Lake Maninjau

From wikipedia....

Lake Maninjau (Indonesian: Danau Maninjau, Meninjau means Overlook or Observation ) is a caldera lake in West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located 16 km to the west of Bukittinggi, at 0°19′S, 100°12′E.

The Maninjau caldera was formed by a volcanic eruption estimated to have occurred around 52,000 years ago.[1] Deposits from the eruption have been found in a radial distribution around Maninjau extending up to 50 km to the east, 75 km to the southeast, and west to the present coastline. The deposits are estimated to be distributed over 8500 km² and have a volume of 220–250 km³.[2] The caldera has a length of 20 km and a width of 8 km.

Lake Maninjau has an area of 99.5 km², being approximately 16 km long and 7 km wide. The average depth is 105 m, with a maximum depth of 165 m. The natural outlet for excess water is the Antokan river, located on the west side of the lake. It is the only lake in Sumatra which has a natural outlet to the west coast. Since 1983 this water has been used to generate hydroelectric power for West Sumatra.
Most of the people who live around Lake Maninjau are ethnically Minangkabau. Villages on the shores of the lake include Maninjau and Bayur.
Maninjau is a notable tourist destination in the region due to its scenic beauty and mild climate. It is also used as a site for paragliding.

[edit] Local agriculture
The lake is used for aquaculture, using karamba floating net cages. The technique was introduced in 1992, and by 1997 there were over 2,000 cage units with over 600 households engaged. Each cage may have 3-4 production cycles each year. There is evidence of pollution around some karamba area.
On the edge of the lake, the landuse includes rice fields in the swamps and the lower slopes. The villages are bordered uphill by a large belt of forestlike tree gardens, which dissolves into the upper montane forest on the steepest parts of the slopes up to the ridge of the caldera.[3]
The tree gardens include three typical components:[3]
Fruit trees including durian, jack fruit, cempedak, rambutan, langsat, golden berries and water apples.
Timber species including Toona sinensis and Pterospermum javanicum.
Spice trees including cinnamon, coffee, nutmeg and cardamum.

Phuket.....

Located on trading routes between India and China, Phuket was subjected to foreign influences long before many other parts of Thailand. Ships would anchor in the safe harbours of Phuket and wait for the northeast monsoon winds which would allow them to proceed to India.
The interior jungle was inhabited by indigenous tribes until they were displaced in the 19th century by tin miners. The coastal areas were inhabited by Chao Leh, sea-gypsies who made their living through piracy and fishing for pearls. Although threatened by development, Chao Leh villages can still be found along the coast of Phuket and neighbouring islands.
Phuket first became part of a Thai state during the thirteenth century when Thai armies from Sukhothai wrestled control of the island from the Sirivijaya Empire based in Sumatra.
Tin & Rubber
Phuket is first mentioned as a major source of tin in the sixteenth century when the island became an important source of revenue for the Thai kingdom at Ayuthaya, as well as an important trading post. It was also during this period that the first Europeans arrived on Phuket.
Due to Phuket's abundant supply of tin and its importance as a trading port, the island's economy continued to prosper. The British secured a tin mining concession and nearly claimed Phuket as part of the British Empire, opting instead for Penang due to its safer harbours. Phuket's streets were lined with handsome buildings constructed in the Sino-Portuguese style by the tin-barons, many of which can still be seen in older quarters of the town.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the island's interior still remained relatively untouched. Much of it was still covered in ancient rainforest. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, large areas of the island were cleared to make way for rubber plantations, irreparably altering the landscape of the island.
Tourism
Tourism began on the island in the 1970s with the first beach bungalows at Patong beach. During this time Phuket was a haven for backpackers. Phuket's idyllic tropical beaches and clear warm waters attracted travellers from all over the world to the island. This was facilitated by the building of an airport in the mid-1970s.
Today, tourism is by far the island's biggest industry with over 3 million tourists visiting the island annually, making Phuket one of the most popular travel destinations in South-East Asia.
Origin of the Name “Phuket”
The name Phuket is derived from the Malay word bukit, meaning hill. The island was previously named Junk Ceylon on European charts, a corruption of the Malay Tanjung Salang meaning Cape Salang. Later it became known as Thalang, after the name of the main town on the island. The island did not come to be known as Phuket until quite late in its history when the administrative centre was moved to a mining town in the centre of the island called Phuket.
The Battle of Thalang
The most celebrated moment in Phuket's history is when the people of Phuket (then called Thalang), drove away Burmese invaders who were laying siege to the island.
In 1785, Phuket was attacked by the Burmese as part of a wider campaign to invade Thailand (then called Siam). The wife of the recently deceased governor, Lady Chan, along with her sister Lady Muk, rallied the people and broke the Burmese siege.
On hearing of these valiant deeds, the king bestowed honorific titles on these two heroines. Today, their statues can be seen atop a monument at the roundabout a few kilometres north of Phuket City.
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The difference between Pensiones, Hostales, Hotels and Paradores.

