Bandung & Bogor

Bandung & Bogor

Gedung Sate - the Governor's office in bandung

Indonesia is an archipelagic country where each locality is a tourist attraction.  This is mainly due to two factors; one, the country has 922 permanently inhabited islands (though the count of the islands it is comprised of varies from 17508 to 18308, 13466 of which stands given official names) scattered in Indian and pacific oceans and, two, the Indonesian archipelago is situated on the pacific ring of fire notoriously known for volcanic activity.

At the monument in Jalan Asia Afrika

Indonesia has nature and culture in abundance. From fiery volcanos which remain simmering and active over the years and all year along to the historically and culturally rich Bali and Yogyakarta. There are numerous lakes, waterfalls, fruit, tea and coffee yielding rich slopes and serene plain paddy fields to be found in Indonesia. Besides, that the Dutch developed the western Java region as picturesque hill stations.

Jl Asia Afrika has these stone balls lined up
on both sides each carrying the name of a
participating country.

Indonesia cannot be done in one visit. The entry (visa free) is valid for one month. One can at the expiry of the immigration entry move out to another international destination and come back again for another thirty days. No questions asked. This I am writing as an Indian passport holder.

Recently I did Bandung and Bogor and Sukabumi.

Tangkuban Perahu - a crater near bandung

Bandung

Bandung is the capital city of west Java. Historically known for the first Afro-Asian summit in April 1955 of 30 leaders from Asia and Africa (also known as the Bandung Conference), this city was named the Paris of Java by the Dutch.

Bogor

The obelisk monument (Tugu Kujang)
 at Bogor. On the top is the weapon
(a dagger) of the Sundanese people.

Bogor is another picturesque city in west Java which is climatically the same as Bandung. It has an ambience of a European city. Bogor is in the ethnic Sudanese area where people have a distinct culture. Before having the Bandung conference there was a Bogor conference setting out the agenda for the Afro-Asian conference.

Kawah Ratu is still billowing smoke after many years of its eruption

Curug Palangi - the Rainbow waterfall near Bandung

Bandung

Bogor landscape

 Bandung at night

Subang Tea Plantations

Sukabumi

Pictures below:  On the way to Ringganis crater (walk approx 1.5 Km)

This crater has hot springs where people take mud bath, spa, and finally bathe in very hot water smelling strong sulphur. The temperature of water is above 40 degree C.

The Trumpet flowers on the way to the hot bath site of Ringganis.

The Tangkuban Parahu is a mountain in the shape of an upturned boat.