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Batik from Giriloyo

After UNESCO officially announced batik as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity on October 2 2009 in Abu Dhabi, its image rise significantly as one of Indonesian heritages. All elements of Indonesian society are really proud of it and thus their appreciation upon batik rises. They show their pride and appreciation by wearing batik as working outfit and school uniform. However, wearing batik is not enough as an appreciation without knowing the history, the production proses, and the value of batik as a national heritage. Those are important to know, especially for Indonesian young generation, so that batik as a cultural icon will be everlasting.

To get well acquaintanced with batik, it is better for you to visit Giriloyo hamlet in the southern of Yogyakarta to learn everything about batik, especially batik tulis or batik handmade. Giriloyo, which is located in Bantul regency, is a production center of batik tulis. This place has at least 800 batik artisans, who are divided into some groups and assembled in an organization called "Paguyuban Batik Tulis Giriloyo". The establishment of the organization was intialized by the idea of Jogja Heritage Society [JHS] under the cooperation with Australian-Indonesia partnership soon after the 27 th May 2006 earthquake.

The activity of batik making in Giriloyo has been last since the establishment of the Royal Mausoleum of Mataram Kings. in Pajimatan hamlet in 1654. The Keraton official then asked several Abdi Dalem to keep the complex. The frequent interaction between the residents of Pajimatan and the abdi dalem open the villagers' view about batik Kraton, so they learned how to make such fine motives of batik.

As the time passed by, order of batik from Pajimatan rised significantly. On the other hand, the number of the maker was insufficient. Therefore, the Pajimatan batik artisans cooperated with the batik artisans Giriloyo. The system that they used in the cooperated at the time was like this: the half-done batik fabrics from Pajimatan were taken by the artisans from Giriloyo for the finishing process. After the finishing process was done, they brought the batik back to Pajimatan. From the cooperation, the Giriloyo artisans learned to make batik with such motives from Pajimatan and established their own batik industry. Thus, the name of Giriloyo batik is better known than Pajimatan batik "www.batiktulisgiriloyo.blogspot.com".

In addition to its fame as batik center, the Giriloyo batik artisans have successfully record their ability by making the longest batik in Indonesia [1,2 km]. It is recorded in the Indonesian Record Museum [MURI} which also marking their resurgence after the 2006 earthquake.

Varied motives of batik tulis Giriloyo

Every place has its own style of in every piece of batik they make, such as motive, coloring technique, as well as the production process. Although many batik artisans now print the motives on the fabric using such monotype and make modern batik motives, batik artisans from Giriloyo keep draw the motives manually. They also keep the motives classic and traditional, every which has its own philosophical value such as: Sido Asih [the person who wear the motive will have a harmonic family], Sido Mukti [if the motive is worn by a bride or groom, he/she will have a happy and wealthy life], Sido Mulyo [noble life], Truntum [spring love], Madu Bronto [love as sweet as honey], and many more.

Batik artisans making batik

Batik artisans in Giriloyo use two kinds of coloring, natural and synthetic. For the natural one, they take the colors from leaves, fruits, flowers, and other natural material. Red color is taken from morinda root, while blue color is taken from indigofera. Synthetic color is retrieved from chemicals.

However, the Giriloyo batik artisans agree to use natural coloring batter than the synthetic one to maintain the quality. Beside, the natural coloring gives more beautiful result. In addition to the traditional motive, the Giriloyo batik artisans also make minimalist motives which looks classic, graceful, and elegant. Some product of Giriloyo which use batik are traditional jarit, saroong, shirts, pillowcase, tablecloth, handkerchief, batik painting, and many more.

If you are interested to learn how to make batik, you should visit Giriloyo because as a batik center, Giriloyo also facilities its visitors with a special package of batik making. The package is prepared for minimum 10 people and maximum 50 people. In the package, you will be guided by batik artisans to make your own batik work which you can bring home. While you are waiting for your own batik work to be processed, you can take a walk to The Royal Mausoleum of Mataram Kings on the top of Imorgiri hill or tasting the local traditional menus such as pecel kembang turi, tiwul ayu, gurah tea, or wedang uwuh.


