Jakarta, A Place of Interest

Jakarta is a melting pot of cultures and the heart of the 17,000 islands of Indonesia. With great geographical and archipelagic location, it has continuously attracted foreign investors, international tourist and local vacationers because of its majestic and symbolic places. Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours in Jakarta recommends the following spots to visit:

Central Museum

The Central Museum is established in 1778 by U.M.C Radmacher. The museum is a vast and extensive collection which shows historical, prehistorical archeological and ethnographic aspects of Indonesia through its artifacts and relics which dates as far back to the Stone Age. It has one of the most complete collections of bronzes and ceramics dating back to the Han, Tang and Ming Dynasties. Despite the issues of showcasing fraud items and repeatedly proving it wrong, the Museum has one of the finest numismatic collections in the world, including cloth and money which was used on several islands until recently. The religious art section is filled with statuary and sculpture salvaged from sites of Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic edifices. Its collection of cultural instruments, household utensils, arts and crafts provides an introduction to the life of the various ethnic groups which populate Indonesia. This museum is popularly known as Gedung Gajah or "Elephant Building" because of the stone elephant offered by King Chulalongkorn of Thailand in 187 1, placed on the front lawn of the building.

The National Monument

The National Monument, or "Monas" as it is popularly called, is one of the monuments built during the Sukarno era of fierce nationalism. Reviews say it stands for the people's determination to achieve freedom and the crowning of their efforts in the Proclamation of Independence in August 1945. The 137-meter tall marble obelisk is topped with a flame coated with 35 kg. of gold. The base houses a historical museum and a hall for meditations. The monument is open to the public and upon request the lift can carry visitors to the top which offers a bird's eye view on the city and the sea.

Indonesia in Miniature Park

This architectural structure shows the diversity of Indonesian Archipelago and it represents Indonesia’s 27 provinces and their outstanding characteristics, reflected most strikingly in the exact regional architecture of the province. It has its own orchid garden in which hundreds of Indonesian orchid varieties are grown. There is also a bird park with a walk-in aviary, a fauna museum and recreational grounds with a swimming pool and restaurants.

Jaya Ancol Dreamland

This is Jakarta's largest and most popular recreation park. It is built on reclaimed beach land at the Bay of Jakarta, having, sea and freshwater aquariums, swimming pools, an artificial lagoon for fishing, boating, bowling, and an assortment of nightclubs, restaurants, a steam-bath and massage parlors.

At a nearby open-air theater art performances are held using the local dialect.

Fantasy Land

A recent addition to Jakarta's growing recreation facilities is the Fantasy Land, a 9.5 hectares (23.75 acres) entertainment park located inside the Ancol Dreamland. Planned to eventually become a part of a 200-hectares (500-acres) park designed to usher the visitors into the fascinating world of modern science and technology, the present facility takes them on an imaginative tour of Old Jakarta, Africa, America, Indonesia, Europe, Asia and the Palace of Dolls. Each of the areas is designed to give the visitor a feel of the region he is visiting through features and architecture of the area at a certain period of its history and by the use of animated puppets in the Palace of Dolls.

Rainforest Adventure

If exploring rainforests is your forte and you think you have visited all of the great rainforest possible, then after reading this article, you may think otherwise. Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours have listed some of the most unexplored rainforest wonders in the world. Now pack up your bag while list this down and you might be up for another adventure sooner or later. Don’t forget to review your list or you might get lost in the vast expanse of trees and greeneries.

Most tropical rainforest in Asia is found in Indonesia (on scattered islands), the Malay Peninsula (Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar), and Laos and Cambodia. Forest once covered a much greater area in Asia, but logging and clearing of forests for agriculture has destroyed much of the region's rainforests. However, there are some rainforest which have been preserved over time.

The Southeast Asian rainforests are the oldest, consistent rainforests on Earth, dating back to the Pleistocene Epoch 70 million years ago. It has a biological richness and diversity unequaled by that of the Amazon or African rainforests.

Danum Valley - Malaysia

Danum Valley is found in Malaysian Borneo and has some unusual plant and animal residents. The biggest flower in the world, rafflesia along with other Carnivorous pitcher plants flowers (some weighing more than 15 pounds) gives this valley a truly exotic, almost primeval, feel. Flying squirrels, gibbons, Asian elephants and rare jungle rhinos all call the conservation area home. One of Southeast Asia's first true eco-resorts, the Borneo Rainforest Lodge, still operates in the valley, offering guests an upscale place to stay in between jungle treks, canopy tours and river adventures. The government, though, also does not lack warnings to tourist to be careful of travel guides that bodes harm to seemingly well-packed tourists.

Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra

According to the reviews by various tourism website, the 2.5 million hectare Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra site comprises three national parks: Gunung Leuser National Park, Kerinci Seblat National Park and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. Just outside Jakarta, Indonesia, the site holds the greatest potential for long-term conservation of the distinctive and diverse biota of Sumatra, including many endangered species. The protected area is home to an estimated 10,000 plant species, including 17 endemic genera; more than 200 mammal species; and some 580 bird species of which 465 are resident and 21 are endemic. Of the mammal species, 22 are Asian, not found elsewhere in the archipelago and 15 are confined to the Indonesian region, including the endemic Sumatran orangutan. The site also provides biogeographic evidence of the evolution of the island. 

Khao Sok – Thailand

Khao Sok National Park in Southern Thailand is known to be the home of the oldest evergreen rainforest in the world, huge limestone mountains shooting straight up in the air, deep valleys, breathtaking lakes, exciting caves, wild animals and much more.

Khao Sok is perfectly situated on the mainland between Phuket, Krabi, Khao Lak and Koh Samui, the most popular destinations in Southern Thailand. It is a fantastic place to go on vacation. Close and personal elephant encounters, jungle trekking on foot, canoeing and Truck Safaris are all possible activities, which will give you the experience of a lifetime. We also recommend tours to visit various locations in Khao Sok. One of the most interesting areas is stunningly beautiful Cheow Larn Lake in the heart of the National Park with its floating raft houses and luxury tents – an absolute must-see!

Lawacherra Rain Forest - Bangladesh

Lawacherra Rain Forest is one of the well-reserved and significant forestry in Bangladesh. Here you will get to see rich flora and fauna of the valley of Sylhet. You can enjoy natural beauty and wildlife together here. Here you will find only one rare Chloroform tree of Asia and that is the key attraction of this place. If you are a bird lover and watcher don’t miss this place. You can find different kind of birds and animals here. Some of wild animals are leopard, Deer, squirrel, wild chicken and python. Khasia & Manipuri is two important ethnic-tribe live here. The territory is hilly and vegetation is honestly thick. You will also get here seven color tea with in seventy taka.

If you want to know more about rainforests and need more information on this, you can visit us here.

Travel Guidelines for Big Groups

No matter if it’s for a destination nuptial, conference or a school trip, traveling with a big group can convey around an exceptional array of challenges and some complaints. Here are some tips to prepare the activity a bit more convenient.

Establish Expectations       
               

In a big group it’s almost difficult that everybody’s interests and individual travel preferences will be assisted, consequently it’s significant to administer group hopes. Establish a distinct itinerary prior to the trip thus making everyone know what destinations or wonders will or will not be visited by the group.

Putting a well-defined itinerary will permit groups to keep away from any possible misperception when touring.

Pick Leaders

Big groups can be divided into numerous smaller groups to formulate the traveling procedure more convenient. In this instance it’s beneficial to pick sub-group leaders who can well micromanage the person necessities of the smaller groups. Holidaymakers may then be organized by their travel interests and allocated to group heads. Artsy travelers can possess boundless hours in art museums, whereas outdoorsy types can as an alternative strike a hiking track.

Not every single tourist will be fascinated in or competent to partake in every group’s activities.

Accept Payment

Don’t get wedged out or get scammed as a substitute target to obtain full payment from the respectively group member well before the tour. Occasionally, a deposit simply isn’t adequate.

Reserve Air Travel 6-9 Months Before

Each group that desires to fly all together must communicate with the airline to reserve their air travel a minimum of 6-9 months before. Airlines will be more possible to have great numbers of chairs available on common tracks and on off-peak days.

Consider Trip Planning Services

Specialty travel agents will be capable to offer logistical provision with the whole thing from private bus transport, group dining experiences and lodging. Communicating with the hotels straight is certainly a preference, nonetheless it can kill time. Moreover, specialty accommodation booking services, like Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours, Singapore in the Jakarta Indonesia, have by now done this legwork when it comes to preparing ideal big group holidays.

Independent Travel as opposed to Group Tours

Tourists may be undecided concerning traveling independently or traveling with a group tour the first time they visit a destination, and the two choices have their advantages and disadvantages.

 

Independent travel is perfect for tourists with a daring soul and is able either alone or in small groups. It lets tourists to progress at an unhurried movement and to better submerge them in the local culture. Crowds with an exceptional perception in wonders or happenings must perhaps stay as an independent travel; by way of no expanse of tour customization is able to defeat wandering solo with simply time and a travel guide book available. Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours, Singapore arrange individual and group travels.

 

In many countries, natives are willing to assist independent travelers discover their way.

