By: Dave Waldheim
Bali Introduction: The Geography
Bali is a small volcanic island covering around 5000 square kilometers, just south of the equator. Central Bali is dominated by the island's major volcanic peaks, from which the land steadily descends all the way down to sea level on the northern and eastern coasts; the southern Bali peninsula is largely flat. There are four major volcanoes in Bali, the highest being Mt Agung at 3124m. Agung erupted violently in 1963 and although many people died in the eruption it has since been a blessing to the Balinese in providing some of the richest soil in Indonesia. The next four highest mountains are no longer alive but the smaller Mt Batur (1717m) is one of the most active volcanoes in the region, puffing regular clouds of ash into the air. Bali, being such a small island, has little space to create rivers of any notable size. Rather it is riddled with small creeks that are channeled into the intricate irrigation system that feeds Balinese rice paddies. Nevertheless, some major rivers do flow, namely the Sungai Pakrisan ("Kris River"), the Sungai Petanu ("Cursed River") and the Ayung, Bali's longest river.
Bali Introduction : The History
Many years ago Bali was divided into eight Hindu kingdoms. These small kingdoms were powerful but prone to fighting each other, which weakened their resistance to foreign invasion. As early as the sixth century, Javanese kings conquered parts of Bali although Balinese princes often continued to rule as puppets with Javanese sovereignty pulling their strings. Nevertheless power continued to bounce between various kingdoms of Bali and Java. As links with Java strengthened, Javanese script, sculpture and temples began to appear on the island. Late in the tenth century, ties between the islands were solidified with the marital union of a Balinese Prince and a Javanese Princess. The Javanese Majapahit kingdom conquered Bali in the thirteenth century by vanquishing the semi-demonic king of Bali at the time, 'Dalem Bedulu', and attempting to eradicate the 'vile' Balinese princes and their 'barbaric' customs. Ironically, the supreme Majapahit ruler gave a Balinese the position of 'King of Bali', a position that gained little respect from the majority of Balinese who continued to refuse to recognize Javanese sovereignty. The Majapahit presence in Bali turned out to be short and turbulent and during the ensuing centuries, much of the unique Balinese Hindu culture and traditions that we see in Bali today were created. This was possibly a result of a community determined to protect their individuality and not be overcome by imported Javanese culture.
Contact with the west began when a Dutch fleet stumbled across Bali in 1597 and felt they had found 'paradise'. Many of the crew refused to return home but stories of a magical place leaked back to their homeland. With Dutch royalty eager to establish relations, Dutch ships bearing gifts for the Balinese kings were dispatched. However, from a trading perspective, Bali had little to offer so the opportunity to develop international relations was restricted at first. Originally, its primary export was slaves but as the world slave trade was curtailed, the Balinese Kings turned to other commodities such as coconut oil, thereby putting Bali in a position to enter the world trading market.
Dutch interest in the Indonesian islands changed into the seventeenth century and the merchant ships gave way to war ships. The Dutch had overcome many Javanese kingdoms through ancient principles of divide and conquer and the same approach was taken in Bali. As the Balinese continued to resist, the Dutch became more and more aggressive. Stories of their barbaric tactics were not received well in their homeland and protests led them to complete their invasion more tactfully. Surprisingly, once the Dutch secured control, they protected the island from outside influences and encouraged them to maintain much of their culture and traditions. Grateful of this as we are today, their reasons were not purely benevolent: they considered the Balinese controllable with their peaceful religion but were wary should that religion change to a more fundamental variety.
World War 2 brought a new era as Japanese armies took over from the Dutch. The Japanese presence in Bali was short lived and they left without a trace as they lost the war. The Dutch tried to return to the Indonesian islands, but their desperate attempts to regain power in the colony were condemned all over the world. Together with the rest of the Dutch East Indies archipelago, Bali was handed over to a new independent Indonesian government that emerged in 1949. Bali had finally lost its liberty and fell to its destiny of economic and political dependence on neighboring Java.
Bali Introduction : The Population
Bali is bursting, with an estimated population of over three million people. Through the controversial transmigration program, Balinese communities have developed in the outer regions of Indonesia such as Sumatra and Sulawesi, in order to relieve the islands' already stretched natural resources.
to be continued.....
Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Bali Travel Guide is a comprehensive guide to the island of Bali, a collaboration by Jenifer Bird and Dave Waldheim. A complete Bali introduction with travel tips and reviews of all major bali resorts and bali hotels such as the Conrad Bali. You can collect the parts of this travel guide here from this website or download it as a complete ebook with maps and fotos at the Bali videos website.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Airplane Seat Maps
14th May 2008
Author: Naresh Shah
Many people that fly for pleasure or for business purposes have to seat in an airplane for 2-3 hours or sometimes even more, depending on the trip that they make, and during the flight seating in an uncomfortable place in the airplane can be a really pain for them. This is happening very often due the lack of details that each airline is publishing about their airplanes or because people that fly don’t consult an aircraft seat map before they book a ticket.
Airplane seat maps can be really handy for frequent or even for occasionally fliers and help them to choose their seat in the airplane even before they buy their tickets. Knowing the place where you seat before going aboard is very good because on almost all seating charts you can find all the details of a specific seat from extra legroom to missing windows or any other details.
Seat maps published by airlines
Most of the airlines publish the seats configurations for their airplanes but the quality of those seat maps is some times questionable and some of the details and information about seats are confusable. Usually airlines don’t publish seat maps for all of their airplanes, they do it only for the major airplanes and for the ones flying on frequent routes.
Seat maps published by specialized websites
In additions to those published seat maps which can be found on airlines websites there are some other sites that publish aircraft seat maps for almost all the commercial airplanes that are flying these days. Seat maps that can be found on these sites usually have more details and on some websites you can found comments from other passengers with ups and downs about each particular airplane seat.
Reading and understanding a seat map it’s a very simple job but people should be carefully on the design of each seat map because is different from website to website or from airplane to airplane, so reading the legend will help understanding the seat arrangements and the meaning of each symbol from the seat map, in this way mistakes can be avoided and passengers can make the best decision for their flight.
Choosing your seat is important as choosing an airline or an airplane to fly with, some people prefer to fly only if they seat is near a window or some people like to fly in their own cabin and the requests and conditions of each passenger could go on. Consulting a seat map before going aboard can bring only benefits and can show to the passengers more details about the airplane comparing with the details and information about each airplane or flight that airlines are publishing.
The bottom line is that airplane seat maps which can be found very easy on the web can help people choosing the best seat that will satisfy the all demands for them. Finding the right seat with the help of aircraft seat maps can improve very much the flight conditions and things can be better when fliers read other people’s reviews of seats and airplanes because bad seats or bad flights can be avoided.
SeatMaestro – Airplane Seat Maps, SeatMaestro – Airline Lists
Author: Naresh Shah
Many people that fly for pleasure or for business purposes have to seat in an airplane for 2-3 hours or sometimes even more, depending on the trip that they make, and during the flight seating in an uncomfortable place in the airplane can be a really pain for them. This is happening very often due the lack of details that each airline is publishing about their airplanes or because people that fly don’t consult an aircraft seat map before they book a ticket.
Airplane seat maps can be really handy for frequent or even for occasionally fliers and help them to choose their seat in the airplane even before they buy their tickets. Knowing the place where you seat before going aboard is very good because on almost all seating charts you can find all the details of a specific seat from extra legroom to missing windows or any other details.
Seat maps published by airlines
Most of the airlines publish the seats configurations for their airplanes but the quality of those seat maps is some times questionable and some of the details and information about seats are confusable. Usually airlines don’t publish seat maps for all of their airplanes, they do it only for the major airplanes and for the ones flying on frequent routes.
Seat maps published by specialized websites
In additions to those published seat maps which can be found on airlines websites there are some other sites that publish aircraft seat maps for almost all the commercial airplanes that are flying these days. Seat maps that can be found on these sites usually have more details and on some websites you can found comments from other passengers with ups and downs about each particular airplane seat.
