

She doesn't know!
Jun 20, 2008 (11 photos)

Despite going to bed as late as possible, we got up even earlier than before, We got ourselves together and took a walking tour recommended in LP. We started in Kuta on the beach and walked north along beautiful sand with blue water, watching waves break, ...

dejavu all over again
Jun 29, 2008 (13 photos)

Jon and I moved AGAIN! We decided that while our room has an amazing view during the day, it is a little too "jail cell" for our taste at night. We move a bit further up Monkey Forest Road to Lumbung Sari Bungalows. A smidge more expensive, no A/C, but so ...

On to Ubud
Jun 27, 2008 (11 photos)

One last banana pancake in Gili but I'm sure there will be others. Kat and I are sad to leave our little bungalow on our little island. It's tempting to stay another day despite the local vodka and chickens. Those feathered friends of mine didn't miss ...

another of life's passages...
Jun 28, 2008 (112 photos)

A somewhat sleepless night due to being awakened by a raucous man at our door...I guess he thought our room was his room...it was 3 in the morning and he was either drunk or high on Jennie's omelette with magic mushrooms...right there on the menu at this ...

The Gili Islands
May 12, 2009 (24 photos)

The route to the Gili islands is long and dangerous. We've read stories on the net of people traveling through the port of Bangsal and being harassed, soaked in seawater, pinched, punched and spat on, probably because of the downturn in Lombok tourism due ...

Seminyak and beyond
Jun 19, 2008 (9 photos)

... , catch the shuttle into Kuta at 10 AM. Walk the streets and beach of Kuta. Bali is a Hindu island that is part of Indonesia which is 90% Muslim. Also Kuta is a favorite spot for young Aussies to come and party. There are plenty of bars and discos that ...

beyond itchy...
Jun 11, 2008 (70 photos)

My body is beyond itchy today.  This morning I wake up...it's about 5:30 AM and I'm scratching all over the place.  I'm thinking that some savage mosquito must have snuck in under the mosquito netting and it getting its belly full.  But I'm ...

Ubud - I used to be a backpacker.
May 8, 2009 (50 photos)

It's hard to describe how nice Ubud is without sounding smug, but it really is that nice. I guess it's because here you find a spectacular fusion of tradition and modernity in a friendly (and cheap) atmosphere. I can't believe how nice it is to sleep ...

Day 52: A New Friend
Jul 12, 2008 (16 photos)

A 4:30 am wakeup call got me up just in time to catch the first bus to Borobudur, the nearby ancient Buddhist temple ruin, largest Buddhist complex in the world & hyped as one of SE Asia's truly great monuments. It lived up to the hype, but was very ...

Jungle Highs, AC lows thats the way Indonesia goes
Jan 27, 2008 (33 photos)

... to do any kind of proper research in Singapore, added to the fact that it was very much a last-minute decision, we entered Indonesia with little clue about where we were going or what to expect. Sometimes this has worked for us - Chennai was a last-minute ...

Time for the buddy check
Jun 23, 2008 (12 photos)

... along the beach dead in their tracks. The whole night we talked about how lucky all of us are to be in the Gilis in Indonesia for this experience. Not sure what time we finally made it to bed. Travelers note: When picking a room on Gili be aware there ...

A scorpion sting makes Bali bor-ing!
May 18, 2008 (18 photos)

WARNING: The following blog is medical and, in some parts, pretty disgusting and/or factual (i.e. boring!). Please do not read if you are sitting down for your morning cornflakes - kill a few minutes on Facebook and come back later. Believe me, when you ...

Sponsored by Roxy
Feb 27, 2006

... Law. Went to swimming class with Peter, Luke and Winter...was asked to help coordinate Aceh Water Sports by the National Surfing Champion of Indonesia. He wants to teach me to surf and windsurf. He thinks I could be the next big thing! I thought that was ...

Clear water cool breezes
Sep 4, 2003 (8 photos)

From Ubud Sarah and I decided to head up to Lovina on the north coast of Bali. It is a somewhat touristy area with nice black sand beaches. We stayed there for three nights at a nice place called the "Astina Cottages" which was near the beach. It had a ...

Another day at the beach
Jun 21, 2008 (17 photos)

Jon and I were up again early, we really are old people. After breakfast we looked into options to get to the Gili Islands. The tour guide guy told us to be careful when changing money as it is a common scam to use a slip of the hand trick and drop rhupis ...