TUBAN: AN ANCIENT TOWN FROM EAST JAVA, INDONESIA

Tuban is the small town located on on East Java's north coast, about 90-100 kilometres west of Surabaya, indonesia. Tuban is surrounded by Lamongan in the east, Bojonegoro in the south and Rembang, Central Java in the west. 

Tuban is known as an ancient town. Therefore, it is of considerable historical and cultural value. The most prominent feature is the beauty of the scenery such as beaches, caves, and forests, especially the teak forest.  Many beauty sites that can be visited in Tuban among other things: AKBAR CAVE, BEKTIHARJO NATURAL POOL, SUNAN BONANG GRAVEYARD, NGERONG CAVE, PRATAAN HOT SPRING, KWAN SING BIO TEMPLE, and KAMBANG PUTIH MUSEUM.

Bektiharjo natural pool

The exotic of Nglirip Water fall

Tuban also has the unique batik that called as batik gedog tuban. This kind of Batik nowadays get appreciated from people and begun used in various clothing. 

About four hundred years ago, Tuban was one of the island's principal seaports, active in the spice trade and supporting a large population of foreign merchants. Tuban's attractions, and there are many, are connected mainly with its historical past, especially the period marking the decline of the Hindu kingdom of Majapahit and the beginning of the Islamic era in the 15th century. 

The tomb of Sunan Bonang, one of the Java's important Muslim missionaries, can be found behind Tuban's impressive Jami'q Mosque and is a popular place of pilgrimage to this day.

Other places of interest include the klenteng Kwan Sing Bio, East Java's largest Chinese temple, and the village of Kerek, which is a traditional centre for hand drawn batik textiles. Not so long ago the Tuban region contained extensive areas of forest. In the past half century, however, much of the land has been cleared, yet it is possible to see teak plantations of considerable size to the south, notably in the hilly region near Rengel.

Prataan natural hot spring pool is located in the teak forest. This location is cool enough and also beautiful. There is chirping of various birds on the tree, increased the enjoyment of the atmosphere when we were bathing to enjoy the warmness of water in the basin that was made from porcelain. The water source is believed can heal skin disease and rheumatic and also other disease. This hot water contain of iron (Fe) and sulfur (S), so it can be an alternative medication for skin diseases and rheumatics. 

THE EXOTIC OF FULL MOON IN JAMPIT COFFEE PLANTATION

Above are the exotic and beauty scenery of full moon in Jampit Coffee Plantation, East Java, Indonesia. The photos are picked on July 2010.

Jampit coffee plantation is a coffee plantation owned by Indonesia government. It is known for its fine processing of the coffee berry (wet process). This tourism object belongs to BUMN PT Perkebunan XXII. It is about 57km east of Bondowoso town. The visitors can watch and enjoy beautiful scenery. This place also provides several other facilities to enjoy at the plantation. The guests can enjoy the roses and lilies in the flower garden and can enjoy recreational fishing at the fishing arena. There are also meeting rooms, a tennis court, and a swimming pool. The guesthouse at Jampit I, Arabica home stay / Jampit II is also equipped with fireplace rooms. Entertainment programs as well as arranged coffee breaks are available. The wide land can be used as the place for bicycle rides and a car tour.

When visiting this coffee plantation, people can also visit Ijen Crater, that usually become one package in which is offered by traveling guide as a packages.

NATURAL BEAUTY OF JOURNEY PATH TO IJEN CRATER

Above are pictures of the path to reach the Ijen Crater. The jurney path was so natural and exotic. The pictures were picked on April 2010.

THE BEAUTY AND UNIQUENESS PACITAN

Nowadays, in the early 2010, Pacitan become well known in sudden due to Jupe or Julia Perez was announced as candidate of Bupati or Leader in District Pacitan. Julia Perez is the sexy model, singer, actress, who always perform controversially and sesationally.

