Bali has wide range of shopping spheres, from souvenirs, environmentally friendly fabric, local textile, surfing stores and also thrift stores. Here are some of our recommendation.

NI LUH DJELANTIK SHOES STORE is located in several areas. The shoes are designed by Niluh Djelantik and her design has been worn by some world famous celebrities. Niluh Djelantik shoes use local materials such as Endek Weaving and Rangrang weaving from Bali, beside also using leather, and other materials. Ladies will love to browse wide selection of shoes in the stores from flats, wedges, pump to sandals.

KRISNA OLEH OLEH is where you can fine various souvenirs from Bali, and as well some holiday outfit. The store is big and spacious and also located at some spots in Bali. And not only that visitors can also but Balinese snacks here. And after shopping, if you are hungry, it has also place to eat.

UPCYCLE sells various merchandise from unused stuffs. This shop is located in Seminyak. You will be mesmerized by the creative ideas of transforming junk into beautiful pieces, and wearable things like bracelet, bags, wallets and more.

ULUWATU HANDMADE LACE has simple yet chic island design for women. The fabrics used is comfortable on the skin suitable for tropical life. There are some shops on the island. You can also browse for niche design accessories here.

PAUL ROPP STORE has wide selections of luxury boho outfits to standout for casual to cocktail party events. The silk fabric is fine in vibrant colors. The hand-woven fabric are originally from India. Paul Ropp collections will make you hear people say they like what you wear, it is not the trend, it is the style and braveness wearing them.

BEACHWALK MALL will give different shopping experience for you. It has airy open air design where you can browse for good quality stuff from well-known brands to local homegrown brands. It is located just by Kuta Beach that you can visit after enjoying the beach and have some light bites or even trying some local Bali Indonesia food.

There is a magical place that you can visit in Bali, that you might want to stop when exploring Bedugul. This is where gigantic old banyan tree located. Administratively situated in Bayan Village in Tua Village Marga District in Tabanan. The locals call it as Wisata Kayu Putih (white tree). This 500 years old banyan tree is now popular among travelers.

The tree’s height is about 50 meters and the diameter is about 6 meters. It grows at the backyard of Babakan Temple which was built in the period of King Perean. Babakan is assumed to be derived from the bark of the tree than can be used as herb. Locals believe that the tree has been existed since before the temple was erected. The locals guard the tree due to its virtue to cure some illness and as well because of its magical aura. The villagers hold ritual at tree with offerings and prayer every 210 days to thank God as it was very useful for Tua Village. Sometimes when locals dig the ground to build houses, they find the tree’s root, that they believe that the tree creeps all over the village.

Because of its magical aura, the tree is also used as meditation sites, not only by locals but also by visitors from other regions and other countries.

Martapura is the capital city of Banjar Regencyand has been known as the biggest diamond producers in Indonesia. Martapura Market also called as Pasar Batuah as market for local diamond. In 1970s, the section of diamonds kiosks are built in Martapura Market where crafters and seller can display and sell they products.

According to some source diamond has been important commodity for South Kalimantan since the 15th Century. During the period of Banjar Kingdom, diamons mining was the kings privileges’. Diamonds found should be sold to king or the king’s relative who owned the mining area.

Pasayangan area is district where there are gold and gemstones artists. Until today there are still craftsmen of jewelry and diamond polishing. House of rich gem stones trader can still be found here and now it becomes place of interest.

Dutch abolished diamond mining managed by the king and then it was exploited by private and it flourished until today. In 1965, the biggest diamond found in Kalimantan was found , 166,7 carat (33 gr) which was called Trisakti Diamond.

Meratus Mountains lies at the southeast part of Kalimantan, to be exact at South Kalimantan province. It stretches North East to South West for 600 square kilometers dividing South Kalimantan Province into two. Highest peak in the mountain range is Mt Halau Halau 1901 meters.

Government appointed the mountain range as Meratus Geopark, which has been form since 150 millions years ago and has been acknowledge by international researchers.

Meratus Geoprak consists of 36 geo-sites located administratively in 10 regions, they are: forest, cave, waterfall, lake, hills, cars mountain, valley and more and diamond panning area Cempaka in Kotabaru.

5 main geoparks in Meratus Mountains:

SULTAN ADAM FOREST : The 112.000 hectares forest has some sites and also nature beauty such as : Pond built by Dutch East Indies, a colonial fortress, a hill called Bukit Tirai Hujan, and three waterfalls. Camping activities is also available here.

DIAMOND PANNING SITTE : is loated in Banjarbaru. They pan for diamond and gold until the depth of 15 meters. There are three sites for panning :Ujung Murung, Sungai Runtai and pendulangan Pumpung.

