Stunning View of Iconic Tulips at Keukenhof Garden

Last month on the 3rd May 2019 at the last day of our tour, 5 of us (my mom, my sisters and my brother-in-law) visited Keukenhof after checking out from our hotel. It's the most exciting place we would like to see, people say the best to see Tulip in mid to end of Apr. Arriving Keukenhof around 09:00 o'clock, the weather was quite cold around 10 degree Celsius, so we wore our coat to protect us from the wind and weather. We had to walk from the parking area to the gate, the bus was not allowed to drop us in front of the entrance. While waiting for our tour leader bought the ticket, we took some pictures on the gate which already had beautiful colorful blossom Tulips. The Tour Leader (TL) only gave us around 2.5 hours to explore the garden, and he informed that the meeting point would be right in front of the gate.

Passing through the entrance one by one I asked a map from the guard, they said that free maps were available in different languages on a stand just a few steps after the entrance. The map was important, it's good to help us to see the whole area allocation, and discover the way during our journey. A beautiful girl with traditional clothes was standing next to the map location, she didn't mind when we asked her to take picture together. The area was quite huge, 32 hectares, while the time was limited, so we had to decide which part to be visited. Our TL suggested to go to the windmill area first by turning to the right direction from the entrance, but my family decided to go the other way (left side) to split from the group, 2 couples were joined us.

The 1st part visited was quite amazing already, so many beautiful tulips planted in the area. It's planted in square for different color and type of Tulips. Some of them already bloomed a lot, such as the "Yellow Sun" Tulip with its beautifully ruffled golden yellow blooms. Deep lilac Passionale tulip was attracted us, its color was stand out among others. Our friend was kind enough to take our family picture. Botanical Tulip (Giuseppe Verdi) were also beautiful with its lovely bright gold, wide red stripes on the inside and carmine stripes on the outside. We spent quite a long time there taking many pictures there, till we realized that there were still many other location to be visited in the garden.

We crossed a white bridge, taking the footpath to continue the journey. On the left side of the path we could see 5 big round pots surrounding a smaller pot, the pots dominated with red, pink, yellow and white color of flowers, very few leaves shown. At the right side we could sit on benches with background of Tulip to enjoy the garden, bi-colors tulip and fringe tulips type planted here. Unfortunately we could not take picture in the middle of the flower such as the previous place, they put ropes to avoid people step on the grass. Wandering the garden here was quite shady as some big trees were sheltering us.

Arriving at "Irene" pavilion, we saw a big organ displayed as the decoration. A small pond with its tree fountain was as the main attraction in this area, beautiful purple prince tulips were planted on a big pot at the edge of the pool. Some of us taking time to go to the restroom as the weather quite mild and we didn't know how long we could find another restroom again in the garden. While waiting for them, we kept taking pictures with beautiful rows of Tulips under the high trees. Queen of Night tulip which its color almost black was found near to the river stream.

We remembered that our TL had mentioned around the big pool is very beautiful view with many Tulips. We were rather lost track as we passed by many big trees with no flowers, we decided to turn and tried to find the shortest path to the big pool as the time keep ticking. After walking for a few minutes... finally we could find the right track. We found so many Tulips surrounding the pool, it made us very excited and speechless. Taking pictures from any angles were beautiful, it needed no photography expert to do it :-) They arranged the garden beautifully decorated with different colors Tulips. Combining with purple small flower (looked like Lavender) on the hilly contour had created an amazing view. We didn't have enough time to go around the big pool with its fountain, as our next destination to Windmill was far at the other side of the pool. I'm very fond of the combination of flower, water and blue sky, it's refreshing our soul.

We passed by small hut with Keukenhof signage, it's beautifully decorated with Tulips at the front, while the background big trees with green and red color such as during fall. Next to it was "Wilhemina" pavilion with a small cafeteria, unfortunately we didn't want to waste our time for drinking or snack time as we still had many places to explore. I wish I could have time to sit down admire the garden while having your coffee or tea, maybe someday I'll be back there with more time to explore the whole garden, not in a rush.

