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Photographic
Diary

Apr-May 2008:
South East Asia
#5 Bali, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok

We caught the ferry from Java (on the left of the photo) to Bali (on the right of the photo)
We made our way to Ubud, the cultural centre of Bali and particular for its strong Hindu traditions. The town is full of shrines and statues and is alive with people making offerings and blessings.
Small palm leaf, rice and petal offerings can be found everywhere.
Bali is unquestionably a holiday destination, and is full of restaurants and hotels. But Ubud somehow manages to maintain style - every single hotel, every restaurant, every shop, every cafe is tranquil and stylish. We tried as many as we could in 3 days!
A typical temple, with ornate decoration.
Ceremonies are held in the temple to bless fruit which is then taken back to the home.
The town has a sacred monkey forest at its heart. The monkeys are both tame and cute, as required in these situations!
The pool at our hotel.
Traditional dancing...
...including the Barong - across between a Chinese dragon and a pantomime horse!
Our final day in Bali was spent in a Batik painting workshop. We were guided through the various stages of the process - drawing a desgin on material, covering the lines with wax, painting over "white" areas with wax, painting in coloured dye, protecting the dye by covering it in wax, cracking some of the wax areas, dying the whole thing in indigo dye, washing off the wax to leave the finished articles. Rachel was inspired by frangipani and lotus flowers; Al by the Barong pantomime horse!
1 night in Kuala Lumpur - one of the cheapest places to stay in luxury hotels (so we did). Our 20th floor suite had an amazing view of the petronas towers...
...as did the hotel bar!
Our final night was back in Bangkok with Hannah and Paul, and we celebrated in style on the rooftop bar of one of Bangkok's tallest buidlings.