TRAVELING

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MYANMAR: THE HIDDEN BEAUTY

This video was made, during my visit in Myanmar in June 2009. The series of the videos I named: " MYANMAR THE HIDDEN BEAUTY", narrated in Indonesian language, however, I believe you really would enjoy the natural beauty of this country that once known as Burma, where the third UN Secretary General, U Thant, originally came from.

INDONESIA

By: Neneng Tarigan

Nongsa, Batam Island, Indonesia

Being travel to more than 40 countries in the world, I can say: "There are so much stories about my beautiful country Indonesia that I could share with people around the globe."

Indonesia is a country with abundant natural resources, inhabited by approximately 250 million citizens; with more than 17,000 islands in which some has no name still; and more than 450 local languages belong to the ethnic groups.

Hundreds of scarce animals such as orang utan, coala, java tiger, komodo still exist in Indonesia also various kind of rare plants that could make us all breathless by their beauty. Indonesia is among the most beautiful country to visit either for workings or leisure and most importantly for a vacation.

We can speak years and years about the uniqueness of Indonesia. However, in modern time, we better enjoy the story from the slides, because time is so precious and it is more effective if I show you Indonesia from the audiovisual facts.

Every part of Indonesia has a beautiful natural landscape, a gracefully GOD gives to our nation. Some part yes I must admit is bold because the jungles was deforested by irresponsible people for illegal logging, some was partly damage because of natural disasters such as Tsunami that hits Aceh in December 2004, earth quake in Yogyakarta in May 2006, in Padalarang early of September 2006 and West Sumatra end of September 2009 as well as many other places after that.

But, do the country lost its beauty because of the natural disasters? Not at all, neither in the country sides that had experienced the damage, because not long after that, people work hard to recovered from the damage either by self initiatives, by domestic or foreign helps. Well sometimes it is even hard to recognize back if the place had ever been hit by flood or Tsunamy. It needs time yes to rebuild, but the country sides still have their beauty and extraordinary natural landscapes that we can enjoy till today.

So, why not trying to explore the beauty of Indonesia? The following short slides will show you a little part of what I said, but by visiting Indonesia you can prove it yourself. Don't they said: "Seeing is believing"? Bring along your family and friends and have a nice trip in Indonesia. Welcome.

Take a little of Your time and watch the slides. Thank you!

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PASAR SENI GABUSAN/ THE GABUSAN ART MARKET

Pasar Seni Gabusan or the Gabusan Art Market developed by the Local Government of Bantul, is a convenient market that is provide by the local government for micro as well as small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) of Bantul who are dealing with silver and bronze craft, batiks, hand woven materials, wood crafts, leather and various other handcrafters material that has highest local cultural value.

The price of almost all of the handmade goods here are achievable even for low incomer and it is also possible to bargain.

Although a little bit bushy and lack of visitors, the cleanliness of the art market is manageable, as one can see from its toilet facilities that are quite clean and enough in number.

It is questionable, if people are hesitant to shop in this place. Seemed that the local government of Bantul should cooperate more with travel agents, so that more foreign and domestic tourists would shop, and this beautiful place would not be left in vain.

I myself have bought a lot of handicrafts in this Gabusan Art Market. A piece of cotton batik materials with the Alure design as wore by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, is cost only for IDR 25,000.-/piece*, whereas the one made of derby material is IDR 65,000.-/piece; original painted batik of derby material is IDR 105,000.-/piece, two layer design bronze brogue for “kebaya”** cost only IDR 100,000.-and a passport holder made of fish leather (stingray leather)priced only for IDR 140,000.-.

If you want to buy souvenirs and various other small gifts or tokens for the invitees in a wedding party, here is the appropriate place to shop.

The Gabusan Art Market is close to leather handicraft centre “Manding”and also near by the ceramic craft centre “Kasongan”.

There are many small yet clean restaurants or vendors offered reasonable price of foods and beverage along the way of these three handicrafts centers. For those who want to buy goods in a bulk, almost all of the SMEs could serve you with proper packing and mailing, some of them even already served the export market.

Your trip to Jogjakarta will not be complete if you are not visiting these three places, so please try!!!

