Posted on

Indonesia 12 – Java 2 – Sunrises

As a photographer, waking up at three in the morning to capture photos of beautiful landscapes is a given. When you add the blue hour, you add up to another 30 minutes. The Indonesian island of Java is almost entirely of volcanic origin and has 45 volcanoes which are considered active. Indonesia has the most volcanos in the world, with 76 volcanoes that have erupted in recent history. Above is a photo of Mount Bromo and Mount Semeru at sunrise. You can still see the smoke coming from the mountain top on the left.

Above is a 12 second time lapse of the sunrise at Mount Bromo and Mount Semeru in June 2022. The smoke that seem to be coming from the volcano on the left is the activity from Mount Semeru.

One morning, we arose at 3AM to drive to a sunrise with multiple volcanoes in the background. These included Mount Merapi, which had a major eruption in 2010. This is only place where we have ever been served cappuccinos while photographing sunrises! This area has been built out with carpeted stairs, tables and chairs on a terrace, for groups to enjoy seeing the sunrise with multiple volcanoes in the background.

These are a few abstracts capturing the various volcanic peaks, including Mount Merapi, Mount Merbabu, Mount Agung, and Mount Telomoyo. Mount Semeru is considered one of the world’s most active and hazardous volcanoes. It last erupted just months ago, in December 2021, killing 57 people and destroying over 5500 homes. A lightning storm was occurring over the volcano, and the lower right image captures the result. One of the local guides claimed the red glow is actually the reflection of the active lava in the caldera.

This 15 second timelapse shows the line of volcanos as the sun rose on that morning, June 17, 2022.

Borobudur Temple is the world’s largest Buddhist monument, and still used as a pilgrimage site. It was largely renovated in the 1970’s with the help of UNESCO, and was then declared UNESCO Heritage Site #596 in 1991. For many decades, it was considered a prime spot for serious photographers to climb to the top for spectacular sunrise images, with the Borobudur temples as foreground.

Unfortunately, it recently changed into private ownership and has become nothing more than an instagram photo op and major tourist trap — one of the worst we have experienced.

After charging foreigners 380,000 IDR to enter, you must then pay another 20,000 IDR to ride a bus the 1 mile back to the actual temple from the entrance location. After discovering that you are not allowed anywhere on the temple (fully blocked off with ample guards to assure compliance), you then must pay another 20,000 for a bus to return to the entrance. You must then walk a full Kilometer through endless tight rows of vendors selling the same knick-knacks over and over and over, until you are sure you must be in a maze without end. Even after you escape that labyrinth, there are still more vendors hounding you and refusing to accept ‘no’ until you enter the relative safety of your driver’s car.

Oh yeah, you can pay another 50,000 IDR for a VIP pass that allows you to bypass that maze of hawkers. Still another way to suck every penny they can.

The grounds no longer open until 9AM, so no sunrise photos are possible, even from the base of the temple that you can no longer access. The park also closes at 5PM, so no sunset possibilities either.

I am a prolific TripAdvisor reviewer (#1 reviewer in both Cuenca and Honolulu). Borobudur received a very rare 1-star review from me, and I strongly recommend any future travelers avoid this money grubbing commercial enterprise.

On a single bright note, Vina, one of the travelers with us who is also a professional model, posed for a few images (upper-right and lower-right).

The Mesastila Resort and Spa, where we stayed for one night, is a unique place to experience. Each room has been reconstructed and decorated using authentic Javanese antiques, complete with a sunken bathtub, and views of the outdoors from the bath. The hotel is located in Magelang, close to Borobudur Temple, and we took a tour of the small Losari Coffee Plantation on site (above). The images show the various types of coffee grown on site, as well as bananas and other fruit. When you walk around the grounds, you can see multiple volcanoes on the horizon. The gourmet food from the on-site restaurant was not to be missed, and we would have enjoyed staying here for a week.

Batik originated in Java and is a technique of wax-resistant dye applied to the entire cloth. It is considered one of the most highly developed art forms of Indonesia. It is made by drawing with a spouted tool called a canting, or printing with copper stamps. The Batik process is considered an intangible UNESCO Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2019. This manufacturing plant has just reopened after Covid.

We will close with one peaceful image of the sun starting to rise over the line of volcanos, as a layer of fog passes over Malaga below.

Posted on

Indonesia 17 – Java 1 – Malang Village of Color

We next flew to Java, for a week to explore that portion of Indonesia. Our first stop in Java was Malang, located in the highlands of East Java with a population of 844,000 people. It was formerly a Dutch colony prized for its mild weather, and thus much of the architecture has Dutch influence.

