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.

Upstairs Overlooking

The Singapore skyline on a clear Saturday. The curved slope atop our previous address The Sail can be seen jutting above the white Bank of China building. Notice the three towers of Marina Bay Sands casino now have complete glass facades. Classic HDB apartment blocks dominate the foreground.

The Passengers have been rather busy of late, in part due to the arrival of so many boxes full of worldly goods that need unpacking and storing. I will have to delay sending out pictures of our apartment until after we resolve that problem. Until then, here is a large image of the view from our bedroom. Our neighborhood Novena sits on a modest hill. Combine that elevation with our position on the eleventh floor, and the result is a great view of the Central Business District (CBD) skyline. Click on the image above to see a much bigger, detailed version.

Man Mo Temple, Hong Kong

The 160-year old temple has resisted the general compulsion of Hong Kong to build skyward.

One of our stops during the long weekend in Hong Kong was the Man Mo temple on Hollywood road. The building was erected in 1847 and stands as a lonely holdout within the city’s vertical density. The temple honors the gods “Man,” and “Mo,” two deified kings. The amalgamated name exemplifies the playful and dualistic devices that punctuate Chinese names and superstitions. Literally these two words mean “civil” and “martial,” respectively.

Offerings of incense contribute to interior's air of ceremony.

Most of the sacred space has been decorated in red, an auspicious color in Chinese beliefs.

One of a pair of animal sculptures flanking the incense burner before the gods' images.