Bali

Island of The God

Bali, the magical island of the gods, lives up to and beyond its reputation. Just 153 km (95 mi) wide and 112 km (69 mi) long, it is small enough to be driven around within a day. This is Indonesia's Hindu island, though like the other islands, animism exists beneath the surface, where art and beauty reign supreme. Three sacred volcanoes dominate the range straddling the north and east, providing bounteous soil - local people say that if you put a bare stick in the earth, it will take root.



When Java's Islamic empire arose in the 16th century, the vanquished Hindus fled to Bali, reinforcing its culture but making an enemy. Over time Bali has been invaded by Java, Lombok, the Netherlands and Japan. In the 1960s thousands died when Mount Agung erupted, and 100,000 more were killed in retaliation for an unsuccessful communist coup against the goverment in Java. In 2002 and 2005, terrorist bombs killed and injured hundreds of both tourists and locals, but despite these tragedies Bali always recovers.

Beauty touches every aspect of daily life. The island is bursting with artists, wood carvers, musicians and dancers, with Ubud, in central Bali, the artistic heartland, having been home to many European artists since the 1920s. Tourism took off in the 1970s, but is contained in particular areas, leaving much of the island undisturbed. Here you can see classic scenes of brilliant green, terraced rice paddies, stone temples intricately carved with fabulous creatures, and gamelan orchestras accompanying gorgeously costumed dancers performing the Ramayana in the moonlight.

You can climb volcanoes, swim with dolphins, walk along near empty beaches, admire exquisite offerings to the gods and watch colourful religious processions. Currently tourism is down, but Bali and its people are enchanting and completely irresistible.

Balinese and Bahasa Indonesia are the most widely spoken languages in Bali, and most Indonesians, the vast majority of Balinese people are bilingual or trilingual. There are several indigenous Balinese languages, but most Balinese can also use the most widely spoken option: modern common Balinese. The usage of different Balinese languages was traditionally determined by the Balinese caste system and by clan membership, but this tradition is diminishing.

English is a common third language (and the primary foreign language) of many Balinese, owing to the requirements of the tourism industry.

Secrets of Bali, Fresh Light on the Morning of the World, Jonathan Copeland in consultation with Ni Wayan Murni, Gateway Books International, 2008.

Komodo

Komodo is one of the 17,508 islands that make up the Republic of Indonesia. The island has a surface area of 390 km² and over 2000 inhabitants. The inhabitants of the island are descendants of former convicts who were exiled to the island and who have mixed themselves with the Bugis from Sulawesi. The population are primarily adherents of Islam but there are also Christian and Hindu minorities.

Part of the Lesser Sunda chain and lying between the neighbouring islands of Sumbawa to the west and Flores to the east, Komodo is one of the many islands which make up the Republic of Indonesia. The inhabitants of this barren volcanic land are descendants of former convicts who were exiled to the island and who have mixed themselves with the Bugis from nearby Sulawesi.

However, the island is most famous not for its heritage of convicts, but for the unique fauna which inhabit it. The Komodo dragon, the world's largest living lizard, takes its name from the island. A type of monitor lizard, the dragon inhabits Komodo and some of the smaller surrounding islands, attracting thousands of tourists every year.

The lizards are active during the morning and late afternoon, but burrow into dry stream beds during the heat of the day to keep cool. Guided tours take visitors to see the lizards and this is a good bet if you want to guarantee spotting one. They can grow up to 3m (10 ft) in length and despite their short legs, they can run as fast as a dog.

Visitors are advised not to wear red and to keep an eye out for their fottprints while visiting the island as they can bite. They can also swim from island to island so even the sea is not necessarily a safe place.


Komodo dragons were only discovered by Western scientists in 1910 when a Dutch officer, Van Steyn van Hensbroek, heard rumours of giant crocodiles and went to investigate. Today their range has contracted due to human activities, and they are listed as vulnerable by the World Conservation Union.


The Komodo National Park was set up in 1980 to protect the Komodo dragon, and the area is also now on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The national park includes the three large islands of Komodo, Rinca and Padar, as well as numerous smaller ones.

Later it was dedicated to protecting other species as the three islands have a high marine biodiversity, including whale sharks, ocean sunfish, manta rays, eagle rays, pygmy seahorses, false pipefish, clown frogfish, nudibranchs, blue-ringed octopus, sponges, tunicates, and coral. The coral reefs, seamounts, seagrass beds and mangroves make the islands a popular place for diving.

In the wild, an adult Komodo dragon usually weighs around 70 kilograms (150 lb), although captive specimens often weigh more. The largest verified wild specimen was 3.13 metres (10.3 ft) long and weighed 166 kilograms (370 lb), including undigested food.

