Hunting for Sunrise at Borobudur Temple
Borobudur, March 24, 2012
This is my second time, waiting for sunrise at the top of Borobudur Temple, Indonesia. The first time is around 4 years ago, when I have to talk in the Seminars. At the first time, I have nothing, because its rain and the dark cloud is really bold at the horizon where the sunrise should be came. This second time is better…., event the heavy dark cloud there, but there is a small space for the sunshine to appear. The part of orange sky is not too much, most of them are dark blue. At this moment, I visit Borobudur with my family (my wife and my children).
Sunrise from the top of Borobudur Temple
Sunrise Hunter at the top of Borobudur
I want to share how to go there. Most people from over the world usually visit Jogjakarta, the nearest big and famous city to this temple. Borobudur is one hour from the center of the city in early morning. You have to find transportation from any point to go to Borobudur. Just for example, from 4-5 star hotel you have to pay Rp 600.000 (around 65 USD) to rent a car to Borobudur for around 4 hours. You can share this price with your friends. You have to go from the city at 4 in the morning, so at 5 you will be arrive at Borobudur.
Wearing Batik before going to the Top
The normal gate will be opened at 6, so its impossible to see the sunrise from the top of Borobudur. You have to go to Manohara (Center of Borobudur). There is a special program there to see the sunrise. You have to pay around 25 USD per person, and you will got ticket to go to the top, the lighting battery, they are borrowed you a batik to wear at the half bottom of your body (see the picture), entering the museum, and a coffee morning after you go back from the top.
After wearing the batik, someone will guide you up to the gate entrance. Then you can go easily to the top, because its just straight upstairs up to the top and a lot of people there. If you need more guidance, you have to ask when you buy a ticket. I don’t know, how much money have to spent for a special guide. There are many guide that can guide you using many languages: English, France, Japanese, etc. The whether usually not too cold. You can use normal cloth.
Me and My Wife at the Top
My family after going down from the top (Borobudur at the background)
Sunset on Belitong Island, Indonesia
This sunset picture is taken on Belitong Island, Indonesia. We visit Belitong on 2011 with my wife and friends, several of them are photographer. We went to Belitong for fun, enjoying great nature and hunting for great picture.
This picture taken at the small traditional port that made by bamboo and wood at the fisherman village in Belitong. I used Canon 60D to take this picture.
Beautiful Sunset on Belitong Island
Children (of the fisherman) around the shooting point
Beautiful Berlin at Night (part 3)
Berlin, Dec 2004
All these pictures taken in December 2004 around Zoo train station Berlin using Canon Digital SLR 350D. The result actually not too good, because I use high ISO to get higher speed without tripod. I hope you can still enjoy all the pictures. The other Berlin Night Collections can be seen here: part1, part2.
These two picture show the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Kurfurstendamm, near the Zoo station. The original church on the site was built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943, during World War.
Beautiful Berlin at Night (part 2)
Berlin, Dec 2004
All these pictures taken in December 2004 using Canon 350D. The result actually not too good, because I use high ISO to get higher speed without tripod. I hope you can still enjoy all the pictures. The other Berlin Night Collections can be seen here.
Beautiful Berlin at Night (part 1)
Berlin, Dec 2004
All these pictures taken in December 2004 using Canon 350D. The result actually not too good, because I use high ISO to get higher speed without tripod. I hope you can still enjoy all the pictures. The other Berlin Night Collections can be seen here.
Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Berlin Doom
Berlin Doom
Reichtag Building
Still around Reichtag Building
Mont Saint Michel, a Beautiful Place in North of France
Before I go to this place, I never known that there is a beautiful and unique place called Mont Saint Michel in France. When we attend a training program in Paris, the organizer have a program to bring us to Mont Saint Michel. Fortunately, at the day that we are going to Mont Saint Michel, my wife already come from Indonesia, so she can joint that program.
Mont Saint-Michel is a small rocky tidal island in Normandy, Northern France. It is located approximately one kilometer off the country’s north-western coast of France. is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. The continental territory covers 30,627 km²[2] and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France (wikipedia). A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. So, Mont Saint Michel will submerge with the mainland when tide going high.
Mont Saint Michel
Me and My Wife near Mont Saint Michel
We go by TGV from Paris and finally connected by bus to Mont Saint Michel. When we close to Mont Saint Michel, the bus stopped. George Pierron ask us to go outside the bus, give explanation and ask us to enjoy a fantastic view to Mont Saint Michel. I don’t know, do you agree with me that the two above picture is fantastic?
Lunch with all participants from many countries
We go to Mont Saint Michel when the tide level was low, so we can go to small rocky island of Mont Saint Michel. We take lunch together and going up to the top of the building (church). Wikipedia explain about the church as follows:
William de Volpiano, the Italian architect who had built the Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy, was chosen as building contractor by Richard II of Normandy in the 11th century. He designed the Romanesque church of the abbey, daringly placing the transept crossing at the top of the mount. Many underground crypts and chapels had to be built to compensate for this weight; these formed the basis for the supportive upward structure that can be seen today. Today Mont-Saint-Michel is seen as a Romanesque style church.
