Padang lovely city in the west coast of Sumatra Indonesia

Padang is a beautiful city as a capital city of West Sumatra Province, located at the west coast of Sumatra facing directly to Indonesian Ocean (Hindia Ocean), the ocean view is magnificent especially during the sunset.

Padang has a hot climate, the temperature a bit high about 32 degrees C during the day and a bit cool in the early morning because of a cool wind from the ocean.

Padang is easy to reach, you could fly from Singapore for one hour only, or you could fly from Jakarta the National Capital of Indonesia for 1 hour and 45 minutes, the International Airport of Padang is Minangkabau International Airport or Bandara International Minangkabau (B.I.M).

The distance from BIM to downtown approximately 25 kilometers, or you could go to Padang Panjang or Bukittinggi with the distance approximately 60 kilometres.
Traditional roof
Road along the shorw
Protection wall
Magnificent view

From Mount Titlis Switzerland to Loreley Germany

Loreley2

We just visited Mount Titlis the extra ordinary beautiful mountain in Switzerland, we wanted to continue our journey to Frankfurt via the Romantic Road along to the Rhine River in Germany.

Rhine River become as a main water transportation mode to move cargo or oil from the hinterland to the upper end, so this transportation mode become most economical.

On our way we stopped at Loreley-also written as Lorelei, where I heard a Germany Folklore from the native of Loreley|Lorelei, that once upon the time there was a beautiful young maiden who jumped from the rock formation to the Rhine River and killed herself. The beautiful young maiden was in love with somebody but this is a faithless love, she has a broken hearth.

The Loreley|Lorelei is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine River near St Goarshausen Germany, this Romantic Rhine Valley about 25 km from Rudesheim and 80 km from Frankfurt Airport Germany. In some area the river become narrowed and the ship captain should be careful not to hit the river bank or rock formation.

According to that fairy tale, the peoples who passed the Romantic Rhine Valley, the Loreley|Lorelei could be heard a singing from from the Rock formation along the Rhine River.

The Loreley|Lorelei a Romantic Rhine Valley is a good place to have a rest because it’s beautiful scenery and fresh air, some cafes are available for you and family for refreshment.

Loreley1

Die Lorelei
The Lorelei

By:Heinrich Heine

ORIGINAL:

Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten,
Daß ich so traurig bin;
Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten,
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.

Die Luft ist kühl, und es dunkelt,
Un ruhig fließt der Rhein;
Der Gipfel des Berges funkelt
In Abendsonnenschein.

Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet
Dort oben wunderbar,
Ihr goldenes Geschmeide blitzet,
Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar.

Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme
Und singt ein Leid dabei;
Das hat eine wundersame,
Gewaltige Melodei.

Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe
Ergreift es mit wildem Weh;
Er schaut nicht die Felsenriffe,
Er schaut nur hinauf in die Höh’.

Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen
Am Ende Schiffer uns Kahn;
Und das hat mit ihrem Singen
Die Lorelei getan.

TRANSLATION:

I don’t know what it may signify
That I am so sad;
There’s a tale from ancient times
That I can’t get out of my mind.

The air is cool and the twilight is falling
and the Rhine is flowing quietly by;
the top of the mountain is glittering
in the evening sun.

The loveliest maiden is sitting
Up there, wondrous to tell.
Her golden jewelry sparkles
as she combs her golden hair

She combs it with a golden comb
and sings a song as she does,
A song with a peculiar,
powerful melody.

It seizes upon the boatman in his small boat
With unrestrained woe;
He does not look below to the rocky shoals,
He only looks up at the heights.

If I’m not mistaken, the waters
Finally swallowed up fisher and boat;
And with her singing
The Lorelei did this.

Quoted from wikipedia.org

Do you like to sail around Horseshoe Bay Vancouver British Columbia?

