A complete guide to Southeast Asia train travel, featuring resources for buying tickets and reviews of rail travel in the region. An introduction to Southeast Asia Railways Travel by train is a great way to experience the landscapes of Southeast Asia, and to meet the people who live here. Personally I think train travel the […]
Yogyakarta Travel Guide
November 11, 2014 By
Travel Guides > Indonesia > Yogyakarta Travel Guide Yogyakarta in Central Java makes for a handy base to explore the surrounding region. The city is nearby to the world heritage sites of Borobudur and Prambanan, as well as the perpetually-smoking Gunung Merapi volcano. It’s also a great place to just hang out for a few […]
Kopi Joss – The charcoal coffee of Yogyakarta
May 5, 2013 By 24 Comments
When I’m on the road I’m always on the lookout for interesting cafes and new coffee experiences. On my trip to Yogyakarta I found an unusual brew called Jopi Joss: charcoal coffee. [Kopi Joss – it tastes better than it looks.] Kopi Joss preparation starts off in the usual Javanese style, with loose coffee grinds […]
Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park, Java – Indonesia
May 3, 2013 By 2 Comments
[Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park in East Java, Indonesia.] Like most visitors to Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park (more commonly called Bromo) I arrived to my guest house in the evening without having seen the park. The tour begins with a jeep ride in the morning darkness to the crater rim, arriving in time for the sun rise. As […]
Notes on Pangandaran, Indonesia – An alternative beach destination to Bali
April 19, 2013 By 9 Comments
[Pangandaran Beach, Java – Indonesia] Up until a few days before I arrived I had never heard of Pangandaran. This fishing village on the south coast of West Java is a popular beach resort (if you can describe it as that) for domestic visitors, but like much of Indonesia beyond Bali, it is not on […]
In Pictures: Kota (Old Jakarta)
April 15, 2013 By 4 Comments
Kota (Old Jakarta) is the area around the old port area of Jakarta. [Remnants of Old Jakarta] The remaining heritage buildings here are remnants from the Dutch colonial era when the city was known as Batavia. [Jakarta History Museum] Like seemingly every big colonial city in the region Batavia was an “x of the east” […]
Prambanan – the largest Hindu temple site in Indonesia
July 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Prambanan is a complex of Hindu temples near Yogyakarta in central Java. It is the largest Hindu remnant in Java and it is billed as “the Tallest and Most Beautiful, Largest Hindus Temple in the World”. While I haven’t been to enough Hindu temples to vouch for it’s most beautiful claim, it certainly is grand […]
Borobudur – The biggest Buddhist temple in the world
June 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Borobudur Temple Borobudur Temple is the biggest Buddhist temple in the world, which is impressive considering that it’s not in a Buddhist country but in Central Java, Indonesia. [Borobudur Temple] It’s a temple that ranks with Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and Myanmar’s Bagan as one of the great religious monuments of Southeast Asia. What is more […]
Bandung was once “Paris of Java” – What is it now?
May 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Bandung in Indonesia was once known as “Paris of Java”. I saw a few T-shirts with the proclamation “Paris Van Java”, but other than that there is not much evidence to suggest that this was once a grand city in the resemblance of the French capital. [Jalan Asia Afrika] Bandung was once a grand city, […]
Transjakarta – The express bus system of Jakarta
May 24, 2009 By 1 Comment
Jakarta has a population of approximately 9 million people and no metro system. It’s a city that sprawls in every direction and its traffic congestion is legendary. The city has come up with a workable bus system that has at least made travel in some parts of Jakarta much faster. [Transjakarta Bus] Transjakarta is a […]
