The heart of Indonesia

The heart of Indonesia

Almost in the heart of Indonesia is situated one of its smaller islands – Bali. It look like a diamond with white beaches surrounded by paddy fields. As it is a small state people use to take a taxi or borrow car or motorbike and explore whole country.

Home of cheeky monkeys

The first thing on island that attracts people´s attention is its nature. You can see volcanic mountains covered by primaeval forest, volcano Gunung Batur or botanical garden full of orchids. Except from amazing nature there are different interesting Hindu – Buddhistic temples. The most interesting from them is definitely Tanah Lot which is built on rock in the middle of wather. In each town you can find small workshops that offer typical straw and wooden souvenirs.
The capital of Bali is Denpasar and it is similar like other cities in the world. Ubud is town situated in the middle of island and it is considered as a center of art.
Very interesting experience it visit of The cave of bats or Mandala Wisanta Wanara Wana. That is natural reservation for macaques. Sometimes they are aggressive but only when they do not get thing they want. In this situation they are capable to stole it.

Every nation has its own culture and traditions and this place has lots of that it can offer.

Chinese wall is longer

Chinese wall is longer

New measure shows that Chinese wall is longer than we have thought until now. Chinese offices realized mapping study which uncovered new parts of this monumental contruction expect existing 290 kilometres of lenght.

The new part of wall was uncovered by modern methods like GPS and infra-red measurig. It is situated from mountains, valleys and rivers in province called Liao-ning to the pass in province Kan-su.

Chinese wall is 2000 years old. Its primary function was to protect from attacks of Mongols. Newly measured part of wall was built during the reign of dynasty Ming and it had to protect country from enemies from the north. Scientists say that since this time the wall has eroded. After new measuring this monumental construstion measures 6300 kilometres in length.

Chinese archaeologists pounce that part of wall in province Kan-su is only pile of dust which will disappear in 20 years. They blame agricultural methods for that. In addition to this wall in this locality is made from trampled clay not from bricks and stones.

In recent years China has started with reconstruction of Chinese wall in an efford to use it as an atraction for tourists.

Shopping abroad

Shopping abroad

In recent years people in Slovakia have succumbed to trend of shopping. I am not going to talk about shopping in our shops or supermarkets but about shopping abroad. This hobby has several advantages and disadvantages.

Controversial selection of journey

Slovaks use to go shopping to countries which are near to our borders. The most frequent are Hungary and Poland. Then continues Austria and Czech Republic and the Ukraine is interesting for inhabitants from the east of our country. However Ukraine has still border searches and prohibitions. People are not allowed to buy alcohol and citarettes in an amount they want. On the other hand people prefer low prices and because this fact they do not resist bribing.

Plannig in advance

Shopping abroad includes long journey, too. It could be better if you pack also a map of country which you want to visit and take some friend who can speak relevant language. This would be good prevention to avoid possible problems. Other good idea is to change your money in Slovakia because you have certainity that you won´t became victimized. Also you can pay with credit card. By the way you can make a list of goods that you want to buy because you would have another problems like find place where you can park or something similar.

Spring jazz days in Bratislava

Hungarian group HársHegyBand, bassguitarist Jamaaladeen Tacumu with a project Coltarane Configurations and saxophonist Maceo Parker with his band. These musicians, famous people of jazz world comes to Slovakia to enjoy their fans. They had concerts in Košice, Komarno and finally in PKO, in Bratislava, where was realized second year of the event Spring Bratislava Jazz Days.
The evening full of jazz started HársHegyBand at 7 o´clock p.m. Then showed their music art Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Tony Kofi, Orrin Evans and Tim Hutson. He presented the art of Jonh Coltrane and the public appreciates his performance by a standing ovation. British groups thanks for it by an encore.

One of the best saxophonist all over the world, Maceo Parker came at 10 o´clock p.m. A musician veteran, who is 60 years old, played songs which we can characterize in a word – funky. He offered this style full of positive energy both with his band. The band is consists of a guitarist Will Boulware, a bassist Rodney „Sheet“ Curtis, a trumpetist Ron Tooley, Dennis Rollins, who plays a trombone, a drummer jamal Thomas and the vocalists Corey Parker and Neta Hall.
This star of jazz heaven even played at Prince´s tour. He had been in Bratislava five years ago, but he reached bigger success in this year.

