Look’s around

When visiting Derawan Island, the visitors will be enchanted by the very beautiful views of this exotic area. The clear seawater surface, with combination of blue and green color gradation present the view of various colors of fishes and the swimming green turtle. The white sands spread out beautifully. The lines of coconut trees, houseboats, and the blue sky add the characteristic view of the island. Small forest at the middle of the island is the habitat of various kinds of flora and fauna. And as the most special feature of the island is the charming beauty of its undersea panorama. No wonder if the island ranks third in the world’s diving destinations. Derawan Island is the dream island for the divers.

Derawan Island is located at Derawan Archipelago, Berau Regency, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The sea park beauty at the water around the island makes Derawan Island famous for its diving tourism. It has various marine biodiversity, for example cuttlefish, lobster, ghost pipefish, blue-ringed octopus, nudibranches, seahorses, ribbon eels, and scorpionfishes. At the 10 m deep coral reef, there’s a reef known as “Blue Trigger Wall” where there’re a lot of red-toothed trigger fishes at this 18 m-length reef. 28 dive spots have been identified around Derawan Island. To move from spot to spot, the divers can use boat.

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If you take a fancy for revealing the knowledge mystery of universe, or simply want to see the beauty of space objects, Bosscha Observatory is one of alternative choices to visit. The observatory is located at Lembang, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia; about 15km from Bandung City. Bosscha included in special tourism object, that is science and technological tourism object. This is where we can be absorbed in the amazing beauty of universe and at the same time experience a learning process about the outer space. Bosscha has attracted so many visitors and added the charms of Bandung City which was often called “Paris van Java”.

Historically, the name “Bosscha” was given as a homage to Karel Albert Rudolf Bosscha who is the main sponsor in the construction of this observatory. The observatory was built by Nederlandsch-Indische Sterrenkundige Vereeniging (NISV) or the Dutch-Indies Astronomy Association. Initial meeting of NISV in 1920 resulted in the agreement to build an observatory with purpose to develop astronomy in the Dutch-Indies. At the moment Mr Bosscha had the kindness to fund the erection and promised to give the aid for purchasing the astronomical telescope. He and Mr J Voute went to Germany to order Bamberg Telescope and Carl Zeiss Double Refractor. At November 26, 1928; several months after Zeiss telescope installation building finished, Mr Bosscha passed away.  At October 17, 1951 NISV gave over this observatory to the Indonesian Government. After Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) stood in 1959, Bosscha became part of ITB and functioned as the research institution managed by Astronomy Department of ITB.

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Masjid Dian Al Mahri is often called as Masjid Kubah Emas (the Golden Dome Mosque). As reflected by its name, the mosque has the domes made of gold. This charm attracts attention of so many people to visit. Besides being the place for the Muslim’s daily prayer, the mosque area is also often visited as family holiday destination or simply to rest. As a religious tourism area, the mosque is usually visited by about 10000 people everyday, and at weekend the number is rising up to 20000-30000 people. They come from various regions of Indonesia, from the nearest region Jabodetabek until the regions out of Java Island; and from the foreign countries, such as Malay and Brunei Darussalam.

The mosque is standing on 50 ha area. Because of its greatness, the mosque is often called as the most pretentious mosque in South East Asia. The mosque has the capacity of 15000-20000 congregations. This 8000 m2-wide mosque has 5 domes that consist of 1 main dome and 4 small domes. All of them are coated with 2-3 mm of 24 carats gold and crystal mosaic. The shape of the main dome resembles Taj Mahal’s dome. The dome has 16m base diameter, 20m middle diameter, and 25m in height. The other 4 small domes have 6m base diameter, 7m middle diameter, and 8m in height. These domes refer to the shape of the dome that often used in mosques of Persia and India. These 5 domes symbolize the Pillars of Islam. Six soaring hexagonal minarets stand at the corners of the mosque. They are about 40m in height, wrapped in Italian gray granites with the circling ornaments. At the top of each minaret is the dome which is also coated with 24 carats gold. These six minarets symbolize the Articles of Faith.

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