Indonesia, by selected authors, illustrated by Lonely Planet
Serving a whole generation of independent travelers, Lonely Planet Publication guides are trusted companions on trips covering the globe. This guidebook publishing company thoroughly updates each of their guides about every two years, although for some destinations (for example, the Kai Islands and Halmahera) the gap may be longer.
Between editions, up-to-date information is available in LP’s free monthly email newsletter Comet. You can also check out their Thorn Tree bulletin board and the “Postcards” section of their website (www.lonelyplanet.com/newsletters) for unverified, but fascinating, reports from travelers.
For example, a recent report describes arriving in Padang, West Sumatra, a flat, sprawling and very wet city on Sumatra’s west coast. There's not much to do there but it's a good access point for the palm-fringed beaches nearby Mentawai Islands to the west. This particular reader is a big fan of Padang’s eponymous spicy cuisine, describing the table manners and presentation of food in a typical Minangkabau restaurant in meticulous detail. Another newsletter breaks down the rather abstruse new Indonesian visa regulations,in both cases information useful to any visitor to Indonesia.
In the latest edition of Lonely Planet’s guide to Indonesia, the reader is able to penetrate as never before the kaleidoscope of cultures that make up this maddeningly complex island nation.
The monumental task of compiling this, the 7th edition of the Indonesia guide, is the collective work of a whole team of experienced Asian hands - Patrick Witton, Mark Elliott, Paul Greenway, Virginia Jealous, Etain O’Carroll, Nick Ray, Alan Tarbell, and Matt Warren – who roamed the far reaches of this massive watery archipelago that spans one eighth of the globe.
There are over 200 detailed maps, including specialized and seldom seen schematics such as “Sulawesi Airfares” and “Pelni Shipping Ports & Major Routes.”
The guide is also replete with color highlights sections on culture, festivals, beaches and islands, natural wonders, national parks and wildlife, as well as special sections on surfing Indonesia, the Indonesian language and a metric conversion chart on the back flap. To know your kretek from your kraton, there’s also a comprehensive glossary.
Special editorial features include a map index, fact-filled sidebars on subjects such as Independence for East Timor, Ramadan, Gunung Rinjani Security Warning, Kretek Cigarettes, Java Man, The Great Fires of Kalimantan, The Wallace Line, and scores more.
Whether it be finding your surf nirvana on a plam-fringed island or getting up close and personal with orangutans in the jungles of Kalimantan, the Lonely Planet guide to Indonesia is essential in planning the Indonesian adventure of a lifetime.
Indonesia 7th Edition, by selected authors, published by Lonely Planet Publications in November 2003, ISBN 1-74059-154-2, 945 pages, color inserts.
Available for Rp359,000 at Periplus Bookshops in the Bali Galleria and in the Matahari in Kuta, Warung Made in Seminyak, Ngurah Rai Airport (both international and domestic terminals), in Gramedia Bookstores, and in Ary’s and Ganesha bookshops of Ubud.
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