Freshwater Aquarium at Seaworld Indonesia

SeaWorld’s freshwater aquarium has variouse kinds of freshwater fish’s collections from all over the world. The collections in the freshwater aquarium are including piranha, electric eel, and red tail freshwater catfish from Amazon River. Read more...

Dugong Aquarium at Seaworld Indonesia

Dugong Aquarium at Seaworld Indonesia

Dugong aquarium inhabited by dugong, a scarce and cute sea mammal which moves in gentle and charming gestures. The marine area presents the beauty of variouse kinds and color of fishes that lives in corals, such as clown fish, cockaktoo fish, and kepe-kepe fish. Read more...

Main Aquarium (Saltwater Aquarium) at Seaworld Indonesia

Main Aquarium (Saltwater Aquarium) at Seaworld Indonesia

The main aquarium becomes the habitat of thousands Indonesian saltwater animals in variouse kind of colors. The main aquarium is capable to store up to 5 milion liter of saltwater and is the biggest saltwater aquarium in South East Asia. Read more...

Facilities at Seaworld Indonesia

Facilities at Seaworld Indonesia

The facilities SeaWorld Indonesia possessed are including the main aquarium (saltwater aquarium), fresh water aquarium, mermaid or dugong aquarium, marine area, Antasena Tunnel, gift shop, library, restaurant and touch screen computer. Read more...

History and Background of Seaworld Indonesia

History and Background of Seaworld Indonesia

Indonesia is an archipelago country with seashore border length reaching 81000km, consist of thousands islands and spreading across 5000 km along the equator line. Indonesian territorial waters have abundance of fish’s species, coral and sponge. There’re about 3500 kinds of fishes found in Indonesian territorial waters, which is about 37% of the whole fish species in the world.

Since very long time ago Indonesian people has considered the sea as their artery for living. They utilize the marine resources for their own consumption as well as for trading. They sail in the sea to reach other places, and creates interesting tourism object at the sea.

Backgrounded by how important the sea was for Indonesian people and how important to take care of the survival of Indonesian waters resources, then the SeaWorld Indonesia was founded.

The first stone placement of SeaWorld Indonesia construction was conducted on 2nd October 1992 by Wiyogo Atmodarminto, the governor of DKI Jakarta at that period. SeaWorld Indonesia was starting the operation on 3rd June 1994. Read more...

Tips for Sunda Kelapa Harbor

Tips for Sunda Kelapa Harbor

• To visit Sunda Kelapa Harbor you could use personal vehicle or taxi. As an alternative you could ride Trans Jakarta Busway from the first corridor, with the route of Blok M to Kota Tua. You need to get off at the last station, Kota Tua, and from there you ride a taxi, bajaj or bicycle ojek to Sunda Kelapa Harbor. Sunda Kelapa Harbor is about 2km away from Kota Tua Station.

• It’s better to wear head cover like hat or umbrella to protect you from the sun beam, since the climate is hot enough in Jakarta. It’s recommended to wear clothing that can easily absorb the sweat, and to wear comfortable shoes or slipper.

• When you walk around the Sunda Kelapa Harbor area, there are usually some people try to talk with you and persuade you. They are local fishermen who try to offer a service to take you looking around at the sea by their boat. Usually the fishermen do not speak English, instead signs could be used to communicate. If you took the service the fisherman would take you around the fisherman village around the harbor and other sides of Sunda Kelapa Harbor that might be interesting to catch. The service fee is around Rp25,000 to Rp40,000 negotiable. Read more...
  

History of Sunda Kelapa Harbor

Sunda Kelapa Harbor has been well known since the 12th century, but the existence estimated to be since the 5th century. Sunda Kelapa Harbor was belongs to Sunda Empire with capital of Pajajaran, located at around the current Bogor. At that time Sunda Kelapa Harbor was busily visited for the spicy trading.

Foreign ships from China, South India, Japan, and Middle East was docking at Sunda Kelapa Harbor and conducting trading activities by carrying commodities like perfume, horses, wine, porcelain, coffee, silk, textiles and coloring materials to be traded with the spicy. In 1522, Sunda Kingdom built a closer relationship with Portugal and guaranteed a permit to build offices and houses complete with fortress at Sunda Kelapa area.

The relationship between Sunda Empire and Portugal regarded as threat by Demak Kingdom, which was the neighbor of Sunda Kingdom. It drove Demak to finally decided to chase away Portugal and to take away Sunda Kelapa by force. On 22nd June, 1527, under the leadership of Fatahillah, Demak’s troop took away Sunda Kelapa by force. Since then the name of Sunda Kelapa changed to Jayakarta, which meant the city of victory or glory. On 30th March, 1619, under the leadership of Jan Pieterszoon Coen, VOC Holland troop took away Sunda Kelapa from Demak and changed the name to Batavia.

In 1942, Japan took away Batavia from Holland and changed the name to Jakarta. In 1945 Indonesia became a free nation; however Holland was still trying to dominate back Indonesia. During the existence of Holland in Indonesia the name of Jakarta harbor stayed still. On 6th March 1974, based on the governor of DKI Jakarta’s decision, the name of Sunda Kelapa Harbor being used again as the name of the harbor. Read more...

Other Interesting Places Near to Kota Tua Jakarta (Jakarta Old Town)

Glodok area which is the China Town of Jakarta is about 1-2 km away from Kota Tua. Jaya Ancol Dreamland Park which has several amusement arenas such as Dunia Fantasy, SeaWorld Indonesia and Gelanggang Samudera is located at about 3 to 5 km away from Kota Tua. Read more...

History of Kota Tua Jakarta (Jakarta Old Town)

Kota Tua, Jakarta, was the pioneer of the current Jakarta City. It was started from a small port at the mouth of Ciliwung River in about centuries ago. The port city was then developed became a busy international trading center. Journals from European journalists in the 16th century said that there’s a city, named Kalapa (Kelapa in Sundanese called kalapa, means coconut), seemed as the main port for a Hindu Kingdom named Sunda, with a capital of Pajajaran, located near to the current location of Bogor. Portuguese was the first fleet from Europe that came to the Kalapa Port.