Location:
Giriloyo Batik Center is located on 1 km from the burial plot complex of mataram kings in Imogiri. Its exact location is in Giriloyo Hamlet, Wukirsari Village, Imogiri Sub-regency, Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Komodo is an Indonesian island home to approximately 2,000 people who are mostly descendants of former convicts once exiled here. The island is part of Komodo National Park and is especially known for its native Komodo Dragon the world's largest living lizard !!!

In 1908, a unit of Netherlands army reported that they saw a dragon looking like a monster in southern island of East Nusa Tenggara Province. Knowing the news, Lieutenant Steyn van Hens Broek, a functional administrator of the Netherlands, wanted to prove it. Then, he prepared a unit of army whose office was in Flores to sail to that island.

Having arrived there, Lieutenant Steyn and his crew saw giant lizards which length was up to two meters. Steyn could kill one of those giant lizards and brought it to his office in Ende City. Then, this giant lizard was photographed and the picture was brought to Peter A. Ouwens, a director of Zoological Museum and Botanical Garden in Bogor. This was the first documentation of a giant lizard named Komodo. Therefore, in 1910 the Netherlands named the island as Komodo Island.

The result of that photography was published by a national daily newspaper of Netherlands in 1912. This publication made Komodo Island visited by the researchers, missionaries, and tourists. Realizing that Komodo was a special rare animal in 1915, the Netherlands government issued a rule about protection to this animal from hunting and killing.

As the name, Komodo Island is an which is known as the original of Komodo [Varanus Komodoensis]. The local people calls this animal as Ora. Until present day, Komodo still becomes a pride because it becomes a source of income for local people from the tourists who visit the island.


In this island, tourists can see Komodo which is the biggest lizard species around the world, with length of the body up to 3,13 meters and weight up to 165 kilograms. The tourists also can see several activities of this rare animal, such as the Komodo copulate which always happens between May until August; Komodo which is eating deer, goats, and pigs; and see Komodo which is sun-bathing on the road and on the branches of trees in the morning.

In 1980 the government made Komodo Island as the Komodo National Park to protect Komodo from extinction. Six years later, in 1986, this national park was accepted as the World Inheritance Site by UNESCO. This national park consists of two big island. They are Rinca Island and Padar Island surrounded by several small islands. The total wide of this national park was 1.817 kilometers square.



Location
Komodo Island is an located in the western area of East Nusa Tenggara Province bordered to the West Nusa Tenggara Province. Administratively, this island is included in the Komodo Sub-district, West Manggarai District, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia.

Location:
Borobudur Temple lies at Borobudur Village, Borobudur Sub-district, in the district of Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia.

Merapi Volcano Museum

Indonesian lies on the junction of the earth plate. Consequently, Indonesia becomes a seismic zone. Morover, Indonesia is included the ring og fire of 500 volcanoes among which 129 are active. The number covers 13 percent of total active volcanoes in the world. It reaffirms that Indonesia is located in a disater-potential area. Therefore, there must be some mitigation effort to press the number of victims when disaster occurs.

Merapi Volcano Museum is a new tourist site at the southern slope of Merapi built to give solution to the above problem. This tourist object was designed as an ongoing conservation and education site as well as developing knowledge on volcanic disaster, earthquake, and other disaster. It was inaugurated on October 1, 2009 by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

The slogan of the museum is "Merapi Jendela Bumi" [ Merapi the Window of the world]. It is 4.470 square meters and occupies as wide as 3,4 acres of land and it is a two-story building. The first floor contains museum collections which are divided into several rooms with different themes. There are the volcano world, on The Merapi Volcano Trail, Manusia dan Gunung Api [mankind and volcano], earthquake and Tsunami, Landslide, and other supporting facilities. The second floor functions as a theater showing movies about volcano. Currently it is still under construction.

Features:
Cool - rather cold - temperature welcomes you when you move from the parking area to the museum yard. If the weather is nice, you can see the elegant peak of Merapi and shady trees scenery behind the museum. Stepping on each stair-case of the museum yard will remind you of the main gate of Ratu Boko Temple complex. It is no exaggeration to say since the building concept of Merapi Volcano Museum is closely related to Javanese philosophical values. The architecture of the museum itself represents the shapes of temple [main gate and yard], Tugu Jogja [Jogja Monument-at the top of the building] and Mount Merapi [the entire building], and the concept of keraton [palace] as the world image [centripetal building plan].