The Komodo dragon has a tail as long as its body, as well as about 60 frequently-replaced serrated teeth that can measure up to 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in length. Its saliva is frequently blood-tinged, because its teeth are almost completely covered by gingival tissue that is naturally lacerated during feeding. This creates an ideal culture for the virulent bacteria that live in its mouth. It also has a long, yellow, deeply-forked tongue.

Young Komodo dragons spend much of their first few years in trees, where they are relatively safe from predators, including cannibalistic adults, who make juvenile dragons 10% of their diet. According to David Attenborough, the habit of cannibalism may be advantageous in sustaining the large size of adults, as medium-sized prey on the islands is rare.

When the young must approach a kill, they roll around in fecal matter and rest in the intestines of eviscerated animals to deter these hungry adults. Komodo dragons take about three to five years to mature, and may live for up to 50 years.

Cocos Islands

Stick a pin in a globe through the Cocos (Keeling) Islaands, and it emerges almost exactly through the Cocos in Costa Rica. Discovered in 1609, they were settled and owned by a single family from 1827 until the Australian Government acquired them in 1978.

Lying 2,770 km (1,732 mi) northwest of Perth, the 27 coral islands are formed into two large, heavily vegetated atolls. Not only are they the only atolls that Darwin ever visited, but the coral ecosystem remains intact - and you can still see in their pristine condition exactly why they played such an important part in his theory of evolution.

North Keeling, set apart from the other islands, isn't even inhabited, but you can see extreme rarities like the Cocos buff-banded rail, robber land crabs, and both green and hawksbill turtles among other wonders, under its protection as Pulu Keeling National Park, covering both North Keeling and its surrounding waters.

The Cocos (Keeling) islanders live on Home and West Islands, both given over to copra and coconut plantations that only add to their tropical glamour. There is no tourist industry at all. Instead, there are facilities for visitors, sponsored by islanders who take an almost personal interest in everyone who comes. If you happen to be there, you're genuinely welcome to participate in the school fete, sports day, or concert night, and you'd be an idiot not to join in quiz night at the Cocos Club, or not to watch the annual Ardmona Cup Aussie Rules football match.

The tradition of hospitality is both Australian and Malay, representing the origins of the tight-knit community. The islanders, as much as the islands themselves, have retained a form of unpolluted innocence, and share a mutual respect that visitors immediately respond to. These islands are a dreamscape worthy of Gauguin.

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands consist of two flat, low-lying coral atolls with an area of 14.2 km² (5.4 sq. mi), 2.6 km (1.6 mi) of coastline, a highest elevation of 5 m (16 ft) and thickly covered with coconut palms and other vegetation. The climate is pleasant, moderated by the southeast trade winds for about nine months of the year and with moderate rainfall. Cyclones may occur in the early months of the year.

North Keeling Island is an atoll consisting of just one C-shaped island, a nearly closed atoll ring with a small opening into the lagoon, about 50 m (165 ft) wide, on the East side. The island measures 1.1 km² (272 acres) in land area and is uninhabited. The lagoon is about 0.5 km² (124 acres). North Keeling Island and the surrounding sea to 1.5 km from shore form the Pulu Keeling National Park, established on 12 December 1995. It is home to the only surviving population of the endemic, and endangered, Cocos Buff-banded Rail.

South Keeling Islands is an atoll consisting of twenty-six individual islets forming an incomplete atoll ring, with a total land area of 13.1 km² (5.1 sq mi). Only Home Island and West Island are populated. People from Home Island maintain weekend shacks on the lagoon shore of South Island and on some of the smaller islands.

Take in the breathtakingly beautiful sunsets or admire the kaleidoscope colours of the lagoon and fringing reef. Imagine yourself swimming with the dolphins or snorkelling with the manta rays. Catch your own "catch of the day" whilst lazily cruising around in the glass bottom boat or perhaps take a trip to one of the many isolated islands in the southern atoll when the tides are high.

Explore West Island by bike or walk along the beautiful beaches just soaking up the spectacular views of the Indian Ocean. For a cultural experience take the ferry to Home Island and enjoy the hospitality and unique way of life of the Cocos Malay kampong or join in with the local West Island community activities.

This tiny horseshoe shaped jewel of the Indian Ocean is located 2750klm north-west of Perth and 900klm west south-west of Christmas Island, its closest neighbour and another island of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories.

The Maldives

The Republic of Maldives is an island nation that consists of 26 main atolls encompassing some 1,200 islets, 200 of which are inhabited. They are scattered in the Indian Ocean 700 km (435 mi) to the south-west of Sri Lanka.

With a maximum natural heigh of 2.6 m (7.5 ft), the Maldives are threatened by global warming, as a comparatively modest rise in sea level would make them uninhabitable. Havoc caused by the tsunami in 2004 serves as a stark reminder of the sea's destructive power.


