Fort Willem 1

The fort is located in Salatige and was called Fort De Hersteller, built in the middle of the 18th Century. In 1849 the fort collapsed and its function was taken over by Fort Willem I, located near Ambarwa. Fort Willem I was built to spread and strengthen influence and domination over the two local kingdoms on the North coast of Java. 

The whole fort compound is quadrilateral,  situated on around 3 hectares of land. It consists of main or principal buildings and outworks or related buildings.  All buildings are built from plastered bricks. At one time the fort was encircled by a military camp, a hospital and houses for soldiers with ranks below captain. In general, the fort is still in good condition, and is now used as military detention stockade and general prison, but most parts of the fort are not in use and are quite neglected. The ammunition storage is now used as a breeding place for swallows, so all its doors and windows have been walled in by concrete.

The Kanekes People of West Java

The Kanekes people, often called by the outsiders as Baduy, are traditional community living in the west part of Java Island in Banten Provinces. The Baduy people divided their community into two major groups: The Baduy Dalam (Inner Baduy) and Baduy  Luar (Outer Baduy). The Inner Baduy comprises of the Kanekes who choose to live in more puritan way. No foreigners were allowed to meet the Inner Baduy, though the Outer Baduy do foster some limited contacts with the outside world. The Kanekes or Baduy village is comprises of 50 km2 (19 sq mi) of hilly forest.

Ethnically the Baduys belong to the Sundanese ethnic group. Their racial, physical and linguistic traits bear much resemblance to the rest of the Sundanese people; however, the difference is in their way of life. Baduy people resist foreign influences and vigorously preserve their ancient way of life, while modern Sundanese are more open to foreign influences.

Gondang Baru Sugar Factory

Gondang Baru Sugar Factory is one of the sugar factory which was established in the early nineteenth century in Java. The factory is located in Central Java's Klaten and originally named Gondang Winangoen Sugar Factory. The factory was founded in 1860 by N.V. Klatensche Cultur Maatschappij based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Gondang Winagoen Sugar Factory is located 4.5 km west of the town of Klaten in the lane of a highway that connects what once were two great empires namely Kasunanan Yogyakarta and Surakarta.

Economic depression during the 1930s resulted in Gondang Winagoen stop production. It’s start producing again in 1935 under the administrations of Beerman and MFH Bremmers. During the Japanese occupation, all sugar plantations including the sugar factory were taken over and placed under the supervision and control of the Japanese military government. But in 1945 the plantation and sugar factory was taken over by the Indonesian people. In 1946 - 1948 the factory ceased production because of the war.

After 1957, the sugar mill handed over to the State Oil Company of Semarang Unit and Gondang Winagoen later renamed as the Gondang Baru Sugar Factory. In processing cane into sugar, Gondang Baru still use steam engines powered that originally produced during the industrial revolution. And it still works well today.

Rome

When I first entered the city of Rome with a public transport from the airport, the friendly driver asked me: How long you'll be staying in Rome? Two days, I replied. And he retorted: Two days?? Ouu.. you have to run then! 

We arrived in Rome late in the day, when the road is rocky, and the walls of the town hall overwritten by the golden afternoon sunlight. That's how I imagine Rome : Shimmered with light.

Many things can be seen and enjoyed in Rome. We passed the majestic Colosseum, crowded cafes at street corridor, beautiful fountain statues of ancient gods and goddesses, antique building with pillars. People are talking just like they have possessed by the spirit of the sun. From every corner of the city a magical aroma wafted from the past. This is Rome!  One of the oldest and the role model of major cities in the European continent.

THE DOOR

Too little
Has been said
Of the door, its one
Face turned to the night’s
Downpour and its other
To the shift and glisten of firelight

Air, clasped
By this cover
Into the room’s book,
Is filled by the turning
Pages of dark and fire
As the wind shoulders the panels, or unsteadies that burning

Not only
The storm’s
Breakwater, but the sudden
Frontier to our concurrences, appearances,
And as full of the offer of space
As the view through a cromlech is

For doors
are both frame and monument
to our spent time,
and too little
has been said
of our coming through and leaving by them

(Charles Tomlinson)

The Cloister

A cloister (from Latin claustrum) is a part of cathedral, monastic and abbey architecture. A cloister consists usually of four corridors, with a courtyard or garth in the middle. It is intended to be both covered from the rain, but open to the air. The attachment of a cloister to a Cathedral church usually indicates that it is (or was once) a monastic foundation.

