As part of our tour in Central Kalimantan, we spent three days on a houseboat floating down the forest lined rivers of Palangkaraya. While I was initially concerned that we might be bored on this portion of the trip, nothing could have turned out further from the truth! Juli Kristalia, from Wow Borneo organized this […]
Indonesia 4 – Borneo 4 – Forest Dancers
We actually did quite a lot of other activities in Kalimantan, besides the festival we have reported on for the past three days. Dave Metcalf, our photography guide from David Metcalf Photography kept us busy pretty much all day, every day with wonderful photo opportunities. One afternoon, we drove more than an hour into the […]
Indonesia 3 – Borneo 3 – Festival Budaya Isen Mulang
The Grand Finale of the 2022 Festival Budaya Isen Mulang (FBIM) was the dance competition, with ten regencies (similar to Provinces or States) entering their top teams. We were told to expect traditional dances, but these are not like any traditional dances we have ever seen before! Each dance group were the winners from their […]
Indonesia 2 – Borneo 2 – Festival Budaya Isen Mulang
The Festival Budaya Isen Mulang (FBIM) has been held annually since 1993. It showcases the Dayak tribe culture and traditions with 16 competitions in 2022, that include traditional arts, dance, music, food and various sports. In the Dayak language, it means “Never Back Down.” One of the competitions was Indonesian martial arts, which focuses on […]
Indonesia 1 – Borneo 1 – Fire football!
We started off our Indonesia tour with a trip to Central Kalimantan, Borneo. Central Kalimantan is one of five provinces on the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, which is the third largest island in the world. This was the week for the biggest festival of the year, called Budaya Isen Mulang located in […]
Balkans 8 – North Macedonia
On our final morning in the Balkans enroute to Skopje, we rose early for a quick boat ride to photograph Lake Ohrid, before other boaters disturbed the mirror-like reflections of the old houses and the Church of St. John on the water. The night before, we enjoyed a partial lunar eclipse at 4AM, from our […]
Balkans 7 – Albania 3
In Tirana, the capital of Albania, we visited the Resurrection of Christ Orthodox Cathedral, which is considered among the largest Albanian orthodox churches in the Balkan Peninsula. Interestingly, at the Cathedral of St. Demetrius (aka Church of Albania) in Berat, the Catholic priests (upper right) were among the rare people that did not want to […]
Balkans 6 – Albania 2
In Prizren, Kosovo, we got up before dawn to photograph the blue hour (half an hour before sunrise) of a historical bridge and mosque (above). We then left for Tirana after breakfast to return to Albania for a few days. Enver Hoxha was the president of Albania from 1941 until his death in 1985. He […]
Balkans 5 – Kosovo
Today we drove south from Albania to Kosovo. This is a “partially recognized” country that unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, and has since been recognized as an independent country by 97 countries in the UN, or less than half the UN membership. It is a tiny country with a population of less than […]
Balkans 4 – Albania 1
After leaving Montenegro and traveling for most of the day over windy rough roads, we arrived in the village of Thethi in the alps of northern Albania. Thethi is a hiker’s paradise, and there is quite a building boom with new hostels and guest houses. The main reason for coming here was to photograph this […]
