Holland’s Indos Celebrate Roots

Halfway around the world from Indonesia, you can enjoy a sumptuous plate of nasi uduk and sip es cendol while taking in the melancholic sounds of a keroncong band. Tese tastes, sights and sounds come to life once a year in the Dutch city of The Hague during the annual Tong Tong Fair.

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Annual Fashion, Food Festival Spotlights Multicultural Jakarta

Jakarta’s annual fashion and food festival highlighting culinary treats and the works of home designers is under way. The festival, jointly organized by the Jakarta Tourism Office and property developer Summarecon Group, is the seventh of its kind and is once again being held at Kelapa Gading Mall in North Jakarta.

Governor Fauzi Bowo kicked off the festival last Wednesday. It will go on until this Sunday.

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Light of the Gods on Bali’s Peaks

The chain of steps, cutting a narrow band through the damp green forest, rose above me. Sweat dripped from the tip of my nose; rustling and chattering in the undergrowth hinted at unseen monkeys and a cool, cloying mist rose from the rice terraces below. It was not long after dawn, and I was picking my way up the pilgrimage route to the highest station of the complex of temples known as Pura Lempuyang that stud the green flanks of the fractured volcano standing sentinel on Bali’s eastern

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Ruins of Majapahit Obscured By Apathy

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then I would say the roads of Trowulan — home to the Majapahit ruins, one of Asia’s most important civilizations and archaeological ruins — is littered with one well-intentioned mishap after another.

Majapahit was a major Hindu-Buddhist kingdom that reigned from the 13th century for roughly 300 years and counted most of modern-day Indonesia and

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Unveiling rare beauty

If you think you can only find Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel or the Pendusa God in fairytales and myths, then you’re wrong.

In Indonesia, you can also find them on the traditional batik cloths. Hard to imagine? Maybe.

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Wayang Orang Sriwedari: A dying art form

A performance titled “Permadi-Bratajaya Lair”, part of the Mahabharata epic, was advertised at the entrance of Gedung Wayang Orang (GWO), the Javanese dance-drama theater in Sriwedari Amusement Park, Solo.

But while visitors flocked to the park that evening, the GWO building remained deserted.

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Dance groups tango with popularity, preservation

The chiming of the gamelan sets 18 hands in motion, as nine women gingerly rotate their wrists and stretch up from the floor, their bodies unfolding like early spring flowers.

The dancers’ movements are graceful but precise, their faces masks of concentration. They are practicing the Bedoyo, a special dance performed only for the Sultan of Yogyakarta and one that is deeply rooted in Javanese folklore.

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Potato Head’s Visual Palate A Feast for The Eyes

Potato Head only opened its doors in January last year, but it has already become something of a stalwart among Jakarta’s young socialites, executive types and expats.

While the bar/restaurant serves excellent dishes and boasts an extensive cocktail list, it offers something that is a little harder to find in Jakarta — a tasteful yet playful ambience.

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Of Lagoons, Permits And Lost Sandals

The call to evening prayer reverberated among the hills of Sendang Biru, on the southern coast of Malang district, East Java. On one of the area’s mangrove bays, boats of various sizes surrounded a wooden stilt house that stood above the water’s surface. Young fishermen were either repainting the hulls or fixing the engines while chattering in a language completely unfamiliar to me.

“Many of us are Bugis from Sinjai, South Sulawesi,” said Raju, one of the older fishermen. “I have been in Sendang Biru for seven [fishing] seasons.”

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Indonesia's Paradise Of Pearls

Over the years, West Nusa Tenggara has slowly built a reputation as a beach-lover’s paradise. Located to the east of better-known Bali, it is comprised of the main islands of Lombok and Sumbawa and occupies an area of 20,000 kilometers and an estimated population of four million people. The Gili islands, comprised of Trawangan, Air and Meno, are especially popular among backpackers for white, sandy beaches, crystal-clear waters and spectacular coral reefs.

But there’s another reason why the Ministry of Culture and Tourism would like more visitors to come to the islands — the province’s burgeoning pearl industry.

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World-Class Dancer Back on Local Stage

The room was abuzz with anticipation from the ladies lunching at the arts fundraiser. Eko was coming, they knew, he was just about to appear, and this was the kind of crowd that could really appreciate him. When the host announced the performance, an expectant, reverent hush descended over the room.

