Indonesia

[cs174]

I'm going to Indonesia for three weeks in August as the wife's cousin graduates from Law School then. We're planning on spending at least a week in Bali but was wondering what else is worth a visit.

I lived in Jakarta for years so nothing new to see there. We've already been to Borobudur and Yogjakarta too. I was think about doing Mount Bromo this trip and maybe Kalimantan to see the orangutans or diving in Bunaken.

Any other suggestions?

TIA

cs174

[Turbodiesel1690]

cs174 said:

I'm going to Indonesia for three weeks in August as the wife's cousin graduates from Law School then. We're planning on spending at least a week in Bali but was wondering what else is worth a visit.

I lived in Jakarta for years so nothing new to see there. We've already been to Borobudur and Yogjakarta too. I was think about doing Mount Bromo this trip and maybe Kalimantan to see the orangutans or diving in Bunaken.

Any other suggestions?

TIA

cs174

Apologies for going slightly off topic but I'm off on a 4 month IT project to Jakarta in about 6 weeks time, a few of my colleagues (and me too being honest) have some concerns about the security situation out there. As a former resident do we have anything to worry about? Any advice/thoughts you have would be much appreciated cheers

[anonymous-user]

I have a house in Jakarts, I would not worry about security in the sense of riots etc, if you see things going on go in a hotel and have a beer till its over, but you need to live somewhere with security to protect against robbery, and break ins, any good condo will have security and be fine, but don't live in a single property, travelling driving is OK, as in all S E Asia dont walk around with expensive watches computor bags etc as snatch crimes are common, and be carfull at ATMs.

[10JH]

Mount Bromo is pretty stunning. Though I doubt there's much to keep you occupied for more than a day.

Great place for photos.

[Mr Darcy]

The diving in Bunaken is simpley out of this world, huge walls and a nice and easy drift dive. All though its not the best in that area. Flores has some of the best diving in the world, its a lot of drift diving and the currents are strong, wouldn't recommend this if your inexperienced. The Lembeh straits are great for critters and you can see some of the most weirdest stuff though it is muck diving so that might not be your thing.

Stopped on Flores for a while and there is not much there but seek out Ernst and Cat at reef seekers if your into your diving. They are the best in that area even though they where the ones lost a year or 2 ago.

Bali - OK but Kuta/Kota or whatever it is is pure hell. Full of backpackers and a bunch of "up their own arses" aussie surfer types. Think there is a place called ootah/ootay or something like that which is a very nice little place. Dive the liberyt at Bali but watch out for the big fucl off baracuda.

[tobeee]

Mt Bromo is interesting, but Mt Merapi is a proper fire mountain! I climbed at midnight, reaching the summit by about 3 or 4am, before the sun came up, and was able to watch the fire and sparks at the top, and walk very close to it all! I was also treated to specatular views of electric storms on the horizon before watching the sunrise. Probably the most exciting thing I've ever done (I'm not easily excited - you just have to do it to understand why!). It was about 13 years ago, and can't remember how I organised the walk, but I don't think we set off from Solo (sp?!) which is the standard route.

[10JH]

The Komodo national park was the highlight of Indonesia for me. There is some great diving round there and the Komodo dragons are amazing.

The only problem is you have to stay in Labuhanbajo which is a complete dump and it's a pain to get to.

We did a 4 day boat trip from the Gili islands to it, with snorkling etc.. on the way. It was very basic conditions onboard but great fun.

[Moose.]

If you want to see Orangutans, you could try Bukit Lawang in North Sumatra. It's about a 3 hour drive from Medan (the capitol) which you can get cheap flights to from Jakarta. You can also do tubing down the river, jungle treking and even stay overnight camping in the jungle.

If you fancy something closer to Jakarta you could visit the Green Canyon near Pangandaran which is an hour's flight from Jakarta. Pangandaran also has pretty good beaches and surfing. Quite a nice place (for Indo) to spend a few days

[cs174]

Thanks for all the replies.