BOGOR BOTANICAL GARDEN INDONESIA:

As quoted and modified from: http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-485505-bogor_vacations-i and http://www.hoax-slayer.com/ as well as from http://www.google.co.id/

Located 300m above sea level and just an hour's train journey from South of Jakarta, BOGOR enjoys a cool, wet climate and is home to the famously lush Botanical Garden (Kebun Raya Bogor). The Botanical Garden open daily from 08.00am to 05.00pm; with an entrance fee about US $ 1.- plus 20cent dollar for entering the orchid house. You can go by train, bus or private car to Bogor and enjoy the beautiful scenery on the way. Some rest areas offer you not only local and Indonesian cuisines but also western one. You don’t have to worry about hotel or restaurants in Bogor. There are a lot of Hotels available nearby the Botanical Garden. Some Hotels I could highly recommend for its cleanliness and conveniences are Santika Hotel (with mall inside), Salak Hotel (right in front of Presidential Palace and nearby Botanical Garden) and Novotel Golf Course Hotel are all between reasonable prices and the food are yummy and it is almost at no price at all. In the Botanical Garden, pathways wind between towering bamboo stands, climbing bougainvillea, a small tropical rainforest, and ponds full of water lilies and fountains. Perhaps the garden's best-known occupants are the giant Rafflesia or Bunga Bangkai, the world's largest and smelliest flower. Near the gardens' main entrance, the rather dilapidated Zoological Museum (open daily from 08.00am to 04.00pm) full with 30,000 specimens, including a complete skeleton of a blue whale, a stuffed of Javanese rhino and most impressively the remains of a huge coconut crab. Outside of the garden, there are plenty of vendors and workshop selling among others Wayang golek or Indonesian traditional puppets and local made souvenirs. If you're interested in gamelan or Javanese gongs that are using traditional methods, are also for sale around here.

The Giant Rafflesia or Bunga Bangkai

The Giant Rafflesia may be included in the family of Amorphophallus titanum or Titan Arum - is indeed considered as one of the largest flower in the world. Also known as the "Corpse Flower" because of its foul smell, Amorphophallus titanum is a prized addition to a number of well-known botanical gardens around the world, including London's Kew Gardens, California's Huntington Botanical Gardens and Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens as well as at Bogor Botnical Garden Indonesia. The plants have become quite famous and always attract large crowds when a particular specimen blooms at one of the above locations or at a number of others gardens around the world. One such plant was also featured in Sir David Attenborough's outstanding BBC documentary The Private Life Of Plants. In fact, the native habitat of Amorphophallus titanum is the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia.

Below, the photograph of the Titan Arum taken at Stuttgart, Germany's Wilhelma Botanical and Zoological Gardens by Lothar Grünz in October 2005.

The same photograph along with details about where, when and by whom the picture was taken, is available on the Wikimedia Commons website. And, another shot published on the Wilhelma website clearly shows the same building in the background as that shown in the above photograph.

While bloomings of the Amorphophallus titanum are certainly rare, and the flowers only last for two or three days. The specimens kept in various botanical gardens often go for several years between blooms. In "The Private Life Of Plants", David Attenborough suggests that Amorphophallus titanum in the wild, bloom about once every 1000 days.

So, welcome and visit Indonesia!!!

 

 

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IRELAND: One of the Most Beautiful Natural Landscape On Earth:

All travelers admitted, that there are 4 most beautiful natural landscapes on earth. Those are: New Zealand, Scotland, Tasmania and Ireland. I have never been to those countries, except Ireland just recently, so for me Ireland is the best. Of course I can't cover the whole nation in a week, hence I had just arranged the 3 days Dublin city tour, Wild Wicklow and Glendalough tour, Newgrange and Monasterboice tour, Cliffs of Moher tour, and last but not least a tour to Howth. The tour to Howth was taken care by my beautiful friends Michal Rupinski and his wife Marlena Rupinska.

For the whole story and accurate information about Ireland you can find in the website. One is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ireland
The short story, based on my own experience you can read and watch at the following slides. I hope you enjoy it.

Part 1: Wild Wicklow and Glendalough

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Part 2: Newgrange and Monasterboice

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Part 3. The Cliffs of Moher

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Part 4: Howth Island

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There quite a lot of Irish celebrities in the World. from Bernard Shaw, Yeats, Oscar Wilde, West Life Band, Bono (U2), Enya, Sean O’ Connery, President of the USA late John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and so many more. What I really impressed was when I visited the Writers Museum in Dublin, I found out that so many good writers in the world were with Irish Origin. I spent about two hours in the Writers Museum to read about great writers of Ireland, another two hours in Dublinia Museum to learn about the history of Ireland, even longer at the little Post Museum to observe their heroic actions. Ireland has a great history of pain as well as victory. this country experience famine, leprosy and also prosperity. A country that heavily relied on religion mostly on Catholicism and Protestantism that brought them into the longest civil war might be in the world history.

Although the number of Irish people or people with Irish origin are greater abroad than in Ireland, but they are known as brave and intelligent people, they are nice though also known as heavy drinkers. My short stay in Ireland is wonderful and hard to forget. I am fallen in love with Ireland, I love their Irish accent, their warmth gesture and the beautiful natural landscape of the country.