Johor Bahru Chingay Parade 2012

"Every year in the first lunar month of 20-23rd , the Annual Chinngay event is organizes by the Chinese Commence Chamber Of Johor Bahru and its known as the Parade of Deities of Johor Old Temple. (Chinese: 古廟游神).
The Chingay parade lasts for four days. The climax of the parade is on the night of the 3rd day when the Deities parade around the Johor Bahru Town Centre or in Chinese known as 圣駕巡游.
The annual Chingay has attracted more than 300,000 people to march around the major roads of Johor Bahru together with the 5 Deities being worshiped in the Old Temple." Source from Wiki.

This year is considered I attended the JB Chingay Parade for the First time! Because I watched the whole stretch of parade from start till end...
The Parade started from Jalan Yahya Awal (N1.47913 E103.74769), passed through Jalan Ibrahim in front of the JB Post Office and go into the Jalan Wong Ah Fook...follow by Jalan Tun Abdul Razak and back to Jalan Yahya Awal with the total of 7.5km. All the effected road were closed during the parade session.

Partially of the crowd that evening...

We were standing at the junction between Inner Ring road and Jalan Yahya Awal. During that time (1745hrs), the area was packed with peoples!

Let me share some photos of the Chingay Parade of Johor Bahru to you...I was walking opposite direction against the Parade...(total of 59 photos, please be patient for the loading...)

Senior devotee...

Trams from Danga Bay Johor Bahru (above & below)

The God Of Fortune and the bunch of clowns...

Group from one of the Deity...

One of the Deity

The Red Drummers

The Red Drummers

Wondering why her face looks one kind...?

Decorated truck...

Follow by another Deity of the night...

Another Deity of the night...

Everyone pray for wealth and prosperity! Huat ah!

Dragon dance...

Traditional dance performing by a group of women...

Dragons on the truck...

Everyone like to touch the Dragon, they believe it will bring luck and prosperity!

Dragon dance...

I like this Lanterns very much!

Here come the Bubbles factory! :)

Once this truck pass-by, the sky was Full of bubbles!

One of the Dragon on the evening...

The Bicycle Dragon! One of the Special Dragon of the night!

Everyone was happy to ride on the dragon...

The Dragon from SP Setia group...

Dragon in motion! I like the slow shuttle effect!

There were many peoples giving sweets, biscuits and tissue pack...some even given U mobile Prepaid Card Free!

One of the Decoration truck...

Big head dolls...(direct translate)

Many dragons on the truck waiting to perform...

Another senior women performance...

The Drummer...

Another Deity of the night...

SMART for 2 also participated...

The young drummers...

Dancing Phoenix...

Here come the Diabolo team. Their performance was Great!

Diabolo performance...

Diabolo performance...

The Sky was Full of Diabolo! (above & below)

The Dragon truck...

The Balloon Dragon! As I saw the longest dragon of the night!

Take a break!

Yeee-Haaa!!

Decorated truck...

Another Deity and also the last of the evening...

Big group of devotees follow at the end of the Parade...

I heard the devotees shouted : "Huat ah!" along the whole stretch of the Parade! That means Prosperity! There were more than 100 dragons that night and I couldn't snap all! I might join the Parade again next year if time allow....:)

Jewish Travel goes Academic......

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Scholars at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania are analyzing Jewish travel in a fellowship program called "On the Road: Travel in Jewish History." Robert Leiter writes about the program in The Jewish Exponent. He reports that there were about 170 applications, which were whittled down to 12 scholars for the first semester and 14 for the second, now under way. (Full disclosure -- I applied for a fellowship but was not accepted.)

Travel as ennobling -- an educational pursuit that broadens knowledge and sharpens perceptions -- is a 20th century concept, according to German-born scholar Martin Jacobs. [...] 

Jacobs joined Ora Limor of the Open University in Jerusalem and Joshua Levinson of Jerusalem's Hebrew University, who first broached the topic, in fashioning the proposal they eventually presented to David Ruderman, the head of the center. [...] 

