Most Romantic Things to Do in Togean Islands

The Travel Junkie

Romantic Sunset at Togean Islands (Photograph courtesy of bora_horza)

Romantic Togeans
Assuming you have a romantic partner with whom to experience all that Togean Islands has to offer, Togeans can be one of the most romantic places on the planet. The diversity of opportunities for romance is unparalleled anywhere in the world. Blissful beaches, plentiful coral and a place to live the life of a lotus eater, the Togean Islands fit the bill. This archipelago of beautiful coral and volcanic isles in the middle of Teluk Tomini is a riot of blue, gold and green.

Take a Romantic Walk on the Beach
“Love long walks on the beach” has become the cliche of the personal ad and online dating profile for the simple reason that almost everyone loves long walks on the beach and finds walking on the beach romantic, even if you’re the kind of person who would rather walk on the paved beach path than get your feet sandy. This one should almost be a given for any couple visiting Togeans.

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Pasola : Let The Battles Commence

The Travel Junkie

Pasola war festival in Sumba Island (Photograph courtesy of Nihiwatu.com)

Traveljunkieindonesia.com – A riotous tournament between two teams of spear-wielding, ikat-clad horsemen, the Pasola has to be one of the most extravagant, and bloodiest, harvest festivals in the world.

Riders risk life and limb as they aim wooden spears at each other during a Pasola war festival in Sumba Island, Indonesia. Pasola is a traditional Sumba ritual sport held in the belief it will ensure a good harvest.

Held annually in February and March, it takes the form of a ritual battle – not so much a quarrel between opposing forces as a need for human blood to be spilt to keep the spirits happy and bring a good harvest.

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How to Cook Like a Balinese

The Travel Junkie

Cooking courses (Photograph courtesy by Balifoods)

Traveljunkieindonesia.com – How to cook like a local in Bali. If you want to learn some local kitchen tricks, Ubud in Bali has a number of cooking schools ready to take you through the finer points of curry creation and sate sizzling. If you have a favourite dish, they’ll teach you to make that, too.

At creative cuisine pioneer Janet De Neefe at the Casa Luna Cooking School casalunabali.com. The half-day courses (300,000Rp) are held five days a week at the Honeymoon Guesthouse and are highly recommended. They cover ingredients, cooking techniques and the cultural background of the Balinese kitchen. Excellent gourmet tours are also held on the weekend (450,000Rp).

Another option is the Balinese cooking courses held by Bumbu Bali balifoods.com; long-time resident and cookbook author Heinz von Holzen runs a cooking school from his excellent South Bali restaurant. Classes start at US$75 (price without market visit).

Happy Green Travels!

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Amazing Indonesian Fruits

The Travel Junkie

Manggis or Mangosteens (Photograph courtesy of mttsndrs)

Traveljunkieindonesia.com – Indonesia fruits is amazingly delicious. You should try at least once within your lifetime. It’s worth making a trip to Indonesia just to sample the tropical fruits.

Manggis (mangosteen)
Small purple fruit with white fleshy segments and fantastic flavour.

Salak
recognisable by its brown ‘snakeskin’ covering. Peel it off to reveal segments that resemble something between an apple and a walnut.

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Top 13 Amazing Volcanoes in Indonesia

The Travel Junkie

Traveljunkieindonesia.com – If you have the urge to ascend spectacular peaks, watch the sun rise through the haze of steaming craters and peer into the earth’s bubbling core, you’ve come to the right place. Indonesia is the destination for volcano enthusiasts. This is thanks to the fact that it lies on a significant segment of the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, where two large crustal plates (the Indian Ocean and western Pacific) are forced under the massive Eurasian plate, where they melt at approximately 100km beneath the surface. Some of the magma rises and erupts to form the string of volcanic islands across Indonesia. Indonesia’s volcanoes do erupt, sometimes with shocking consequences.

So here, Top 13 Amazing Volcanoes in Indonesia:

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Stopping Child-Sex Tourism in Indonesia

The Travel Junkie

Traveljunkieindonesia.com – Unfortunately, Indonesia has become a destination for foreigners seeking to sexually exploit local children. A range of socio-economic factors render many children and young people vulnerable to such abuse and some individuals prey upon this vulnerability.

The sexual abuse and exploitation of children has serious, life-long and even life-threatening consequences for the victims. Strong laws exist in Indonesia to prosecute offenders and many countries also have extraterritorial legislation which allows nationals to be prosecuted in their own country for these intolerable crimes.

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The Travel Junkie Tact: Environmental Concerns

The Travel Junkie

Traveljunkieindonesia.com – Environmental issues often seem to be alien in Indonesia, and Indonesians are wont to say to Europeans: ‘We are a poor country that needs to exploit our natural resources. How can you tell us not to cut down our forests when you have already cut down all your own?’ That said, Indonesia has a growing environmental awareness and environmental laws, even if they are poorly enforced.

You can lecture all you like and even report violations to the local authorities, but the best you can hope for is to avoid adding to environmental degradation.

Hikers should follow the maxim that is posted in every Indonesian national park: ‘take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints’. Minimise disposable waste and take it with you, even if the trails are already littered. Avoid buying goods with excess packaging – go for food wrapped in banana leaf rather than polystyrene. Re-use water bottles – many hotels let you refill bottles with air putih (drinking water).