At the edge of the pool we could find some colorful beautiful ducks, unfortunately I didn't have bread to feed them. Near another bridge to pass by, there was a small garden with white horse and its jockey statue. We asked the other visitor's assistance to take our group picture, as we didn't go with our TL who often helped us taking group picture :-) The garden also had a white statue of Tulip bulb as the symbol and decoration. I kept taking many pictures while others kept walking, I was almost always the last in the group then I had to run to catch them.

To cross the pool there were also step stones on the water, close to the fountain. Some people taking this path, actually I would like to try and ask others to take my picture. As I was the last, nobody could help me, so I just took the picture of the view. We still found bunch of Tulips on the way to Willem-Alexander Pavilion. It's an indoor museum where you could find display of Tulips and various flowers other than Tulip. As we ran out of time, we just saw at a glance while we passed, we didn't explore the museum. The museum surrounding by small pool, surrounding by a green field with Tulips. Our young couple friends took a nice picture sitting on the green grass field next to the Tulips.

Finally we reach the windmill area, there was some straw piles as the bench for people to enjoy the park, it's cool, unfortunately all seat had been taken although it's under the sunshine. There's also a high small hut with shelter contains of a person, you had to climb the wooden ladders to sit on it. While taking picture, lucky me there's a straw pile leaving by persons, so I took it over fast to take picture alternately with my sister and my brother-in-law. Some food sellers on the cart were available here. You could shop for souvenirs too in the store next to the windmill. We didn't have a chance to go up to the windmill, anyway taking picture with tulips as foreground and windmill as background was quite satisfying.

Near the windmill there's a boat on the river, you could go by boat trip, no time at all for this. The time given had been finished, so we had to go to the meeting point at the entrance gate. Walking to the entrance we pass through a big green field, picnic area where there's a playground for children. I took some flying pose of my sisters and friends there, while for myself, I ran to the other side of the fields attempted with many colorful Tulips. I took selfie with the Tulips as my background, then a kind woman brought SLR camera was helping me to take my picture using my iphone.

We still stopped by some places to take beautiful pictures. My brother-in-law was able to take a good picture of my sisters on the square long pool with Tulips at the left and right side of the pool. Some cone form trees were also decorated beautifully at the side among Tulips and flowers. Dogs are allowed in Keukenhof as long as they are leashed, we met some dogs with their master. We saw a cute white and grey hairy dog was walking on the garden with her master, we stopped by to greet and caress the cute long fur dog. The dog was very friendly, unfortunately she's quite old, 11 years old already. The dog enjoyed our meeting even her master welcome us to touch the dog.

Running to the exit, we could not find other participant anymore at the entrance gate meeting point, then we checked our WhatsApp group, in fact they were already in the bus at the parking lot, we were the last participants arrived. We still would like to explore more the beautiful scenery and flowers at Keukenhof, unfortunately the time was not enough unless we'll miss the bus. If you visit Netherland in Apr or early May, don't forget to stop by Keukenhof at Lisse, wander the beautiful fields, pavilions and flowers of Keukenhof is very worthy, relaxing and interesting. Weekend is quite crowded, Mon to Wed is less busy while for the hours before 10:30 is better. Free wifi is available around pavilions in the park, you could borrow wheel-chair free of charge (just need deposit which would be returned later) if needed.

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Magnificent Scenic Natural View Wulingyuan, Zhangjiajie

In Sep 2018, my friends, my mom and myself created our own group of 15 people to go to Zhangjiajie which is famous for its unique natural scenery and abundant tourism resources. It's a long way to reach there from Surabaya, we went using CX transit in HK, continued flying to Guangzho. The next day took a 3 hours bullet train to Changsha. Bullet train was very lovely, very clean toilets, that you seldom find in China :-) Hot water was available free for passengers to make your own tea/coffee or instant noodle, an electricity plug also put at each passenger seat to charge your smartphone, with it's convenience soft chair to sit. Although the train speed was up to 350kms/hour, we didn't feel the movement at all, it's very stabil and punctual, more convenience than flight :-)

Zhangjiajie is located in the northwest of Hunan province, about 400 kilometers away from Changsha, capital of Hunan, covering a total area of 9,563 square kilometers most of them are mountainous area. Total population of 1.62 million, 72% is minority ethnic minority tribes e.g. Tujia, Bai and Miao nationalities. After lunch we went to Yuanjiajie, the bus driver drop us near to the market. We walked a few blocks to the beautiful gate with high tower and mountain background. Based on our local guide info, our bus could not go inside the area, we had to queue to ride on their shuttle transportation.

