NGS: India's Nomads

The National Geographic has just published an online feature on India's Lost Nomads. I consider this to be a highly auspicious coincidence as I am about to embark on the Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch Photo~Expedition™, whose objectives is to document some of these tribes in a similar geographic area of India.

The informative article is by John Lancaster, who was East Asia bureau chief for the Washington Post, with pictures by Steve McCurry. Here's an excerpt:

"Gadulia Lohar (their name comes from the Hindi words for "cart," gaadi, and "blacksmith," lohar) are among the best known; others are herders, such as the Rabari, famous throughout western India for their bulky turbans and familiarity with all things camel. Some are hunters and plant gatherers. Some are service providers—salt traders, fortune-tellers, conjurers, ayurvedic healers. And some are jugglers, acrobats, grindstone makers, story­tellers, snake charmers, animal doctors, tattooists, basketmakers. All told, anthropologists have identified about 500 nomadic groups in India, numbering perhaps 80 million people—around 7 percent of the country's billion-plus population."

80 million people in 500 nomadic groups??? Our CF cards will melt from the overuse, and we'll run out of storage space!

A Paradise within the City - Eden Eco Farm of Saleng, Johor

Eden Eco Farm is located at Saleng (across the railway). It's about 1.2KM from the Main road, you gonna drive into some kind of small village then you will notice a small signage pointing the direction to Eden Eco Farm. (N1 38.410 E103 38.455)

One simple way to identify the road is...It's not a 'Tar' road, but just un-paved road. The slogan was 'Earth road, back to nature'.

I never expect this peace of Nature Beauty exist between the busy city, so I called it - 'Paradise'.

I was actually follow the group of children having their activities at the farm, what a coincidence! I discovered this nature.

Un paved road that lead to Eden Eco Farm

The owner of the farm - Mr Steven Seow was a very friendly guy who welcome us once we step into the area. We had a chat with him (and his wife) and understand that he took over the farm just about more than a year...

Entrance of Eden Eco Farm

"We provide services for Eco educational tourism, farm stay, retreat, conference facilities and camp site. Also supply organic fresh vegetables, fruits and eco-friendly products." said Mr Steven Seow.

Beautiful Land Rover from the farm

I love the environment Very Much! It full of greenery, fresh air and relax!

You can even have a day trip by enjoy the walk in the farm, escape from the busy and hectic city life! Understand from Steven, the farm welcome any group activities and they have rooms that be able to cater for 30-50 peoples in the main building. The charges are very much depend on the number of peoples, so please call them to confirm (roughly about MYR100.00 per person for 2 days 1 night).

The main building of the farm

Simple meals & drinks will be provided from the management. The charges included dinner and breakfast...but all of this can be pre-arrange and flexible.

The first floor of the building, where all the rooms located.

Some of the common activities like Karaoke Singing and Mahjong will NOT provided. Because all this will destroy the Peaceful Farm during the night. I'm TOTALLY agree with this!
Honestly, I think to myself...if you wanna sing, please goto KTV Center and if you wanna play Mahjong, stay at home.

Big hall at the ground floor

Beside the building, there's also a home to an Owl. According to the Business Development Manager - Mr Eric Tan, the Owl will back to the home every night...

The night ambience is great within the farm. The insect will perform the concert every night with some guest from the Mini Zoo...it's nice to have couples friends gathering here, enjoy the farm stay with the rhythm...as for me, of course will be company with 'Tiger'. :)

The home to the Owl

The Cute little Parrot will greet you when you step in to the building

After the chat with Mr Steven, I had a walk into the 20 Acres farm...It was so peaceful and relax, that's why I called it the Paradise of Nature Lover.

Because of the too many photos, I need to break it to the next post...but it was cloudy on that day, too bad the photos didn't turn up to the expectation...

Related post :-
* Walk in the Farm - Eden Eco Farm of Saleng, Johor

EDEN ECO FARM Sdn Bhd
Lot 4119, Saleng,
81000 Kulai,
Johor.
Tel : +6012-7776084, +6013-7038017
Email : info@edenecofarm.com
Website : www.edenecofarm.com

Location map of Eden Eco Farm


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MY TRIPS - Home

The EVIL Cameras

WIRED's Gadget Lab blog has a fresh article titled 5 Reasons To Ditch Your DSLR, which essentially reaffirms my prediction as in my earlier post POV: Travel Photography Adjustment.

To paraphrase the WIRED article, the 5 reasons are smaller size, great quality of images, interchangeable lenses, speed of operation, low-profile, but are expensive.

By the way, EVIL stands for Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens. It also seems that with an adapter, these cameras can accept many DSLR lenses.

