LAMPUNG - BANDAR LAMPUNG SUMATRA ISLAND
The province of Lampung lies on the southernmost part of Sumatra Island. Its capital is Bandar Lampung.This province has many coffee plantations. Krakatau volcano is located in this province. The port of Bakaheuni in this province and the port of Merak in the province of Banten connected Sumatra and Java Islands.The Lampungnese are an ethnic group centered around the Province of Lampung in the Southern part of the island of Sumatera in Indonesia. Numbering approximately 5.5 million, the Lampungnese are Muslim. The language spoken by the Lampungnese is a mixture of Arabic,Chinese,Javanese,Bantenese and Sundanese,with a heavier influence from Chinese.Generally Lampungnese speakers can understand Chinese better than they can Bantenese.Lampung is a province of Indonesia,located on the southern tip of the island of Sumatra.It borders the provinces of
Bengkulu and South Sumatra. The original inhabitant of Lampung is the "Lampung" tribe, who speak a distinct language from other people in Sumatra and have their own alphabet.

The province has a population of 6,654,354 (2000 census). A large portion of the current population of Lampung is descended from migrants from Java, Madura, and Bali. These migrants came both spontaneously,in search of more land than was available on the more densely populated islands, as well as part of the government's transmigration program, for which Lampung was one of the earliest and most important transmigration destinations.

Lampung is commonly known for its geographical instability in terms of earthquakes and volcanoes. On May 10 2005, a strong earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale struck the province. The historical volcano blast of Krakatau occurred in 1883, which resulted in disastrous consequences.
Lampung is divided into 9 regencies:
* West Lampung
* South Lampung
* Central Lampung
* East Lampung
* North Lampung
* Way Kanan
* Tanggamus
* Tulang Bawang
* Pesawaran

and 2 cities: Bandar Lampung and Metro
Some of the major produce in the country includes robusta Coffee beans, Cocoa beans, coconuts and cloves. This has resulted in a thriving agricultural sector with companies like Nestlé procuring coffee beans from the region. This agriculture has included illegal growing in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. In addition, Nata de Coco is also manufactured in the region by domestic companies like Wong Coco.

Textile
Up until the 1920s, Lampung had a rich and varied weaving tradition. Lampung weaving used a supplementary weft technique which enabled coloured silk or cotton threads to be superimposed on a plainer cotton background. The most prominent Lampung textile was the palepai, ownership of which was restricted to the Lampung aristocracy of the Kalianda Bay area. There were two types of smaller cloths, known as tatibin and tampan, which could be owned and used by all levels of Lampungese society. Weaving technologies were spread throughout Lampung. High quality weavings were produced by the Paminggir, Krui, Abung and Pesisir peoples. Production was particularly prolific among the people of the Kalianda Bay area in the south and the Krui aristocracy in the north.

The oldest surviving examples of Lampung textiles date back to the eighteenth century,(citation needed) but some scholars believe that weaving may date back to the first millennium AD when Sumatra first came under Indian cultural influence.(attribution needed) The prevelance of Buddhist motifs, such as diamonds, suggests that the weaving traditions were already active in the time when Lampung came under the Buddhist Srivijayan rule. There are similarities between Lampung weaving and weaving traditions in some parts of modern-day Thailand that experienced cultural contact with Sriwijaya.

Lampung textiles were known as 'ship cloths' because ships are a common motif. The ship motif represents the transition from one realm of life to the next, for instances from boyhood to manhood or from being single to married and also represents the final transition to the afterlife.Traditionally, Lampung textiles were used as part of religious ceremonies such as weddings and circumcisions. For instance, the palepai cloths were used as long ceremonial wall-hangings behind the bridal party in aristocratic marriages. The smaller, more humble tampan cloths were exchanged between families at the time of weddings.

Production of many fine cloths blossomed in the late nineteenth century as Lampung grew rich on pepper production, but the devastating eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 destroyed many weaving villages in the Kalianda area.(citation needed) By the 1920s the increasing importance of Islam and the collapse of the pepper trade brought production to a halt.(citation needed) Today Lampung textiles are highly prized by collectors.

Bandar Lampung is the capital province of Lampung, Indonesia. It was formerly called Tanjungkarang-Telukbetung, the names of the two major sections of the city, before being renamed in 1983. For immigrants and travelers from Java, the city is the entry point to Sumatra, especially before the construction of the major harbor at Bakauheni, just south of Bandar Lampung.