I sat at the back of the shuttle, along the way we could see beautiful scenery, I would like to record it, but difficult to take from the middle seat, so I swapped seat with my mom in the middle of the trip. Lucky the car's window could be opened, so I could take some pictures well although the car moved quite fast. We dropped at the 1st stop, the view was amazing, we passed by a bridge with clean water called golden whip stream. The scenery was amazing, the bridge, river, a valley of freestanding, shrub-and-tree-clad towers surrounded by a wall of massive sandstone blocks.

There was a wide open space where we took a photo group of Yuanjiajie which became more popular as the Southern Sky Pillar inspired the floating mountains in the Hollywood blockbuster Avatar. We still liked to stay longer there, but our tour leader mentioned that there would be better scenery from above. We had to wait for the other shuttle bus to bring us to the place where we could take the lift to the top of the mountain.

To take the lift, it's quite a long queue, we often experienced local people tried to overcut our lane, it seemed that they were not discipline enough in queueing. Bailong lift space was quite big, all of our group could go in together. As it's very crowded and I was the last, I could not get a good picture during the movement, as the glasses area facing to the lift's door. It was the highest and fastest elevator with the maximum loading capacity, only took around 2 minutes to reach the top with 326 meters height. The lift looked like a giant dragon which is built onto the side of a huge cliff. Open in 2002, then Guinness World Records recognized as the world’s tallest outdoor lift in 2015.

Exit from the lift, we could see amazing views, peaks and pillars there are nearly at the same height, which makes Yuanjiajie Scenic Area a great mountain platform. Fields and gardens in the Air will come into view, the mountain trail invited us to walk around the area and taking pictures. All of us were shocked at the sights before eyes. All the mountains you have seen at the foot of them stand in arrays at your feet at the moment. Lucky it's not cloudy, so we could enjoy the scenery well.

Our tour leader was tired reminding us to continue the tracking, as my friends still took picture around lift area while others already waiting including my mom who sat on the wood bench near a souvenir shop. We kept walking through the path, we saw amazing scenery along the way. Our tour leader was kind enough to help us taking picture, we took a beautiful picture on the stairs with the marvelous background of the pillars karst stone garden.

Walking further we found the Hallelujah pillar or the “Southern Sky Column, which was stretched 3,544 feet into the air. Avatar, the famous Hollywood movie, used photographs of the pinnacle as inspiration for the floating Hallelujah Mountains of Pandora. It's one of the successful attempt to bring more tourists into the national park to discover the real world of Pandora.

Some food stalls were available on the way, then we crossed a bridge that enable us walking on the cliff and seeing the scenery from different angle. People was very crowded, so it's not easy to take picture in the middle of the bridge. I also wonder why Chinese people often open their shirt showing their stomach in public area, even they didn't feel ashamed about it although they didn't have a six pack stomach :-). The track was going up and down, it's tiring, but worthy with the views we could enjoy. Finally we reach the end of the path, waiting for the shuttle to bring us to the next destination.

Helong park our next destination, the only huge human landscape of the whole Wulingyuan area, we had to go down the stairs for around 15 minutes, my mom was tired already. One of our friend decided not to go, so I asked her to take care of my mom. Lucky that my mom didn't join us to explore it, I almost could not breath well, very tired climbing on the track. We could see the bronze statue of He Long (a militarist and the marshal of the republic of China). Tourist floods here to recall the history and great feats of the elder proletarian revolutionist.

Our tour leader showed the original steep path of the stairs before they built the shortcut, it took more than 4 hours to reach the place using the track. Continue following the track to Yunqing Rock, it's also stunning, to go back the stairs were very challenging. I had to stop to get more energy and take a deep breath. The Imperial Writing Brush Peaks covering 4,810 ha, one of several national parks within the Wulingyuan Scenic Area. Zhangjiajie is a green treasure house, the forest coverage rate is above 98%. Within the park, there are altogether more than 8,000 cliff mountains, towering into the sky like a dancing group, with various physical appearance and grand force of character.