Kalapa, the port city was then attacked by Demak Kingdom, a kingdom in Kalapa neighborhood, under the leadership of Fatahillah. Kalapa Port was successfully conquered on 22nd June 1527 and since then the name was changed from Sunda Kalapa to Jayakarta, which means city of glory or victory. The date of 22nd June 1527 was then celebrated as the birthday of Jakarta City.

The Dutch came and taken away Jayakarta in the end of 16th century under the leadership of Jan Pieterszoon Coen. The Dutch changed the name of Jayakarta became Batavia and constructed buildings with the architecture style as they had in their country. In the Japanese colonization time from 1942 to 1945, the name of Batavia was changed to Jakarta (Jayakarta). Read more...

Transportation at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII)

Transportation at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII)

You could get around Taman Mini Indonesia Indah by walking, driving personal vehicle, renting bicycle or using transportation facilities provided by Taman Mini Indonesia Indah.

Transportation facilities provided by Taman Mini Indonesia Indah are including TMII ride that brings people to travel around TMII, mini train, Samirono passageway train, swan boat, and cable car (named Sky Lift Indonesia). Read more...

Traditional Pavilions at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII)

The traditional pavilions appear as traditional houses and buildings from 26 provinces in Indonesia. The pavilions are supplemented with ornaments and motifs from each territory. They are also equipped with traditional furniture that is unique to each territory.

Some pavilions you could see in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah are including traditional house of Tongkonan from Tana Toraja, Bolon from Batak Toba, Bagonjong from West Sumatera, Joglo from Java, and Lamin from Dayak Ethnic at East Kalimantan.

Since there are 26 provinces represented at TMII, hence there’re also 26 pavilions in there. However, there’s a plan to construct six more pavilions which will represent six new provinces in Indonesia.

Read more...

History of Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII)

It was on 13th March 1970 in a meeting in the residence of President Soeharto (the 2nd President of Indonesia), Mrs. Siti Hartinah Soeharto, President Soeharto’s wife, proposed an idea of creating a way to raise the senses of nationality, devotion and proud of Indonesia among Indonesian people.

The idea was then realized by constructing a recreation area which represents the wealth and beauty of Indonesia in miniatures, which named Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII). The construction of Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) was started in 1971, and officially open on 20th April, 1975. Read more...

Other Places Near to Indonesia National Monument (Monas)

Other places located near to Indonesia National Monument (Monas) are the President Palace, National Museum, The Golden Chariot (Kereta Kencana) Sculpture, Gambir Train Terminal, Bank of Indonesia, Indosat Building (the second biggest telecommunication company in Indonesia), Supreme Court, Immanuel Church, Jalan Thamrin.

Read more...

Fountain Attraction at Indonesia National Monument (Monas)

Fountain attraction conducted at Monas Park on every Saturday and Sunday, started from 07:00pm to 08:00pm.

Duration of the attraction take about 35 minutes, accompanied by several songs like Jali-Jali, Lenggak-Lenggok Jakarta, Kopi Dangdut, Lambadia, Winter game, dan Rocketer. Read more...

Park Area at National Monument (Monas)

The park area which surrounds the monument is organized nicely. There are several kinds of plants from various region of Indonesia in the park. There’re many seats provided under big trees.

You could see the cultivation of spotted dears that were originated from Istana Bogor, at the park. There’re also pathways structured from green thin stone for you to have your feet massaged by walking on it un-shoes.

There’re a pool with fountain and the statue of Princess Diponegoro riding a horse which made of 8 ton bronze medal on the park. This statue was made by Italian artist, Prof. Coberlato as a grant from Dr. Mario, Honores Consulate General in Indonesia. The statue is located near the gate of the tunnel which leads to the monument. Read more...

National History Museum at National Monument (Monas)

National History Museum located at the baseman of National Monument (Monas). The width of the museum is 6400 meters (80 x 80), and the whole walls, floor, and pillars are top layered with marble.

The museum can hold up to 500 people. At the four sides of the museum there are display windows that shows the life and phenomenon that Indonesian people has gone through since Indonesian ancient time. Read more...

Independence Room at National Monument (Monas)

This room is located at the cup side of Monas, and has an amphitheater shape. In this room were kept the map of Indonesia, the red and white flag of Indonesia, the symbol of Indonesia, which is Garuda, and the replica of Indonesian independence proclaim script at the gateway.

You could request the officer there to open the gateway so you could see the script replica while listening to the recorded voice of President Soekarno when he was reading the script. Read more...

The Top Yard at National Monument (Monas)

You could reach the top of Monas by elevator. Surrounding the elevator there are emergency latter to be used in case of emergency. From the top yard you could enjoy the view of Jakarta City and the wind blowing and caressing your face.

In a clear weather you could enjoy the view of Salak Mountain at the south side, the ocean at the north side, and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at the west side. While you're in Monas area it's recommended to get into the top yard and enjoy the views from the top. Read more...

Tips for Dunia Fantasy Ancol

Tips for Dunia Fantasy Ancol

• Dunia Fantasy is one of the most popular and interesting theme parks at Jaya Ancol Dreamland Park. Dunia Fantasy mostly visited on Saturday, Sunday and holidays. Even on the weekdays Dunia Fantasy could be quite crowded. Hence, it may be better to visit Dunia Fantasy on the weekdays if you are not a kind of crowds’ lover. Even if you like to visit Dunia Fantasy on Saturday, Sunday and holidays, it’s good to visit in the morning.

• The most interesting games for Dunia Fantasy’s visitors are Halilintar (roller coaster), Tornado, Arung Jeram (rafting), Niagara and Kora-Kora. So when you visit Dunia Fantasy in the morning, it’s beter to prioritize at those arena before the quei become so long.

