Indonesia Vacations

Borobudur International Festival 2009

Admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:14:23 +0000

From July 16th to 20th, 2009, Gunadharma field in the area of Borobudur temple, Magelang, Central Java was so extravaganza. Various traditional dances from Indonesia and some foreign countries were greatly performed in the Borobudur International Festival as a part of Cultural preservation and Indonesian tourism promotion.

Borobudur Temple was chosen as the place to hold the Borobudur International Festival 2009 because it is just determined as the world heritage. The Indonesian Minister of Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik, said that “if a place does not have any culture at all, then it will not be an interesting place. As if in Borobudur, if there is no temple, no tourists will be interested to give a visit”. It is quoted as he officially opened the Borobudur International Festival 2009.

On the other way around, if the culture is not promoted, then it will give no implication to the society. By having Borobudur International Festival 2009, Jero Wacik also hopes that it can give a great implication to the surrounding people live near Borobudur.

14 representations came from 14 different countries in the opening of Borobudur International Festival 2009. Among the 14, 10 countries were directly represented by their Ambassadors: Portugal, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Russia, Croatia, Lebanon, Nigeria, Rumania, Suriname and Saudi Arabia. The other 4 countries, Poland, Somalia, Brunei and Bulgaria, were represented by their Ambassadors’ representatives. Jero Wacik also added that such festival will be held in every 5 years. If it is to be held annually, it might indeed lose the spirit.

Meaningful Dances

This event was held in 5 days non-stop. Each day, the event was filled by the performances of local and foreign attractions as well as music performances. On the first day, Thailand performed their traditional dance which told about the excitement of a couple colorful birds. Besides that, India also performed a traditional dance symbolizing the excitement of a couple in love.

Meanwhile, Indonesia as the host performed various dances and traditional music from Aceh, Java and up tp Papua. For example, Goembira Remaja dance is performed to illustrate the excitement of female teenagers from Aceh. The interesting thing is that the dance movements are so full of energy and get faster in every movement.

Besides that, a prominent Indonesian Traditional Herbal and Cosmetics company, PT. Mustika Ratu Tbk, also took part in the Borobudur International Festival 2009. This cosmetic company consistently invents the Royal heritage products and gave a full support to the event. It is expected that the event will increase the image of Borobudur as the nation’s world heritage.

Through Alam Sumber Kesehatan dance, created by Dr. BRA Mooryati Soedibyo, the history of nation’s culture of the traditional health and beauty care is nicely described.

Thank you for visiting Indonesia Vacations ..

Places of interest in Yogyakarta:

Prambanan Temple

Tamansari Water Castle

Keraton Yogyakarta

Parangkusumo Beach

Parangtritis Beach

Fruit Garden Yogyakarta

How to get to Indonesia

Admin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:08:00 +0000

Before you are going to Indonesia, it will be better for you to know some information of how to get to Indonesia. Learning about the Indonesian immigration bureaucracy can be the useful one. In brief, if you are a westerner, you may get the arrival visa for US$ 10/25 in some of the most entry points, such as Bali and Java. However, if you need to know further, below is the more detail information of how to get to Indonesia.

There are three ways of entering Indonesia:

Visa-free. Show your passport, get stamped, that’s it. Applies only to a few select countries, mostly in ASEAN.
Visa on arrival. Pay on arrival, get a visa in your passport, get it stamped, that’s it. Most visitors fall in this category.
Visa in advance. Obtain a visa at an Indonesian embassy before arrival.

However, you need to be aware that the regulations of Visa-free and Visa on arrival are applied onto particular entry points only. So if you are entering Indonesia via other entry points or ports, the visa is somehow required, either your National is into the category of visa-free or visa on arrival.
Indonesian Custom
The Indonesian Custom will allow you bringing certain goods into the entering points, such as 200 cigarettes or 100 gm tobacco’s products or 50 cigars, and certain reasonable quantity of perfume. There are some custom regulations regarding to the required arrival declaration, such money. If you are bringing money with the amount of more than 10 Million Rupiah, then you will have the arrival declare. Besides that, there are a list of prohibitions that cannot be brought when entering Indonesia, such as plants, fish, meat, fruit, pornography goods, gun and drugs. Indonesia applies a death penalty sentence for those caught with drugs.
Indonesia Immigration maintains its own website, but the following is based on data from the Indonesian Embassy in London, which seems to be the most comprehensive.

How to get around Indonesia

Admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:09:00 +0000

Indonesia is a big country with thousand islands and hundred of cultures and customs. Every places have different transportation. There are several transportation to get around Indonesia. You can go by Plane, Boat, Train, Bus, Car, Becak, and Ojek.

By Plane

Indonesia is the largest archipelago country in the world, and the only option of rapid transportation is by plane, especially for a long distance trip. Garuda Air Lines, the state-owned domestic carrier, is known as the largest carrier In Indonesia. Read more about Get Around Indonesia By Plane

By Boat

Since Indonesia consist of thousands of islands, another famous transportation mean to by boat will be the ferries. Many people use the ferry service for the inter-island travel. The largest ferry company in Indonesia is known as PELNI which gives services to every major and inhabited island in all around Indonesia. Read more about Get Around Indonesia By Boat

By Train

Another on-road transportation mean that you can have is by train. The train service will only be found in Java and certain parts of Sumatera. The trains across these two major islands in Indonesia are run by PT. Kereta Api.
Read more about Get Around Indonesia By Train

By Bus

There are two bus types in Indonesia, the non-air-conditioned bus (called as economy or non AC) and the air-conditioned bus (AC). If you are traveling in a larger group, you may have the air-conditioned rented bus which is especially provided for the tourists. Read more about Get Around Indonesia By Bus

By Car

If you prefer to get around Indonesia by car, you can!. To drive a car in Indonesia, you need an international driving license. You will find it atrocious seeing the driving habits in Indonesia. It is common to see that traffic lights and lanes are constantly ignored.
Read more about Get Around Indonesia By Car

By Becak

A local traditional transportation is known as Becak. It is basically a pedicap or tricycle transportation means provided for short distances. You will be able to find the becak in certain parts on Indonesia.
Read more about Get Around Indonesia By Becak

By Ojek

Another way is get around by Ojek. Ojek is referring to the motorcycle taxi service run by the guys who are usually lounging in the street corners with colored and numbered jackets.
Read more about Get Around Indonesia By Ojek

That’s all or now, I hope this article will be useful for your trip

Thank you for visiting Indonesia Vacations ..

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