Indonesia Part:
1. Pacu Jawi Bull Race.
Brief Given in Websites:
A) 2013 is at Pacu Jawi in Sumatra. Pacu Jawi literally means cow racing. Pacu is Race and Jawi is Cow in the local minangkabau lingo. Its not really a race but a run of two bulls each pulling a light sled on which the jocky places each leg. The jocky holds on to the bull's tails with each hand, and to make the bulls go faster in the muddy paddy field, he simply bites on the tail.
B) Usually after harvesting season, Farmers who have extra bulls or Breeders would show case their bulls for sale. The bulls are grouped into various pens, one as a holding pen for bulls waiting for the race, one for cleaning up the bulls after the race and one for display of the bulls and prospective buyers would gather and negotiate the price of the bulls. The sellers would pay professional jockeys to ride their bulls on a flood rice field. The buyers would gather to judge for themselves the bulls that they would want to buy. The jockeys do not wear any safety gears and they step dangerously onto a yolk harness made of bamboo and wood. To increase the speed of the particular slow bull, the jockeys would bite on its tail to speed it up. Photographers will usually gather at the finishing line or on any bunds surrounding the racing field. The path of the racing bulls is unpredictable…and hence the adrenalin rushes to get out of its way.
Brief by Sasha Friedlander: Kawah Ijen is an active 8530 feet tall volcano in East Java, Indonesia.
Inside the crater of the volcano lies the largest lake of sulfuric acid
in the world (650 ft deep). Exquisitely beautiful visually, it is the
site of a gruelingly labor-intensive sulfur mining operation. Here 200
miners collect and carry huge loads of pure sulfur as they trek up along
a rocky 4 km path out of the crater, amidst clouds of noxious sulfur
dioxide gas. They then climb down to the village at the base of the
volcano unload, only to repeat the round trip journey again before the
day ends. The miners will then sell the sulfur to the government for a
small fee, equivalent to about five dollars a day. The government
exports the sulfur, which is then used for bleaching sugar, producing
fertilizers, black gunpowder, matches, insecticides, and fungicides and
for vulcanizing rubber.
The miner’s physical pain can be excruciating, accidents are common, and exposure to the sulfur dioxide gases leads to chronic lung diseases. Because they are making more money than they would be making if they were to stay in their villages and farm, they continue mining in hopes of building financial security for their families, and ensuring that their sons will not become miners at Kawah Ijen. Sadly, the average sulfur miner at Kawah Ijen only lives till the age of 40, usually forcing their sons into their jobs, and thus creating a cyclical pattern that passes from one generation to the next.
World Series:
3.S.Pelligrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants for 2013:
Included list of hotels to visit on particular trip. Cities are mentioned.
(A sinkhole study trip: Also covering Belize)
1. Pacu Jawi Bull Race.
Brief Given in Websites:
A) 2013 is at Pacu Jawi in Sumatra. Pacu Jawi literally means cow racing. Pacu is Race and Jawi is Cow in the local minangkabau lingo. Its not really a race but a run of two bulls each pulling a light sled on which the jocky places each leg. The jocky holds on to the bull's tails with each hand, and to make the bulls go faster in the muddy paddy field, he simply bites on the tail.
B) Usually after harvesting season, Farmers who have extra bulls or Breeders would show case their bulls for sale. The bulls are grouped into various pens, one as a holding pen for bulls waiting for the race, one for cleaning up the bulls after the race and one for display of the bulls and prospective buyers would gather and negotiate the price of the bulls. The sellers would pay professional jockeys to ride their bulls on a flood rice field. The buyers would gather to judge for themselves the bulls that they would want to buy. The jockeys do not wear any safety gears and they step dangerously onto a yolk harness made of bamboo and wood. To increase the speed of the particular slow bull, the jockeys would bite on its tail to speed it up. Photographers will usually gather at the finishing line or on any bunds surrounding the racing field. The path of the racing bulls is unpredictable…and hence the adrenalin rushes to get out of its way.
