Sianok canyon that served "Delicious"

Impian Monalisa-Dish in the universe, chew with curiosity. Because the feelings that lay behind it you will not find in the desk ... .. (The Journey, Gola Gong, 2008)
An introduction is presented Gola Gong in his book The Journey, published last year looked at the beauty of the canyon ringing when Sianok in Bukit Tinggi, West Sumatra. How might O God? How can it be like this?

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Alaska winter trip: Northern Lights and much more

Impian Monalisa-Last winter, my 10-year-old son and I headed to a destination that had friends and family wondering if we'd lost our minds.

We went to Fairbanks. In February.

We hoped to see the Northern Lights, though we knew there were no guarantees. If you stay three nights in the area, locals say you have a 75 percent likelihood of witnessing the phenomenon, but cloud cover or snow falling can ruin your chances. We got lucky, and saw them twice on a three-night stay.

The Aurora Borealis spins above the Talkeetna Range and a hay field on Farm Loop Road near Palmer, Alaska. (AP/Bob Martinson, File)

But while we went to see the aurora borealis, we ended up doing so much more. In Fairbanks, we visited an ice park, saw ice sculptures and toured the Museum of the North. At Chena Hot Springs Resort, about 60 miles from Fairbanks, we went dogsledding and snowmobiling, soaked in an outdoor hot tub surrounded by snow, and visited an ice museum and geothermal energy plant.

We don't get much snow in New York City, where we live, so the trip also cured our snow deficit. My son Nathaniel loved rolling down snowy hills and climbing up snowpacked river banks.

We'd been to Alaska once before - like most tourists, in the summer. We fell in love with the landscape and wildlife, and became obsessed with everything about the state. We read books, talked endlessly about our trip (him in school, me at work), showed off our photos, and quizzed anyone we met who'd been there.

Only about 250,000 tourists venture to Alaska between October and April (compared to some 1.7 million summer visitors). But most winter tourists are like us - 75 percent are making their second trip to the state, according to the most recent data from the Alaska Visitor Statistics Program.

My husband and teenage son declined to accompany us, although they had been on the summer trip. Husband said he had to work; teenager headed to a warm beach with a friend's family. I wondered if they were right to take a pass when I checked the weather in Fairbanks a few weeks before our trip: Temperatures in early February had set record lows in the minus 40s and 50s.

We bought special gloves, socks and face protectors, borrowed ski outerwear from relatives, and hoped it would warm up. It did, with temps in the 20s and 30s - above zero. We were fine outside for hours at a time.

We also experienced an unexpected cultural immersion. Charter flights from Tokyo bring thousands of Japanese visitors to Alaska each winter. Seeing the Northern Lights is "on their life list," explained Chena spokeswoman Denise Ferree. It's also part of Japanese culture's "traditional reverence for and appreciation of the beauty of nature," said Colin Lawrence, director of tourism for the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Watching these Japanese visitors waiting outside in the snow, sometimes for hours, all bundled up, for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the aurora borealis, was inspiring. Like a lot of Americans, patience is not my strong suit. But my son and I shared the Japanese tourists' exclamations of joy when we spotted the Northern Lights.

If all this gets you dreaming of your own magical visit to Alaska this winter, the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau can help: http://www.explorefairbanks.com , 800-327-5774. Meanwhile, here are highlights and practical information from our trip.

DAY 1: We landed in Fairbanks late afternoon, headed to our hotel for dinner and a nap (Alaska is four hours earlier than East Coast time). We set an alarm to be up for a 10 p.m. pickup to see the Northern Lights at the Aurora Borealis Lodge. Lodge owner Mok Kumagai picks guests up at hotels downtown, and takes them away from city lights to see the aurora. We stayed at his home until 2 a.m., napping in his loft before being awakened by exclamations of "Aurora!" from his Japanese guests when the light show began. Details at http://www.auroracabin.com or 907-389-2812, $75 a person; overnight accommodations, $169-$224.

DAYS 2 AND 3: We previewed Fairbanks' Ice Park, where the World Ice Art Championships take place. The park has slides and other playground structures made from ice, along with larger-than-life ice sculptures. Open Feb. 24-March 22, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; http://www.icealaska.com . The sculptors do their chiseling and carving Feb. 24-26, and March 1-6, with the creations finished and lighted on Feb. 27 and March 7.

Then we headed to Chena Hot Springs Resort, http://www.chenahotsprings.com or 907-451-8104 (nightly room rates start at $179 a night; packages available; van transportation from Fairbanks can be arranged 72 hours in advance for a fee). Our visit included dogsledding through snowy woods; visiting and playing with sled dogs and their puppies; our first-ever snowmobiling adventure, with a guide; dips in the hot tubs and hot lake, where the water is 165 degrees (children are not allowed in the lake but they can try the outdoor tub and indoor pool); and tours of the resort's Aurora Ice Museum and geothermal energy plant. The resort also offers horsedrawn sleigh rides, flightseeing and therapeutic massage.

