Air Terjun Bantimurung (Bantimurung Waterfall) Bantimurung Waterfall is located at the valley of the step limestone hill with its fertiles tropical vegetation which makes this area an ideal habitat for the types of butterflies and birds that are famous for their rarity.
In 1856-1857 a pre- dominant English naturalist. Alfred Russel Wallace spent half of his life in this area. In this area he enjoyed catching numerous sorts of rarely found butterflies, birds and insects.
Among the butterflies that he caught was Pailo Androcles type, which is considered one of the most rare and biggest type of butterfly that has a tail like a swallow. A detailed description concerning this place attracts the attention of most archeologist, pre-history experts and others.
The area of the water- fall and surrounding is one of the interesting, enjoyable and fresh place, for walking and swimming.From the water- fall, you can go by vehicle to the National Park through the lines of limestone hill
The journey to Ijen as far as three kilometers can be achieved by all people, adults and childrens with healthy bodies. The journey starts at a small path of Pal Tuding where many cottages managed by the Ministry of Forestry are available. The journey usually takes 1.5 to 2 hours walk to Ijen Crater.
Watching directly the mining activities are not allowed for public, especially those with physical problems and vertigo. The rule especially apply to those who would feel sick and dizzy easily if they inhale the sulphuric smoke.
The journey to the crater must apply extreme caution. On your way up, never talk to the miners carrying baskets if you don't have to. They would later stop and talk with you which would slow their rhytms and forcing them to use extra energy located at the bottom of the mountain at Pal Tuding. What an extraordinary scene, yet gloomy for us.
About ten minutes later, the path ended at an open space with the sight of a beautiful valley on our right. Up here, we could see Rante and Raung Mountains in the distance. It was less than twenty minutes for us to reach the Ijen Crater from here as we could already smell sulphur indistinct. Although, the mountain was still active, still the picture of enjoying the Breathtaking crater that only few could enjoy -ad diminished their worries.
Ijen Crater was the final destination for the visitors, but actually it was a start for the miners. Yes, down below in the deep crater the mining was located.
The journey to the mining place was rocky and very steep. To reach it, we had to take a small path along the rocky wall on our right and 200-meter slope on our left. The path itself was very sloppy. What a startling outlook to see the miners had to carry up to hundreds kilograms of sulphur on their shoulders along the hard path. Yet, the picture was not complete unless we could see directly the mining activities on ground zero located on the side of a lake.
The Rise and Fall of the Flavian Amphitheatre in Rome
The Colosseum has been part of the landscape of Rome for nearly 2000 years. Its history reflects the fortunes of the empire that constructed it.
Known as the Colosseum since the Middle Ages, either because of the huge statue of Nero that once stood outside it or from its sheer size and magnitude, the Amphitheatre Flavium or Flavian Amphitheatre has been one of Rome’s major landmarks for nearly 2000 years. Its fortunes have fluctuated. It was the centrepiece of Vespasian’s regeneration programme and the home of vagrants, a palatial fortress and the city’s stone quarry.
The Beginnings of the Colosseum
The Colosseum was begun in 70AD by the Emperor Vespasian as part of his regeneration of Rome. Roma Resurgens was Vespasian’s motto. As the city rose from the ashes of civil war and unrest, so the Colosseum rose from the basin of the lake of Nero’s Golden House to become the city’s first permanent, all purpose stone amphitheatre.
The building remained a family project. Its grand opening was in 80AD under Vespasian’s son the Emperor Titus. Vespasian’s youngest son, the Emperor Domitian, added the structural finishing touches by completing the arena area.
Repairs to the Colosseum
The amphitheatre was repaired and modified several times in its history. The building was particularly vulnerable to fires because of its wooden arena and upper ring of seating. Initial repairs were detailed. Archaeologists have discovered that the original corridor décor of red, yellow, green and black painted plaster was changed following the fire of 217 AD to a plainer red and white style.
As time went on, repairs were less meticulous. A lightening strike in the third century meant that the building again went up in flames. Repairs took two decades and did not have the attention to detail of earlier eras. The last recorded repair of the amphitheatre was in 443 AD when an earthquake destroyed the upper tier of seating. Repairs on this occasion were makeshift and incomplete.
The Decline of the Colosseum
Gladiatorial contests were outlawed in 438AD and the games stopped completely in 523AD after one final animal hunt took place in the arena. The Colosseum became redundant until it became a refuge for the city’s vagrants. Makeshift dwellings were set up in the basement corridors. Gradually, a small community of artisans grew up around the former amphitheatre. A road was built down the main axis of the arena which became a storage yard whilst outside the perimeter walls, a number of dwellings were erected.
