Time Travel in Bali

Kuta Beach 1974

To splice space-time in a new direction, here are some very ancient images of Bali from Christine's and my trip there in 1974. They cover many of the same places as in our 2010 trip, in particular Kuta and Ubud as well as some of the other traditional ceremonies and places of interest we missed in 2010.

Women on the beach would offer you local magic mushrooms

We stayed initially at a losmen in Kuta and hired motor bikes to travel around the island. This had some intriguing consequences. When I showed the guy running the losmen that the key didn't quite fit the bike, he said "Wait a minute" and took it around the back, when I followed him I found he was smashing it to metallic pulp between two stones.and just managed to retrieve it in the nick of time to file back into some sort of servicable shape.

Christine at our Losmen in Kuta

A traditional Balinese funeral cremating the body and
sending its spirit to the heavens to avoid it haunting its relatives.

Effigies of animals including a bull with golden horns are burnt in the cremation

On the road

We took off on two motor bikes and drove up to Kintamani on the edge of the volcano, to Besakih and down to the coast and out to the east of the Island, before heading to Ubud to stay for a few days.

Gunung Kawi rock-cut temple dates from the 11th century

The lake in Gunung Batur beside Kintamani

Kintamani 1973

The under roof of a Balinese temple

Besakih with Gunung Agung in the distance

Goa Lawah bat cave

A fishing village on the south Eastern coast.

Here are some images of our time in Ubud which compare in a time travel way with the images shot in much the same place on our 2010 trip.

Christine outside Tjhandri's famly losmen in Monkey Forest Road Ubud 1974

Chris with some of the children

The family compound

The markets outside the palace at the main corner

A series of images of the Ubud market in 1974

Christine and Chris besieged by the monkey forest monkeys

A traditional dance with gamelans in a neighbouring village

This village in south eastern Bali had a reputation for its backward
and isolated culture, which set its people apart from other villages.

Curious children surrounding Christine in the village