Reading and understanding a seat map it’s a very simple job but people should be carefully on the design of each seat map because is different from website to website or from airplane to airplane, so reading the legend will help understanding the seat arrangements and the meaning of each symbol from the seat map, in this way mistakes can be avoided and passengers can make the best decision for their flight.
Choosing your seat is important as choosing an airline or an airplane to fly with, some people prefer to fly only if they seat is near a window or some people like to fly in their own cabin and the requests and conditions of each passenger could go on. Consulting a seat map before going aboard can bring only benefits and can show to the passengers more details about the airplane comparing with the details and information about each airplane or flight that airlines are publishing.
The bottom line is that airplane seat maps which can be found very easy on the web can help people choosing the best seat that will satisfy the all demands for them. Finding the right seat with the help of aircraft seat maps can improve very much the flight conditions and things can be better when fliers read other people’s reviews of seats and airplanes because bad seats or bad flights can be avoided.
SeatMaestro – Airplane Seat Maps, SeatMaestro – Airline Lists
This article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_536675_29.html
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_536675_29.html
Gathering Travel Information for Your Trip
15th May 2008
If you're a budget traveler who must carry or drag your luggage through airports, subway systems and city streets, then you'll want to travel as lightly as you can. One area where you can really cut down on both the size and the weight of what you carry on a trip, plus make yourself less of a target for street criminals, is when it comes to packing travel information.
Before your trip, by all means, read all of the guidebooks about your intended destination that you can get your hands on. Use them to help you plan your itinerary and to choose your personal must-see sites for each city or region that you plan to travel to. Read them, but don't take them with you on your trip. They can be extremely heavy and bulky and amount to dead weight. In addition, sitting in a big city park or on a subway train reading a travel guidebook to that city marks you as a pigeon ripe for the plucking. You may as well wear a big hat that says, "Tourist."
I use two alternative means of carrying critical trip information with me. First of all, as I read travel guidebooks, I take old fashioned handwritten notes: from particularly interesting bits of historical information, to the opening hours of shops and banks, to key foreign language phrases. I take notes on each city or town, including specific monuments or buildings that I know I'll want to see due to my personal taste in art and architecture, not just going by what the guidebooks say that everyone should see. This way a few pages of lightweight handwritten notes allow me to distill key bits of information without adding to the weight of my luggage.
I know that as I arrive in each town I can pick up a brochure that will include a town map and the opening hours for each site of interest. This single brochure can stay right in my pocket where it can easily be consulted as needed while I'm sightseeing, yet stay discretely out of sight the rest of the time. If I'm in Prague, for instance, one slim combination map and brochure in my pocket is more easily consulted than a big guidebook, plus it sure beats traipsing around Prague carrying a heavy travel guidebook that covers all of Europe.
Today, with the advent of Internet, trip planning has become easier than ever. Although there are many bogus travel sites on the net that are nothing but come-ons for overpriced hotels, there are also many good ones. I particularly like going directly to the official websites of each monument, city, region or country that I want to learn about. It can be a time-consuming process, but there's a treasure trove of travel information, plus maps and photos, to be found. Via books and the net I can learn about the major tourist attractions of each place, as well as find details about the quirkier sites or the downright odd ones that might be of interest to me.
I can gather up train schedules for each leg of my journey, historical information, up-to-date prices, and opening days and hours for each historical site and museum, and plenty more. Patience during the planning stages of a big trip can save infinite time and inconvenience during the trip. Anyway, learning about places you've always dreamt of seeing is part of the fun.
Online I can seek out low cost hotels and chart them on city maps to determine which ones seem the most conveniently located in relation to historic town centers, and I can then book rooms via email. If I were to print out every single Internet page that is of interest to me, though, I'd soon end up with a mass of papers as heavy as those inadvisable-to-lug-around traditional bulky travel guidebooks. Much of each printout page would amount to wasted blank space or irrelevant banner ads and link lists, as well, so this is what I do: I create a blank text document and each bit of information that I'll want to have with me during a trip gets copied and pasted onto this one document. On it I can list a variety of train schedules, hotel contact information and sightseeing information. I can freely combine bits of information gleaned from many different sources so that, for example, all of the bits of information about a particular castle are together in one subsection of my text document.
