Not my picture, but this washed up on one of the Balinese beaches
Finding a secret beach on my day off
My personal beach
And the ugly beach from “Eat, Pray, Love”
My friend, Sarah, teaching gamelan
I met a bagpipe player in the Canadian army and he gave me a little lesson
Children gamelan ensemble
My friend, Balot, playing one of the bamboo flutes
A giant bamboo xylophone thats 8 feet long!
Balot took me to the gamelan factory in Gianyar
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Making the wooden frame
The gongs are made up of melted metal that start off as metal sticks
In the back, that is where they melt the metal
The “rayon” before fully assembled
More modern made metallophones with PVC pipes for resonators, rather than bamboo
The turtle is seen as the foundation of Balinese religion and culture. The cymbals here are placed on a turtle and keep the beat of the ensemble. So they are the foundation of the ensemble
I had a favorite coffee shop, and the owner would always make great pictures in my coffee!
The house where I would practice had a cage full of little bantam chickens
The storage room for all the gongs
The furnace where the metal is melted
One of the many temples I visited in Bali. Fun fact: women can’t visit the temples while they are menstrating
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Sunset over a rice paddy field
I knew the owner of a cowboy-themed bar, and found this!
Just a pretty milkshake. But Bali caters to many hippies and it wasn’t real milk, it was cashew milk, and I had an allergic reaction and caused a scene in the cafe
One of the cafes i would always go to would write inspirational saying in magnolia flowers
(Sorry, I know its gross) But I got bitten by a poisonous bug and this happened. Check your bedsheets!
My host’s daughter. We would play a lot
The hammer used for the metallophones
A monkey chillin gon my scooter. It was awkward to wait till he got off
On the boat to the Gili Islands
The traditional Balinese fishing boats
I (tried) to hike up Mount Agung (the mountain of the gods) but I got altitude sickness 45 minutes in. So this is as far as I could go up
Gili Air
Gili Air
Gili Air
When a cat chills under your table for food
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Gili Air doesn’t have any cars and you can only get around via horse and buggy
Traditional Balinese theater show
Silver jewelry factory
The water temple
You bathe away your sins
And give an offering to the gods
A natural spring in the temple
My first Hindu ceremony celebrating the god of wisdom
Each family brings an offering to the temple for the gods
Sacred gamelan performance after prayer
My host family dressed me up in traditional Balinese clothes, called the kabaya
How I wake up everyday
Yet another temple
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The monkey forest temple
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My lovely room
The view from my room
My own little balcony
My reading spot
The family temple
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Uluwatu temple
This monkey mugged me and stole my glasses
Benign beach
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Mount Batur. The smaller volcano on the island
Bali’s art school
Lembogan Island
Emma Terrell 