Heaven on earth 1: Prambanan

Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple compound in Indonesia, located in Central Java, approximately 18 km east of Yogyakarta.[1]
It was built around 850 CE by either Rakai Pikatan, king of the second Mataram dynasty or Balitung Maha Sambu, during the Sanjaya dynasty. Not long after its construction, the temple was abandoned and began to deteriorate. Reconstruction of the compound began in 1918. The main building was completed in around 1953, since it is next to impossible to find the original stonework, which has often been stolen and reused at remote construction sites. A temple will only be rebuilt if at least 75% of the original stones are available. Therefore only their foundation walls of most of the smaller shrines are visible and they will not be rebuilt.
Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the largest Hindu temples in south-east Asia. It is characterised by its tall and pointed architecture, typical of Hindu temple architecture, and by the 47m high central building inside a large complex of individual temples. The temple was damaged during the earthquake in Java in 2006. Early photos suggested that although the complex appears to be structurally intact, damage is significant, with large pieces of debris, including carvings, scattered over the ground. The temple has been closed to the public until damage can be fully assessed. The head of Yogyakarta Archaeological Conservation Agency stated that: "it will take months to identify the precise damage".[2] However, some weeks later in 2006 the site re-opened for visitors. The immediate surroundings of the Hindu temples remain off-limits for safety reason.








Prambanan at night

Heaven on earth 2: Kelimutu Lake - Flores Island

Kelimutu
Kelimutu is a volcano in central Flores Island of Indonesia containing three summit crater lakes of varying colors. The western lake, Tiwu Ata Mbupu (Lake of Old People) is commonly blue. Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai (Lake of Young Men and Maidens) and Tiwu Ata Polo (Bewitched, or Enchanted Lake), which share a common crater wall, are commonly green- and red-colored, respectively, although lake colors vary periodically. Active upwelling, probably fed by subaqueous fumaroles, occurs at the two eastern lakes. The scenic lakes are a popular tourist destination and have been the source of minor phreatic eruptions in historical time. The summit of the compound 1639-m-high Kelimutu volcano is elongated two km in a WNW-ESE direction; the older cones of Kelido and Kelibara are located respectively three km to the north and two km to the south.

Kelimutu Lake

Heaven on earth 3: Celebes Sea

Celebes Sea
The Celebes Sea (or the Sulawesi Sea (Indonesian: Laut Sulawesi) of the western Pacific Ocean is bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island of the Philippines, on the east by the Sangihe Islands chain, on the south by Sulawesi, and on the west by Kalimantan in Indonesia . The Sea is in the form of a huge basin, and plunges as deep as 6,200 m. It extends 420 miles (675 km) north-south by 520 miles (837 km) east-west and has a total surface area of 110,000 square miles (280,000 square km). The sea opens southwest through the Makassar Strait into the Java Sea.

The Celebes Sea is a piece of an ancient ocean basin that formed 42 million years ago in a setting far from any land mass. By 20 million years ago, crustal movement had pushed the Celebes basin close enough to the Indonesian and Philippine volcanoes to receive volcanic debris. By 10 million years ago the Celebes Sea was inundated with continental debris, including coal, which was shed from a rapidly growing young mountain on Borneo and the basin had docked against Eurasia.

The border between the Celebes and the Sulu Sea is at the Sibutu-Basilan Ridge. Strong ocean currents, deep sea trenches and seamounts, combined with active volcanic islands, result in complex oceanographic features.

Marine life
The Celebes Sea is home to a wide variety of fish and aquatic creatures. The tropical setting and warm clear waters permit it to harbor about 580 of the world's 793 species of reef-building corals, which grow as some of the most bio-diverse coral reefs in the world, and an impressive array of marine life, including whales and dolphins, sea turtles, manta rays, eagle rays, barracuda, marlin and other reef and pelagic species. Tuna and yellow fin tuna are also abundant.

In addition to high abundance of fish caught in the Celebes sea, this sea also yields other aquatic products like sea tang.

Heaven on earth 4: Komodo Island

Komodo Island
Komodo is an island of Indonesia with a surface area of 390 km² and over 2000 inhabitants. The inhabitants of the island are descendents of former convicts who were exiled to the island, who have mixed themselves with the Bugis from Sulawesi. The population are primarily adherents of Islam. However, there is also a Christian and Hindu minority.

