Asia in Bird Eye Perspective

 Today I will post about one subject only: “bird eye perspective photographs”. 

During our trips in Bali, Hong Kong, China and Malaysia my husband Mathieu Nagelkerke and I photographed many photos with a bird eye perspective.  We like this angle of making photographs so.. I will show you a mix of photographs.

Mathieu photographed amazing photos from the Petronas Twin Towers,  the tea plantation Cameron Highlands and the white buildings with the red roofs, all photographed in Malaysia. Mathieu also photographed great photos from the Great Wall in China.

We hope you like the photos. Enjoy!

Rockbar in Bali

View from hotel Komenaka at Bisna in Ubud, Bali

Surf paradise Uluwatu, Bali

View from Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

View from Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

View from Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Hotel Icon in Hongkong

Hotel Icon in Hongkong

Shoppingmall in Hongkong

Tea plantation Cameron Highlands in Malaysia

Tea plantation Cameron Highlands in Malaysia

Tea plantation Cameron Highlands in Malaysia

Beijing, China

Beijing, China

Beijing, China

Great Wall, China

Great Wall, China

Great Wall, China

Malaysia

Malaysia

Malaysia

Rice harvesting in Ubud

If you visit Bali and you stay in one of the lovely beach places you should also plan one day or more to visit Ubud.

Ubud is a town in Bali, located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency.

Of course the guides will bring you to the market and fancy shops in Ubud, don’t miss that…but if you want to see more of the beautiful environment of Ubud you should take a walk through the rice paddies or take a bike tour.

 We did a bike tour with friends, we had so much fun, it is really great to do. Ubud and surrounding is a beautiful place for cycling. We visited a small plantation,  stopped to see how people harvest the rice, cycled through lovely Balinese villages and lots, lots more. You feel so close to nature and the Balinese people.

We did the bike tour with http://happybiketour.com/our_tour.html  A great company with friendly people. Don’t miss it!

If you want to know more about rice go to http://www.indo.com/culture/rice.html

Weeping Buddha

I bought this weeping Buddha, also called Yogiman, on the market in Ubud.

The weeping Buddha soaks up the sorrows and worries of the world and brings peace and compassion to all who rub his back!

The weeping Buddha is a nice gift to people who buy a new house or move to another house because the weeping Buddha also protects homes. It keeps evil outside.

Stunning sunsets

My husband Mathieu and me photographed many, many sunsets of Bali.  If the sky is clear there is always a stunning sunset in Bali. But.. if there are some clouds in the sky, the sky looks like a painting, so many colors, so beautiful. Sunsets are never boring….

For now I show a few sunsets. There will be more to follow…

Shadow puppet theater

Shadow puppet theater is called wayang kulit in Indonesia and it is particularly popular in Java and Bali. The term derived from the word wayang literally means shadow or imagination in Javanese, also connotes “spirit”. The word kulit means skin, as the material from which the puppet is made is thin perforated leather sheets made from buffalo skin.

The performances of shadow puppet theater are accompanied by gamelan in Java. In Bali it is known as wayang kulit and originally lasted as long as six hours or until dawn. The complete wayang kulit troupes include dalang (puppet master), nayaga (gamelan players), and sinden (female choral singer). Some of the nayaga also performed as male choral singer. The dalang (puppet master) played the wayang behind the cotton screen illuminated by oil lamp or modern halogen lamp, creating visual effects similar to animation. The flat puppet has moveable joints that are animated by hand, using rods connected to the puppet. The handle of the rod is made of carved buffalo horn..

Text: Wikipedia

Working hands, moving hands…

In the Western world we are using machines to manufacture our products.  For many people of Bali and Lombok  working with their hands is very normal, no machines are being used.  When you travel on the islands of Bali and Lombok you will see many workplaces without  big working machines, the people are making beautiful products by hand. In Lombok I saw a group of housewives sitting in the bale (gazebo),  braiding offer baskets. It looks very relaxing, talking  and working with each other and the children playing around them.

In Bali you will see next to the working hands also moving hands.  On the beach, musicians playing on their instruments or the priest who blesses the bride and groom.

Hands… very important instruments, for working, for playing, for blessings, for touching….

Silver bracelet with tribal design for men

I bought this silver bracelet with tribal design for my husband’s birthday. I bought the bracelet in SKIN post-atomic wear shop.

SKIN sells men and women clothes.  My husband and me, we both like the clothes of SKIN. The clothes are comfortable to wear. SKIN sells also accessories like bags, belts, sandals and jewelry both for men and women.

SKIN ambitions are going green, stop using plastic, always recycling and cruising with bicycle. Please keep Bali clean!

SKIN is located at Jalan Raya Seminyak in Seminyak. http://www.skinfabric.com/index.html

Cute little Balinese dancers

Balinese dances are a very ancient dance tradition that is a part of the religious and artistic expression among the Balinese people

Bali dancers learn the craft as children from their mothers as soon as they are born, in the womb they play the Balinese music for them and they are taught to dance with their hands before they can walk…

More information you can read at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balinese_dance  and when you google on Balinese dances you’ll find a lot of other information.

Mister & Mississippi

I am in Amsterdam at the moment. My home town in Holland. A few times a year I go back to Amsterdam to see family and friends. I love Bali but I love Amsterdam too. Amsterdam is a great city, the museums, the galleries, the Vondelpark, the fresh weather for running in the park,  the canals, the trendy restaurants, cycling through the city, the 9-straatjes and lots more…

Last Friday I visited my Indonesian friend  Brenda, she celebrated her birthday. She lives in Amsterdam but also loves Bali a lot…  Her daughter Maxime sings and plays in a band, called Mister & Mississippi, an upcoming band, very talented…. As surprise for her mother’s birthday  she gave  a living room concert. It was brilliant, very special.

Brenda was so proud of her daughter, she loved the surprise and so did all the people at Brenda’s birthday party.  It was a great party, with good drinks, food, friends and very good music.

When you visit http://www.misterandmississippi.nl you will find videos from Mister & Mississippi, of their concerts and you can listen to their beautiful music.

INDOmania

The week before I went with my other Indonesian friend Jozey to INDOmania. INDOania was held in the well known pop temple, Melkweg downtown Amsterdam.

INDOmania and Melkweg presented for the first time a major Indonesian event with performances, literature, film, fine arts and music, both modern music as well as music from the good old days. It was an event for young and old..

The event started at 2pm but unfortunately we had no time to go during the day so we went in the evening to see several bands perform.

We had a very good time, drinking, dancing and listen to the music, we stayed till the end…

http://www.melkweg.nl/artikelpagina.jsp?artikelid=865644