If you come to Spain you must know about this...... :

Pensiones - generally basic, well-used rooms, no-air conditioning, shared bathroom. Guest rooms may be small, have a sink but lack a towel, and they don't take credit cards. Most likely staff will not speak English.
This basically described the pension I stay at in Malaga. It was a large room, but plaster chunks missing from the wall had just been painted over rather than patched. I did have a sink, and the total cost for the night was about 15€ for my single.
You can find pensiones for one person as low as 12€ per night during the off season. A couple during high season can pay 30€. Pensiones and hostals are often only around the corner from more expensive hotels.

Hostels- Generally known as youth hostels but families can often stay too. To book Hostels try this booking engine from 'Hostel World'.
Hostales - Generally have nicer rooms than the pensiones. Some hostales are very nice (One of Spain's best hotels, the Parador of Santiago de Compostela is actually called the Hostal de Dos Reis Catolicos.) and like pensiones are usually family owned. Some hostales have private baths, generally with towels but no washcloths; a few have air-conditioning. You are more likely to find staff that speaks English at a hostal than a pension.
When travelling alone, I generally tried to find hostales to spend the night. Rates run from 12€ to 120 + euros, depending on quality. You are more likely to find nice hostales, at a resonalble cost, in the smaller cities. Click here to see some vid. caps. of a hostal in Madrid.Use the Hostel World's Hostal Booking Engine (Note: This booking engine will give different results than the hostel booking engine above.)
Note: Many Hostales and Pensiones lock their doors at night and lack room locks that automatically unlock from the inside. (see "where should I stay?")
Hostales Residencia -Basically same as above. I have heard two explanations for the "residencia" label; Explanation No. 1, a hostal that doesn't have a restaurant. Explanation No. 2 and the one that makes the most sense to me, the hostal is promoting long-term renting of the rooms.
Hoteles - (Hotels) All rooms generally have private bathrooms, can be very luxurious, and most have air-conditioning--a must for summer traveling.
When traveling with my family, we stay in hotels. Generally, with the exception of the cheapest hotels, hotels in tourist areas will have an English-speaking person at the desk. Price range 25 to 900 €. Click here to see some photos of a mid-price hotel in Madrid.
Paradores de turismo - a state-run chain of high-class hotels, converted mansions, castles, monasteries and palaces. Price approx. 75€ and up. To include one of these in your visit, do make reservations early; it is not unusual for paradores to be booked up 6 months in advance. Paradores can be booked throught Madrid and Beyond.

Good Things to Know about Hotels:
During the summer it is best to get hotel reservations in advance, way in advance for Barcelona. During the winter you still need to get reservations for Barcelona and it is best to do so for Madrid as well.
Often in more modern hostales and hotels the hall lights are activated by timer switches located in the hallways. If you step out into a darkened hall, look for a switch (button) on the hallway wall.
Ask to see the room before renting it for the night. This is common practice in Spain and it is particularly good practice for checking out a hostal or pension.

