Becoming a tropical country makes Indonesia wrapped by 24 until 35 degrees Celsius of temperature for the whole year. Some tourists may find it hot so that they have to rescue themselves in fresh places like beaches or water parks. The last one, water park, keeps appearing in many big cities of Indonesia such as Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, and Bali. Some water park has already reached the international standard with numerous sophisticated rides, kids playgrounds, and great deep pools. Three most famous water parks are presented below.

Ciputra Water Park in Surabaya

Ciputra Water Park is the biggest water park in Indonesia located in the capital city of East Java Province. The decoration in this water park is inspired by the tale of 1001 nights of Sinbad completed with a big and colorful Arabian castle. Sinbad Water World, the other name of Ciputra Water Park, has six main rides or slides to attract the visitors – Chimaera Pool, Sirens River, Marina Lagoon, Rock Tower, Syracuse Beach, and Sinbad Playground, and most of them are appropriate for children until adults.

Waterbom Jakarta

Located in the busiest city and also the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta, brings Waterbom Jakarta as a paradise in the center of bustles. People from the inside and outside Jakarta escape to Waterbom to get relax from all of their busy days. Only in this place, people are able to forget their business and enjoy the freshness of Bali-like atmosphere around the water park. Not only a place for relaxing, Waterbom Jakarta also provides many thrilling attractions and rides for the daring ones. One attraction which thrills people most is the Speed Slide attraction consisting of two fastest slides in the water park completed with two bulges and ended with straight tracks. This slide is fast enough to make many brave ones chicken out to try it.

Waterbom Bali

Even though it has the very same name with a water park in Jakarta, the locations are very much different. This Waterbom is located in Bali, the most popular tourism place in Indonesia. It consists of 9 rides providing two different sensations mostly found in water parks, thrilling and relaxing. In case of thrilling rides, climax which enables the riders to slide in almost vertical slide and swoop back upwards before finally glide in a horizontal track, and Superbowl which flushes the visitors into a gigantic bowl and sucks them to the pool behind it, are the most famous ones.

These three most famous water parks are intended to attract both domestic and international tourists to have a look and try their feet on the rides.

Lake Toba is the largest lake in Southeast Asia as well as the largest volcano lake in the world. This enormous lake was the result of the world’s most tremendous volcano eruption which was claimed as the cause of ice age period in 70 thousand years ago. Scientists believe that only some thousands living creatures were able to remain living after such a world-shaking event. Some evidences even proved that the ashes erupted by the mountain reached up to some parts of Europe. The mountain itself – named Toba Mountain – vanished due to the remarkably strong blast out of the mountain

How to Get There

You can reach Lake Toba by first flying to Kuala Namu Airport in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra Province. Once you arrive at Kuala Namu, there is a train connecting the airport directly to the city of Medan. But if you want to go straight to Lake Toba, you should reserve a taxi (locals call it "travel") that will pick you up at the airport and take you straight to the Tiga Raja Port, Parapat, on the edge of Lake Toba. Usually the travel fare for the route Kualanamu - Parapat is around 75,000 rupiahs per person. The Medan-Parapat trip would take about 4 hours. Along the way, you will enjoy the scenic stretch of palm forest.

Here are some contact numbers of the travel: 
Nice Taxi = 061 4558844/081264250898 
Paredep Taxi: (061) 735 8635 
Bagus Taxi = 0813-6121-8903 / 0812-8052-2393

Parapat village

Visitors are able to get around Lake Toba by getting into a public boat with a very cheap cost – only 10,000 rupiahs. The public boat is ready to bring the visitor around Lake Toba or just across Lake Toba to reach the island in the middle of the lake, Samosir Island. The ones who prefer to get a land transportation can hire a motorcycle or bicycle from the villagers with about 70,000 until 100,000 rupiahs per day. You might get cheaper rates during the low season.

Ferry boat

Samosir Island
Visitors can reach Samosir Island at the center of L:ake Toba by ferry boats readily available on Parapat ports. There are 2 ports in Parapat: Tiga Raja Port and Ajibata Port. The first port is for tourists who do not bring their own vehicles, while the latter is for tourists who bring their own vehicles.