Finally, we took the bus again to the last destination, the Tianzi Mountain Cable Car, located in the center of Wulingyuan. The queue was not too long anymore, because it's already 17:15, it's almost close. We still have to climb more stairs to the cable car station. Inside the cable car could contain up to 6 persons, low at four sides and high in the center. The view, a large forest and spectacular scenery was very amazing from the cable car, it's not too long but it's very impressive. Looking from the top, the magnificent view stretches with distinct layers, so that it is an ideal spot for viewing Wulingyuan peak forest.

I'm very satisfied with the most beautiful scenic view, you should visit the magnificent Zhangjiajie. Its unique geographical features make it as popular tourist destination. You should be ready wearing comfortable shoes to walk and prepare a good stamina to explore quite challenging track path.

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Beautiful Hallim Park, Jeju Island, South Korea

I joined Jeju daily tour to West course on 28th Apr 2016, one of the visited place was the colorful Hallim Park. The park was divided into 9 sections, unfortunately we didn't have enough time to explore all of them as the tour guide only gave us 70 minutes to explore around 100.000 square meters park. The tour guide shared the park map then he brought us to the entrance of Hyeopjae & SsangYong cave passing through the palm tree avenue. As the time was limited, and we're more interested in flower, my friend and I decided to skip the cave.

On the way to the cave we saw beautiful cherry blossom, so we went back to the path. To take pictures under the white cherry we had to wait for a family finishing the shot. Lucky they were kind enough to help us taking photo with both of us under the tree. We also took our own picture alone for recording the short season of cherry blossom.

To save time we directly went to tulip garden which was located next to the cave in "wild grass & flower garden" section. The path was decorated with colorful tulips on the big pot and some human stone statues with stone benches to take a rest and enjoy the scenery. My friend loved the stone statue and wanna take some pictures. We kept walking until finding overlay white flower unfortunately we didn't know the flower's name.

Continue walking following the path we're happy to find bunch of tulips, the color was very attractive, bright orange combining with yellow while the other was pink combining with white. The red one was quite beautiful, the white color looked like lace decorating the edge of the flower. We took some pictures from different angle to capture its beauty. They're planted in the plastic bag, not directly on the ground.

Crossing through a wooden bridge on the pond, we took picture in front of a woman brought water to fill the big water jar. At the next area we found another bunch of light pink tulips and orange tulips. It's surrounding by some stones for decorating. On the way out from the area we passed through the line of human stone statue again.

We skipped "Jeju stone & bonsai garden", continue to the "Jae-Am folk village" where we could see Korean human stone statues to describe their daily activities such as playing with their children, also some animal stone statues such as horse, pig, etc. The house was also built from stone and wood with thatched roof. The real food seller in the traditional house were available to sell Korean snacks.

We kept trying to find cherry blossom garden, I saw cute kindergarten children enjoyed the bird park. I could see a peacock in the cage spreading its beautiful wings to attract others. An ostrich was walking back and forth near the peacock's cage. Beautiful orange combining with yellow color flowers were arranged next to the bird garden. We tried to use our selfie stick to capture it, unfortunately the selfie stick's button was not working, so I took a video instead of photo.

On the next path beautiful cherry blossom trees became shelter of a family monument. We thought it's the cherry garden, the end of our searching. I still liked to take some more pictures while my friend would like to find souvenirs in the shop near the exit gate, so we were split. 10 minutes before the gathered time, I've just realized that the cherry garden was at the other side, I met one of my friend in the trip from Singapore, she confirmed the direction to the cherry garden. As it's a very short time, I ran to the location. I found many cherry blossom trees there, I took many pictures, lucky that a woman was kind enough to help me taking my pictures on the bench in the garden. The result is very satisfying, she took three times with different layout without me asking for it. Finally I ran to the pink cherry, and did selfie pose :-)

Running to the exit gate was very tiring, actually I passed the "water garden" which must be quite interesting as it became the campaign picture of Hallim park. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to see it, unless the bus will leave me behind and I had to catch the bus by myself to the next destination. Lucky I could arrive on the bus on time. I think they should provide more time so we could enjoy the park more relax and visit all of the areas in the park.

Don't miss to visit the park, I think it's worthy to stop by there especially in spring or summer. I was lucky that I could experience cherry blossom. Jeju is warmer than Seoul, so the cherry blossom is earlier.