 

Small group tours, on the other hand, have their own advantages. Initially, they permit tourists to cover many grounds in a diminutive period of time. Since transportation is already prearranged and the groups are guided by regional specialists, group tours can be an excellent technique to bag in many wonders in a slim time frame. One more advantage to group tours is that they bid safety and security more especially against scam and fraud. The significance of this may appear unimportant when arranging a tour to Jakarta Indonesia, but it be able to be pretty significant when thinking a trip to destinations off of the compacted trail.

 

Let’s see some instances. Given that a traveler is thinking a tour to Spain. Anyone can depart individually and devote one or two weeks relaxing on the beaches of Barcelona and discovering the adjacent cities of Valencia and Girona. It might be loads of fun, getting to distinguish the diverse tapas restaurants and finding out favorite bars and museums.

 

Saying that similar traveler, though, desired to acquire that two weeks and stopover on the top destinations in all of Spain, a group tour would perhaps be a better notion, as per travel logistics are much more complex when touring many cities. Unquestionable, the tourist would merely have shallow information of any one destination at the conclusion of their tour, however if the impression of going to Spain deprived of staying Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla and San Sebastian is intolerable, it is a choice.

 

In one more circumstance, countries like India or Russia are ideal samples of destinations where it’s stress-free to tour with a group than individually, both for logistical and security causes.

 

Read more: Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours Asia Jakarta Bangkok Hong Kong

Best boat journeys

Tired of your usual destinations such as in the cities like Jakarta, Indonesia, Milan Italy or Disneyland in HK or US? Then upgrade your travel interest and try the best boat journeys!

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Dipping on the emerald waters of Halong Bay and going from end to end its 3000-odd limestone islands is purely beautiful. The small islands are spotted with beaches and grottoes shaped by wind and waves, and have thinly forested hills buzzing with bird harmonies. There are more than 300 boats based at Bai Chay Tourist Wharf anticipating to sweep you away to the World Heritage waters. Day tours continue from four to eight hours, however overnighters are moreover available. No tourists ever had complaints regarding their trip.

Amazon River, South America

From its unobtrusive basis in the Peruvian highlands to its mouth near Belém in Brazil, the Amazon River determines more than 6,200km (3,853mi). Its movement is 12 times that of the Mississippi, and it transmits one-fifth of the world’s fresh water. String up a hammock on a slow boat amongst Manaus and Belém in Brazil or Trinidad and Guayaramerín in Bolivia. Its boundaries are packed with jungle or settlements, and your slow boat can take wherever for almost a week.

Franklin River, Australia

This place is not for the faint-hearted, rubber-rafting down the wild Franklin River is a stimulating and, at times, dangerous undertaking. The remote wilderness of Tasmania’s World Heritage area guards ancient plants and endemic living being. Retrieving it by boat can merely be completed between December and March, and needs eight to 14 days – simply qualified rafters are appropriate. Rafters typically access the erratic river – particular to fits of flooding – at Collingwood River (49km or 31mi west of Derwent Bridge) and end at Gordon River, having planned a pick-up.

Quetico Provincial Park, Canada

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Paddling lengthways the smooth surface of Northern Ontario’s unspoiled lakes sets you smack in the middle of the Canada's signature wilderness. Bring together canoeing and camping to perceive moose wandering at the water’s edge or drop a line for a place of sport fishing. The 4,800-sq-km (1,853-sq-mi) park is recognized for its withdrawn canoe routes (1,500km, or 932mi, of them), and there are chances for directed and self-guided raids in and everywhere at the park.

Kerala's backwaters, India

The set of connections of lagoons, lakes, rivers and canals that outlying the coast of Kerala makes for more or less captivating explorations. The plain little wooden boats cross shallow, palm-fringed lakes dotted with cantilevered fishing nets, and tour from end to end shady canals. A common eight-hour cruise runs amongst Alappuzha and Kollam, which consist of a mooring at the Matha Amrithanandamayi Mission – the house of one of India’s very limited female gurus. Read reviews for more information on Kerala's backwaters, India.

Best Asian Countries for Food

Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours, Singapore

Thailand

Settled at the crossroads of India, China and Oceania, Thai cuisine is similar to a best-of of all three’s techniques and ingredients. Dishes usually go in hard with garlic and chillies, particularly the phrik khii nuu variety, which exactly interprets as ‘mouseshit peppers’. Other signature ingredients consist of lime juice, coriander and lemon grass, which offer the cuisine its distinguishing tang. Renowned fish sauce or shrimp paste looks after the salt.