• If you plan to enjoy the Arung Jeram (rafting arena) at Dunia Fantasy, please bring cloths for changes in case the cloths you wear getting wet during the game. Read more...
  

Asia Region at Dunia Fantasy Ancol

Asia Region has several playing arena like Baku Toki, another boom boom car arena; Bianglala, a giant windmill which was constructed with an with a tipical Thailand architecture and ornament style; Gajah Bledug, elephants like with Indian style flying while swinging in a circle moves.

Another playing arena in Asia Region is Kora-Kora, a big yacht swinging high that makes your heart beats rapidly. Read more...

Istana Boneka Region at Dunia Fantasy Ancol

Istana Boneka Region is a palace of dolls which has hundreds of animatronic dolls collections represents variouse ethnicity and culture from the whole regions in Indonesia and many other countries in the world.

Visitors will ride a boat to explore the palace accompanied with country music from the region represented that’s passed through by the boat. The building of the doll palace was designed with a combination of ten Indonesian building architecture which at the end created a new architecture style. Read more...

Amerika Region at Dunia Fantasy Ancol

Amerika Region has several playing arenas like Lorong Sesat, a glass walled trail which gives you unlimited reflections so you feel as if there’s no space dimension there. There’s also Niagara sliding carriage, a boat in a beam of wood form which moves with the water stream and climbs up to 30 meters before slides down from the high and plunged into the water stream again.

Amerika Region has other arena as well like Poci Poci, a giant mug; Rango-Rango, a slanted wooden house with country architecture style; and Tembak Jitu (Accurate Shoot) shooting arena with 100 animatronic dolls as shooting target. Read more...

Hikayat Region at Dunia Fantasy Ancol

Hikayat Region has several games facilities like rafting on a fast current as if it’s streaming from the mountain; Burung Tempur, a jet-fighter for children in a form of robotic bird; Halilintar, a roller coaster which could make your hearth beat rapidly; Hikayat Game, is an arena for many kind of games which need certain skillful; Ombang Ambing, is a giant plate that move in a wave rhythmic; Ontang Anting, is a merry-go round, Perang Bintang, gives you a fururistic adventure as if you’re wandering at the outer space; Pontang Panting, is a three wheels swinging vehicle; Teater Simulator is an arena where you could experience as if you’re in a journey of cracking the sky.

The newest arena that’s very popular in Dunia Fantasy currently is Tornado. Read more...

Eropa Region at Dunia Fantasy Ancol

Eropa Region has games arenas like Beng Beng, an arena to test your skillful in several kinds of games. The building of the arena built with Switzerland architecture style. There is also Kicir-Kicir or windmill games arena, Maxima or a stage where the work of musicians, choreographers and actors presented. Read more...

Indonesia Region at Dunia Fantasy Ancol

Indonesia Region has games arena like Alap-Alap (some kind of swinging carriage), Balon Race (balloons that go around carrying childrens round and round), Jungkang-Jungking (arena for childrens located on a hill facilitated with climbing facility, sliding board, net climbing and many other games). Read more...

Balada Kera at Dunia Fantasy Ancol

Balada Kera Region presents caricatural musical drama played by tens of animatronic dolls of gorillas and chimpanzees. Besides Balada Kera there’re also other games arena in this region, including Ubangga (boom boom car) which offers a challage in driving car, and Safari games with many kinds of adroitness games. Read more...

Jakarta Region at Dunia Fantasy Ancol

Jakarta Region is characterized by the existence of Turangga Rangga, a merry-go round with tens of ride horses decorated with thousands of flickering lamps. At evening time, the flickering lamps will be looked more glittering and merrier. Read more...

Ancol Marina Bay

Ancol Marina Bay is the first and most complex pier for cruise ships in Indonesia, with a cosmopolitan style. Besides being ulitilized as cruise ships pier, Ancol Marina Bay is alo utilized as a recreation and sea sport place.

It also functioned as pier for maritime tourism to Thousand Islands. One of the most popular island at Thousand Islands area which visited by the cruise ship from Marina Bay is Bidadari Island. The combination of forest and sea with a balance ecosystem become an interesting natural tourism area offered by Bidadari Island.

The distance between Marina Bay to Bidadari Island is about 15km, can be reached in about 20 minutes by the speediest ship. Read more...

Ancol Golf Course

Jaya Ancol Dreamland Park has an international standard golf course. The golf course located close to Dunia Fantasy (Fantasy World) and Mercure Hotel.

The management of Ancol Golf Course is very proud of the location of the golf course which located close to Jakarta Gulf beach and Jakarta City. The golf course facilitated with restaurant, golf equipments shop and many other facilities. Read more...

Tips for Jaya Ancol Dreamland (Taman Impian Jaya Ancol)

Tips for Jaya Ancol Dreamland (Taman Impian Jaya Ancol)

• Jaya Ancol Dreamland Park is a tourism area which located on the seashore, which has quite hot wheather temperature.

• The most crowded season at Ancol Dreamland Park are on Saturday, Sunday and holidays. It’s recommended to visit Ancol on weekdays if you do not like crowds. Read more...
  

Transportation in Jaya Ancol Dreamland Area (Taman Impian Jaya Ancol)

Most of Jaya Ancol Dreamland Park’s visitors get to Ancol by personal vehicle or by chartered bus. However, for those visitors who do not bring their own personal vehicle, Ancol management provides mini bus in a unique shape and color as a transportation facility.

The mini bus provides freely to get the visitors around Jaya Ancol Dreamland Park complex seeing the recreation facilities provided there. You can use the cable car facility located at Ancol Festival Beach to enjoy the view from the sky. Read more...

