Last May, I finally able to attend the Jakarta Highland Gathering 2011. It's an annual Scottish event for charity purposes located in Jakarta, which covers various games and sports. It is originated in Scotland, where they do it every year to celebrate Scottish and Celtic culture&heritage. When it was held for the first time in Jakarta on 1975, the committee aimed to make this a melting pot event between expatriates and Indonesian and give them an unforgettable experience of Scottish Highland games. With its long history and participants, it probably becomes the biggest Highland event in the Southern Hemisphere.
Jakarta Highland Gathering consists of series of events, starting from concerts and other pre-events are held in some venues. The peak event is divided into two days. On 28 May it's mostly about Sports for Children, while on 29, it's open for public and all family member. This year is the 32nd Jakarta Highland Gathering and they took Imperial Club Golf Karawaci as the location of event, in the middle of a golf playground island.
The schedule has started from 09.00, which consists of sports at the most. Me and my friends came there at 12 and entered the gate before 1pm. There, we found a lot of exciting tents that you can't find in the usual event. There are handmade toffee candies stand, British Chamber, western handicraft tent (where you can made your own crafts), trekking and adventure, and so on. Besides that, there are abundant food stands, from four star hotels to beer stands. We can find some old names like Hotel Borobudur Oxtail, menus from Le Meridien, Guinnes, some Deutsch stands and a lot of other western menus. We're seen a show from Pizza Domino, with its enchanting pizza attraction.
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| Pizza Attraction |
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| We got welcome drink too! :wink: |
At high noon, the event was officially opened with speech from British Ambassador and parade from all of the contingents that will be on the competition. When I heard the bagpipes play, it gave me a strong sense of Scotland, as if I'm not in Jakarta at that very time.
Highland sports:
Hammer Throw, weight for distance, weight for height, wood chopping, toss the caber.
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| Wood chopping by professional Axemen |
For the caber toss, the athletes are supposed to put the log and throw it until it's reversed up and down.
The success attempt:
The unsuccessful example:
Besides the professional sports played by the experts, they have boot throwing competition as a fun games for the spectator.
The sports: Rugby, volley, futsal, football
My friend got invited by the player and there she is! They played in a mix team of boys and girls and caught a gold medal! Wohoo...!!
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| ~We are the Champion~ |
On the cultural performance stage, we can find lots of ethnic performances, starting from Scottish traditional dance, Chinese lion dance, Indian "Chaiya Chaiya"kind of dance, Hawaiian Hula dance and Balinese dance.
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| Scottish dance |
Hula hula~
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| The bagpipe play sends us directly to the land of Scots! |
All and all, what I love the most from this event is the strong kinship nuance created by all of the above elements.
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| Burn burn burn |
The event ended with the burning of the Viking boat after the sun set. Even though the Viking boat was not really satisfying in term of the size, but the series of event closed perfectly with a festive fireworks. It reminded my friends of the festivities in the 4th of July celebration in USA. We were waving and dancing together when the song "What a Wonderful World" accompany the fireworks play and close our day with beautiful memories.
I see skies of blue ... clouds of white
Bright blessed days ... dark sacred nights
And I think to myself ... what a wonderful world ...
Copyright photos courtesy for the last two pics: Project CURA
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