Pacitan (Indonesian: Kabupaten Pacitan) is a regency located in the southwestern East Java Province, with Central Java Province on its west border. Located between 7.55° - 8.17°S and 110.55° - 111.25°E. The borders of Pacitan Regency are: Wonogiri Regency (Central Java) in the west, Ponorogo Regency and Wonogiri Regency in the north, Trenggalek Regency in the east, and Indian Ocean in the south. The capital of Pacitan Regency is Pacitan.

Pacitan has many beautiful and unique places to be visitedm such as Gong Cave, Tabuhan Cave, and Teleng Ria Beach, and others.

Teleng Ria Beach

Teleng Ria beach is the nearest from Pacitan, it is about 5 minutes from the city. This beach faced to ‘Pantai Selatan’ with extent of white sand along about 3 km length. The distance from the Capital of Pacitan regency to the location is only 3,5 km, and it is easily reached with various vehicle.

The wave is medium and enjoyable for swimming and also to have a picnic with family. It has white sand and beautiful panorama guarded by limo mountains.

Various supporting facilities which have been built are; Watch Tower to enjoy the south sea wave, swimming pool and play ground, a stage for cultural event for Bonggo Budoyo and camping area, fishing area, hotels, and traditional food of Pacitan.

This beach is also applied for Fish Auction Place (TPI) so that the visitor can buy fresh fish.

 Gong Cave

Gong Cave has stalactite and stalacmite that is said become the beautiful one in South-east Asian. It has about 256 m depth, beside that it also has 5 polls; Rogo Pool, Panguripan Pool, Jiwo Pool, Kamulyan Pool, and Ralung Nisto Pool, which have magical value to heal disease. The beauty of stalagmite and stalagtite is hardly make surprise immortalized by Selo Cengger Bumi named, Cello Giri, Selo Citro Cipto Agung, Cello Pakuan Bomo, Cello Adi Citro Buwono, Cello Bantaran Angin and Cello Susuh Angin.

On certain days every Friday, there is a sound of traditional music called “Jaranan” gong (traditional gong) is the instrument which sound hardest than others. Up to now, sometimes its sound still can be heard, that is why this cave is about 256 meters underground, has 12 rooms, 7 springs and one natural bath.

This cave is located about 30 km west of Pacitan precisely in Bomo village, Punung district and it is easily reach with all types of vehicle about 45 minutes. This area also available some facilities, such as; souvenir shops, restaurants, parking area, Mosque, etc.

 Tabuhan Cave

Tabuhan Cave is on the southwest coast East Java, is the emmense interior of Tabuhan cave. This cave called Tabuhan because it sounds like local musicians play tunes by striking lomesone stalactites that resound in perfect pitch to the music. 

According to the public story around, Tabuhan cave has found by Kyai Santiko who lost his ox but finnaly the ox was come to a cave. His ox didn’t want to out from the cave, because it save many water from the root on it. After the brushwood has cleaned, the cave was taken care by Raden Bagus Joko Lelono and a princess Raden Ayu Mardilah.The cave it self is spectacular, its varilored stalagmites reaching upwards as high as 50 meters toward pendant stalagtites formed by water dripping from the roof.

It is called as Tabuhan cave because if lapped will yield sound like rhythm of Javanese music (gamelan). Tabuhan cave is initialy known as Tapan cave because since ahead applied by the chevaliers for some meditation like; Sanggargenu, Bambang Trigo. Wareng village is recognized caused the legend of Banteng Wareng which is descendant of Sultan Yogyakarta. It is told also in 1825 happened war Diponegoro, Raden Banteng Wareng show his patriotic soul opposed the colonized with Diponegoro.

This cave is located in Wareng village, Punung district about 40 km from west pacitan. The facility like Musholla and souvenir shops.

