Indonesia Travel

I first heard about the unique funeral rites of the Toraja people in Indonesia from a travel show many years ago, probably Lonely Planet, when they had their show on cable. It was enthralling. Not only…

This video shows a fight. The back and forth is a little slow, but it is powerful. When one Komodo Dragon takes a tail smash to the jaw from its rival you can hear the smack, and the resulting howl of pain.

Not only were the stairs down into Bena Village very tall and irregular, so were the ones within the village itself. Tim ended up at times with an entourage helping him navigate the terrain. The thing is, the whole village became interested in this big stranger who came to visit.

The first few days in Jakarta were rough for Tim. The rough sidewalk in front of our hostel was crowded on one side by a bulging hedge and the other by endless traffic. Every few steps there was another obstacle, sometimes a step up, sometimes down, things to dodge. And our favorite, a step down immediately followed by a step up. None of it was even, or smooth or remotely predictable.

Flores Island, Indonesia is the epitome of beautiful tropical living. Lush greenery, gorgeous mountain views on winding roads, huge stands of bamboo and traditional villages here and there around the island. There were rice paddies and…

This was one of the first limestone caves we visited and I loved the gnarly rock formations. We had no idea this kernel of experience in Indonesia would be the start of my love affair with limestone caves.

Borobodour is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple near Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and the world’s largest Buddhist temple. Like everything in Indonesia, there were stairs, lots of stairs. Of course, with Tim’s bad eyesight, walking up all those…

The Prambanan Temples themselves are fantastic. Carvings everywhere with detail work and sculptor would be envious of. Some of the complex is still being reconstructed from earthquake damage in 2006, and even those piles of bricks are interesting.

Every week, the Sultan’s Palace hosts gamelan (traditional music), dance and wayang (puppet) performances. This group of young musicians are very serious and quite good. It’s a slow style of music and take a little getting used to for most Western ears. The dance part of the performance is equally slow and the dancers show amazing control.