Tips for Sunda Kelapa Harbor

Tips for Sunda Kelapa Harbor

• To visit Sunda Kelapa Harbor you could use personal vehicle or taxi. As an alternative you could ride Trans Jakarta Busway from the first corridor, with the route of Blok M to Kota Tua. You need to get off at the last station, Kota Tua, and from there you ride a taxi, bajaj or bicycle ojek to Sunda Kelapa Harbor. Sunda Kelapa Harbor is about 2km away from Kota Tua Station.

• It’s better to wear head cover like hat or umbrella to protect you from the sun beam, since the climate is hot enough in Jakarta. It’s recommended to wear clothing that can easily absorb the sweat, and to wear comfortable shoes or slipper.

• When you walk around the Sunda Kelapa Harbor area, there are usually some people try to talk with you and persuade you. They are local fishermen who try to offer a service to take you looking around at the sea by their boat. Usually the fishermen do not speak English, instead signs could be used to communicate. If you took the service the fisherman would take you around the fisherman village around the harbor and other sides of Sunda Kelapa Harbor that might be interesting to catch. The service fee is around Rp25,000 to Rp40,000 negotiable. Read more...
  

Tips for Kota Tua Jakarta (Jakarta Old Town)

Tips for Jakarta Old Town (Kota Tua Jakarta)

• If you’re a lover of historical tourism and is or interested in visiting Jakarta then Jakarta Old Town (Kota Tua Jakarta) is one of the object you must visit in Jakarta.

• If you plan to visit other tourism objects at Jakarta Old Town (Kota Tua Jakarta) area by walk, it’s recommended to start your visit there since morning to avoid the stinging heat of the sun. You may need to wear a cover for your head like hat or umbrella and wear comfortable footwear. Besides by walk, you can also try to ride bicycle ojek to go along Jakarta Old Town (Kota Tua Jakarta) .

• When you visit Jakarta Old Town (Kota Tua Jakarta) in the morning, you may better go around the Jakarta Old Town (Kota Tua Jakarta) area first then continue by visiting the museums in the area at noon time.

• You can visit Kota Tua Jakarta by riding personal vehicle or taxi. You can also alternatively ride TransJakarta Busway from the first corridor, which routed from Blok M to Kota. If you ride the TransJakarta Busway, you can get off at Kota Station which is where busway from the first corridor ended. Kota Station is part of Kota Tua area. Read more...
  

Tips for Taman Mini Indonesia Indah

Tips for Taman Mini Indonesia Indah

• Weekend and holidays always been the peak season at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. If you’re not a type of person who enjoys crowds, it’s recommended to visit Taman Mini Indonesia Indah on weekdays.

• Since the recreation area in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah is wide enough, it’s good for you to start your trip there since morning.

• Do not forget to bring umbrella or hat to protect you head from sun, especially if you intend to get around by walk.

• As far as possible please wear flexible footwear which you could wear and un-wear easily. When you enter the pavilion you’re not allowed to wear footwear.

• The easiest transportation to reach Taman Mini Indonesia Indah so far is by taxi. Read more...
  

Tips for National Monument (Monas)

Tips for National Monument (Monas) in Jakarta

• Most of the time the weather is quite hot in day time in Jakarta, hence it’s better to visit Monas in the morning, afternoon or evening time. However if you choose to visit in the day time, do not forget to bring umbrella or hat to cover your head from the sun.

• If you visit Monas in the morning you could avoid the long queue to the monument, especially on weekend and holiday. It might be more comfortable to visit on week days.

• You could reach Monas either by taxi or bus. If you like to try the bus, it would be more comfortable and safe to use Trans Jakarta Busway. Busway with Blok M to Kota Tua (Old City) route will stop at Monas Busway Terminal. Read more...
  

Bajaj in Jakarta

Bajaj is a three wheeled vehicle used as transportation facility and produced by Indian. Bajaj is recommended only for short distance trip. Additionally, bajaj is prohibited to enter the main streets like Jalan Thamrin, Sudirman, Gatot Subroto and HR. Rasuna Said (Kuningan). Read more...

TransJakarta Busway

TransJakarta Busway has a separated lane and station from the other vehicles, and supplemented with air conditioner making the trip by the bus more comfortable compared to the other buses.

The separated lane makes busway could avoid traffic jam as what usually happened everyday in Jakarta. There’re many tourism area that pass through TransJakarta Busway lane. Read more...

Taxies In Jakarta

Generally taxies in Jakarta can be classified into three categories based on the fare:

1. Premium fare taxi (exclusive taxi). To take this taxi a pre-booking is usually required, except at certain places like the airport, and some stared hotel. The name of taxi under this category is Silver Bird, and it’s the only one.

2. Higher fare taxi (Tarif Atas). This taxi just like the other common taxi which operated and can be seen at almost all roads in Jakarta. This kind of taxi increases its fare when the government allowed the increasing of transportation fare due to the increase on fuel prices. The name of taxi which’s regarded as having good reputation by most of Jakarta people is Blue Bird.
   

Blue Bird has several taxies in its group. One of the characteristics of Blue Bird Group is the blue color of their car. However, not all taxi with blue color is Blue Bird. Blue Bird taxi usually has some characteristics as follow:

• There’s a sun screen sticker on the windshield saying “Blue Bird Group”.
• You can see the taxi code on the window.
• All drivers have an identity.
• All drivers wear a blue color uniform.

Taxies that included in the Blue Bird Group are Silver Bird (exclusive taxi), Blue Bird, Morante, Cendrawasih, Pusaka Nuri, Pusaka Satria, Pusaka Lintas, Pusaka Biru, Pusaka Prima, and Pusaka Sentra. If you like to order Blue Bird taxi, you may call their call center at (021) 7917 1234.

3. Lower fare taxi (Tarif Bawah). This kind of taxi is also an ordinary taxi just like the one with new fare. However, taxies under this category didn’t increase its fare along with the increase of fuel prices. It makes those taxies offered a lower fare compared with the others. The characteristic of this taxi is that on the windshield written “Tarif Lama” to distinguish it from new fare taxies. Those taxies regarded as the most reputable taxies under this category are Express and Putra. Read more...