Horseshoe Bay is a well known for its Beautiful British Columbia Ferry Terminal serving Sunny Cove at Bowen Island, Longdale on the Sunshine Coast and Departure Bay in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Horseshoe Bay was a traditionally meeting point, used both as seasonal fishing and place to spent a night when traveling between villages on the Squamish river and Burrard Inlet. The pleasant waterfront of Horseshoe Bay a place of variety restaurants, cafes, shops, boutiques.

Recreation in and around Horseshoe Bay including sea kayaking, scuba diving, boating, hiking, skiing. If there was snorkeling too, one could have bought some of the best snorkelling fins with them and enjoyed. Rent a boat in Islamorada, sea safaris are available at Sewell’s Marina in Horseshoe Bay, the family operated marina has operated since 1930’s. I like sailing around the Horseshoe Bay, watching the spectacular Beautiful British Columbia.

canada2

Photo:Myself wearing black hat with my Canadian friend on the rear boat around Horseshoe Bay.

At Horseshoe Bay the highway ends and ferry travel begin to those heading for Bowen Island, Sunshine Coast and Nanaimo. To reach Horseshoe Bay from point south, visitors must enter City of Vancouver first, make their way across Lion Gate Bridge to West Vancouver, then follow the sign for the Ferry Terminal. Visitors from the east need only to stay on Highway No.1, then Trans Canada Highway.

Vancouver Beautiful British Columbia is tourists delight with ocean and mountains a lot of to sea, you could experiencing walk on the top of the tall trees and sways on Capilano Suspension Bridge, watch Capilano Salmon hatchery. In City of Vancouver you may walk along the bustling Robson Street see the night life and window shopping, or dining at the revolving restaurant while watching the light sparkling from the islands surround.

A lot of Americans come to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada during weekend or holiday because Vancouver is so close with Seattle of Washington State of The United States of America-USA., just drive cross the border of America to Canada.

I missed Vancouver Beautiful British Columbia, I missed my friends long time no see.

I visited John F Kennedy’s gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery

arlington1
Photo: Myself in front of John F Kennedy’s gravesite-JFK

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

When I visited Washington, D.C. some years ago, I have a chanced visited President John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy’s gravesite or popular with JFK at Arlington National Cemetery, where his brother Robert Kennedy former Attorney General of USA and JFK’s wife Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was buried also adjacent to John F Kennedy’s gravesite. John F Kennedy’s gravesite is famous with it’s The Eternal Flame, I think the only one gravesite with The Eternal Flame in Arlington National Cemetery.

John F Kennedy was born on 29th May 1917 at Brookline Massachusetts, a second son of Joseph P Kennedy senior and was the 35th President of The United States of America, serving from 1961 until his assassination on 22nd November 1963.
John F Kennedy-JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on his state visit with his wife Jacqueline. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with crime and was murdered two days later by Jack Ruby before he could be put on trial, you could read conspiracy theory.
John F Kennedy was my idol since I was a little boy, I read the story about his heroism and patriotic action during the world war 2, that way I always remember him and I was cried when I heard that Kennedy was murdered. I never forget when his little son John John gave a military salute to the President cascades on his funeral procession.
On August 2nd, 1943 Kennedy’s boat the PT 109 was rammed by Japanese destroyer in Pacific Ocean, Kennedy swam towing a wounded man to an island and later to the second island, for his patriotic and heroism Kennedy received The United States of America’s Navy and Marine Corp Medal.

Musee du Louvre and Paris Zero Point

This time we are going to visit Musee du Louvre the famous Museum in Paris, Musee du Louvre located at Palais Royal Musee du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France.

Musee du Louvre lies between the Seine River and the Rue Rivoli on the Right Bank neighboring 1er arrondisement is home of the destroyed Palais des Tuileries and the Tuiliries Garden.

Musee du Louvre has a huge of floor space, part of the museum located at underground. You could enter Musee du Louvre from a building glass of pyramid, you may pass the Carrousel and Tuileries garden. The Jardins du Carrousel and the Jardins du Tuileries the major stage in the history of French sculpture.