Good Things to Know about Hostales, Pensiones and some Hotels:
Stars (*) next to a hotel, hostel or pensiones note the level of services available. It does not, necessarily, indicate the quality of the establishment.
Always give your room key to the desk clerk on leaving the establishment. If you don't, your bed won't get made up and the management will be miffed with you.
The less expensive hostales and pensiones lack locks that automatically unlock from the inside. If you use your key to lock the door from the inside, you need to have it available in an emergency. You must be able to find the key, if wakened in the night, with no lights available. Some of those old locks can take fiddling to make them work, so you might want to practice unlocking them.
Some hostales and pensiones actually lock you in at night. Generally a clerk will let you in and out, but once I had to wait 10 minutes to leave a hostal because the owner had gone off and taken the door key with him.
Many establishments require you to insert a special plug or your card key in an outlet/slot to activate the electricity to your room. (photo)

History Of Minangkabau - West Sumatera

The written history of Minangkabau started in the 14th century, with the introduction of Islam to West Sumatra, at the time of the gold trade with India and Aceh. By the 16th century Pariaman had become the main port, until Aceh people captured the harbour and took over the trade so that all trade from West Sumatra went through Badeh Aceh. Pepper cultivation then started to become important and West Sumatra became a leading pepper production area, involving, firstly, traders from India, China and Portugal and later the English and the Dutch. In 1763 the Dutch captured Padang and built a fortified trading post. The Portuguese Ambassador of that time became the first European to visit the Bukittingi royal palace.

The Minang lived in three valleys, each valley being ruled by a different leader. Their power reached as far as Batak regions and Rajang. The central Minang government lasted until the end of 18th century when the wealth of the gold mines was exhausted and the miners had to find other work. This work was found in the direction of coffee, salt, textiles and gambir (a superior vegetable tannin which proved to be an improvement on the original Chinese product). Islamic traders from the beginning of the Islamic reformation controlled the trade. Kings, Queens and other secular leaders who refused to follow the Paderi (religious leaders) were conquered during this troubled period in what became known as the Paderi wars. The Islamic university is still called Paderi.In 1821, the Dutch secured their trade by making agreements with King Alam of Pagaruyung. The King gave them the Tanahdatar Valley in which they built Fort de Cock at Bukittingi. From there, they extended their power over the highlands.
The Paderi wars continued until 1837 at Bonjol, named after the most powerful Paderi leader, Imam Bonjol, where their power was broken.From the beginning of the 20th century West Sumatra played an important role in modernizing Islam, especially in improving education for women. In the twenties many a well-educated student was frustrated by the lack of work. In 1926 the students, with the aid of the Communists, started a rebellion; many rebels were put into Dutch jails in New Guinea, Irian Jajah.
After the Second World War, during the independence struggle, Bukittingi briefly became the capital city of Indonesia; after the Dutch captured Sukarno it was the temporary refuge of the Government. On 1st. January 1950 Sumatra became a province of the newly independent Republic of Indonesia.

Traditional HouseMinangkabau Traditional house is called 'Rumah Gadang' that means big house or Rumah Adat that means customary house. It is called Rumah Gadang, because of its big size, but it refers to the big function of the house it self. Rumah Gadang in Minangkabau belongs to all members of relatives along the mother's line called 'kaum'. The function is as the place for all traditional ceremonies like wedding party or inauguration of a head of clan. The original traditional house is made of wood and bamboo for the back wall. The roof is made of palm vibe. It is about 12 to 20 meters long and 6 to 8 meters wide the position of floor is two to two and half meter above the ground.

The location of a traditional house stretch from west to east, while the numbers of the rooms are 3,5,7,9 & even though 17. The construction is expended up with a horn shape roof. The roof looks like the horn of buffalo with 4 to 6 points stretch along the house and a point in addition forward for the front door and ladder. For the expanding form of the construction, there is no any right angle connection to the pillars with the horizontal bars of the house. Both, the upper and lower horizontal bars of the building.