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| Pacu Jawi Award winning Pic(Good Price in World Press Photo Contest 2013) |
2. Sulfur mining at Ijen
Brief Wikipedia: An active vent at the edge of the lake is a source of elemental sulfur, and supports a mining operation. Escaping volcanic gasses are channeled through a network of ceramic pipes, resulting in condensation of molten sulfur. The sulfur, which is deep red in color when molten, pours slowly from the ends of these pipes and pools on the ground, turning bright yellow as it cools. The miners break the cooled material into large pieces and carry it away in baskets. Miners must carry loads, which range from 75 kilograms (170 lb) to 90 kilograms (200 lb), up 300 meters (980 ft) to the crater rim, with a gradient of 45 to 60 degrees and then 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) down the mountain for weighing. Most miners make this journey twice a day. A nearby sugar refinery pays the miners by the weight of sulfur transported; as of September 2010, the typical daily earnings were equivalent to approximately $13 US. The miners often use insufficient protection while working around the volcano and complain of numerous respiratory afflictions. There are 200 miners, who extract 14 tons per day or only 20 percent of the continuous daily deposit. |
| Miner Carrying sulphur bucket |
The miner’s physical pain can be excruciating, accidents are common, and exposure to the sulfur dioxide gases leads to chronic lung diseases. Because they are making more money than they would be making if they were to stay in their villages and farm, they continue mining in hopes of building financial security for their families, and ensuring that their sons will not become miners at Kawah Ijen. Sadly, the average sulfur miner at Kawah Ijen only lives till the age of 40, usually forcing their sons into their jobs, and thus creating a cyclical pattern that passes from one generation to the next.
World Series:
3.S.Pelligrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants for 2013:
Included list of hotels to visit on particular trip. Cities are mentioned.
- 1. Narisawa (Tokyo)
- 2. Nihonryori Ryugin (Tokyo)
- 3. Nahm ( Bangkok)
- 4. Amber ( Hong Kong)
- 5. Restaurant Andre (Singapore)
- 6. 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana (Hong Kong)
- 7. Mr & Mrs Bund ( Shanghai)
- 8. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet (Shanghai)
- 9. Iggy's (Singapore)
- 10. Gaggan (Bangkok)
- 11. Waku Ghin (Singapore)
- 12. Caprice (Hong Kong)
- 13. Lung King Heen (Hong Kong)
- 14. Les Amis (Singapore)
- 15. Bo Innovation (Hong Kong)
- 16. Quintessence (Tokyo)
- 17. Dum Pukht (New Delhi)
- 18. The Chairman (Hong Kong)
- 19. Eat Me (Bangkok)
- 20. Wasabi by Morimoto (Mumbai)
- 21. Hajime Restaurant (Osaka, Japan)
- 22. Jaan (Singapore)
- 23. L'atelier De Joel Robuchon (Hong Kong)
- 24. L'atelier De Joel Robuchon (Singapore)
- 25. 28 HuBin Road (Hangzhou, China)
- 26. Bukhara (New Delhi)
- 27. Sushi Mizutani (Tokyo)
- 28. Indigo (Mumbai)
- 29. Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin (Bangkok)
- 30. Varq (New Delhi)
- 31. Aronia de Takazawa (Tokyo)
- 32. Shinji by Kanesaka (Singapore)
- 33. Kahala (Osaka, Japan)
- 34. Franck Bistro (Shanghai)
- 35. Osteria Mozza (Singapore)
- 36. Bo.Lan (Bangkok)
- 37. Robuchon au Dome (Macau, China)
- 38. Nihonbashi (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
- 39. Sushi Saito (Tokyo)
- 40. Fu1015 (Shanghai)
- 41. Indian Accent (New Delhi)
- 42. Ishikawa (Tokyo)
- 43. Gunther's (Singapore)
- 44. Karavalli (Bangalore, India)
- 45. Jade on 36 (Shanghai)
- 46. Yardbird (Hong Kong)
- 47. Don's (Hanoi, Vietnam)
- 48. Fook Lam Moon (Hong Kong)
- 49. Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck (Singapore)
- 50. Mozaic (Bali, Indonesia)
(A sinkhole study trip: Also covering Belize)
Introduction: Wiki
A
sinkhole, also known as a sink, snake hole, swallow hole, swallet,
doline, or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's
surface caused by karst processes — for example, the chemical
dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes in sandstone.
Sinkholes may vary in size from 1 to 600 metres (3.3 to 2,000 ft) both
in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to
bedrock-edged chasms. Sinkholes may be formed gradually or suddenly, and
are found worldwide. The different terms for sinkholes are often used
interchangeably. Lots of Websites are available to study about Sinkholes.
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| Guatemala Sinkhole 2010 |
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| Guatemala City, 2012 |
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| Blue Hole, Belize |
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| Florida Skymap |
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| Home in Spring Hill, Florida, 2009 |
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