Steam rises from Hot Springs Rock Lake surrounded by the snowy landscape at Chena Hot Springs Resort in Alaska. (AP/Beth J Harpaz)

Chena Hot Springs, which is open year-round, was discovered in 1905 by surveyors and enjoyed by goldminers of the era. Today the resort uses the springs' naturally hot water to generate all its own energy; indoor temperatures are toasty, and my son loved learning about the science behind the power plant on a tour.

The ice museum, from the outside, looks like a giant igloo. Inside are whimsical ice carvings of animals, chess pieces, and furniture. I had an "appletini" drink in a glass carved from ice, at a bar carved from ice. Colored lights infuse the place with psychedelic hues.

A few tips: You can rent parkas and boots from the resort if you lack cold weather gear. The resort is literally off the grid; there is no town nearby, so you'll be eating all your meals there. We found the food good and reasonably priced; yummy salads are made from lettuce grown onsite in a geothermally heated greenhouse.

The water from the springs is sulphuric, and some people don't like the odor. It didn't bother us; we were too taken with the novelty of sitting outside in our bathing suits, surrounded by snow. Internet service is only available in the activities center, so you won't be checking your e-mail every minute. We brought a laptop, DVDs and books, but we were so tired staying up to look for the Northern Lights that most of our downtime was spent napping.

DAY 4: Back in Fairbanks, my son had a blast climbing up and down the snowy banks of the Chena River. Then we headed out to the Museum of the North, at the University of Alaska campus (a $15-$20 taxi ride from downtown, or take the Airlink shuttle from the airport). My son was fascinated by displays on Alaska's animals, from prehistoric creatures like mammoths and mastodons, to bears and wolves. I liked the history of the goldminers, the frontier era and Native culture. Don't miss the museum's unique sound-light installation, called "The Place Where You Go To Listen." Computers create sounds and images using real-time data from seismic stations and magnetometers that track earthquake and auroral activity, and the colors and sounds in the installation change with the position of the sun. Museum winter hours: Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (holiday schedule, Dec. 26-Jan. 4, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily), admission $10, http://www.uaf.edu/museum/ .

Fairbanks' many restaurants include 25 offering Asian cuisine. We ate at Lemongrass, one of 10 local Thai eateries, before heading back east.

There was no snow when we got home; we put away our ski gloves. And the trip didn't cure our Alaska obsession. We're still reading books about Alaska (my son surprised his fifth-grade teacher by tackling Jack London), and we're dreaming of our next trip - to the Arctic Circle. /Beth J. Harpaz

Jordan lures eco-tourists with waterfalls, canyons

Impian Monalisa-Mujib Mountains rising behind the Dana reserve in southern Jordan. (AP/Nader Daoud, File)

A trek uphill from Jordan's scorching Dead Sea shore through the towering sandstone walls of the Mujib gorge leaves you with a pulse-racing way to get back down — strap into a harness and rappel down a waterfall into a sparkling river.

Jordan, home of the ancient red-rock city of Petra, is reaching beyond its considerable historical and Biblical tourist attractions to try to capture a stake in the growing outdoor adventure and eco-tourism market.

Besides the Mujib gorge — which has the distinction of being the lowest elevation nature reserve in the world — Jordan is marketing places like the wooded highlands and rocky slopes of the Dana Reserve in the country's south. Visitors there take in views of massive domelike clusters of red-beige rock and — with luck — might catch a glimpse of the shy mountain ibex before settling in for the night at a camp site, rustic guesthouse or the reserve's candlelit eco-lodge.

The desert kingdom's effort to lure eco-tourists — 66,000 came last year among a total of 3.4 million tourists — seeks to reap the benefits of four decades of pioneering wildlife and nature conservation.

Environmentalists supported by then-ruler King Hussein founded The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature in 1966 at a time when war with Israel, not ecological conservation, dominated most Arab agendas.

"The area was in turmoil," said the society's director, Yehya Khaled. "The following year we had a war between the Arabs and Israel."

Since then, the non-governmental organization has led environmental education programs, set a national environmental strategy and established and maintained eight nature reserves so far.

Other countries in the Middle East are following Jordan's lead.

In the United Arab Emirates, for example, Dubai's dune-rippled Desert Conservation Reserve was recognized in November as a protected area by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, thanks in part to its sustainable tourism program and its re-introduction of Arabian oryx and gazelles.

Among the region's more far-flung places, Yemen's island of Socotra is also drawing determined eco-tourists and has been compared to the Galapagos because of its hundreds of species of plants and animals that are found nowhere else on earth.