When I'm done gathering all my information I can eliminate any duplication of information and reduce the size of the text font on the document before printing it out. That way I wind up with just a few sheets of paper that are tightly packed with relevant information. I can even print on both sides of each sheet of paper to further reduce the total number of pages. I can organize the text document anyway I like, with hotel confirmation emails all on one sheet, or all train schedules on a single sheet, or travel phrases all together or, if I've accumulated lots of details about historical sites to be visited, I can create separate printouts for each city or country.
That way, as I visit each locale, I only need to carry that one page of information around with me during my stay there - one piece of paper that can be folded up and carried in my pocket for easy consulation or to supplement a travel brochure that I picked up locally. From Internet I can also print out a map for each town on my route, so that I'll be able to find my way from a train station to a prebooked lodging even if I can't immediately get my hands on a more detailed local map when I first arrive in a new town.
It is possible to have with you all the travel information and transportation schedules that you'll need during your trip, yet not let it add to the burden that you must carry around as you travel from place to place. A handful of condensed printouts in lieu of a big fat guidebook is one more means of traveling well prepared even though you're traveling light. You can have your cake and eat it, too, so Bon Appetit !
Visit Barbara Freedman De Vito's shop for T-Shirts, Magnets, Mugs, and Other Gifts and clothing with travel photos and many other subjects.
This article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_538502_29.html
Barbara has spent years as a children's librarian, teacher, professional storyteller, puppeteer, author and artist.
http://babybirdproductions.com
Author: Barbara Freedman-De Vito
If you're a budget traveler who must carry or drag your luggage through airports, subway systems and city streets, then you'll want to travel as lightly as you can. One area where you can really cut down on both the size and the weight of what you carry on a trip, plus make yourself less of a target for street criminals, is when it comes to packing travel information.
Before your trip, by all means, read all of the guidebooks about your intended destination that you can get your hands on. Use them to help you plan your itinerary and to choose your personal must-see sites for each city or region that you plan to travel to. Read them, but don't take them with you on your trip. They can be extremely heavy and bulky and amount to dead weight. In addition, sitting in a big city park or on a subway train reading a travel guidebook to that city marks you as a pigeon ripe for the plucking. You may as well wear a big hat that says, "Tourist."
I use two alternative means of carrying critical trip information with me. First of all, as I read travel guidebooks, I take old fashioned handwritten notes: from particularly interesting bits of historical information, to the opening hours of shops and banks, to key foreign language phrases. I take notes on each city or town, including specific monuments or buildings that I know I'll want to see due to my personal taste in art and architecture, not just going by what the guidebooks say that everyone should see. This way a few pages of lightweight handwritten notes allow me to distill key bits of information without adding to the weight of my luggage.
I know that as I arrive in each town I can pick up a brochure that will include a town map and the opening hours for each site of interest. This single brochure can stay right in my pocket where it can easily be consulted as needed while I'm sightseeing, yet stay discretely out of sight the rest of the time. If I'm in Prague, for instance, one slim combination map and brochure in my pocket is more easily consulted than a big guidebook, plus it sure beats traipsing around Prague carrying a heavy travel guidebook that covers all of Europe.
Today, with the advent of Internet, trip planning has become easier than ever. Although there are many bogus travel sites on the net that are nothing but come-ons for overpriced hotels, there are also many good ones. I particularly like going directly to the official websites of each monument, city, region or country that I want to learn about. It can be a time-consuming process, but there's a treasure trove of travel information, plus maps and photos, to be found. Via books and the net I can learn about the major tourist attractions of each place, as well as find details about the quirkier sites or the downright odd ones that might be of interest to me.
I can gather up train schedules for each leg of my journey, historical information, up-to-date prices, and opening days and hours for each historical site and museum, and plenty more. Patience during the planning stages of a big trip can save infinite time and inconvenience during the trip. Anyway, learning about places you've always dreamt of seeing is part of the fun.
