I personally interested in nature and culture that when visit a new place i will see the unique nature and maybe meet the locals. And this is what i did while i was visiting Bima:

MUSEUM ASI MBOJO
This museum was once sultan palace and since 1989 functioned as museum. In the museum we can see various artifacts and informations of Mbojo. There is a room which was once used as the chamber of President Soekarno when He visited Bima. 

OLD WOODEN MOSQUE
There some old mosques in Bima and one of the oldest is Kalodu Mosque. It has been renovated in the 2000s and the view from this mosque area is magnificent. 

WEAVING VILLAGE
In this village we can see women working on the loom making Bima traditional textile. The pattern of the woven is geometric triangle, square and the base textile color is black. You can also purchase the woven to bring back home. 

ROYAL CEMETERY
The view from this cemetery is beautiful, as it is located about 60 meters above the sea level, on a hill called Danataraha. There are 15 old tombs in the area. And one of them is the tomb of Sultan of Bima died in the 1640. 

UMA LENNGE , Traditional Village
This village is located a little bit far from Bima city about 30 minutes drive. the village still preserves traditional architecture of the barn house.  The house was designed that the mouse can not climb the wooden pillar. 

BIMA SEAFOOD AND CULINARY
This place opens morning to 10 PM. We can enjoy local menus, and especially seafood. The place is located nearby the sea that we can enjoy conversation with friends and also feel the sea breeze. 

A local friend asked me to go together to a new place known by locals only. I did not expect to see this relaxing and rejuvenating place nearby. But viola, it is an amazing place to go during weekend. And if you visit Borobudur Temple you can also stop by at this place.

This waterfall is called Watu Purbo Waterfall, which is a man made waterfall, it is a cascades consists of 6 blocks waterfall. The name derives from the big rocks (watu in Javanese) that were already there since very long time (purbo : in Javanese). It was originally built in 1975 for cold lava of Mt Merapi to flow over .

It takes about 10-15 minutes walk descend to reach the best spot to view the falls. It is suitable for family destination. The best time to visit is during rainy season, when the waterfalls look best , yet must avoid during very heavy rain.

Just about 1 hour drive from Solo or three hours drive from Yogyakarta, you can do getaway to this country nestles on slope of Mt Lawu which soars more than 3000 meters high. There are some decent hotels in this area as well, that it is suitable for family weekend getaway.

There are some waterfalls that we can visit and those located not very far from hotels. The most popular waterfall is Grojogan Sewu Waterfall which is the biggest waterfall here. This can be accessed through stepping hundreds of stairs. And actually there is another entrance to this waterfall that you can reach without stairs, which is suitable if you travel with kids or elders. There are other waterfalls nearby: Jumog Waterfall and Parang Ijo, both can be accessed easily from the parking area.

If you love history and old sites, visiting Sukuh Temple is a must. Sukuh is unique temple which has interesting architecture, and beautiful reliefs. The shape of the temple resembles Mayan temple and there are erotic carving. This temple was approximately to be built in the 15th Century. And the other temple located few km apart is Cetha Temple, a 13 terraces temple also built in the end of Majapahit Kingdom, in the 15th Century, and located on high elevation that you can see the view of Karanganyar from here.

If you love climbing mountain, you can go the base camp of Mt Lawu to reach the summit.

Located on the enclave of Bromo Tengger National Park, Sumber Mujur Village has conserved its village with bamboo. It was planted many years ago and now the forest is lush and has been the source of clean water for the village. And now, the village even has received benefit from the conservation through tourism sector.

The entrance fee to Sumber Mujur bamboo forest is included with the swimming pool entrance. I consider it is very cheap. That is why on weekend domestic visitors from adjacent area flock to this forest.

We stayed 2 nights in a homestay here. Everynight we can wait for the lava of Mt Semeru from the homestay. And in the day time, we can see Mt Semeru proudly emits smoke. We drove about 30 minutes from the village to Mount Sawur to see sunrise and see mt Semeru from close distance. And not only sunrise, from Mt Sawur we can see the view of Bambang Beach located at the southern coast. And my favourite was visiting Mt Semeru observatory. It is inspiring to see how the only 3 staff at the observatory watching and monitoring the volcano every night and day.

And this is what i usually look when i visit new place. The souvenirs and the foods. We can find bamboo handicrafts here, and also visit the workshop. I found a beautiful bamboo soup bowl and mug. And there are also batik painting made of natural dyes. They are just so beautiful. In the future i would like to take batik class here. And the special food here is made of young bamboo, which is called rebung. They taste so good.

I enjoyed the quietness, the mild weather, the abundant clean fresh water and also the hospitality of the locals. I would come back for sure.