Semarang, Central Java

-



Old colonial city in the center of Java



This song catches a spirit how I felt in this town.


Old colonial city.


It has a lot of beautiful ruins.



Not all city is like this, but for me:


This part is most unique.


Tropical ruins are very different from ours.
















Most of the city is well preserved.


But since it was build by protestant Dutch


It is not the most elegant European architecture.






































Building of 1000 doors.













 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We bought a house!, Bali

-
Image
  Proud owners od a house!  20.000 euros with a swimming pool! Basic unit is 15.000 evro, but we aded a 2x5 meter pool and extra 15m2 of land. The houses are beeing build right now. Ours will be here in about 4 months. They just started digging the fundation. The location (red dot) is a bit more remote then typical. 35 minutes to the beach, 35 to Denpasar, 40 to Ubud, and 40 minutes to the volcano, where I can go hiking.. It is 230 meters above sea level and has a relatively cold climate like Ubud, but much, much cheaper.  It is a simple quiet village, most people here are making decorations, carving wood, making tiles, carving statues..  it is much poorer then Ubud, but has just as many artists. There are no tourists here.  It has a very nice zen energy. They put a lot of offers to the gods here. Here I will be able to concentrate on my work. Sure I will visit joint working places in Changgu sometimes, but not evey day. We will go to the beach sometimes, but no...
Read more

Terrace roof

-
Image
  They came to make our terrace roof. I asked him if he can align the pitch of the roof, so it is parallel. So both roofs have same inclination. He told me: NO!  If I do it like this it is wrong! People will ask: who made this?! And if you say my name - it will be shame! for me. This is a traditional a roof. It has been perfected through generations. He saw my computer drawing and said: number of wood beams is wrong!!  I told him: do not worry, it is just to explain how I want it to be done and to get a quote of how much it will cost? I may have years of computer drawing experience... I can do 3d drawings... but tradition... no... i can not. I can never draw anything like this in my computer, not in a 100 years. This is generations of perfecting same motif over and over, improving on it gradually. These are two modes of thinking: modern abstract and traditional. As modern abstract architects working with computers, we can adopt quickly and respond to all sorts of differen...
Read more

The Spirit Island

-
Image
Sukawati is a place to buy unique stautues The shop owner saw me looking at this statue and we connected: crazy to crazy. He showed me this one. Which made us both exited Nope, I will not get bored! This is the guy. He rented a huge building next to a shop. Why? Because he can. He is making real money with this. Not many people have his eye for craziness. He also does not care for money, you can tell by the way he dresses and behaves.  You should see this old man live: it looks like he has a real soul ...looking back to his life with sadness and peace. Indonesian Henri Rousseau Tired spirit. Am I awake or dreaming? This cat has been run over flat, but then a spirit came and brought her back to life.  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094721/ How did that happen? A spirit? The things I have seen! Wise men have mental strength to deal with stuff. Real mental strenght. This one reminds me of cartoon Paprika 2009 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0851578/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2 Something about th...
Read more

Ubud vibes, Bali

-
Image
Entrance to pura. Scary heads and guardians protect against evil spirits. This is a private propety, so entrance is not allowed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galungan  Today is Galungan celebration. They put decorations all over. Stone face ghosts. Near the river in Ubud * Because of this holiday, only one shop with statues was open. And even this one shop got my imagination running! How about an Octopus holding a glass table? 100 euros (price not negotiated for any of the items) Hippopotamus, 300 euro (because so much wood is used) We will buy one of those and use it as a bench for seating Elephant head, 300 Euros (no animals were hurt in the proces) Imagine a wall with few of those. Put blue tiles on the wall, and a few fish like this. It will look splendid! Maybe a turtle table stand instead of an octopus? Beside Hipo, there can be a Rhino too... How about an alien lizard table? We have only scratched the surface of what you can buy here... Our house will look like a ZOO!  ...
Read more

Giant closet

-
Image
  Giant closet has arrived 2.8 meters It is a monster indeed. * A fitting plant to go with a monster closet is: The monstera! * And its small brother. The small closet This is a very old classic design closet. When plant grows, the size difference between closets will visually match. * TV closet on wheels My work space. * Outside door handle Inside door handle, left. and right. Carving on a coconut shell
Read more

Bali flower tiles

-
Image
When I first saw full pattern, I panic a bit. They are overwhelming! We bought wax and pigment The idea is to tone down colors a bit. From the test we made on kitchen tiles we learned: wax only makes them pop out even more. There is no way of toning down the colors. They are what they are. Anggi loves these tiles from the start and thinks they are Splendid! After chocolate mint cocktail...  ....and a tasty chicken meal. I decided: it is time to embrace - The flower! I just need some time to adjust to them. .... Yellow! tiles are Anggi's choice. Why? Because Yellow! https://peter-sovinc-indonesia.blogspot.com/2022/10/yellow-hat.html .... Garden got soil We are looking forward to plant it. First idea is to put in iconic Bali "kamboja" tree But today when we went to see what they sell, and I really liked the chocolate tree. Not because it is the most beautiful one, but because it has a cultural reference. It reminds me of 19. century pencil drawings. Elephant ear. Dark red p...
Read more

Morning walk, Kuwum

-
Image
5:50 am  6:15 am This village is non tourist. I have met one white person since I am here. 7 am Sun came above the tree line 7:15 am 7:30 am 150 meters 100 meters * few days earlier View from our garden. Religious procession. Morning sun breaking through clouds. * few days later... evening * morning
Read more

Pura Luhur Bhujangga Waisnawa Gunung Sari

-
Image
"Pura Luhur Bhujangga Waisnawa Gunung Sari" (Anggi went to Java to pick up her son, but because of high waves she got stuck there. This means I am on my own this weekend.)    I was driving motorcycle, when I see this path. I liked it so much, I parked my motorcycle and start walking...  After few minutes I come to this Pura (Bali temple) First I saw nobody around. It was very quiet. Then I see a guy sitting there. I asked him if I can take photos?  He said yes, but asked for a small donation. So I could go in all by myself, no tourists to bother me. It was a very calm and genuine experience. Often people complain how Bali is over crowded with tourists. Well... this is certainly true for big centers, like Canggu, Kuta, Ubud... It is also true for famous spots, that are recommended by Instagram, YouTube, Lonely Planet... But it is not at all true for random places And Bali is full of them! Ok, I was a little lucky with this one. You do not find something like this ever...
Read more

Terrace roof

-
Image
Bali is full of these kind of roofs So we decided we will use it to cover our terrace Our village where we have our house is a center for woodworking. So it was easy to visit quite a few. The designs are remarkably similar between shops This is because these are traditional designs The motifs have religious meaning Knowledge is copied over generations. This one will be ours, but without gold. We will have it in chocolate colour. It takes a very long time to make each piece. We will pay 1600 euro for the whole terrace roof. Which is a good price considering how much detail it will have. ... A very common reason for a traffic jam in Bali. But a very interesting one. They always play music while having those religious processions. We reached 10.000 km with the motorcycle today. It has been exactly 10 months since we got it, to a day! ... We  bought kitchen table for 100 euros. It is a Suar tree. https://conte-caserta.com/en/what-is-suar-wood/   We consider buying one that looks l...
Read more