Active Mind, Creative Spirit
Soulshine Concert and Bali Green School
This is a photo story about a unique day we had in Bali. It included a giant bamboo structure, snakes, a concert and yoga. Grab a cup of cleansing organic tea and have a little holiday. Before we began our Bali escapade, we selected…
Water (Garden) Park
The first full day in Bali, we toured a tropical botanical water gardens. I tiptoed through acres of flora I’d never met before. Glorious mists permeated the warm air. There were waterfalls and sweet little rattan tables with umbrellas, tons of food (we had…
Cultural Dances in Bali
This is a performance of the kecak dance in Bali. It is a traditional dance depiction of a Hindu epic story called the Ramayana. Read more about it on my blog. Himalsong.blogspot.com
Kecak Dance
One of our first nights in Bali our guide, Wayan took us to a Kecak dance. This is a traditional Balinese telling of the Ramayana, one of the epic Hindu tales. Prince Rama is out hunting when his beautiful wife, Sita is kidnapped by…
Back to Bali
I have so much more story to tell about Bali. For now this will have to do. My quintessential pastoral photo of Bali: Notably:Gray skies threatening to either rain or turn blue.Rice fields full of workersOcean in the distanceGiant palm trees (You’ll have to…
Bali Rice Hike
I still don’t know if this is something that only I love, or if it strikes most people, how beautiful and essential rice fields are. I’ve gone on about it in a past post, so this is the photo tour of the rice hike…
Bali Rice Fields
Photos from an exotic vacation tend to be a smattering of all sorts of photography, from documenting the family trip, to unusual landscapes, to capturing the essence of a culture. Here is one of my favorites from the middle category – unusual landscapes. Maybe…
The Fauna of Bali
There were bats and rats and elephants… but I never did find no unicorn. (Modified lyrics from The Irish Rovers) Creatures are cool. You already know I like bats, and you might recall that I like cats (especially the big ones). But I actually find…
The Bat Temple
I find bats intriguing rather than scary or freaky, and due to an incident in Central America years ago, I’ve had the rabies vaccinations, so unless it’s vampire bats, I’m good to go. This day was one of the most fun for me personally,…
The Villa
I’ve run down how we got to this villa and to Bali altogether, so here is the posh, high society bit. The villa we stayed in for a week (of our 15 days) was pretty fantastic. It’s in a quaint village that hasn’t quite…
The White Temple – Lempuyang
It’s said that there are over 10,000 temples on the island of Bali. After paying attention to the buildings along the roads for hours, I can actually believe that. They are scattered everywhere like stray dogs – varying sizes and levels of importance –…
Good Eats
Hungry? It’s time for the delectable entry from Bali. I took photos of much of the food we ate. A photographic tour of Balinese food! Grab a napkin and pull up a chair. Right off we got a hold of our first fresh, passionfruit…
Pet a Tiger on the Tummy
For those of you who have never traveled abroad, there are a fair number of things that the good ole US of A doesn’t allow that some of the rest of the world is okay with. I first learned of this disparity when I…
Intro to Balinese Hinduism or, Where I Met the Garuda Bird
Get comfy, this one’s a little thick. (If you must, skip the fat text and see the photo-story at the bottom.) We were in Bali for twenty four hours before we entered our first Hindu temple. That’s a long time! It’s said that there…
Flora of the Island
I was going to wait and make this pretty post later in the line up, but the flowers in Bali are unbelievable. Many were familiar from my past trips to Central America and Hawaii, but so many were new that I have numbered the…
Foul Familiar Foreign Fragrances and Monkeys
I lived in Michigan during my twenties and that was the first time I learned what piles of burning leaves smelled like. People would get nostalgic every fall when the leaves fell and everyone raked them into piles and set them ablaze. There were…
First Impressions of Bali
There is nothing that makes you appreciate a place more than having to fly for 25 hours (with 2 kids) to get there. It was 87 degrees when we landed, but not as steamy as I imagined. I kicked off this set of blog…
Christmas in Summer
This is the second year that my immediate family has kissed off the regular Christmas routine and headed to warmer climes. Last year we hit 4 theme parks in 5 days in San Diego. This year we went a little outside the box. We…