Tay of course. Cyr, Shiko, and Tiago. My gaming discussion buddies Kosaki, Bookworm (Seran Kagura 4 Lyfe) and Funya. Eclipsed, Zeno and Flutterz. Pretty much nyone else in my friend list and others too.
I do miss Aniki already though. Chat isn't the same anymore.
Some of you maybe don't even know about this country, have never heard about it, never checked the world map and being ignorant with what happening in another part of the earth. Or maybe some of you have heard some rumours/opinions about Indonesia. Or maybe some of you have ever came and/or visited Indonesia for some reasons. If you come for vacations and/or tourism, why don't you come here? If you want to see some unique traditional dance/tradition/heritage, why don't you come here? If you want to challenge yourself maneuvering through a messy and crazy traffic, why don't you come here? If you want to know some other reasons to come to Indonesia, you should check these facts:
1. Indonesia is huge
Indonesia is a massive country. Flying from one end to the other, from North Sumatra to West Papua, takes over twelve hours of flying time. Indonesia is an archipelago of around 17,508 islands with a land area of 1,919,440 square kilometers. To put this into perspective, the UK has a land area of 244,820 square kilometers, while the US covers 9,629,091 square kilometers.
2. The equator divides it
The equator cuts straight across the middle of Indonesia, crossing Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and various smaller islands. If you’re in the area, consider visiting the equator line for some cheesy, but irresistible photos. Because of it, it's incredibly hot at dry season. You'll never need to put on an extra sweater, unless your visiting the mountains.
3. 150 volcanoes
Situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia is home to numerous volcanoes, an estimated 150 volcanoes throughout the entire country. In general they are not a threat, and many volcanic areas make great tourist attractions like Mount Bromo, East Java, or Tangkuban Perahu,West Java or Rinjani, Lombok (NTB), or Kelimutu, Flores (NTT) or Jayawiajaya, Papua. Trekking on a horse to the top of volcanic Mount Bromo at sunrise is said to be stunning. There can, however, be eruptions and visitors should check whether it is safe before setting off to a volcanic area.
4. Vast tropical rainforests
Head away from the densely populated islands of Java and Bali to find vast areas of tropical rainforest, which support the world’s second highest level of biodiversity (after Brazil). Natural resources are abundant in Indonesia but the sustainable use of these is often blighted by problems with corruption and poverty. Guided treks are available in the jungles of Kalimantan and Sumatra, among other islands.
5. 238 million people
Indonesia is the forth most populous country in the world with over 238 million people and the world’s largest Muslim population, though some areas have Hindu or Christian majorities. Java is the world’s most populous island. The large area and the sheer number of people reside in it makes Indonesia the World’s fourth most populous country, its population density is 323/sq mi. Average. But these are just numbers. Try to visualize what it looks like though and you just can’t. Consider that Manhattan is like a ghost town by comparison (again, generic developing-world comment). So, Indonesia has more pretty girls per square meter than anywhere else, with smiles that will melt your heart (if you're more interested in guys, you'll have to judge for yourself).
6. The acceptance and respect of religion and racial matters
Religion is important in Indonesia, where every citizen must officially subscribe to one of six recognized religions, regardless of their actual religious practices. Two individuals of different religions may not marry, unless they convert so that they share a religion. Most people (86%) are Moslem, the remaining 14% are Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist and Hindu. Whichever of these religions you practice, you'll find that you're accepted and respected by everyone else. People will often refer to you by the colour of your skin (the black guy, that pink girl, etc.), which seems odd at first but usually carries no derogatory intentions. The acceptance and respect afforded to anyone of different religion or race is something the rest of the world needs to learn from Indonesia. Indonesia's main jargon on this is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika literally means united even though different, in other words unity in diversity.
7. Extremely culturally diverse
There are over 300 ethnic groups in Indonesia, each with their own customs and traditions. This makes Indonesia extremely culturally diverse. Why not watch some performing arts or buy some locally produced handicrafts while you’re there?
8. Bi- and multi-lingual
Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the national language of Indonesia, used in schools and other state-run enterprises, as well as in the media. This language is fairly easy to learn, and there are about 200 million capable teachers eager to help you. However, Indonesia has over 700 indigenous languages, meaning that many Indonesians are bilingual, speaking their indigenous language at home and Indonesian at work or school.
9. Sports
Badminton along with soccer is the two popular games. These games suffer hugely from illegal gambling.
10. Time Zones
The country is so expansive in its area covered that it has three time zones. It is one of the countries that have not been fully explored or mapped.
11. Oldest remains
Fossilised remains of “Java man” or Homo erectus, have been found at sites across Java, suggesting that the area was inhabited two million to 500,000 years ago. You can see the fossils at Sangiran, near Surakarta in Central Java.
12. Have a long history of struggling
In its earlier era, about 350 - 1700 A.D., this region was full of small kingdoms. Most of them was Hindu/Buddhist kingdoms. The biggest of them was Srivijaya and Majapahit. Srivijaya was the strongest maritime kingdom in its era. Its region was Sumatra island plus some part of Java and malayan peninsula. While Majapahit had an even larger area, covering almost the same as Indonesia now, plus malayan peninsula minus some part of Java, Kalimantan(Borneo), Sulawesi (Celebes), and Papua. And then around 1267 - 1700 A.D. the Arabian and Indian traders influence brought forth the rise of Islamic kingdoms. The biggest of these was Demak and Mataram Islam kingdoms.