Tiga Raja Port

At the Tiga Raja Port, there are several ferries scheduled to depart for Samosir Island every 1.5 hours. The cost of this boat ride is Rp. 10,000 per person and the crossing takes about 45 minutes. Usually the ferry crew will ask where in Samosir Island you want to get off the ship, because they will drop off passengers to stops closest to your hotel.
Unlike Gili Trawangan or Kuta Bali where there are many pubs and bars, the atmosphere in Samosir Island is calmer and more peaceful. The scenery is breathtaking and serene. There are few bars but never overly noisy. That is why Samosir Island is often become an ideal destination for those who want a quiet atmosphere differs from the frenetic daily routine. Traveling makes us rethink life, and learned a lot of the value of life at every new thing we encounter. As said Miriam Beard; "Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. "
Same like on the mainland, if you wish to travel around Samosir Island, you can rent a motorcycle for 80,000 - 100,000 rupiahs a day. Once you have a vehicle to get around, here are some destinations on Samosir Island that are worth visiting: 
1. Tomok Village 
In this village there is the Ancient Tomb of King Sidabutar. It is said that King Sidabutar was the first to set foot on the island. There are also Batak Museum that displays traditional Batak house with Sigale-gale Statue. The legend behind this statue is that there was once a king who had a son named Manggale. He was then killed in a war. The King became so sad and fell ill. The royal advisor then proposed to create a ceremony and sculpt a face resembling Manggale on a wood statue. In the ceremony, Manggale's spirit was called and went into the wooden statue. The statue then danced to the music of Batak Toba for 7 days and 7 nights. 
Lastly, don't forget to check out Tomok Market. There are many vendors selling crafts such as clothes, sandals, magnets, key chains, Ulos Batak fabric, bags, etc. Feel free to haggle the price!

Traditional Batak house with Sigale-gale Statue

2. Ambarita Village
There is a praying chapel in this village. It is still under construction but visitors may come to look around and/or pray. In the building complex, there is a meeting room with a capacity of 100 people, indoor kitchen and bathroom. There is also a wall relief portraying the suffering of Jesus before the crucifixion. At the front and rear of the building there are statues of Jesus.

Legends of Lake Toba

Lake Toba is very famous for the legend about how the lake was formed according to local villagers’ belief. It tells a story about a farmer catching a big-golden fish and keeping it in the pond near his house. The fish then transformed into stunningly beautiful woman, and the farmer wished to marry her. The fish accepted the man’s proposal with one requirement – never called their future kid as the kid of fish’s. Soon, the farmer undertook the requirement and married the fish-reincarnated woman, but then when they had a son, the farmer forgot about his promise.

One day the farmer felt angry to the kid because of eating his food, then he called the kid as the son of fish. Knowing that her husband betrayed their promise, the mother brought the kid away from the house. Soon, the dark cloud covered the sky, and a great storm suddenly fell down. Before reincarnated back into a fish, the mother ordered her son to go up to the hill and stayed there until the storm stopped. But the storm kept falling down for a long time so that when the storm stopped, the surrounding area had been full of water and became a lake which drowned the farmer. Only a small part of the hill was left in the middle of the lake which was then called as Samosir island – the name of the farmer’s kid.

Indonesia, an archipelago in Southeast Asia, is a homeland for more than 100 ethnic groups. This large amount of ethnic groups brings Indonesia on having a very rich culture and tradition for one ethnic group has different custom and tradition than the others. One enticing tradition takes place in Madura, one region in the East Java during August until October every year. This tradition is called Karapan Sapi (the Indonesian words for Cow Racing Festival) which attracts visitors from the other regions of Indonesia to come and observe such a picturesque festival in Madura.

Rules of the Cow Racing Festival

While people are normally see horses as participants in a race, the animals participating in Karapan Sapi are cows. Two cows and one man as the jockey are joined as one team and have to race against the other teams. The length of the track is about 100 meters until 200 meters that the cows are able to reach the goal in about 14 until 18 seconds. Because the cows run very fast, the jockey are sometimes darted off the piece of wood which becomes the footing space. First team to reach the goal is considered as the winner and receive a very large amount of money, about 75 until 80 million rupiahs.

Tradition before the Racing

Seeing the big prize that will be received by the winner, many people in Madura have a strong desire of winning the racing. They even call out the best shaman of the village to keep the cow healthy and unhurt until the day of the racing comes. The best food and enough rest are provided by the cow owners while some others do not utilize the cows to hijack the field before the competition is held. Before the racing starts, the cows are being paraded around the track completed with saronen (musical performance from Madura) as the back sound. Saronen music accompanied the cows parade is provided by each participant of the Cow Racing in the purpose of making the race much more cheerful.

