Five months in Bali

My husband and I are going to be in Bali for five months for my research. While I'm going to be spending most of my time at the grindstone, there have to be other photogenic moments from "paradise," right? So this is Bali, from my eyes, one photo per day...or as close as I can get.

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Mooncake! Blueberry cheesecake. I'm not sure why they're on super-sale right now (mid-Autumn Festival, when I'd heard of them being consumed, is in a few weeks), but they're surprisingly good!

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Bird park yesterday. Although there were hundreds of exotic species running around, this little guy is my favorite. He knows what's what.

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The tower at night.

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Night market. You know you've been in SE Asia too long when the durians start to smell good.

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We headed out of town on the commuter line to catch Batu Caves, a Hindu pilgrimage spot (and recent home to this giant statue of Lord Muruga, the largest in the world). And yes, we did climb the 272 stairs to the top of the natural caves.

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And the best part about KL...if you don't like the culture, walk five blocks and it will change. Just outside of Chinatown, a Southern Indian-style temple--and it even had a wedding going on around the side door!

Along with that, if you don't like the language, it will also change. Three ones that are common here I can more or less read (English, Malay, Arabic), and there a bunch more I can recognize but can't read (Chinese, Tamil, Hindi, Japanese...) 

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And so, this is Masjid Jamek, the oldest (?) mosque in Kuala Lumpur (KL)...and the skyscrapers behind it.

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In the morning, do you crave hot water? Or...eels? Welcome to Malaysia!

"My hovercraft...is full of eels!"

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Our last day in Bali before heading on vacation was the start of Galungan, one of the largest Balinese Hindu holidays in which families remember their ancestors. Everywhere was decorated for the holiday!

But, alas, after one Galungan luncheon, it was time to hop a plane for parts unknown. Malaysia-Singapore-Yogyakarta: for visas, for comparative cultural understanding, and of course, for vacation! Kuala Lumpur pictures to follow.

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Meanwhile, we finished up the masks! Two bondres (comic characters), at your service, ready to appear in the next gamelan concert. I can't believe we actually made these, and learned to dance them a bit.

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Alter ego?

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This one is just cool-looking.

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...turns into a performance in Kuta. Our dance was good! The rest was...an ethnographic experience not to be missed (see Patrick's blog--or buy me a few drinks to hear about it.)

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Dance rehearsal with the children in the village...

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It's that time in the trip to start ordering the pretties (and figuring out how to get them home). So...I think Cendrawasih in the spring might be fun!

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Of course, there was the standard set of performances, including topeng. In the continuation of my crash-courses on male dance by various masters, I got a crash-course on dancing topeng yesterday. So much acting required! Especially for characters such as this ("the crazy one.")

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Meanwhile, in a nearby banjar was part of the funeral ceremony for a very important priest who had passed away six months before. As I noted from the 8-ft tall posted schedule, the ceremony was taking place over the course of a whole month, and was big enough that they had to construct a two-story bamboo tower so that the guests could watch the music/dance performances in the priest's honor.