In search of Gods...

I realised that I didn't finished my Bali posts ! My bad, I should finished it pretty quickly, but I think I was lazy. :p Lesson learned, never leave the job un-done. LOL

Where was I... Oh, the 2nd day of the assignment :"In Search of Gods"


The 2nd day of the assignment was what I call "In search of Gods". Bali is a land of Gods, where the Balinese worship the Hindu gods, but with a strong element of local culture and tradition. I kept reminding myself that I was in a land of Hindu Gods, but I couldn't find a typical Hindu temple in Bali. You know, the Kuil as I usually see here in Malaysia. What I see was the temples of its kind. Balinese could worship the Gods in any form: water, stone, trees etc etc...


We started our search in the Titra Empul temple, which is a very historical temple that build by an ancient Balinese king. I was told that this temple has been there for 800 years. It houses a secret pool where the devotees would come to purify themselves by bathing through the never stop flow of holy spring water. It would bring luck and good will once bath in these spring water.

To complete the whole "praying process", one should start bathing from the first spring all the way to the last one....

I see happiness when a family really enjoying themselves bathing through the chilling spring water....

It's a holy place. The locals would come early in the morning to do their prayers since not much people is around, the devotees would spend time "meditating" under the water.

Very serene, very nice, right ? Nice weather, nice environment, chilling natural spring water, beautiful people etc etc. Did I mention that it was a fashion trend for young Balinese girl wearing a see through Kebaya? Imagine that, a young girl with wet look see through Kebaya praying in the pool........

*ahem*

The serene atmosphere didn't last long, when tourist and school children started to swamp the pool. The school children basically changed the pool from a holy place to a playing ground !!!

We better called it a day before the condition was out of control. LOL

This is the offering. It basically representing the Gods. They have a special way of praying the Gods where they swing the hand in the way of sending the offering to the heaven. Imagine a curvy young Balinese girl doing the hand swinging... sexy, right ? *ahem* :P

How can people hate such a nice place ??

To be continue....

My other Bali posts.

My first footstep in Bali.....

The workshop started at 3pm, and I had nothing much to do in the hotel. The hotel was kinda empty and I was no where near a beach. Hence, no hot babes to see.... *ahem*

Well, there is a village nearby the resort, and there is a nice paddy field just outside the resort. Why not I just took a "morning" walk to refresh myself after soooo many days sitting in the office without any exercise; I need to stretch my body, and I regretted doing that. LOL. Why ? Well, wait till the end of this post lar. LOL

It was the harvesting session. The villagers were busying harvesting the paddy and they don't seem to camera and tourist shy. Everyone smiled to me and said :"Jalan-jalan ?" And I just smiled back said:"Ya, jalan-jalan."

Sound nice, right?

Of course I did not "jalan - jalan" in the paddy field only. From the brochure of the hotel, there is a temple somewhere further into the village after the paddy field, and it is a 5km walk. I saw I still had time, so, I just walked lar. It was 9.30am in the morning, and the weather was nice and cooling. Before departed to the village, a friendly resort PR advised me to apply some sunscreen lotion so not to get myself burned up. Well, it's 9.30am in the morning, do I need one ?

Yes, I did. LOL. The sun was super friendly to me and I regretted not to apply the sunscreen. And by the time I regretted, I was almost half way to the temple. Going back empty handed was not my type, so I continue my journey lar.

Along the way there were the locals minding their own business. The girls were preparing to go to school, and one of their younger brother (I think) was bathing in the man-made channel just on the camera right, out of the frame. Simple life and happy life...... The girls thought I am a Japanese. *fainted* Hmm... do I look like a Japanese ?

Then I came to a dam made to irrigate the paddy field. What I saw shocked me: a man was squatting in the water doing his "business"!! And the water flows to the same channel as the bathing boy I mentioned earlier.....

After the dam, turned left to a small path, and I reached this temple.

It was a 30 minutes walk from the resort. I entered my very first Balinese temple. It's the Empul Kuning temple if I recalled the name correctly. I had read much about Balinese religion, and I do understand Balinese practices Hindusm. But what I saw in front of me is not a typical Hindu temple as I see in Malaysia. I started to question myself: am I sure I'm entering a temple ?

It's so "un-Hindu" so to put. Nothing look familiar to my eyes, and I was kinda lost in the house of Gods.....

And I do not recognise the feature of this statue. It doesn't look "Hindu" to me. Only after 2 days trip in Bali, I understand that the Balinese has assimilated the Hindusm religion into their culture.

Kite flying ! I never had a chance to fly a kite. Shame of me......
Indeed the life in Bali is relaxing.

I didn't stay long. I left the temple so to catch the bus that would bring us to our lunch in the town. And yes, it's a 30 minutes walk again.

After the lunch, our workshop started 3 pm sharp in the resort. A round table introduction was carried out, and I'm the one who has the least photographic experience. LOL.

