Syvwlch's Pictures

Singapore's Automatic Subway, June 2002

Singapore's Little India, a barber shop, June 2002.

Wayan's grandfather crafting a bamboo flute, while the kids strike a pose.

A Balinese girl, Amed, 2002

Chloe and one of the little Balinese boys at Wayan's house.

Wayan's extended family, including his dad in the background.

Wayan, the village chief, offering us dinner in his house, Amed, Bali, 2002

The wife and kids of Wayan, the village chief who befriended me because one of my hobbies is blacksmithing, and he comes from a family of smiths, Amed, Bali, 2002.

The Balinese are unbelievably friendly, and I still exchange emails with some of them, three years later.

The Old Female leading the pack of Balinese Temple Monkeys at a mountain pass shrine. All the trucks stop to give offerings to the local gods, and the monkeys are well fed :D

Grandad the ex-blacksmith with his prize fighting cock, Bali, 2002.

Rice Harvest, Bali, 2002

Sunrise, fishing fleet out to sea, Amed, Bali.

The kids wear uniforms to school, which takes place only in the morning, and gets an early start before the heat sets in. These four were walking along the beach in the first rays of sunlight towards the little school.

Sunset in Amed, a little balinese fishing village turned diving hotspot.

Balinese Rice Paddies

The Crab that Didn't Get Away...

Mother and son Balinese Temple Monkeys

Balinese Temple Monkeys are unabashed, greedy and funny. Just don't let them steal your sunglasses, they looooove those things.

Hand to hand with a sacred temple monkey.

Hindu temples tend to be piles of intricate statues with only a small chamber inside with one statue. They are not buildings per se, and a temple complex will group several of these, one per deity, inside a single courtyard.

Sacred Hindu Cow at Prambanan on Java.

Close to buddhist Burubudur is a famous hindu temple, Prambanan, in which Ganesh, god of wisdom, knowledge and books smiled on the geek that I am.

This buddha from Burubudur has been released from its stone bell, and looks on to the nearby volcano that once covered the temple in ash, preserving it for modern archeologist to uncover. This was taken with the last rosy light of dawn.

Burubudur is a large artifical hill, covered with these bells, inside each of which sits a buddha, which you can glimpse, and touch, thru holes in the bell.

Dawn mists at the foot of Burubudur, the lost Bhuddist temple on Muslim Java. The most beautiful place I have ever seen, including Anghkor Vat.

Like many places in asia, street food is very common, cheap and good. Many families don't cook, or only the rice. This is Yogjakarta in Java.

Javanese Dancer. Note the "doe ears" in gold on her tiara, this denotes royalty.

The Rules, for those who wish to Enter the Temple...

Walking home from the fields...

Lemme out!!!

Taking a break...

Balinese girls still learn the traditional dancing and it remains a huge part of their national heritage. We saw rehearsals like this in many places during the trip.

Soul mates?

Monkey on her (lower) back :D

Balinese Demon

You see a lot of Balinese farmers walking around with baskets of greens like this. They feed herds of ducks with them, and the birds are a major part of their protein intake.

Yes, we took the Prada glasses with us to Bali :)

A small selection of local fabrics...

Beetle in the rain...

Greg used to shoot with a Polaroid Land Camera, and has only recently switched to digital. The trash on the table is the result of a jammed feeding mechanism and he was not a happy camper...

There is a big collapsed caldera in the middle of Bali, where a second volcano has grown in the middle of what remains of an older, and much bigger one. This is shot from the lip of the old volcano towards the younger one. To the right you can just glimpse the lake that fits in the ring between the two. Magic :D