The functional literacy rate is 98 percent. Educational standards are among the highest in the region, and most schools teach via the English Medium and follow the British education system, while in some schools Dhivehi (the Maldivian Language) or Arabic is the medium of instruction.





The inhabitants were Buddhist, probably since Ashoka's period, in the 3rd century BC and possibly Hindu before that. Islam was introduced in 1153. The Maldives then came under the influence of the Portuguese (1558) and the Dutch (1654) seaborne empires. In 1887 it became a British protectorate. In 1965, the Maldives obtained independence from Britain (originally under the name "Maldive Islands"), and in 1968 the Sultanate was replaced by a Republic.


Tourism is the major money-spinner. Visitors are wooed with the slogan "the last paradise on earth" and they do indeed enjoy relaxed resort holidays in an idyllic setting, with a pleasant climate that encourages water sports such as fishing, swimming, snorkelling, scuba diving, water skiing and windsurfing.

Telecommunication has developed very fast in this decade. Upto-date technology and international satellite links allow Maldives to have a sophisticated communications system. IDD facilities are available on all resorts, and card phone facilities are available on all islands.

Dhiraagu, the Maldives telecommunications company, an affiliate of the British Cable and Wireless Company, provides mobile telephones for rental on a daily basis. Dhiraagu is also the Internet service provider.

A typical resort in the Maldives will consist of an island occupied only by the workforce and visitors, with no local inhabitants, which will be up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) by 250 m (800 ft) in size. There will be swaying palm trees and a beautiful beach encircling the island, protected by a house reef that encloses a safe lagoon. They come in three varieties - luxury for honeymooners and the jet set, family resorts and dive resort.


The Maldives is the smallest Asian country in terms of both population and area; it is the smallest predominantly Muslim nation in the world. It is also the country with the lowest highest point in the world. This makes it a nation seriously under threat of simply disappearing, due to rising ocean levels caused by climate change.


The capital is Male', an extraordinary city that occupies an entire island - a place of contrasts where high-rise buildings rub shoulders with the narrow streets, lanes and alleys of the old bazaar area. Health care facilities are improving on a daily basis.

The Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Male' is the biggest hospital in the country providing sophisticated medical care. ADK Hospital is the biggest private health care facility, and follows high medical standards. Experienced European doctors work at the AMDC Clinic. Regional hospitals are distributed throughout the country and Male' , the capital, has several well-established private general practitioners . Some resorts have an in-house doctor. Decompression chambers are within reach of most resorts in case of a diving emergency.

This crowded place houses a quarter of the country's population and is about as close as tourists get to the "real life" of the Maldives most of the other islands with local communities are off the tourist map. But if sun, sea and sand are your idea of bliss, the Maldives will delight.

Si Phan Don

Si Phan Don (Lao for "Four Thousand Islands") is a group of islands in the Mekong River in Southern Laos.

Deep down in the far south of Laos, the Mekong River fans out to a maximum width of 14 km (9 mi), within which area is the archipelago of rocks, sandbars, islets and islands known as Si Phan Don, or Four Thousand Islands.





Three of the islands not only have a permanent population but also a trickle of tourists. Though it remains a largely unspoilt and unchanged part of Laos, the border crossing with Cambodia will doubtless bring more and more visitors this way, and other islands will become available to stay on.

The Mekong is all-important of course, both as the main source of protein, fish, and because its siltrich waters fertilize the land. Don Khon is the largest and most developed of the three, with two main villages and several small settlements clinging to the riverbanks, all connected by a coastal road.

The interior of the island is agricultural, mainly rice paddies, but it is also home to several ancient Buddhist temples, dating back to around the 7th century. The most interesting of these is probably Wat Phou Khao Kaew, with its carved wooden Burmese sculptures and lovely, gently disintegrating brick stupa.


Don Khon and Don Det are joined by a bridge, and are small enough to explore on foot. The former has more genuine village life to enjoy while the latter is becoming a favourite haunt of the backpacking fraternity.

Scenically, these are all utterly delicious islands, picture postcard perfect. Sugar and coconut palm fronds shade the paths: once in a while you'll stumble upon a picturesque, down-at-heel, old French colonial villa, garlanded with plumeria trees and you might see a canoe carrying saffron-robed monks, umbrellas raised against the sun.

Swim in the river, splash in the waterfalls, stay in simple but charming guesthouses, and recharge your batteries before moving on.It's mostly people power. The islands are small enough that you can walk, although to get to some of the more far-flung destinations a bike will be nice. They can be rented everywhere. If you're feeling super-lazy, you might convince a local to take you on the back of their bike for a small fee. But seriously: you're on vacation, get a little exercise.