  Source: eastjava.com

LAMONGAN CULINARY TOUR

Tugu Lele (Catfish Monument)

Lamongan Regency is one of tourism place in East Java, which has potency of nature, culture and tourism attraction that be able to expose the completely tourism enchantment (The East Java Natural Enchantment). Lamongan is one of tourism object in East Java that has glamour nature and marvelous culture, such as the unique of Maharani Cave, or the fascinating of marine / WBL tourism area, the amazing of Gondang Dam tourism area and there are still a lot of tourism object which is interesting to be visited. Lamongan regency is belongs to Satuan Wilayah Pembangunan (SWP) of GERBANGKERTOSUSILA, a district development unit covering the regency of Gresik, Bangkalan, Mojokerto, Sumenep, Sidoarjo and Lamongan. Beside its tourism object, Lamongan also has industrial area and special food which has its own characteristic, such as; Bamboo industry, wooden industry, pottery craft, batik craft, bag craft, carpet, etc.

Lamongan has many kind beautiful and historical of place that can be visited. such as Maharani Cave, Marine Tourism, Brondong Fish Auction, and also there are some culinary tour that can be tasted well in Lamongan. So, not oly the beautiful place that can be enjoyed, but also the traditional food of Lamongan will make your journey so tasteful. Several of Lamongan traditional food are such as Soto Lamongan, Sego Boranan, Wingko Babat, Tahu tek tek, Tahu campur, Jumbreg, Es Siwalan, etc. Here are some of them.

Boranan Rice

Boranan rice become favorite food for Lamongan inhabitant. This food is serve with banana's leaf which makes it more traditional, it also serve in many side dishes like soy bean cake or Tempe, Tofu, Fishes, Chicken, Rempeyek or chips and for sure, rice. Boranan rice or 'Sego Boranan' is a traditional food from Lamongan, East Java. It is not very popular from other area, for Lamongan is the one that has this food. We can find this food around the traditional market in Lamongan. Boranan rice is consist of: rice, the sauce, the side dishes, rempeyek or chips. The sauce for this rice is very rich, the side dishes also in variant like meat, chicken, the innards, milk fish, scrambled egg, salty egg, tofu, soy bean cake, and the most expensive fish - the Sili fish.

Soto Lamongan

Soto lamongan is different with any other Soto. Soto Lamongan is the only Soto which using Koya or some kind of garlic powder. The side dish for this food is chicken, that is a free-range chicken, which is been steam with the spices before. Soto Lamongan is consist of, rice, chicken, egg, the young egg or 'Uritan', celery, so'un noddle, and soup. There two ways to serve Soto Lamongan, in partly or mix in one bowl. In partly means that your rice will be parted from the soup and the dishes, or you can mix all the ingredient into one bowl. The ingredients from this Soto are coriander, caraway seed, lemon grass, onion, garlic, ginger, galangale, pepper, salt, candle nut andfried onion. Beside, Soto Lamongan also consist of carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamin and some other mineral from the meat, milk fish and the green vegetable.

Tahu Campur

Tahu campur or Mix Tofu is such an icon for Lamongan. As mentioned, the main ingredient from this food is must be tofu, but sometimes tofu itself is not dominate the whole component from this food, together with Lontong, oddle, bean sprouts, meat, and shrimp cracker. The additional ingredient which makes this food more awesome is coming from petis, kind of sauce made by fermented shrimp. Tahu campur consist of, tofu, meat, lontong, noddle, bean sprout, lettuce, and lento. Lento is like piece of cake made from cassava. The existence of tahu campur nowadays is become a healthy food among any other junk food, because it contain more vitamin, protein, fat and carbohydrate.

Beside that there are still some Lamongantraditional food such as below:

Tahu Tek Tek

Jumbregg, so sweet and tasteful

Es Dawet Siwalan

Siwalan Fruit

Wingko

Wingko

SURABAYA ORCHID MARKET

Orchid Market in Darmo Satelit Surabaya area had stood since August 2005. It has been 7 gardeners who merged into Surabaya Orchid Society such as; Renny Orchid, Foresta Orchid, Bale Air, Nona Orchid. The Jasa Marga Area is managed with rent per month system. Strategic location because is located in front of Darmo highway door and luxuriant housing area.

