United Buddy Bears come to Malaysia!

When my parents were in KL, they made a trip down to KL by themselves, and came back telling me about all the bears that were in front of Pavilion.

What??

Haha.. I know right. That's what I thought. So I had to go and see for myself. Omg, so pretty! According to their website, United Bears started their first exhibition in Berlin, in 2002. There are around 140 bears, measuring 2m in size, representing countries that are recognised by the United Nations. Each bear is painted by an artist from the representing country.

The Buddy Bears stand together, symbolising the future vision of a peaceful world. Promoting "The Art Of Tolerance", with a motto of "We Must Get To Know Each Other", Buddy Bears travel to different countries around the world every year. In 2008, the exhibition was even held in PyongYang, North Korea. On top of representing different countries, there are four bears who stand on the fringe of the circle:Golden Rule Bear and Global Ethic Bear

The “Golden Rule” is basically "Try to treat everyone the way you would want to be treated". These words are distributed on two bears holding hands like the other bears in the circle, symbolising that nobody can live on his or her own, that other people belong to our lives and that our behaviour towards other people has consequences. There are also 80 translations of these words distributed on the bears, and are arranged in a wild muddle: They intersect but don’t interfere – each translation is readable! That is also part of the “Golden Rule” – not to be afraid of contact but at the same time leave the other person enough room for self-fulfilment and not to be in his or her way.

On the Global Ethic Bear, there are quotes from seven of the world's main religions, saying the exact same thing, just worded differently: Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you. This bear understands that the peaceful co-existance of people often breaks down due to conflicts of different religions, and this shouldnt be so, as the good similarities of different religions are many, and should be emphasized more. Einstein Bear - "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
Respect For All Life

This bear is meant to remind us that respect is not limited to respect towards mankind alone. We must upkeep our moral responsibility, and respect all life. Cruelty towards animals cannot be tolerated, short-sighted selfishness towards nature and our Earth must be stopped.

Cool right? The best part is, United Buddy Bears also helps promote charities and raise funds for various children's charities.. =)

I couldnt take photos of all the bears (there were so many!), and even if I did, I wouldnt be able to post them all on this blog. Instead, I asked a few friends on facebook to pick their favourite countries. These are the ones I will feature, along with some that are dear to me, so I hope you enjoy! Here we go!

I was born in England!When I get back to England, the first place I wanna visit is Stonehenge!

I moved to Malaysia when I was 7 years old!There are still many places I havent seen yet, and one state I'd love to experience is Penang!

My grandparents were from China!I've been to ShenZhen (for a day, lol), but what I'd really love to see is the Terracotta Army in Xi An! =)

I've visited Singapore about 8 times in the past 2 years for work.But havent had the chance to have fun at the Universal Studios yet! =/

I went to Manila, Philipines for an event in 2010I didnt get to go anywhere much, as we were working.. I'd love to go diving in Palawan though! =)

On a holiday to Phuket, ThailandNext destination in Thailand? Koh Samui - diving! =D

A unique trip to Phnom Penh, CambodiaHopefully will get to visit Angkor Wat in Siem Reap soon! =)

And another work trip to Jakarta, Indonesia, all in 2011.
Stayed an extra few days to explore Jakarta, but would love to go back to Indonesia to visit the White Crater in Bandung.. =)

When asked for their favourite countries, my facebook friends (thank you!) were diverse in their choices:
Meitzu, a travel blogger from Kota Kinabalu said her country of choice would be Italy.If I had the chance to go to Italy? Rome baby!!

Wingz, who has his own green concepts store chose Bolivia.Now, I'd never thought of visiting Bolivia before this, but a quick google search showed me why it's worthy of being a dream destination: Salar de Uyuni is there! =)

Jia Wei, an event planner in KL said he'd go to Australia.I've got a lot of cousins and friends in Australia, so I'd probably go where they are so they can give me a proper tour! ;p

Oliver wants to go to England and America. Maybe he could go with Amal, who wants to go to Alaska, because, and I quote, "I have never been to a land which is covered in snow all year long and has so little sunshine.. Just can't believe that people live in such conditions and want to know how they do it. Human nature is awesome.. And to see if I can meet some polar bears??? Am I in the wrong country????"The US of A is so big; 50 states! So hard to choose.. If I had to, top of my list would probably be Hawaii to visit Mauna Loa, and New York, just because it's the city of dreams.. =)

Ken Yap, a student and intern at a production company wants to live and work in the USA and would love to visit Croatia, as he's been told it's the most beautiful country in Europe and he also has a Croatian friend there! Makes it easier then! ;p Croatia is another country that wasnt really on my list of places to visit first if I had the chance. Photos of Plitvice Lakes and Rovinj have already changed my mind though. =)

Ijal Amg thinks that Japan has lots of new products, while Azeera's dream destination is Okinawa because of the culture, sakura blooming, and unique shopping experience, like harajuku and shibuya!Japan has long been on my dream holiday list. The culture, Mt. Fiji, all those beautiful temples.. Need I say more? =)

Christ, who also blogs, said he cant make up his mind! Haha.. Paris, France was one of the top choices though. ;pParis, City of Love.. Coincidentally, I just reblogged an amazing photo of the Eiffel Tower at night on my Tumblr. Would love to be there, dining with it in the background.. <3

Zheng Hao from Singapore would love to go to Prague, Czech Republic.The animals on the paws are actually a bull and a bear, to represent the ups and downs of the stock market in Czech.. Unfortunately, my crappy photography skills seem to have cut off the head of the bull.. Oops.. =/

The Prague Castle is way more than intriguing.. ;p

The United Bears exhibition is in front of Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia until the 15th of February 2012. =)

Note: The 3 handsome guys pictured with some of the bears are Oliver, Adrian, and Dennis. No modelling fees were paid for this shoot. ;p