Then a short introduction from Abbas, and he shared with us some of his experience on making a story from a series of photos.

Sneak peek workshop in progress.

Yup, that's my super old laptop in the foreground of the pic above. And I was installing the Sony software. LOL. We needed to shoot our photos in RAW format, and I didn't install the software in my laptop. And I was worry; my old laptop may not able process the raw files fast enough for the workshop. I prayed hard hard hope everything will be ok.....

Then we need to show our portfolio. Spontanously, I quickly downloaded some of my photos from my blog as portfolio lah.

And Abbas comment was: everyone takes nice pictures, and all of us are photographers. LOL. Well, quite a diplomatic comment I would say.

Then followed by a Q&A session before our dinner.





A cultural show entertained us while we were having our dinner. Nice dinner, nice show, happy day, although I sweated like hell in the morning..... LOL

It's all start from a phone call...

On one very fine day, when I was super busy with my work, my handphone rang. The screen identified the caller as George.

Hmm.... He who-I-kinda-"hate" and he-who-the-least-expected-to-call-me called me. Hmm.... what wind blew him to call me? Let me picked up his call and see what he wanted to say.

George: Yo bro ! I'm sending you to Bali. You will leave for Bali in 1 week time. Give me your full name and passport number.
Me : What ? What the heck ! What is this all about ?!?!
George : Never read the forum ar you? The Assignment with Abbas from Magnum one !
Me : Huh ? But the website says for A900 owner only wor. Me not A900 owner what....
George : Never mind lar, just go. It's FOC, full sponsored by Sony ! FREE !!
Me : Free ? Hmm.... that sounds good ! But let me talk to my wife first.
George : Ok, give me your answer as soon as possible !

Bali ? Assignment with Abbas from Magnum ? Wow ! That's really something for me ! Never in my dream would have a chance to work with a Magnum Photos' photographer !

Talked to my wife through MSN, and she granted her agreement for me to go. Though I'm quite heavy hearted of leaving her alone with my son.

"Don't worry. My friend lives nearby, I can call her in case I need anything." My lovely wife told me. Visa approved !

Then, half day before departure to Bali, George the-man-who-I-quite-"hate" send me the workshop schedule. The schedule says: the participants are required to share their portfolio. OMG ! How the heck I have time to prepare my portfolio ?!?! Then I read next line: the participants are expected to bring their own laptop for editing. OMG again ! Laptop ?!?! Editing ?? Quickly I go and check my already been covered by half inch dust laptop and see if it's still function or not.

Thanks God my old Compaq laptop was booting. LOL. Portfolio ? I have no time for that. Editing ? That would be post-processing of photos? What I have in my old Compag is Picasa ! Don't care lar, I was in hurry, I re-pack my luggage to include my 3kg laptop, kiss good bye to my lovely wife and cute son Ee Young and headed to LCCT...

Yup, that's the plane that fly me to Bali.

My flight from KL was 7.00 pm and reached Bali at 10.00pm. No delay, how good !

And once I was in Bali it's a pitch dark night ahead me. I was hoping to stay at one hotel that has a nice long beach with hot babes sun-bathing *ahem*, that would be nice.

But I was wrong. I waited for the next morning, and what I see is this:

Paddy field !!!! *fainted*

I was in Bali, and I was staying in a resort that has a paddy field within resort area and surrounded by paddy field !!!!!
Why ??? Why ??? WHY ??????????


Anyway, not bad lar this resort. It's the Kamandalu Resort and Spa in Ubud, north from Denpasar, the capital of Bali. Very Balinese, very serene, very nice and very comfortable to stay in.



I was expecting to share a room with one foriegner, but to my surprise I was staying alone in a villa. If I knew I have my own room, I might as well called my wife to come with me, no ? :p

Such a big bed, and I was sleeping there, alone !
*sigh*

A hut at the balcony area.
WOW !

Did I mentioned here there is an outdoor shower bathroom ??

And the TV program was such a bored.
Blomberg, BizTV, satellite TV that speaks German and French....
*duh*

Anyway, I was there for the workshop, not to relax myself. I wouldn't mind staying at a cheaper hostel because most our time during the workshop will be away from the resort. So, why should we stay at this so luxurious one ? Hmm....

Hmm... the resort was quite empty, could be due to the bad world economy. Of course lar, because you need about USD 400 to spend a night here in a normal room, and about USD 600 a night for a villa that I stayed at.

"Take a rest first, because hard work awaits you for the next 2 days !" Warned Abbas when we reached the resort on the first night. *Gulp*

Well, a good rest ensure a longer journey. So, enjoy the stay and sleep first. Then worry about the tiredness later. LOL

A Trip That Wasn't Been Planned ....

That was a trip that wasn't been planned. It was a surprise for me, a real surprise with almost everything to be prepared in a last minute basis. I returned home exhausted but with full of knowledge and that was an eye opening trip for me as well.

This trip tells me at which level I am.

Full detail report will be out, soon.....