Here is sold various orchid types, start from Dendrobium sp., Cattleya sp., Oncidium sp, and Cymbidium sp. which is symposia orchid type in general have epiphyte character. While monopodium orchid type is orchid being distinguished by growing point which there is in tip of bar, pertumbuhann of straight to the above of by one bars like Vanda sp., Arachnis sp., Renanthera sp., Phalaenopsis sp., and Aranthera sp.

Besides, in this area also stand up some restaurants, which are representative enough for family and also to serve the business relationship. The cold situation with its wide view that is decorated various beautiful plantations.

Plant orchid media is also sold here like fern, coconut fiber, charcoal, and wood’s powder, accompanied by critical fraction mixture or brick. Leaf ornamental plant agloenema, adenium, palm type, euphorbia of orchid in bottle. Orchid price is range about 25000 –- 300000 rupiahs. Generally, orchid conduct has require a temperature about 28° C so it need pollinate roof if it put down in open place. But the high temperature can caused dehydration, which can pursue plant growth.

Quoted from: http://www.eastjava.com/tourism/surabaya/orchid-market.html.

WONOSARI TEA GARDEN

Agro tea plantation is managed by PT Perkebunan Nusantara XII (Persero), the state company (BUMN) which moves in the field of coffee, cocoa, rubber, tea, and holtikultura in East Java. Agro Wonosari Tea Garden is one of a comfortable place to visit because of the mild climate conditions and its natural beauty panorama. It is suitable for families, especially on weekends or the other vacation.

Tourists who visit the tea plantation can enjoy some of the beautiful places here and enjoy their time for recreation, sports, and other activities to get some knowledges. Wonosari Tea Garden provides many kinds of facilities for visitors to enjoy the natural charm of tea, fresh air while walking or running in the morning, watching the activity of the tea-picker, and hearn about how to cultivate tea until the processing of it, so it ready to be consumed.
Children also can enjoy other facilities, such as playing games in the Garden, Mini Train Ride, and the Mini Golf. In this location, also there ara swimming pool, minimarkets, telephone, facilities for events outbond, sport horse, healthy bicycle path, soccer field, volleyball, and tennis.
Travelers need not worry if want to stay for several days in this area because there are home stay that can be hired with the rates vary. For one room, visitors can rent between Rp 100,000-Rp 300,000 per night, depending on the complement of facilities provided, such as air conditioner and hot water shower. While the rent for a home stay, visitors can rent with the price range Rp 1,000,000-Rp 2000,000 per night, depending on the number of additional rooms and facilities available. If a visitor wants to camp, a visitor can use the land the camp that is also provided the location of this plantation.
For online reservation, just visit http://www.agro-ptpn12.com

HOW TO GET THERE:

Agro Wonosari Tea Garden is located on the slopes of Mount Arjuna, Malang regency, East Java. This plantation is located at an altitude between 950-1250 above sea (dpl) with temperatures between 19-26 degrees Celsius. It is located at the border between two villages, namely Toyomarto Village, District and Village Singosari Wonorejo, District Lawang, Malang regency, East Java. It is located on the main road west of Surabaya-Malang. Therefore, tourists who want to enjoy the tea garden enchantment carpet in this area can visit agro through Surabaya, East Java capital city, or start a journey through the city of Malang.

From Surabaya, the distance that must be applied to the tea plantation in the area is about 80 km to the south, while from the city of Malang, about 30 km to the north. Travel from Surabaya or Malang can be of use to the public (bus) or private vehicle. If using a public vehicle, visitors descend on the city suggested District Lawang, Malang Regency. From this district visitors can ride public transport (microbus) to go to the plantation area, 6 km distance.
For online reservation, just visit http://www.agro-ptpn12.com

THE BEAUTY OF IJEN CRATER (KAWAH IJEN)

The volcanic cone of Ijen dominates the landscape at the eastern end of Java. Ijen Crater or Kawah Ijen is another volcanic tourism attraction in Indonesia. The place is located at Bondowoso Regency, East Java. On the elevation of 2,368 meters, the place is really giving beautiful natural panorama.