The city's area is about 169.21 km², with a population of approximately 743,000 people.

Attractions
Bandar Lampung is suitable as a starting point for tours to Krakatoa. Other attractions around the city includes the Way Kambas Elephant Training Centre where visitors can enjoy activities like watching elephants play football or riding on the elephant around the area.

Way Kambas National Park is a large national park covering 1,300 square kilometres in Lampung province, southern Sumatra, Indonesia.

Way Kambas consists of swamp forest and lowland rain forest, but was extensively logged before becoming a reserve in 1972 so there is little primary forest. The reserve still has a few Sumatran Tigers and reasonable numbers of elephants. It is also provides excellent birdwatching, with the rare White-winged Duck among the species present. Accommodation is available at the village of Way Kanan, where there is a small guest house.

Krakatoa or Krakatau or Krakatao is a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. The name is used for the island group, the main island (also called Rakata), and the volcano as a whole. It has erupted repeatedly, massively, and with disastrous consequences throughout recorded history. The best known eruption culminated in a series of massive explosions on August 26-27 1883.

The 1883 eruption ejected more than 25 cubic kilometers of rock, ash, and pumice, and generated the loudest sound historically reported: the cataclysmic explosion was distinctly heard as far away as Perth in Australia approx. 1,930 miles (3,110 km), and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius approx. 3,000 miles (5,000 km). Near Krakatoa, according to official records, 165 villages and towns were destroyed and 132 seriously damaged, at least 36,417 (official toll) people died, and many thousands were injured by the eruption, mostly from the tsunamis which followed the explosion.

The eruption destroyed two thirds of the island of Krakatoa. Eruptions at the volcano since 1927 have built a new island in the same location, called Anak Krakatau (child of Krakatoa).

PLACE OF INTEREST

Bandar Lampung
The capital of Lampung has several interesting places such as the Museum and the Monument of the Krakatau Eruption. Worth while seeing or doing is the weaving process of Tapis textile, art and dance performances or just sunbathing on the beach.

Museum of Lampung
Located at Teuku Umar Street, it can be reached within 15 minutes from the centre of Bandar Lampung. It contains ethnographic and archaeological collections, Chinese ceramics, traditional music instruments, ancient Tapis cloth and ornaments.

Way Kambas Reserve and Way Wako River
Way Kambas is 2 hours drive from Bandar Lampung. 130,000 hectares of area on Lampung's East coast Way Kambas is the best place to watch wild Sumatran elephants, tigers and many species of birds. Motorboats can be hired at Way Kanan for cruising around and up the river.

Way Kanan River
Here we can sail along Way Kanan and Way Kambas by canoe or boat to watch the surrounding flora and fauna while in the mouth of Way Kambas, we can do fishing and swimming. In the morning, we can safari for 2 hours through the prepared track and listening wild animals roaring and birds singing.

Elephant Training Centre
Way Kambas Elephant Training is an international project which is partly funded by the World Wildlife Fund. The aim of training them is to make the captured elephant be useful to mankind.
Most visitors come to Way Kambas to see the training centre and to have an opportunity to ride on an elephant.
Simple tourist facilities are available at Way Kanan such as lodges, wooden houses on poles, river boats and an observation centre. Way Kambas is accessible by car from Bandar Lampung. The activities and special interests are bird watching, jungle tracking, seasons of elephants safari, and river cruises.

Krakatau
An uninhabited island Krakatau is located on the southern part of the Bay of Lampung. Krakatau is reachable in three hours by boat from Canti, a fisherman village near Kalianda, South Lampung. This group of islands consists of four islands, one of them is called Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau) which has grown higher every year. Anak Krakatau has emerged from the bottom of the sea between three other islands by early 1928 or 45 years after its 1883 formidable eruption.

Pugung Archaeological Site
Located in Pugung Raharjo village, 40 kms northeast of Bandar Lampung is a site of megalith and prehistoric relics as well as of the classical Hindu Buddhist period. There are primitive trenched fortresses which almost surround its site. Stone inscription, ancient Chinese porcelains, Polynerian statue and the statue of Bodhisatwa are at the museum, a house on poles located on the way to Pugung Raharjo.

Merak Belantung Beach
Located 40 kms south of Bandar Lampung on the way to the seaport of Bekauheni. The beach is ideal for swimming and wind surfing. Cottages and equipment for wind surfing are available.

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