Cloistered (or "Claustral") life is also another name for the life of a monk or nun in the enclosed religious orders; the modern English term enclosure is used in contemporary Catholic church law to mean cloistered, and cloister is sometimes used as a synonym for monastery.

In medieval times, cloisters served the primary function of quiet meditation or study gardens.

===

Picture of Cloister of Glasgow University

Eilean Donan Castle

The name Eilean Donan, or island of Donan, is most probably called after the 6th century Irish Saint, Bishop Donan who came to Scotland around 580 AD. The first fortified structure was not built on the island until the early 13th century as a defensive measure, protecting the lands of Kintail against the Vikings who raided, settled and controlled much of the North of Scotland and the Western Isles between 800 and 1266. From the mid 13th century, this area was the quite seperate "Sea Kingdom" of the Lord of the Isles where the sea was the main highway and the power of feuding clan chiefs was counted by the number of men and galleys or "birlinns" at their disposal. Eilean Donan offered the perfect defensive position. Over the centuries, the castle itself has expanded and contracted in size.

For the best part of 200 years, the stark ruins of Eilean Donan lay neglected, abandoned and open to the elements, until Lt Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap bought the island in 1911. Along with his Clerk of Works, Farquar Macrae, he dedicated the next 20 years of his life to the reconstruction of Eilean Donan, restoring her to her former glory. The castle was rebuilt according to the surviving ground plan of earlier phases and was formally completed in the July of 1932.

Picture of Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland, on the road to Isle of Skye

TO A DEAD MAN
By : Carl Sandburg


OVER the dead line we have called to you
To come across with a word to us,
Some beaten whisper of what happens
Where you are over the dead line
Deaf to our calls and voiceless.

The flickering shadows have not answered
Nor your lips sent a signal
Whether love talks and roses grow
And the sun breaks at morning
Splattering the sea with crimson.

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond must be the worlds most famous Loch and has been much written about, both in song and verse. It is a Scottish loch located in both the western lowlands of Central Scotland and the southern Highlands. The loch (as of July 2002) is now part of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. On the Loch there are approximately 38 Islands, some of them inhabited. Loch Lomond has the largest surface area of fresh water Loch in the UK. The Loch is 24 miles long and five miles wide and at its deepest point is some 600 feet deep.

Nestling by the bonnie banks of Loch Lommond the family-owned Scotch whisky distillery takes its name and its exquisitely pure water from this most picturesque and celebrated of all Scotland's lochs. The beauty and tranquility of the setting belies the considerable activity within one of the finest Scotch Whisky Distilleries.

This picture was taken with Hasselblad 501C, 250mm Carl Zeiss, FP4 125 rated at 80, developed with rodinal. Picture of Loch Lomond, Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, Central Scotland

Tranquility
by Ira Eden

Rolling swell to kiss the land,
falling back to crash the advance.

Flowing in a row of building ripple,
bow down to the sandy temple.

In the distance nothing is still~
ever moving windy mountains.
Hills and vales change location.
The sea whispers to the shore:

"I must come in now to soothe your wounds,
to wash away the footsteps."

Lightly caressing the rising mass,
then receeding back into itself.

.............

Muara Ujung Genteng, West Java, Indonesia

The Waterfall

By Henry Vaughan

With what deep murmurs through time’s silent stealth

Doth thy transparent, cool, and watery wealth

Here flowing fall,

And chide and call,

As if his liquid loose retinue stayed

Lingering, and were of this steep place afraid,

The common pass

Where, clear as glass,

All must descend

Not to an end ;

But quickened by this deep and rocky grave,

Rise to a longer course more bright and brave.

……………..

Senaru, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia

The River's Tale

by Rudyard Kipling

TWENTY bridges from Tower to Kew -
Wanted to know what the River knew,
Twenty Bridges or twenty-two,
For they were young, and the Thames was old
And this is the tale that River told

.........................