Merapi Volcano Museum is designed to be the center of information, research, education and tourism on volcanoes all over the world in general and mount Merapi in particular. It is a worth-visiting site, Students from different level of education are suggested to visit this museum because there are many information presented complete with the visualization. Thus, the learning prosess about volcano will become more interesting and not boring.



Location Merapi Volcano Museum :
Merapi volcano museum is located at the southern slope of Mount Merapi, precisely at Boyong Street, Dusun Banteng, Desa Hargobinangun, Kecamatan Pakem, Kabupaten Sleman, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Monument of National

The monument of National, which is known better as Monas [Monumen Nasional], is one of many monuments that the Indonesians built to remind them of the struggle of Indonesian soldiers to fight the Dutch for the independence of Indonesia. Monas was built to inspire the people of Indonesia and arouse patriotism to the coming generations. Monas is a historical monument.

The monument that soars up high symbolizes lingga [alu "rice pestle" or antan] that represents the culture of Indonesia. The terrace symbolizes yoni [rice barn]. Alu and lumbung are house hold instruments that almost all houses in Indonesia have.

The building of Monas was begun is August,1959, on an 80 Ha area of land. The architects were Soedarsono and Frederich Silaban, and their consultant was Ir. Rooseno. The Monument was opened on August 17th, 1961 by The President of  The Republic of Indonesia, Soekarno, and officially opened for public on July 12th, 1975.

Monas is special for its unique shape. An obelisk made of marble shaped lingga yoni as tall as 137m. At the top of Monas, there is a cup that holds the 14,5 tons of bronze torch flame covered with 35 kg of gold. The flame or torch is the symbol of the Indonesian soldiers' struggle for freedom. The top terrace is an 11x11 that can accommodate 50 people. Around the elevator, it has emergency stairs made of iron.

From the terrace of the top of Monas, visitors can enjoy the view of the tumult of Jakarta. At the south, visitor can see Mount Salak stands tall. At the north, they can see the open seas and the small islands. At the west, they can see Soekarno-Hatta Airport and planes that are taking off or landing. At the top terrace, 17 more metera up, there is a 14,5 tons flame or torch made of bronze with 6 m diameters that 77 united parts.



Location: The National Monument is located in Jalan Medan Merdeka, Central Jakarta.

Access: Monas is a tourism place located in the center of the city. This makes the access easy. Visitors can go there by city bus or personal vehicle. The Monument and the Museum are opened everyday, starts from 09.00 - 16.00 WIB [local time].

Besides enjoying the beautiful view Monas and at the top of Monas, visitors can also enjoy other tourism places around Monas. There is Monas Park where visitors can sit back and relax in. The park has a fountain and a statue of Prince Diponegoro [he was ane of Indonesia national independence heroes] riding a horse made of bronze. Under the ground floor of Monas, there is also a national historical museum that can accommodate 500 people. Not far from there, there are hotels and restaurants for the visitors to stay and eat.

Traditional Market Beringharjo

In the city with outstanding historical and cultural heritage and and the center of Mataram Dynasty from 1575-1640, the local government will continue to improve the concept and management of traditional markets to back the tourists who visit the place for pleasure. With several thousand-year-old temples of the ninth century by the dynasty of Syailendra, Yogyakarta also has beautiful natural panorama with green rice fields cover the suburban areas with a background of volcanic Mount Merapi.

The city, in which the people live in peace with typical Javanese hospitality, has numerous traditional markets where the exchange of goods and services take place as a result of buyers and sellers being in contact with one another. In the modern industrial system, however, the traditional markets in Yogyakarta will not be places for transaction only but their concept and management will also be developed to support the tourism.

"With a better concept and management, the traditional markets will function not only as the place of transaction but also of recreational fun," Yogyakarta Mayor Herry Zudianto said at Beringharjo market in Yogyakarta over the weekend. He said the concept and management of traditional markets should at least be the same as that of malls and other shopping centers in the country.

