Experience Bali 2004!

[SniperD]

Thanks Beng.. heehee.. well went to Tanah Lot but during the early afternoon. my flight's @ 8.30 so got to be in the airport by 6pm... only scenic shots but no sunset which I would really love to take..... guided tour so can't run far with a "leash"
Sunrise at Grand Bali beach ... will be posting it up soon

 

[SniperD]

Yoz Raph... heheeh.. will see how to arrange .. 3 photog may be too many so may have to take turns

 

[SniperD]

right... spare time now.. so here's an update:

BTW, the night of Day 01.. we went over to this place in Kuta Square for dinner... BLUE FIN JAPANESE RESTAURANT... great ambience and very solid attentive service.

Another shot of ZEN

Day 02 - Grand Bali Beach Hotel Cafe - Art and Culture in everyday things

Okie.. the itinary for Day 02 's morning was to go watch a cultural dance @ Batubulan Village... :sweat: hmm.. dun belittle this performance... very interesting epilogue.. here's the link to explain the dance: BARONG SHOW

Day 02 - Batubulan Village's Wayang theatre - This is where the Barong dance will be performed

Day 02 - Wayang theatre - The musicians

 

[SniperD]

* continued - Day 02

Day 02 - Wayang theatre - Entrance of the Barong or Cleansing spirit. Something like our Chinese Lion Dance ya?

Day 02 - Wayang theatre - Entrance of the Barong. A closer view

Day 02 - Wayang theatre - Okie.. this dance has 7 acts altogether and this is one of them. A traditional Balinese dance. The dance is really quite challenging as you can see from her posture. She oso has to articulate her eyes, fingers, body and legs all the time to that visual effect of subtle yet eye catching movements.[

Day 02 - Wayang theatre - Here's another shot at her again[

Day 02- Wayang theatre - "....Rangda casted a spell that made Erlangga soldiers all wanted to kill themselves, pointing their poisoned keris into their own stomachs and chests. Barong casted a spell that turned their body resistant to the sharp keris. At the end, Barong won, and Rangda ran away." Okie.. this is as real as it gets.. the last 2 acts.. the kris is really dug into the flash and the man are in a trance-like state

 

[SniperD]

* continued - Day 02

Day 02 - Wayang theatre - Okie, my bad.. walking around when I should have concentrated ont he dance performance but I can't resist taking pictures of the locals who were sitting around the area. This little girl's so cute.. very adorable. She was "spying" on some of the beighbourhood boys scurrying away to the field to play with the buffulos. Got another shot of her backlit by the sunlight but the photo din turn out nice... sigh....

Day 02 - Wayang theatre - Remember about the religious habit of the Balinese? This is a common sight all over the island... their offering in a green leave woven tray and placed inside are flowers, biscuits, sometimes a rare RP1000 as offerings to their idols.

Day 02 - Celuk's Silversmith Crafts factory - Ta Da! Their workshop! Yes.... that's it... 1 workbench, 2 workers and a furnace in the opposite corner of the room... m amazed myself too!

Day 02 - Silver Crafts factory - Here's a close up of what the wares are... again, Balinese are very friendly people and would obliged for a photo taken when asked. So I asked him to continue working on his stuff while I took this shot : )

Day 02 - Mt Kintamani - Ritey... An hour's drive from the last location.. this place offers a spectacular view. Of coz, the natural air-conditioning is a definite welcome to us. As we drove up the mountain to have lunch at one of the restuarant there, you can see the roadside paved with hawkers and peddlers who can do some really hardselling to entice you with their wares. Understandable that an average Balinese here earns about an average SGD$50 -$70 a month.. it's really tough for the locals here and more than 60% of the revenues comes from tourism itself. The rest are from agriculture. This little kid was hovering around the alighting passagers of our coach, asking us to buy her pencils. Anyway, took this without looking thru the viewfinder... was waiting for her to approach the coach door but she kept her distance so I decided to walk down instead.

 

[SniperD]

* continued - Day 02

Day 02 - Mt Kintamani - Well.. what can I say... as a photog I forgot all about lunch when I saw the view.... so went the camera Click! Click! Click!.. the view's really spectacular. This volcano lies dormant now but still active though.. it's last eruption was in 1995. The dark patch you see at the foot of the mountain.. that's once molten lava now a fertile piece of land.

Day 02 - Mt Kintamani - Panoview. The crater lake you see on the right hand side's Lake Batur

More to update in time to come!