At the edge of the city of Malang, in the poorer part of town, is Kampung Warna-Warni, Indonesian for “Village of Color”. This funky local village was a redevelopment project co-created by the government and university students in 2016. With the use of bright paint donated by a paint company, this village has turned into a tourist destination and become economically viable. The people still live and work there, but the tourists are starting to come to see the beautifully painted murals created by the local artists. The facades are all painted with bright colors. Even the bridge (upper-left) and stairs (middle-left) have been decorated.

Every turn of a corner reveals a new mural, often whimsical, as the man with his head stuck up the rear of a bull (center-left). Others are graphically dramatic (lower-right), while many of the others are simply artists’ dreams, given free reign in the neighborhood.

It’s a lot of fun to walk around this village, and the people are friendly and photogenic. There are actually two villages, one on each side of the river which you can cross over the colorful bridge. Our favorite murals were located on the Kampung Warna-Warni side, seen here.

Bright colors and murals are a draw to tourists, both from Indonesia and the rest of the world, and this pilot project has inspired other communities to copy their model. They revel in that distinction, and are happy to spend a few moments with visitors and their cameras. Kids are always a favorite subject of ours (upper-left and middle), but professionals at work (upper-right) and entire families also welcomed us, and appeared happy that we did not just “shoot and run.”

The demographics here are quite different than Bali. Java is predominantly muslim, and you can hear the call to prayer from the many mosques in every neighborhood, while Bali is mostly Hindu.

There is a saying in Java: “A man is considered to be a real man if he has a house, a wife, a horse, a dagger and a bird.” Birds are the most popular pet in Indonesia, sought as living objects d’art, good luck charms or, in the case of rare species, status symbols.

Around the corner from our hotel, the historic Hotel Tugu, is one of the larger bird markets in Indonesia. This is a typical Asian pet market, where live animals are sold. Birds dominate the market, which is lined with hundreds of bird cages along the street (upper-right) and pet food (upper-left). Standard pet birds such as cockatiels (middle-left) and love birds (lower-left) are available for purchase, as are more exotic varieties. There are also several vendors selling non-avian animals though, such as rabbits, porcupines (center) and even flying squirrels from Borneo (middle-right).

Just around the corner from the bird market is a flower market. Many of the flowers found here would be found in any similar sized flower market in the US. However, there are also some specialty plants from this part of the world, such as the short narrow bamboo often used as decorative fences (center), or the Bonsai bamboo (bottom-center).

Though pollinating bees are dying out around the world, one bee was seen busy doing his part (lower-right).

Posted on

Indonesia 16 – Bali 8 – Balinese Dance

There are at least 3,000 different original types of dance forms in Indonesia. We saw the Barong and Legong Dance performed by the Panca Arhta Troupe from the Mahabharata at the Ubud Palace in Bali. The dances usually depict stories of the characters fighting evil gods or demons from Hindu scripture. Some characteristics of Balinese Dancers that you see that are the precise and angular movements of the hands and fingers, the necks moving from side to side, and the intensively expressive eyes. The Barong Dance depicts animals with supernatural powers that could protect humans, like guardian angels. The Barong Dance usually starts with playful monkeys teasing it. The Barong is a good magical spirit, like the Lion in Chinese culture. The dancers performing for the tourists are generally university students from the arts and culture program in Denpensar.

This 59 second clip shows some highlights from the Legong & Barong dance, helping to visualize what the performance was actually like.

Kecak is another form of dance, with bare-chested men in a trance chanting “cak-cak-cak”. Combined with the Kecak dance is a form of the Sanghyang Dance that is also known as the Fire Dance. The goal of this dance is to drive out the evil spirits from the surrounding area. We saw this performed in Ubud.

This 61 second clip of highlights makes it very clear how different this style of chanting dance is different from the Barong dance shown above.

Balinese Dance is taught at the many dance academies found throughout Bali. The official age to start an academy is 7 but young dancers sometimes begin to learn gestures as early as age 4 or 5, accompanied by rhythms produced by the gamelan. Dance is a strong part of religious and artistic expression in Bali. We stumbled upon this dance school just before the major holidays learning some movements for an upcoming temple ceremony. It is apparently unusual to see young boys in these schools.

37 seconds lets you quickly see how these children perform with their dance lessons.

These young ladies were entertaining us at lunch served in a private home. They are the granddaughter and great niece of one of our drivers, Nyoman. Afterwards, the granddaughter modeled for the photographers.

