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Background: The Dutch began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th century; the islands were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. Indonesia declared its independence after Japan's surrender, but it required four years of intermittent negotiations, recurring hostilities, and UN mediation before the Netherlands agreed to relinquish its colony. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state. Current issues include: alleviating widespread poverty, preventing terrorism, continuing the transition to popularly-elected governments after four decades of authoritarianism, implementing reforms of the banking sector, addressing charges of cronyism and corruption, and holding the military and police accountable for human rights violations. Indonesia has been dealing with armed separatist movements in Aceh and in Papua.

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By Li and Gs travels
November 30th 2008

INDONESIA - SUMATRA (Dumai, Bukittinggi, Lake Maninjau & Padang)

Asia » Indonesia » Sumatra

SAMATRA - BUKITTINGGI - part 1 154

DUMAI Jumping on what was meant to be a boat but more like a floating scrap yard we headed over to Dumai Indonesia for the 6th leg of the trip 3 hours after we were meant to have left! Not really knowing what was ahead of us as this was off the main back packer routes. Arriving in Dumai we were greeted by a local immigration officer who was quite nice and helpful, a bit too nice… He took us to a mini van and said we had a free ride to the town where we could catch our on going [View Full Entry]

By YusufKruz
November 24th 2008

Padang will always be Padang....

Asia » Indonesia » Sumatra » Padang

01-02-08 0640

My first travel to Indonesia that will linger on. Beautiful memories. Beautiful friendship. And of course, nasi Padang.... [View Full Entry]

By Scalarae
November 22nd 2008

Festival Krakatau 2008 - Encounter with Volcano

Asia » Indonesia » Sumatra » Lampung » Krakatau

Krakatau Eruption
Eruption of the Mountain. It is about 250-300 meter high

I stare in disbelieve as the giant dark thing blows dust to the air above. Still disbelieve that we are only few hundred meters from the giant that rock the world more than a century ago: Krakatau Volcano. We were aboard KMP Windu Karsa Pratama, a big ferry chartered by the local authority for trip to Krakatau Volcano, as part of annual Krakatau Festival 2008. On board are ambassadors from 21 countries, government officials, media and those who are curious enough with the volcano. The original itinerary is to land on the island for a ceremony, but due to the activity [View Full Entry]

By Bob and Hid
October 18th 2008

Vomit, leeches and Orang-utans

Asia » Indonesia » Sumatra » Banda Aceh

Our home
Our hut is on the left

I start thinking it's going to be a long taxi journey from Medan to Ketambe when the kid in the seat behind me pukes before we even get to the end of the road. It's 8 hours on what is known as the 'vomit route' over pot holes, the locals chain smoking and listening to Indonesian pop music full blast. Indonesian pop music is generally crap English music speeded up x10, with a thumping beat in the background and sung by the smurfs on helium. I try to survive the journey by remaining unconscious and sleeping as much as possible. But [View Full Entry]

By LISASTU
September 13th 2008

Sumatra - Indonesia - MEDAN

Asia » Indonesia » Sumatra » Medan

We took the high speed ferry from Penang across to Sumarta, it should of taken 4hrs but 6hrs later and lots of very ill people we arrived, the sea was really rocky, one minute you can see just the sky to one side of the boat then just the waves. We caught a mini van to the Capital City of Medan, now these mini vans are something else, they would be scrap in the UK, there is more filler than body work, most have spoilers onthe back, Bob Marley painted all over them and no doors. But we arrived eventually, again [View Full Entry]

By LISASTU
September 13th 2008

Bukit Lawang - Garden Inn

Asia » Indonesia » Sumatra » Bukit Lawang

Painting

We left Medan in the morning for BL for some jungle action, we caught a local bus, this bus was funny, again it should of been scrap but it got us there, we even had chickens on the bus. The heavens opened when we arrived, walked to our guesthouse(bungalows) called Garden Inn, and it was lovely, bunaglows made of wood, quite open around the edges (always makes me nervous)massive rooms with our own balcony overlooking the river and lush jungle. In the morning we see our first Oran-utan, 2 of them walking along the river to the feeding platform, it was [View Full Entry]

By LISASTU
September 13th 2008

Lake Toba - Toba Cottages - Tuk Tuk

Asia » Indonesia » Sumatra » Lake Toba

Lake Toba

We left BL for Lake Toba, we caught a mini van and this should of seated 12 people including the driver but instead we had 16 people crammed in, it was so uncomfortable! we sat next to 2 young local girls, one spoke good english which was good for us later on, we had to stop at the top of the mountain(1982m) as there was a rock fall the road, it was cleared after a while and the bus driver went crazy down the windy roads, overtaking lorries, and the road wasnt that wide, i was glad when we got to [View Full Entry]

By Steve and Laura
September 3rd 2008

Sumatra

Asia » Indonesia » Sumatra » Lake Maninjau

Mother & Baby!
They just strolled straight past us! Pretty gorgeous

Hello Again! We rejoin our adventure on the rainforest clad island of Sumatra a land of Wild Orang-Utans even wilder volcanoes and a real feel of adventure. Well actually we had to reach Sumatra first from Penang which involved a six hour journey on a small ferry across the open sea and up and down waves I could swear were 10m high! Plastic bags were handed out throughout the journey and just as quickly filled, I managed to keep my breakfast down and was gently rocked into slumber serenaded by the sound of hurling in stereo!! Eventually we made it to [View Full Entry]

By 54
September 2nd 2008

Where have all the Batak smiles gone?

Asia » Indonesia » Sumatra » Lake Toba

endless palm oil
en route to Lake Toba

The latest edition of Lonely Planet Indonesia proclaims that "tourism in Lake Toba is almost dead." I think there's something like an 18-month delay between finishing off the editorial work and the book being printed and arriving at bookstores. During that time, someone pulled the plug on Toba's life support line and it is today a ghost town. This was evident even in July, peak travel season for Indonesia. I didn't think I would mind that too much, but the effect is saddening: locals hanging out in their empty shops talking to neighbors all day, no business, abandoned hotels, derelict lots [View Full Entry]

By 54
August 29th 2008

Sumatra kicked my brother's ass

Asia » Indonesia » Sumatra » Bukit Lawang

little orang
I forded the raging river to see this guy. totally worth it

"I, like, hate Medan," said my 17-year old brother of the capital of North Sumatra. I don't quite agree with him, but I don't love city either. The entire metropolis reminded me of the outskirts of Kathmandu -like, the area near Tribhuvan that's a run-down shamble old bricks, mangy monkeys and polluted rivers. I didn't see any wildlife in Medan itself, but I enjoyed having a beer at a pub on a small lane adjacent to the beautiful mosque on J.I. Raya. In fact, sipping a large Bintang and listening to the 'call to prayer' live just a few dozen meters [View Full Entry]

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