Lost in the garden!?

Sunny day @ Kebun Raya Bogor or Bogor Botanical Garden. Located aproximately 60km south of jakarta, i got there by car. With enterance fee of  thirty thousand rupiah (one car and two passenger) we venture into the deep and vast garden or a little forest i say. For you who like to feel lost in the jungle, you can take a walk through the trees and bushes and maybe you can found a spot where anyone hardly know (^_^).

But good to say that the air in here are so fresh and you can found an orchard plantation here as well. Ususally it’s raining in Bogor but today the sky is clear as the blue ocean and so the hunting begin.

Here’s a little about Kebun Raya Bogor : The garden was established in 1817 (as Lands Plantentuin), by the Dutch, on a site adjoining a palace which  Sir Stamford Raffles had planned as an English landscape garden. The aim was to collect and study the plants of Java with a particular view to their commercial uses. The garden suffered during Java’s war for independence and during the Japanese occupation. In 1962 it became part of the Lembaga Biologi Nasional (LBN) (National Biological Institute)

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1. Deer at the Palace – this is a deer and we can’t find it at Bogor Botanical Garden, instead we can find it  at Bogor Presidential Palace or Istana Bogor. there’s many of deer in there but it’s too bad we can only see them from outside the fences because entry to Istana Bogor is prohibited for civilian.

2. Lotus Pond – there’s pond with a lot of giant lotus in Kebun Raya Bogor, as if you can cross the pond by stepping on it.

3. Flower in the middle – The flower in the middle of the pond is the Lotus flower, too bad i don’t have a zoom lens so i can’t get a closer look of the flower, but nevertheless to say that it is very beautifull.

4.Red o Yellow – Found a beautifull flower in the middle of the park, but sadly it was eaten by a bunch of big black ants and leave a hollow spot in the flower.

5. It’s a Bug!! – “mmm… sweeet” it say. I shouldn’t disturb it..

6. A Lovely View – Beautifull for my eyes..

There’s a lot more to see in the Kebun Raya Bogor like the famous Red Bridge. to bad that i don’t have enough time at there to take a picture of the bridge. There’s an urban legend that every couple that crossing the bridge would be separated or break out afterward, so believe it or not it’s up to your judgment..

hehe a little spooky isn’t it and i think the “playboy” out there sees this bridge as a favourable place…

“A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the months and years, but a photograph always remains the same. How nice to look at a photograph of mother or father taken many years ago. You see them as you remember them. But as people live on, they change completely. That is why I think a photograph can be kind.” – Albert Einstein

Ride’in to Kota Tua!!

From Monas we continue our journey to Kota Tua. Kota Tua is an area of Dutch colonization inheritance which was well-known as Batavia in the 17th century. At Kota Tua area you can see old buildings with architecture style influenced by the Dutch or European architecture style, Chinese and even some of them with combination of Dutch and Chinese architecture. We turn into a block of buildings and in the middle of it is a Fatahillah square, where usualy on holiday we can find some intresting attraction. Luckly there is an attraction going on when we got in there, it was traditional art of Kuda Lumping (next post). So i unsheathed my camera and hunt them (^o^).

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1. Noon at Fatahillah Square ;  2. Old Town Street

3. Gouverneurs Kantoor – or Governor Office nowadays the building became Jakarta History Museum. In VOC era the building where Jakarta History Museum currently stands was occupied as the municipal hall or Staadhuis. Municipal Hall of Batavia was built in 1620 by the General Governer, Jan Pieterszoon, who built Batavia. The municipal hall was also ever occupied as Raad Van Justitie or justice council, defendant of any case must be cooped up in the underground prison with cuffed hands. To those defendants that were proved guilty or regarded as a rebel to the Dutch Government might be hung in the front of Staadhuis.

4. Oldies Lifestyle ; 5. Onthel Bikes – The onthel bike was a high class mode of transportation in 1910. The onthel bike has indeed become a symbol of the past that still holds a presence in the present time. In Fatahillah Square you can hire a bike and riding all around the square.

