Visiting Java, Indonesia
Indonesia, a nation with thousands of islands with its wide variety of cultures and traditions, attracts millions of visitors each year. It’s islands spread from Sumatera in the north to Irian Jaya in the south bordering with Papua New Guinea. In the island of Java, there are three major cities namely Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Bandung. Jakarta is the federal capital for Indonesia. Each of these cities offers its own uniqueness and attractions.
Jakarta is a metropolitan city which offers all kinds of attractions from museums, art and antiques markets, shopping and first class accomodations, food and wide range of cultural activities.
The culture and traditions of Jakarta, especially in the heritage buildings, are well preserved and worth visiting.
For shopping, you are spoilt of choices from the high-end Plaza Senayan to relatively cheaper places like Tanah Abang and Ancol Dunya Fantasy. You can head for Glodok Plaza in Chinatown for electronics goods and Mangga Dua Mall for computer stuff.
The latest attraction there is Waterbom Jakarta - The Urban Cool which is the leading water park and recreation area in Jakarta. Spend a day there if you have time for relaxing.
Heading to the west, the highland city of Bandung offers cool climate for the city dwellers to escape the heat and stress of Jakarta city. Bandung is just three hour journey by road from Jakarta. Bandung is located on a mountainous with rich green valleys hugging volcanic peaks. Besides providing cool climate for holiday makers, Bandung is famous for its selection of factory outlets offering a wide variety of famous brands.
If you are adventurous, pay a visit to Tangkuban Perahu, a volcanic mountain, where you can hike down to the volcanic crater. You can dip your feet in the hot water or even cook an egg there. After visiting Tangkuban Perahu, you can take a dip at the hot springs at the foot of the mountain.
In Bandung, you can taste the delicious Sundanese cuisine. There are many local restaurants serving these wonderful cusine. Among them are Kampungku, Kampung Daun and Sapu Lidi.
Further south is the city of Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta was the former seat for the ancient Javanese empires of Mataram, Ngayogyakarto and Hadiningrat. Yogyakarta was founded in 1755 when a land dispute which split the Mataram empire into Sultanates of Yogyakarta and Surakarta or commonly knnown as Solo.
Prince Mangkubumi built the Kraton of Yogyakarta and created the most powerful Javanese state. Kraton acts as the hub of Yogyakarta for centuries. From Kraton, it radiates the culture and traditional life of Yogyakarta. In Kraton, the gamelan and wayang kulit are performed throughout the day bring to life the traditional stories like Ramayana.
The most famous attraction at Yogyakarta is Borobudur. Borobudur is a ninth century Mahayana Buddhist monument built in Magelang. It consists of six square platforms topped with three circular platforms. It has more than 2500 reliefs and 500 Buddha statues. The best time to visit Borobudur is during the sunrise. You can see the sun rises in between two volcanoes - Marapi and Merapu - and seeing the sunray lighting up the valley below.
Besides Borobudur, there are smaller Buddhist temples in Medut and Pawon.
There is the Hindu temple in Prambanan where there are three main temples for Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva.
Borobudur and Prambanan are listed under UNESCO World Heritage Area.
Stop by at Surakarta or Solo if you have time. Surakarta and Yogyakarta are full of history, culture and art for you to spend your time exploring this ancient city from Mataram empire.