Karapan Sapi is the most-waited event for all people in Madura, both participants and spectators. Often, Madura people staying in the other provinces of Indonesia come back to their hometown during August until October only because they want to observe this event.

As the largest archipelago in the world with more than 17,000 islands, Indonesia has many magnificent beaches that magnetized the tourists. The beaches spread from the western side to the eastern side of Indonesia. Since Indonesia is located right in the equator lines, it has tropical climate. As a result, all of the beaches there are warm and comfort to do almost all kinds of activities like doing water sports, playing on the sand, or sunbathing. A great number of beaches are available in Indonesia, and three of them will be reviewed here.

Raja Ampat

Raja Ampat, Papua, is one of the fascinating beaches in Indonesia as well as the best diving place ever. The water is so pure and clear that makes it possible to see right through the bottom of the sea and the sea living creatures there easily. A few people visits Raja Ampat each year so that the beach is not crowded nor dirty at all. Raja Ampat is visited by few people since only a few people realize its beauty. People tend to go to visit Bali rather than Raja Ampat when they travel to Indonesia only because Bali is more famous. In fact, the beauty of Raja Ampat beach is as good as or even better than Bali.

Mentawai Island

Looking for a great place to surf, Mentawai island in Sumatera is the best place for such kind of sport. Surfers come to the beach to feel the great waves that consistently waving from time to time. The soft sand and blue water available there become the additional point for the visitors to come and spend their time at Mentawai. Sometimes, surfing competition is held and the competitors are professional surfers from different countries. The waves are getting bigger during June until September, so it is the best time for the surfers to drop by in Mentawai.

Bunaken

The other one is Bunaken National Marine Place, another ideal place for scuba diving. Bunaken which is located in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, is a home for various kinds of sea creatures and coral life. Just like Raja Ampat in Papua, the water in Bunaken is very clear that visitors can see any living things in the water. In 1991, Bunaken was established as one of National Marine Park in Indonesia. Since then, more and more tourists come to Bunaken to enjoy the beautiful landmark there. Visiting Bunaken, people will feel reluctant to leave the place and go home.

One of 10 best diving spots in Papua is located in Raja Ampat, Papua. Although it has just been establish as one of the diving spot in Indonesia, Raja Ampat Papua attracts many tourists to visit this place. According to a research conducted in 2001, Raja Ampat has the richest species of coral reef with 75% coral reef species in the world can be found in this area. Raja Ampat also has a huge collection of the other sea creatures for about 1104 species of fish and 700 species of molluscs inhabit the water, the biggest number of coral reef species compares to any other places in the world.

Because Raja Ampat has just been promoted as the diving spot in Indonesia, there aren’t many hotels or resorts which can be found in this place. Instead of hotels, some small inns were built for the visitors who come to dive in this place with the room rates start from 900,000 rupiahs. In order to be able to dive in Raja Ampat, another 360,000 rupiahs should be paid. It is quite cheap considering plenty of sea creatures which can be found while diving.

Because of the crystal clear water, visitors do not need to dive if they want to see some species of sea creatures in Raja Ampat. The fishes and other sea creatures occuring near the surface of the water can be clearly seen without sticking our head inside the water. However, the truly beauty of water species in Raja Ampat can be found only by diving and observing under the sea. The most peculiar species found while diving are katai seahorse, Pari Manta fish, and wobbegong.

Nowadays, more hotels and resorts to accommodate the increasing number of tourists are built. Some resorts in Raja Ampat offer a touring package which consists of diving around Raja Ampat island, visiting the nearest village, and observing the local animals. Tourists find the touring package interesting, and they keep booking for the touring package from time to time. Visiting Raja Ampat Papua makes the visitors feel like in paradise and forget to go home.

Bali, also known as the island of God, is one of the best tourism places in Indonesia. From time to time, people in the world intend to Bali to visit such a beautiful island surrounded by flat sandy beaches and wavy blue water. Bali is also a well-known place for surfing so that surfers both professionals and amateurs come to Bali to test their surfing skills. Beaches and surfing places are just a little thing which makes Bali visited by millions of people each year. There are loads of invincible things of Bali that can’t be described in writings.

As one of more than 17,000 islands in Indonesia, Bali is tremendously rich in culture and tradition. Even though millions of people from different countries and traditions come to visit Bali each year, its villagers don’t forget their original culture and tradition in Bali. Some custom ceremonies, rituals, and traditions such as Ngaben, Nyepi, and traditional Bali dances are held along the year. People in Bali believes that Bali is their island and paradise where they were born, live, die, and reincarnate, so they keep undertaking the traditional ceremonies and rituals.

