Friday, October 22, 2010

Lake Toba in North Sumatra


Lake Toba is a volcanic lake with a length of 100 kilometers and 30 kilometers wide, is above the plateau approximately 800 m above sea level which is a national asset ranked into 2 (two) as the world's largest lake and the lake is the largest lake in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. has a natural beauty that is second to none.


  
The lake is surrounded by hills covered with pine forest and blue water. From the Village to do the trip Tongging lake to Parapat. Distance from Berastagi town located in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia.berjarak about 40 km and can use the small size and large vehicles. In the middle of this lake there is a volcanic island called Pulau Samosir. Lake Toba has long become an important tourist destination in North Sumatra in addition to Bukit Lawang and Nias, attract domestic and foreign tourists. Indonesia Tourist Paradise

Monday, October 18, 2010

Mississippi Riverboat Cruise



An enduring image of 19th century America is the riverboat - a sternwheeler belching wood smoke from tall twin stacks as she dashed up and down the Mississippi, Ohio or Missouri Rivers. There was probably a high-stakes poker games going on within the fancy white superstructure, ending in gunplay when five aces came down in the same hand, whilst Mark Twain watched from the bank, pen in hand. Well, maybe it wasn't quite like that, but these stylish craft certainly played a vital role in developing the central-southern and mid-western USA.

Americans are good at marrying tradition with commerce, so it's still possible to experience the delights of this traditional river transport by taking a paddlesteamer trip. 



The modestly named Majestic America Line runs a variety of cruises using a couple of late 20th century steamboats - American Queen (the largest river steamboat ever built) and the Mississippi Queen. Each is the ultimate in old-fashioned comfort and style, though American Queen is something of an impostor - she looks the part and has a sternwheel driven by steam, but her main source of propulsion is diesel-powered propellers. The company's Delta Queen, built in 1927, is a National Historic Landmark, but sadly her cruising future is on hold as a result of modern safety regulations.




These steamboats offer both a selection of "see of river" cruises and theme cruises including the popular Jazz and Civil War itineraries. A cruise won't be cheap, but really is an opportunity to experience the elegant atmosphere and travelling style of a bygone era. The romance of paddle steamers is infectious. If you don't fancy the Mississippi, sternwheelers are now working Alaska's Inside Passage and the great rivers of the northwestern USA (Columbia, Willamette and Snake) for the first in a century.




HOW
By boat

WHEN TO GO
Cruises are available all year round.

TIME IT TAKES
Most cruises are seven nights, but there are shorter and longer options to be found.

HIGHLIGHTS
Hearing a calliope - these steam-powered organs were, and still are, very much part of the riverboat scene.
Small-town America at its best (plus 29 locks) on an Upper Mississippi cruise from St.Paul down to St.Louis seven nights).
All the charm and elegance of the old Deep South on a Lower Mississippi cruise from New Orleans to Memphis (seven nights).

YOU SHOULD KNOW
Louis Armstrong sure knew what he was talking about when he sang the classic song "Ol" Man River - he travelled up the river from New Orleans by paddle steamer, stopping at various towns along the way to play.




Perusing

After leaving our monkey-world we headed on down to Riobamba to take the infamous ´Nariz del Diablo´ train ride that winds down steep switchbacks into southern Ecuador. Unfortunately it was out of service, as we have found about 30% of all businesses, services, and copy machines to be in South America. While coming up with a backup plan we came to the conclusion that we had picked up too many habits and
mannerisms from the monkeys, and really weren´t quite ready for civilization. We packed up again and caught the bus out to Parque Nacional Las Cajas outside the town of Cuenca, a little visited Andean reserve cluttered with small lakes and streams. The park was incredible and we had nearly the whole place to ourselves, passing only two other hikers during our 3 day, 2 night backpacking trip. The trail wound past a plethora of lakes and I was able to stop and try my luck with some trout fishing at a few. Unfortunately my luck turned out to be complete crap, because after catching my only fish (a whopping 4¨) I slipped trying to release the creature and nearly fell in. Luckily I caught myself with the fingernail of my right index finger, tearing it about halfway off and cutting up the neighboring digits in the process. After an evening of pain followed by a night of blissful pain-killer induced sleep we continued on, and the trip once again became beautiful and serene as we hiked passed Incan ruins and wild llamas on our way through the canyon. We popped out onto the road late in the afternoon and hitchhiked back to Cuenca, fully aware that we were behind schedule and needed to make haste to Perú.