TANJUNG DEWA BEACH is located in Tanah Laut Regency , about 2 hours drive from Banjarmasin. The beach is beautiful and there is an island called Datu Island which is popular for its religious attraction. Locals are fishermen and the fish here is famous for being abundant. If you are lucky you can see dolphin swimming at the waters.

SEKOYANG BEACH has rocks formation called as Batu Rijang which was naturally formed for millions years.

GUNUNG BESAR is the highest mountain in South Kalimantan. It is a pristine forest and has been home for Dayak Meratus Tribe for centuries.

Irrawaddy dolphin can be found in South and South East Asia. The species is less and less each year and now its number is vulnerable. According RASI there was 80 irrawaddy dolphins in 2019. From 1995-2019, reported 103 irrawaddy dolphin found dead, average 4 deaths per year and the worst death rate was in 2018 when 11 were found dead. The cause of the high dolphin’s death rate is because of heavy metals contamination, coal tanker, conversion of land for plantation and mining, and gill netts , a fishing tolls used by fishermen in Mahalam river. Other cause is hit by boats, poisoned by waste and trapped in shallow part of river (https://earthjournalism.net/)

Pesut or fresh water dolphin or irrawaddy dolphin in Kalimantan can be found in Mahakam River and as well at Lake Jempang (Kutai Barat Regency), Semayang River (Kutai Kertanegara Regency), Lake Melintang (Kutai Kertanegara Regency). In Balikpapan Bay there is also irrawaddy dolphin species yet not similar to Mahakam irrawaddy dolphin.

Mahakam dolphin has round head and small eyes. Their color are light grey to dark grey. Its length ranges from 1,5 to 2,8 meters and can weight up to 133 KG. Their diets are fish, molusca, and crustaceae.  Their lifespan is 28 years old. They mating season is from December till June. Males will compete to win female dolphin. Females give birth after 9-14 months pregnancy and only 1 baby dolphin is delivered.

Irrawaddy dolphin live in group of 3 to 6 individuals. And they communicate with other groups. Just like sea dolphin, irrawaddy dolphins are smart animals.

Seeing irrawaddy dolphins swimming in group is an unforgettable experience for tourists. Irrawaddy dolphins have no  predator in their natural habitat. It is human who responsible for the lost of their species.

Muller mountain is a 860.00 hectares mountain range located on the border of West Kalimantana and East Kalimantan Province. Muller derives from Dutch  East Indies soldier, Major Muller.

The vegetation is of tropical rainforest and is rich of biodiversity and it is important for the sustainability of Kalimantan rivers : Barito Rivers, Kapuas River and Mahakam River.

Here are the peaks at Muller mountsins : Mt Kerihun (1790 m), Mt Mangtajung (1515 m), Puncak Liangapran (2240 m).

Birds live in Muller Mountains are ; brown magpie, golden-bellied gerygone, rhinoceros hornbill, the black hornbill, common iora, green iora, crimson sunbird, some swiftlet species, and many more birds species. They grow and live well as the good term forest condition.

Along the river grow Eugenia sp, palaquium sp and tristania obovata.

Mammals also can be found here, they are arboreal animals and spread the seeds in the forest. They can can be spotted easily as they enjoy the primary forest. Primates species in this mountain range are: Owa,  red lutung and long tailed monkey. beruk, white fronted surili, pig-tailed macaque, langur, and Sunda slow loris. Big mammals spotted in Muller Mountains are: bear, cloudy leopard, bos javanicus and badak.

It was Anton Willem Niewenhuis who named the mountain range as Muler in 1984. Georg Muller was a German soldier who later joined Dutch East Indies in the 1817. He was involved in a battle in 1818 in Sambas, inspector staff of nutmeg in Banda Neira in 1820. In 1825, Dutch delegate Muller to Kutai Kingdom that Sultan Salahuddin signed political agreement which Muller departed with 20 Javanese soldiers. The agreement was that the peace treaty required Dutch to protect Kutai and Sultan must pay 8000 Gulden. Muller and then explored the hinterland from Kutai, deeper to Kalimantan which was called as terra incognita or the unknown land. Muller lost in jungle and never came back and it is still mystery until now. (historia.id)

Sintang is situated on the border of Indonesia-Malaysia at the North border. The city is accessible by air and land from Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan Province. It takes about 9 hours drive from Pontianak to Sintang or 45 minutes by air. Sintang derives from Dayak langauage , ‘senentang’ means the meeting point of two rivers, Kapuas and Melawi River.

