Johor Bahru Art Festival@Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, June 2010 (Part 2)

After the Cultural Dance of Johor Bahru Art Festival 2010, the show continue with the Diabolo (Chinese Yo-yo) Performance. Diabolo formerly also known as "The Devil on 2 sticks". You can read more of the Diabolo here.

The show started with the girls group

Twist and turn!

Follow by boy & girl

 

The intsructor - Lau

Out of sudden, all of them ran out from the stage and continue to performed outside the stage! Oh! They need a bigger space to have a group performance! During that time, we saw all the Diabolo fill up the sky! It were everywhere crossing on top of your head! Haha!

The performance last about an hour and the stage continue with some Cultural Dance again until almost midnight!

The Lion Dance Performance of that night was Canceled without notice!

Related post :
*  Johor Bahru Art Festival@Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, June 2010 (Part 1)

Johor Bahru Art Festival@Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, June 2010 (Part 1)

The Johor Bahru (JB) 7th Art Festival was held at the space behind Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, Bukit Timbalan - Johor Bahru. It was started on 29th June till 24th July 2010. Different programs everyday, and we visited the place on 12th July 2010 night was because of the Diabolo performance and Lion Dance.

The stage was nicely arranged, and it was also a farewell dinner for one of the VIP in Johor Bahru that night. Below are the photos of the night...

The farewell dinner and the stage of Art Cultural Show

Lighting for the stage performance

The peoples there were friendly enough to invite us for the dinner together, but we refused because we wanted to take photograph of the show...:)

After the opening speech of the MC, the First show of the night was the Ang Klung performance by Mr Max. It was a special musical instrument made from bamboo.

Max was ready for the show

Concentration on his instrument

Mr Max - The Ang Klung Performer

He played many numbers of today pop song that night, and it was really Nice!

Follow by the Culture Dance...

Cultural Dance of JB Art Festival

The above photos were from The Malaysia Multi Racial Cultural Dance Performances of Johor Bahru Art Festival 2010. 
The Official Website of JB Art Festival 2010 is here.

The Diabolo Performance will be continue in Part 2...
  
I would like to blog about this event in 2 parts because of too many photos...:)

Related post :-
*  Johor Bahru Art Festival@Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, June 2010 (Part 2) - Diabolo Performance

Bali: Second Post

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
We attended a large cockfight in the Blahbatuh area, where about 200-300 men (all men) were gesticulating and yelling their bets at the competitors. In essence, cockfighting is illegal in Bali, except in very limited circumstances which I suppose this was one. However, it's my understanding that for this particular event, the police had been "taken care of. I thought the above photograph gives the message loud and clear as the feelings of the Balinese, who have been victims of terrorist attacks.

Our days in Bali have been long, with back to back photo shoots at temples ceremonies. The best are those which are small and intimate and held by families, rather than communities where rules, more likely, prevail.

Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim (Building) at Johor Bahru

Bagunan Sultan Ibrahim (N1 27.471 E103 45.666) is located on Bukit Timbalan (Hill) at Johor Bahru Town. It houses the State Secretariat and the offices of the state government for 67 years until Johor state government announced that they will relocate to Kota Iskandar - Nusajaya, Johor State New Administrative Center in 2010.

Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim of Johor Bahru

The History :-

"The foundation works for Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim began with the officiated ground breaking ceremony by Tengku Mahkota Sultan Ismail on Monday, 7th November 1938.The Royal Highness later laid the foundation stone on 10th March 1940. The building was complete in 1942 at a cost of $2 million. A banquet was held at the Royal Palace on Tuesday, 3rd November 1942 to mark the official opening of the state government office.

The building was designed by the architectural firm of Palmer & Turner, which was also responsible for designing Hospital Sultan Aminah. The building is a combination of the cosmopolitan architecture of Renaissance style with an overlay of Anglo-Malay influence. The building was constructed by local craftsmen under the supervision of an European architect.

On Monday, 9th August 1982, the building was officially named as Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim by Al-Marhum Sultan Iskandar Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Ismail, Sultan of Johor at that time.

