maaf email atau password anda salah

April 21, 2015 edition

A few kilometers north of Lawang, on the road to Surabaya, we turned into the expansive 85-hectare botanical gardens and were immediately enveloped by its peace and serenity, a salve for city dwellers. Our original intention was just to shop for houseplants, but we ended up spending the whole afternoon in this beautifully landscaped enclave and came away with new-found respect and appreciation for the world of plants.
At 300 meters above sea level, with an average annual rainfall of 2,366 millimeters, living organisms do not have any trouble at all prospering in the limey soil of this sprawling live museum of dry habitats: a total of 11,429 specimens representing 3,000 plant species, including many that are endangered and seldom seen outside of Indonesia. Among the highlight is an Arecaceae collection of perennial lianas, shrubs and 80 different kinds of palms; 114 bamboo species; 15 species of rose apple (Syzygium); 80 species of fern; a legume, pea and bean family collection; 300 species of medicinal herbs.

Read More

More Travel articles in other editions

January 1, 1970 edition

By mid-morning, the air cleared car doors slammed one by one as we climbed out of and lined up at the ticket office before the entrance to the 15th Century temple complex. Walking down to the very bottom of the series of terraces, I started climbing up each ascending terrace as pilgrims before me had for 500 years. The grounds were tranquil with singing birds and flowering shrubs. Except for the inevitable trash, the complex is kept relatively clean and the ruins well preserved.

Read More

Independent journalism needs public support. By subscribing to Tempo, you will contribute to our ongoing efforts to produce accurate, in-depth and reliable information. We believe that you and everyone else can make all the right decisions if you receive correct and complete information. For this reason, since its establishment on March 6, 1971, Tempo has been and will always be committed to hard-hitting investigative journalism. For the public and the Republic.