It belongs to the Lesser Sunda Islands and is a part of the Komodo National Park. Particularly notable here is the native Komodo dragon. In addition, the island is a popular destination for diving. Administratively, it is part of the East Nusa Tenggara province.

Location
Komodo lies within the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands between the substantially larger neighboring islands Sumbawa to the west and Flores to the east. Not only is the island famous for its heritage of convicts on the island but the unique fauna which roam it as well. Giant lizards known as the Komodo Dragon live on this island and some of the smaller surrounding islands, attracting much tourism.

Komodo dragon

The Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis), also known as the Komodo Monitor, Komodo Island Monitor, Ora (to the natives of Komodo[2]), or simply Komodo, is the largest living species of lizard, growing to an average length of 2-3 metres (approximately 6.5-10 feet). This great length is attributed to island gigantism, as there are no carnivorous mammals to fill the niche in the islands that they live on, and the Komodo dragon's low metabolic rate.[3][4] As a result of its great size, these lizards are apex predators, dominating the ecosystems in which they live.[5] Komodo dragons are a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae, and the clade Toxicofera. They only inhabit the islands of Komodo, Rinca (or Rintja), Padar, Flores, Gili Motang, Owadi and Samiin in central Indonesia.[6]

Parental care in Komodo dragons is restricted to the females, who guard clutches of around 20 eggs for seven months. After hatching, young Komodo dragons often move into trees in order to avoid predation by adults. Young dragons take five years to reach maturity, after which they can live for fifty years. In captivity Komodo dragons have reproduced by parthenogenesis.

In spite of their large size, Komodo dragons were only discovered by Western scientists in 1910. Their large size and fearsome reputation makes them popular zoo exhibits. In the wild their range has contracted due to human activities and they are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. They are protected under Indonesian law and a national park was founded in order to protect them.

Anatomy and morphology

In the wild, large adults usually weigh around 70 kilograms (154 pounds).[7] Captive specimens often weigh more. The largest verified wild specimen was 3.13 metres (10 feet 3 inches) long and weighed 166 kilograms (365 pounds), including undigested food.[8] Komodo dragons have a tail that is as long as the body, as well as about 60 frequently-replaced serrated teeth that may be 2.5 centimetres (1 inch) in length.[9] Their saliva will frequently be blood-tinged, because their teeth are almost completely covered by gingival tissue and this tissue is naturally lacerated during feeding.[10] This creates an ideal culture for the virulent bacteria that live in their mouths.[11] It also has a long, yellow, deeply-forked tongue.[8] Males are larger than females, with skin color from dark grey to brick red, while females are more olive green, and have patches of yellow at the throat.[citation needed] The young are much more colorful by comparison, with yellow, green and white banding on a dark background.

Physiology

Komodo dragons' sense of hearing is not particularly acute, despite their visible earholes, and their visual discrimination (especially of stationary objects) is poor, although they can see in color. They use their tongue to detect taste and smell stimuli, as with many other reptiles, with the vomeronasal sense using a Jacobson's organ, a sense that aids navigation in the dark.[12] With the help of a favorable wind, they may be able to detect carrion up to 9.5 kilometres (6 miles) away.[10] Komodo dragons' nostrils are not of great use for smelling, as they do not have a diaphragm.[13] They have no taste buds on their tongues, only a few in the back of the throat.[12]

Their scales, some reinforced with bone, have sensory plaques connected to nerves that facilitate their sense of touch. The scales around the ears, lips, chin, and feet bottoms may have three or more sensory plaques.[10]

Formerly, Komodo dragons were thought to be deaf when a study reported no agitation in wild Komodo dragons during whispers, raised voices, and shouts. This was disputed when London Zoological Garden employee Joan Proctor trained a captive monitor to come out to feed at the sound of her voice, even when she could not be seen.

Rafflesia arnoldii

Rafflesia arnoldii








Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Malpighiales
Family : Rafflesiaceae
Genus : Rafflesia
Species : R. arnoldii
Binomial name : Rafflesia arnoldii R.Br.

Rafflesia arnoldii is a member of the genus Rafflesia. It is noted for producing the largest individual flower on earth. There are some plants with larger flowering organs, the Titan Arum and Talipot palm, but these are technically clusters of many flowers. It occurs only in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo in the Indonesia Archipelago.