My streak of good health continued when I found myself with a fever and horrible stomach ache in the deservingly unheard of border town of Huaquillas. We spent 2 nights there recovering and listening to the horrendous sounds of the local festival, where about 30 drunken adults pack into a little play locomotive for children and scream while the latest reggaeton masterpieces are played on the trains loudspeakers. Finally we crossed the border and my spirits improved when we hit the coastal town of Máncora for some surfing and ceviche. The waves were perfect for a perpetual beginner like me, and Viviana was able to get a one-on-one lesson that got her hooked immediately. We spent a few days riding the waves and avoiding the odd looking Peruvian hairless dogs before continuing south to Chiclayo to catch up on some culture.



This time it was Vivianas turn. I woke up our first morining in Chiclayo to the sound of Viviana releasing last nights ceviche back into the wild. The situation did not look good, so we went straight to the ER of the local hospital. After hooking up an IV and a little more reverse swallowing, we were able to spend the day getting an inside look at the Peruvian health care system. We spent the whole day waiting for results and information while we watched car accident victims, elderly patients, and a young woman that seemed to have completely lost her mind flow through the room. Eventually Viviana got a little ciproflaxin pick-me-up and we headed home. Finally we were both feeling better and we began our tour of the ancient adobe civilizations, the Mochica and Chimú people. North of Chiclayo we saw the pyramid complex of Túcume, an impressive set of pyramids and other buildings all made of adobe. We also stopped by the Museo de Sipán, which houses the findings of the tomb of the Lord of Sipán, who must have been the Jay-Z of the 9th century based on the immense collection of intricate golden necklaces, nose rings, crowns, and other jewelry removed from his tomb. After Chiclayo we made our way down to our current location, Trujillo, and continued the culture course with the Mochica city of Chan-Chan and the massive complexs of Huaca de la Luna and Huaca del Sol. Chan-Chan is an impressive labyrinth of walls, tombs, and ponds that have been restored to their previous splendor. While I found the ancient city to be thoroughly inspiring, the local school children on their field trip seemed to think that a dirty blonde kid
with a red beard was a far rarer sight and I was soon overwhelmed with children wanting to pose with me in their photos. My look must really be perfected now as I also had some yelling out ´Chuck Norris!´ from across the street the other day. But this story is really about the Mochica, and the next buildings we saw were the Temples of the Sun and the Moon. The Temple of the Moon is an old religous center that was continually built up, layer upon layer, for centuries. The outer layers, along with a giant pile of sand, helped protect the intricate details and vibrant colors on the inner layers and these have in turn helped reveal a lot about their unique culture of sacrifices and religious rituals. In times of drought, a bloody gladiator style fight would be held and the loser of the battle would be beheaded, with his blood collected in a cup. The cup would then be brought up to the top of a large stadium and tossed out in front of 10,000 spectators.

The stories of Peruvian history go on, but this one needs to come to an end so I can get out of this internet cafe blasting the Billboard Top 100. Tomorrow we plan to head up to the Cordillera Blanca for some more camping and exploring. The Cordillera Blanca is supposed to be the second largest mountain range in the world, so it should have something for us. It will be a nice change to have less excitement in the Peruvian bathrooms, and more adventure out in the mountains and woods of the Andes.

Monday, October 11, 2010

One of The Most Beautiful Places on Earth

Navagio Beach, or the Shipwreck, is an isolated sandy cove on Zakynthos island and one of the most famous beaches in Greece. It is notable because it is home to the wreck of the alleged smuggler ship Panagiotis, it is often referred to as ‘Smugglers Cove’.

