Marty Mellway Photography

One of the best parts of Bali has to be the amazing traditional arts. They have amazing carvers and painters, a unique orchestra(the Gamelan), and a thriving culture of dances and theatre. Last night we attended a dance and musical performance that was by far the best I have seen yet in Bali. This dance school toured in the west in the 1950's and had a huge impact. The dance style is flawless and the musical theory mystifying. The tuning of the Gamelan orchestra is quite different from music in the west.  The Gamelan  features a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, kendang (drums), gongs, bamboo flutes, and bowed strings. My descriptions of the these dances don't do them any justice so I will let the photos speak for me. Also I took a lot of video of both the orchestra and the dances, so when I have a chance to work on it and make something than you will really see how incredible and unique these art forms are. 

Last week was the annual festival of Galungan. The Balinese believe that Galungan is the time when their ancestral spirits visit the earth. We went to one of the many village temples to see the ceremonies and rituals. Kuningan is the last day of the Galungan Festival which celebrates the victory of good over evil. During the festival we also went to Pura Tirtha Empul, a holy water temple which is of great imprtance during this festival. The temple was built around a fresh water spring in 926 A.D. It is said that Indra, a god, Stabbed the ground to create this spring to cure his army of the poison left by the evil king Mayadenawa. After we left Tirtha Empul we went to Gunung Kawi, A beautiful temple down in a ravine full of terraced rice patties. Gunung Kawi is where the Kacak dance in the film Baraka took place. The complex comprises 10 rock-cut candi (shrines) carved into the cliff face. Gunung Kawi really feels ancient. Something almost primal about the way the rock is...

Our first week back in Bali has been great. It took us only two days to fully adjust to the 12 hour time change. After arriving in Denpasar and staying near the bus station for a couple nights we took a local minibus up into the mountains of central Bali. The minibuses are large vans that take specific routes and will pick people up anywhere along the way. Much cheaper and more fun the the tourist mini buses. We arrived in the town of Candi Kuning after a quick two hour ride which took us first through the flat agricultural region of central Bali and then up into the mountains. From Candi Kuning (pronounced Chandi Kuning) we did a day hike into the Jungle towards a temple on a ridge on the far side of the Volcanic lake(Danau Bratan). The Jungle was pretty dense and the trail got smaller and more grown in the further we went. We saw many different species of tropical birds and insects as well as some kind of squirrel and a few macaks. The macaks in the high mountain regions of Bali ...

We had a great trip last weekend to the pacific Rim National Park near Tofino. We took the ferry to the Island early Saturday morning and arrived at our campsite near long beach by 11am which gave us the whole day to get out and do some hikes. I was testing out my new film camera which turned out to work great. There are some really incredible landscapes around the park, my favorite would have to be the bog. Ill let the pictures and videos say the rest.

 The Spiti Valley was beyond all expectations. The Spiti valley is located in the North eastern part of the Indian State Himachel Pradesh.It is a desert on the roof of the world,a shangri-La of legend, cut off from the outside world by soaring himalayas and deadly mountain passes. A land where fifteen years ago no foreigner was permitted to enter. Close to the politically sensitive India/Tibet border the Spiti valley has been a restricted area since the forming of India. To this day all vistors must apply for a permit to enter in the mountain village of Rekong Peo, a small town surrounded by tall mountains in the Kinnaur valley which you must go through in order to enter the Spiti valley. When I traveled to the Spiti valley I was in the company of Jeanette and Philine, Jeanette and I were on our big India Nepal trip and we met Philine in Manali who decided she would also like to try to make the trip to the Spiti valley. We met in Shimla, the old summer British capital back in ...

Looking ahead I see the tall gates of the temple compound towering above the busy street. Vendors selling incense and idols tout over the sea of heads as the crowd moves slowly through the gates. Crossing the street I quickly slip through the gates using my usual tout avoidance tactics.  As I enter the complex I see before me the great monument of Boudhanath. A great mandala shaped Stupa with the eyes of the Buddha, the awakened one. On each of the four side the great pairs of eyes watch as the devote Buddhists below as they circumambulate the stupa clockwise. Many prostrate themselves on the ground measuring the length of their bodies as they go around, most just walk and pray, counting their prayers for peace on the beads of their malas. At once upon entering this place I feel at ease, hundreds of minds simultaneously contemplating the end of human suffering can have an interesting effect on the atmosphere of a place. The air is static, charged with some unknown essence, some en...

We are in the mountains of Tamil Nadu in the south. We will be leaving he today to go to Trichy, another city in the state of Tamil Nadu. 3 years sure goes by fast... makes me miss family. I have a couple of videos of our travels which I will be uploading soon and also some more photos. We have been having alot of fun and staying safe except for one experience. Likely the most near death experience of our lives. We were camping up in the mountains and no one told us there were wild bison and that they are dangerous. As soon as dark came a herd of bison started coming down the mountain toward us and the bull (8 feet tall weighing anywhere up to 3300 pounds!!) was not happy that we were there and he was protecting his family. Nothing like deer or moose, our fire and lights didnt deter him. He came straight for our camp destroying stumps with his huge head and horns as he came. When he was about 30 feet away we hid in the tent. The fire was low so we could just barely see them. The bull...