Musee du Louvre offers a range of cultural and educational activities, so everybody must visit Musee du Louvre when they visit Paris the City of Light.

Masterpiece of the Louvre

-Museum three great ladies-The Venus de Milo, the victory of Samothrace and Monalisa the famous painting around the world.

-Caligraphy in Islamic Art, the Louvre’s collection of Islamic Art highlight the importance of writing in Islam world.

-The Da Vinci Code

-The Art of Eating at Table.

From Musee du Louvre we continue our journey to the Church Notre Dame du Paris, where in front of that Church located Zero Point of Paris, as a bench mark of City of Paris, France. You must not forget to have a something to drink and eat at Billboard Coffee in Paris refined garstronomica tradition nearby the Notre Dame du Paris.

Please have a look at the video to show our journey in Paris.

Have you ever eat Soto Kudus?

Gerobak Soto

Photo:Typical Soto Kudus cart

The City of Kudus is a capital of Kudus Regency, where Soto of Kudus originated. The city of Kudus located in Central Java Province, in the State of Indonesia.

You could find Soto Kudus anywhere in Indonesia with it special Soto Kudus cart as shown on the photo above, Soto Kudus contents are meat, potato, sprout, white noddles, eggs, yummy..yummy.

The City of Kudus is famous early center of Islam spreading in Indonesia, you could find a mosque with a special minaret in Kudus as build by early Islamic spreaders.

The Regency of Kudus has an area about 425 sq meters, bordered with Pati at east 25 km, Demak at west 25 km, Jepara at north 19 km and Grobogan at south.

The main production from Kudus are sugar cane and cacao, in Kudus located a big cigarette factory and badminton sport training center sponsored by PT.Djarum Kudus.

How to go to Kudus?
The nearest city is Semarang the capital of West Java Province, the airport of Semarang is General Ahmad Yani Airport. The distance from Semarang to Kudus is about 51 km, while the other City is Solo or Surakarta about 98 km. If you come from Jogyakarta the center of Kingdom of Java, you could go to Solo with a distance about 60 km.

Accommodation is available in Kudus, or you may choose the hotel accommodation in Semarang because the distance is not too far.

Soto Kudus

Photo:One portion of Soto Kudus and steam rice in Jakarta it cost US$1.00 only.

Volendam the fisherman village in North Holland the Netherlands

Volendam the fisherman village is really nice, the view is beautiful, when you look into the sea you will see a lot of white sails just like you see the cotton in the swimming pool. Actually Volendam is a small town in North Holland in the Netherlands, in the municipality of Edam-Volendam.

Volendam is a good recreation place and is popular tourist attraction fishing boat, where you could go sailing, swimming, surfing or discover the beautiful view surrounding, and also popular with the traditional clothing still worn by some residents. FC Volendam is a football club based in Volendam.

Volendam has a nice smell different with the other fisherman village where you smell fish aroma, in Volendam you will see a lot of nice houses, shops and nice hotels, and there are some cafes sell seafood products really yummy.

In Volendam the peoples won’t missed to have photo with folklore customes, just for memorable to take back to their own countries as a mark that I just have been in Volendam the Netherland.

Tourist also like old fisherman’s interior and the sigar band house could be found in Volendam Museum, you can take a boat or ferry to Marken to visit Marken Museum.

If you want to stay at Volendam you could stay at the beautiful Hotel Marinapark Volendam, they provide delicious foods and charge reasonable price for rooms, or will you buy a house at Volendan Real Estate?

Below is the video we took at Volendam, this video become popular because some companies use it for their advertisement, have you seen it?

Beautiful Pulau Burung near Belitung Island

Belitung is a second biggest island in the Province of Bangka Belitung in Republic of Indonesia, and the province of Bangka Belitung is located between Borneo Island and Sumatra Island.

Formerly Bangka Belitung attached to Province of South Sumatra, then the peoples of Bangka Belitung asked the central government of Republic of Indonesia to separate have them separated from the province of South Sumatra.

