visit indonesia

I’ve been to Indonesia several times. It seems the farther east I go, the more interesting, though Sumatra and Java have some very good destinations. Bali was a dream of mine since I was a kid and never fails me. Lombok and its Gili Islands are quite nice with cheap bungalows (and now some big resorts) and very good snorkeling. Off northern Sulawesi is a small island called Bunaken with very cheap bungalows and one of the best reefs I’ve ever seen, fantastic snorkeling. Ambon has some good beaches on the north side. The Banda Islands are off the main tourist road and very interesting, nine islands close together (one is a live volcano which I climbed), nutmeg plantations, unbelievable coral and fish in crystal clear water (I saw a dugong, the original mermaid). There are so many islands I have yet to visit there, one in particular, Komodo. I’ve got to see the dragons.

I’ve made a couple of friends from Indo. One is from Lombok, this one always encourages us to visit there. Hopefully we’ll be going there this summer, I can hardly wait. =]

We’re now actually started saving up for the summer of 2008, and I’ve seriously started checking out the various sorts of trips we could do, and started checking out the various travel agencies that book trips. So this is most likely really going to happen, finally! No more postponing!

That seems the best option at this moment to go, it’s a good time of year, and it gives us a year to save money for it.

Going again for the fifth time. Indonesia is gorgeous, but there are definitely obstacles – bacteria, crime, etc. Borobudur is awesome, and Bali is always beautiful. Plus the US Dollar goes along way. Unless you enjoy overcrowded, polluted cities, I would keep travel in Jakarta to a minimum.

In the holidays I’m going to surf the internet and look for (cheap) options to go to Indonesia after all, in the summer of next year… It would be cool to go…

Gut-wrenching poverty, hot and steamy, friendly people, millions of 3-wheeled motorcycle taxis. “Drug Smuggling is punishable by Execution” is stenciled on the walls of the airport, in the customs line. The nice hotels all have bomb-blast barriers in front of the main entrances. Kind of a scary place, honestly. I was there in March, 2004.

Since I’ve just bought a house, which needs lovely new furniture, a new kitchen and new bathroom, and it has an enormous garden which needs to be cleaned up, I think this is not going to happen soon. I wanted to go in April or May, or even July, but moneywise I think it’s just not going to work.
I hope I can still go next year, but maybe I’m kidding myself. My boyfriend says it’d be better to go in 2008, so we can actually plan to go for several weeks and not hurry and have no money, but that just seems so far away!

Well, the first step was to actually say to myself and my boyfriend: we’re going and it’s gonna take place in 2007. Now I have to start saving, which should not be so hard as my parents will be paying for my ticket, and my boyfriend’s parents have given us money for the other ticket. Now I have to figure out where we want to go, I wish I could see everything I had seen while I lived there for 14 years… my home, my schools, the shopping malls, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Bali, everything!

Stayed on the east side of Java and then made a quick stop in Bali. That country is absolutely chaotic. On my last day there I go a fever and had stomach isssues. I still have not recovered…