Fauna and Ornamental Plants Market [Pasthy Market] is one of traditional market in Yogyakarta that has developed its concept and management to become a recreational fun tourists who will discover sincere smiles and warm greeting in every corner of the city.

"At Pathy Market the visitors will not do the shoping only but they can also stroll through the market while enjoying the atmosphere and feeding their eyes with the animals and ornamental plants being sold there," Herry said. According to him, similar concept and management had also been developed at Yogyakarta arts and crafts market, called "XT-Square" which would start operating in July this year.

Herry said the government has been committed to developing [Asparindo] spokesman Suhendro said the condition but in Yogyakarta they are good enough," Suhendro said.

Therefore he expressed hope that the government would continue to develop the concept and management of traditional markets to support tourism. While Beringharjo Market's traders association chairman Ujun Junaedi also expressed hope that Yogyakarta city government would have a high commitment to improving the traditional market development.

Having been functioning as a traditional place since 1758, Beringharjo market is now offering more merchandise, ranging from batik, traditional snacks, Javanese herbs, to Buddha effigy costing hundreds thousands rupiah.

In September last year the World Health Organization [WHO] provided US$2,400 to support a program to improve the sanitary health insfrastructure of Argosari traditional market in GUnung KIdul district, Yogyakarta.

Wilfred M Purba, a health ministry official said at the time that the financial assistance was given under a cooperation agreement between the ministry and WHO.

"The program has a non-physical aspect, namely to change the public perception that traditional markets as disorder, untidy, and dirty, and to enable them to compete with modern market, the market visitors," Wilfred said at the time. According to Wilfred, the best way to create a healthy traditional market was changing the market stakeholders behavior, namely the behavior of the people selling their goods in the market, the market visitors, the market traders association and the market management.

He said altering the stakeholders behavior was important to change the traditional market's image in addition to the provision of supporting facilities needed to keep the market healthy, clean, neat and pleasant to see, especially by the tourists visiting the area.

Besides, rural tourism in Yogyakarta is also predicted to have good prospects in 2011, Widya Budaya Foundation chairperson Widi Utaminingsih has early this month. "The rural tourism potential will complement the diversity of tourism attractions in Yogyakarta special province," Widi said, adding that rural tourism in the province should continue to be developed.

Therefore she said both the regional and provincial governments should make every effort to develop the rural tourism potential to attract as many foreign and domestic tourists as possible this year.
"Every rural tourism in Yogyakarta has its own typical atmosphere namely the culture and tradition, arts, as well as natural breathtaking scenery," Widi said.

Prambanan Temple

Prambanan Temple is the biggest Hindu temple complex in Indonesia and South East Asia. Prambanan is also known as Rara Jonggrang Temple. It was built at around 850 BC by Sanjaya Dynasty. Prambanan occupies as wide 39,8 acres of land. In 1991 it was contended by the UNESCO world Wonder Heritage. Soaring to 47 meters or 5 meters higher than Borobudur Temple, Prambanan looks dauntless and sturdy. This agrees with the purpose of its establishment, to show the glory of Hindu civilization in Java.

How come it is called Rara Jonggrang Temple? The Javanese people believe a legend that explains it. Once, a prince named Bandung Bondowoso fell in love with princess Rara Jonggrang. The princess rejected his marriage proposal because he had killed King Boko and ruled her kingdom. Bondowoso insisted and she was forced to bond in a marriage. But she posed an impossible condition: he must build her a thousand spirits to assist him. Knowing this, the princess woke the palace maids and the village women to begin pounding rice and fire in the east of the temple as if the sun was about to rise.
The prince managed in building his 999 temples when the cocks began to crow. The supernatural spirits returned into the ground and Bondowoso failed to make the last temple. Furious about the trick, he cursed Roro Jonggrang into the one thousandth and most beautiful statue.