The crater itself is a lake with green water which has zero pH (acidity), capable to melt one’s finger. The temperature is about 200 Celcius degree. Kawah Ijen is the world's largest highly acidic lake and is the site of a labor-intensive sulphur mining operation in which sulphur-laden baskets are hand-carried from the crater floor. It is filled by a spectacular turquoise blue lake, its surface streaked in wind-blown patterns of yellow sulphur. Many other post-caldera cones and craters are located within the caldera or along its rim. The largest concentration of post-caldera cones forms an E-W-trending zone across the southern side of the caldera. Coffee plantations cover much of the Ijen caldera floor, and tourists are drawn to its waterfalls, hot springs, and dramatic volcanic scenery.

The crater can be reached from either the east or the west by any kinds of vehicles, but the second part of the trip covers distance 3 km on foot (jungle track). However, the latter is more popular approach, since the climb from the road's end to the edge of the lake is only one and a half hours. And a walk around the lake takes a full day. The temperature drops at night, near the crater rim it can fall to about 5° Celcius. The road ends at Jampit, where very basic shelter is available. It is also possible to sleep in the old vulcanology station further up the hill, now used by sulphur collectors, but permission must be obtained in advance.

The best time to enjoy the view is at morning, when the yellow sun light glows the yellow water and shines the surrounding mountain like mount Merapi, the sister of Mount Ijen. Morning haze is creating a tranquility that we don’t get at the metropolitan towns. At 2 pm, the crater is closed for the reason that the thick smoke from the crater that is poisonous.

Visiting Ijen crater is more interesting if we observe the local people doing their daily job as sulphur miners. Why is it interesting? Because the miners only use traditional tools and they should carry chunks of sulphur on their shoulder. Its weight is about 85 kilograms; they should walk up and down the caldera to deliver the sulphur to Pos Bundar, a place to weighting the chunks. The miners get wages IDR 300 for one kilogram. In a day they usually carry 85 kilograms. The sulphur is transported entirely on foot. In the past, horses were used but they were found to be less practical on the hazardous terrain. Today, the mine yields nine to twelve tons of sulphur per day.Individual loads of up to 70 kg are carried by men, often barefooted, up to the rim of crater and then 17 km down the mountainside to a factory near Banyuwangi. The porters are paid by weight. The most important advice if you are travelling to Ijen is: "If you lose your way, just look out for the sulphur trail". The meaning was clear, since a continuous flow of two way traffic, carrying the sulphur down the mountainside from the lake and trudging up again to re-load, had left a yellow trail on the well worn path.

Visiting from Bondowoso route, the tourist will travel across a coffee plantation. It has god view either. the green of arrabica coffee trees are really an exciting scene. And, how to stay?

It is suggested to stay at the closest hotel in order to catch the morning view of Ijen crater. If you like a place like plantation, Perhutani coffee plantation provides guest houses for rent or for further information you can visit http://www.agro-ptpn12.com and get there via online reservation.


HOW TO GET THERE:

Surabaya - Bondowoso :by bus (191 km)
Bondowoso - Sempol :by bus (165 km)
Sempol - Banyuapit :by bus (14 km)
Banyuapit - Paltuding :by minibus, or car (4 km)
Paltuding - Ijen Crater :on foot (4 km)

OR:

Denpasar, Bali - Banyuwangi :by bus and ferry (140 km)
Banyuwangi - Jambu :by minibus (18 km)
Jambu - Ijen Crater :on foot (21 km)

OR:

Just visit http://www.agro-ptpn12.com and get there via online reservation.