Bali is a deeply spiritual island and I wasn’t prepared for the degree to which spirituality invades everyday life. It was this aspect of Bali that made the most impression on me and it was impossible to escape it, even if you wanted to. I was also struck by the huge variety of offerings available. [...]
Temples Westerners can visit some of temples provided they wear a sarong and a sash or are suitably dressed (no shorts, strapless tops, etc) although they may not enter on festival days (invariably when the temples look their best). We visited several different types of temple (sea, lakeside and local village temples) as well as [...]
Bali is the odd one out in the Indonesian archipelago of 17,000 islands in that its main religion is Balinese Hinduism as opposed to the Muslim religion practised in the other islands. Memories that will remain forever are those of kites flying high in the skies in the windy months of July and August, offerings [...]
Away from the hustle and bustle of city life in the capital of Denpasar, life goes on in the countryside as it must have done for generations. Terraced rice paddies where ducks paddle and splash, groves of banana, orchards of small bitter oranges like tangerines, mangoes, spices, coffee, and coconuts. Farming on the valley floor [...]
It’s hard to separate this from the spiritual because so many of the buildings are temples, but we visited a couple of palaces which, of course, also included holy areas. The following photos are of of Klung Kung. We were advised that this was a “sacral area” and that we needed to don sarongs to [...]
Evident from the lowliest shrine offering (see spiritual Bali) through batiks, ikat woven fabric, sarongs, paintings, masks, woodcarvings and temple decorations (even on cars). a wooden carving of birds in a guava tree this face was above the entrance door to a shop Fabric-seller street in Denpasar (the capital) batik fabric for sale kebayas – [...]