The inside of the house is divided into 4 parts. They are living quarters along one side of that house, which consist of five or more rooms; another side in front of the rooms is a hall for meeting. In some houses, the meeting hall made with a raised floor as the place for the household in a meeting. At both ends of the house are rooms with a higher floor called 'Anjuang'. The rooms at Anjuang are used only for a special occasion, and usually used by a newly married daughter of the family.The Traditional House is difference based on their clan:

• Bodi Chaniago traditional houses.The house has smooth floor and doesn't have anjuang.


• Koto Piliang traditional housesThe house has anjuang.

The traditional house based on their shape:

• Rumah gadang Rajo Babanding.Consists of 5 rooms, 30 poles, 4 slightly horn shapes


• Rumah Gadang Rajo Maharam.Consists of 40 poles. It is called Gajah Maharam because the whole shapes look like elephant that sitting on the floor with the legs together and bent back beside the body.


• Rumah Gadang Sarambi PapekIt is smaller than Rumah Gadang Rajo Babanding and consists of 3,4,5 rooms coinciding with the numbers of pole and there is no "paserek" and bedroom here.

In front of the traditional house stands rice barns used to keep food supply namely:

• Sitinjau LauikLocated on the left side with 6 poles and functioned as paddy storage to provide the common traditional need of expense.


• Sibayau-bayauLocated on the right side with 6 poles and functioned as paddy storage for daily need.


• Sitangka LapaLocated on the left side with 4 poles and has function as paddy storage for disaster.

The traditional house wall and the rice barns are adorned with colorful carving, that very interesting and has a special meaning reflecting to Minang Philosophy "Alam Takambang jadi Guru" means the whole nature becomes the teachers.

History Of Bali

Balinese wooden statue of Garuda. Balinese people are famous worldwide of their artistic skill in sculpting.
Bali has been inhabited since early prehistoric times firstly by descendants of a prehistoric race who migrated through mainland Asia to the Indonesian archipelago, thought to have first settled in Bali around 3000 BC.[citation needed] Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the island's west.
Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, and particularly Sanskrit, culture, in a process beginning around the 1st century AD. The name Balidwipa has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the Blanjong charter issued by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 913 AD and mentioning Walidwipa. It was during this time that the complex irrigation system subak was developed to grow rice. Some religious and cultural traditions still in existence today can be traced back to this period. The Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. When the empire declined, there was an exodus of intellectuals, artists, priests and musicians from Java to Bali in the 15th century.
The First European contact with Bali is thought to have been when Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman arrived in 1597, though a Portuguese ship had foundered off the Bukit Peninsula as early as 1585.[citation needed] Dutch rule over Bali came later, was more aggressively fought for, and was never as well established as in other parts of Indonesia such as Java and Maluku.
In the 1840s, a presence in Bali was established, first in the island's north, by playing various distrustful Balinese realms against each other. The Dutch mounted large naval and ground assaults first against the Sanur region and then Denpasar. The Balinese were hopelessly overwhelmed in number and armament, but rather than face the humiliation of surrender, they mounted a final defensive but suicidal assault, or puputan. Despite Dutch demands for surrender, an estimated 4,000 Balinese marched to their death against the invaders. Afterwards the Dutch governors were able to exercise little influence over the island, and local control over religion and culture generally remained intact.
Japan occupied Bali during World War II during which time a Balinese military officer, Gusti Ngurah Rai, formed a Balinese 'freedom army'. Following Japan's Pacific surrender in August 1945, the Dutch promptly returned to Indonesia, including Bali, immediately to reinstate their pre-war colonial administration. This was resisted by the Balinese rebels now using Japanese weapons.
On 20 November 1946, the Battle of Marga was fought in Tabanan in central Bali. Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, 29 years old, finally rallied his forces in east Bali at Marga Rana, where they made a suicide attack on the heavily armed Dutch. The Balinese battalion was entirely wiped out, breaking the last thread of Balinese military resistance. In 1946 the Dutch constituted Bali as one of the 13 administrative districts of the newly-proclaimed Republic of East Indonesia, a rival state to the Republic of Indonesia which was proclaimed and headed by Sukarno and Hatta. Bali was included in the "Republic of the United States of Indonesia" when the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence on Dec. 29, 1949. In 1950 Bali officially renounced the Dutch union and legally became a province within the Republic of Indonesia.
The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed thousands, created economic havoc and forced many displaced Balinese to be transmigrated to other parts of Indonesia.
In 1965, after a failed coup d'etat in Jakarta against the national government of Indonesia, Bali, along with other regions of Indonesia most notably Java, was the scene of widespread killings of (often falsely-accused) members and sympathizers of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) by right-wing General Suharto-sponsored militias. Possibly more than 100,000 Balinese were killed although the exact numbers are unknown to date and the events remain legally undisclosed.[2] Many unmarked but well known mass graves of victims are located around the island[citation needed].On October 12, 2002, a car bomb attack in the tourist resort of Kuta killed 202 people, largely foreign tourists and injured a further 209. Further bombings occurred three years later in Kuta and nearby Jimbaran Bay.

