Rambutan, bakso , nasi goreng from Indonesia

U.S. president-elect Barack Obama had spent part of his childhood in Jakarta Indonesia. During he was living in Indonesia certainly Obama has often eat the food of Indonesia. Long time he has leaves from Indonesia, but he is still remembering some favorite foot from Indonesia.

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Obama missing 'rambutan, bakso and nasi goreng'

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 11/26/2008 10:12 AM | National

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a telephone conversation with U.S. president-elect Barack Obama during his stopover in Seattle, and invited him to visit Indonesia, tempointeraktif.com reported on Wednesday.

When the presidential flight touched down at Nagoya airport in Japan on Tuesday, Yudhoyono made a statement to reporters over the airplane's intercom.

"He addressed me with, 'Apa Kabar Bapak President?' (How are you Mr. President?), in fluent Indonesian," Yudhoyono said.

Obama said he missed several local delicacies such as nasi goreng (fried rice), rambutan and bakso (meatball soup), he added.

Yudhoyono had congratulated Obama's election as U.S. president and suggested he visit Indonesia after attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Singapore next year.

Yudhoyono said they had both agreed to maintain good relations between the two countries.

"I felt his warmth and friendship in the conversation."

During one of his campaign speeches, Obama said he would visit Indonesia within the first 100 days of his presidency. Obama is due to take office on Jan 20, 2009.

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Source : T he Jakarta Post

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From news in The Jakarta Post above , there are 3 kind of Indonesian food is missed by Obama :

1. Rambutan : The rambutan, Nephelium lappaceum is a fruit considered exotic to people outside of its native range. The rambutan binjai north sumatra is a most of popular of the kind of rambutan from Indonesia. The rambutan is a relatively common fruit the same way an apple is common to many people in cooler climates.
   
2. Bakso : Bakso (meatballs) is the Indonesian most popular soup everyone can buy anywhere at anytime. Almost every Indonesian likes or loves bakso.
   
3. Nasi Goreng : Nasi Goreng is fried rice with fresh vegetables and accompanied with fresh slices of cool cucumber and tomato.

Do you like to taste this food ? Welcome to Indonesia

Salib Kasih Christian spiritual tourism

Tarutung city in North Tapanuli, North Sumatra, is known not only with Sisingamangaraja legend, the king of the Batak people that known as magic bullet and insensitive. However, the area that can reached about five hours from Medan by car is also synonymous with the Christian spiritual tourism. One of these is bukit Monumen Salib Kasih (Love Cross monument) in the hill Dolok Si Atas Barita.


Visitors who walk to the top of the hill will find a number of interesting objects. Along the way, there are a number of inscription reads verses of the Bible. This paragraph is written so that visitors are not bored and can read it while on approach, the God. Position this inscription also arranged in such a way. The high of trees are also making the air to more fresh and the area is cool. This condition will make the visitors more closely to love of Jesus.


In addition, a memories garden which called with Taman Kenangan appear on the road to the bukit Monumen Salib Kasih. At this park, visitors can leave their memory here. Each visitor who intends to leave souvenir stone inscription marked as personal names can be put here. This is why this place is called Taman Kenangan (Memories Garden) so that visitors can view them.


After passing through Taman Kenangan, we will get the bukit Monumen Salib Kasih. Originally the monument was built to remember the pastor Ingwer Ludwig Nommensen. He was a German missionaries, he has great services to spread Christianity in the Land of Batak, around 1860-an. At that time, the populations of this area are mostly still follow familiar animism.


The high of the Monument is quite high around 31 meters. Under the monument provided seating place for the congregation. The seating place can accommodate more than 600 of the churches. Usually, this place is crowded by many visitors who come to the church on the Sunday and Christmas. For the churches who want to pray more devout, the owner also provides 13 prayer rooms. Space of every room is 2 x 2 meters that everyone can use without any time restriction.

The Natural object Dempo Vulcano

Mount Dempo is one of the most interested place to visit . It is a natural objects in tourism located in Pagaralam. It is the highest peak in southern Sumatra, and could be reached about 6 hours directly by car from Palembang (Palembang is a biggest city at South Sumatra ) . The distance from Palembang is about 300 miles.