Jordan, for its part, has even dispatched its cause-crusading Queen Rania, known for her activism on issues like poverty and education, to boost eco-tourism numbers. She promoted the country's natural heritage recently at a Conde Nast travel forum in New York.

"If you want adventure, you can abseil (rope) down waterfalls, paraglide off sandstone crags, navigate Red Sea reefs, then cook supper deep in the desert sands of Wadi Rum," she told an audience of hundreds of travel industry leaders.

Such exhilaration can be had along one of the trails through the Mujib gorge. From the edge of the Dead Sea, it winds up through hills and descends to the Mujib river via a rope rappel down a 65-foot waterfall. Along the way, you can stop and cool off in natural pools.

The country's reserves are also great places to spot wildlife. Jordan's conservation efforts included the 1978 reintroduction of the once nearly extinct Arabian oryx, an elegant white antelope native to the Arabian Peninsula.

wild flowers in front of tents at the Dana reserve in southern Jordan. (AP/Nader Daoud, File)

The Dana Reserve is home to the Syrian wolf and other endangered animals, as well as 700 plant species, including Jordan's rare national flower, the black iris, and 215 kinds of birds. You might even cross paths with a horned ibex.

In establishing the reserve in the 1990s, Jordan also resurrected the fortunes of a dying Bedouin village there, providing residents with jobs helping run the reserve.

With Dana and the other reserves, The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature also helps market and sell hand-crafted silver jewelry, organic jams and olive oil produced by the local communities through its Wild Jordan division.

Officials at Dana also took into account the area's broader environmental problems, including by setting up a sustainable grazing program for Bedouin goat herders.

"We're ahead of the entire Mideast region. We've introduced integrating biodiversity conservation with sustainable community and socio-economic development," conservation society director Khaled said.

The conservation society, which is looking to establish nine more reserves, hopes eco-tourism will serve as the main source of income for the work.

Dana is the country's largest reserve, covering some 190 square miles.

It is a place of startling variety.

Lush mountains as high as 4,900 feet descend to open woodlands of juniper and oak. And farther down sits scrubland and sandy desert below sea level.

"Your walk may start in snow and after four hours you'll only need a T-shirt. You're still in Dana, but it feels like a different country," said local guide Tayseer al-Qtashat.

The reserve has 11 walks ranging from a gentle one-hour jaunt to a more invigorating 10-hour trek that demands some climbing and swimming.

Dana and three other natural sites in Jordan — the Azraq Wetlands, Mujib and Wadi Rum — are soon to be added to UNESCO's World Heritage List, which already includes other Jordanian favorites such as Petra, Qasayr Amra and Umm Rasas.

American tourist Daniel Dyer, from New Jersey, has visited several of Jordan's nature reserves and said he plans to keep coming back, especially to Dana.

"There is drama here. Such natural beauty is exceptional," Dyer said. "I'd have to agree with Queen Noor who called the views here nothing less than '10-star.'"

Skiing at Mount Bachelor, a West Coast favorite

Impian Monalisa-A skier dropping off of a cornice from the summit at Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort near Bend, Ore. (AP/Mt. Bachelor, Inc.)

Deep powder is standard issue at Mount Bachelor, a West coast favorite that averages 400 inches of snow per season, just 20 miles from the outdoors haven of Bend, Oregon.

Framed by towering ponderosas and crackling pines, Bend is home to world-class cyclists, triathletes, kayakers and rock climbers.

The local population has quadrupled in the past 20 years, but the town's core of 70,000 are friendly and eager to get outside and play.

Named one of the five best little ski towns in America by Travel + Leisure magazine's December issue, and one of Outside magazine's best towns last year, Bend is surrounded by 2 million acres of national forest, roaring rivers and of course, the Cascade Mountains.

A logging town that hasn't forgotten its roots, the earthy, laid-back community has Craftsman-style architecture, a buzzing downtown and an exceptional culinary scene.

More than half of the people here have a dog, and you're likely to see Subarus with roof racks crowding nearly every parking lot in town.

On the slopes, there are 10 lifts, several terrain parks, more than 31 miles of Nordic trails, and a tubing hill.

At a little over 9,000 feet, this is a mountain known for exceptionally long seasons that stretch into May. It's also a dormant volcano that regularly breathes steam through tiny cracks. The vents are so small, you ski right over them, but the heat melts snow around the crevices, which can be seen if you happen to look.

Lift tickets are $58 ($69 on Saturdays and on holidays) for adults and $14 to $17 for Nordic skiing.

On the mountain's cloudy days, skiers should try the Outback chair, on the northwest shoulder of the mountain, where conditions are often pristine and runs feature the best moguls.

Boarders will likely feel at home in the Superpipe, which has been home to the Chevy Truck US Snowboard Grand Prix and 2006 Olympic Qualifier.

Both boarders and skiers alike should hit up the Summit chair on clear days . Bombing down the longest run on the mountain is a 3,365-foot straight shot with breathtaking views that make the chilly ride to the top well worth it.