Prambanan temple is the manifestation of Hindu civilization in Java. It is apparent in the temple structure which represents the core of Hinduism called Trimurti. Prambanan complex has 3 main temples at the main yard, Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva Temples. The three temples are symbols of Trimurti in Hinduism. Each temple has a supplementary temple namely Nandini for Shiva, Angsa for Brahma, and Garuda for Vishnu. In addition, there are two candi apit [literally means intercalated temple], 4 candi kelir [backdrop temple], and 4 candi sudut [corner temple]. Meanwhile, the second yard has 224 temples.

The others must-see feature is the beauty of the relief on the temple wall. Ramayana story becomes the main relief. However, there is another sophisticated relief namely the kalpataru tree which in Hinduism is considered as tree of life, eternity and nature harmony. At Prambanan Temple, the relief of kalpataru tree is portrayed flanking a lion. The tree explains the 9th century Javanese wisdom in managing their environment.

Visitors who want to satisfy their curiosity about the history of Prambanan Temple can visit a museum in this complex. In this museum, visitors can watch the complete audio visual footage of the history of Prambanan  its discovery to its latests renovation. For visitors who take their family along, Prambanan temple provides a playing ground for children and mini carriages to take them around the resort.

One of the tourist events worth watching is the Ramayana Ballet. The Ramayana Ballet is a performance which combines various Javanese arts such as dance, play, and music in one stage and one moment to present Ramayana story, a legendary epic written in Sanskrit by Walmiki. The Ramayana story is a translation of the relief of Prambanan Temple.



Location Prambanan Temple


Prambanan Temple is located at Prambanan Village which is administratively divided into two regions: Sleman Regency of Yogyakarta Province and Klaten Regency of Central Java.

Mount Bromo

The word Bromo is derived from ancient Javanese language brahma, the name of a Hindu deity. Accoeding to Tengger [the original trible inhabiting Mount Bromo] people, Mount Bromo is a holy mount, so it requires an annual ceremony called Yadnya Kasada or Kasado. It is a local ritual of throwing natural wealth into the crater of the mount. The ceremony is held at midnight in a full moon of the tenth month of Javanese calender. By such ritual, Tengger people ask for an abundant harvest and hope for being avoided from disaster and recuperation from ilness.

Mount Bromo, which is know still active, includes into the area of Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. It was officially opened by Indonesian government in 1997. It is a 5.250 ha wide of sandy area located at an altitude of 2.000 meters.

This 2.392 meters above the sea level mount is famous for its wide sandy area and large crater.Taking a bird's eye view the top of the mount, you will see large crater bleaching out thick smoke from the bottom. The crater is 800 meters in diameter [north to such] and 600 meters in diameter [east to west]. From the same place, you will see the panoramic view of sandy area with naturally splendid silhouette of the surrounding places.

watching the sunrise from the peak of the mount, hanging around the location by riding horse and tasting a glass of local beverages while having a bonfire against the cold weather are some alternatives for you visiting the destination. besides of natural tourism that will be experienced, you will be familiar with cultural tourism atmosphere, especially when the ceremony of Yadnya Kasada is held. In addition, for you who want to watch the ceremony of Yadnya Kasada, you better come to Mount Bromo during December To January.

Mount Bromo

Location Mount Bromo

Mount Bromo lies in four different districts: Pasuruan, Probolinggo, Lumajang, and Malang. All are in East Java Province. However, administratively, it is located in the district of Probolinggo.

Malioboro

In Yogyakarta, the city of memories as people name it, there is a legendary shopping area called Malioboro. The name is adopted from British colonial who occupied Yogyakarta in 1811-1816 named Marlborough.

Malioboro was deliberately built at the of Yogyakarta by the Indies government at early 19th century as the center of economic and administrative activities. Symbolically, the area also aimed to compete with domination of Sultan Mataram with his luxurious palace.

For that purpose, the Indies government then built: Vredeburg Fort [1765, now serves as a museum and public tourism arena], Colonial Residency Palace [now the President's Residence, Gedung Agung, in1832], Beringharjo Market, Garuda Hotel [ a place for colonial elites to stay overnight and assemble] and Malioboro shopping area itself. The buildings of the colonial remains in Malioboro area the silent witnesses of the journey of the so called city of students. In the future, this area is planed to be a pedestrian area in order to reduce the city's traffic jam and polution.


