Indonesia Travel

The capital of Bali, Denpasar, has been the focus of much of the island’s growth and wealth over the last 20 years. It has an important museum, an arts centre and lots of shops. Denpasar means ‘next to the market’, and the main market (Pasar Badung) is the biggest and busiest in Bali. Denpasar still has some tree-lined streets and pleasant gardens, but the traffic, noise and pollution make it a difficult place to enjoy.

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Toba gets touted as Sumatra’s prettiest volcanic lake, a claim that detracts from its real appeal: the Batak people. Sure there is a backdrop of mountains and a cool, clear lake, but Toba’s relaxed atmosphere remains intact even when the day is hazy or the shorefront overgrown with weeds. And the Batak culture has modernised with grace despite tinkering from missionaries and tourists.

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When viewed from the mountains above, Danau Maninjau looks as if a piece of the sky had grown weary with its eternal floating and crawled to earth for an afternoon nap. And the pace is just as sleepy: no jarring call to prayers, no overload of ‘Hello mister’ calls. Just the basic elements: land, sky and water.

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Driving inland from the humidity of southern Bali, you gradually leave the rice terraces behind and ascend into the cool, damp mountain country around Danau Bratan. This lovely area is an excellent place to relax and use as a base for hiking around the lakes and surrounding hills.

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There’s no denying that Surabaya is big, noisy, polluted and intimidating. As Indonesia’s second-largest city and the home of the country’s navy, Surabaya is a colossal port peppered with cranes, corporate buildings and crowded spaces. Against the calm of rural East Java, it is pandemonium writ large.

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Cibodas, the next village over the Puncak Pass, is home to billions of pot plants for sale and the beautiful high-altitude extension of the Bogor botanical gardens, the Kebun Raya Cibodas (admission per person/per car 4000/6500Rp; 8am-6pm). It’s surrounded by thick tropical jungle on the slopes of the twin volcanoes of Gunung Gede and Gunung Pangrango. The gardens, which are bigger than Bogor’s, were originally planted in 1860 and now contain 1014 species. Beside the entrance to the gardens is the entrance to the Gede Pangrango National Park.

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Sumbawa Besar, often shortened to just ‘Sumbawa’ by locals, is the principal town of the western half of the island. It’s a resolutely provincial, unexceptional place where horse carts called benhur still hold their own with bemos, and there are no attractions except for the old palace. A trip out to Pulau Moyo or to nearby villages can be rewarding, but they can be difficult to reach. For most travellers, Sumbawa Besar is just a rest stop on the journey across the island.

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Tourist development ran amok in Candidasa and now there’s shoulder-to-shoulder development, an unattractive proposition for many. The main drawback is the lack of a beach, which, except for the far eastern stretch, has eroded away as fast as hotels were built. Most of the coastline has breakwaters, so you can’t even walk along it. The main drag is noisy and doesn’t get sea breezes.

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The rugged land mass of Sumbawa looms large between Lombok and Flores, separated from each by a narrow strait. Larger than Bali and Lombok combined, Sumbawa is a sprawling island of twisted and jutting peninsulas, with a coast fringed by precipitous hills and angular bights, and a mountain line of weathered volcanic stumps stretching along its length.

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Welcome to a cool, lush landscape where fertility comes from volcanic destruction. Off in the distance are the blue circumcised mountains – the Merapi, Singgalang and the more distant Sago – that periodically belch out the earth’s interior fury. A crown of puffy white clouds hides their naked tips, and at their feet unfold terraced rice fields made so fertile by the once toxic emissions that seasons don’t matter. Sitting at 930m above sea level, Bukittinggi is a busy market town halfway between the heavens and the rice paddies, with spectacular views of both. The town’s alternate name, Tri Arga, refers to the three majestic mountains that dictate the region’s fortunes.

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