Jakarta Transportation

Most of in town transportation in Jakarta is still counting on road transportation. Jakarta doesn’t have any monorail or subway facilities yet. However, the government has planned to improve the transportation facilities. Some transportation facilities can be used in Jakarta are including:

Taxi

Generally taxies in Jakarta can be classified into three categories based on the fare:

1. Premium fare taxi (exclusive taxi). To take this taxi a pre-booking is usually required, except at certain places like the airport, and some stared hotel. The name of taxi under this category is Silver Bird, and it’s the only one. Read more...
   

Tips for Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali

• There is no public bus to transport out from the airport. The only public transportation is by using official airport taxi. The taxi fare is using flat rate system rather than argometer. The fare will be different based on the distance. For those areas which are located in about the same location will be grouped into the same taxi fare. The taxi fares are announced officially, and must be paid at the taxi counter, not to the taxi driver.

• Transit time from Ngurah Rai Airport to Kuta and Legian, will take about 10 - 15 minutes, to Seminya about 15 minutes, to Nusa Dua about 20 minutes, to Sanur about 25 minutes, to Denpasar City about 30 minutes, and to Ubud about 60 minutes. Read more...
  

Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali

Ngurah Rai International Airport is located in Tuban, South Kuta district, regency of Badung. Ngurah Rai International Airport is the second busiest airport in Indonesia after Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. There’re many international flights directly flying to Ngurah Rai Airport as well as domestic flights.

Ngurah Rai International Airport is located at the seaside with a distance of about 13 km to Denpasar City and Sanur Beach, 8 kms to Kuta, Legian and Seminyak, and 10 kms to Nusa Dua. Ngurah Rai Airport is a well managed and organized airport. Read more...

Tips for Touring Package in Bali

• The samples of touring packages given above are only few of the many packages offered by travel agencies in Bali. Website www.indonesia-travel-guide.com is not a travel agency and we can not recommend any or all of the travel bureau, which provides touring package, in this website. We just try to provide you with some inputs and tips to ease your travel plan in Bali and other places in Indonesia.

• Before picking up a travel agency you need to check with them if the cost of entering tourism objects, show ticket, and luch or dinner has been included in the package charge. Ask them about the type of vehicle to be used as well as the loading capacity.

• To get the best tour package with the best price you may need to compare the best of several similar tour agents. In Bali, there are so many tour agents who compete to get tourists to participate in their tour packages. One way to find out and get the address of the tour agents and compare prices offered are by taking brochures of tour packages when you arrive at the Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali.

• Always request for discount when you take a few days tour packages. Read more...
  

Adventuring Tours in Bali

• Rafting on Ayung River. Tour begins at 08:00 am from for 6 hours duration.

• Climbing Mountain Batur to see the sunrise. Tour begins at 02:00 am which would take for about 8 hour’s duration.

• Water sports, such as banana boat, parasailling, and a visit to Turtle Island. Tour begins at 08.30 am which would take about 4 hours duration.

Read more...

Half-day tours in Bali

• Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) - Uluwatu Sunset - Kecak Dance - Dinner
  
  Tours starting at 04:00 pm with the touring duration for about 6 hours. Tour begins by visit Garuda Wisnu Kencana (statue of the God Vishnu riding Garuda Bird), and visiting Uluwatu where you can see Balinese Hindu’s shrine at the south side of Bali while watching the beautiful sunset and unique kecak dance there, and last having dinner at Jimbaran beach before go back to hotel.

• Sukawati and Kecak Dance
  
  Tours starting at 02:00 pm with touring duration for about 6 hours. Tour begins by visiting at batik handicrafts at Tohpati, art market at Sukawati, following by watching Kecak Dance at Batubulan, and dinner with the Indonesian cuisine or seafood at Jimbaran Beach. Read more...
  

Daily tours in Bali

Daily tours, consisting of package to visit:

• Barong Dance - Mount Kintamani - Waterfall Tegenungan – Stratified Paddy Field - Monkey Forest - Ubud.
  
  Tour begins at 08.30 am touring duration around 08 hours. Touring begins by watching Barong dance performance at Batu Bulan area; visited Tohpati area to see batik home industry; Celuk, an area where silver and gold accessories and handycraft produced; Mas area, where where handicraft wood carving are made; Monkey Forest; Ubud area; Kintamani, where you can see mountain and lake Batur; Sebatu area with it’s hot spring for bathing; Tegallalang, paddies field area, Gajah Cave, a cave which was established in the last 11th century; Pura Peseh; and Waterfall Tegenungan.

• Bedugul - Taman Ayun Shrine - Tanah Lot - Dinner.
  
  Tour begins at 12:00 noon time with duration around 9 hours. Interesting places in Bali to be visited in this package are: Pura Taman Ayun (Taman Ayun Shrine) at Mengwi area; the beautiful Lake Bedugul in Beratan, the fruit market at the yellow temple, the monkey and bat forest at Alas Kedaton, the beautiful Pura Tanah Lot (Tanah Lot Shrine), and dinner at Jimbaran Beach. Read more...
  

Bali Touring Package

If you want to visit places of interest in Bali under a limited time then the best choice is to take touring package. There’re many travel agency that offers daily tour, or half-day tour to visit tourism attractions, cultural exhibition in Bali. Touring package offers can be differentiated by sharing tour and private tour. So you can choose based on your needs.

Besides visiting interesting places in Bali as well as cultural exhibition, there is also some touring package that offers some adventure or combination of the entire package. Touring durations are tailored to the type and type which’s generally would be around 5 - 14 hours. Read more...