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Hitler´s paintings were sold

British auction room Mullock´s auctioned collection of portraits painted by a Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in Thursday. Thirteen watercolour paintings were found in a collector´s garage at the beginning of present year. „A collector simply forgot the paintings and he found them after years,“ notes Richard Wastwood-Brookes, the exper of the auction house. The finder of portraits earned by this auction about 107 000 €. „Auction gain meaningly got over the expectations,“ said the delegate of the Mullock´s.

The paintings contains landscapes, villages and bunches of flowers. The most interesting is a portrait where is a man sitting on a stone bridge. It´s probably Hitler´s self-portrait, even though the author didn´t characterize lines of face strictly. A portrait is singed by a signature A. H and it´s dated to year 1910, when young Adolf was a 21. It was finally sold for a 11 000 €. The all paintings were made in 1908 – 1914, in time, when young Hitler tried to earn as an artist in Vienna. The highest price reached an oil painting where are displayed trees and village houses. A new owner paid 136 000 pounds for it. Unknown shopper bought an easel, what probably owned Hitler for 15 000 dollars,. The Mullock´s both auctioned 400 items includes documents, articles and magazines joined with Nazi era.

Hitler always dreamed about painter´s career. When he graduated a school, he only hanged around and he felt like a talented painter. It lasted two years. He came to Vienna when he was 18, because he want to complete entrance examination at Academy of Creative Arts. This examination includes 2 parts. Candidates had to create a few paintings with Christian, mythological or classic theme at first part. Hitler was successful, but he didn´t managed second part. Candidates had to show samples of their own portraits at the second part. A jury consider Hitler´s paintings a insufficient, because there weren´t much figures. Hitler´s dream was broken and he was disappointed. Inspite of that, he lived in Vienna as an artist and he made many small pictures in 1909 and 1910. He usually painted houses copied from the postcards, landscapes, portraits and advertising posters. He used water colours, oil and ink for his paintings.

„The world was unlucky, that Hitler wasn´t enroled to the Academy of Creative Arts, where he want to study. It maybe could to survive million people,“ notes a delegate of the organizator of the auction ironically.

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Travelling in New York

Whatever method of travel chosen, there is so much to do and see in New York. The Empire State Building, for forty years the tallest building in the world, each year carries over a million and a half visitors to its observatory high above the city. Madison Square Garden is the place to go to see basketball and hockey games, rock concerts, rodeos and even the circus. The city is home to a number of zoos, including the Bronx Zoo, one of the best in the world. Museums offer a limitless variety of possibilities to view nature (The New York Natural History Museum, the Hayden Planetarium, Coney Island’s New York Aquarium) art (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) and even an aircraft carrier (The Intrepid Sea-Airspace Museum).
Broadway and Times Square offer an endless variety of dramatic plays and musicals productions as well as the studios of MTV. All night dance clubs are scattered throughout the city, and patrons include the rich and famous as well as young New York working people who dance.
A fabulous city, New York is a mecca to Americans living up and down the East coats of the United States and to visitors from all over the United States and the world.

nika

Harlem

At the northern part of the island is Harlem. In the 1800s, many black families moved to the neighbourhood of handsome brownstone houses , schools and shops. Harlem became a centre of arts and entertainment in the 1920s, an era known as the Harlem Renaissance. Black poets, painters, and musicians produced new work in this environment. Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Billie Holiday performed in famous clubs like the Cotton Club. While Harlem turned slowly into a slum, it is now being revived and refurbished by families and groups interested in preserving the area’s black and African history.
Another famous New York neighbourhood is Greenwich Village, which became a home to struggling playwrights and artists. It is now a high rent district but remains an attraction to visitors who stroll along streets like Mac Dougal Street and stop in cafes, jazz clubs and bars.
Most New Yorkers and tourists navigate the city through the subway systems that connect with the railroads at Grand Central Station and Pennsylvania Station. Each day at least five hundred trains arrive and leave from Grand Central terminal. Travelling by New York cab is a bit more expensive, but always an experience to remember! New York cabbies are notorious for their wild deriving, and often tourists include tales about a harrowing cab ride. In their trip memories. The Staten Island Ferry offers a fabulous view of the Manhattan Skyline.

Nika