It was the tallest building in Malaya during the pre-Merdeka era. In Johor Bahru itself, it stood unchallenged as the tallest building in town until the completion of the Merlin Tower in 1970's. Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim was the symbol of Johor's progress at that time and still remains as the landmark of Johor Bahru." Source from here.

We visited the building because of the Johor Bahru (JB) Art Festival 2010 which located behind the building. (I will blog about it later...) Before the shows start, I took the chance to snapped some night photos of the Colonial building of Johor Bahru.

The main entrance of Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim

I hanged up the area quite a while, and continue to the stage when the JB Art Festival had began...

One of the entrance to Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim of Johor Bahru

Location map of The Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim

View Larger Map

Tsuki Japanese Restaurant at Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

Tsuki Japanese Restaurant (N1 28.924 E103 46.498) is located along Jalan Perang, Taman Pelangi of Johor Bahru.

Tsuki Japanese Restaurant

We visited this restaurant because of strongly recommended by friends. The environment was nice and relax, especially with the friendly waitress. You can choose to dine at the public area or in the Japanese style's room. We were lucky that night because there was last room vacant.

The public dining area of Tsuki Japanese Restaurant

There are 3 rooms in the row...

The waitress served the warm tower in the polite way and properly arranged the table.

The warm tower and chopsticks

Well, as normal...we let the waitress to introduced their foods. And our order below...

1)  Gyouza

2)  Miso Ramen

3)  Miso Oden

4)  Chawan Musi

5)  Ona Don

6)  Katsu Curry Rice

7)  Gomiko Chawan

Gyouza

Miso Ramen

Chawan Musi

Ona Don

Japanese Fried Rice

Katsu Curry Rice

The curry rice served with fried chicken chop

The Gyouza was crispy, the pork in the Miso Ramen was soft and succulent, Chawan Musi was average, Ona Don was Yummy but a bit salty! I like the nice aroma of the Fried Rice and it was special! Among all, I like the Katsu Curry Rice the Most! The Japanese curry was different form our local curry, it was not spicy and it had very special taste that made the fabulous cuisine! It was A Great dining experience!

The Damage : MYR130.00 for 4 adults and 1 child included drinks.
It was One of the Good Japanese Restaurant I ever visit before! Worth for second visit!

Rated : 4.6/5

Location map of Tsuki Japanese Restaurant

View Larger Map

Sulawesi: Signs of the dead

I thought it was Londa but it could be Kete Kesu that we were visiting - Besides handicrafts, there were Tongkonans here, and rice barns too. Later, we came across little Tongkonans and huts, some with Tau Tau and others with photographs of men and women, suggesting the presence of the dead; and it could be a burial site we were walking into! Modernity, I suppose had touched the community and Tau Tau most probably were slowly being replaced by printed photographs. In some of these little Tongkonans and huts, there were sweets and cigarettes which I assumed, were being offered to the dead and there were even crosses there too, suggesting that the Christians here had not entirely given up their roots and culture...


Can you spot the Tau Tau, photographs of the dead, the offerings to the dead and the cross?

Traveling Tip: Have a heart for little huts!

Sulawesi Surprise!: 'Tau Tau' Souvenirs

The paddy field in Tana Toraja seemed so green. No wonder we hear of people saying that the pasture at the other side of the field is greener! Our bus came to a stop and we saw some Tongkonan beckoning. Tongkonan, if you remember, are traditional Torajan houses with the characteristic boat-shaped roof. There are three types of tongkonan, the tongkonan layuk, the tongkonan pekamberan and the tongkonan batu, each built to house people of different status. Our untrained eyes probably missed the differences but then of course, the souvenir stores at the entrance of the village we were visiting were more attractive! Many of us clambered to browse the souvenirs sold, mostly woodcarvings and T-shirts and there were dolls being sold too. You'd be tempted to buy them to decorate the house but in Tana Toraja, the dolls or rather effigies are called tau tau and are placed in cemeteries to represent the dead...

Can you spot the tau tau?

Travel Tips: Know your souvenirs!