Happy Feet Indonesian Style

by Jamie Rhein on

Maybe it’s due to a throwback from my Peace Corps days, but I love this video. I’m also intrigued by the guy who made it. Happy Dance basically is a bunch of Indonesian kids dancing to jazz music, although, whoever directed and edited this captured the essence of bliss. This is charming with a capital C. According to KentClark3’s profile, he’s 87. I’m not sure if I believe him. I don’t know why, but maybe he is. Another intriguing detail about KentClark3 is that he also posts chapters of his novel on his blog, Jakarta Kid. The novel is a fictitious account of being an expat living in Jakarta. If you look at the photo of the boy in the blog and look at the video, see if the same boy plays the main character.

World’s Best Hamburger in….Indonesia?

by Justin Glow on

This is a subjective question, no doubt, but where in the world can you go to find the best hamburger?

Vindex Tengker, executive chef at Jakarta Four Seasons Hotel in Indonesia, believes he has created the best of the best with what some are calling the most expensive hamburger in the world, weighing in at $110 USD. It’s made with only the finest ingredients, of course, including the notoriously-delicious, hand-massaged beef from Kobe, Japan. Add a dollop of wasabi mayonnaise and a handful of Italian portobello mushrooms, and you’ve got yourself one expensive burger. But does it taste good?

It better, because $110 is a lot of money, and unless it’s sprinkled with gold flakes and wrapped in a diamond tennis bracelet or something, I’d want my money back.

Missing Tourist Found After 8 Days On Indonesian Mountain

by Jonathon Morgan on

Franz Resch, a 46-year-old tourist from Austria, left his hotel on January 23 to climb the Sibayak Mountain. 8 days, and one rescue operation later, he was found alive in a village in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province.

After Resch’s hotel declared him missing, rescue workers found his boots, soft drink cans, books and mattress, but couldn’t locate the lost tourist. When villagers finally discovered him, they reported it to local police, who immediately took Resch to the hospital.

According to local police, he “is very weak.”

Being lost alone in the mountains must be a harrowing experience. After surviving this long, we can only hope Resch goes on to make a full recovery.

Two Years Post Tsunami

by Adrienne Wilson on

This morning when I watched the news it was called to my attention that today marks the two-year anniversary of one the biggest natural disasters to occur in Southeast Asia. Footage of massive waves, bulldozing tiny tropical beach resorts in Thailand and water carrying the remnants of homes, vehicles, and those trying desperately to escape; glowed on my television screen. I cut the news off and retreated to my room. I wasn’t in much of a mood to see the sorrow mounted in the eyes of an orphan whose parents had been washed away in the ocean. I just couldn’t bear it so early.

Now as I sit hanging out on the web I see several stories remembering those who lost a great deal and how much progress still needs to be made. The International Herald Tribune has an excellent photo gallery displaying images of smiles from young girls like the two above whirling around in a playground (a donation by a relief agency), people playing volleyball on Thailand’s Patong beach, and then sad images as well. Most of Thailand’s beaches have been able to rebuild quickly, but other areas in Sri Lanka & Indonesia have been left to slowly pick up the pieces due to misuse of money (millions) and government corruption.

A drill system is being practiced across to Southeast Asia for future disasters and to commemorate the 9.3 earthquake two years back.

Lonely Planet’s Blue List

by Erik Olsen on

Here at gadling, we’re all about finding new travel ideas. And equally, we’re about pointing you to places where those ideas are most abundant. Well, where abundance is concerned, I have just closed the covers on a cornucopia of ideas that, frankly, has me feeling a little exhausted right now.

Lonely Planet’s new edition of its Blue List series is a compelling page turner that, if you’re like me, will cause an immediate shortage of yellow post-its. Those post-its now cling to the inside pages of my Blue List guide, making it look a bit like a paper peacock flattened by a semi.

The Blue List guide, subtitled “The Best in Travel 2007” provides page after page of sumptuous photos and informative text about interesting places and things to do in them all over the globe. The ideas start off with a calendar section that groups together events by month. For example, December has the Festival of the Oases in Tunisia and the Hornbill Festival in India. Chances are, you’ll have to Google these for more info, but they’re a fine start.

Other recommendations in the book are broken out by activity, so if you are, for example, a fan of scuba diving, you can get a good idea of the top trips for bubble blowers. The books lists the Cocos Islands in Costa Rica and Chuuk lagoon in Micronesia among their top spots. Or let’s say you have long believed in UFOs and want to design a trip for you and your ET-loving friends? Well, you can do that, too, with their paranormal trips section.

Then savor my favorite section, called the Go List, which breaks out LP’s top picks for places to visit in the coming year. We’re NOT talking Florida and Vegas here. We’re talking about exotic, less-explored locales like Maluku, Indonesia and Gabon. Then there’s a section on gadgets and the best places to wed and dark travel and, well, more and more.

If I have any complaints, it that while the book really whets your appetite, you don’t leave feeling completly satisfied. In fact, you leave a bit hungrier than before. But as I say, maybe that’s what Google, or LP’s country-specific guides are there for. Either way, keeping to their fine tradition of helping you REALLY get out there, the good folks at Lonely Planet have done a fine job with this new book.