Two scholars who consider modern-day notions of Jewish travel are Jackie Feldman, a native New Yorker who now lectures on social anthropology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; and Nils Roemer, a non-Jew born in Germany, who teaches Jewish subjects at the University of Texas in Dallas.

Lazio Italian Restaurant and Cafe at Danga Bay, Johor Bahru

Lazio Italian Restaurant and Cafe (N1.47423 E103.72441) is located at Danga Bay Johor Bahru. The restaurant established since 2005 and it was a first Italian Restaurant along the Johor Straits.

The entrance of Lazio Italian Restaurant and Cafe

We visited the restaurant and had our famili dinner on one of the Saturday night. The cozy environment attracted my family and I like the spacious and comfortable setting...not crowded that night...

The internal setting of Lazio Italian Restaurant and Cafe

Our order :-
1)  Grilled Chicken for my wife.
2)  Mushroom soup served with garlic bread for my daughter.
3)  Grilled Sirloin Steak (medium) for myself.

we had to be patient for the foods...cause it all served on the table about 30 minutes...

Grilled chicken

Mushroom Soup

Grilled Sirloin Steak

Delicious!
The Grilled chicken was tender and favoriteful, the mushroom soup was thick and yummy! The Grilled Sirloin was Succulent and Tasty! The gravy were special and just nice for the taste! We really like the foods very much especially dine in the nice environment!

The Damage of the night : RM97.00 included 2 glass of plain water (cos we decided to have some beer on the next door - Lazio Bar). That was reasonable price in this restaurant especially with the Delicious foods!

We strolled along the coastal after the overload dinner! Haha! After 30 minutes of slow walk, we enjoy & relax ourself in the Lazio Bar with the entertainment by the old couple singing...I like their voice very much!

It might be a good restaurant for the Valentine's Canddle Light Dinner tomorrow (14-2-2012), do try out the foods and relax yourself in the Lazio Restaurant and Cafe at Danga Bay, Johor Bahru.

Lazio Italian Restaurant and Cafe

Danga Bay, Johor Bahru.

Tel : +607-2217988/+607-2215688

https://www.facebook.com/LazioCafe

Location map of Lazio Italian Restaurant at Danga Bay, Johor Bahru.

View Larger Map

Poland -- Travel story on Lodz

Artur Rubinstein street sculpture monument. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

The New York Jewish Week runs a lively travel story by Hilary Larson on Lodz, Poland, highlighting the city's Jewish heritage as well as its new spaces and places -- which include Manufaktura, a big shopping center in the transformed red-brick factory that was once run by Lodz's wealthiest Jewish industrialist, I.K. Poznanski...

This onetime outpost of the Russian and German Empires was among the world’s most Jewish cities before the Holocaust, with a quarter-million Jews, a good third of the city’s total. Every year, thousands of heritage travelers come to bear witness to Lodz’s wartime ghetto and the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. 

So fixed is that mournful image that it takes a mental leap to consider what Europeans already know: Lodz is suddenly the coolest place in Poland. 

“It’s where all the hipsters and artists are going,” said my Polish friend Piotr. “They are in Warsaw for the jobs, in Krakow for the universities. But they come to Lodz for the scene.” [...]

This so-called “City of Four Cultures” (Polish, Jewish, German and Russian) is polyglot and full of surprises. There are 19th-century Orthodox churches, baroque Teutonic mansions, Soviet housing blocks with underground cafes. Though Jews are few today, Jewishness continues to pervade the city — a subtle but persistent overlay of nostalgia, and a belatedly appreciated cultural influence.

I'm glad to see Lodz get such coverage. I have always greatly enjoyed my visits to the city and walks down ruler-straight Piotrkowski street, looking at the old mansions and the street sculpture of Rubinstein, Tuwim and others.

Piortrkowski st. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber)

Larson doesn't mention however, two of the key Jewish and "Jewish" sights..... the large and fascinating Jewish cemetery, with Poznanski's immense domed tomb, and the "Jewish" restaurant Anatewka, which, since I first saw it, has been one of the Platonic ideals for me of the "virtually Jewish world"..... where, the first time I visited, in 2005, the waiters were dressed as Hasids, and where guests are (or were) all given little figurines of Jews clutching coins as sort of favors.