6. After The Rain

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7. Under the Tree ; 8. Afternoon Fatahillah – Fatahillah Square or used to named as Stadhuisplein was a square supplemented for the municipal hall. The government of DKI Jakarta changed the square name into Fatahillah Square In 1973, to memorize the founder of Jakarta city, General Fatahillah.

9. Hardworking Kid ; 10. Wilful Intention ; 11. Peace Maker ; 12. Watch the Ball ; 13. Color Under the Rain

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14. Indonesian Traditional art of Kuda Lumping – Kuda Lumping is an art that is using horse toy. In the past, this horse toy made from Bilik (bamboo matting). The material is easily to wag to perform wriggle movement such as a horse is dancing. The art escorted by Gamelan music and rarely by Kendang Pencak music. This horse toy is worn by a player whom in practice such as someone is riding a horse. The player is dancing at the same time wriggling horse toy and escorted by music. At the end of show or when the player felt enough dancing, mostly the show is ended by attractive strength performance. Sometimes, this show a lot showing magical things, such as chewing glasses, slash arm with sword, burning himself, walking on the glass pieces, etc. This art perform in Circumcision Celebration.

15.Crew and Equipment; 16. The Show Master ; 17. Mouth Full of Fire

18. Fire Eating Competition ; 19. Whip Man ;  20. Watch Out

21.Ball of Fire ; 22. Breath of Fire ; 23. Firee!!

The sun is setting, we decide to go back and go to Ancol beach on another photo hunting episode. That’s the end of my first hunting session hope you like the result and feel free to give comments.

“What we can easily see is only a small percentage of what is possible. Imagination is having the vision to see what is just below the surface; to picture that which is essential, but invisible to the eye.” - Anonymous

Riding Around the Town

Last week on saturday afternoon me and my friend were planned to go to Ancol Beach and doing some photo hunting, so we rode on our motorcycle and departed there.  On the way there we stop at Monas (Monumen Nasional) and take some picture (^o^).

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1. Waiting for Customers – This is a Carriage or Delman  in Indonesian language.

2. Delman On the Road – When you go to Monas, you can ride on Delman and go sightseeing that if you can stand the smell. But it’s still  a good experience to ride on the Delman all around Monas so you can get all the element and make good composition (excluding the smelly part, hehe.. But some horse have a better scent tahn others, so you should pick carefully with your nose ^_^)

3. “Monas” as it is popularly called or Monumen Nasional, is one of the monuments built during the Sukarno era of fierce nationalism. The top of the National Monument (Monas) is Freedom Square. It stands for the people’s determination to achieve freedom and the crowning of their efforts in the Proclamation of Independence in August 1945. The 137-meter tall marble obelisk is topped with a flame coated with 35 kg of gold. The base houses a historical museum and a hall for meditations. The monument is open to the public and upon request the lift can carry visitors to the top, which offers a bird’s eye view on the city and the sea. Go early to beat the crowds and the haze. It is easy for the less physically able as lifts take visitors to the top. The diorama exhibition in the basement gives such a distorted view of Indonesian history – thanks to the dictator Suharto wanting to brainwash the nation – it’s amusing. This imposing obelisk is Jakarta’s most famous landmark. Construction started in 1961 under President Soekarno but was not completed until 1975, under President Soeharto. The monument houses a couple of museums. The Freedom Hall depicts Indonesia’s struggle for independence through a series of dioramas, whereas the Hall of Contemplation displays the original Declaration of Independence document and a recording of the speech. An elevator takes one to the observation platform, which commands a bird’s-eye view of the cityscape.

>>Next stop is the Old Town (Kota Tua)>>

” Once photography enters your bloodstream, it’s like a disease.” - Anonymous

Hello world!

From Priuk to Depok

Sunset in Jakarta, taken from Jakarta Outer Ring Road on my way back home.

This is actually the first good shot, taken from my first and brand new DSLR ^o^. I’m new to the vast Photography world, so feel free to give your opinion and i hope you can enjoy it.

“Simply look with perceptive eyes at the world about you, and trust to your own reactions and convictions. Ask yourself: “Does this subject move me to feel, think and dream? Can I visualize a print – my own personal statement of what I feel and want to convey – from the subject before me?”" – Ansel Adams, The Best of Popular Photography by Harvey V. Fondiller