Fascinating Journeys

I believe few countries can equal Indonesia’s breathtaking natural beauty. There is so much to choose from in this great land for travelers: mountain resorts, coastal escapes, forest treks, cultural and culinary tours. Anthropologist and filmmaker Lawrence Blair, in an interview for the WEEKENDER last year, described Indonesia as one of the world’s last “wilderness” areas, a charmed place where there is so much still to be discovered.

Unfortunately, travel warnings and often skewed media reports about Indonesia have kept wary foreign tourists away. Visit Indonesia Year 2008 was intended to help put Indonesia back on the travel radar but, as we discuss in the cover story this month, there is still much more that can be done.  Central to the issue is how Indonesia should present its unique charms to the world, and who it wants to attract.

Almost everything in this WEEKENDER is travel related, and we celebrate the varied places to explore in this country (as well as some locations abroad). It has been a point of pride for me over almost two years of the magazine’s existence that we have highlighted often overlooked Eastern Indonesia, including Sumbawa, Sumba, Flores, Lombok, Gorontalo, Maluku and Papua.

The one notable exception has been Kalimantan, but we make up for it in this issue, with several articles about the area’s attractions. It’s a new discovery, but many more await in the great adventure of living and traveling in Indonesia.    

Bruce Emond

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