Leopard on the Mountain Halimun Banten

The population of the leopard (Panthera pardus) in forest conservation Halimun Salak Mountain National Park area of Lebak, Banten province, now increased to 56 from the previous tail head 53.

Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae familia and the smallest of the four "Big Cats" in the Panthera the other three being the Lion, Tiger, and Jaguar. Once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South of Africa, the leopard's range of distribution has decreased radically because of hunting and loss of habitat. It is now chiefly found in sub-Saharan Africa; there are also fragmented populations in Palistan, India, Sri lanka, Indochina(vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Burma, CambodiaMalaysia, Indonesia, and Ch. Because of its declining range and population, it is listed as a "Near Threatened".


The growing population of leopard is certainly quite encouraging because it turns out a leopard can still breed in the Mountain Halimun.

Their habitats scattered in Mount Endut, Mount Gede, Mount Bongkok, which is also the Halimun Salak Mountain National Park Area.





The habitats Leopard in Mount Halimun that now under protection of Taman Nasional Gunung Halimun Salak.







I hope that the government of Indonesia continues to try to protect these animals, in order not to become extinct.

by ramadhani

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Pangandaran Beach In Ciamis West Java


Pangandaran Beach is a tourist attraction in Ciamis district which is the belle of the beach in West Java is located in the Village Pananjung with a distance of 92 km from the town of Ciamis to the south. From the direction of Bandung is about 212 KM to the passing lane Bandung - Ciamis - Banjar and Pangandaran. To get to the location of Pangandaran Beach is not difficult. Because the existing road infrastructure is very inadequate. All roads are paved into Pangandaran Beach hotmix well.
For visitors who do not use a personal vehicle, then it can use public transportation routes. When the city of Bandung to use the bus or travel directly toward Pangandaran. Or if the buses could stop first in the district. Ciamis and then by bus or car type elves to Pangandaran. Kandaran those present at any time until 10:00 tonight. Pangadaran Beach has a variety of privileges, namely, we can see the sunrise and sunset from the same place. Sloping beach with clear water and the distance between the ups and downs are relatively long to allow people to swim safely. Then, there are beaches with white sand that area where every visitor could see rocks and ornamental fish clearly. In this white sand coastline, visitors can do the dive.



For the safety of beach visitors tour there or Balawista Rescue Team equipped pengmanan equipment. They always operate at any time on the beaches, especially the South coast. Guard against the possibility of a visitor who drowned. In the Pangandaran area, not just a coastal region, but there are also conservation areas covering an area of 530 hectares in which there is Goa-Goa Nature formed hundreds or even thousands of years ago. There is also a Dutch Goa as a hiding place when he had an attack of the Allies.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Exotic Islands of Bangka Belitung

Bangka–Belitung Islands is a province of Indonesia,that consist two main big islands, Bangka and Belitung, and several smaller ones that 470 islands lie east of the Sumatran mainland and northeast of South Sumatra province. The Bangka Strait separates Sumatra and Bangka, and the Gaspar Strait separates Bangka and Belitung.

The province was formerly part of South Sumatra, but became a separate province in 2000. In 2004 its population was 1,012,655. The capital is Kota Pangkal Pinang.

These islands are the largest producer of tin in Indonesia. They also produce white pepper. Many people call this island with Tin Paradise.


Bangka Belitung has many beaches and smaller islands which have attracted tourists from around the world. The most well known beaches are Matras, Parai, Tanjung Pesona, Batu Bedaun, Remodong, Pasir Padi, Tanjung Kelian, Rebo, and Telok Uber Beach.



by ramadhani

Saturday, October 2, 2010

The Monkey Revolution

Well once again I have gotten lost in the turmoil of traveling and neglected my blog for a bit longer than anticipated. I apologize. Now that that´s out of the way, let´s see if I can get things up to do date...

