Indonesia (/??nd??ni???/ (About this soundlisten) IN-d?-NEE-zh?, /-?ni?zi?/ -?NEE-zee-?; Indonesian: [?ndo?nesia]), officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia [re?publik ?ndo?nesia]), is a country in Southeast Asia, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is the world's largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands, and at 1,904,569 square kilometres (735,358 square miles), the 14th largest by land area and 7th in the combined sea and land area. With over 261 million people, it is the world's 4th most populous country as well as the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's most populous island, is home to more than half of the country's population.
Nature and culture are prime attractions of Indonesian tourism. The former can boast a unique combination of a tropical climate, a vast archipelago, and a long stretch of beaches, and the latter complement those with a rich cultural heritage reflecting Indonesia's dynamic history and ethnic diversity. Indonesia has a well-preserved natural ecosystem with rain forests that stretch over about 57% of Indonesia's land (225 million acres). Forests on Sumatra and Kalimantan are examples of popular destinations, such as the Orangutan wildlife reserve. Moreover, Indonesia has one of the world's longest coastlines, measuring 54,716 kilometres (33,999 mi). The ancient Prambanan and Borobudur temples, Toraja and Bali, with its Hindu festivities, are some of the popular destinations for cultural tourism.
Indonesia lies along the equator, and its climate tends to be relatively even year-round. Indonesia has two seasons—a wet season and a dry season—with no extremes of summer or winter. For most of Indonesia, the dry season falls between April and October with the wet season between November and March. Indonesia's climate is almost entirely tropical, dominated by the tropical rainforest climate found in every large island of Indonesia. The tropical monsoon climate predominantly lies along Java's coastal north, Sulawesi's coastal south and east, and Bali, while the tropical savanna climate lies in isolated parts of Central Java, lowland East Java, coastal southern Papua and smaller islands to the east of Lombok. More cooling climate types do exist in mountainous regions that are 1,300 to 1,500 metres (4,300 to 4,900 feet) above sea level. The oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) prevails in highland areas adjacent to rainforest climates, with reasonably uniform precipitation year-round. In highland areas near the tropical monsoon and tropical savanna climates, the subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb) is prevalent with a more pronounced dry season.
The bottom end of Indonesia’s accommodation market is provided by homestays and hostels. Penginapan, or homestays, are most often simply spare bedrooms in the family home, though there’s often not much difference between these and losmen, pondok and wisma, which are also family-run operations. Rooms vary from whitewashed concrete cubes to artful bamboo structures – some are even set in their own walled gardens. Hard beds and bolsters are the norm, and you may be provided with a light blanket. Most losmen rooms have fans and cold-water bathrooms.
Almost any place calling itself a hotel in Indonesia will include at least a basic breakfast in the price of a room. Most of the middle and top-end places add a service-and-tax surcharge of between 10 and 22 percent to your bill, and upmarket establishments quote prices – and prefer foreigners to pay – in dollars, though they accept plastic or a rupiah equivalent. In popular areas such as Bali and Tanah Toraja, it’s worth booking ahead during the peak seasons. Bland and anonymous, cheap urban hotels are designed for local businesspeople rather than tourists, and have tiny rooms and shared squat toilets and mandi. Moderately priced hotels often have a choice of fan or air-conditioned rooms, almost certainly with hot water.
In rural Indonesia, you may end up staying in villages without formal lodgings, in a bed in a family house. First ask permission from the local police or the kepala desa (village head). In exchange for accommodation and meals, you should offer cash or useful gifts, such as rice, salt, cigarettes or food, to the value of about US$2 at the very least. The only bathroom might be the nearest river. With such readily available and inexpensive alternatives, camping is only necessary when trekking.
Indonesia's transport system has been shaped over time by the economic resource base of an archipelago, and the distribution of its 250 million people highly concentrated on Java. All transport modes play a role in the country's transport system and are generally complementary rather than competitive. In 2016, the transport sector generated about 5.2% of GDP.
The road transport system is predominant, with a total length of 539,353 kilometres (335,138 miles) as of 2017. Jakarta has the most extended bus rapid transit system in the world, boasting some 251.2 kilometres (156.1 miles) in 13 corridors and ten cross-corridor routes. Rickshaws such as bajaj and becak, and share taxis such as Angkot and Metromini are a regular sight in the country. Most of the railways are in Java, used for both freight and passenger transport, such as local commuter rail services complementing the inter-city rail network in several cities. During the last few years, construction is underway for mass rapid transit and light rail transit systems in Jakarta and Palembang. In 2015, the government announced a plan to build a high-speed rail, which would be a first in Southeast Asia.
The cultural history of the Indonesian archipelago spans more than two millennia. Influences from the Indian subcontinent, mainland China, the Middle East, Europe, and the Austronesian peoples have historically shaped the cultural, linguistic and religious make-up of the archipelago. As a result, modern-day Indonesia has a multicultural, multilingual and multi-ethnic society, with a complex cultural mixture that differs significantly from the original indigenous cultures. Indonesia currently holds nine items of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage, including wayang puppet theatre, batik, angklung, and the three genres of traditional Balinese dance.
