Quick travel guide: Indonesia
Bali, Islamic Jakarta, Borneo, Yogyakarta, Kalimantan, Ubud and more
Feb 15, 2007
Quick travel guide: Indonesia - Location: Indonesia is a sprawling collection of over 17,000 islands in South-East Asia. The archipelago is formed around the equator, sandwiched between the Asian mainland and Australia. It shares a border with Malaysia (on Borneo), East Timor and Papua New Guinea.
Quick travel guide: Indonesia - Capital city: The capital of Indonesia is Jakarta, and it is your archetypal Asian city. Boasting a population of nearly ten million, it is almost a dictionary definition of bustling. It’s busy to the point of frenetic, and it’s not for everyone, but lovers of truly big cities will be in heaven.
Quick travel guide: Indonesia - Other major cities: Being a nation of islands, just about everywhere has its own important hub. Yogyakarta is in the middle of Java, and although it plays second fiddle to Jakarta in financial terms, it is generally regarded as the main island’s cultural capital. Banjarmasin, meanwhile is the star attraction on Kalimantan (the Indonesia part of Borneo). It is criss-crossed with canals, and is genuinely beautiful.
Quick travel guide: Indonesia - Population: Indonesia has a population of over 225 million people. Most of them are Muslim, making it easily the most populous Islamic nation on earth.
Quick travel guide: Indonesia - Languages spoken: With so many islands, and so many different cultures, it’s no wonder that it was a linguistic nightmare before the government introduced Bahasa Indonesia. It’s generally regarded as the easiest language in the world to learn, and it needs to be too, as it’s the unifying second language used to unite the hundreds of different tongues across the archipelago.
Quick travel guide: Indonesia - What we know it for: The wild jungles of Borneo and Sumatra, full of orang-utans and thick rainforest, are almost pilgrimage sites for those who really want to get wild with nature. Meanwhile, many of the islands are virtually deserted – a fantastic opportunity to get away from it all. It is a former Dutch colony.
Quick travel guide: Indonesia - Why you should go: The joy of Indonesia is that it is effectively hundreds of different countries. You could easily island hop for years and never get bored. There are also lots of surfing hotspots for the more adventurous.
Quick travel guide: Indonesia - Great place to visit: The most famous island is Bali, which has long been synonymous with a tropical paradise. And, once you’ve got away from all the drunk Australians in Kuta, this is precisely the case. Ubud, in the centre of the island, is a particular treasure. You can go to see the Hindu temples in the Monkey Forest, then return to watch a Balinese dance troupe.
MORE QUICK GUIDES: Andorra, Australia, Bolivia, East Timor, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Morocco, Spain, Paraguay, Portugal.