One of the custom ceremonies in Bali is Ngaben, a cremation ceremony to bring the dead into his or her afterlife. The ceremony starts with bringing the corpse of the dead to a temple, and the family of the dead keeps nursing the corpse an alive person. On the peak of the ceremony, the corpse is put inside a buffalo or temple shaped of sarcophagus and burnt into ashes. Through this way, people believe that the dead will get a new life by reincarnating into the family. That’s why during the Ngaben ceremony, people don’t feel sad because the think that the dead will come back to their family. This unique tradition of Ngaben which has been performed for centuries describes how people in Bali preserve their customs.

Not only the ceremonies, Balinese people also maintain their traditional arts and dances including Barong Dance, Legong Dance, Kecak Dance, and Janger Dance. These traditional dances are performed everyday in many places in Bali such as hotels, restaurants, and theaters. The dances impress the tourists with its beautiful, supple, and firm movement creating a weird atmosphere among the viewers. Overall, Bali and its culture always bewitch the tourists to come back to the beautiful island of Bali.

Thousand Island is the name of Indonesia’s group of 128 small islands located in the north east of Jakarta. In order to get there, people have to book a ferry or boat from Marina Ancol and sail for about 1 or 2 hours depending on which island the visitors want to visit. While crossing the sea in the ferry, visitors can feel the freshness of sea breeze and view some fishes swimming near the surface of the water. Thousand Island is such an ideal place for swimming, diving, snorkeling, or fishing because it is quite isolated from the rush of a big city like Jakarta.

From the 128 islands lie in Thousand Island territory, only 45 of them are developed as places for vacation. Six islands including Bidadari Island, Sepa Island, Putri Island, Kotok Island, Pantara Island, and Ayer Island are considered as special islands with completed with modern facilities and infrastructures. Even though visitors are staying in such secluded and peaceful islands, they still can get the modern facilities they need. These six islands are highly recommended for foreign tourists.

The tropical climate of Indonesia makes Thousand Island can be visited all the time. The weather is usually warm and mild, such an ideal weather to spend the day on the beach. Various kinds of water sports such as Jet Ski, canoe, scuba diving, and snorkeling are available in most islands. The fee requires to do the water sports in Thousand Island is affordable compares to the other islands outside Indonesia.

Local visitors mostly come from Jakarta and prefer to rent a wooden ship from Muara Angke port in North Jakarta. It is much cheaper than departing from Marina Bay in Ancol, though it less comfortable and safe. The wooden ships are provided by the local villagers in Muara Angke. Crossing over by this wooden fish to reach the Thousand Island costs the visitors only about 15,000 until 20,000 rupiahs or equal to 2-3 dollars for one person. However, visitors may find it scary to cross the deep blue sea by using a simple wooden boat without any life vests or buoys.

Bintan Island is a magnificent island full of luxurious resorts and eye-catching attractions located in Riau province, Indonesia. Having the width of 60,000 kilometers square including the sea area, Bintan is recognized as the largest island in Riau. In the previous time, this island was an important trading post where Chinese and Indian traders selling their stuffs to the buyers from many other countries. The strategic location of Bintan island, together with the fact that this island was a very ideal place to grow pepper, made the foreign colonials eager to dominate the land. At least 3 countries tried to take control of Bintan, but ever since Indonesia succeeded in overcoming the Dutch colonials, Bintan island got its freedom. Now, the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism promotes Bintan as the main tourism site besides Bali.

Things to Do in Bintan

There are too many things to do in Bintan that it’s hard for the visitors to decide which thing worth doing first. Things like water and land sports, relaxing spa, wildlife preserve, and adventurous tours are all provided in Bintan so that people will find at least one activity which meets their preference.
The water sports available in some beaches of Bintan are kayaking, snorkeling, jet skiing, banana boat riding, and last but not least swimming. As for those prefer the land sports can have the activities like racing in Go-Kart, mountain biking, riding ATV, and Mountain tracking. Feeling like getting relax, there is always a spa waiting to please the customer with soothing aroma therapy and calming massage. In addition, series of tour around Mangrove forest, traditional village, and great fishing spots will surprise the adventure lovers.

