Doors - Bali

This gate includes the Bahasa greeting "Selamat Datang" or "welcome."

People in Bali traditionally live in a family enclosure called a kampong (translated elsewhere in Bahasa-speaking regions as "village").  The compounds include numerous buildings for sleeping and cooking and farming, and though extended families often live together, they can spread out inside across multiple houses.  The Hindu heritage of Bali means that each kampong contains any number of shrines including a seat for a deity beside the principal entrance and usually a small sacred precinct inside.  Additionally, small offerings are placed daily in front of the doors of individual buildings. Here are some of the elaborate doorways that we saw around Ubud during our holiday.  Click the link at the bottom left to see all the pictures.

Many kampong entrances have been modified to accommodate Bali's ubiquitous motorbikes. A Chinese-inspired alternative to the more popular chair-style shrines can be seen at left.

A kampong portal wedged between shops along the road.

Champuan Ridge - Bali

The forested interior of Bali, Indonesia.

The Passengers are returned from a weekend on the island paradise of Bali.  This was our first trip south of the equator and the weekend had numerous other highlights, like surfing lessons and big cocktails at Naughty Nuri's. However, we especially enjoyed seeing the interior and countryside of the island around the artsy hangout of Ubud.  Here are some images from our hike along Champuan Ridge and around the villages nearby.  There's lots to see so this post has been broken into two pieces.  Click the link at the bottom left of this entry to look at the rest of the pictures.

Atop Champuan Ridge.

Bringing down the stalks from the ridge.