Visit Indonesia Year 2008: Minister Optimistic 7 Million Visitors target attainable...

On 26 December, Minister for Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik officially launched Visit Indonesia Year 2008 that aims to achieve 7 million tourist arrivals in 2008, offering at least 100 events throughout the archipelago throughout the year.
During January through November 2007 the number of tourists visiting Indonesia jumped a promising 14% compared to the same period in 2006, Central Bureau of Statistics data showed.
The 4.11 million arrivals through Indonesias 15 main entry points were boosted by a resurgence of tourism to Bali, which saw a 32.3% increase to 1.59 million visitors to the island in the January to November period. Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport recorded the second highest number of tourists at 1.05 million arrivals, little changed, however, from 1.04 million in the same period in 2006, wrote AFP.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, therefore, estimates that counting arrivals through smaller entry points as well as cruise passengers, the total number of visitors to Indonesia for 2007 would reach 5.5 million, up 12.9 % from the 4.87 million foreign tourists who visited Indonesia in 2006 who spent a total of US$4.45 billion. This is a record number of visitors to Indonesia in the past decade said Minister Jero Wacik, although conceding that this number falls short of the earlier targeted 6 million arrivals for 2007.
Although the target for VIY 2008 has been set at 7 million, or an increase of 27.3% over 2007 figures, earning US$ 5 billion for the country, nonetheless, the Ministry has set a pessimistic estimate of 6 million (up 9%), and a medium estimate at 6.5 million (up 18%) visitors for 2008.

Source: Tuti Sunario

Tourism in Indonesia

Tourism in Indonesia is an important component of the Indonesian economy and an important source of foreign exchange revenues. With a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands,[1] the second longest shoreline in the world,[2] 300 different ethnic groups and 250 distinct languages,[3] and tropical climate throughout the year, nature and culture are two major components of Indonesian tourism.
Tourism in Indonesia is currently overseen by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. International tourist campaigns have been focusing largely on tropical destination with white sand beaches and blue sky imageries. Beach resorts and hotels were developed in some Indonesia islands, with Bali island as the primary destination. Cultural tourism is also an important part of Indonesia tourism industry. Toraja, Prambanan and Borobudur temples, Yogyakarta and Minangkabau are popular destinations for cultural tourism, apart from many Hindu festivities in Bali. About 5 million foreign tourists have visited Indonesia annually since 2000.[4]
However, tourism development had sometimes clashed with local people, that has created criticism over Indonesia's tourism industry. Most of the disputes were related over land possession, local traditions (adat) and the impact of tourism development to the local people. In another area, tourism industry in Indonesia faces major threats. Since 2002, several warnings have been issued by some countries over terrorist threats and ethnic/religious conflicts in some areas, which significantly reduces the number of foreign visitors.