Beautiful Bali: Garuda Wisnu Kencana
March 29, 2010 | 10:10 pm ShareThis is how $270 million and 4000 tons of brass and copper will look like.
Envisioned to be much, much taller than our current Statue of Liberty which is 151 feet, Garuda Wisnu Kencana, when completed will stand at 479 feet when it is completed, sitting on the hill of Bukit, Bali, Indonesia.
Seriously, when I stared at Garuda Wisnu Kencana I couldn’t help but think, what the hell is Malaysia doing?
Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Bali, Indonesia
Really, when you see a project this big you can’t help gasp in awe. This is something that we thought that is what the crazy people of Ancient Egypt or Greece will ever dream up of doing. But our neighbor Indonesia is already halfway through creating another wonder of the world.
Just look at the size of that big bird!
Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Bali, Indonesia
Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Bali, Indonesia
In case you’re wondering, Wisnu, otherwise known as Vishnu in India, is the Hindu god of preservation, the god of all gods. And Garuda is Vishnu’s divine vehicle, the big protector of choice.
Well, I just love to refer Him as the Big Bird.
Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Bali, Indonesia
Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Bali, Indonesia
Bali is highly influenced by Hinduism since the 11th century, thus you can see exquisite levels of crafts and culture lingering on even after decades. And today Hinduism still makes up more than 80% of the religious devotees in Bali. Well, save the tourists, of course.
Seriously, Garuda Wisnu Kencana is huge. Really, really huge. If they need to separate the head/torso, the hands and the Big Bird to put them at three different places because it’s too huge to put them together, you know how huge it is.
Alright, maybe not. Let me show you the hugeness of it. 479 feet is like 1/3rd of the height of our proud Petronas Towers (KLCC).
Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Bali, Indonesia
And what about the $270 million? Well half of it goes to completing the statue, the other half goes to creating a shopping mall around it.
According to my reliable sources apparently what they’re going to do with the empty spaces around is to create a giant shopping mall which is projected to attract 10,000 visitors a day.
Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Bali, Indonesia
Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Bali, Indonesia
But then, apparently they ran out of cash to do it now. :x So yeah, it’s still half completed, lol.
Anyway, this is how the Garuda Wisnu Kencana will look like when it is done, this is a miniature version of it that they did.
Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Bali, Indonesia
Of course, I’m sure they will continue the work very soon. The tour guide speaks of the place with great passion and hope, and he’s really proud of this creation of their country. I’m sure Bali won’t disappoint them.
You just ought to admire their effort, no? I would like to share a quote I have heard,
“When you wake up in the morning,you have two choices, to sleep and continue to dream or to wake up and chase them.”
Obviously, they did. ;)
Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Bali, Indonesia
And ooo, cute monster thingy! Let’s camwhore!
Camwhore with cute monster thingy at GWK, Bali, Indonesia
Comments (20)
JLean
March 29th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Checking out ere. =)
William
March 29th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Don't be so quick to praise them, it's a projek terbengkalai of sorts. At least they salvaged whatever was completed to be made into a tourist attraction.
Beautiful Bali: Garuda Wisnu Kencana | Caramelz.my « Indonesia
March 30th, 2010 at 7:06 am
[...] more: Beautiful Bali: Garuda Wisnu Kencana | Caramelz.my March 29th, 2010 | Tags: 270-million, bali, garuda-wisnu, indonesia, indonesian, liberty, [...]
tekkaus
March 30th, 2010 at 8:34 am
Wow…super duper awesome. :D I wish I can be there. The Garuda is simply awesome. :D
Gratitude
March 30th, 2010 at 10:18 am
William@ Terbengkalai? I highly doubt it. These places ie Bali, Thailand actually take their tourism, arts& culture, and not forgetting religion very seriously, not unlike our "alwiz terbengkalai, alwiz runtuh" practices in our 'beloved' country!
+Ant+
fufu
March 30th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
wow bali bali bali… i wanna go back to bali again :)
kenwooi
March 30th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
i just look at the pictures and i feel damn hot edy..
hot right over there? =/
anyway, nice big statue! =D
shakira
April 4th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
I would like to wish you and your family
Many Easter Blessings and have you a great Easter!
hugs
shakira
Charles Ravndal
April 4th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
That's a huge statue!! Happy Easter to you!
Btw, so sorry if I havent been around since I just moved to a new blog.
foongpc
April 5th, 2010 at 8:31 am
Wow! So huge! Pity I didn't go there during my Bali trip! Never mind! Next time! : )
CHVoon
April 6th, 2010 at 3:14 am
first i thought u go with foongpc… but after read foongpc 's comment.
i realize that foongpc not go with u.
never go to bali. it look nice
Dheepan
April 18th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Nice and exotic!
cleffairy
May 6th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Gosh… that is just so breath taking. Wish I could be there as well.
desi
May 13th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
hi, nice review about GWK, just adding some information that GWK development was actually stopped or postponed because of 1997/1998 economic crisis along with some other mega projects in Bali. As far as I'm concerned there's also a very exclusive and big real estate project owned by former president Soeharto son near by GWK which was also stopped because of the crisis. The development of some of those projects including a luxurious resort in Belitung island has been continued or finished now. I don't know when will they begin to continue GWK, but giving Indonesian continuous economic growth, I think they will continue the project. As you also see they are quiet well maintained, not terbengkalai at all..:)
Himmat Singh
May 21st, 2010 at 5:42 pm
hey man :)
stop bloggign alredi izzit???
Garfield
May 31st, 2010 at 7:53 am
these statues looks like spending a lot a lot of money.
but if is our .gov who build it, they will be going to report the price as twice higher to the citizen
lol
hadi
June 8th, 2010 at 11:51 am
not just the statue but the limestone housing around is amazing. the high sculptor skill needed.
iskangsabaw
August 28th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
cool pictures :))
i wish i could visit bali soon
ladyviral
September 9th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Gosh gosh gosh! when I saw this post… my mouth was gapping! Luckily saliva not coming out else I would look retard! Such beautiful huge sculptures.
Lovely!
tekkaus
October 13th, 2010 at 2:55 am
Why didn't blog for almost 6 months huh? Anyway it is official: Our new Proton Waja 2 Lancer is called Proton Inspira (unless if the flyer is fake). :) http://www.tekkaus.com/2010/10/proton-inspira-new...
Leave a reply