China

On or after back-alley dumpling shops to four-star banquet halls, China has one of the world’s best tastes. Cultural principles of Yin and Yang (balance and harmony) are obvious in the bowl: with food for the day counting cooling foods like vegetables and fruit to defy warming spices and meat. The Chinese admire rice however as well pick noodles, with one or the other nearly at all times escorting a meal. A variety of regional specialties exist, variously inspired by geography and history.

India

India’s variable gastronomy vicissitudes form as you transfer between neighborhoods, towns and states. The foundation of all meals is rice in the south, and roti in the north. These are in general joined with dhal, vegetables and chutney. Fish or meat may as well be added. Whatever the ingredients: the dish generally covers a heady cast of exotic spices that mark the taste buds stand up and take remark. Warning, most Indian food is spicy.

Japan

If you can cloak your tongue around saying the menu, Japan’s cuisine is a most satisfying mouthful. Many Japanese restaurants distillate on a forte cuisine, like yakitori (skewers of grilled chicken or veg), sushi and sashimi (raw fish), tempura (lightly battered and fried ingredients) and ramen noodle bars. The highpoint of Japanese cooking, kaiseki is resulting as an assistant to the tea ceremony), merges ingredients, preparation, setting and ritual over more than a few small courses to differentiate the gentle art of eating.

Indonesia & Malaysia

Yes it isn’t a fraud when they say that Indonesian and Malaysian cuisines are one big food switch: Chinese, Portuguese, Indian, colonists and traders have all prompted their ingredients and culinary ideas. They are nations well characterized by their food. The profusion of rice is characteristic of the region's luxurious terraced landscape; the spices are evocative of a period of trade and invasion, and burning chilli reverberations the people’s urge. Indonesian and Malaysian culinary are not multifaceted, and palates here stay distinct, humble and considerable. You can taste authentic Indonesian food in the heart of the city of Jakarta.

Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur

Explore the famous Chocolate Heavens

WESTHILL CONSULTING, TRAVEL and TOURS, INC. provides services such as booking, tour facilitation, travel documentation and other related services not just SE Asian countries such KL Malaysia, Bangkok Thailand, Jakarta Indonesia and many more but worldwide as well.

Mexico: Warning! This South American nation has an alluring effect on a nook set of travelers who enjoy things raw and rustic. The Mexican attraction is way yonder what you saw in the movies. The final aphrodisiac blossoms in Oaxaca situated in South East Mexico. The traditional method of chocolate production is still running smooth here and the locals identify it the ‘drink of the gods’. Chocolate is a sort of beverage here as well.

As a traveler, you can look into Calle Mina in Oaxaca where you will stumble across a horde of chocolate factories and Abastos Market that is full with artisan chocolate stalls.

Switzerland: Lucky to be blessed by the mighty presence of the Alps range, Switzerland is a preferred destination for tourists from time unidentified. Chocoholics, however realize it to be eye-catching for their own conferred interest. The chief activities that he/she targets begin with a ride in the Chocolate Train that passes over some of the most distinguished chocolate hubs in the country. Then forwards, there are many other things to do in the itinerary of a chocolate lover that comprises a visit to the Maestranin Swiss Chocolates Ltd, Alprose Choclates Museum, Versoix Chocolate Festival. Then if you get to take a chocolate bath in Geneva, your trip is whole and successful.

Belgium: Speaking of chocolate, you cannot dare miss out Belgium. Together with the capital Brussels, the whole country is a chocolate hub with overwhelming stuff in copiousness in Bruges, Halle Eupen chocolate shops. Brussels is home to the Musée du Cacao et du Chocolat (Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate) and is adorned by some world class chocolate creators like Pierre Marcolini, Neuhaus, Godiva, Léonidas and Planète Chocolat. Being a tourist and a chocolate lover, you need to taste the Belgian praline, complete of thick chocolate layer with a soft center.

Once you are finished with the chocolate tasting in those chocolate farms, you can relax a bit in the Wittamer Cafe in Sablon district of Brussels while having complaints why you can’t have more than you could chew! This family-owned chocolate-making make is in the business for more than 100 years. Enjoy delicacy!

Eurochocolate, Perugia: The Italian region of Umbria is the home to a well specimen of chocolate centenary as its capital Perugia crowds the Eurochocolate each year. Like any other of its type, Eurochocolate is also a lively event with fascinating exhibitions, conclusions and the most appealing chocolate discerning.

Noto, Sicily: Warmly called the “garden of stone” for the paradox and individuality of its churches and palaces, Noto, in Sicily is the home where you must be if want to taste chocolate made exclusively of cocoa, sugar and spices. The shops here are filled with wild strawberries and almond to enhance the local savor to your chocolate.