Old Blog Reborn....

Beyond Bali: 5 Authentic Ways to Uncover the Real Indonesia This post outlines five authentic ways to experience Indonesia beyond typical tourist attractions, emphasizing cultural immersion, nature adventures, community engagement, culinary exploration, and traditional craft workshops. Indonesia is presented as a vast archipelago with over 17,000 islands and more than 300 ethnic groups, offering a rich tapestry of experiences beyond its well-known destinations like Bali. I. Introduction: Your Passport to the Undiscovered Archipelago Indonesia is a vast country with over 17,000 islands and more than 300 ethnic groups, offering a rich cultural experience beyond popular tourist spots like Bali. The goal is to move beyond mass-produced tourist experiences and discover the "soul" of Indonesia through authentic engagement with its culture, traditions, and natural beauty. ...

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, located off the coast of Queensland, Australia. It is home to an incredible diversity of marine life, including thousands of different species of fish, turtles, sharks, dolphins, and whales. The reef itself is made up of over 2,900 individual coral reefs and around 900 islands, and stretches for over 2,300 kilometers. Visitors to the Great Barrier Reef can explore the reef through a range of activities, such as snorkeling, scuba diving, and glass-bottom boat tours. It is also a popular spot for sailing, fishing, and island hopping. The Great Barrier Reef is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of Australia's most popular tourist destinations. However, the reef is facing many environmental challenges, including coral bleaching, pollution, and climate change, which threaten the health of the reef and the many species that call it home. The Great Barrier Reef, seen from a scenic flight near Airlie beach, Queenslan...

A Clean Beach with Restaurants and Cafes Besides having beautiful beaches with white sand and clear sea water, at the beachside restaurant in Indrayanti, you can have a romantic dinner under the stars. When we got to Indrayanti beach, the sun wasn't up yet. Even though the wave was moving away, two sea snails moved slowly in a crack in the rock. A group of teenagers talked and posed for pictures every once in a while. In the west, it looked like three people were running around trying to catch the waves, while others were chilling out in the middle of the gazebo and eating fresh young coconuts with fruit. Some inns with a "back to nature" theme stand proudly at the base of the hill, while a stilt house and huts that look like traditional Papuan homes stand near the water. A yellow jet ski was stacked up in the corner of the restaurant. The beach with the rocky cliffs is on the east side of Sundak Beach. It has a different view than some of the other beaches in ...

Train cars are big, heavy, and hard to move around. They are notoriously hard to move to new places off of their tracks, and because of their strange shape, most people wouldn't think to use them for anything else anyway. But some creative people are turning old train cars into homes, offices, and even hotels in the spirit of recycling, green building, and shipping container homes. With the mortgage business in trouble and more people moving toward green housing, it makes sense to use train cars as homes. Like shipping containers, it's not too hard to convert your own car, as long as you have the means to get it to its new location. Cabooses seem to be the most popular choice for living in a train car, but many dining cars and sleeping cars are also being turned into homes. If you can pay between $8,000 and $45,000 for an old car, a few thousand more to move it and put it on your property, and whatever it takes in materials and labor to turn it into a home, you can have on...

These large, spherical, alien and strangely beautiful boulders are mainly located on Koekohe Beach, part of the Otago coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Known as “Moeraki Boulders” they were originally formed on the sea floor from sedimentary deposits that accreted around a core in the same way that a pearl will.

Sørvágsvatn (Leitisvatn) is the biggest lake of the Faroe Islands. It is situated on the island of Vágar between the municipalities of Sørvágs Kommuna and Miðvágs kommuna. The name Sørvágsvatn means 'The lake of Sørvágur'. In size it is 3.4 km2, more than three times the size of the second biggest lake Fjallavatn, which also lies on the island of Vágar.

PAMUKKALE 1 The strange and weirdly beautiful terraced pools of Pamukkale have been appreciated for over two millennia and yet still remain a little known wonder of the world. Thousands of years ago earthquakes, which are common in Turkey, created fractures that allowed powerful hot springs to bring water rich in calcium carbonate to the surface.

New York - Saranac Lake 1 Where Art, Health and History meet in the wilderness of the Adirondack Mountains. The village of Saranac Lake lies in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York. In addition to being surrounded by countless beautiful mountains, lakes and rivers, Saranac Lake is a historical, cultural and artistic hub of the Adirondack region. Nestled between Tupper Lake and Lake Placid, it is just over two and a half hours from Albany, NY, Burlington, VT and Montreal, Canada. As one of the Adirondack’s premier year-round destinations, Saranac Lake is host to a variety of fantastic events.

Lanikai Beach, Oahu, Hawaii - Amazing Places 1 Lanikai beach is one of Hawaii's most picturesque beaches with fine white sand and excellent swimming year-round thanks to an offshore reef that keeps the water calm. The beach is ideal for small children and those who dont like to contend with waves. Less than a mile offshore are two small islands (bird sanctuaries) that one can kayak to.