The fall of Konstantinopel in 1453 forced the Europeans to search alternative paths to pass through the continent. The voyage of Bartholomeus Diaz searching for a new path was later continued by Vasco da Gama and Alfonso d'Albuquerque. Alfonso d’Albuquerque was the first European (Portugist) to ever step his foot to Malayan Archipelago (Indonesia's name for that period), to be exact Maluku (Moluccas) in 1511. The success of Alfonso bringing herbs and spices from Maluku to Europe drove other Europeans (Spanish, British, and Dutch) to come here to. The most successful one was the Dutch. Ever since their coming, one by one of the important trade post fell under their control. So much that in 1602, their trading company VOC started to colonialize Malayan archipelago. Their colonialism lasted for about 350 years.
Their colonialism finally ended in 1942 because of Indonesians' never ending struggle and the invasion of Japanese. Indonesia was fell under a new colonialist. However, Japanese colonialism only lasted for about three years after their loss at WW II. Surely Indonesians didn't waste this chance and on 17th August, 1945 Indonesia with its leader Soekarno declared its independence. This Independence Day is celebrated on 17th August every year, with flag-raising ceremonies, neighborhoods competitions and games for children. If you’re in Indonesia in August, find out what will be happening where you are staying.
However, Indonesians' struggle didn't ended at that. The defeat of the Japanese made the Dutch want to colonialize Indonesia once again. Some wars happened and some agreements got signed until on 27th December, 1949 the Dutch accepted Indonesia's independence.
13. Friendly and trusting people
The people in Indonesia are some of the friendliest, most pleasant people you'll ever encounter. If you gain the trust of Indonesian people, they may be willing to open doors for you that you never imagined could exist.
14. Having many cultural heritages, some of them are Batik, Gamelan, Wayang and Candi
Indonesia's sheer number of ethnics makes it rich with traditional heritage. Some of them are Batik, Gamelan, and Candi.
Batik is Indonesia's traditional clothing manufactured manually through a very thorough and long process makes it 10-20 times more expensive than usual clothings.
Gamelan is Indonesia's traditional musical sets/instruments. Mostly being played in Java and Bali together with a traditional dance show or wayang show.
Wayang is Indonesia's traditional puppet which is created with such a distinct and unique process resulting in nice result. Most of wayang show retell about Mahabharata and Ramayana's story.
Candi is Indonesia's traditional building which is a remnant of the Hindu/Buddhist kingdoms. You could find more than 20 of thems in Indonesia. The most popular in Java are Prambanan and Borobudur.
Candi Borobudur is even listed as one of the former seven wonders.
15. Tourism destinations
This section has been shortened and moved to this thread:
http://forums.fuwanovel.net/topic/10678-some-places-you-should-visit-when-coming-to-indonesia/
16. Rich of any kinds of plants, animals, and foods
Having a large area and abundant of forest results, Indonesia has so many unique and distinct plants, animals, and foods. You must try any local foods you find on your visit.
Rice is the main staple in Indonesia.
One thing you should know, Indonesian loves spicy foods! Order a pizza or hamburger here, you will get some chili packages!
And also about fruits, fruits you never knew existed or saw in an encyclopedia, whose names have no equivalent in your language. For example, Durians, rambutans, sukuns, and some others. Durian smells slightly bad, and is an acquired taste. And do you know about Kopi (Coffee) Luwak? Kopi Luwak is from here. Coffee beans that are eaten by civets and …ummm… digested before being brewed.
In addition, Indonesia is one of the world’s largest suppliers of nutmeg. It’s used in cooking, as medicine and as a hallucinogen. Just sayin’.
Indonesia is also the home to the largest flower in the world called The Rafflesia aka The Corps flower.
Reaching 5ft high and 4ft wide, it only blooms for 3 days and for 8 hours of these 3 days, the flower gives out the rotting flesh smell.
And you can see a real dragon here. Seventy kilogram Komodo Dragons are alive and well in pulau Komodo and its suroundings.
Below are some problems you may find in big cities.
17. Full of rubbish at some places
Some Indonesians in particular don't seem to notice rubbish at the side of the streets, and there's lots of it.
18. PKL (street vendors) and/or officially unregistered shop give a price according to your outlook
If you're western, everyone assumes you're very rich, and tries to charge you accordingly. Always go shopping with an Indonesian friend to get the right prices!
19. Messy and crazy traffic
The traffic in Jakarta is terrible and the air is very polluted in the dry season. Vendors hawking water and snacks in the rush-hour traffic jams and pollution, wearing heavy-duty breath masks/filters and looking like an extra from Star Wars, except they’re just trying to sell you a bag of peanuts. You could even find families of four on a motorcycle. No helmets. Doing 60 mph (96 km/h). Makes you super-nervous to be a driver. However, Jakarta freeways are better than many first-world countries. Too bad if you’re in the 95 percent of the country that don’t live or commute to Jakarta.
I don't think I would miss anyone really. I mean my aim isn't THAT bad.
Seriously though, I'd miss everyone to be honest. I'd miss Stray Cat's deceptive tricks, Tiago's gentlemanly aura, Flutterz' and Eclipsed's trolling ways, Kurokusari's and Mr. Meogii's awesome signatures, Tay's continued forgetfulness of the Complete this Conversation 2 thread, Fiddle's sarcastic remarks, Getsuya's kind words... You get the idea.
Fuwa is a wonderful community full of people who are all very sad when even a single of our number leaves. Though not every single name may get mentioned in this thread it would of course not mean that the un-named would not be missed were they to leave. We need all the various voices, from the newbiest noob to the saltiest old dog to make the beautiful harmonious choir that is Fuwa.
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