Obama's visit to Indonesia

I've always found the hype surrounding Obama a bit silly. Ok, he lived in Indonesia when he was little, so.....?

But last Tuesday, while sitting in traffic and feeling disappointed that El Shinta (a radio station known for its traffic reports) has hold off its reports in order to broadcast live the joint press conference of Obama & SBY, I suddenly got a mellow feeling when hearing Obama speak his first words: Terima kasih. Selamat Sore....
The next day, when he delivered his speech at University of Indonesia, hearing him say things like "Pulang kampung nih", brought a big smile to my face.

So does this mean I have joined the Obama craze? Hmm...not exactly. Watching him mention about his memories of Indonesia was actually like when I meet a foreigner and hear him talk favorably about his time when vacationing in Indonesia. It's just this feeling that we have something in common, a feeling that "Hey, my country has brought joy to someone's day"...

But all this aside, I was impressed with the speech Obama delivered. When was the last time any of our officials mentioned about Bhinneka Tunggal Ika and used it in such a motivational way?

Anyways, I wanted to share a few photos of Obama's visit to the University of Indonesia. My sister, who is a reporter, got an invitation to attend the event. She sat in the second row so got quite decent pictures (she actually bought a new camera because of this :) ).

While Obama is smiling & shaking hands with his "fans", his bodyguard looks kind of stressed out :)

Former president B.J. Habibie was among those who attended the event. So nice to see him smile, he lost his wife a couple of months ago

Look at the crowd, trying to take photos. Around 7000 people were present

Thanks Sis for the pics!

Indonesia Pavilion won bronze at World Expo 2010

I found this good news amidst all the updates on Mount Merapi: Indonesia's pavilion at the World Expo Shanghai China 2010 won a bronze award for the Creative Display Category (group A).

This news made me wonder how the pavilion actually looked like and after searching extensively, I found these pics:

http://en.expo2010.cn/c/en_gj_zgfc_low_tpl_37.htm?id=11

- Unlike other pavilions, the Indonesian pavilion had an open-concept. It was designed by the architect Budi Lim and used many natural elements such as bamboo and wood for the walls and flooring. The theme was "Bio Diverse City", which reflects the 3 main areas of the pavilion: "Bio" zone features the country’s abundant natural resources, "Diverse" zone displays the diversity of Indonesian culture and the "City" zone. The pavilion was 4 storeys high. As you walk along, the path would go higher and higher and eventually descending.

How it looks from the Ground
(Pic from: http://ardyhadi.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/intip-pavilion-indonesia-yuk/)

How it looks from Above

(Pic from: http://shanghai.cultural-china.com/html/Latest-news-on-World-Expo/201005/06-5649.html)

- A big map of Indonesia was put near the entrance. I think this was a great idea. Let's face it, many people don't know where Indonesia is!

(Pic from: http://desy.posterous.com/indonesia-in-shanghai-expo)

- The bio zone featured a SeaWorld-like tunnel

(Pic from: http://iyagihaja.pumitabusan.com/2010/07/shanghai-trip-35-3rd-day-indonesian.html)

- Borobudur was (as usual) one of the attractions promoted. It seems there was a huge wall carved with its reliefs so that visitors get an idea of how the Borobudur looks like, and they also made a replica of the stupa. Please see Iya's blog for more interesting pics on this and others.

(Pic from: http://ardyhadi.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/intip-pavilion-indonesia-yuk/)

(Pic on the left: http://expo2010shanghai.com/national-pavilions/indonesia-pavilion/)
(Pic on the right: http://iyagihaja.pumitabusan.com/2010/07/shanghai-trip-35-3rd-day-indonesian.html)

- You can sign your name to support the Komodo island as one of the world's natural wonders
Those are just a few pics. Please check out the links above and the ones below to see others. It seems the Indonesian pavilion had a lot of interesting things, no wonder it won an award!
http://expo2010shanghai.com/national-pavilions/indonesia-pavilion/
http://www.indonesiaatworldexpo.com/

Looking at the website and other blogs from people attending the expo, made me regret not going there. Hopefully the next expo will be on the same (or even bigger) scale and I get a chance to attend!