Venice, Italy (The Most Romantic Place) 1 Venice is a city in northeast Italy sited on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. It is located in the marshy Venetian Lagoon which stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Venice is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. The city and lagoon are listed as World Heritage Sites.

Mount Roraima - Amazing Places 1 Mount Roraima is a pretty remarkable place. It is a tabletop mountain with sheer 400-metre high cliffs on all sides. There is only one ‘easy’ way up, on a natural staircase-like ramp on the Venezuelan side – to get up any other way takes and experienced rock climber. On the top of the mountain it rains almost every day, washing away most of the nutrients for plants to grow and creating a unique landscape on the bare sandstone surface.

Geirangerfjord Norway 1 The Geirangerfjord (in Norwegian: Geirangerfjorden) is one of Norway's most popular sights. The Geirangerfjord offers visitors three breathtaking waterfalls hitting the fjord on both sides of the waterway: The Seven Sisters (with seven falls), the Bridal Veil, and the Suitor. Many Scandinavian cruises include the town of Geiranger in their cruise itinerary to show the beauty of the Geirangerfjord

New York: THE ELLIS ISLAND IMMIGRATION MUSEUM 1 The Ellis Island Immigration Museum is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and is one of the country's most popular historic sites. In 2001, The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, in partnership with the National Park Service, unveiled the American Family Immigration History Center ® . This exciting family research facility at Ellis Island provides visitors with advanced computer and multimedia technology, printed materials, and professional assistance for investigating immigration history, family documentation, and genealogical exploration.

New York - Time Square 1 Times Square is a major commercial intersection in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. Times Square, iconified as "The Crossroads of the World" and the "The Great White Way", is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway theater district, one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections, and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. According to Travel + Leisure magazine's October 2011 survey, Times Square is the world's most visited tourist attraction, bringing in over 39 million visitors annually.

The Iguazu Waterfalls 1 Iguazu Falls are known throughout the world as one of the most beautiful and majestic natural waterfalls man has ever seen. The falls themselves sit on the Iguazu River and rest on the border between Brazil and Argentina. Visited by many people every year, the Iguazu Falls are one of the more popular natural tourist destinations in South America.

Grand Canyon - The National Park Arizona USA Nearly five million people see the 1 mile deep (1.6 km) Grand Canyon each year. Most of them see it from their car at overlooks along the South Rim (this includes Grand Canyon Village, Hermits Rest, and Desert View). The South Rim is the most accessible part of the park and is open all year.

The Great Barrier Reef - Australia One of the natural wonders of the world, the Great Barrier Reef off the east coast of Australia is the world’s largest coral reef. It has the distinction of being placed in the World Heritage as well as the National Heritage lists

Saif ul Malook Lake Lake Saiful Muluk is a lake located at the northern end of the Kaghan Valley near Naran. It is in the north east of Mansehra District in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. At an altitude of 3,224 m (10,578 feet) above sea level it is amongst one of the highest lakes in Pakistan. The weather here is moderate during day time while the temperature drops to minus degrees at night. A fairy tale called Saiful Muluk, written by the famous sufi poet Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, is associated with the lake. It is the story of the prince of Persia who fell in love with a fairy princess at the lake. The impact of the lake beauty is of such extent that people believe that fairies come down to lake in full moon. A poet and writer from Balakot Dr Mujahid hussain wrote the story of Saiful Muluk in prose depicting the local version.

NINE HELLS OF BEPPU 1 Beppu, located on the Japanese island of Kyūshū, is the second largest producer of geothermal water in the world. Located in the same area are the “Nine Hells” or ponds that each has its own remarkable character and colour thanks to the variety of minerals in the outflows. These “Hells” are a popular tourist attraction in Japan but are little known outside of the country. Seven of the strange geothermal springs are located in the Kannawa area and are known as: Sea or Ocean Hell (Umi Jigoku), Shaven Head Hell (Oniishibozu Jigoku), Cooking Pot Hell (Kamado Jigoku), Mountain Hell (Yama Jigoku), Devil or Monster Mountain Hell (Oniyama Jigoku,) Golden Dragon Hell (Kinryu Jigoku) and White Pond Hell (Shiraike Jigoku).

Karma Kandara Resort is a Bali holiday resort occupying a spectacular cliff top high above the Indian Ocean at the farthest extremes of an elevated limestone peninsula at Bali’s southernmost tip. The Bali resort is just 20 minutes from Ngurah Rai international airport. The property features a wide choice of luxury Bali villas and accompanying amenities that redefine first class – bridges, stone walkways and little paths meander through vivid tropical gardens connecting 46 expansive private beach villa residences, along with the luxury villa resort’s exceptional facilities.