Loose_Grip/Pete's photos with the keyword: Indonesia

Lingga is a Batak village in the Barisan highlands southwest of Medan in North Sumatra. In 1981 families still lived in traditional longhouses but on a second visit in 1993 many seemed to be derelict and others open just for visitors.

Walking in the fields off the Berestagi road near Pancurbatu southwest of Medan. We were recce-ing a trail for the Medan House House Harriers in this area. The atap hut has seen better days. In this view there are ground nuts in the foreground, maize beyond, with a smattering of banana & palm trees. The Barisan mountains are on the skyline to the south.

Mount Sibayak is a fairly dormant volcano near Berastagi south of Medan. It is more than 100 years since it last erupted - very recently in geological time - but the Barisan Mountains are definitely still active. Mt Sinabung a few kilometres from here did erupt in 2010.

Borobudur is a Buddhist stupa and temple complex in Central Java, dating from the 8th century. It is one of the world's great ancient monuments, the single largest Buddhist structure anywhere on earth. Borobudur lay abandoned and hidden for centuries under layers of volcanic ash and thick jungle growth until The British governor Thomas Stamford Raffles instigated its partial exhumation in 1814. I thought it was crowded in 1981 but since it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991 it has become the most popular tourist attraction in modern day Indonesia and a major international attraction. HWW to everyone. Enjoy the day.

A fairly early Sunday morning drive around the city of Medan. This is Jalan Letjen Suprapto although I notice that the modern spelling (from Google) is different from that on the street sign on the far left. I worked in the Mobil Oil Indonesia office further back on Jalan Jenderal Sudirman - the former pre-war Shell office.

We were staying in the Mobil guesthouse in Puncak in the mountains south of Jakarta. This was the view looking west towards Mount Pangrango (3,019 m/ 9,905 ft) a dormant volcanic peak, one of many on the Sunda Arc.

In the tropics it can be very hot and humid but when you dress for the weather it's not so bad especially in the rain... :-) Happy Wet Wall Wednesday to everyone!

We had been in Jakarta for a meeting with Pertamina and were now at the airport waiting for our Garuda flight back to Medan. We got a beer while we waited and as the doors to the departure lounge opened straight out onto the airstrip Ken took a stroll in the heat outside. I'm not sure where the barefoot little Indonesian girl came from but I thought the two of them made a nice composition.

Borobudur is a Buddhist stupa and temple complex in Central Java, Indonesia dating from the 8th century, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is one of world's great ancient monuments, the single largest Buddhist structure anywhere on earth. This is the upper level of three. Inside every bell-shaped stupa is a statue of Buddha; the top has been taken off this one to reveal the content. I thought it was crowded in 1981 but since it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991 it has become the most popular tourist attraction in modern day Indonesia and a major international attraction.

From the Sunda Kelapa Harbourmaster's Tower looking north onto the Kali Besar and a veritable forest of masts on the pinisi, traditional two-masted wooden sailing ships which still provide inter-island freight services in the archipelago.

We climbed Sibayak volcano a couple of times when we lived in Medan. This this was the first ascent and we met this group of kids on their way down. A photo was called for. The walk starts in rice padi fields but climbs quite steeply through forest and then onto open rock. The crest is at 2,212 m (7,257 ft) and in the clouds it gets chilly when you're wearing shorts!

From one volcano to another! We are on on Mount Sibayak (Indonesian: Gunung Sibayak) an active Pleistocene-to-Holocene stratovolcano peaking at 2,181 m (7,156 ft). The other volcano is Mount Sinabung, about 15km to the southwest, that in 2010 erupted after a 400-year-long hiatus, a blink of an eye in geological time. Both volcanoes are part of the Barisan Mountain range that runs NW-SE for a 1000 miles along the whole length of Sumatra parallel to the Sumatra Trench & includes 35 active volcanoes. Although its last eruption was more than a century ago, Sibayak has geothermal activity in the form of steam vents and hot springs on and around the volcano. The vents produce crystalline sulfur, which was being mined on a small scale in 1979 (men carrying sacks down the mountain on their backs). Seepage of sulfurous gases has also caused acidic discolouration of the small crater lake part of which can be seen bottom middle.

We were en route by boat from Jakarta to Pulau Seribu in the Java Sea when we passed this classic sailing ship carrying timber probably from Sulawesi. It made a fine sight. Lots of other working sailing ships in the background.

The second time I visited was as a tourist with my wife & this time we flew from Jakarta to the Pulau Seribu (the aptly-named Thousand Islands) in the Java Sea by light aircraft. The Pulau Seribu are actually a string of 105 coral reef-fringed islands stretching 45 kilometres north into the Java Sea.

Pulau Seribu sailing ship carrying wood from Sulewasi to Jakarta. The wooden framework on the right is a fishing platform common in the shallow water all over Indonesia. The photo was taken early morning en route from Jakarta to Pulau Seribu on a geological field trip to study the coral reefs. I know, it's a dirty job but somebody has to do it.

PJKA ex-Deli Railway wood-burning 2-6-4T number 55, Werskpoor (468/1920) Netherlands, at Dolok Meranggir palm oil plantation, south east of Medan with a tank train. We were living in Medan at this time & I have to confess that the combination of the constant 30 degree heat, 98% humidity and the very poor roads packed with slow dirty trucks made me not that interested in chasing steam engines more likely than not under grey skies and 3-4 hours drive away in the countryside.

We lived in Indonesia 40 years ago (can it really be that long??) where this giant clam shell was acquired. It came from the southwest ocean side of the island via a donation to a local charity. The other half is off shot to the right but they were connected when we bought it. In all the underwater adventure stories the scuba diver always gets his foot caught in one of these as the shells slam closed. In real life this wouldn't happen of course. It doesn't happen in my garden either... They are considered a delicacy in Japan & the numbers in the wild have been greatly reduced by extensive harvesting for food and the aquarium trade. Consequently these huge bivalves are an endangered species today.

In 1981 I was working in Medan, North Sumatra but as I was about to transfer to The Hague we decided to take vacation and travel around some other parts of Indonesia before leaving. We had just spent a few days in Yogyakarta and were now flying east to Bali over East Java and the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. The islands of Sumatra and Java lie on a long volcanic arc above a subduction zone where the Indo-Australia plate is moving beneath the Eurasia plate making it very volcanically active.