Bali Bali Bali

Day 8 in Bali. Current base is Ubud. Last base was Seminyak (north from Kuta). Seminyak was not bad, but it's not a good base since it's was way south. Nice beach tho. The hotel we were staying at was only 2 mins walk to the beach. But I didn't do much on the beach since I came with my bro and he is not big on sunbathing. Also staying in Seminyak is Brandon a.k.a. the famous JavaJive from flickr. We went to a few places with him. Well, more like we tagged along. :) He is such a patience driver. LOL.

We've been to quite many places in Bali so far.
Mount and Lake Batur have good views but not a fantastic photo op, at least for me.
Pura Tirta Empul/ Water Palace is where a got (hopefully) nice shots of women bathing. LOL.

Goa Lawah was filled with Balinese. They were having a ceremony there so we could only get to 2 sections of the temple. But I got nice photos of the people.
There were also a ceremony in Gunung Kawi Temple when we were there. It was nice. The people were friendly and they didn't mind me taking photos of them. The kids loved to be photographed. The stairs to the temple was not that great, but the people were great.

Uluwatu has nice view of the temple on the cliff, but we were there during the day, when the lighting was harsh so I got crappy pics. But I think i got some nice pics of the monkeys around the temple. A few of the young monkeys jumped on me and tried to play with me. 2 of them bit me (playfully, just like puppies). One of them groomed me and made sounds that I believe translates that he was enjoying it very much. I know the monkeys are dirty, but what can I say, I love animals.

We also went to Tanah Lot. Tanah Lot is known for it's amazing sunset view. But it was cloudy when we were there. The could was plain and the sunset was too quick. I wanna come back, but we got no time now. We only have 2 days left before we have to leave for Komodo Island. And we still haven't been to Bedugul and Besakih.

We spent out first day in Ubud walking to find computer shops that sells external hard drive to back up my photos. Right now I'm only counting on my Hyperdrive. I didn't bring my laptop since I thought bringing laptop to Komodo Island was not the best idea. We only found 4 computer shops and 2 of them were closed. We were so pissed; we walked for hours just to find out that they were closed. It was hot and we were sweating like pigs carrying camera gears. Not a pleasant day.

But later in the afternoon, we got to go on a rice walk north of Ubud. My brother seemed to enjoy the walk on the rice fields, so it was good.

Today the locals are going to celebrate full moon so I'm hoping to get good pictures. Wish me luck.

Taman National Tanjung Puting

I planned to go to Central Borneo to shoot orangutans in their natural habitat. Heard about Camp Leakey in Taman National Tanjung Puting. I was planning to go this mid Juli after my cousin's wedding. Now it seems like I'm not gonna be able to go. My dad can't let his daughter go into a jungle.

If you have been to Taman National Tanjung Puting especially for photography, please share your experience so I'll know how is it over there. Thanks.

Sunrise at Borobudur Temple

So I wasn't satisfied with the photos I took during our "short" (short for me, too long for my brother) time in Borobudur. I decided to go back just before I had to leave for Jakarta. I found out that I could actually get in before the gate is open at 6am to watch the sunrise. I was a bit disappointed when I found out that the price is 15x the regular price. Just to be there an hour early. A bit ridiculous don't you think? No wonder we were the only Indonesians who did this that morning.

But even tho, it's a bit ridiculous, I do think it was worth it. There were only a few groups, so I wasn't too frustrated about people ruining my shots.