Brilio.net/en - If you are in Bali and curious about the other parts of Indonesia but dont have enough time to visit all the 34 provinces on your vacation, you can head to Gianyar and spare a day to explore Taman Nusa. Taman means park and nusa means a place that we can live in, or also used to mention the Indonesian archipelago. Located only 45 minutes away from Denpasar at Jalan Taman Bali, Sidan Village, in the Gianyar Regency, the cultural park is built on 15 hectares of land with contouring landscape. By also preserving the vegetation, visitors can enjoy the cultural traditions, arts and crafts, music, and architecture of Indonesias 34 provinces and the scenic lush rainforest which surrounds the park.
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The museum and entrance
The park offers a taste of Indonesia throughout the ages, from prehistoric area, bronze age, kingdom age, cultural village, early Indonesia, Indonesian independence, present-day Indonesia, to the future of Indonesia. The tour will begin as you enter the museum and library, where they place some of Indonesian arts and crafts with introduction video that shows the real lives of Indonesian tribes.
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You can try touching the statue inside the stupa on this replica of Borobudur temple
You will then have to go on the path they already design by entering the prehistoric cave and onto the bronze age and listening to the explanation they recorded. They have the replica of Borobudur, the 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple with the stones collected from Mount Merapi and carved copying the real reliefs. They even have the Chinatown, Trowulan temple, Sumpah Pemuda gate, and Indonesian proclamator statues besides the cultural village.
The path you will go on tour through the cultural village
Meanwhile the cultural village is a big complex of over 60 real traditional homes from all over Indonesia, laid out in such way that make you feel as if visiting the tribes homes and meeting with the real tribespeople. Although not all of the homes have a guide, at least you can see the description and pictures hung on the house exterior walls or listen to the recorded introduction. Each homes are recreated from their origins and build-up on this park, complete with the decorations or crafts. You can see the similarity or difference of each ethnic in Indonesia and their signature touches. They also include some of the famous monuments from some tribes, including the wall tomb Goa Londa of Toraja, sarcophaguses of Minahasa and Batak Toba, and the stacked stones for Hombo Batu (jumping off the stone) tradition of Nias.
West Kalimantan ornamental pattern carved on wood to make a drum
At some points there are art performances that you can watch, such as: kolintang music from Toraja, North Sulawesi; tari piring (plate dance) from Mandailing, Sumatra; music from Batak Toba, Sumatra; and angklung music from West Java. There are also craft demonstrations in each homes if there is any guide available, such as: weaving scarf in Nusa Tenggara; painting eggs in Bali; plaiting floor mats and building ships in Sulawesi; playing egrang (stilts) and carving in South Kalimantan; weaving and painting batik in Java; amongst many other cultural activities. On each performances and demonstrations you can participate or try by yourself to have a feel of how they do each of their traditions.
The famous wall tomb Goa Londa of Toraja, Sulawesi
Ending your tour, you can visit their miniature train diorama with 50 units of locomotive and 300 carriages inside a 200 square meters modern building as a sight of present-day Indonesia. Then, you can have another tour inside the library and museum, with beautiful Indonesian textiles, either embroidered, woven or painted with batik, and many types of wayang (puppets). They also sell souvenirs you can bring home too.
Cultural object display in the museum
If you are interested to have a tour, be sure you bring enough money because no outside food and beverages are allowed. There are restaurants and snack stalls available within the complex with reasonable price, so you dont have to worry about it. For the admission, the price for children starts from IDR 230,000 (USD 17.5) and for adults starts from IDR 350,000 (USD 26.5). There are additional fees for traditional Javanese costume photo, lunch set menu, and tour guide. These prices are available until March 2017 and higher prices will apply after. The park is open everyday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or you can check their website for more details.