Molecular studies in 2007 have resulted in the final taxonomy of Rafflesia arnoldii which has been assigned to the family of Euphorbiaceae (Davis et al. 2007).


Description
Several species of Rafflesia grow in the jungles of southeast Asia, including the Philippines. Many of them threatened or endangered. Rafflesia arnoldii is the largest; its flower attains a diameter of nearly a meter (3 ft) and can weigh up to 11 kilograms (24 lb).

It lives as a parasite on the Tetrastigma vine, as its host, which grows only in primary (undisturbed) rainforests. While many parasites appear like normal plants, Rafflesia lacks any observable leaves, roots, or even stems. Likened to fungi, Rafflesia individuals grow as thread-like strands of tissue completely embedded within and in intimate contact with surrounding host cells from which nutrients and water are obtained. Perhaps the only part of Rafflesia that is identifiable as distinctly plant-like are the flowers; although, even these are bizarre because they attain massive proportions and are usually reddish-brown and stink of rotting flesh. The flower is pollinated by flies attracted by its scent.


Specimen of Rafflesia arnoldii at the Kyoto Botanical Garden.Rafflesia arnoldii is rare and fairly hard to locate. It is especially difficult to see in flower; the buds take many months to develop and the flower lasts for just a few days. How many of these strange plants still survive is unknown, but as the remaining primary forests of Borneo and Sumatra disappear, it can only be assumed that their numbers are dwindling. Many are known to be nearing extinction. Some environmentalists are thinking of a way to recreate the species' environment, in an effort to stimulate a recovery in the population of this endangered species. This has proved unsuccessful so far, but the efforts have continued. However, steps are being taken to conserve the forests of Sumatra and Borneo.

Pollination is a rare event due to several factors. The flowers are unisexual and single sites usually produce either male or female flowers. Therefore, in order to have effective pollination, male flowers must be near to, and open at the same time as, the female flowers so that flies can transfer the pollen.

While male and female individuals could be closely spaced, flower bud mortality is 80-90% per site thereby reducing the chance of co-flowering two individuals. Furthermore, the flower lifespan is only 5-7 days. Also, the current population distributions are fragmented due to habitat destruction. So, successful reproduction relies on the unlikely event that a male and female would bloom during the same 5-7 days and that a fly could carry pollen between the often widely separated populations

Heaven on earth 5 : Lombok

Lombok
Lombok (1990 pop. 2,403,025) is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It is part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is roughly circular, with a "tail" to the southwest, about 70 km across and a total area of about 4,725 km² (1,825 sq mi). The administrative capital and largest city on the island is Mataram.
History
The Dutch first visited Lombok in 1674 and settled the eastern part of the island, leaving the western half to be ruled by a Hindu dynasty from Bali. The Sasaks chafed under Balinese rule, and a revolt in 1891 ended in 1894 with the annexation of the entire island to the Netherlands East Indies.


Geography and demographics
Gunung RinjaniThe Lombok Strait marks the passage of the biogeographical division between the fauna of the Indomalayan ecozone and the distinctly different fauna of Australasia that is known as the Wallace Line, for Alfred Russel Wallace, who first remarked upon the distinction between these two major biomes.

The island's topography is dominated by the centrally-located stratovolcano Mount Rinjani, which rises to 3,726 m (12,224 ft), making it the third-largest in Indonesia. The most recent eruption of Rinjani was in June-July, 1994. The volcano, and its sacred crater lake, are protected by a National Park established in 1997. The southern part of the island is a fertile plain where corn, rice, coffee, tobacco, and cotton are grown.

The island's inhabitants are 85% Sasak (a people, closely related to the Balinese, but mostly practising Islam), 10-15% Balinese, with the small remainder being Chinese, Arab, Javanese, and Sumbawanese.


Economy and politics
Lombok has much in common with nearby Bali, but less well-known and less-visited by foreigners. It has been working to increase its visibility to tourists in recent years, promoting itself as an "unspoiled Bali". The most-developed center of tourism is Senggigi, spread in a 10-kilometer strip along the coastal road north of Mataram, while backpackers congregate in the Gili Islands off the west coast. Other popular tourist destinations include Kuta (distinctly different from Kuta, Bali) where surfing is considered some of the best in the world by leading surfing magazines. The Kuta area is also famous for its beautiful, untouched beaches.