River Thames from Waterloo Bridge London, England

http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_riverstale.htm

Bicycle Ride
....................

Bicycle bicycle bicycle

I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride my bike

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride my

Bicycle races are coming your way

.....................

(Queen’s song)

Cherry Blossom
Sleeping under the trees on Yoshino mountain

The spring breeze wearing Cherry blossom petals

…………………..
Wishing to die under cherry blossoms in spring

Cherry blossom season in full moon time

………………….

Saigyo

OLD CITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The City of Cambridge is one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in Britain. Situated in the quiet east of England, amid the rural countryside of Cambridgeshire. Cambridge’s unique setting on the banks of the River Cam, the "backs" and the magnificent architecture of the University buildings all combine to make Cambridge the most unforgettable place, one which will linger long in your memory.

The River Dee
A notable river, the Dee rises deep in the heart of the Cairngorm mountains on the Braeriach plateau, some 4,000 feet above sea level in an area known as the Wells of Dee and it eventually reaches the sea at Aberdeen, some 87 miles from its source.
The Dee below Balmoral adopts a winding and slow moving course until it reaches Ballater, where it once more increases in tempo.

The Photograph was made with Hasselblad 501C, 50mm Carl Zeiss Plannar lens and red filter. The film is Ilford FP4 125 rated at 80, developed with Rodinal. Printed in Ilford paper with Ansco 130 developer.

WELCOME DEATH

………….

And out of these and thee,
I make a scene, a song, brief (not fear of thee,
Nor gloom's ravines, nor bleak, nor dark—for I do not fear thee,
Nor celebrate the struggle, or contortion, or hard-tied knot),

Of the broad blessed light and perfect air, with meadows, rippling tides, and trees
and flowers and grass,

And the low hum of living breeze—and in the midst God's beautiful eternal right
hand,

Thee, holiest minister of Heaven—thee, envoy, usherer, guide at last of all,
Rich, florid, loosener of the stricture-knot call'd life,
Sweet, peaceful, welcome Death.

(Death Valley, Walt Whitman)
.

St Mary Redcliffe Church

In 1574 Queen Elizabeth is said to have proclaimed the Parish Church of St Mary Redcliffe to be the "fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England." Bristol’s most historic and beautiful building, the St Mary Redcliffe Church is one of Bristol’s treasures with its magnificent exterior of flying buttresses, pinnacles and spire.

The building has a splendid interior with fine stone vaulted transepts with 1200 gold covered roof bosses, beautifully carved by mediaeval masons, which act as keystones locking the masonry that forms the vaulting.

THE ROMANTIC CASTLE, EILEAN DONANIn the superbly romantic setting amid silent, tree clad hills, Eilean Donan Castle possesses a rare and dream-like quality. Yet, standing lone sentinel on its rocky promontory at the meeting point of three sea lochs - Loch Long, Loch Duich and Loch Alsh - it is, in reality, a fortress of solid stone and formidable defences.

It is not hard to realise the position commanded by the Castle during the troubled times of the marauding Norse and Danish adventurers who raided along these coasts. Nor is it difficult, when gazing down today from the heights above the shore of the loch, to visualise an era of savage but somehow glorious warfare, when the Clans fought and the MacRaes found refuge in this impregnable fortress, defying the attacks of their enemies.

Much of the history of the Castle has been preserved within its solid walls and immortalised in the ballads and stories handed down from generation to generation.

View over Edinburgh

Calton Hill is one of Edinburgh's main hills, set right in the city centre. It is unmistakable with its Athenian acropolis poking above the skyline. The top of Calton hill is an excellent and usually quiet place to come on any day, with its grassy slopes and panoramic views of the city, including down the length of Princes street (the main shopping thoroughfare) and Edinburgh castle. There is a good view North of the ruddy-coloured cliffs of Salisbury Crags and the undulating slopes of Holyrood Park.

Glenfinnan and Loch Shiel
Glenfinnan sited on both the road and the famous railway line between Fort William and Mallaig the village, with a view down the long Loch Shiel, the '45 monument sited right at the head of the loch, and the always impressive Glenfinnan Railway viaduct. This area played a major role in the life of Prince Charles Edward and much of the initial support given to him came from this area. The monument is a tribute the men and times of 1745 and the statute that adorns the top is of one of Prince Charles' clansmen.

