I Stopped At...

2014/05/01 So I made a trip to exotic Bali. I will be disclosing each and every where I visited with my companion and may I start with Barong Kris dances. Barong dances are a traditional dance in Bali which is performed to symbolize the fight between evil and good spirits. The dancers use their whole body to express the meaning with Balinese traditional music is played in the background. They also use verses in Balinese while they perform. Barong is the king of good spirits. It is symbolized as a lion for the strength and braveness. Below is the king of evil spirits, Ranghda.  Barong dances mainly portrait the fights between Barong and Ranghda. The following characters come up in the dances while the story flows. Below is a servant of a goddess who is beautifully cladded in flowers and showing  graceful movements with eyes and fingers. Below is a minister who gets caught in a spell by Ranghda and loses his servants. The minister is saved by the ...

Borobudur Temple which is the largest temple in the world boasts of some beautiful stone carvings with Indian Gupta influence. Following wikipedia article is very educational when it comes to Borobudur Historic Value. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur There are 504 Buddha statues all together in this site. Some Buddha statues are situated inside the stupas as the one below. Some are placed inside stone wall s without head cover. We are not sure whether those statues used to have a roof or something overhead. Then when we walk along the corridors we come across some Buddha statues leaned to the outside walls gazing serenely towards the world below. There are also beautiful stone carvings where several stones are fixed to create one mural. Very detailed carvings, I should say. As you may see the stones are a little yellowish as the Dutch archaeologists who found this at first tried to use sulfur to save the murals. Other than the Buddha statue...

We waited since 4.30 and waiting for the sun to appear behind from Mount Merapi. The first sun rays were beautiful, when the sun was no where to be seen but still its rays tinting the everything around in a beautiful red color. Mist made it appear cooler and Mount Merapi far behind with clouds  or fumes at its top. Perfect morning! Red tint gradually vanishes and through the mist Borobudur temple comes in to a better view. The stupas, Buddha statues and we gradually became aware of the sorrounding more. Then Mount Merapi starts to glow. So here the moment had come. I changed my camera mode to catch a better glimpse of the sun which was about to peak from the behind of Mount Merapi. The stupas giving the perfect shot with its gracious lineup. The sun emerged from behind Mount Merapi gloriously as it could be. Such a picturusque moment. I lay my camera down to enjoy the moment. Loved it!! I  am not a photographer but I think I got the ...

2014/05/02 We made it to the world famous beach Nusa Dua.  Nusa Dua is luxury beach resort area where all the beaches are clean and golden  and owned by luxury hotel complexes. We went to the free beach area where there were no people in sight, only the vast blue sea and the golden stretch of beach. The most important  fact is that the beaches are fairly clean. The following is the entrance to the beach. It was covered with temple trees. Well, The Indian Ocean is stretched in front of the eyes with richest golf courses in the area carving in. The sea has the rare color of blue which reminds me of the  sweet Southern sea of Sri Lanka.  Thank you Ayanthi my dearest travelling companion and the panorama guides. All Rights Reserved.

2014/05/01 Tanah Lot is a Balinese temple built on a rock in the middle of the sea. the rock island can be accessed by tourists itself but the temple on it can be accessed only by Balinese people. Hence, It is  crowded around the rock and less crowded in the temple at the top of the rock. It is beautiful piece of rock very serene except for the very rough waves breaking on the rocks. It is looking  towards the Indian ocean making it one of the most famous sunset watching spots around Bali. The rock island can be reached by walk only when the tide is low. The rock it self and the path is paved, caved and shaped by the sea, creating beautiful patterns on the rocks. The path can be very slippery and the wind is salty. You can find little sea creatures like crabs crossing your path when you are walking towards the temple when the tide is low.  Below is another temple situated just next to Tanah Lot named Pura Batu Balong, in the walking distance. ...

2014/05/02 Uluwatu Temple is one of the most famous tourist spots in Bali. Located by the sea, at the top of a beautiful cliff, Uluwatu makes a famous sun set watching place. This temple is dedicated to the goddess Rudra. The actual year, the temple was founded is yet to know. Below is the main point of the temple where normal people cannot enter. It is standing at the top of a rocky part protruding to the Indian Ocean. The temple is standing above 70 meters above a roaring sea. Amazingly it seems the cliff had stood tall against the crashing wave without eroding. It makes a beautiful sight when the sun sets shading everything ain yellowish red. Below are some magnificent scenes around the Uluwatu temple. The cyan colored sea and white of the breaking waves add to the beauty. The waves rise nearly 2 meters well above the sea level. It is said that only very professional surfers would challenge the waves crashing below. Special thanks t...

2014/05/01 Penglipuran is an area with villages which still have the old ancient ways of administration and lifestyles. It is said that these villages were chosen by the king to serve as food suppliers or farmers for the palace. Those villagers have their own way of customs and values which had come all the way from early days. This is the entrance of the Penglipuran village. The village is a very calm and serene place with not much activity. Only movement was the wind ,stray dogs and hens. We visited just days after a big ceremony so that the remaining are still left along side the road. The houses are standing along the both sides of the main road which runs straight through the village. It is not notable in the picture below but while the right side of the road was decorated in yellow colored flags and stands the left side was decorated in white. According to the guide, the colors symbolize pureness and holiness. This is the village meeting place. It had been ...

2014/05/01 Around Prambanan Temple site, there are several other temple sites. A trolly train runs between the sites so you can just hop in and out at the sites you prefer.  Sewu temple is also a very old Buddhist temple which used to have over 200 little temples within its premises, which were later destroyed by the same reasons as Prambanan. This existence is living proof that Buddhist and Hindu cultures existed in harmony in the early eras.  At the time we visited Sewu. visitors were not allowed to go in to the temple site as it was under construction.  You may notice the `Dwarapala (Javanese)` or the  `Doratupala` in Sinhalese , the guard at the lower right corner who guards the entrance to the temple. Same architectural concepts, no wonder! The rocks yet to be constructed in to the prior state are piled up in front of the temple blocking the view. I really hope that they have all the strength and courage to finish the reconstructing soon. ...

2014/05/01 We made it to the famous tourist spot of the Holy Spring Temple in Bali. it is called Pura Titra Empul (Pura  = Temple, Titra = Water, Empul = Pure) in Balinese. According to the guide, this temple was built in year  962 AD. This temple had been dedicated for God Vishnu, with a statue of God Indra at the entrance. Balinese people believe that the water from the temple pond purifies their souls and wash away their all sins. The following were captured in the inner temple. Only the "clean" people can enter the inner temple, especially in women s case. They should neither be on their period nor should be breast feeding. Even the Sri Lankan culture considers menstruation as unclean but it was the first time I heard about breast feeders being considered unclean. It is obviously because the blood becomes milk and women with milk are naturally "leaking blood". Well,　this had been a custom for centuries and what puzzled me is that had Indonesia...