Mt. Bromo and Mt.Merapi are on the list now. As is diving the Liberty at Tulamben in Bali.

Moose. - Is Bukit Lawang in the Gunung Leuser National Park? This could be ideal as I've often fancied visiting Lake Toba in North Sumarta and could combine the two.

[Moose.]

That's the one I'm hoping to go there in a couple of days, so will report back if I can get a local guide sorted today/tomorrow.

As for Lake Toba, never been myself but fly over it almost everyday. I fly into an airstrip called Silangit which is just to the south of the lake. It's very impressive from the air.

There's also Sinabung volcano which is to the north of Lake Toba. It's 2400m high and can be climbed in a day apparently if you stay in the village just to the bottom of it.

[Moose.]

As promised, here's an update about Bukit Lawang. It was awesome!! Had a really nice couple of days in a fantastic environment. Our guide, Jungle Eddie was brilliant and located some nearby Orangutans within 20 minutes of being in the jungle:



Next time I go, I think I will stay for two nights, one in the jungle and the other in Bukit Lawang, thus allowing for a two day trek which Eddie can arrange. For the hotel, I stayed in a place called Sam's Bungalow which had a great view overlooking the river which runs through Bukit Lawang:



The room was basic but only costs $17 a night and had a great outdoors en-suite bathroom

If you PM me, I'll give you all the contact details for Eddie and the lodge

[cs174]

Thanks Matt,

YHM.

These photos look great. How did you get there from Medan airport? Hire car?

I'll probably visit Tangkahan as well. I think it's about a three hour drive from Bukit Lawang. Then it looks like a week diving in Bunaken (rather than Bali as we've been there before several times).

Thanks again....

[Mr Darcy]

If you dive Bunaken be carefull who you dive with. We dived with Twofish and not only did they try to rip us off on the bill some of their dive masters are pretty awful. try living colour they have a good rep. You can stay at lorenzo's, he has 2 resrots on the island with the best one being lorenzo 1. We had a great time with Lorenzo, very friendly chap and a great laugh. You can see dugons (SP) right out side his first resrot as well. Pretty cool. You will also need to buy a Bunaken national marine park entry ticket, can't remember how much it costs but its pretty cheap and it last a year. Drop me a PM if you want anymore info on which dive sites to get them to take you to or any other info you may require. We also stayed in Manado for a night or 2 while we waited for the boat over to Bunaken, again as long as my memory doesn't fail I can supply you some good places to stay here.


Oh and one more thing which might come in handy is that the immigration officals at Manado airport are as bent as a five bob note and will try to charge extra's. If they do this jsut make a scene and say they are dishonest, thieves or anything else you can thing of and they will soon drop the charges.

[cs174]

Thanks for the info. I had narrowed it down to 3 Dive outfits: Two Fish, Living Colours and Dive Froggies.

I'll be going with Living Colours now though.

I'll be arriving on a domestic flight so the immigration officials in Manado shouldn't be a problem.

[Mr Darcy]

Email sent but just incase here is the dive sites we would recommend.


site = Tiwoho max depth 27.5, length 59 min
(muck with black sand...then some coral. flying boatman, devil fish moving on "feet", octupus, cuttlefish, ornate ghost pipefish, stonefish, ribbon eel)

site = Siladan max depth 26m, length 85 min
(ornamental ghost pipefish, many leaf scorpian fish, squat lobster, many nuidibranch, flatworms, pgmy seahorse, juvinile sweetlips, dive with the crap guide who played with stuff)

site = Bualo max depth 27m, length 74 min
(wall with beautiful cracks, canyons, caves. semi drift dive, volcanic rock...)

site = Lekuan II (2) max depth 22m, length 78 min
(hippocampus pontoi (tui?) - new species, very small seahorse, vry strong current from 10m, very large nudibranch, sea snake

site = Lekuan III (3) max depth 22m, length 78 min
(amazing wall, rock lobster, very large turtle,nudibranch, blue ring octopus)

[cs174]

Excellent, thanks for that.