Loch Shiel is a fraction above sea level and hence is not tidal. It is however extremely deep, over 120m as indicated on the maps, and at its narrowest point only 600m wide - a classic case of glacial erosion. The loch is therefore much deeper than the ocean floor as far west as the continental shelf to the western seaboard.

The Glenfinnan end of the loch is dominated on the north side by the long craggy ridge under Beinn Odhar Mhor, and on the southern side by the equally rough looking mountain sides of Meall a' Choire Chruinn. The northern ridge of this mountain-top drops right down to the loch-side and making a focal point in the famous view along the loch.

MILLENNIUM BRIDGE
Firmly positioned in the 'A list' of London attractions, the Millennium Bridge is a 330m steel bridge linking the City of London at St. Paul's Cathedral with the Tate Modern Gallery at Bankside. In 1996, the Financial Times held an international competition to design a new footbridge crossing the Thames between Southwark and Blackfriars bridges. It would be the first pedestrian river crossing over the Thames in central London for more than a century, opening in time for the first year of the new Millennium. Well, that was the plan anyhow.

The winners of the competition, Foster and Partners/Sir Anthony Caro/Ove Aru & Partners, proposed an innovative and complex structure, featuring a 4m wide aluminium deck flanked by stainless steel balustrades, supported by cables to each side. Such was the interest in the new bridge that when it opened to the public on 10 June 2000, an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people crossed it. And then the problems began.

Although the Millennium Bridge, like all bridges, was designed to cope with a degree of movement it soon became clear that things were going seriously awry as the deck swayed about like a drunken sailor. So the bridge was instantly renamed as 'The Wobbly Bridge', and after two days of random swaying, swinging and oscillating wildly, the bridge was closed down by embarrassed engineers. After nearly two years of testing, the alterations were deemed a success and the bridge finally reopened to the public in February 2002 - and the swaying was banished forever!

GLENFINNAN VIADUCT
The Road to The Isles (Rathad nan Eilean)

The long reaches of Loch Shiel are veiled by steep mountains, and the rallying there of some 1,200 Highlanders must have been an awe-inspiring sight when the Prince arrived from Loch Nan Uamh on 19 August 1745.

In 1896 a mail steamer began a service along the loch to connect Acharacle with the railway at Glenfinnan. The Jacobite Steam Train and other trains regularly run this route, and just before arriving at Glenfinnan from the direction of Fort William, the line crosses a spectacular arched viaduct. The Glenfinnan viaduct recently came to prominence in the Harry Potter films, when the Jacobite Steam Train became transformed into the Hogwarts Express and was filmed crossing the viaduct. It also appears and will be appearing in subsequent Harry Potter films. The imposing arches of the famous viaduct carry the railway across the glen to Glenfinnan Station.

Shadow Play

American Poetry Review, The, May/Jun 2003 by Althaus, Keith

.........
And those figures
in the street,
leaving
one by one,
were guides,
without words
or explanation,
lamps,
now going blind,
and around their hollow bases
runs the blood of shadows

It's A New Dawn

Mount Sumbing is located to the northwest of Magelang District. Views of the stratovolcano peak can be enjoyed through the district as well as from the top of Candi Borobudur. At peak altitude of 3,371m and last recorded eruption in 1730, Mt Sumbing is neither the tallest volcano or the most active one. Nonetheless, this mountain is pleasing in its graceful gradient and somewhat mystical when viewed above the morning mist of dawn.

r.

Athens of the North

Edinburgh's (actually Scotland's) National Monument was designed as a folly (though this has been questioned), based on Acropolis, Athens - not the result of lack of funds (though see penultimate paragraph).

Built as a National Monument to the Napoleonic Dead, £24,000 was raised by a committee for its construction. Drawings only show exactly what we now see, so the architect C R Cockerell and his assistant William Playfair intended the incomplete appearance.

The National Monument was intended to be a memorial to those who died in the Napoleonic Wars. It is a potent symbol and can be seen both from Princes St and silhouetted from the East such as Gosford Bay near Longniddry with the Castle framed between Calton Hill and Arthurs Seat (recommended viewpoint).

