Finally after a week of no or bad internet we are online again and can catch up with posting the blog.

Indonesia Photo Tour Day 9 & 10

By Michelle Alten

During our stay, Imam is our extremely knowledgeable guide.  As we look at the apes that look at us so pensively, Imam tells me how he used to work on an oil rig.  He made enough money to buy himself a house, but he wasn’t happy.  He explains that his mother told him that his financial success would not bring him happiness and encouraged him to seek something that would make life more meaningful.  Since he first gained financial stability with the oil job, he was able to pursue work with the orangutans.   It is clear that his efforts with orangutan conservation are bringing him great pleasure and intellectual stimulation, even the opportunity to study animal behavior in Australia.  He is ebullient as he shares a stream of information with us.

At Batubulan village on the coast of Bali, a Barong bounces onto a platform in front of a Hindu temple.  Soon he is joined by Rangda, an evil spirit and sinister witch, waving his long threatening fingers and glaring with protruding eyes. The characters in this Barong dance evoke the struggle between good and evil through the often subtle gestures and movements.

Indonesia is known for its ikat weaving, a dye-resist technique where warp threads are bound and dyed to create a pattern before the weaving.  At Tenganan, a rustic Balinese village, weavers still create double ikat, a particularly complex form of ikat, where both the weft and warp are bound to create geometric designs with naturally-died fibers.