Eko Supriyanto does not command such rapt attention from sheer appearance. At 5 feet 4 inches, he does not impose physically. But when he stalked into the room — strikingly different in a sheer, one-shouldered black costume

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A quirky museum, a welcoming home

An impressive and imposing entranceway seems to stand guard as you approach the Antonio Blanco Museum located on a hill known as Campuan, in Ubud, Bali. Passing under this archway, the entrance road rises up steeply and there is a real sense of approaching something special but also a little reclusive.


It is said the King of Ubud gave the artist Antonio Blanco this land to build his home and which today stands as something of a monument to this renowned artist.

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2nd Opinion: Urban reflections in 3-D

Amid the urban brouhaha of the metropolitan city of Jakarta, the exhibition of eight artists at Bentara Budaya art space comes like a soothing refreshment on a hot day.

Who are we, life size mixed media by Ade Artie Tjakra. Courtesy of the artists
While critical of many aspects of urban Jakarta, the works show how creative thinking can relieve a person’s stress.

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In Pursuit of the Dragons of Alor

In the fishing village of Lanleki on the island of Alor, I met an old man who had seen a dragon. His name was Achmad. Sitting in the narrow front room of his small house, he told me his story. Forty years ago, long before he made the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, he was walking along a narrow path that leads to the village when the dragon emerged from the sea and chased him through the trees. It had horns like a buffalo and seven flickering tongues.

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A Mosque With Chinese Character

It is undoubtedly exotic in its looks, but to the naive passerby the only thing that may seem truly extraordinary about this building in Palembang, South Sumatra, is its colorful architecture. The structure, which resembles a temple, is painted in deep red and pink and topped off with a jade green dome. Two towers in the shape of a five-tiered pagoda flank the sides, complete with Chinese-style touches on their polygonal roofs. On closer inspection, however, a crescent moon and a star are perched on top of its dome. This is not a Chinese temple, but is actually the Muhammad Cheng Ho Mosque.

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Indonesia comes to Harrods

Waiters wearing blangkon (traditional Javanese head-dress) and batik sashes, diners enjoying soto Madura to the unique sound of a Sasando stringed instrument, and girls modeling ikat dresses on a catwalk.

All this sounds familiar. Except the above didn't take place in Jakarta, or even Kupang, but in London, the UK. The event was a gala dinner on April 29 marking the end of the one-month "Remarkable Indonesia" extravaganza at the iconic Harrods department store, as part of the Indonesian government's Visit Indonesia Year promotional activities.

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Anak Alam brings joy to children of Blandingan

 
It was arguably the most touching birthday party Kadek Purnami had ever had.

She struggled to fight her tears back as she looked at a group of around 50 children sitting before her. The children were dressed in worn-out clothes and most of them apparently hadn’t taken a bath for quite some time. Water is a precious commodity in that village and taking a bath regularly is a luxury most of the villagers cannot afford.

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500 years on: Rebirth of a ritual

 Stairway to heaven : Hindu followers carry two holy-cow-shaped coffins believed to be vehicles to nirvana for the Palebon cremation ritual in Mt. Lawu area, Central Java.

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Bali: A Cowboy’s Paradise

You may think you already know everything there is to know about the so-called cowboys of Kuta Beach in Bali. But Singaporean filmmaker Amit Virmani’s controversial documentary, “Cowboys in Paradise,” will make you think again. The film offers a peek into the minds of the cowboys, from lessons in how to woo women and a rather naive outlook on sexually transmitted diseases, to unusual sex tips, like tying horse hair to the tip of your penis for enhanced pleasure.

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Rock for Bali's Shore

Over his two-week Easter break from school, 15-year-old Gary Bencheghib was hard at work. Set on a mission to save Bali’s beaches, he believes the only way to do this is to get more people involved, locals and tourists alike.

“Balinese young people seem to be very influenced by famous Indonesian rock bands,” Bencheghib said. “So I decided to organize a ‘green’ concert. I hope to touch a large number of people and make them individually more concerned about maintaining Bali’s pristine beaches.”

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Nusakambangan Island Up Close

Easy access: A motorcyclist drives onto a ferry from Nusakambangan. The ferry line, owned by the penitentiary, serves prison officials, wardens and their families. JP/Agus Maryono
What do Bali bombers Amrozi, Mukhlas, Imam Samudra, former president’s son Tommy Soeharto and timber tycoon Bob Hasan have in common?

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