The Mekong below the falls has a small population of Irrawaddy Dolphins that are considered threatened.In recent years the region has become a tourist destination for backpackers. The three principle islands that have been developed to cater for tourists are Don Det, Don Kon and Don Kong. Most of the lodging available is comprised of simple, family run bungalows.

Travel agents will give you cash to pay for the boat ride from Ban Nakasang to Don Det. They might only give you as little as 5,000 Kip. The fare is at least 15,000 (depending on the number on people going) .

Sumatra

The island of Sumatra (also spelled Sumatera) is the sixth largest in the world and is the largest island entirely in Indonesia (two larger islands, Borneo and New Guinea, are partially in Indonesia), stretching almost 2,000 km (1,250 mi) from north to south. To the west, the Bukit Barisan Mountains run almost the entire lenght of the island, rising from a narrow coastal strip.

The highest of the 93 volcanic peaks, 15 of which are still active, is Mount Kerinci, at 3,850 m (12,556 ft). To the east, mountains slope down to swamps and marshes, cut by seething, silt-laden rivers.



Islam reached Sumatra in the 14th century, by which time several fabulous empires had come and gone, and Europeans were ogling the island's natural wealth. Several powers vied for it, with the Dutch emerging victorious in 1824.

Sumatrans, however, were not subdued, and they continued fighting until independence in 1949. The Acehnese people still cause headaches for the current Indinesian government.

This is a wild and glorious island. Mainly covered with dense jungle, it contains some of the world's greatest biodiversity. Endemic species such as the Sumatran tiger and the two-horned rhino still survive here, as do orang-utans.

Here, too, are both the world's largest and tallest flowers. The island encompasses many different ethnic groups, languages and cultures such as the matrilineal Minangkabau of West Sumatra, the Christian Bataks around gorgeous Lake Toba, and the firecely Muslim Acehnese.

On December 26, 2004, the western coast and islands of Sumatra, particularly Aceh province, were devastated by a nearly 15 meter high tsunami following the 9.2-magnitude Indian Ocean earthquake. The death toll surpassed 170,000 in Indonesia alone, primarily in Aceh.

In 2005 there was an 8.7 magnitude aftershock of the previous earthquake in December 2004. See 2005 Sumatran Earthquake. In addition to the subduction megathrust earthquake off the west coast, Sunda arc, the Great Sumatran Fault, a transform fault, runs the entire length of the island. The pressure on this fault increased dramatically after the December 2004 earthquake, and seismologists are afraid an earthquake is going to occur soon. The fault ends directly below the devastated city of Banda Aceh.

Sumatra is an adventure. Now largely forgotten by tourists, it can be hard work - the roads are dreadful and the transport worse - but the landscape is fabulous and the traditional architecture, such as the Minankabau longhouses with their buffalo-horn style roofs, breathtaking.

A string of natural disasters has hit Sumatra in the recent past, drastically curtailing tourism, but if you want to explore off the beaten track, amidst fabulous natural wonders, meeting people who will welcome your arrival with open arms, Sumatra is the place fo you.

Koh Rong

Koh Rong Samlon is an island off the coast of Sihanoukville, Cambodia. It includes a large heart-shaped bay with shellfish cultivation and beaches on the north coast towards Koh Rong.



The Kampong Som Islands are another small group lying off Sihanoukville on the Cambodian coast, and Koh Rong, 44 km (27.5 mi) out to sea, is not only the largest of these, but also the second largest of Cambodia's islands.

It does see a handful of visitors, mainly day-trippers from the mainland, but occasionally somebody stays and camps on one of the pristine beaches. This happy state of affairs is going to change over the next few years, as plans are afoot to turn both Koh Rong and its neighbouring island into major resorts.

In the meantime, this is pure Robinson Crusoe territory. Shaped like a dumbbell, the narrow 'waist' is flat, but both ends are mountainous and covered in thick, impenetrable jungle. On the southwest of the island is one of the world's most staggeringly beautiful beaches. Some 8 km (5 mi) of almost painfully bright white sand curves gently into the distance, sand so fine that it lies in drifts and crunches underfoot , and fresh water streams down from the steeply forested hills.

At one end is a fishing village, where basic supplies can be bought and a small, wooden temple stands on the southwestern point. The first set of beach bungalows for visitors are going up near here.

The abundance of fresh water feeds several mangrove forests around the coastline, but take a boat and you will find other empty coves and beaches to explore. Apart from the fantastic swimming and snorkelling, there are a couple of dive sites nearby - trips to these can be arranged on the mainland.

If you are camping, come with friends if you like being sociable. Alternatively you can lie on the sand, looking up at the spectacular night sky, and muse on our wonderful world.