Visiting Marlinspike Hall

Though it’s said that the manor does not really exist, except modeled after the Château deCheverny in France, I experienced the wonderful time in visiting the luxury house in Brussels.

Well, at first before going further, you should familiar with Herge and all of his cartoon characters, right? OK, here is the top of the manor at the back and all the characters attached to Herge at the forefront.

Bear in mind …… (Knut)

Yeaaah …… finally I have a chance to visit Knut, though he is not the real Knut, just a full-sized sculpture covered in Knut's fur. It's more than enough for me. I can't believe my eyes, I was in front of Knut's sculpture, it's him!! So here is that guy: the most famous polar bear on earth!!

Knut's sculpture in Berlin Zoological Garden

Bubbles in the morning sky

What’s a beautiful view and great experience to see balloons floating on the air, just like bubbles in the morning’s sky!?

Well, I did recall that the dawn just arrived when I prepared myself and rush to the open field few miles away from my hotel, just to see the spectacular view. Honestly, I was so damp sleepy and tired, but the excitement to see such experiences is unbearable, isn't it?!

Floating bubble on the morning sky

Orangutan named Pongi

Who is he? and why named Pongi? Well, if you grew up in US, I will simply start the conversation with “do you know who Smokey is?”. I believe that most of you will reply: “oh sure ….. Smokey says ..... only you can prevent the wildfires”. Yes, that is the well-known Smokey’s quote, everybody knows!!

Now back to who is Pongi? He is like the "Smokey-the bear" of Indonesia, but he is not as lucky as Smokey, as not every Indonesian knows who he is, and why he exists. Here is Pongi pic.

Ministry of Forestry - Forest fire-fighter

The giant floating lotus

Couple weeks ago I was in Jakarta for second round of meeting held in Borobudur hotel. The hotel named after the biggest Buddhist temple in the world: “Borobudur”.

The real temple is located in Magelang Central Java, 40 kilometers northwest of Yogyakarta, a famous tourist destination city in Java. In my childhood, I often visit Borobudur temple, as I was born and grew up in Yogyakarta. But the massive, incredibly Borobudur, almost never came across my mind until a year ago, when I went to the same hotel for the first round of the meeting.

The giant floating lotus

Frozen

Well, I’m now back, from nowhere, only loosing sense of imagination. I feel awkward to start this blog again after a while. Yes I did stop this blog, maybe eight months ago, to prioritize my work. Now slowly, let me start this blog again after the work’s done. Let’s start the imagination from this point, where the thing does begin.

Campanile at SDSU Brookings South Dakota

Starry Night: saucepan hang on the sky

It’s been a while I absent from this blog. Officially I was busy with works, but honestly I was losing sense of writing for almost two months. The feeling blown away, unexpectedly gone and came back just at one night about four nights ago. It was encouraged by a touching moment when I was stunned in the middle of open meadow watching a marvelous starry night.