As a tourism area, Malioboro offers various shoping activities, from a la Malioboro traditional ways of shopping to many types of modern shopping activities. An example of the former is the bargaining process for souvenirs sold by the vendors lining up the sidewalk. They offer various kinds of souvenirs and handicrafts made of silver, clay, batik, wood, leather, etc. However, do not be surprised if, for instance, a vendor charges Rp 50.000 for a souvenir you are interested in. You should bargain for it, The Price is likely to drop drastically to, for instance, Rp 10.000. This is also applicable when tourists visit Beringharjo Traditional Market located in the same area as Malioboro. This is the uniqueness of Malioboro shopping traditional.

Ciberang River

The Ciberang River is one of tourism destinations, in Lebak Distric, Banten Province, that was officially launched for public visit on Desember 1st, 2007, by Hj. Ratu Atut Chosiyah,S.E. the governor of Banten Province. This 40-50 meters wide and around 1-20 meters deep river flows from Halimun Mountain to Sunda Strait. People, who live around the Ciberang River, earn their living by taking advantages from the existence of the river. Likewise, the Ciberang River offers extremely challenging sport such as rafting, special for you who love extreme activities.

Ciberang River

The Ciberang River offers the beauty of its surrounding nature. You will find the wonderful scenery of various trees, unique-shape rocks, green rice fields and plantations. The River flows approximately ten kilo meters, and challenges you, who love extreme sport such as rafting. You need about a half two hours to three hours to trace the river by rafting to observe the beauty of the river. Started from Muara Village, you will pass by Banjarsari Village, Lebakgendong Sub-district and Leui Bunjal Village, Cipanas Sub-district to reach the finish line of rating. Various fields of rating and barriers attract many visitor to try rafting in this River.

Ciberang River

Ujung Kulon National Park is situated in the province of Banten, formerly under the pronincial government of West Java. This site lies exactly in the westernmost of Java Island; thus people call it "Ujung Kolon" that literally means the westernmost. The site has been developed into a nature preserve upon suggestion from Dutch academics who arrived in Java Island in 1820 A.D. Most of them were the members of an organization for scientific research considering the numbers of floras and faunas habituating in the areas.

Those researchers then began to collect and make records on the objects found there. Further, they decided to set this site as a center for science development in Asia-Africa. The areas of Ujung Kulon National Park encompass Krakatoa, Panaitan, and Peucang Island.

It was once the Dutch colonial government restricted a programme to establish Ujung Kulon National Park as accused of damaging encosystem in the surrounding. Further progress on the establishment of a science museum in this site, indeed, showed that the founders of Ujung Kulon National Park deliberately Killed floras and faunas around in terms of enriching scientific data for their own country. This activity happened from 1853 A.D. up to 1910 A.D. Therefore the Dutch government issued a policy of protecting the ecosystem in Ujung Kulon in 1910 A.D. The implementation of the policy did not run well however; and the ecosystem in Ujung Kulon got worse. The damaging of ecosystem just continued until 1939, before the second Europe War blew up.


Since the Indonesian Independence in 1945, Ujung Kulon, which was formerly neglected, began catching enthusiastic attention from the Indonesian government. The government then set Ujung Kulon into national park in 1958. The Ministry of Forestry then registered Ujung KulonNational Park as the World Heritage Site in the category of tropical rain forest situated in Java Island to UNESCO. Finally, Ujung Kulon National Park was officially listed as the World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1992. Now, this site is under the supervision of directorate general of forest protection and nature conservation.

Ujung Kulon National Park

Penyengat Island

During the golden era of Riau-Lingga Sultanate, Penyengat Island held significant roles in governmental and educational sectors. The island was likewise the hearth of Islamic teaching and Malay cultural civilization in the past. For that reason, the provincial government of Riau Island fixed the island as the highly recommended historical tourism destination. The remaining traces of Riau-Lingga Sultanate can still be found in the island, even though some of them are in critically physical condition.

Once upon a time, there were some fishermen and pirates anchored off the coast of the island. They came to the island for pure water that was hard to find in other places except in Penyengat Island. Feeling of being disturbed by those people, a group of bee flied over them to take revenge on. Those people got stung by the bee, so the island was named "Penyengat" that Literally means "stinger".