Bangka Island and Belitung Island are riches with tin produce, their tin produce are famous around the world, but unfortunately some area have disturbed by the mining activities, and could lead to the environment hazards.

Belitung Island is very beautiful with big boulder of granite, coral and white sandy beach, especially at Tanjung Tinggi, a part of beautiful white sandy beach, you should visit Tanjung Tinggi and enjoyed spectacular sunset.


View Larger Map

How to get to Tanjung Tinggi?

From your country you should fly to Jakarta, the Capital City of Indonesia, then from Jakarta you should fly to Tanjung Pandan, the capital of Belitung Regency, flying time approximately 1 hour, you could stay at City of Tanjung Pandan or Tanjung Tinggi village. The travel time from Tanjung Pandan to Tanjung Tinggi about 30 minutes by car.

You could stay at Lor In at Tanjung Tinggi, this accommodation is quite comfortable and provide a good and delicious foods, the price of room reasonably cheap, the view is spectacular, extra ordinary beautiful.

You may sail to the beautiful islands surrounding Belitung island, you could charter the boat with reasonable cheap price. You could go to Pulau Lengkuas where the light house located, the journey will take about 40 minutes from Tanjung Tinggi, this light house was build during the Dutch colonialism era around 1889.

In the video below, you will see the moment when we sailed to Pulau Burung or Bird Island, you will see the stones formation were stacked made a bird’s head formation.

Canal Cruise in Amsterdam the Netherlands

Amsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland. The city has a population approximately 747.000 based on 1 January 2008 registration.

Amsterdam lay on the river Amstel, terminates in the city center into a large number of canals. Amsterdam is situated 2 meters above the sea level. The surrounding land is flat and it is formed a large folders.

Amsterdam enjoyed a temperate climates, winter temperature are mild, seldom below zero degrees, while summers are warm and rarely hot.

The main transportation in the city is by bicycle because the Amsterdam is the most bicycle friendly city, some people use boat as their transportation mode because some canals crossing the city so the people could move from one place to another by boat, some people living in a house boat berthed along the canal.

The Netherlands is famous with Tulip Flowers, and this Tulip Flower become an icon of the Netherland, also you will find a lot of windmills as the energy resources, that way the Netherlands is also called Windmills country.

Below is a video taken at the Canal cruise when the author visited Amsterdam.

Waterpark children recreation at BCD City

IMG_1035
Ocean Park BSD City is a new waterpark arena for children recreation are in operation at BCD City an independent city at Serpong region, Banten Province, Indonesia. Ocean Park BSD City is close to Swiss German University a famous University located at German Center BSD City.

For traveler from Jakarta via Taman Mini to Pondok Indah toll road, you could drive up to the end of toll road and exit at Serpong gate, follow the right lane and follow that road to BSD City Junction, before you reach ITC BSD City or BSD City Junction you will see at the right hand side Ocean Park BSD City arena.

For traveler from Jakarta Merak toll road, you have to exit at Serpong gate and follow the sign, you keep driving until you reached ITC BSD City then turn right, at the right side you will see the BSD City Junction, you keep driving along that road until you see the Ocean Park arena at the left side.

IMG_0975

Ocean Park BSD City arena provided baby swimming pool, where your baby could play in that area without fears of accident because the water is shallow and the parents could get in to the pool too.

Ocean Park BSD City arena provided wave pool where it is waving like the sea wave, water in the bucket where they fill up the bucket with water and then they pour it to the pool, flowing ditch where the water keep flowing like in the river, Ocean Park provided some sliding arena for the people to slide from the height to the pool.

Ocean Park BSD City arena open:Friday to Sunday at 07:00, entrance fee Rp60,000 or US$7.00, Monday to Thursday at 10:00, entrance fee Rp30,000 0r US$3.50, children below 80 cm height are free, but during the weekend and holiday you could get buy two tickets and pay for one ticket only if you pay with Mandiri Credit Card.