Designed by an English proponent of the Greek Revival architecture, C R Cockrell, The National Monument project was assisted by a young William Henry Playfair who was to go on to complete even more successful works. C.R. Cockerell's most famous building is his St George's Hall, Liverpool which features in most Books covering British Architecture.

The Monument foundations were laid during the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh in 1824. Work came to an end in 1929 when the money provided by public subscription ran out - due in part to the ambitious scale of the monument. While it has been suggested that the architect had deliberately designed only 12 columns of the National Monument, it was later to be described as "Scotland's shame".

The prominent Grecian columns of this and other buildings in Edinburgh has led to Edinburgh being described as the "Athens of the North".

St Martin Church's Cemetery

This church is the oldest church in England still in use. It is a fascinating building with an important history - the starting point of the revival of Christianity in England in 597 AD by Saint Augustine. St. Martin Church was most probably build as a Roman church in the 4th century outside the walls of Canterbury.

The churchyard contains the graves of many notable local families and well-known people including Thomas Sidnet Cooper, RA (artist) and Mary Tourtel, the creator of Rupert Bear.

The Dangling Conversation

(a song by Simon and Garfunkel)

Its a still life water color,
Of a now late afternoon,
As the sun shines through the curtained lace
And shadows wash the room.
And we sit and drink our coffee
Couched in our indifference,
Like shells upon the shore
You can hear the ocean roar
In the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
Are the borders of our lives.
And you read your emily dickinson,
And I my robert frost,
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what weve lost.
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm,
Couplets out of rhyme,
In syncopated time
Lost in the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
Are the borders of our lives.
Yes, we speak of things that matter,
With words that must be said,
Can analysis be worthwhile?
Is the theater really dead?
And how the room is softly faded
And I only kiss your shadow,
I cannot feel your hand,
Youre a stranger now unto me
Lost in the dangling conversation.
And the superficial sighs,
In the borders of our lives.

TUDOR HOUSE

The Tudor period is the time when the Tudor family came to the throne. Henry VIII is the most famous tudor king. One of the most startling transformations in the history of English architecture took place in the Tudor period. It was not, however, a transformation in style. Buildings were still largely Gothic in form; at least during the first half century of the Tudor period. Instead the transformation was a social one; building effort now went towards secular, rather than ecclesiastical buildings.

Curiously, changes in architectural style resulted in buildings shrinking; becoming more intimate. Rather than the move towards spaciousness so evident in the late Gothic period, Tudor architecture focussed on details. Windows and doors were smaller, but more ornately decorated, more complex. The smartly pointed arch of the Gothic period gave way to the flattened Tudor arch. And that brings up a second noticeable characteristic of Tudor architecture; the use of brick in building. However in several areas of England, notably Cheshire, Lancashire, and Warwickshire, wooden houses, generally in oak, are more numerous than brick.Where bricks were too expensive plaster was the infill of choice, resulting in the typical "black-and-white" small Tudor house, whitewashed plaster set between blackened oak timbers.

Three Tombs


St Cuthbert's (also known as West Church) contains some of the oldest headstones in Edinburgh and, being located at the west end of Princes Street, makes an ideal diversion from the crowds of shoppers.

Photograph was made with Hasselblad 501C, 50mm Carl Zeiss Plannar lens and using yellow filter. The film is Kodak Tmax 100 rated at 64, developed with Rodinal in N process using semistand agitation. Printed in MGIV FB Ilford

Have you ever noticed
a tree standing naked against the sky,
How beautiful it is?
All its branches are outlined, and in its nakedness
There is a poem, there is a song.
Every leaf is gone and it is waiting for the spring.
When the spring comes, it again fills the tree with
The music of many leaves,
Which in due season fall and are blown away.
And this is the way of life.

- Krishnamurti

Photograph was made with Hasselblad 501C, 50mm Carl Zeiss Plannar lens and using yellow filter. The film is Kodak Tmax 100 rated at 64, developed with Rodinal in N process using semistand agitation. Printed in MGIV FB Ilford paper developed in Ansco 120 and Ansco 130, 3 minutes, archival processing, and selenium toning