RICE & VOLCANOES

A few weeks ago I cruised through Bali on the way to a dive trip in Komodo. I say "cruised through" because I lost a day on the way out of Los Angeles with wildfires cutting off my route to the airport. It left me with only a day in Bali. Besides the wildfires, the real worry with the trip was whether Bali's airport would be open. Mt. Agung, Bali's biggest volcano started erupting in the fall and threatened to really let loose at any time. The airport had been closed for awhile and my friends wondered why I would even try to go. The best reason was that there aren't many active volcanoes in Los Angeles and in addition to the great diving, this might be an opportunity to see one in action. I was lucky that the eruptions calmed down a couple of days before I got there and the airport reopened, giving me the opportunity to get some photos. I had a nice vantage point at sunrise as it was periodically throwing up steam and ash, which it continued to do throughout the day and during my return by boat from Komodo about 10 days later. I'm glad I went ahead with the trip, and even though it wasn't a full on, "run for your lives" eruption, it was a pretty impressive sight.

Driving back from checking out Mt. Agung, I saw a small rice field where I stopped to see the farmers harvest rice. The folks working in the fields were more than kind, letting me get right in there with them. It was a short visit, most of the time spent with them making fun of me and each other while working extremely hard. It was a great experience, and I'm pretty happy with some of the images I got. Here are a few highlights:

(click on an image to start & stop)