Indonesia: Events
With such a multiplicity of ethnic groups, Indonesia has a surfeit of cultural events throughout the year. On Sumba, mock battles that hark back to the era of internecine warfare are held in February and March. On Balinese New Year, Nyepi , (March-April) everything shuts and the island grinds to a standstill as locals seek to convince evil spirits that the island is uninhabited. During the Balinese festival of Galungan (moving dates) even the gods descend to earth and join in the revelry. There’s a dramatic Easter Parade on the island of Larantuka, whip duels in Ruteng, Flores in August and Torajan funereal feasts in central Sulawesi, held mainly between August and October. As most Indonesians are Muslim, many festivals are affected by the lunar calendar; dates are subsequently 10 or 11 days earlier each year.

Indonesia: Sights
Bohorok Orang-utan Viewing Centre
Transport small boat: river crossing by dugout canoe from Bukit Lawang Web www.orangutans-sos.org Keyword national park This famous rehabilitation centre was set up in 1973 to help primates readjust to the wild after captivity or displacement. After a new quarantine centre outside Medan became operational in early 2002, the Bukit Lawang Centre became an orang-utan viewing area, offering a unique opportunity to see semi-wild orang-utans up close during feeding times.

Borobudur
Phone tel: (0293) 788266 (info) Transport bus: from Yogyakarta Hours 06:00 – 17:00 Web www.borobudurpark.com Keyword monument, religious/spiritual Looming out of a patchwork of bottle-green paddies and swaying palm tops, this colossal Buddhist relic is one of southeast Asia’s marvels. It has survived Gunung Merapi’s ash flows, terrorist bombs and the wear and tear of a million pairs of tourist flipflops to remain as enigmatic and beautiful as it must have been 1200 years ago.

Borobudur is built from two million block stones in the form of a massive symmetrical stupa, literally wrapped around a small hill. It stands solidly on its 118m x 118m (387ft x 387ft) base. Six square terraces are topped by three circular ones, with four stairways leading up through finely carved gateways to the top. The paintwork is long gone, but it’s thought that the grey stone of Borobudur was at one time washed with a colour to catch the sun.

Gunung Kawi
Address Tampaksiring Hours 07:00 – 17:00 Keyword monument At the bottom of a lush green valley is one of Bali’s oldest, most charming and certainly largest ancient monuments. Gunung Kawi consists of 10 rock-cut candi (shrines), memorials cut out of the rock face in imitation of actual statues. They stand in 7m-high (23ft-high) sheltered niches cut into the sheer cliff face.

Kelimutu
Keyword lake Set in plunging craters at the summit of a volcano, the coloured lakes of Kelimutu are undoubtedly the most spectacular sight in Nusa Tenggara. Astonishingly, the lakes periodically change hue – today one may be iridescent turquoise, its neighbour chocolate brown and a third lake dark green.

A few years ago the colours were blue, maroon and black, while back in the 1960s the lakes were blue, red-brown and café au lait.

It’s thought that the lakes’ colours are in constant flux due to dissolving minerals, a process that can accelerate in the rainy season. The moonscape around the summit gives Kelimutu an ethereal atmosphere, especially when clouds billow across the craters and sun shafts add luminescent pinpoints to the lakes.