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Artistic Pohsarang, Pilgrimate Site in Kediri

Last Sunday, 27th Dec 2015 I went to Pohsarang with my family (mom, sister and brother's family). It took around 30 minutes driving from Kediri city (10 km), located on the slopes of Mount Wilis with altitude of 400 meters above sea level. It's drizzling when we arrived, so we brought umbrella. It was the first visit for my cousins to the Catholic Sacred Place, Pohsarang, all of them looked very eager and excited.

Pohsarang church complex presented the Christian faith and Catholic places of worship in the local culture. The beautiful buildings is unique and a monumental work that deserves to be preserved and maintained. It's build by Henri Maclaine Pont who cared about the environment, so the building is very sustainable with the surroundings. All aspects including local cultural and religious philosophy incorporated in the form of architecture with highly aligned. Unfortunately there was no mass when we arrived, so the church was closed, anyway we still could see the altar from the fence. There was a cross ventilation on the ceiling which could make the sun shines through the room.

At the right side there was a set of "gamelan" to accompany the choirs during mass. My cousins racing to climb the stage to try beating the gamelan to provide sound. They were enthusiastic to try different tools, anyway we forced them to go down, as it's in sacred place, not for playing around.

We continued going down to the bigger mass area, where there was also an altar with bird form ventilation on the roof. It had bigger space for the people to join the ceremony, there was a podium made from wood to read the bible and for the pastor giving a sermon. My little niece was very cute, she was carried by her father to reach the high podium, closing her eyes and clasped her hands to pray seriously.

Mary cave which was popular as "Gua Maria Lourdes Puhsarang" as the main destination to make devotion to Mother Mary, people often praying with rosary. To reach this place we had to go through a path which has many stores on the left and right side of the path. Most of them were selling spiritual accessories, some of them also sold food or souvenirs. If you don't bring any bottle for the sacred water, you could buy jerry can in the store. Also candle for praying, all praying tools are available. Some benches were available at the park.

The Mary statue height was 3.5 metres, it's imitation of Mary statue in Lourdes. You could lit the candle right below of the statues and kneel or stand in front of them. My cousins liked to blow the candle as if the candles on the tart cake when they had birthday, so I had to keep them far from the candle, and informed them that it's for praying not for birthday cake :-) Beside the statue there were some water holy water which would come out based on motion sensor, anyway there were some normal taps if you would like the easier way. The water was very fresh and clean, it's nice to drink and wash our face with the water to refresh. You may also keep some of them in the water or jerry can to bring home. Most people believe that the holy water could heal diseases.

Stations of the Cross contains of 14 stops. Golden human-size statues at every station describing how Jesus suffered long time ago from death punishment until buried. In every station you could lit the candle in front of the statue. The place was hilly, many stairs to go, my cousins loved to run up and down, we were afraid that they could fall down, we had to warn them many times to be careful. Many big trees available, we could walk under the shade of the trees to avoid sun shine. A mausoleum provided for passed-away pastors, and a columbarium to keep the ashes of cremated Catholic bodies. If you would like to stay for meditation or praying, there is also some lodges around the area. This beautiful place is not only good for praying, but it's also a good place to reset the mood as they still keep maintaining the natural green place. Not only for Catholic people, but now it becomes the popular tourism place for public in Kediri.

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Exotic Nature of Klayar Beach, Pacitan, East Java

I’ve heard from my friends that Pantai Klayar is beautiful, I was attempted to visit it someday. My colleagues and I visited the beach from Solo, it took around three hours to reach Pacitan, continue with another an hour to the beach. There was no public transportation to the beach, so you have to rent a car or use your personal vehicle. Most of the road was quite good already, but nearer to the beach, the road condition was getting narrower. The lime-stone mountain was already cut to widen the street, unfortunately it’s not finished yet. You must have an expert driver to go there, as the street is enough for one car only. If we bumped into another car from the opposite direction, one of us should drive backward, as it’s not enough for 2 cars. The right side was the lime stone wall, while the left side was the cliff.

Approaching the beach was very amazing, we could see the beautiful wave from the street that was located above it. Unfortunately we could not stop as it’s in the middle of the narrow street. It seems that the government continue building the infrastructure, as we passed by heavy machine equipment to move the street material.