Tips Transportation in Bali

• There are two types of motorcycle rented in Bali; regular size motorcycle and the semi-big motorcycle (such as Honda’s Tiger). Regular motorcycle again divided into a non-automatic and automatic. The rental fare for regular motorcycles is usually about 35 - 50 thousand rupiah per day and semi-big motorcycle about 60 - 80 thousand rupiah per day.
  Some of the motorbike rental equipped with a stuff to hang surf board beside the bike’s body. When the travel routes to be visited are just around the coast and the city it’s good to ride a regular motorcycle. However, when the routes to be visited are at mountain areas such as Bedugul, Kintamani, Soweto and other mountain areas, riding semi- big motorcycle will be better.

• In addition to the two types of motorcycle, there is also renting service for big motorcycle such as Harley Davidson for those who need it. Read more...
  

Bali Transportation

Public transportation facility in Bali seems to be still inadequate because residents generally have their own vehicles such as motorcycles as a means of daily transportation. For short distance transportation taxi is sufficient to be used in Bali.

There are no trains in Bali Island to be used to reach tourism objects in Bali. Bali has Ngurah Rai International Airport to facilitate air transportation. Bali has some seaports, such as the port of Gilimanuk which connect Bali Island and Java. Port of Padang Bai connects Bali Island and Lombok.

Rental Transportation
In the case of transportation, there are various ways that can be used to reach places of interest in the Bali. Among others are: Read more...

Tips for Accomodations in Bali

• For backpacker community who plan to stay at Poppies Lane, Legian – Kuta, it’s suggested to reserve the homestay about two or three days before lodging in.

• You can get a cheaper prince at hotels with one to three stars in Kuta, especially if you have stayed there before. Do not hesitate to inform the receptionist if you have stayed there before to get a cheaper price. However on peak season you may not expect to get significant discount.

• If you are youngsters who loves beach, night life and crowds and it’s the first time you visit Bali, we sugget you to stay at around Kuta Beach. Kuta beach area is a very strategic place to stay where you can easily reach other interesting places in Bali. Kuta Beach is very near to the central of crowds in Legian, near to Seminyak Beach, and to Ngurah Rai International Airport.

• For those of you who plan to stay in Bali for quite long time, then staying in some different regions at different time may give you another pleasure. Read more...
  

Accomodation in Bali

Accommodations in Bali is very varied and complete. There’re many homestays for backpacker and also luxurious hotels and resorts for who wants a luxury stays.

Backpackers could find cheap hotels and homestay at around Poppies Lane and Legian - Kuta. The distance between Ngurah Rai Airport and Legian, Kuta is around 6 - 8 km with a travel time about 15 minutes by taxi. Backpackers from allover the world are usually gathered at Poppies Lane area.

The benefits of living Legian, Kuta is the distance that’s near to the center of Kuta Beach and the crowd. Kuta Beach is only about 200 - 300 meters from Poppies Lane and can be reached in about 5 - 10 minutes by walking. Read more...

Interesting Places in Bali

As a tourist icon of Indonesia, Bali has so many interesting objects to see. We can say that the beauties of nature in Bali are almost complete. As a relatively small island, Bali has many beautiful beaches. One of the beaches which are very popular with its beautiful wave is Kuta beach. Bali also has highland and mountains area which are cool and chilly, such as Kintamani and Bedugul. In fact, there are hilly areas that allow visitors to see the beauty of the sunset combined with a landscape of the sea spread below. There are also rivers, which often served as a place to do rafting like Ayung River.

In addition to natural beauty, which is very interesting in Bali is the beauty of cultural diversity. Balinese dance is one of the most beautiful dances in Indonesia, which can be enjoyed in many places in Bali. One of the dances are very interested by tourists is the Kecak Dance.

Traditional Balinese Hindu culture which is still very inherent in the community also becomes part of a very interesting to be enjoyed in Bali. Every day tourists can view the activities associated with the religious and cultural rituals such as the view of Balinese women bringing ritual offerings wearing traditional clothing.

Basically all aspect of Bali is interesting for tourism. However, among all the objects following are among the very popular:

• Kuta Beach
• Kuta Square
• Legian
• Denpasar
• Sanur Beach
• Nusa Dua
• Jimbaran Beach
• Uluwatu
• Celuk
• Batu Bulan
• Pasar Seni Sukawati
• Gajah Cave
• Kemenuh Waterfall
• Ubud
• Ubud Castle
• Monkey Forest
• Blanco Museum
• La Mayeur Museum
• Tegalalang
• Kintamani
• Tanah Lot
• Taman Ayun Shrine
• Ulundanu and Bratan
• Bedugul
• Alas Kedaton
• GWK
• Dreamland Beach
  

Read more...

Metatah (Teeth Filing)

Metatah is one of the religious ceremonies that must be done by the Balinese Hindus (Hindu Dharma) adherent. Metatah is a ceremony to smooth six upper teeth of teenager by using the tight-fisted.

The filing ceremony of the six teeth is a symbol of filing six human natures which are considered as enemy of human being. Those six enemies are: Kama (uncontrollable desire); loba (greed, always want to get more); krodha (unmanageable anger); mada (intoxication that brings dark thoughts); moha (confusion that lead to someone unable to finish tasks perfectly); matsarya (jealousy that caused hostility). Those Six natures that are enemies of human are called sad ripu. Read more...

The culture of Bali

The majority of the Bali population holds Balinese Hindu religion. Hinduism in Bali is slightly different with the Hinduism in India, and called Hindu Bali. Balinese very attached with the Balinese Hindu religion. This is shown by the number of ritual offerings (sesajen) and statues along Bali.

Balinese Hindu community has a philosophy of life known as the Tri Hita Karana, which means three roads toward perfection of life. Three roads toward the perfection can be achieved by maintaining the relationship between man and God that poured through the various ritual offerings to God, through human relationship with the natural surroundings, and through human relationships with other fellow human beings. Read more

Demographic of Bali

Total population of Bali, based on statistical data for 2007 is less than 3.4 million populations. Buleleng district has the largest number of population than other areas in Bali. The majority of the population in Bali lives from small and medium industries related to tourism.