Salento turned out to be a beautiful, low key mountain town up in the Colombian Andes. It had provided us with some familiar comforts we had been badly missing, such as nice soft beds and delicious pizza. Of course that´s not really our style, so we were quick to toss these aside in turn for a butt breaking horse back ride and a spine straining backpack trip. We arranged the horse ride through an incomprehensible local with one remaining tooth, and his equally odd looking son led us down the road and out to a hidden waterfall a couple hours ride away. I am very much a novice on the animal, and this was Vivianas first time, so we got more than our $10 worth with the steep muddy slopes, dark tunnels, and river crossings. The way back was even more harrowing as the horses slipped and lurched up a narrow, and incredibly muddy, horse trail up a steep hill. The day after the horse trip we decided it might be better to rest our bruised asses and do our backpacking trip into the Valle de Cocora by foot. The first hour wound along a river through picturesque old farmland dotted with wax palms, a local palm tree noted for its especially long, thin trunk. The next section was dense cloud forest, and this we remember for the numerous sketchy bridge crossings, slowly inching with our maxed out backpacks along a couple of small trees felled across the river. After 7 such crossings we arrived at a small house where the overseer of the area resides with his wife. The house was swarmed by more hummingbirds than I had ever seen in my life, including one with a 4 inch beak (Swordbill), and another one with a 6 inch emerald green tail (Long Tailed Sylph). The next two nights we set up our tent on the second floor inside an unfinished barn and passed the evening cooking our meals on the balcony with a great view of the treetops. We were able to catch a few other birds on the trail including an Elegant Trogon and a Pava. After two nights we climbed back out and started south for the hidden tombs of Tierradentro.

Tierradentro is located a 5 hour, bumpy, landslide-strewn bus ride east of Popayan off the pan-american. The town is very small and quiet, and an afternoon of drinking beer by the soccerfield offered us a view of the country life as kids played soccer, horses ran free, and old women gossiped in their doorways. The second day we hiked up and explored the tombs of Aguacate, a series of holes in the ground that lead to ancient tombs of unknown origin. They are all laid out in a line on the crest of a large hill and it makes for a rather eerie experience, especially when you turn on your headlamp and see the plethora of insect life clinging to the walls. We spent only a couple nights here and felt Ecuador pulling us toward it (ironic since there is less gravitational pull there than anywhere else on our trip).

It should be noted that the pan-american highway is not just I-5 for 27000 miles. In Colombia the road is a small undivided 2 lane road winding through turns that prompt the drivers to hand out vomit bags before each journey. The section from Pasto to Ipiales turned out to be the worst that I have experienced so far on my trip. It was only one hour, but the entire time we were clutching our seats in horror as the bus driver consistently passed cars over double lines along sharp blind turns, all while going up to 85kph in the 20kph zone. Of course none of the other passengers blinked an eye at his suicidal manouveres, but I just can´t seem to get used to the insane drivers in Latin America.

We ran off the bus in Ipiales and decided we should thank the higher powers for delivering us safely before we left the country, so we caught a cab over to Santuario Las Lajas, a gorgeous gothic style church spanning a river gorge. The church was exceptional with hundreds of followers in mass when we arrived, but its powers were not strong enough to protect us from the devils true face: the Colombian border security. Viviana had only received a 30 day visa when she entered Colombia, and she had overstayed by two days. In order to receive an exit visa they were trying to charge a $150 fine (I had paid $5 for overstaying my C4 visa in Nicaragua). As we argued for a lower fee we were approached by some interesting characters saying they had ´special connections´ and could get the stamp for half the price. After over an hour of debating we went with the private contractor and a nerve racking taxi ride to the ATM along with another hour of arguing got us the visa for a mere $130 (hmm...). Needless to say we were happy to cross the imaginary, yet laborious line into Ecuador.

In Ecuador we headed straight to Quito, where we spent a few days visiting the local sights and getting a feel for the new culture. We saw a number of churches, including the Basilica del Voto Nacional (a gothic church with gargoyles of turtles, anteaters, iguanas, and other local animals), and the Iglesia Santo Domingo (with twisted paintings of sheep licking up Christs blood, among others). We also made a short trip to the tourist attraction of La Mitad del Mundo, to pass an hour or so hopping between hemispheres. Five relaxing days in Quito prepared us for more adventure, so we went to Quitos´ incredibly new and spacious bus terminal and made our way towards Latacunga.