Another story grappling with the early history of Penyengat Island is the story of Sultan Mahmud Marhum Besar, who ruled over Riau-Lingga Sultanate from 1761 A.D. to 1812 A.D. It is said that the Sultan proposed a marriage to Engku Putri Raja Hamidah, the daughter of Raja Ali Haji. As he loved the girl very much, a 240-ha island named Penyengat was bestowed upon her by the Sultan.

The Great Mosque of Sultan Riau in Penyengat Island

Feeling enough observing the elegance of the Great Mosque of Sultan Riau, you can move to other historical sites but, we recommend you to take a visit to several mausoleums of Riau-Lingga Sultanate staffers. There you can find the mausoleum of Engku Putri Raja Hamidah and Raja Ali Haji's graveyard. The most interesting one is the mausoleums of Raja Ali Haji because here, you can see one of his great literary works entitled Gurindam 12. You can read the whole series of Gurindam 12 that were carved out on the mausoleum's wall.

Bali has a diversity of wonderful tourist attraction. No wonder, if this beautiful island can attract millions of foreign and domestic tourists every years. Almost all international media that relate to the world tourism, put Bali on the top spot tourism tropical destinations are the most popular and interesting.

Bali is famous for its cultural charm and traditions, Many tourists come to visit various temples and watch the dance, which each has its characteristics and uniqueness own.

However, as a tropical tourist paradise complete with mountains, valleys, farmland, beaches, even up to a beautiful panorama on the sea floor, Bali also offers many others things that are not less interesting. Building temples, customs and habits of the people of Bali are very thick with culture, make Bali has always been alive for the National Tourism.

Here are some tourist places in Bali :


           

Sanur Beach

Sanur Beach, one of the beautiful beaches in Bali island, offers a panoramic view since a long time ago. Historically, on an inscription written at the tenure of King Kasari Warmadewa [917 A.D] in Singhadwala Palace, It is stated that the beauty of Sanur Beach has been discovered at the time. Now you can still find the inscription in the southern direction of Sanur Beach in Blanjong Village.

During the colonial government of Dutch occupied Indonesia, Sanur Beach was functioned as the Dutch's harbor where they sent the Dutch fleet admiral to attack Badung Kingdom, which was regarded as mutinous Kingdom. A war on November 18th 1906 A.D. which was commonly called Puputan Badung was a war to defend motherland Indonesia from the Dutch without fear, though the death was a choice. The war was historically led by Badung King who was helped by local people at the time.

Based on tourism view, Sanur Beach started to be know by international world by a Belgium painter named A.J. Le Mayeur, who later on resided and built painting workshop there, in 1932 A.D. He got married with a famous Legong dancer namely Ni Nyoman Pollok, who was also known as his painting model. By his paintings, Le Mayeur started to introduce Sanur Beach to international world and also built a museum nearby the named The Museum of Le Mayeur.

Kuta Beach

For either domestic or foreign tourists, enjoying twilight in Bali Island will not be complete yet before witnessing the beautiful sunset of Kuta Beach. Kuta Beach is totally different from Sanur Beach, which offers you a magnificent view of sunrise. Not only does the beach offer panoramic view of sunset in the evening, but also the eye catching scenery of the beach's arch line in the shape of crescent with two kilometers length of white sand.

In the past, Kuta was one of busy trade port in Bali Island that was functioned as the center for agricultural products commerce with the hinterland inhabitants as the sellers, and outsider as the buyers. In the 19th century, Mads Lange, a trader from Denmark, settled in and established a trading office in Kuta. As he was known as a good negotiator. Mads Lange became a mediator between the kings of Bali with the Dutch colonials.

Besakih Temple

Ngaben, Bali's Cremation Ceremony

Panglipuran Traditional Village

Bali Bird Park

Horse Renggong is a traditional performing arts are very popular in the district Sumedang.This attraction is a show a horse that has been trained to perform dance moves and running following the beat of traditional music Sunda, the so-called "Kendang Pencak".