The liquor tends to be viewed with a touch of body and meatiness. Dempo volcano is located in Lahat regency, in the province of South Sumatra while small part of Dempo Vulcano is belongs to Muna Regency in the province of Bengkulu. Geographically, it lies at 04 ° 02''SL and 103 ° 08''EL.

The volcano has two peaks called Dempo and Merapi. The highest peak with the names Merapi is 3,173 meters high above sea level, while Dempo is approximately 3,049 m. Demps is a prominent 3173 m high volcano that rises above the Pasumah Sumatra. Remains of 7 craters are located in or near the summit, with volcanism migrating to the WNW with time.

The historically active summit crater of Mount Dempo contains a 400-m-wide lake, located at the NW end of the crater complex. Historical eruptions have been restricted to small-to-moderate explosive activity that produced ash fall near the volcano.

The big city near the volcano is Pagaralam. Flight from Jakarta or Bali to Palembang is the easiest way to reach this city. From the Palembang we can continue by car to Pagaralam Dempo plantations.

Dempo tea plantation is the highest village 1,650 m. From this village, visitors are beginning to climb and generally spend the night in Sawah Highland (3000 m), where large numbers of springs running into.

GUNUNG RINJANI NATIONAL PARK

Gunung Rinjani National Park covers an area of 41,330 hectares on the northern part of Lombok. The peak of Gunung Rinjani reaching up to 3,726m dominates the landscape.

Gunung Rinjani National Park offers the beauty of the volcano, the Segara Anakan Crater Lake and the challenge of climbing the mountain. There are also guided village tours which provides a glimpse of local culture and the opportunity to meet the locals.

Senaru and Sembalun Lawang Villages are The two starting points for excursions into the park as well as for climbing Mount Rinjani. Senaru Village can be reached within three hours drive to the north from Mataram, while Sembalun Lawang Village is approximately a four hours drive to the east of Mataram.

Kerinci Seblat National Park

The Kerinci Seblat National Park comprises an area of 1.5 million ha in four provinces: West Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu and South Sumatra. A large part of the biggest national park of Sumatra lies above 400 m and is relatively cool. The park probably contains the largest contiguous population of the Sumatran Rhino, estimated at between 250 and 500 individuals.

Due to the fact that a large part of Bukit Barisan Mountain range, including it's highest peak the Gunung Kerinci (3,805m), lies in the park, Kerinci Seblat consists of very mountainous terrain. In the mountains you will find hot springs and many rivers with rapids and scenic waterfalls. Especially around the crater-lakes of Gunung Tujuh (2604m) and Gunung Kerinci, the landscape is very beautiful.

East of Gunung Kerinci lies lake Bento, the highest freshwater swamp in Sumatra. Ladeh Panjang is probably the highest peat swamp woodland (altitude 2,000 m).
The relatively flat Kerinci valley cuts the park in two and forms the main entrance to the area. The valley is situated at an altitude of 800 m and has a population of about 300,000 people.

More than 4,000 plant species, including 300 species of orchids and the rare Javan Edelweiss (Anapahalis javanica) grow in the park. The world's biggest flower, the Rafflessia arnoldi and the tallest flower, the Bunga bangkai raksasa (Amorphophallus titanum) are also find here. In the forests grow trees of the Shorea and Dipterocarpus family.

NORTH SUMATRA CULTURAL AND TOURISM

North Sumatra, with it's colourful, ethnically-mixed population, is Indonesia's most populous province outside Java. It now has over 11 million inhabitants more than the entire population of Kalimantan or all of the islands of Nusa Tenggara. Dynamic Bataks, Malays, Javanese, Indians and Chinese have created a fascinating kaleidoscope of modern and traditional Indonesian cultures. Some of the ethnic groups which live in this province, include the Malays, who live along the eastern coast of the island, the Bataks who can be devided into six sub-ethnic groups: Karo, Simalungun, Angkola, Mandailing, Pakpak, and the Toba who are the biggest sub-ethnic, and the people of Nias island. The province's most interesting tourist destination is Lake Toba situated in the centre of the Bukit Barisan mountain range, Mount Leuser National Park, where there is a rehabilitation center for Orang utans in Bahorok Bukit Lawang, Berastagi is a famous weekend and holiday resort located in the Karo highlands and Nias island.