What is Indonesia famous for?

Last of all, we are going to tell you about another of the most visited places in Indonesia. Borobudur and Prambanan are ancient temples located very close to the town of Yogyakarta, and they are known for being one of the World Heritage sites in Indonesia.

Both are huge and impressive temples of Indonesia, but they represent different religions. Borobudur is a Buddhist temple and Prambanan is a Hindu temple.

A small tip you should keep in mind before going, is to wake up early for sunrise, as it looks even more beautiful and you will see less crowds.

The place is called Komodo Island, and it´s the only place in the word where you will be able to see these beautiful animals.

Although it´s an area where locals live, the island is mainly dominated by the dragons, who have survived many other extinctions thanks to being isolated from humans until 1910.

Always remember that these animals are wild and free, so don´t treat them as a pet, don´t feed them and of course be aware that they can be dangerous.

Unfortunately, orangutans are an endangered animal, and nowadays the only places where you will be able to see them are Sumatra and Borneo (Indonesia and Malaysia)

The Gunung Leuser National Park, located in Sumatra, is one of the best areas to see them. There you will also find other endangered creatures like the elephants, rhinos, tigers, and many others.

*Sorry we insist so much about it, but again we are going to beg you to be careful with those animals and with the tours you choose for your trip. These species are in a big danger!

We bet you all know about Indonesian fried rice, as now it´s almost an international dish. Although you may have tried it in your country, do eat it once you visit Indonesia.

It´s true that Indonesian people eat rice ever day, but their fried rice is different, as it has a sweet soy sauce (keycap) that gives a very intense flavour.

You can also garnish and mix the Nasi Goreng with veggies, seafood, chicken or beef. Have you ever tried it?

As we said, spicy food is very common and famous in Indonesia, they eat spicy with everything: rice, noodles, meat and even with fish.

Rice-rica is a speciality of Indonesia and is a word they use for something that is “very spicy”, and rica means chilly. The Rica-rica recipe is used specially in meats and fishes and it is made with two or more kinds of chillis, shallots and lemongrass.

Be ready to drink milk or do any other trick to deal with such a spicy dish!

It may sound like a cliche, but we haven´t met locals as nice as the ones we met in Indonesia. We mean it, of the more than 30 countries we have visited, the Indonesian locals were the nicest ones.

The Indonesian people who travelled with us during our trip were always smiling and having fun all the time, but the ones we met on the different towns and islands, welcomed us in the best way possible.

Another popular thing of Indonesia is their population size, they rank number 4 on the list of people by population.

There is a total of more than 270 million people in Indonesia, crazy right? Just so you can have an idea of how many people that is, it´s a 3.5% of the population on earth.

It´s incredible, but although Indonesia is a very crowded country, they still have many undiscovered areas with no people at all. The most crowded city in Indonesia is Jakarta with more than 30 million people.

If you have the goal of learning to speak with the people of Indonesia, we advise you to just learn Indonesian, as there are more than 700 languages and you could go crazy trying to learn them all. Plus, most of the people speak Indonesian.

Other important language is the Javanese, around 85 million people speak it every day.

Last of all, don´t worry if you a tourist, because although not everyone can speak English, there are many people who can, and you will always find someone who will try to help you.

Although it´s true that many religions coexist in Indonesia, the Islam is the one that predominates. Over 90% of the population practice the Islam.

Since they know there are many religions in the country, the laws are not extremely strict with religious recommendations.

Of course, if you are visiting a mosque, it´s important that you dress properly, if not, they may not allow you to go inside.

Hinduism is more significant, especially in Bali, where is the strongest religion. It will surprise you a lot the change between Bali and other areas where Hinduism is not so important, plus they are serious practicing and have many traditions.

When talking about the Buddhism everything is different. We told you earlier that is impressive to see all these religions coexisting together without any conflicts, but there are more problems with the Buddhism as some people relates it with the Chinese culture and attack their temples.

Since the religion is so important in Indonesia, there are all kinds of temples and many of them are not just used as a religious centre, but also as important tourist attractions of Indonesia.

We already mentioned you the Borobudur and Prambanan temples, but there are more. Some of the most famous temples in Indonesia are: Pura Ulun Danu Beratan in Bali and Sewu Temple in Prambanan.

Do not ask us how many islands does Indonesia have, Because it´s an impossible answer. Some people say there are 17.500, others say there are 18.000, and the number keeps changing every day, as more islands come up and others sink.

What we know for sure is that Indonesia is the largest country formed by islands, and it would take you more than 12 hours to fly from side to side.

Another interesting fact about Indonesia is that it has around 6000 inhabited Islands. During our trip through Raja Ampat, we got to see many of those islands where no one lives, and it felt like an authentic paradise.

In one of the islands, we got to see a fisherman who was living there by itself…Imagine how would it be to have the whole island just for you, would you do it?

The Street markets of Indonesia are not as popular as the ones of India or Turkey, but they are still very interesting and a great way to connect with the locals.

There are all kinds of markets, from clothes to souvenirs or artistic works, but the ones we enjoyed the most were the food markets as they have very weird fruits you can try.

Indonesian´s economy is not very rich, the people of Indonesia leaves with about 2$ USD per day and 90% of the economy comes from oil and agriculture. That´s the reason why if you visit Indonesia you will realise about how cheap the prices are.

These prices are not just one of the things Indonesia is famous for but also the reason why many digital nomads choose Indonesia (specially Bali) as their “home” to live there.

Another of those unique facts about Indonesia is that they still have many active volcanoes. I bet most of you heard on the news when the Kelut or the Mount Merapi erupted some years ago.

After the US and Russia, Indonesia is the third country with more volcanoes (139) and 127 of them are active nowadays (scary huh?)

Something that you may want to know is that you can climb some of the volcanoes, which by the way have incredible views, a great example is Mt. Bromo (You may recognise it from pictures of Instagram)

With Australia and The Philippines, Indonesia is one of the best countries to do snorkel and diving in the world.

It has incredible clear waters and an amazing seabed, as you can imagine the mix of these two with a huge animal diversity becomes outstanding

One of the best places to do diving in Indonesia is Gili, where you won´t just see a great wildlife, but also the famous Meno Statues