Another short (41 second clip) shows the type of dance these two young women performed for our personal entertainment,

Posted on

Indonesia 15 – Bali 7 – Galungan Day

Galungan is a Balinese holiday celebrating the victory of dharma over adharma or the triumph of good over evil. Praying at the temple is the climax of Galungan Day. The people put on their finest traditional clothes and go to the temple with their families to pray and bring offerings to share. Early in the morning many Balinese go to the public temples. By the afternoon, they are home celebrating with their families at their private temples and eating together.

The date of Galungan is calculated on the Balinese calendar, which is every 6 months at 35 days per month. This year, Galungan Day was held on June 8th and ended 10 days later on Kuningan Day on June 18th. The 210 day calendar results in one Galungan event in 2022 and two Galungan Days in 2023 on January 4, 2023 & August  2, 2023.

it is not unusual to see offerings brought to the temples balanced on the heads of many devoted Balinese.

The Balinese are very spiritual people. They renew their commitment to make tomorrow a better day, and continually to make themselves better through prayer and offerings. We seldom see angry or unhappy Balinese, as they strive to maintain balance and harmony. Instead of quarreling, they accept it as fate. Balinese are always smiling, as they are taught to accept all stages of their lives, life as well as death. They believe in the co-existence of good and bad spirits working as one in every individual. The golden rule: “Expect the best, prepare for the worst, accept the result stoically.”

At the Penglipuran Village on Galungan Day, we watched a procession led by musicians and a barong (a masked panther-like creature in Balinese mythology). The village has a wonderful display of penjors lining the main street.

At the Penglipuran village, these are some of the people we observed. Some came to bring offerings, others came to pray, and a group of photographers (center-left) came to document the eventful day.

This is a 47 second video of the procession on Galungan day at Penglipuran Village in Bali.

Posted on

Indonesia 14 – Bali 6 – Galungan Day Prep

Galungan marks the beginning of the most important religious Hinud holiday that recurs every 210 days in Bali. It is like Christmas, where families come together to celebrate. The spirits of the people who have died and been cremated return to visit their former home, and the family has a responsibility to welcome them through prayers and offerings.

To be ready for the day involves preparing the elaborate decorations and offerings days in advance. The most predominant symbol of the celebration is the penjor, the bamboo poles with offerings which line the streets.

For several days leading up to the event, the women cook the banana and fried rice cakes, and prepare the fruits, flowers and other offerings. The offerings are an expression of gratitude to the gods, and are put out three times a day. Then, the day before Galungan Day, chickens and pigs are sacrificed to make a spicy salad.

Every home is swept, and the statues and penjors are decorated.

The day before Galungan, the penjors are hoisted into place along the streets. Here’s a sequence from preparing the hole, lifting a pole, setting it in place, then placing shims to prevent the 30-foot tall poles from falling. The housing for the offerings are put on afterwards.

The penjors are elaborately decorated with various offerings, with rice (center bottom), palm leaves (bottom right), paper (top) and other colorful decorations. Those that are not created at the site where they will be raised are then transported by truck to their final destination (top).

Penjors are seen lining the streets in every village in Bali. Almost every home will have a penjor in front of it (bottom-left), welcoming the spirits. Some streets are lined with dozens of penjors (top-right and bottom-center).

Posted on

Indonesia 13 – Bali 5 – More Karya Agung Temple Ceremony

An Odalan or temple ceremony usually lasts for three days, but larger ones, which occur every 5, 10, 30 or 100 years, can last for 11 days or longer. This is one of the larger celebrations that occurs every 30 years, called Karya Agung, or “Great Ritual,” and was held at the Pura Puseh Temple at Tulikup Kelod.

The gist of what is happening here is that the Balinese are honoring the deities that rule over the temple by giving them a myriad of offerings, performances of vocal music, dance and gamelan music. They invite them down from their abode on Mount Agung to partake in the activities.

Temple ceremonies include traditional music. Balinese gamelan is played with an ensemble of musical instruments especially percussion instruments such as gongs, drums, met allophones, xylophones, and a bamboo flute. Gamelan originates from “gamel”, a Java term which means “to strike with a mallet”. They have a very distinctive sound, with fast rhythm at high speed. Some of the instruments are made from bronze, others are made from bamboo.

Above is a short 28 second video allowing you to hear Gamelon music, played throughout Bali during these celebrations. It is a very rhythmic (repetitive…) music that continues sometimes for hours.