Nias is an island famous for its megalithic buildings and arts, great waves to surf, and breath-taking tradition of Stone Jumping. This island is located on the western coast of Sumatra Island in Indonesia, an archipelago in Southeast Asia. The minor publication of this place makes it visited by only a number of foreign tourists while in fact, Nias offers winsome attractions any other places do not own. Nias provides a great vacation place for those wishing to feel different experience and adventure of traveling in a place where time is apparently not moving.

Megalithic Buildings and Arts

Megalithic buildings and arts mean buildings and arts made of huge rough stones in a simple shape and design. These arts and buildings evolved in Megalith period thousands years ago around some areas in Sumatra islands. The leftovers of Megalithic buildings and arts scatter in Nias island including tomb stones, great stone tables, and stone monuments which are utilized as the property to hold the Stone Jumping tradition. Those stone buildings and arts were not colored so that most of the island has the greyish color of stone. Being in Nias feel like dragging back to Megalithic period thousands years before.

Surfing Spot

The great waves – approximately 3.5 meters high – in the waters surrounding this island turn Nias to be one great spot for surfers. It is the best place for the professional surfers to show their skills of surfing in extremely high altitude of waves. One favorite spot for surfers in Nias is Sorake beach whose waves are never calm. Sometimes an international event for professional surfers in the world also takes place in Nias. The great waves completed with a peaceful atmosphere on the beach without the existence of many people causes the foreign surfers to visit Nias for several times.

Stone Jumping Tradition

Stone Jumping is one well-known tradition in Nias participated by most young men in that place. In this tradition, the participants wearing traditional costumes of Nias have to jump over 2 meters high of a stone monument. The Stone Jumping or Hombo Batu tradition is very much dangerous seeing that a little mistake may cause fatal injuries such as broken bones or even brain concussion. Still, young men in Nias are eager to do this tradition both to show attraction to the visitors and to prove themselves as Nias young men.

Time seems slowing down in Nias that the buildings, cultures and traditions are not change from time to time.

Located in the Southwestern tip of Java, Ujung Kulon National Park is a place to preserve the critically endangered Javan rhinoceros. The name Ujung Kulon is taken from Javanese phrase meaning the western tip which describes the location of the national park itself. In 1991, this park was proclaimed as one of the World’s Heritage Sites because it is the remains of rainforest in Java island as well as the natural habitats for 57 rare floras and 350 species of animals including mammals, birds, and reptiles.

Javan Rhinoceros

Javan Rhinoceros, as the most protected animal in Ujung Kulon National Park, are very threatened for the reason that there are only about 50 or 60 rhinos left in this park. The rhinos make Ujung Kulon National Park as their only habitats for they can only live in certain tropical rainforest. The poor mammals were used to be hunted because of their horns. The horns were said to be a very valuable ingredient for the efficacious medicine from China, and the price for a kilogram of Javan Rhinos’ horns is no less than 30,000 USD. In order to maintain the population of Javan Rhinoceros, also known as Lesser One-horned Rhinoceros, several cameras were installed around this national park by UNESCO, and the cameras successfully captured a couple of rhinos with their calves. It is a very good news proving that Javan Rhinoceros are able to breed in their natural habitation.

Transportation and Accommodation

There isn’t any luxurious accommodation available around the national park, but you can stay at Red House Beach Villa, about 20 minutes drive from the Park, provides diving and fishing trip arrangements. One villa consists of 2 bedrooms with a cable TV, a seating area and a well-equipped kitchen with a microwave and a refrigerator. The private bathroom also comes with shower facilities. Other facilities offered at the property including laundry and ironing services. There's also a cook to prepare meals in guests’ villas upon request. Red House Beach Villa is approximately 3 km from Umang Island Harbour and is 2 hours’ drive from Pandeglang Bus Terminal. It is a 10-hour drive from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Rates start from USD 121.

As a matter of fact, the infrastructure towards Ujung Kulon National Park is not very good. In order to reach there, the visitors can have a tour from some resorts in Anyer, beach in the Northwest of Java, or take a bus from West Jakarta. Getting into a bus will be much cheaper, though it will take a long time and quite uncomfortable trip. Local villagers also provide rooms for rent in their houses. The more people staying in the lodges, the cheaper fee should be pay to rent the lodges from the villagers.  With the greater promotion from Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism concerning Indonesian tourism sites, The infrastructures and accommodations around Ujung Kulon National Park are more likely to be developed. Through this way, it will be easier for both local and foreign tourist to observe the most endangered large mammals in the world – Javan Rhinoceros.