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| Indonesia
| Jakarta
| Bandung
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Indonesia at a glance
The Republic of Indonesia is the world's fourth largest country, with 200 million people. The vast majority (88%) are Muslims, making this the world's largest Islamic country. More than 400 languages are spoken, but Bahasa Indonesia, a variant of Malay, is the national language. There are 27 provinces ans special territories. The Capital is Jakarta, with around 10 million people. Much of the population still makes a living through agriculture, chiefly rice. The unit of currency is the rupiah, which trades at around 9,500 to US$1 (Sept 2007).
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The Island of Superlatives: Java
Jakarta and Bandung are located on Java island, which is commonly called Indonesia's Island of Eden because of it's incredibly beauty, with a patchquilt of verdant rice fields interspersed by village settlement, palm groves and stands of rubber, teak and sugar cane. From the air, the bright green vegetation is contrasted with landscape of rich, red-brown soils, molded by volcanoes--the very essence of Java.
Java is the most fertile, the most productive, and also the most densely populated island in the world. With over 115 million people living in an area the size of England or New York State, the average population density is an amazing 850 persons per square kilometer. Java constitutes just 7 percent of Indonesia's total land mass, yet supports over 60 percent of the nation's huge population.
Many have described Java not only as the most habitable but also the most hospitable place in all of Asia--a veritable tropical paradise where all manner of flora and fauna flourish in abundance, and where people seem to have a natural knack for making you feel welcome.
Java actually has one of the longest records of human habitation of any place on earth. It was here that million-year-old remains of one of man's earliest ancestors was first dicoveed a century ago--the infamous "Java Man" (Homo erectus) fossils that provided the first, controversial evidence of Darwin's "missing link."
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Jakarta
The City of Jakarta is a vibrant commercial center drawing together peoples from all over the vast Indonesian archipelago. It is the sprawling and rapidly growing capital of the world's fifth largest nation-a crowded metropolis of more than 9 million inhabitants, with a dynamic economy and a fast-paced lifestyle.
Climate in Jakarta is hot and humid, with only minor seasonal variation. Maximum temperature is about 34 celcius on a sunny day, and 27 celcius on a cloudy day.
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West Java
With more than 39 million inhabitants and covering roughly the western third of the island (an area slightly larger than Holland), West Java is not only Indonesia's most populous province, but also its most productive--yielding more agraicultural products and manufactured goods than any other part of the country. More than half of all electricity produced in Indonesia is consumed here, and Indonesia's only aircraft factory and atomic reactor are both found in the provincial capital of Bandung, along with a prestigious engineering institute (ITB).
West Java is the homeland of the proud and staunchly Islamic Sundanese people. More than three-fourths of West Java's inhabitants are Sundanese, with their specific Sunda language.
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Bandung
Bandung, is the administrative and commercial capital of West Java, with a population of over 2 million, as Indonesia's third-largest metropolis. Bandung is largely laid out around 1920 by Dutch urban planners as the first "modern" city in the Indies, and still today perhaps the most "European" of all Indonesian towns. Bandung was once billed by locals as the "Parijs van Java" on account of its gracious, tree-lined boulevards and fashionable shops and houses. In 1955 the Asia-Africa Conference was hosted here by Sukarno and attended by such Third World luminaries as Nehru, Nassar, U Nu, Chou En-Lai and Ho Chi Minh, gave the city a fleeting moment in the international limelight.
Climate in Bandung is mild to cool. Bandung is surrounded by mountains like Tangkuban Perahu, Burangrang and others. Therefore the climate is cool around the year. In the night time temperature can be as low as 16 celcius, and in the day time can be about 20 to 22 celcius.
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Source : Periplus Adventure Guides "Java" Indonesia, Periplus 3rd ed., 1997
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