I created this video / slide-show for our Honolulu photo club (Eyes of Hawaii), to show them what we experienced when visiting Toraja this past Summer. This was a culture that is beyond anything we have ever experienced before, or even expected to still be active in the 21st century. I am not sure I […]
Indonesia 25 – Toraja 4 – Pig Heaven
Toraja society is organized along a strict caste system. The person’s caste, or class, is inherited through the mother, and it is strictly forbidden for a woman to marry a man of lower class. The noble, or upper class, is considered to be descended from a person who descended from heaven. When someone of the […]
Indonesia 22 – Toraja 1 – Death is Just a Part of Life
Tana Toraja, the highlands of Toraja, is known for their coffee, spectacular mountain landscapes, and its unique culture. The Torajan people is an ethnic group indigenous to the mountainous area and known for their elaborate funeral rituals, where death is celebrated. We will be going into the rituals they follow for death in detail over […]
Indonesia 18 – Bali 9 – Birds and Monkeys
We went in search of the Indonesian Horn Bill (bottom-right) after they flew past us in Central Kalimantan, flying so high we could barely see them. We were told that the Bali Bird Park would be a good place to see horn bills close up, as they are illusive in the wild. The park is […]
Indonesia 9 – Bali 1 – Holy Water Temple
After leaving Kalimantan (the Indonesian province in Borneo), we traveled to Bali, which has been voted for years on TripAdvisor’s list as one of the top destinations, with its idyllic beaches, volcanic rocks, beautiful temples and welcoming people. Bali is only one of over 17,500 islands in Indonesia, with more than 6000 being inhabited. Bali […]
Indonesia 6 – Borneo 6 – Orangutans
One of the top attractions of Central Kalimantan is viewing the orangutans in the wild with no fences. We took a small canoe from our Houseboat three times, along the river into the Orangutan Sanctuary operated by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS). Initially at Kaja Island, we were disappointed that we did not see […]
Living in Ecuador as an Expat (video)
We have begun to get settled into Honolulu, and establishing our routines here. One of my personal routines is membership into the Eyes of Hawaii camera club here. At the request of members, I have created a couple of narrated slide shows. The most recent slide show, that will be shown in August, when we […]
Hawaii – Bishop Museum
We visited the Bishop Museum in Honolulu today. For us, the most captivating display was easily the 10 animatronic dinosaurs, shown in the short 45 second video above. Watch to the end to see Evelyn’s reaction… ☺ The Bishop Museum is primarily comprised of three main exhibit buildings, plus a planetarium that was closed due […]
Hawaii – Zoo
The Honolulu zoo is also only a 10 minute drive from our condo. We have seen some pretty amazing zoos around the world, and were curious what the Honolulu zoo would be like. Every weekend, there is a display of “Art on the Zoo Fence”, where local artists hang their works on the fence, and […]
Galapagos 2
Our 5-day tour of the Galapagos Islands continue (read part 1 here). There are both Blue-Footed and Red-Footed Boobies on the islands, though we only visited islands with the Blue-Footed variety. From prior trips, we found them the more interesting anyway, and this time we visited shortly after the chicks had hatched (right-middle and left-bottom). […]