The typical architectural style of Tana Toraja, near Rantepao, Sulawesi, Indonesia. This is the same location of the "pig slaughter" video.

Momma Macaque and her baby. Photo taken in Monkey Forest, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.

A bar boy in a breakdancing challenge, he's quite good, energetic... you know, he has youth on his side. Photo taken on Gili Trawangan, between Bali and Lombok, Indonesia.

As Iit o grow older, I have congestion problems, sinus difficulties, etc... wait, you didn't visit my blog to hear of my ailments. Anyway, here I am in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, having my ears "candled". The woman has inserted a paper "straw" into my ear and lit it on fire. It creates a vacuum which pulls out the excess wax. It doesn't hurt, in fact you can't feel anything, but I could hear the paper sizzling. In the end, she removes the paper and opens it to reveal a LARGE amount of wax!! I chose to do this because I was diving a lot and having difficulties equalizing/unplugging my ears after being below sea level.

Sunset at Gili Trawangan.

Local children hanging out near the cock fight, Bali, Indonesia.

A typical Indonesian market.

Burial caves (also below), also in Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The tomb of the deceased at a funeral ceremony in Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
These boys are not at all bothered by the carnage around them!
Buffalo skin out to dry.
A typical cave burial site, also in Tana Toraja.
Black Marlin Dive & Resort, where I spent a lot of my time in Sulawesi. This is on Kadadiria, about 30 minutes ferry from Wakai.
Bajo villiage, just a little ways from Kadadiri. The Bajo people are gypsies and build their villiages in the water, as you can see. They are mostly fishermen.
Back to the funeral ceremony, various people coming to honor the deceased.
More carnage!
A photo of the overall funeral scene.

This man makes these drums, those are his sons, he is starting them early in their music career. The drum maker has traveled to the U.S. for some music performance in Washington D.C. a few years back.
A group of art students I met while visiting with their instructor, Mike, the man behind me & to the left of me in the photo. Mike works for the hostel I was staying at in Makasar, a good painter who recently had a show in Japan, (www.newlegendhostel.com) you can view some of his artwork on their website. The prices for rooms can be divided by 10,000, so the range is about $4 to $10 a night, with good breakfast.
On the Puspita (ferry to Wakai, Togean Islands, Sulawesi)...I was extremely tired, had just completed a 30 hour bus journey, about 4 hours pulled over on the side of the road to sleep in the bus because of a BAD storm: fallen trees, floods, boulders in the road. Some people actually got off the bus, I am still not sure where they went. I arrived at 6 a.m. waited a while for the ferry to depart and met this woman, cannot remember her name, once we were on the ferry, she actually gave me a massage, feet and all!!
Look closely and you will see that there is a person at the top....
Brave and strong!!

Taken at a weaving villiage just outside of Tetebatu, Lombok...I purchased this particular Ikat, the term used for the Indonesian weavings.
Typical street scene near smaller villiages, notice the motorbike & various fruits...the minivan taxi also transports goods.
A horse for sale at the Cattle Market, every Monday in another small village outside of Tetebatu. This horse will be used to pull a dokar (as they are called in Bali and Lombok) or Cidomo (as they are called in Sulawesi), the horse carts, used as public transportation. See below.
A cheap & sometimes breezier way to get around, plus many horses have bells or chimes!
Who knew-Pointsettia grows in the tropics, near the Equator, yet we equate it with cold weather because of its symbol of Christmas.