Bon Odori 2011 beside Plaza Angsana, Tampoi - Johor Bahru.

"Bon Odori, meaning simply Bon dance is a style of dancing performed during Obon. Originally a Nenbutsu folk dance to welcome the spirits of the dead, the style of celebration varies in many aspects from region to region. Each region has a local dance, as well as different music. The music can be songs specifically pertinent to the spiritual message of Obon, or local min'yo folk songs. Consequently, the Bon dance will look and sound different from region to region. Hokkaidō is known for a folk-song known as "Soran Bushi." The song "Tokyo Ondo" takes its namesake from the capital of Japan. "Gujo Odori" in Gujō, Gifu prefecture is famous for all night dancing. "Gōshū Ondo" is a folk song from Shiga prefecture. Residents of the Kansai area will recognize the famous "Kawachi ondo." Tokushima in Shikoku is very famous for its "Awa Odori," or "fool's dance," and in the far south, one can hear the "Ohara Bushi" of Kagoshima." For more info, please read here.

Last year, the Bon Odori 2011 was held at the parking area beside Plaza Angsana, Tampoi - Johor Bahru. It was really corwded when we were there on the evening...

Bon Odori 2011 at Johor Bahru

Crowded!

This is a yearly event and it was flooded with Japanese foods and games. My daughter like the knocking game very much! Haha!

We decided to have our dinner in the event, and too many food booths around that really make us confuse! Finally, we chose the Kinsahi booth just because of they had full of variety...

Kinsahi booth

Too many foods to choose from...

I like the meat ball very much! From Kinsahi.

Beside that, there were many food stalls around the area too....like the Japanese Restaurant from Crystal Crown Hotel Johor Bahru also participated...

The Japanese Restaurant at Crystal Crown Hotel. Johor Bahru.

You can see Sushi booth in every corner...

While we enjoyed our Japanese foods, the Japanese Drum Performance started on the stage at the middle of the parking area...

The Ladies drumer

One of the lady drumer

Then followed by another group...

There were many performances by different groups that night, honestly...I like the Drum Performance very much! Like listen to Kitaro music...haha!
And it was different from the Chinese Drum that I watched before...
Some photos of different groups that performed on that evening...

Different group of drumers

Sweet ladies drumer from the performance...

It was fortunate enough that we can walked around in the event. Thanks to the event organizer! We like it very much and we will see you again in year 2012!
We were late and miss the Bon Dance performance! We will be early in the next event!

I was regretted didn't buy the Flash earlier...

Location map of Plaza Angsana, Tampoi - Johor Bahru

View Larger Map

Jewish Heritage Europe web site

By Ruth Ellen Gruber


I've been neglecting this blog for a little while, as I've been involved in getting the Jewish Heritage Europe web site that I am coordinating for the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe ready for launch.... 

I'm happy to say that JHE is now online and functioning (more or less) fully... there are still a few teething problems, as expected, and I still have a lot of information to load on the home pages of the 48 countries covered.

JHE is an expanding web portal to a wide range of news, information and resources concerning Jewish monuments and heritage sites all over Europe.JHE aims to aggregate information, shed light on Jewish heritage issues, and stimulate discussion and exchanges among professionals and the interested public. 

It has a constant newsfeed -- and I will be cross posting on this blog from it (and vice versa).

The new JHE builds on, revamps and expands a previous version of the site that was launched after the major 2004 conference in Prague on the future of Jewish heritage in Europe and was coordinated by Sharman Kadish, Syd Greenberg, and Samuel D. Gruber. 

The current version was conceived as a follow-up to the seminar held in Bratislava, Slovakia in March 2009 that discussed the state of Jewish heritage sites in Europe as well as strategies for their restoration, use and upkeep. 

As I reported on this blog at the time, that seminar, attended by international Jewish heritage experts as well as by representatives from Jewish communities in more than a dozen countries, resulted in a statement of specific “Best Practices” about how to deal with Jewish heritage sites.