The Pine Marten Lodge at Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort near Bend, Ore. (AP/Mt. Bachelor, Inc.)

If you get hungry, try the mid-mountain Pine Marten Lodge's Scapolo's for lunch, and at the end of the day, the Clearing Rock Bar in the West Village Lodge.

Back in town, there are a lot of choices.

With more than six homegrown breweries, nightlife in this town is defined by grabbing a pint and warming up by the fire. Check out Deschutes Brewery, 1044 Bond St., which features more than 18 taps. Be sure to try Jubelale, a seasonal winter ale brewed for just a few months each year during the holiday season.

But if you tire of long lines at Deschutes, head down the street to the Silver Moon Brewing, 24 NW Greenwood Ave, which offers the cheapest craft brews in town at $3.

For dinner, wander downtown to grab a bite at Merenda, 900 NW Wall St., for tapas-style offerings of small plates and an extensive wine bar.

Other surefire bets are Zydeco, 185 SE Third St., where fresh local ingredients, northwest flare and Cajun spice collide, and The Decoy Bar and Grill, 1051 Bond St., a newcomer that's turning heads.

For meals that are easier on the wallet, check out Parilla Grill, 635 NW 14th St., and order the fish tacos, made with fresh snapper, with the "rerecommendations." The homemade corn salsa, cheese, and special sauce make this a meal to remember.

After the sun goes down, there's still plenty to keep you busy.

Head to McMenamin's Old St. Francis, 700 NW Bond St., a Catholic school turned hotel (doubles from $104). In addition to a billiards room, Turkish soaking bath and cigar bar, the downtown hotspot is home to concerts and shows $3 movies in a theater filled with couches. The staff will deliver pizza and beer right to your seat during the show.

Outdoors lovers may want to hook up with Wanderlust Tours — http://www.wanderlusttours.com — to spend a night trekking on a moonlight snowshoe tour or relaxing by a bonfire on the snow.

Or, for a winter classic, head up to the Seventh Mountain Resort — http://www.seventhmountain.com — and strap on some ice skates to twirl under the lights on an old-school outdoor rink.

After a solid night's sleep - try McMenamin's or Sunriver Resort, http://www.sunriver-resort.com - it's likely snow hounds will be ready to get back on the slopes.

Save on gas and grab the mountain's Super Shuttle ($7 one way), which leaves almost every hour from the Bend Park-N-Ride on the corner of Simpson and Colorado.

Before you go, don't forget to grab the most important meal of the day. Locals suggest the Victorian Cafe, 1404 NW Galveston Ave., for eggs Benedict and Bloody Marys that draw crowds each weekend.

For a breakfast on the go, try Nancy P's Baking Company, 1054 NW Milwaukie Ave., home of killer marionberry scones and a yogurt parfait that will keep you full until nightfall.

If some of your crew is staying in town, stop by the Old Mill District, the former site of the Brooks-Scanlon Mill, now a vibrant 49-store shopping complex in the heart of Bend's west side.

Farther south you'll find Factory Outlets, 61334 S. Highway 97, where bargain-hunters can grab deals from Oregon-based Columbia Sportswear and Nike.

For kids, the Working Wonders Children's Museum, http://www.workingwonders.org, or High Desert Museum, http://www.highdesertmuseum.org, are great ways to spend the afternoon.

Or, if you're looking for a family adventure, visit the Oregon Trail of Dreams, 800-829-2442, where musher Jerry Scdoris leads daily dogsled trips.

Although real estate and second-home development has softened here as elsewhere with the economic downturn, Bend is still a slam dunk for skiers and boarders looking for a weekend getaway. And despite all of its tourist draws and attractions, the town hasn't lost its hometown feel.

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If You Go...

MOUNT BACHELOR: About 20 miles from Bend, Ore., and 185 miles from Portland. Ski resort: http://www.mtbachelor.com/ or 800-829-2442. Check Web site for "ski free" with lodging packages. Lift ticket, $58 daily ($69 Saturdays and holidays). Discounts for teenagers, children, seniors and adaptive skiers.

After Sunrise at Dieng Hill

after sunrise at dieng hill, all you can see at dieng hill.

Bromo and Semeru

Each day a different image or photograph is featured, with an
accompanying caption, which deals with various topics in Earth Science.

Bromo and Semeru

Provided by:
Dennis Walton, If you're interested in studying volcanism, Indonesia should be on your "to visit" list. The island of Java has more volcanoes than any other island in the world. At last count, 128 were active and 65 considered dangerous. The photo above, taken on May 31, 2003, shows 2 of these active volcanos. Mt. Semeru, in the background, at 12,066 foot (3,678 m) is the tallest volcano on Java, and Mt. Bromo, in the foreground, is the center piece of a beautiful national park.