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The Best Places to Visit Bintan Island

The Travel Junkie

Traveljunkieindonesia.com – Just across the Selat Dampak from Batam, the island of Bintan is twice as large and a mirror opposite. Where Batam is creation of imported worker, Bintan has a local community of ethnic Hakka and Indo-Malays. On the west coast, Tanjung Pinang is a busy provincial city, while the high-end resorts in the north of the island around Lagoi do beach escapes right. For the working stiffs from Singapore, there are the more rustic beaches on eastern end of the island around Pantai Trikora for affordable weekend escapes.

Although Bintan is under influence of Singapore prices, it is a smidge cheaper, so the last bits in your wallet won’t evaporate as quickly as in the metropolis. So here, Best Places to Visit Bintan Island.

Pantai Trikora
Bintan’s east coast is lined with rustic beaches and simple wooden bungalows. The main beach is Pantai Trikora, which is pretty enough at high tide but turns into miles of mud flats at low tide. The beaches to the north around Malangrupai have more consistent surf and turf. Regardless though, the area is relatively deserted: just you, the ocean and a few napping dogs. A group of small islands off Pantai Trikora are well worth visiting and there is good snorkelling outside the monsoon season (November to March).

Senggarang
A fascinating village sits just across the harbour from Tanjung Pinang. The star attraction is an old Chinese temple, now suspended in the roots of a huge banyan that has grown up through it. The temple is to the left of the pier, where boats from Tanjung Pinang dock. Half a kilometre along the waterfront, Vihara Darma Sasana, a complex of three temples, all said to be more than a century old, occupy a large courtyard facing the sea. Boats to Senggarang (10,000Rp) leave from Pejantan II wharf.

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10 Tips for Living Like a Local

The Travel Junkie

Traveljunkieindonesia.com – Living like a local in another country is a great way to get to know the culture from a first-hand perspective. By living with a family, you get to see how a local’s daily life is, from what they eat, to how to they dress, to what their before-bed ritual is. With such a unique opportunity being given to you, it’s important to get the most out of the experience while also being respectful.

To help, here are some tips on how to enjoy a successful like a local.

Dress appropriately
While it may be okay to walk around your own home in your underwear or short shorts, think about how it might make others feel. Nobody wants to feel uncomfortable in their own home, and even if they don’t say it makes them uncomfortable, it probably does, so just make sure to cover up. Also, in certain cultures showing your shoulders and knees is inappropriate, so just be aware of a culture’s etiquette.

Learn cultural norms before you go
If you know that talking about religion or the government is taboo in a culture, don’t ask about it. That being said, I’ve done homestays in places where I was told a topic was off-limits yet became close with a family member and was able to have these touchy conversations; however, I allowed them to bring up the issue. In Lombok Island, the locals were very open to talking about everything, and would actually take me off guard with the questions they would ask. That being said, I got to learn a lot about dating norms, marriage proposals, government corruption, religious beliefs, diet regimes, and the religious structuring in the schools.

Learning the cultural norms goes farther than what you say; it also includes gestures, clothing styles, and rituals. For example, I researched Dusun Piji Gunung Kidul before doing my homestay there and learned that it is rude to sit with your feet sticking straight out. This is something I do all of the time at home, especially if I’m eating while sitting on the floor, and was so grateful to have been given this information beforehand as all of our meals were taken on the living room carpet.

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Sex In The Kitchen

The Travel Junkie

Traveljunkieindonesia.com – I love traveling like a local. I love kitchens with wood, concrete and accessories in grey, black and wood kitchens. Above (images via VT Wonen) and below (image via AnoukB)  some rustic kitchen inspiration.

Create a similar look with the products below:

1. Salt & Pepper Grinder from Muuto, 2. UNGDOM cups from IKEA, 3. Bread board made from teak wood, 4. wooden Bread board, 5. & 6. Black pottery from Colombia, 7. Rack with 6 wooden plates.

Happy Green Daily Living!

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Seafood, Love, Be Happy

The Travel Junkie

Traveljunkieindonesia.com – Canned tuna melt or blue fin sashimi? King crab cakes or farmed shrimp rolls? How about a bowl of shark fin soup with a side of eco-guilt and consumer confusion? Are seafood options getting you down? Wouldn’t it be nice to just be happy and feel good about your seafood choices?

Most seafood lovers that I know want to choose wisely for their family and the planet, have easy options available to them, and simply get on with dinner. The Be Happy campaign can help you do just that. By visiting the Be Happy Facebook page you can sign a pledge to show your support for healthy oceans, learn about sustainable seafood options, share recipes and information with your networks, have fun uploading your family and friends’ funniest fish faces, and most importantly, feel good about the seafood you’re eating!

To learn more about how your seafood choices impact the ocean, and to discover what our organizations are doing about it, please visit our websites:

Blue Ocean Institute, David Suzuki Foundation, FishWise, Monterey Bay Aquarium, New England Aquarium, SeaChoice, Shedd Aquarium, Ocean Wise, and Travel Junkie Indonesi.

Join us and take the Be Happy pledge today!

Happy Green New Year!

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