Robert de Thorigny, a great supporter of Henry II of England (who was also Duke of Normandy), reinforced the structure of the buildings and built the main façade of the church in the 12th century. In 1204 the Breton Guy de Thouars, allied to the King of France, undertook the siege of the Mount. After having set fire to the village and having massacred the population, he was obliged to beat a retreat under the powerful walls of the abbey. Unfortunately, the fire which he himself lit extended to the buildings, and the roofs fell prey to the flames. Horrified by the cruelty and the exactions of his Breton ally, Philip Augustus offered Abbot Jourdain a grant for the construction of a new Gothic-style architectural set which included the addition of the refectory and cloister.
Charles VI is credited with adding major fortifications to the abbey-mount, building towers, successive courtyards and strengthening the ramparts.
My Wife and Our Training Organizer (George Pierron)
My Wife and George Pierron's son
The following picture is a book of Mont Saint Michel that I bought when I visit Month Saint Michel. You can see another beautiful view of Mont Saint Michel at the cover of the book. If you want to see another explanation and good picture of this place, you can googling it in Google Image or find it in Wikipedia,
The Book of Mont Saint Michel
From Paris with Love
Besides Mecca and Medina (in Saudi Arabia), there is one special city that I always want to go back there: Paris! I don’t know, this city really make me (and my wife) excited. The romantic atmosphere of Paris is felt almost everywhere. Also, originality of Paris is maintained well. Old Paris that I can see in movie is still no really different with today situation in Paris. So, entering Paris make me fill like entering a dream of romantic city. Its really different with my city that I live day by day, Bandung in Indonesia.
Since my first visit to Paris in 1997, I visit Paris three times more. In 2000 I visit Paris two times, then I visit Paris for the last time in 2006. In 1997, I stay in Paris for 6 weeks, so I can feel to be a Parisian. I can enjoy day by day activities of Parisian, going anywhere by METRO or by bus. Going downstair or upstair to or from METRO station, or walking along famous Champ Elysee street from Muse du Louvre to Arch de Triomphee, or seat for a long time in the garden while enjoying free concert. Sometime, I stay in one place, waiting for the sunset to get a beautiful picture of sunset. Oh, I really miss it.
Me and My Wife Around Notre Dame
Enjoying Free Concert at The Backyard of Notre Dame
Me and My Wife in front of arc de Triomphe
Me and My Wife in Paris Disneyland
In 2000, I have to stay in Belgium for 4 months. In that period I visit Paris two times. First, I go to Paris by bus from Brussels. I went to Paris with several Indonesia students that being studied in Belgium. We stay one night in Paris. Actually, I collect many-many digital picture of Paris in that visiting, but I lost my laptop in Paris. So, I lost all of my pictures. I have a lot of interesting pictures from the top of Notre Dame and also many pictures from the top of Arch de Triomphe. There is a lot of effort needed to go to that place, because no elevator to go upstair. The second visit in 2000 was conducted by car. I joint the two Indonesian family that stay in Belgium. They rent a big car, and they still have empty seat for me.
In 2006, a close friend of me ask me to accompany him to go to Europe, including go to Paris to initiate several business cooperation. I bring my wife for that trip.
Me and My Wife with Eiffel Tower in the background (2006)
Eiffel Tower after Sunset (2006)
Paris is really great city…, incredible city. Many beautiful city that I already visited don’t make me have strong motivation to visit it again. But Paris is different. Event I ever visit Paris four times, I always want go back to Paris.
Great Wall of China
China, 2007
Great Wall of China is very interesting, unique, and famous man made building (wall). Its became more interesting because its length is 8,851.8 km, and it was made in the 7th century BC. For long time I want to visit this place, finally I can visit this place.
Sculpture of Ancient China Soldiers and Great Wall in The Background
Information from Wikipedia said:
The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces. Several walls had already been begun to be built beginning around the 7th century BC;[5] these, later joined together and made bigger, stronger, and unified are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall.[6] Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, enhanced; the majority of the existing wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty.
Starting place to go along small part of the Wall
Going up and up....
Looking down from the higher position of the wall
My friend, Teguh, after reach the high position of the wall...
I visit Great Wall when I visit Beijing on April 2007. I visited Great wall by car from Beijing. There is a highway between Beijing and nearest point of Great Wall. The road condition is very good. This two picture show the condition of highway. You can see from thic picture that the wall can be seen on the mount that sill far enough.
Highway from Beijing to Great Wall Point
The following pictures are taken at the several position oh the wall.
