Text 1 Komodo island is located between Sumbawaand Flores, along western Nusa Tenggara Timur, and is popular for the presence of giant Monitor Lizards known as Komodo Dragons. The island is arid, rugged and barren and forms a part of the Komodo National Park and Marine Reserve. Aerial views prove that it is inarguably, among the most beautiful places in Indonesia. The best time to visit the park is during the dry season, which runs from April to December. Besides spotting endangered Komodo dragons, a range of activities can be enjoyed at the Komodo National Park such as go for kayaking, diving, trekking or the guided island tours. Around Komodo Island can be relatively easy, but to get to Komodo, you first need to travel to Bali and then to Labuan Bajo by either plane or boat, and finally to Komodo Island by boat. A couple of local airlines fly from Bali to Labuan Bajo on Flores Island. Text 2 The Taj Mahal is a white marble mausoleum recognised as 'the jewel of Muslim art in India'. It is regarded as one of the finest examples of Mughal architecture – an amalgamation of Persian, Turkish and Indian styles. The most impressive in the Taj Mahal complex next to the tomb, is the main gate, which stands majestically in the centre of the southern wall of the forecourt. The gate is flanked on the north front by double arcade galleries. The garden in front of the galleries is subdivided into four quarters by two main walkways and each quarters in turn subdivided by the narrower cross-axial walkways, on the Timurid-Persian scheme of the walled in garden. The enclosure walls on the east and west have a pavilion at the centre. The Taj Mahal is a perfect symmetrical planned building, with an emphasis of bilateral symmetry along a central axis on which the main features are placed. The building material used is brick-in-lime mortar veneered with red sandstone and marble and inlay work of precious/semi precious stones. The mosque and the guest house in the Taj Mahal complex are built of red sandstone in contrast to the marble tomb in the centre. Both the buildings have a large platform over the terrace at their front. Both the mosque and the guest house are the identical structures. They have an oblong massive prayer hall consist of three vaulted bays arranged in a row with central dominant portal. The frame of the portal arches and the spandrels are veneered in white marble. The spandrels are filled with flowery arabesques of stone intarsia and the arches bordered with rope molding. The Taj Mahal is located on the right bank of the Yamuna River in a vast Mughal garden that encompasses nearly 17 hectares, in the Agra District in Uttar Pradesh. It was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal with construction starting in 1632 AD and completed in 1648 AD, with the mosque, the guest house and the main gateway on the south, the outer courtyard and its cloisters were added subsequently and completed in 1653 AD. The existence of several historical and Qur’anic inscriptions in Arabic script have facilitated setting the chronology of Taj Mahal. Text 3 Derawan Island is a favorite place for exploring marine life. There are many rare animals such as the green turtle, the scarlet turtle, star fruit turtle and sea cow. The place is also home to many rare species of marine plants and coral reef. It is also a good place for scuba diving, pearl diving, fishing, swimming and other water sports. The entire marine conservancy region covers a total area of no less than 1.27 million hectares. It is the perfect tropical qparadise with warm, isolated islands, soft white sand beaches fringed with waving palm trees, pristine seas that change color from green to deep blue, and an amazing underwater life of giant turtles, dolphins, manta rays, dugongs and barracudas, stingless jellyfish and sometimes, whales. Here, you can find 460 different species of corals, ranking this area second only to the Raja Ampat Islands in West Papua. The Nature Conservancy and a team of international experts also found more than 870 species of fish here, ranging from tiny pygmy seahorses to giant manta rays. So, if you love marine life and water sport, Darawan island is waiting for you. It is located just away from the mainland of East Kalimantan in the district of Berau, the Derawan archipelago comprises 31 islands, most well-known among these are the islands of Derawan, Maratua, Sangalaki and Kakaban. Here is Indonesia’s largest nesting site of the rare and endangered giant green turtles and hawksbill turtles, where one can daily watch turtles lay their eggs in the sand or swim to sea with the turtles. The best time to visit this fascinating island is during the months of September and March, when temperatures are much cooler-in the vicinity of 27°C with pleasant sea breezes. Practice 3: Read out those texts (text 1, 2, and 3) one more time then answer these questions. a. What is the text about?