Local Sassak childrenWhile the area may be considered economically depressed by First World standards, the island is fertile, has sufficient rainfall in most areas for agriculture, and possesses a variety of climate zones. Consequently, food in abundant quantity and variety is available inexpensively at local farmer's markets. A family of 4 can eat rice, vegetables, and fruit for as little as US$0.50. Even though a family income may be as small as US$1.00 per day from fishing or farming, many families are able to live a happy and productive live on astonishingly small incomes.

In early 2000 thousands fled from religious and ethnic violence that swept over the island, and tensions remain. Some travel websites warn that tourists sometimes provoke anger in this economically depressed region. This warning lacks credibility, since all of Lombok has had a long history of welcoming visitors to the island. Both the government and many of the residents recognize that tourism and the services required by tourists is Lombok's highest source of income. Further proof of the island's hospitality is show by the fact that tourists are virtually never seriously injured by any interaction with the local population. There is also a refugee camp on the island, costs paid for by Australia, which holds mostly Hazara Afghans who have tried to enter Australia by boat.

Mount Rinjani


Mount Rinjani or Gunung Rinjani is an active volcano in Indonesia on the island of Lombok. It rises to 3,726 m (12,224 ft), making it the second highest volcano in Indonesia. The first historical eruption occurred in September of 1847. The most recent eruption of Mount Rinjani was on 1 October 2004. The volcano and spectacular Segara Anak crater lake, are protected by a national park established in 1997. The 6 km by 8.5 km oval-shaped caldera is filled partially by a lake known as Segara Anak (approximately 2000m above sea level and estimated at being between 200m and 300m deep); the caldera also contains hot springs. The eruptions of 1994, 1995, and 1996 have formed a small cone, Gunung Baru (or Mountain New - approximately 2300m above sea level) in the center of the caldera and lava flows from these eruptions have entered the lake.

The highlands are forest clad and mostly underdeveloped. The lowlands are highly cultivated. Rice, soybeans, coffee, tobacco, cotton, cinnamon, and vanilla are the major crops grown in the fertile soils of the island.

Heaven on earth 6 : Tangkuban Perahu - Bandung

Tangkuban Perahu
Tangkuban Perahu, or Tangkuban Parahu in local sundanese dialect, is an active volcano 30 km north of the city of Bandung, the provincial capital of West Java, Indonesia. It is a popular tourist attraction where tourists can hike or ride to the edge of the crater to view the hot water springs upclose, and buy eggs cooked on its hot surface. This stratovolcano is on the island of Java and last erupted in 1983.

In April 2005 the Directorate of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation raised an alert, forbidding visitors from going up the volcano. "Sensors on the slopes of the two mountains - Anak Krakatoa on the southern tip of Sumatra Island and Tangkuban Perahu in Java - picked up an increase in volcanic activity and a build up of gases, said government volcanologist Syamsul Rizal." [2]

Local Legend of the Mountain
The name translates roughly to "upturning of (a) boat" or "upturned boat" in Sundanese, referring to the local legend of its creation. The story tells of "Dayang Sumbi", a beauty who lived in West Java. She cast away her son "Sangkuriang" for disobedience, and in her sadness was granted the power of eternal youth by the gods. After many years in exile, Sangkuriang decided to return to his home, long after the two had forgotten and failed to recognize each other. Sangkuriang fell in love with Dayang Sumbi and planned to marry her, only for Dayang Sumbi to recognize his birthmark just as he was about to go hunting. In order to prevent the marriage from taking place, Dayang Sumbi asked Sangkuriang to (1) build a dam on the river Citarum and (2) build a large boat to cross the river, both before the sunrise. Sangkuriang meditated and summoned mythical ogre-like creatures -buta hejo or green giant(s)- to do his bidding. Dayang Sumbi saw that the tasks were almost completed and called on her workers to spread red silk cloths east of the city, to give the impression of impending sunrise. Sangkuriang was fooled, and upon believing that he had failed, kicked the dam and the unfinished boat, resulting in severe flooding and the creation of Tangkuban perahu from the hull of the boat.