The majority of the Bali inhabitants come from the tribe of Bali itself. However, there are other tribes who also live in Bali, such as Javanese tribes. In addition, many among the residents of Bali, comes from other nationalities like Australia, Netherlands, Japan and Italy. Read more...

The history of Bali

Bali's history actually began since the ancient time. However, the meaningful record on the development of the Bali into a modern Bali, like today, was started from the days of Empire Gelgel. Gelgel Kingdom was a kingdom ruled in Bali after the defeat of Majapahit Kingdom in Bali. The first king of the Gelgel Kingdong was King Dalem Ketut Ngulesir. At the time of the Gelgel Kingdom, the old art style and language of Java - Hindu was maintained.

The last king that ruled in Gelgel Kingdom was Made In Dalem (1605 - 1686). The successor of Made In Dalem, Gusti Agung Jambe did not want be thrown at Gelgel after the rebellion of I Gusti Agung Maruti. Gusti Agung Jambe then had chosen Semarapura as the center of the new government, and the name of Kingdom became Klungkung Kingdom. Klungkung Kingdom was then splitted into eight smaller kingdoms, which are now, become eight districts in Bali. Read more...

Bali Travel Guide

Bali is a small island, which became a province apart, which is located approximately in the middle of Indonesia. Geographically, Bali Province is located on the 8 ° 3'40 "- 8 ° 50'48" south latitude and 114 ° 25'53 "- 115 ° 42'40" East Longitude. Total wide of Bali is 5634 ha.

Bali province has eight districts, and one city, namely: Jembrana, Tabanan, Badung, Gianyar, Karangasem, Klungkung, Bangli, Buleleng and the Denpasar City as the capital of Bali Province. Bali has also small islands surrounding it that become part of Bali which are Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan in the Klungkung area, Serangan Island, and Menjangan Island.

Bali is well-known as one the most visited tourist destination in the world, especially before the Bali blast tragedy in 2002. Even until now Bali is still the icon of tourism in Indonesia. Read more...

Jalan Surabaya (Surabaya Street)

Jalan Surabaya is well known for the antiques market located there. Jalan Surabaya itself is located at Menteng area, at the Central of Jakarta. You can see kiosks/shops that sell antiques like wayang, porcelain, wooden sculptures, mask, eating stuffs made of silver and brass, antique lamp, metal souvenirs, old fashion ornaments, old telephon, old camera, old woven cloth, phonograph record, and some others.

One of the kiosks there is selling antiques of ship stuffs like ship rudder, compass, telescope, and old diving stuffs. At the antique markets at Jalan Surabaya, there’re some kiosk that specialized on selling bags and suitcases. There’re also kiosks that sell old books. Read more...

Jakarta Kota Station

Jakarta Kota Station (also called BEOS by local people) is railway station of the Dutch inheritance. Jakarta Kota Station (BEOS) is located at the area of Kota Tua, Jakarta, and that’s why the name became Jakarta Kota Station. In the Dutch governmental time, Kota Tua Jakarta was well-known as Batavia. At that time Jakarta Kota Station (BEOS) was utilized to connect Batavia City with other areas near to Batavia, such as Bogor and Bandung.

You may wonder why Jakarta Kota Station is also called as Beos. BEOS is the abbreviation of Bataviasche Ooster Spoorweg Maatschapij (East Batavia Train Enterprise). In the glorious time of Batavia, BEOS station was also known as Batavia Zuid (South Batavia Station). Jakarta Kota Station was designed to have 12 railroads which is still utilized until now. Read more...

Syahbandar Tower - Jakarta

Syahbandar Tower is located at the side of Jakarta Gulf Beach, next to the Maritime Museum and Sunda Kelapa Harbor. The current building of Maritime Museum was previously occupied as VOC’s (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) spicy warehouse. VOC was a Dutch company which managed the trading activities on both sea and land for the interest of Nederland. Nederland constructed Syahbandar Tower to guide the traffic of ships that was coming for spicy trading at Sunda Kelapa Harbor.

History
Nederland Indies government constructed Syahbandar Tower in 1839 to support the spicy trading and delivery activities from Sunda Kelapa Harbor which was know as Batavia City at that time.

The building of Syahbandar Tower had a width of 32 meters (4x8 meters) and height of 12 meters, and the yard was equipped with several cannons which faced to the west and east side. For the trading administration before the delivery of spicy to countries in Europe, Nederland Indies government constructed another two buildings facing the Syahbandar Tower. Read more...

Kota Intan Bridge

Kota Intan Bridge was constructed in the 17th century by the Dutch government to connect the West Kali Besar and East Kali Besar. Kota Intan Bridge located at Kota Tua Jakarta which was known as Batavia on the time of Duta colonial.

Kota Intan Bridge was made of wood and equipped with leverage to get the lower side of the bridge up when there was ship or boat passed by. In the Dutch colonial time the ships which deliver spicy from hinterland to the warehouse would pass by Kota Intan Bridge.

In the government of Indonesia, Kota Intan Bridge was restored and was made to be permanent; hence it can’t be leveraged anymore. The reason behind because at the moment there’s no mo ships pass trough the bridge. It was told that a famous painter Vincent Van Gogh had visited Batavia before and painted a painting of Kota Intan Bridge. Read more...

Inscription Museum (Museum Prasasti)

Inscriptions Museum occupies a culture preserve building, an inheritance building from the colonial time. It was formerly a funeral park of Dutch and European people which than restored and modified to be Inscription Museum with the collections located at the open air area.

The collections are located at a 1.2 hectares area, and for it Inscription Museum is also called as Inscription Park. Inscription Museum exhibits selected gravestone inscriptions from the historical relic and work of arts from the past that combined the work of sculptor, carver, calligrapher, and man of letters. Read more...

Planetarium Jakarta

Planetarium Jakarta is an educational touring facility that presents simulations about astronomy and celestial objects. The existence of Planetarium Jakarta is very useful for Indonesian people, especially students, as it's really helpful in developing knowledge about earth and outer space science.

