Jalan2Asia-SmallGroupTour.html

In addition to our regular annual small group tours to Bali, Thailand, and Cambodia, we are featuring two new tours in 2011: Textile Tour to Bali and Yogyakarta and Birds of North Borneo.

Textile Tour of Bali and Yogyakarta
Jalan Jalan Asia is collaborating with Threads of Life in Ubud, Bali and with world-renown batik artists Agus and Nia Ismoyo in Java to lead a very special textile tour to Bali and Yogyakarta. Textiles play a very important role in Indonesian culture in everyday life, major life passages, and ceremonies. Similar to the way that yarns are woven together to create a whole cloth, textiles serve as a unifying cultural element among the vast Indonesian archipelago of over 17,500 islands. Recognizing the significant role of textiles in Indonesian culture, Threads of Life was created as a fair trade business that uses culture and conservation to alleviate poverty in rural Indonesia. The heirloom-quality textiles and baskets it commissions are made with local materials and natural dyes. The proceeds from the Threads of Life gallery help weavers form independent cooperatives and manage their resources sustainably. This is exactly the type of collaboration that Jalan Jalan Asia seeks in our tours so our travels have a positive social change impact.

The next leg of our textile adventure is to Yogyakarta on the island of Java. Yogyakarta has long been known as the cradle of Javanese culture because of its rich history and culture. It was here in central Java that the once-prosperous and powerful Ancient Mataram Kingdom built Borobudur in the ninth century—the largest Buddhist monument outside of India. Gamelan, classical Javanese dances, wayang kulit (leather shadow puppet), theatre, and other traditional arts flourished in the region. Local craftspeople excel in arts such as batik, silver, and leather works. Our tour to Yogyakarta is an excellent opportunity to experience Javanese culture and food, meet batik artisans and learn more about batik, and tour the famous Borobudur Buddhist monument and the Hindu Prambanan Temple complex, both built about 300 years before Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Birds of North Borneo (Sabah)
Our north Borneo (Sabah) birding tour is three years in the making. Through our extensive research, we have crafted an excellent tour that offers a diversity of birding experiences. Borneo has between 630 and 664 species of birds.   Of these, as many as 51 species are endemic to the island (meaning they are found only in a particular geographic region). Our tour visits diverse forest systems and landscapes, offering ample opportunities to experience Sabah’s rich avifauna and to spot some of the world’s rarest birds. In keeping with Jalan Jalan Asia’s philosophy of “keeping it local” to benefit the community, we have found one of Sabah’s best birding guides to lead our tour. We are very excited about this new offering.

Everyday Bali and Lombok                May 10 – 23 (14D/13N) BALI-LMBK-11

Experience an ancient, exotic culture through its art, music, dance, and more. Go on nature treks, savor divine Balinese food, visit a spice plantation, stroll through quaint villages, and pamper yourself at a seaside paradise. This is a vacation that exceeds your imagination.

Price: USD 3,288 plus local airfares to Lombok estimated at USD 245/person

Textile Tour of Bali and Yogyakarta        September 19 – October 3 (14D/13N) BALI-YOGY-11

Our gateway to this enchanting world of textiles is through the island of Bali, where we steep ourselves in the island’s rich traditions during six days in the cultural center of Ubud and three days on the coast of east Bali. Here we will receive perceptive introductions to the local culture, see world-class dance troupes, walk through early-morning rice fields, and gain our introduction to the textile arts through the Threads of Life gallery and the YPBB Foundation. Visits with master weavers across the island will offer unique insights into the forces at play in the contemporary tradition, explain what Threads of Life and the YPBB Foundation are doing to sustain these traditions, and expose us to some fabulous textiles. The next part of this tour takes us to the old city of Yogyakarta on the island of Java to experience Javanese textile arts, food, dance, and culture.