There is interesting discussion about the visibility of Greatwall form space. Here I copy that discussion from wikipedia:
Visibility from the moon
One of the earliest known references to this myth appears in a letter written in 1754 by the English antiquary William Stukeley. Stukeley wrote that, “This mighty wall of four score miles in length (Hadrian’s Wall) is only exceeded by the Chinese Wall, which makes a considerable figure upon the terrestrial globe, and may be discerned at the moon.”[31] The claim was also mentioned by Henry Norman in 1895 where he states “besides its age it enjoys the reputation of being the only work of human hands on the globe visible from the moon.”[32] The issue of “canals” on Mars was prominent in the late 19th century and may have led to the belief that long, thin objects were visible from space.[33] The claim that the Great Wall is visible also appears in 1932′s Ripley’s Believe it or Not strip[34] and in Richard Halliburton‘s 1938 book Second Book of Marvels.
The claim the Great Wall is visible has been debunked many times,[35] but is still ingrained in popular culture.[36] The wall is a maximum 9.1 m (30 ft) wide, and is about the same color as the soil surrounding it. Based on the optics of resolving power (distance versus the width of the iris: a few millimeters for the human eye, meters for large telescopes) only an object of reasonable contrast to its surroundings which is 70 mi (110 km) or more in diameter (1 arc-minute) would be visible to the unaided eye from the moon, whose average distance from Earth is 384,393 km (238,851 mi). The apparent width of the Great Wall from the moon is the same as that of a human hair viewed from 2 miles (3.2 km) away. To see the wall from the moon would require spatial resolution 17,000 times better than normal (20/20) vision.[37] Unsurprisingly, no lunar astronaut has ever claimed to have seen the Great Wall from the moon.
Visibility from low earth orbit
A more controversial question is whether the Wall is visible from low earth orbit (an altitude of as little as 100 miles (160 km)). NASA claims that it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect conditions; it is no more conspicuous than many other man-made objects.[38] Other authors have argued that due to limitations of the optics of the eye and the spacing of photoreceptors on the retina, it is impossible to see the wall with the naked eye, even from low orbit, and would require visual acuity of 20/3 (7.7 times better than normal).[37]
Astronaut William Pogue thought he had seen it from Skylab but discovered he was actually looking at the Grand Canal of China near Beijing. He spotted the Great Wall with binoculars, but said that “it wasn’t visible to the unaided eye.” U.S. Senator Jake Garn claimed to be able to see the Great Wall with the naked eye from a space shuttle orbit in the early 1980s, but his claim has been disputed by several U.S. astronauts. Veteran U.S. astronaut Gene Cernan has stated: “At Earth orbit of 100 miles (160 km) to 200 miles (320 km) high, the Great Wall of China is, indeed, visible to the naked eye.” Ed Lu, Expedition 7 Science Officer aboard the International Space Station, adds that, “it’s less visible than a lot of other objects. And you have to know where to look.”
In 2001, Neil Armstrong stated about the view from Apollo 11: “I do not believe that, at least with my eyes, there would be any man-made object that I could see. I have not yet found somebody who has told me they’ve seen the Wall of China from Earth orbit. …I’ve asked various people, particularly Shuttle guys, that have been many orbits around China in the daytime, and the ones I’ve talked to didn’t see it.”[39]
In October 2003, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei stated that he had not been able to see the Great Wall of China. In response, the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a press release reporting that from an orbit between 160 and 320 km, the Great Wall is visible to the naked eye. In an attempt to further clarify things, the ESA published a picture of a part of the “Great Wall” photographed from Space. However, in a press release a week later (no longer available in the ESA’s website), they acknowledged that the “Great Wall” in the picture was actually a river.[37]
Leroy Chiao, a Chinese-American astronaut, took a photograph from the International Space Station that shows the wall. It was so indistinct that the photographer was not certain he had actually captured it. Based on the photograph, the China Daily later reported that the Great Wall can be seen from space with the naked eye, under favorable viewing conditions, if one knows exactly where to look.[40] However, the resolution of a camera can be much higher than the human visual system, and the optics much better, rendering photographic evidence irrelevant to the issue of whether it is visible to the naked eye.[37]
Sunset on Batu Belig Beach (Bali, Indonesia)
Batu Belig, Bali, Indonesia
This picture is taken when I have to stay for two days ini Bali Sani Hotel in Batu Belig area in Bali. This area is relatively quite, different from Kuta area that really crowded. I have to rent motorcycle for two days to find food in Kuta area if I dont want to orded food from the hotel. Its only need 10-15 minutes to go to Kuta area. This two pictures is taken on the backside of the hotel. The local children play and swim on the beach when the sun is going down. No many people there, so I can feel very convenient situation…
- Sunset on Batu Belig Beach, Bali, Indonesia
Sunset on Batu Belig Beach, Bali
Balisani Hotel
