Sempu Island

Have you ever seen Leonardo DiCaprio's The Beach movie? Yeah, that was good movie I think when I was young. Some guys want to search secret island in Thailand. The legend among the backpacker says that the secret island has a beach that so perfect, still pure and virgin, looks like a heaven. Then they finally find where is the island, by swimming across the sea.

Actually, the secret beach in The Beach movie is located in Phi Phi Island in Thailand. But here in Indonesia, there is a beach that look alike with Phi Phi Island in Thailand, where the real location of the movie is. Even it's prettier than in Thailand itself. It is Sempu Island in Malang, East Java.

As I mentioned before, Sempu Island is a small island located in the South of Java. This island is a part of Kabupaten Malang. It's not far away when you go to Sempu from Malang. You can either use public transportation to reach the location or using your own car. When you arrive at Sendang Biru beach (the other beautiful beach, I will discuss later), you have cross the sea by renting a boat for your group. It's not that expensive, only Rp 40.000 for 15 people to carry you to Sempu and back. It takes only 15 minutes to get to in the Sempu Island by boat. Don't forget you have to report to the government officer first in Sendang Biru, because Sempu Island is protected by law,so you have to do carefull in order to protect Sempu's wild life.

The amazing thing that you can do, as they do in The Beach movie, you can do swimming and snorkeling as much as you want. As the cliffs surrounding the beach, creating a large natural "sea in the sea". Giving you time to do snorkeling and swimming, because it's a calm sea surrounded by cliff. Sempu Island is a wild life that protected by law in Indonesia. So, you will find a lot of natural coral when you do snorkeling in here. And if you are backpacker, you have to do camping in Sempu. Back to nature. Because Sempu offers you great adventure in here.
Enjoy it.


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Traditional Market of Art Sukowati

If you want to go some souvenirs that will remind you forever about your time in Bali, Pasar Seni Sukowati is the right place for you to go. Pasar Seni Sukowati, or Traditional Art Sukowati is the place that has colmplete collections of souvenir that you can purchase in Bali. Pasar Seni Sukowati is located in Kabupaten Gianyar of Bali. It is 20 km from Denpasar, you can travel there by 30 minutes.

Whoever you are, either domestic tourist or foreign tourist, when you have time to go shopping, come in Sukowati. Sukowati has many traditional souvenirs. For example, unique Balinese handcraft, Balinese clothes, surfing clothes (you can even get stuff like Quicksilver or Billabong here), merchandise, paintings, and many more. All of souvenirs in Bali wherever you can find, will be available in Sukowati with cheaper price. It's the cheapest place to get some souvenirs in Bali.

When you are here, make sure you have to do some bargain. Because every stuff in here can be get cheap. So do some bargain with the seller to get a great price over. They don't get mad, because they are accustomed with that. Use cash money, because they don't use credit card machine in here. Enjoy it. Read More ..

Chicken Satay (Sate Ayam)

This is a kind of food that you will like it most when you come to Indonesia. This one is called as Chicken Satay, or in Indonesian is called sate ayam. It's easy to find sate ayam in Indonesia, because it's well famous then you can find it everywhere in Indonesia. Sate ayam has different recipe and delicious taste depends on what variety and the recipe that different city has. The most popular sate ayam comes from 3 cities. There are sate ayam Ponorogo, sate ayam Madura, and sate ayam Padang. Every sate ayam from those cities has own delicious taste, different version with other.
Sate ayam is originally comes from Indonesia, but it popularity has reached another Southeast Asia country such as Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Philipine.

Here is the recipe for sate ayam (chicken satay) :


Ingridients:

• pound chicken breasts, boneless, or leg meat, with skin if you desired
• ounces chicken livers, trimmed
  
• cup soy sauce, sweet or 1/3 cup each regular soy sauce and molasses
• peanut sauce
• tablespoons onions, finely chopped
• tablespoon fresh lime juice
• tablespoons chile paste

How To Make:

• Preheat the grill to high.
• If the chicken has skin and you plan to use it in the recipe, remove it from the chicken and reserve; otherwise, discard it. Rinse the chicken, chicken skin (if using), and chicken livers (if using) under cold water. Then drain and blot dry with paper towels. Cut the chicken and livers into 1/2-inch dice and the skin into 1/2-inch squares. Thread the pieces alternately on the skewers; each saté should be about 3 inches long. Place on a platter, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate while you prepare the marinade.
• Combine 1/4 cup of the sweet soy sauce, 1/4 cup of the peanut sauce, the onion, and lime juice in a shallow dish and stir to mix. Roll the satés in the marinade to coat thoroughly.
• When ready to grill, oil the grill grate. Arrange the satés on the hot grate and grill, turning with tongs, until lightly browned and cooked through, 1 to 3 minutes per side (2 to 6 minutes in all). Brush once or twice with the chicken fat as the satés cook.
• To serve, place the remaining 1/2 cup peanut sauce in a small bowl and spoon the remaining 2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce and the chile paste into the center (the motion of dipping the satés into this sauce will mix the ingredients together). Transfer the satés to serving plates or a platter and serve accompanied by the sauce.

Sate ayam is perfect food to be eaten at night. Don't worry how to get one. Because you don't have to go to some cafe or restaurant to buy one. There will be a lot of people at night that walking around in neighborhood to sell sate ayam. You just order it and it's not really expensive.
Make sure when you traveling in Indonesia, you have to eat sate ayam.

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Food Review

Food can't be separated from your traveling experience. Getting in the new place means a lot of fun time to try all special food in new place has. Your trip won't be completed if you miss your chance to try all different new food. So from now on, traveler portal will include reviews about food from around the world. From every tourism object and every place in the world. Food that you won't find anywhere except you have to try it by yourself. Something that you won't forget after your visit. Great place plus great food means Great Experience for traveler. The review will be listed with the recipe also, so you can always try it at your kitchen.
So for the traveler, hope you will like it. Read More ..