The At Planetarium Jakarta you could see Planetarium Show, usually called as Star Theater. The show takes about 60 minutes time with various themes such as Solar System, Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse, Little Explorer at Solar System, Our Galaxy is Bima Sakti, Earth, the Blue Planet, Multi Star and Variable Star, From Equator to Polar, Biography of the Star, and The Formation of Solar System.

Besides the Star Theater show there’s also a multimedia show that explain the theories about solar as the center of solar system and the theories about the formation of universe.

Planetarium Jakarta provides facilities to observe celestial objects through direct telescopic observation that allow you to see phenomenon of the nature like lunar eclipse, solar eclipse, comet, and others. The telescopic observation schedule is arranged based on the weather forecast.

Planetarium Jakarta has an exhibition hall that consist of celestial objects, pictures about the galaxy, outer space suit, and outer space observation equipments. Read more...

Schmutzer Primate Center

Schmutzer Primate Center is an artificial habitat of primates like gorilla, chimpanzee, orang utan and other kinds of primate. Schmutzer Primate Center is located at Ragunan zoo area. Visitors of Schmutzer Primate Center can observe the behavior and activities of gorilla from a sky cross that was built over the area where gorillas inhabited.

The sky cross for observation that’s covered by canopy roof is the main lane that visitors would find once they enter the building. The design of Schmutzer Primate Center was set close to the natural primate habitat with attractive layout of each room. The layout of Schmutzer accommodates the pleasure of primates as inhabitant and visitors who want to see the natural life of primates as in the wild nature. Read more...

Ragunan Zoo

Ragunan zoo is a kind of combination between zoo and park. It has almost 30,000 plants from 250 different kinds of. Since it is a combination between zoo and park, Ragunan Zoo is also known as Ragunan Zoological Park.

Ragunan Zoo was constructed based on the open zoo concept that allowed visitors to feel nearer to the animals. Besides being a recreation park, Ragunan Zoo has an important role in animal conservation through the cultivation program, and it also becomes a good place for educational and research activities.

Some animals that have been successfully cultivated in Ragunan Zoo are white tiger, Sumatran tiger, orang utan, komodo, phyton, and some types of birds (i.e kakatua bird, parrot, and cassowary) as well as other kind of animals. Read more...

Maritime Museum (Museum Bahari)

Maritime Museum presents complete information about Indonesian nautical matters. Maritime Museum occupied two levels of building used as exhibition rooms from the total of three levels of floor in the building. Thes material used on the building dominated by wood. Large windows in the building functioned as ventilation, making the building has a good air circulation.

History of the Maritime Museum
The building of Maritime Museum was formerly a spicy warehouse of Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC). VOC was Holland’s company taking care of trading activities on both land and sea, for the interest of Holland Kingdom. In 1893, VOC constructed a tower at the edge of Jakarta Gulf Beach. The tower that is known as Syahbandar Tower is 300 meters away from the spicy warehouse.

There’re two other buildings built facing the tower. The aim of constructing the warehouse, two buildings and tower were to facilitate VOC on watching and controlling boats and ships traffic, as well as to facilitate the administration of spicy trading to Europe. In 1942, Japan occupied Indonesia and changed the function of spicy warehouse to become logistic warehouse of military equipments.

After the freedom of Indonesia in 1945, the former spicy warehouse used as logistic warehouse of PTT and PLN. In 1976 the warehouse was renovated. On 7th July, 1977 the building was officially announced as Maritime Museum by governor of DKI Jakarta at that time, Ali Sadikin. Read more...

Battle’45 Museum (Museum Joang ’45)

Battle’45 Museum (Museum Joang’45) collects inheritances from the Indonesian independence battle time, that used/worn by Indonesian warriors. Visiting Battle’45 Museum would increase your knowledge and insight about Indonesian journey from the colonization time until finally free and independent.

History of Battle’45 Building
On the Netherland Indies time the building was occupied as a hotel, named Schomper Hotel. When Holland surrendered on 8th March 192, the building was taken over by Japan, and then handed over to Japan Propaganda Bureau (Sendebu). In July 1942, Sendebu handed over the building to Indonesian youth to be used as an educational facility to support Japanese government in Indonesia.

Japan also allowed the building to be used as a place to educate the youth to prepare the freedom of Indonesia. Read more...

Textile Museum

Textile Museum has thousands collections of traditional textiles with various motif and ornaments from each territories in Indonesia. Textile Museum occupies a very artistic and luxurious building. Inside the building there are display rooms used to display Indonesian textiles, including collections of the museum, designer and textile lover’s society.

At the back side of the museum’s main building there is natural dye park which functioned to conserve and introduce the plants can be used as natural coloring material to the textile lovers. Even currently the natural dye has been replaced by synthetic color, however the shift in the use of material and tools not reducing the beauty of Indonesian textile. Read more...

Fine Art and Ceramic Museum (Museum Senirupa dan Keramik)

Fine Art and Ceramic Museum presents collections of Indonesian artist works of art from the era of 1800 to the current era. Fine Art and Ceramic Museum occupies a building, named Fine Art Hall. Before it’s occupied as a museum, the hall had been occupied by many organizations and instances from the time of Holland collonialization to the after independence time.

History of the Fine Art Hall
On 21 January, 1870 the hall was built as a Holland Court or Raad Van Justitie. The hall was ever occupied as military barrack in the era of Nippon colony. In 1967 the hall was occupied as West Jakarta Mayor Office, and until 1975 it was occupied as the office of DKI Jakarta’s Museum and History Official Duty.

In 1972, the hall was determined as a historical building protected by monument law. On 20 August 1976, the hall was officially announced as Fine Art Hall by the second president of Indonesia, Soeharto. Since 1990 the hall was changed to Fine Art and Ceramic Museum, as it’s now. Read more...