Online I can seek out low cost hotels and chart them on city maps to determine which ones seem the most conveniently located in relation to historic town centers, and I can then book rooms via email. If I were to print out every single Internet page that is of interest to me, though, I'd soon end up with a mass of papers as heavy as those inadvisable-to-lug-around traditional bulky travel guidebooks. Much of each printout page would amount to wasted blank space or irrelevant banner ads and link lists, as well, so this is what I do: I create a blank text document and each bit of information that I'll want to have with me during a trip gets copied and pasted onto this one document. On it I can list a variety of train schedules, hotel contact information and sightseeing information. I can freely combine bits of information gleaned from many different sources so that, for example, all of the bits of information about a particular castle are together in one subsection of my text document.
When I'm done gathering all my information I can eliminate any duplication of information and reduce the size of the text font on the document before printing it out. That way I wind up with just a few sheets of paper that are tightly packed with relevant information. I can even print on both sides of each sheet of paper to further reduce the total number of pages. I can organize the text document anyway I like, with hotel confirmation emails all on one sheet, or all train schedules on a single sheet, or travel phrases all together or, if I've accumulated lots of details about historical sites to be visited, I can create separate printouts for each city or country.
That way, as I visit each locale, I only need to carry that one page of information around with me during my stay there - one piece of paper that can be folded up and carried in my pocket for easy consulation or to supplement a travel brochure that I picked up locally. From Internet I can also print out a map for each town on my route, so that I'll be able to find my way from a train station to a prebooked lodging even if I can't immediately get my hands on a more detailed local map when I first arrive in a new town.
It is possible to have with you all the travel information and transportation schedules that you'll need during your trip, yet not let it add to the burden that you must carry around as you travel from place to place. A handful of condensed printouts in lieu of a big fat guidebook is one more means of traveling well prepared even though you're traveling light. You can have your cake and eat it, too, so Bon Appetit !
Visit Barbara Freedman De Vito's shop for T-Shirts, Magnets, Mugs, and Other Gifts and clothing with travel photos and many other subjects.
This article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_538502_29.html
Barbara has spent years as a children's librarian, teacher, professional storyteller, puppeteer, author and artist.
http://babybirdproductions.com
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Borobudur Temple, one of the seven magnificent
Borobudur Temple
The temple which is one of seven magnificent of the world was built by King Syailendra in 7th Century A.D. Borobudur temple is located in Borobudur village, near Magelang. You can reach this place about one hour from Yogyakarta. The word Borobudur comes from "Bara" and "Budur". Bara/Vihara means temple place and Budur or Beduhur means above or hill. So Borobudur can be translated into temple place that is located on a hill. The height of temple building is 15 m above buildings surround it. Borobudur temple is budhis temple, the height reach 34,5 m. The temple building has unique shape, like pyramid. There are 504 budha statues and 72 stupas. On the temple wall, there are reliefs describe story. If we see Borobudur temple froom above, Borobudur temple adopt lotus flower shape. Borobudur temple is tourism object that tourist like to go. The biggest yearly event is holy day three holy Waisak, where budhis meet to remember the birth of Sidharta Gautama. This occasion is held on May. In surrounding temple park, there are a lot of kiosk and seller of many souvenir of shirt, bronze gift and handycraft wood.
The temple which is one of seven magnificent of the world was built by King Syailendra in 7th Century A.D. Borobudur temple is located in Borobudur village, near Magelang. You can reach this place about one hour from Yogyakarta. The word Borobudur comes from "Bara" and "Budur". Bara/Vihara means temple place and Budur or Beduhur means above or hill. So Borobudur can be translated into temple place that is located on a hill. The height of temple building is 15 m above buildings surround it. Borobudur temple is budhis temple, the height reach 34,5 m. The temple building has unique shape, like pyramid. There are 504 budha statues and 72 stupas. On the temple wall, there are reliefs describe story. If we see Borobudur temple froom above, Borobudur temple adopt lotus flower shape. Borobudur temple is tourism object that tourist like to go. The biggest yearly event is holy day three holy Waisak, where budhis meet to remember the birth of Sidharta Gautama. This occasion is held on May. In surrounding temple park, there are a lot of kiosk and seller of many souvenir of shirt, bronze gift and handycraft wood.
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