Plundering the Colosseum
By the 12th century, the Colosseum had once more gone up in the world when it become part of the Frangipane family’s fortress. The family occupied two levels of arches at the eastern end of the structure until the building left their ownership, eventually falling into the hands of the church. Its stone began to be plundered with records showing travertine stone from the building was put up for sale in 1362.
By the renaissance, humanists such as Pope Eugene IV were calling for the historic remains to be preserved. This did not prevent the building from being used as a ‘quarry’ supplying stone for great renaissance buildings such as the Vatican’s St Peter’s church.
In the sixteenth century, the church sanctified the former amphitheatre, due to the misconception that it was a place of martyrdom for early Christians under Nero. A small church, the Chapel of Santa Maria Della Pieta was built in the north eastern corner of the arena. This in no way stopped the slow erosion of the building’s structure and soon only the north side of the building left relatively intact.
The Conservation and Excavation of the Colosseum
Real conservation did not begin until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A law was passed in 1743 forbidding any further removal of stone. The east and west ends of the building were reinforced to stop them collapsing. It was not until the nineteenth century that the first systematic excavations of the building began under Carlos Fea.
Sources
The Colosseum: The Official Guide. Electa: soprintendenza archeologica di roma
Colosseum: Rome’s Arena of Death (2003) by Peter Connolly. BBC books
Located off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesias West Papua province, Raja Ampat, or the Four Kings, is an archipelago comprising over 1,500 small islands, cays and shoals surrounding the four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta and Waigeo, and the smaller island of Kofiau. It encompasses more than 40,000 km² of land and sea, which also contains CenderawasihBay, the largest marine national park in Indonesia. It is a part of the newly named West Papua (province) of Indonesia which was formerly Irian Jaya. The islands are the most northern pieces of land in the Australian continent.
According to Conservation International, marine surveys suggest that the marine life diversity in the Raja Ampat area is the highest recorded on Earth.[1] Diversity is considerably greater than any other area sampled in the Coral Triangle composed of Indonesia, Philippines and Papua New Guinea. The Coral Triangle is the heart of the world's coral reef biodiversity, making Raja Ampat quite possibly the richest coral reef ecosystems in the world.
The area's massive coral colonies along with relatively high sea surface temperatures, also suggest that its reefs may be relatively resistant to threats like coral bleaching and coral disease, which now jeopardize the survival of other coral ecosystems around the world. The Raja Ampat islands are remote and relatively undisturbed by humans.
The high marine diversity in Raja Ampat is strongly influenced by its position between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as coral and fish larvae are more easily shared between the two oceans. Raja Ampat's coral diversity, resilience, and role as a source for larval dispersal make it a global priority for marine protection.
1,309 fish species, 537 coral species (a remarkable 96% of all scleractinia recorded from Indonesia are likely to occur in these islands), and 699 mollusk species, the variety of marine life is staggering.Some areas boast enormous schools of fish and regular sightings of sharks, such as wobbegongs.
Ancient Siam (formerly known as Ancient City) is the world's biggest open-air museum. It occupies an area of 500 rais (200 acres). Construction began in the latter part of 1963. It is located at Tambon Bang Pu Mai, at Km. 33.5 of the old Sukhumvit Road, 8 kilometres from Samut Prakan town. This unique attraction is the center of scaled-down and actual-size replicas of important historical sites of various provinces such as Prasat Hin Phanom Rung, Wat Mahathat Sukhothai, Phraphuttabat Saraburi, Phrathat Mueang Nakhon, Phrathat Chaiya, etc. Furthermore, there are rare traditional folk arts and cultures, some of which are hard to come by nowadays. For those who wish to learn about Thailand, they will not be disappointed here.
Wat Phananchoeng is in the southern part of the city near the river. It was built in 1324 A.D., 26 year before king U-thong founded Ayutthaya, although it is not known by whom this temple was built. Phra Chao Phananchoeng, a large sitting Buddha constructed of brick and mortar, has been well known of a long time. King Naresuen the Great repaired it once, and the other Kings of Ayudhya must keep it in good repair too, though no mention is made of that in the chronicle, from which it is learnt only that when Ayudhya was taken by the Burmese tears flowed from the eyes of this image.
Later on the first king of the Chakri Dynasty and some of his successors repaired the image and towards the end of 1854 A.D., King Mongkut completely renovated the image and renamed it Phra Bhudh-trai-ratana nayok. On the 21st December 1901, during the reignof King Chulalongkorn, the outer garment of Phra Chao Phanan-cheng caught fire and the image was damaged in many places. King Chulalongkorn commanded the image to be repaired, and the work was finished in 1902 A.D.