We’re afraid not having food on the beach so we brought lunch box from Solo, my friends had gudeg while fried chicken for me. The beach was close enough to the parking lot, ATV ride was offered right after we went out from the car. We’re starving so we tried to find place to eat first. As there was no bench available for visitors at the eastern coast, we decided to buy fresh coconut to drink and get permission to have our own lunch on the food stall location. It’s already 14:00 o’clock at noon, it’s hot and we’re starving. It’s very relax to have the delicious lunch while enjoying the beautiful wave with its white sand, and drinking cool fresh coconut which was only cost Rp. 7.000,-/pcs.

While eating we saw some people were patient enough to wait for us offering ATV ride to explore the beach. It cost Rp. 25.000,-/person for return trip, one ATV could bring 2 persons. One of my colleague didn’t dare to ride it, so I ride alone when 2 of my colleagues rode together on an ATV. My ATV guide was quite young and active, he was kind enough to take our pictures, and explain about the beach.

Reaching the western side of the beach near ocean flute, which also could be reached by walking, my ATV guide parked the ATV. This ocean flute is a term for the phenomenon where there are existing basin at the bottom of cliffs or rocks on the beach. When the basin hit by the waves of the sea, the sea water out gushes to the surface through the sidelines rocky and produce a beautiful sound like the sound of the flute.

If the tight was not high we could walk approaching the ocean flute location, unfortunately my ATV guide informed that the surf was high for the last 3 days, so the walking path was covering by the waves, and it’s not allowed and dangerous to approach it. As the alternative, he asked us to climb the small hill called ‘Bukit Indah Lestari’ to see the ocean flute from above. On the way up, we could see the other part of the beach with its small caves.

He’s right, from above you could see the ocean flute, unfortunately it’s against the sunshine, it’s rather difficult to take the picture. He was kind enough to take our picture, he was so patient to wait for the big wave to get higher fountain that could be up to 10 meters high. Although the weather was hot, but it’s so windy, I still could enjoy it.

After satisfying taking panorama pictures, we stepped down the hill, taking some pictures with the background of a giant rock such as Sphinx at the eastern side of the beach. We posed on the ATV, I wore a wrong costume, a mini skirt that made me difficult to ride on the ATV, so I had to sit sideways. It’s cool to have picture on the ATV with amazing beach.

The next stop was the black sand surround the black large rock outcrops which was divided the coast to east and west part. The sand was really black such as if bauxite. An interesting phenomenon when the waves hit this rock, it would pass to overflowing, the abundance of water would create interesting sights such as waterfalls. We had to wait for the big waves, to get the amazing scene. I really love it, it's very wonderful.

It’s time to go back to the western part of the coast where our colleague was waiting for us. My ATV guide was kind enough to let me drive the ATV. I had to step on the middle part of the ATV to able to drive. When trying handling the steer, it’s very hard, as the coast was sandy, so I asked help from my ATV guide to help. I’m afraid to get fall when it’s unbalance, so I asked him to be slowly. My 2 other colleagues were not as lucky as me, their ATV was broken in the middle of the way, loosen the chain. Their ATV had to walk slowly and I overtook them to reach the destination.

Reaching the eastern part of the cost, I took some pictures on the green rocks covering with moss. I asked my friend to take my picture with my iphone. The wave here was not as high as the eastern part, but the soft sandy was still nice to play around. I like the scenery with the green rocks. I took off my shoes to play with the wave.

We could not find our colleague who was waiting there previously, we decided to walk on the eastern hill to see the panorama view of Klayar from eastern part. There was a small bungalow on the top of the hill, you could take panoramic picture of the beach with its eastern coast part. We also could see the row of bungalows selling souvenirs, clothes and foods sheltering by coconut trees.

For facilities and infrastructure at the beach was good enough, we could find a mushola, clean bathrooms, and food stalls. I would like to stay longer, but thinking the journey to Solo would take another 4 hours, we had to leave the beach soon. Finding the driver we’ve just known that our colleague was sleeping in the car while waiting for us. Before going back, we asked her to take some pictures on the beach. It’s a pity if she didn’t have any picture on the beautiful beach after struggling for a long journey. It’s true, Klayar beach is very wonderful and amazing, it should become one of the list for your holiday.

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