Most Balinese dance incorporates ancient Hindu traditions or traditional folk rituals and has recently been recognized in 2015 as an UNESCO intangible cultural heritage to be preserved. Children are taught the Balinese dance movements starting around the age of 7. You can see the gestures of the eyes, hands, fingers, arms, hip, feet and face coordinated with the percussive sounds. The girls above are performing the Rejang dance, a sacred dance where the girls offer themselves to the gods. “Rejang” means “offering” and is a dance to greet the gods that come down to earth.

36 seconds of the girls’ dance is captured here, to give a better feel for the form. Highly stylized with specific hand positions, these girls start learning the form at the age of 7.

Men dress as warriors in the Balinese Baris dance. Above shows the Baris dancers, a traditional war and sacred dance for young men. The word “Baris” means a “line of troops” or warriors who fought for the kings of Bali. Dancers must portray fierceness, pride, compassion and other characteristics of a noble warrior.

Again, a very short (50 second) clip to give a more concrete feeling of what the dance is like. The men are much more coordinated and stylized than the girls, partly because these are adult with more practice than the younger girls who danced earlier.

The Topeng are masked performers above symbolize the spirits from the ancestral world. Their spiel went on for an hour, in which they taught the origin of Hindu as they traveled from from India to Java to Bali. Depending on the various masks used, these stories are often humorous or have a moral twist to it.

In another part of the compound, men engaged in a form of gambling. There was also evidence of a cock fighting setup, which is only permitted when there are special festivals.

We couldn’t leave you hanging with just that single photo of the game board! Here is a 45 second clip showing the men playing. We actually have no idea of what the rules or goals are of the game, other than it is played with cash, seen tossed onto the board. We were told that the man on the far right won four games in a row, and the group broke up shortly after this clip was captured.

Posted on

Indonesia 12 – Bali 4 – Karya Agung Temple Ceremony

Bali is known as the land of a thousand puras or temples. The reality is there are up to 20,000, since every family also has their own private temple. The Karya Agung temple celebration is a significant event at the 30 year point, in which they ask the gods to come down and join them. The group hosting this 30th year celebration at the Pura Puseh Temple at Tulikup Kelod has been preparing for this event the past 3 months. The above images show people entering the temple (bottom left) as well as scenes from the entryway to the temple.

After entering the temple, people bless themselves with holy water (center). There are temple ceremonies held almost every day somewhere in Bali. Although Bali has been inundated with tourists (prior to COVID, but only starting to return now), the ancient temples have remained pure. You can still see the colorful offerings to the gods and the daily worship, and the Balinese spiritual devotion to their religion. Bali has a population of 4.2 million people out of an Indonesian population of 275 million people. 80% of the Indonesians who identify as Hindus live in Bali.

Bringing offerings to the gods is a tradition and are delivered in many forms. You can see offerings from cooked food to live animals being brought in, many on top of their heads.

Other offerings include floral decorations, roasted pig, candy, various sweets and fruit.

Because the 30-year event is very special, a number of heritage items were displayed including a collection of antique barongs (upper left and lower right). There are many prayers throughout the day.

Posted on

Indonesia 11 – Bali 3 – Market and Ancient Village

Sunrise at Mount Batur, an active volcano that last erupted in 2000.

Pejeng Traditional Market at Tampaksiring, Bali. The locals shop here for all basic necessities, including fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, fish and spices. It is similar to Feria Libra in Cuenca, though some of the foods and non-perishables are unique to Indonesia.

The market is clean and the vendors welcome talking to foreigners and having their photos taken.

Smoking is almost universal among the men (center), with cigarette advertisements plastering every restaurant and store front. The slogan for the biggest brand is “Never Quit,” and shows some masculine man either in a boxing ring or climbing an incredible peak. All such banners are required by law to have the obligatory warning sign, as in America, but this one actually shows a man with a tracheotomy from smoking. Just as in America though, such warnings have little impact.

Ikat, a single and double-woven textile, is a popular product from Tenganan Village, an ancient village in Bali. There are only three places in the world that still use this complicated weaving process – India, Guatemala and Indonesia. The ikat method is unique in that the yarns are dyed before they are woven, and requires incredible skill as an artisan to produce beautiful patterns.

Tenganan are known for their “flaming” cloth, which is supposed to possess magic powers to protect against black magic. The 18 second video above is a demonstration of the Ikat weaving process on a loom.

In the ancient Balinese village of Tenganan Pegringsingan, many traditional rituals have been maintained, including the annual sacrifice of a buffalo, considered as their most sacred animal. The women and children all anxiously watched until the buffalo has been ceremoniously slaughtered and offered to the gods (middle-right). while a team of men prepared coconuts (middle-left) for the coming feast.