A horse trained well to make a movement, like dancing or sometimes also a movement such as a fight against his coach with the style of "Pencak Silat". That's why this show is also often called show "Horse Pencak".

Beginning in 1910 until now traditionally horse Renggong, often exhibited at the circumcision ceremony. Before a child is circumcised, the child being paraded around town with riding Horse Renggong, followed by family members and close relatives who to dance and move around from one village to another.

Battles sheep is one of the folk art typical from West Java, which preferred by many people, especially among traditional. Art this an ancestral heritage that still survive its existence until today. Basically, This show aims to showcase the strength of their sheep. which in finally will be increase the degree of an association of certain cattle. The participants were sheep ranchers who operate across the entire West Java, especially in the area: Garut, Sumedang, Bandung, Majalengka, and many others. Event battles sheep held annually with a system of competition, almost every month this activity is carried out in rotation in these areas.


Every event battles sheep is always crowded with spectator, This activity also has a high prestige, because a lot of leaders who also are fans as well as their owners.Gifts are up for grabs also not arbitrary, a car or motorcycle is something that is common. It is not surprising, because the price of a sheep can reach tens of millions of Rupiah.

Just like a boxing match, This event is also complemented by the jury Assessor, referees and coaches sheep who danced Jaipong, if his sheep in action. Usually every game is divided into two rounds, and each round consists of ten times the collision head. fight stunt is also divided into different classes based on the weight of sheep fighter.


Contest of sheep battles was also punctuated by martial arts attractions, as well as traditional music, makes this event very lively and interesting.

Art Kuda Lumping is dance by using tool or property in the form of a toy horse. The dancers usually will dance with very lively, In Kuda Lumping will show a fairly extreme attraction.such as eating broken glass, open a coconut husk with the teeth, Immune to sharp objects such as machetes.

No wonder if performing arts 'Kuda Lumping' are often associated with magical things, How not? In addition to showing something extreme, the dancers must perform the ritual before the show. This makes the audience think that the dancers can dance with a very agile and can eating broken glass, caused by the ritual activities.

Arts Kuda Lumping

Reputedly, Kuda Lumping dance is a form of appreciation and support of the commoners against the cavalry of Price Diponegoro in the face of  Dutch colonizers. Some say, that Kuda Lumping dance describes story of the struggle of Raden Patah, aided by Sunan Kalijaga against the Dutch colonialists.


Regardless of their origin and value, Kuda Lumping dance reflects the spirit of heroism and military aspects of a cavalry. This seen from the rhythmic movements, dynamic, and aggressive, through the flick of a toy horse, which mimic the movements like a horse in the middle of battle.

In East Java, arts Kuda Lumping familiar with the community in several areas such as Malang, Nganjuk, Tulung Agung, and others areas. This dance is usually displayed on special occasions, such as the welcome guest of honor, as an utterance of gratitude for what has been given by god.

One follow up the recommendations of this congress is the application of Java language curriculum as a subject of local content in the elementary School / equivalent, Junior or equivalent, and high school / equivalent in Central Java. 

Religious life quite good and harmonious.Development priorities, among others also focused on improving the construction of Sam Poo Khong Pagoda, Temple Budhagaya, Watugong, and the Great Mosque of Central Java.

The tourism sector is also one of the leading sectors of Central Java Province. This area has a variety of tourism, both natural tourism, culture, and history. Natural tourism found in Tawangmangu, Baturaden, Dieng, Kopeng, Teluk Penyu in Cilacap, Kartini Beach in Jepara, Nusa Kambangan, and anymore.

Cultural tourism in Central Java among others is : the temple of Borobudur [including one among the 10 wonders of the worlds], temple Prambanan, temple Gedong Songo, and temple Sukuh.

Historical tourism including: Sangiran Museum in Surakarta, Surakarta Keraton, the tomb of Sunan Kalijaga in Kadilangu, Demak, the tomb of Sunan Muria, Demak Mosque relic of the Wali in the 16th century, and museum Kartini.

       

Those are some attractions in Central Java, which is still visited by travelers both from domestic and abroad. Location of Central Java region is strategic because it is located in the middle of economic activity centers.