Journey To The Rainbow Land (Pretoria)

Finally after 3 weeks delay due the office duty here i am back.

It was a big privilege on 2 years ago when i have a chance to visit the continent know as the Black Continent. To be precise the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Yep, on June 2013 was my first time step in the soil of Africa.

Presidential Palace

                                                               Landscape of Pretoria
It was not for long time when my guide here Rihanna, come to pick me up. From her mouth, i heard one incredible story about her background. During her youth she was a daughter of one wealthy family who lived in the town of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. During the reign of Robert Mugabe, she and her family was banished from Zimbabwe and until now settle in the city of Pretoria.

Pretoria was my first stop here. A hype and mind blowing city i could say and seeing Pretoria was seeing a very modern city with both past and present things get blended on it. What Nelson Mandela had done for this country its real. Both black and white people here blended and live their life together. Which make South Africa the wealthiest sub-saharan African country.

Here is some pictures i took in Pretoria, one of the capital of South Africa. I hope you all enjoy it.

Statue In front of the Palace

Church Square

Town Hall

Andries Pretorius, the founder of the city

Voortrekker Monument, To commemorate the Voortrekker who left the Cape Colony due the British Conquest

Three Shades of Batavia

           

            Have you ever think a rainbow with just have one color? Dull, isn’t it? Rainbow should be got full of different colors to make the gloomy sky reduce it upset looks of the sky after the rain comes.

            The place I took my first breath, the place I take my daily breath, and the place I might take my last breath. More than twenty years Jakarta become a familiar sights to my eyes, and like a dating couple I got some “love & hate” feelings with this biggest city in Indonesia; love it for the entertainment I receive every day, hate it for many mischievous things that can be happen on this “City of Light of Indonesia”.

            And what makes a rainbow related to Jakarta? Both of them have different colors that make things more beautiful. On some occasion, I visited Jakarta Old City and stop on three different neighborhood with completely different characteristic with each other’s. The first stop on my trip to trace the city of my roots was the Chinatown of Jakarta, known as Glodok or Petak Sembilan.

            A settlement of Chinese-Indonesian since the Dutch colonial period, it is interesting to me, a Chinese-Indonesian who lives in the modern neighborhood, to see they still holding and adapt the traditional lifestyle in the middle of modernize society. Some of them still selling traditional Chinese herbs and medicines, and some of them still providing the prayers item for those who wanted to devote themselves to the divine one in the temple, such as splinters. And the distinctive thing is the red ornament still very strong within the neighborhood.

          One thing that makes this Chinatown more different than other Chinatown is the church of St Mary of Fatima. As we know that Catholic Church mainly have more westernize style of building, but not these church; it’s purely Chinese architecture. A house formerly owned by Chinese kapitan or leader of Chinese society than bought by the Archdiocese of Jakarta to serves the local parishes and nowadays become a legit statement of how strong the Chinese heritage on the area.

            Stadhuis or Kota Tua became my next stop on my exploration and this time the colonial traces greed me on the progress. Now become a popular tourist spot of Fatahilah Museum and Wayang Museum, this place are quite crowded with tourist, local and foreign, and so as the street performers who makes this area more alive than last 20 years ago. Fatahilah Museum keep the story of Jakarta started from the Stone Age, Hindu-Buddhism Period, Islamic Kingdom Period, European colonial period, until the Independence. The museum itself was a city hall, court and the central governmental building during the Dutch Colonial Period and also a jail for the rebels or heroes on our version of history who fought against the Dutch.

            The Wayang Museum nearby once a Dutch Reformist Church and now become a place to preserve traditional art of puppets of Indonesia and world. It’s a great privilege to see Wayang Kulit or shadow puppet show played during my visit, even though I didn’t understand what the dalang or puppet master saying, to seeing one of the most cultural heritage of Indonesia that become one of the UNESCO World Heritage, is a big pleasure to me.

            Last but not least, a spiritual road ended up my journey through the old city. Here’s a fun fact, one is the mosque that doubt as the “National Mosque” and one is the headquarters of grand Archdioceses of Jakarta which become the leader of all Catholic Church in Indonesia. It’s a goose bump yet heart melting moment when I see the Istiklal Mosque and Cathedral of Jakarta stand side by side and just across of each other’s. There is so many stories that both of the biggest religion home in Indonesia, provide the opposites each time a special occasions of each different calendar. Until now, both religious building become the symbol of unity of Indonesia themselves whom had people with different background of ethnics, tribes, and religions.

            

Never makes a rainbow into just one color, a rainbow is the sign of the new hope that will get rid of the glooms. In the end, just remember these words: Bhineka Tunggal Ika.

Introduction

God created courage to all mankind, in each era the courage had lead humans to made many marvelous discovery and finding a new point of view of seeing the world differently than what other think or see. There is a time when we must leave our comfort zone to discover the world themselves rather just sitting in front of the gadget and do the googling. 

Born in the Islands Nation of Indonesia, it is a privilege to me to explore several places and find several new way of seeing things that completely different from what i see or feel on my daily life. And thanks to both of my parents, since i was in tender age i already had a chance to visit several countries and different places, which grew my passion more to travel and discover the new point of view of seeing the world more.

Each time we travel abroad or domestically, i always use my time to think and try to absorb every single even on the spot. Once you travel, each second or moment could be special and interesting when you meet a new culture. It looks like an ordinary daily things, but once you try to peel it until the smallest part, you will find how interesting a moment in each second you stand in the completely different places you never imagine.

Let no walls cover you're way or any chain bound you from freedom, You can find anything when you far away from what you know usual circumstances. In the end, i hope what i write will inspire all to discover or feel more sensation during the journey we take.