 

[SniperD]

Thread updated with Day 02! :gbounce:

 

[SniperD]

* continued - Day 02

Day 02 - Mt Kintamani - The view up here's really spectacular! Taken after lunch.. burp! :blah:

Day 02 - Tampak Spring's Royal Tomb - Enroute inside the temple, I saw these 2 boys mischieviously peeping out of the window. So I waited for them to peep out again but only one head managed to come thru' the narrow window. Later I gave the both kids a pencil each bought @ Mt. Kintamani

Day 02 - Tampak Spring - Royal Tomb. On the way into the temple area, saw a small procession of men and women carrying items walking out so as quickly, I caught one shot of them. They are all wearing their ceremonial Balinese costumes. Perhaps for a ceremony that I happened to miss.. hmm.... :think:

 

[rncw]

nice series of bali shots....haven't been there, but would like to visit someday...

2 thumbs up...

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[SniperD]

nice series of bali shots....haven't been there, but would like to visit someday...

2 thumbs up...

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

thanks dude... yeah.. go! go! go! Would love to see more of your Japan trip :lovegrin:

 

[Lee2003]

Quite sure you have read this many many times but I have to heap on the praises. Totally enjoyed the series. Thanks :thumbsup:

 

[SniperD]

thanks Lee! Hahha.. same surname some more

 

[SniperD]

* continued - Day 02

Day 02 - Tampak Spring - Royal Tomb. Here's the grand doorway that leads up the slope to a residential house of a past Indonesian president. As the tour guide told us, the president had his house built on top of the slope for a very interesting reason. The Tampak Spring temple or "Shen Quan Miao" has 3 big pools used as cleansing pools for men and women. The Women will use the 3rd pool furtherest from the temple while the men used either the 1st or 2nd. The house 'happens' to overlook the 3rd pool : p The wonder of this place is that the water is always replenished mysteriously therefore it's called Shen Quan Miao or Magical Spring Temple.

Day 02 - Tampak Spring - Royal Tomb. The courtyard. In this temple, all are required to wear a sarong or 'kampen' and a waist sash or 'selendang' that covers beyond the knees. Women who are having their periods are forbidden to enter the temple also

Day 02 - Tampak Spring - Royal Tomb. This is one of the pools. After the locals found out about the past Indonesian president's little indulgence from his residential house, they changed the rules and now men and women can use any of the pools to cleanse themselves as part of a ritual before worship

Day 02 - Tampak Spring - Royal Tomb. Here's the 1st pool

Day 02 - Tampak Spring - Royal Tomb. Here's me wearing the 'kampen' and 'selendang'. The is one of the many entrance to the temple ground : )

 

[SniperD]

* continued - Day 02

Day 02 - Tampak Spring - Royal Tomb. As we walked around the area, spotted this family in prayers. A very interesting thing that I observed was that fact that they are praying with jossticks to a Hindu God... :think:

Day 02 - Tampak Spring - Royal Tomb. Here's the source of mystery. Legend has it that the Gods cast a spear into this area and thusfore an everlasting spring of water existed and provided water to the whole compound. The amazing thing about this water source is that in dry spells, it will not dry up and in wet spells, it will not overflood. Cool eh? You can actually see beneath the water, there's swirling potholes of bubbling sandiments. Very interesting design oso

Day 02 - Tampak Spring - Royal Tomb. As the exit lead through all these shops that sell trinkets and stuff, happened to spot these ladies at a stall tying her hair. THe visual effect was due to my impatience to press the trigger while moving the cam outwards so a zoom effect. Same technique with the shot of the gal @ Mt Kintamani

WARNING - next pic contained nudity

Day 02 - Tampak Spring - Royal Tomb. Okie.. please dun get offended at this shot. Culturely, I find this shot very interesting. These were how the traditional way of having communal cleansing before entrance into the temple. The ladies of the olden times oso cleanse themselves naked which is why the residential house was "strategically" built on the top. Yes.. this is the 3rd pool. *Disclaimer: this shot has not been displayed/ shot to offend or to degrade but as an artistic and factual representation of the culture witnessed there

More to come! ;p

 

[tomshen]

Beautifully captured, brighten my day at office!! Very tempted...

Keep more coming!

 

[SniperD]

thanks Tom.. esp coming from an experienced photog like yourself

 

[Brett]

Good stuff bro ! Keep up love your travel shots got more ?

 

[SniperD]

yoz brudder! Hehe.. yeah have more.. these are just some prominent shots from Day 1 and 2... now doing Day 3

thanks for your comment and viewing!

 

[iamasaint]

Hi Ron! Excellent work! =) I love the first shot...so does my wife! hahaha...the kids in sunset is nice too so is the first kuta sq shot....jeezzz....actually theres way too many nice shots to state!

 

[SniperD]

hey Kelvin & Mrs Kelvin ! thanks for the comments ! glad you like them!