Benalla Ensign photographer Karl Phillipson recently returned from a tour of Bali and Malaysia with a horde of amazing pictures.
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The Ensign is publishing a selection of these photos in two parts. The first focussing on Bali, the second on Malaysia.
Karl initially made the decision to leave most of his equipment at home, so he could enjoy the trip from a wider perspective than simply through the lens of a camera.
However the shutter-bug in him took over and and he couldn’t help but document his travels.
‘‘The plan was originally to be a holiday with some friends,’’ Karl said.
‘‘It wasn’t meant to be a photographic journey - but it ended up that way.
‘‘Bali is such an inspiring place, it’s close to Australia, it’s affordable and the people are great.
‘‘And I’d always wanted to do the Straits of Malacca in Malaysia.
‘‘So it was an amazing adventure from start to finish.
‘‘I’ve been to Bali many times before, so I thought I wouldn’t mind leaving the camera in the hotel.
‘‘But there is always something new to photograph and I ended up documenting the whole trip.’’
While in Bali Karl made Legian his home base — using it as a jumping off point for a variety of adventures.
‘‘One day trip we took was to see a Hindu Temple called Tanah Lot, which is on a little island just off the coast,’’ Karl said.
‘‘As part of that trip we visited a monkey forest called Alas Kedaton.
‘‘It was an experience to see monkeys in the wild — and quite a few fruit bats lived there too.
‘‘Later that week we took another trip to see what’s called the mother of all temples in Bali — Besakih Temple.
‘‘It is actually within about five miles of the active volcano Mount Agung.
‘‘It currently has an exclusion zone as it has been unpredictably erupting.
‘‘The local Balinese people are plying the mountain with offerings, in order to keep it from erupting further.
‘‘It erupted about 56 years ago and decimated that whole area.
‘‘Right now there’s plenty of earthquakes and mini-eruptions going on, so the people are justifiably concerned.
‘‘It’s causing structural damage to buildings and from time to time volcanic ash has been raining down on the villages — so it’s a pretty dangerous place even without a major eruption.
‘‘Besakih Temple is within 5km of that exclusion zone. There are other temples within the zone, but tourists can’t get to them, even if they want to.’’
‘‘It was really interesting to be in the shadows of an active volcano, but I was pleased my next stop was a little less dangerous,’’ Karl said.
‘‘Klungkung is a very old Royal city which houses the Royal Palace.
‘‘We had a good look around some of the temples there and experienced some incredible local food.’’
While the tours provided some amazing photo opportunities, Karl said his favourite thing to capture were the local people.
‘‘The rest of my time in Bali consisted of traipsing around the back streets of Kuta and Legian, enjoying restaurants shops, beaches and the sunset of course,’’ Karl said.
‘‘The local people are more than happy to be photographed.
‘‘I really like taking pictures of people, particularly older people as their faces tend to be more interesting.
‘‘They are really friendly and always accepting of you taking a picture of them.’’
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