Hotel Room Safety Tips

Hotel Room Safety Tips is taken from http://hotels.about.com/cs/travelerstools/a/hotelsafety.htm

To protect yourself:

• Keep the door to your room locked at all times. If you are inside the room, turn the deadbolt and fasten the security chain.
• When you leave your hotel room, pull the door completely closed behind you. Make sure the latch has engaged. Take a moment before you leave to try the door and make sure it is closed and locked.
• 
  
• Do not open your door to strangers. Use the security viewport to see who is outside your door. Do not trust someone claiming to be a hotel employee if you are not expecting one. If you are unsure, call the front desk to check. Leave the security chain engaged while opening the door for further protection.
• Check all windows and doors in your room every time you enter it and leave it to make sure they are closed and locked.
• When entering or leaving the hotel after dark, use the main entrance.
• If you travel often, consider buying a portable alarm system to hang on the doorknob for added protection. These movement-sensitive devices can awaken you if a door lock should happen to fail.

To protect your valuables:

• Use the safe provided in the room to store keys, wallets, extra cash and credit cards, jewelry, and other small valuable items you are leaving in the room. If no safe is supplied, check with the front desk. They may have locked storage available for your use.
• Don't leave cash, travelers checks and expensive electronics and jewelry lying around the room.
• Leave larger expensive or breakable objects at home, if at all possible. If you must bring them, store them in the closet and out of the way of the cleaning crew.

By using your common sense and taking a few precautions while on the road, you can protect yourself and your loved ones from danger and hang on to your possessions.

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What Traveling Means To You

What traveling means to you?
For me, traveling means a lot. Traveling means a lifetime learning lesson. It's beyond just relaxing, taking picture, or playing in the beach. Traveling is a effective method to accept the difference among us. Traveling doesn't have to be expensive. By the time you take your first step, you already decided that you are in it. Traveling can be effective way to create peace and spread love to the world. Imagine if you have a chance to know a lot of good people around the world, chance to feel the the atmosphere of different place, have a good time with local people. Giving you a hard lesson that not everybody in the world is just happy as you are. A lot of people keep dying, poverty, diseases, war, and another. It's a noble if you are planning to go to some underdeveloped country. Helping the kids, the people, and to know how they suffer.

Just as John Lennon's Imagine Song
Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try
No people below us, above it's only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no country, it isn't hard to do
No need to kill or die and no religions too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And world will live as one

Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger a brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing for all the world

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will live as one

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
Take my hand and join us
And the world will live as one

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Jet Lag

What do you feel about Jet lag? How to avoid it? Here is everything that you need to know about Jet lag. This is a article from www.wikitravel.org

JET LAG

Jet lag is not caused by flying per se, but is a form of disorientation and fatigue caused by abruptly switching to a different sleeping/waking schedule and different daylight hours. Some people are affected more than others, but it tends to happen when crossing two or more time zones in a single flight (which first became commonplace with the development of commercial jet air travel, hence the term).

One way to avoid jet lag for short stays is to ignore the difference in time zone, and maintain the same sleeping schedule as you would according to the time "back home", perhaps keeping lights on to simulate daylight and pulling shades to simulate night. This is less practical for longer stays, or when travelling several time zones from home which would place you far out of synch with local hours.

The impact may be diminished by gradually adjusting your sleep schedule in advance of a long-distance trip. For example, before flying from California to Germany, you might start a week ahead of time, going to bed and waking up an hour earlier each day. By the time you actually made the trip, your sleep schedule would be almost in synch with your destination.

For flights lasting longer than you are used to, have enough sleep right before the date of your fly--it's even worth sacrificing packing right or having done all the work you promised before going to vacation.

Another remedy is to attempt to have a normal day, but in terms of the time zone you've flown into. If you land at 7am, for example, you will probably have been served breakfast on your flight, so head to your accommodation (ask if they can mind your luggage if it's not check-in time yet) and go and see some of the sights, making sure to get some fresh air. You'll feel tired, particularly by the mid-afternoon, but keep pushing on until an early dinnertime. Eat dinner and then go to bed. You should be tired enough for a good night's sleep, but have some sleeping tablets handy in case. That way, if you wake up far too early because you're on the wrong time zone, just take a tablet and go back to sleep. After a couple of nights, you'll have adjusted to the point where sleeping tablets aren't needed anymore.

The most important book ever written for the international traveler about preventing jet lag was Overcoming Jet Lag by Charles F. Ehret, Ph.D. and Lynne W. Scanlon, published by Berkley Publishing Group. Dr. Ehret's research was underwritten by The U.S. Government and used by The U.S. Army Rapid Deployment forces so they could be "fighting ready" no matter how many times zones they crossed to get to their destination. With Dr. Ehret's permission, that outdated and out-of-print book was rewritten, revised, and republished in October 2008 by Back2Press Books with a new title: The Cure for Jet Lag by Lynne Waller Scanlon and Charles F. Ehret, Ph.D.. The new edition contains multiple flight plans -- eastbound, westbound, zigzag, one landing, multiple landings and corresponding 3-Step Systems for each flight pattern. It also contains a chapter on "old" remedies used by international travelers like Henry Kissinger and Lyndon Johnson, some of which work fairly well, but none of which are comprehensive.

It's also important to note that Dr. Ehret did not subscribe to using any drugs to prevent jet lag. He felt not only that they were unnecessary but also that the body had to work over-time to get rid of the foreign substances in the body. This just added another negative element complicating jet lag.

The article is taken from

http://wikitravel.org/en/Tips_for_flying

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