There was a kingdom here called as Sintang Kingdom which reigned approximately since the 13th Century. The kingdom is located about 50 km from the current city location where there is site of Lingga with the relief of Madewa and Nandi statue, and local call the statue as kalbut which means pig. Located not far from the site, there is Aju Melayu Grave, the ancestor of Kings of Sintang Kingdom. Demong Irawan moved the capital to SSenentang area, located between Kapuas and Melawi River . Senetang then became Sintang after years. Since the reign of Sri paduka Tuanku Sultan Nata Muhammad Syamsudin Sa’adul Khairi Waddin, the kingdom became Sultanate, until 1966 and then became part of Indonesia.

MOUNT KELAM (BUKIT KELAM) is located about 20 KM from Sintang City. It is one of the biggest monoliths in the world. The peak is 1002 meters and can be reached by 4-5 hours hike. This hill popular among botanists and researcher. There are species of Nepenthes or Pitcher plants and also black orchid.

BUKIT BAKA BUKIT RAYA NATIONAL PARK is situated between two province, West Kalimantana and Central Kalimantan. It takes 2 hours boat ride to Nanga Nuak and plus another 2 hours drive to the National Park. The National Park is the habitat for abundance of flora and fauna. There are species of mammals, birds, fish and butterlflies.

RUMAH BETANG ENSAID PANJANG is longhouse of Dayak Tribe which is still inhibited until today. The main pillar is made out of ironwood (Ulin). The house was initially built for one sub-clan for battle habit of Dayak tribe. The men work in farm and collect rubber while the women work on loom making weaving.

SINTANG TRADITIONAL FOOD is made of durian fruit. Durian is fermented naturally for 9-12 hours using salt.

NOKAN NAYAN WATERFALL is a 180 meters high waterfall. There are two waterfalls actually, Nokan Nayan and Jongonoi. Both are cararact types waterfalls. The access to the is long and challenging. From Sintang drive to Nanga Pinoh in Melawi region, proceed with speedboat ride for about 6 hours. Another speedboat ride through Jongonoi Riverto Ukai Village. From Ukai Hamlet and then walk about 1.5 hours to Nanga Menantak. From Nanga Menantak another 3 hours boat ride to Deme Hamlet. Proceed with small boat ride for 3 hours at Tolian Ponohak when river is in high tide. The waterfall can be reached by walking and hiking Tuhkat Pasang, a valley wall of Jongonoi River. There are some other waterfall in Sintang such as Nokan Tolangit, Sentarum Waterfall and more.

BANING FOREST is 213 hectares forest, and it is the only tropicalforest in Indonesia that is located in city area. There are pitcher plants, orchids , hard wood trees, red monkey and birds species here. This is the educational destination for students and researchers.

Well if you are visiting Yogyakarta and would like to get some beautiful documentation for your Instagram feeds, here are some recommended place for you.

KALIBIRU is located in Kulonprogo, about 1 hour drive from Yogyakarta International Airport. If your flight arrives morning or noon, you can visit this view point before heading to Yogyakarta city. The view is mesmerizing, green hilly landscape with water reservoir.

KEDUNG KAYANG VIEW POINT is a view point where you can capture Waterfall and Mount Merapi in one single photo shot. The picture is jaw dropping and dramatic. Best time to visit is in the morning when sky is clear and Mt Merapi is not covered by mist. However when there is some mist there, it is also more magical.

AGROWISATA BHUMI MERAPI is located on slope of Mt Merapi. The instagramable place here is some background of Santorini, Japan path, colorful alleys and beautiful murals. The entrance fees is inclusive all those photo area.

HEHA SKYVIEW is located about 1 hour drive from the city. This is the place where you can see Yogyakarta from above. The most interesting feature here is the glass bridge, that if you want to take photograph here , there is additional fee for IDR 30,000 and staff will take photo if you with their camera and you can save them for IDR 5000/photo.

HEHA OCEAN VIEW is located further about 2,5 hours from Yogyakarta city. There are some photo booth where you can take photo with ocean background for an extra fee.

GAMPLONG STUDIO ALAM is a movie studio for some Indonesian films. One of the most popular films shot here is Bumi Manusia. You can ride on train and also photo with the houses and all the buildings.

LOST WORLD CASTLE is has beautiful Mt Merapi as background and some European castles building perfect for photoshoot. This place is not fully finished yet (when we visit) , construction is still in progress.

Gunung Palung National Park is administratively located in Ketapang Regency and North Kayong regency of West Kalimantan Province. The National Park borders with Batu Barat River, Air Merah River and Matan River at the North. On the East it is directly borders with Teluk Bayur Village, Laur River and Sempurna Village. At the South borders with Melinsun River, Siduk River, Lekahan River, Gunung Tarak Forest, Riam Berasap Jaya Village, Pangalan Teluk Village, Laman Satong Village and Karimata Strait. At the West it is side by side with Karimata Strait and some villages. The highest peak in the National Park is Mt Palung, 1.116 meters.