Before arriving in Latacunga we stopped at Volcan Cotopaxi, a monstrous volcano topped by an expansive glacier. Transportation there was expensive and difficult, so we camped for a night and continued on. After one night in the state capitol of Latacunga we took a detour up to Laguna Quilotoa, an emerald green laguna up in a remote section of the Andes. We hiked a good distance around the lagoon and laughed at the llamas before coming back to Latacunga for the Feria de la Mama Negra, an indigenous festival masked as an homage to the catholic Virgen Mercedes. The festival was unlike any I had ever seen, and the whole thing took place as a long parade that lasted 8 hours (two rotations of 4 hours). It could be divided into
about 50 smaller units, each one starting with a group of costumed dancers, then a band, and followed up by the towns strongest man carrying a wooden backpack with an entire roast pig, about 12 roast chickens, 10 roast guinea pigs, and maybe 15 bottles of liquor tied on. The whole contraption was so big he had to be followed by two guys with a table, and when he needed rest they would set the table down and he could sit the backpack down on it for a minute, then lumber forward and start again. In addition to the pig backpack, there was also a shaman within each unit. He would select random members from the crowd, including myself, twice, and rub herbs in their face, then spit alcohol all over them in a sort of smelly baptism. All along the parade were people handing out free shots of local homemade alcohol, and we did not hesitate to partake. Unfortunately I may have indulged a bit much, and the evening ended a bit sour as someone snatched my camera during my drunken arm in arm dance through a tower of fireworks. How could I have known...?

Continuing along the trail we stopped in the tourist center of Baños for some rafting and late night partying. We floated down the Pastaza river with about 170 other people in a tribute to a local guide that had recently lost his life to the same river. That night we barbecued trout with the local raft guides we had met, and then danced until our legs hurt. A couple of drunken nights and hangover filled days in Baños and we were ready to slow things down with a little volunteer work in nearby Puyo.

Puyo is a town on the edge of the Ecuadorian Amazon, and for the last week we have been shacked up with about 70 primates at the Paseo de los Monos monkey reserve. It is a refuge and rehabilitation center for monkeys, coatis, and birds, and along with 4 other volunteers and a couple of full time employees we have been taking care of the mischievious little creatures. Taking care of monkeys consists of cutting up fruit, getting your hair pulled, cleaning up dishes, getting your ankles bitten, making new informational brochures, and yanking dueling monkeys off your head.
Despite the numerous bruises and teeth marks, it has been a blast. There are seven species of monkeys at the reserve, and the vast majority run free in the forest, coming to the house to eat and play. If you are near the house, no more than 5 minutes will pass before some monkey comes up and tries to climb on you or swing from your arms. Two days ago was an especially eventful day at the reserve. It began with news that Ecuadors president, Rafeal Correa, had recently been taken out of power by a military coup upset about salary changes. This also implied that there was no active police force in all of Ecuador, and rioting had already begun in the capitol and the largest city, Guayaquil. While processing the implications of this information, it started to rain outside and I noticed the trees were blowing a bit more than normal outside. Soon there came a gust of wind that lasted all of 30 to 40 seconds (literally), but knocked down 5 trees on the property, including one that hit the back of the house and crushed the cage that housed the most dangerous animal on the reserve (a very ornery amazonian Coati with nasty incisors). Before we had even assessed the damage we were out by the cage, trying to keep the angry animal inside the cage with a stick while we repaired the torn open area with wire mesh. Despite the disasters at the reserve and the turmoil with the president, by the end of the next day the animal was safe at home, and the Coati was back in his cage as well.

Today we decide our next move. We would like to go up into the Peruvian Amazon to the city of Iquitos, but since we are not using airplanes, and there are no roads to Iquitos, this would mean a 6 day boat trip to arrive, and then 5 days to return. While the next move is unsure, at least we can look forward to a little piece and quiet from our biting, fighting, tree-dwelling neighbors.