Unfortunately, the man (center) who was assigned to sacrifice the bull was inexperienced, and botched the job badly. The people watching went from fascinated (top row) to horrified (bottom row) as the process took far longer than intended.

Some other unique products from Indonesia are Luwak coffee and honey. Luwak coffee consists of partially digested coffee beans, which have been eaten by the Asian palm civet. The coffee beans are fermented after being defecated (middle-right), collected by locals in the wild forest, cleaned then roasted.

Two types of honey were also available — one made from a stingless black bee (middle-left and center) and the other from a native local bee. Though the black bees have no stinger, they do tend to crawl up a handler’s nose and ears, which is why the handlers have cotton stuck in both (middle-left).

The honey made by the black bees is sweeter, with a unique tang that makes it very pleasant. Unfortunately, it only produces half the yield of the local bees (with stingers!), and is harder to process. Thus, the honey made by the stingless black bees is much more expensive.

Posted on

Indonesia 10 – Bali 2 – Rice Paddies

Rice production is a very important part of Bali’s and Indonesia’s economy and culture, accounting for more than half the caloric intake of the average diet.. Indonesia is the third largest producer of rice in the world, and the rice cycle is a process that takes either approximately 120 or 210 days, depending on the type of rice grown.

This short 35 sec video shows Balinese farmers planting rice, then a sweep of a rice field nearly ready to harvest, and finally harvesting of the rice (about 110 days after planting)

In Bali, the rice fields of Tegallalang are located just outside of Ubud. This is one of 3 boutique villages known for their terraced layout. They utilize sustainable water management (irrigation) known as the Subak system in Bali. Rice paddies are part of the people’s heritage. The centuries-old irrigation system, which is environmentally sound, has been recognized by UNESCO world cultural landscapes. The Subak systems is comprised of canals through which the water from natural springs flows through water temples and from there to the rice paddies(lower left).

Rice production is still done primarily manually in Bali, yet recognized as having one of the world’s highest yield production per acre. There are various steps in rice cultivation including field preparation, flooding and planting seedings, transplanting, fertilizing, pest management, harvesting, threshing, drying, storage and marketing. The birds prefer the taste of organic rice. Farmers install scare crows in the rice paddies with farmers banging metal (upper) to keep the birds away during harvest season.

Rice paddies are beginning to disappear as an increasing numbers of farmers are selling off their land for vast real estate development projects. Many of their kids have no interest in rice farming, and can get lucrative jobs in tourism, teaching or construction. Commercial swings are now often installed for tourists to swing over picturesque rice fields (bottom right).

Posted on

Indonesia 9 – Bali 1 – Holy Water Temple

Sunrise with Mount Agung in background near Ubud, Bali

After leaving Kalimantan (the Indonesian province in Borneo), we traveled to Bali, which has been voted for years on TripAdvisor’s list as one of the top destinations, with its idyllic beaches, volcanic rocks, beautiful temples and welcoming people. Bali is only one of over 17,500 islands in Indonesia, with more than 6000 being inhabited. Bali is also the only Hindu-majority province in Indonesia, with most other provinces being primarily Muslim. The Hindu of Bali is not the same as found in India and other famously Hindu regions though, with the religion here having large influences in Animism.

One morning, we visited an ancient holy water temple in Tampaksiring (near Ubud), where people go to purify themselves. It is also known as Tirta Empul temple, an important Hindu temple in Bali dedicated to Vishnu, the Hindu God of water. This temple is considered one of the five most holy temples in Bali, and there is a strict dress code, as every visitor wears a sarong out of respect when entering the temple. For purification, visitors queued in line to be baptized by the gushing holy spring water that is believed to have healing powers.

The temple is a holy place, with a steady flow of visitors arriving to pray at the various altars.

As with most of Bali, the Holy Water Temple includes stone shrines (left column) to Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, as well as ones for Indra and Mount Batur. There were a few vendors selling tourist items, such as the masks top-right. There was also a very large fish pond with koi, most of which were competing for the bits of fish food being tossed into the pond by tourists (lower right), and a photo op for Instagramers.

Given Western sensibilities, it is sometimes jarring to see the symbol shown middle-right. However, this “swatiska” symbol is an ancient Hindu symbol signifying peace and well-being, and long predates Hitler’s usurping it for his more foul purposes.

This short 34 second video shows how the Balinese cleanse themselves in the fountains of the Holy Water Temple, and then how koi swarm when they are fed in pond.

Photo Galleries

At the top of this page is a menu that will take you to a variety of galleries showing our favorite images.
Books We Have Authored