Price: USD 3,488 plus local airfares to Yogyakarta (estimated at USD 245/person)

Birds of North Borneo (Sabah)       October 12 – 28 (17D/16N)
SABAH-BIRD-11

Your birding adventure takes you from the montane forest of Sabah’s Kinabalu National Park to an orangutan rehabilitation center in Sepilok, a river cruise along the Kinabatangan River, the lowland rainforests of the Danum Valley, and the tropical paradise islands in the South China Sea. You will have countless opportunities to spot hornbills, trogons, bee eaters, barbets, spiderhunters, flowerpeckers, the rare and unique Borneo bristlehead, pitas, cuckoos, and bulbuls—just to name a handful of bird types! Equally exciting is you may also get to meet orangutans, pygmy elephants, all kinds of monkeys, including the strange-looking proboscis monkey, and maybe even a tarsier. Don’t know what a tarsier is? Well, you’ve got to go to meet one!
Price: Please email us for more information.

Borneo Rainforest Adventure     October 12 – October 27 (16D/15N)
code #: BORNEO-RA-11

Escape to nature — Trek though an ancient rainforest, unchanged for millions of years, that was once the land of the formidable headhunters. Explore the magnificent caves of Mulu National Park, a designated UNESCO World Heritage site. Learn about medicinal plants of the forest. View the jungle from 100 feet above the forest floor on the world’s longest tree-based canopy walk. More rainforest adventures await you in the northern Borneo state of Sabah, where you will meet the great ape – the Orang Utan, spot several species of hornbills, see the unusual proboscis monkeys, and perhaps even catch a glimpse of the rare Borneo pygmy elephant in its natural habitat. This itinerary offers rainforest treks, cultural discoveries, tours of the Mulu show caves, a close-up look at wildlife and plants, and relaxation at a luxurious beach resort. This is the ultimate vacation of adventure AND relaxation. This tour may be extended to include a snorkeling/diving adventure to Sipadan Island, rated as one of the world’s top dive sites (Please e-mail us for more information).

Price: Please email us for more information.

Culinary Thailand                      November 6 - 20 (15D/14N)
THAI-CLNY-11

Learn to cook Thai cuisine at the world-renowned cooking schools in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and a small Thai village. Visit a local market and surround yourself with fragrant wafts of simmering foods, shouts of stall vendors, colorful wares, and happy crowds of people. Explore ancient golden temples, cruise through a floating market, and end your vacation at a picturesque tropical beach resort. Note: Alternate activities can be arranged for those who do not wish to participate in the cooking classes.

Price: USD 3,588

Extend your Culinary Thailand tour by another 5 days to……

Temples of Angkor (Siem Reap, Cambodia) November 20 – 24 (5D/4N)
CAMB-AGKR-11

Visit the UNESCO World Heritage City of Siem Reap, Cambodia, home to the magnificent Temples of Angkor. Marvel at these ancient ruins that were once hidden deep in a lush tropical jungle. This is an add-on module to the Culinary Thailand tour. Note: Days 5 and 6 will be spent in Bangkok.

Price: USD 1,500 (includes return airfare from Bangkok to Siem Reap)

UPCOMING TOURS IN 2012:

Email us for more information about any of these upcoming tours:*

Culinary and Cultural tour of Vietnam (mid January 2012)

Textile Tour to Bali and Yogyakarta (March 2012) – FULL! Accepting names for waiting list

Birding Tour to Sabah, north Borneo (mid-May – early June 2012)

Volunteer Vacations in Bali (June –July 2012)

Culinary Tour of Malaysia (August 2012)

Sulawesi, Indonesia (mid-September 2012)

Diving and Snorkeling Tour in Sabah, north Borneo (October 2012)

Cambodia and Laos Discovery (November 2012)

Textile Tour to Thailand and Laos (November-December 2012)

Note: *   Our small group tours are limited to 14 people, except birding tours, which are limited to 10. Schedules are tentative and subject to postponement or cancellation, depending on the number of bookings or level of interest. A tour will not be cancelled if at least six bookings have been made.

If you’d like more information on any of these exciting tours, please visit our website www.jalan2asia.com or e-mail us at info@jalan2asia.com.

We’re also available to lead custom tours to any destination in S.E. Asia.
E-mail us to start the process of designing your very own tour, based on your interests, traveling style, preferences, and budget.

2011 SMALL GROUP TOURS

Journeys That Stir The Senses ...