The National Park has type A climate and the majority of the area are wet zone with rainnfall between 2730-4040 mm /year. There are some type of ecosystems here, from peat swap, fresh water swamp, lowland dipterocarp, mangrove forest, aluvial soil and sub montana ecosystem. And therefore, it has abundance of flora and fauna.

There are thousands of plants species here such as agathis, ironwood, pulai, ramin, jelutung, rengas mangroves and some herbs plants. Some hardwoods can be found here aremeranti, keruing, resak. Several orchid species also can be found here, such as the exotic black orchid which can be found along Matan River especially from February to April.

Faunas can be found here are : orangutan, monkeys and owa, tarsius, fresh water fishes, bekantan, and squirels. And there are many more wildlife in this national park.

Lubuk Baji Waterfall is located at Sedahan Jaya Village, Kayong Utara Regency. Lubuh Baji is the name of waterfall located located in hilly area. The waterfall can be reached from Sedahan Village which takes about 2 hours walk. While if accessed via Pangkalan Buton Village will take about 4 hours walk. Along the walk you will be passing green nature.

Riam Berasap Waterfall is located at the mouth of Siduk River. This waterfall is located in Kayong Utara. It takes 4 hours walk to reach the waterfall and enroute travelers can stop by at several waterfalls, such as Riam Bekinjil. Riam Ambar and Riam Karung.

Batu Barat Village is separated by big river that streams from Matan to Telok Melano. The access to Batu Barat is via Telok Melano, 20 km from Sukadana City. Along the river you can see wildlife and observe vegetations.

Bukit (Hill) Peramas is located in Sukadana City of Kayong Utara Regency. In this area travelers can observe flora and fauna.

Kayan Mentarang National Park is located at Kalimantan Island and it is located at the border of Indonesia-Malaysia. The National Park consists of primary forest of 1,35 million hectares  with various kind of forest inside. It is the home of flora and fauna and many of them are not identified yet.

The National Park was once a Nature Reserve and then in 1996, it was appointed as Kayan Mentarang National Park. The National Park is the biggest primary forest in South East Asia. The name of Kayan Mentarang was derived from two major rivers stream to the national park, Kayan River which streams at the South and Mentarang River which streams at the North. Other source mentions that the National Park name derives from  Apau Kayan highland that stretchs from Long Kayan at the South through Apau Ping in the middle and Long Bawan at the North.

There are types of forest in Kayang Mentarang: Dipterokarp Forest, Fagaceae-Myrtaceae Forest, middle to high mountain forest and also heath forest or kerangas forest. There are also swamp forest, secondary forest, agathis forest, moss forest in the height of more than 1500 m.

Some flora diversity can be found here are: ironwood, pulai, ramin, jelutung, sugar palm, rengas, agathis, and gaharu. The national park is also home of various plants habitat such as pitcher plants, and orchids.

Kayan Mentarang is rich of wildlife. It is the habitat of more than 100 mammals and 15 of them are endemic animals. There are 28 primates species, and more than 300 birds species. Honey bear, banteng, clouded leopard, and white fronted surili.

BATU ULUI : is the peak of rock mountain located at Long Jelet hamlet, at the mouth of Jelet River and Pujungan River. From the peak travelers can see the  rainforest landscape. The hiking will start at Long Pujungan and then crusing aong river for about 4 hours and then trek for about 2 hours through slopy and slippery slope.

U’UNG MELU’UNG WATERFALL is located at Long Pujungan. It is a 50 meters high waterfall. It takes about 30 minutes walk from River Pujungan. There is a salty spring located nearby the waterfall where wildlife can be spotted, if you are lucky.

ROCK GRAVEYARD is one of interesting site can be explored in Kayan Mentarang National Park. It is located at the estuary of two rivers : Pujungan and Bahau River. The graveyard was the heritage of Ngorek tribe, and the region has not been inhabited for more than 400 years ago.

LONG TOA SAVANNAH is the habitat of wild banteng. In here, travelers can also see deers and pigs. The animals usually can be spotted morning and late afternoon. There is a humble lodge in this savannah.

DAYAK CULTURE AND TRADITION is one of the main interest of travelers visiting the National Park. In certain days they have dance performance and also traditional celebrations. When visitors come, they also perform rituals. There are sub ethnic of Dayak Tribe in the surrounding of Kayang Mentarang National Park, such as: Kenyah Tribe, Kauan Tribe, Lundayeh Tribe, Tagel, Saben and Puanan, Bakung, Badeng, Makulit and Makasan that spread in 50 villages in the region.

Kayan Mentarang National Park can be accessed by flying 1 hour from Samarinda to Tarakan and then you will cruise by speedboat through Mentarang River for 6 hours or more, and it is subject to weather and river water level. Rivers to access the national park are  Bahau river, Kayan River or Mentarang River.