Bali

One of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, Bali for few years awarded as the world best island by The International Travel Magazine. There, however, are still many people who do not know in depth about the uniqueness of Balinese culture. Life in Bali is always related to "Tri Hita Karana" or a tripartite concept that include the spiritual relationship between human and God, and their environment.

The rapid growth of development in tourism has had a big impact and influences to Bali tradition and lifestyle. Interestingly, Balinese culture is still as what it was, growing along with the of globalization. It is the Balinese civilization what makes the island different from other destination.
GEOGRAPHY
Among 17,500 islands across the Indonesian archipelago, Bali is one of the 33 provinces of the Republic of Indonesia, the largest archipelagic country in the world, made up of 2,000,000 km2 of land with a chain of islands stretching over 500,000 km from Sumatra to Papua, and covers territorial waters of more than 5,000,000 km2.
Situated between Java and Lombok, the island of Bali is located 8 to 9 degrees south of the equator with the Java Sea to the north, the Indian Ocean to the south. Bali’s covers an area of 5,636 km2 or 0.29% of Indonesia, measuring just 90km long the north-south axis and less than about 140km from west to east.
PEOPLE AND LIFE STYLE
Bali’s population of over 3,000,000 souls spread over the whole island, including those in the smaller islands of Nusa Penida, Nusa Ceningan, Nusa Lembongan, Serangan and Menjangan Island. The overwhelming majority of Balinese are Hindus, with the increasing number on non-Hindu migrating from the closest neighboring islands of Java and Lombok.
The coastal areas in the south are the most populous area with over 370,000 people living in various professions in the capital of Denpasar. Farming has been the primary way of living in Balinese life. Where else fishing, trading and craftsmanship are also in fashion from generation to generation. Yet with the fast growing of tourism since past few decades, young people start to build up a new touch in their living culture.
HOW TO GET TO BALI
With the increasing number of direct flight to Bali from some other parts of the world, it makes it easier to go to Bali. From Bali, flight to Jakarta is about 1.5 hours, to Singapore and Perth (Australia) 2.5 and 3 hours, to Hong Kong about 4.5 hours, and to Sydney/Melbourne about 5.5 to 6 hours, with various airlines offering their services. Please check at "airline info" for more information about flight schedules. Just make sure you look for "Denpasar (DPS)" instead of "Bali" in airline time tables. It is the capital of Bali. Or you can check your "Travel Agents" for more travel arrangements and accommodation.

Antarctica Cruises

Why would anyone want to visit Antarctica?
Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, and driest place on earth. The tourist season is a scant four months long. There are no shops, piers, idyllic beaches, or tourist venues at the Antarctic ports of call. The ocean crossing from South America, Africa, or Australia is almost always a rough one. Despite all of these perceived negatives, Antarctica has always been on my list of "must see" destinations. We cruised to Antarctica in January 2005 on the Hapag-Lloyd Hanseatic, and can now understand why so many others express an interest in visiting a continent with such a hostile environment.

Background
Although 95 percent of Antarctica is covered with ice, there are rocks and soil under all that ice and the continent is twice the size of Australia. Antarctica is also our highest continent, with over half of the land over 6500 feet above sea level. The highest peak on Antarctica is over 11000 feet. Since Antarctica gets less than 4 inches of precipitation a year, all of it in the form of snow, it qualifies as a polar desert.

The ocean surrounding Antarctica is one of its most interesting features. The winds and sea currents interact ferociously, causing this area of the ocean to be very turbulent. The Antarctic Convergence is the region where the warm, saltier waters flowing south from South America meet the cold, dense and fresher waters moving north from Antarctica. These conflicting currents are constantly mixing and result in a very rich environment for an abundance of sea plankton. The plankton attracts large numbers of birds and sea mammals. The end result is the famous rough seas of the Drake Passage and Tierra del Fuego and the thousands of fascinating creatures that survive this inhospitable climate.

When to Go to Antarctica
The tourist season is only four months long in Antarctica-from November to February. The rest of the year is not only very cold-as low as 50 degrees below zero-but also dark or nearly dark most of the time. Even if you could stand the cold you couldn't see anything! Each month has its own attractions. November is early summer, and the birds are courting and mating. December and January feature hatching penguins and baby chicks, along with warmer temperatures and up to 20 hours of daylight each day. February is late summer, but the whale sightings are more frequent and the chicks are beginning to become fledglings. There is also less ice in the late summer, and the ships are not as booked up as earlier in the season.

Types of Cruise Ships Visiting Antarctica
Although explorers have sailed Antarctic waters since the 15th century, the first tourists didn't arrive until 1957 when a Pan American flight from Christchurch, New Zealand landed for a short time at McMurdo Sound. Tourism really picked up starting in the late 1960s when expedition tour operators began offering trips. The past few years, over 30 ships have carried tourists into Antarctic waters. Almost 30,000 of these tourists land ashore in Antarctica and another 13,000 either sail in Antarctic waters or fly over the continent. Ships vary in size from less than 50 to over 1000 passengers. The ships also vary in amenities, from basic supply vessels to small expedition ships to mainstream cruise ships to small luxury cruise ships such as the Hapag-Lloyd Hanseatic we sailed on.