I am extremely interested in these cameras, particularly the Lumix GF1 (above), and will certainly look into on my return from India.

(Via the always informative The Click.)

On The Road: Rajasthan & Gujarat

I'm completing my packing today, cramming the last few items in my bags as best I can, hoping that my checked in luggage won't burst at the seams with all the cables, chargers, and photo paraphernalia that just won't fit my carry-on.

Tomorrow, I'll be on my way to meet up with the rest of the Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch Photo~Expedition™ group in Delhi (after stopping en route in London). I'll be in Delhi on January 20.

I'll be in Delhi for a couple of days before the official start of the photo~expedition, and will meet with some of my photographer friends (some alums of the Foundry Photojurnalism Workshop and others), as well as undertake a few personal projects. I plan to attend a qawwali evening in Nizzam Uddin, as part of my Sufi project.

I will try to update the blog whenever I get the chance...it won't be a problem in London and Delhi (where we will be staying in a posh hotel), however it may be difficult to find the time or accessible internet connections during the rest of the trip...so expect sporadic but entertaining posts.

Java Jamboree: Final Chapter: Leaving Solo

Sometimes, I do wonder if people of the past did really talk the way William Shakespeare, the famous English poet and playwright made them talked. In the famous balcony scene in thetale of the star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet for example, Juliet had uttered: 'Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone—And yet no farther than a wan-ton's bird,That lets it hop a little from his hand,Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,And with a silken thread plucks it back again,So loving-jealous of his liberty. To this, Romeo had said, sounding rather corny, perhaps to the modern ears: I would I were thy bird; upon which, Juliet uttered her goodbye: Sweet, so would I,Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,That I shall say good night till it be morrow. In Solo, when we were leaving for home, I am tempted to say, Goodbye, goodbye! Parting is such sweet 'Solo'. Solo is indeed a sweet place if you'd think of the ancient Majapahit ruins out there in the mountains.In 1815, Sir Thomas Raffles, the then ruler of Java visited Candi Sukuh and found the temple to be in bad condition. Statues had been thrown down on the ground and most of the figures had been decapitated. The giant lingga statue had been broken into two pieces. The Majapahit empire was falling apart and a new non-Hindu force had come in to desecrate.... It is sorrowful enough just to think about a blemish in the history of man where man, like an animal destroy... let's then not be filled with sorrow when parting... Goodbye, guys...We'll get to see each other yet!


Photos for the album: Now, can you identify where the pictures are taken?

Coming up next: Sulawesi Surprise!

Java Jamboree: An erotic Majapahit Temple

The Maya Civilization, a Mesoamerican civilization, is said to be established around 2000 BC to 250 AD. Pyramids from the civilization(inset) fascinate and it was with surprise and awe that I came across one that reminds me of Mayan pyramids in Java, Indonesia. Out of Solo, on the western slope of Mount Lawu, a fifteenth century Javanese-Hindu temple called Candi Sukuh stands. It would be great to be here if you want to teach children about the birds and the bees for here, in Candi Sukuh, the temple has sexual education as one of its main themes. You would miss the giant 1.82 m (6 ft) high lingga(phallus) with four balls of course since the structure has been relocated to the National Museum of Indonesia but you definitely would not miss the statue of a male figure grasping his penis.Look for the relief on the floor at the entrance too which shows a paired lingga(phallus) and yoni (vagina) to depict sexual intercourse. The Mayan pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico is said to be as high as a twenty-storey building. In Candi Sukuh, the main monument is not higher than two storey but its structure in the shape of a simple truncated pyramid certainly reminds you of the Mayan pyramid. This main monument is surrounded by monoliths and life-sized figures and one of the latter perhaps will remind you of Pazuzu, a fictional character and the main antagonist in the Exorcist horror novels and film series created by William Peter Blatty in the 70s...

Can you identify the main monument and which structure reminds you of Pazuzu of The Exorcist's fame?

Java Jamboree is coming to a close!

Java Jamboree: A Majapahit Temple

Get out when you are in Solo. Get out to the mountains. Solo would be a nicer place to visit if you include a trip out to a place like Candi Ceto which is at an elevation of five hundred meters or 1630 ft above sea level. You do not just get to see a splendid view from up there but the temple with 14 terraces intrigues. Said to be a remnant from the Great Majapahit era(1293 to around 1500), this temple which is dedicated to the deity Bima houses tattered fragments of narrative relics. You would be able to see composition representing a tortoise on the back of a huge bat. Up to the late 70s, people still came here to meditate and locals continue to patronise the temple up to this day. When we were there, we were lucky to see a group of Indonesian Hindus making offerings to the deities...


Can you spot the group of devotees, their offering of flowers and the bat and turtle too?

Traveling Tip: Get out!