On the 15th March 1928 the cheeks and the lower jaws of the image broke into pieces. The Royal Institute had it repaired in 1929. At that time Phra Dhamatri-lok the abbot of this monastery, on collecting the bits of gold leaves left by the devotees inside the Vihara gathered 165 grammes of that metal, 690 grammes of gold were contributed by others. With these 855 grammes of gold the head of the monastery made an "Una-lom" (ornament for the forehead substituted it for the older one which was of copper plated with gold).
Phra Chao Phananchoeng is held in respect by the Thai people who, when they visit ayutthaya, offer worship to this image and obtain prediction of their luck from its Vihara. Tourists who do not visit this temple miss the opportunity of seeing one of the very large, old and beautiful images. No Photographs of this image too are to be found in any book or even in the National Museum, where there is a collection of photographs of all other important images of the Buddha, because there is not enough room within the Vihara to set the camera at the proper distance to get a complete picture of this large image.
Phra Chao Phananchoeng is an image in the posture of subduing Mara. It measures 14 meters and 25 centimeters from knee to knee and 19 meters high (including the ornament above the head).
source: AYUTTHAYA
[photo credit to dhammathai.org]
by ; wat-thai-temple.blogspot.com
Damnernsaduak is believed to be one of a well-known and an attractuve travelling sites. Historically, Damnoenssaduak was actually the name of the canal dug in the reign of King Rama IV by the military men and the people of Rajburi, Samutsakorn and Samutsongkram Province directed by Phayasrisuriyawong, the minister of Defence. In those days without rivers and canals, transportation was almost motionless; King Rama IV with his great concern over the country's future economic growth, he finally had the canal dug to connect the Taachin River in Samutsakorn Province and Maklong River in Samutsongkram Province together.
Nowadays Damnoensaduak is one of a provincial district of Rajburi Province. Most people live densely along both sides of the canal from one end of the canal to another.The majority of this people are agriculturists. They grow several different kinds of fruit and vegetable for examples oranges, grapes, papayas, cabbages, bean, onion and etc. The land in this area is naturally fertile. Apart from providing transportation, Damnoensaduak Canal also provides farmers with adequate water for agricultural purposes for the whole year around. More than 200 small canals were dug by local peasants to connect with it to get water to splatter their land. Moreover; these small canals also become protitiouus ways of taking their agricultural products to the markets in neighbouring provinces and Bangkok.
Day in and day out from about 8 a.m. to about 11 a.m. the Floating Market is routinely crowded with hundrreds of vendors and purchasers floating in their small rowing boats selling and buying or exchanging their goods. What they purchase are particularly food, fruit and vegetable which mostly brought from their own orchards. They usually travel on their small rowing boats. however; today the long-tailed boats pushing by engine become very popular. People tend to use them instead. Anyhow because of the shortage of fuel today long-tailed boats are quite unavailable compared to a few years ago.
Damnoen Saduak in Ratchaburi about 109 kilometres south of Bangkok or approximately 2 hours drive. How to Get There By Car: From Bangkok you can take Highway No. 4 (Phetchakasem Rd.) and turn left at Km. 80 for another 25 kms. along Bangpae-Damnoen Saduak Rd. By Bus: There are public buses both air and non air-conditioned leaving from the Southern Bus Terminal. Pinklao-Nakhonchaisi Rd. for Damnoen Saduak every 40 minutes from 06.00 hrs. onwards. Fare is around Baht 49 (one way) for air-conditioned (tel . 435-5031) and Baht 30 for normal buses (tel. 434-5558). The most suitable time to be at the market is from 08.00-10.00 hrs.
Arriving at Damnoen Saduak, you can either walk on the passage along the canal on the right hand side or take a both at the pier nearby to Floating Market area at the price of Baht 10 per person. Those who want to see all the three of the Floating Markets, Ton Khem, Hia Kui, Khun Phithak may hire a boat at the price of Baht 300 per hour. It is recommended that the fare should be settled before starting off.
The visit to this market, especially noted for its fresh fruits from surrounding orchards, can be combined with a tour of the great chedi in Nakhon Pathom or Rose Garden which is on the same route, the show time at the Thai Village in the Rose- Garden is at 15.00 hrs. and admission fee is Baht 190 per person. This trip can be arranged through a travel agency or tour counter in most of the hotels in Bangkok.
