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Eric Fichtl

Indonesia

<p>A boy runs around the grounds of Pura Taman Ayun, a Hindu temple.</p>
<p>Balinese Hindus create these colourful <em>canang sari</em> baskets from palm leaves. They are left at temples, in front of homes, and in many other places as daily offerings.</p>
<p>A farmer's harvest.<br /></p>
<p>A farmer carries some of his harvest through terraced paddies.</p>
<p>A man bails out his boat after a sudden rain shower.</p>
<p>A view of Jakarta's very modern Istiqlal Mosque, one of the largest in the world. It dates from the late 1970s and its style is very much of its era.</p>
<p>A man in his boat in a Jakarta canal.</p>
<p>Farmers harvesting rice near Ubud.</p>
<p>Vines and a tree gradually reclaim a colonial era building in Jakarta's historic core.</p>
<p>A street scene in the former colonial core of Jakarta, known as Batavia under the Dutch.</p>
<p>A close-up of palm fronds.</p>
<p>A storm front moves in over rice paddies near Ubud, on Bali. </p>
<p>Lichen slowly covering a stone statue at the Pura Ulun Danu Beratan, a major temple on Bali.</p>
<p>An impeccably clean (how?!) taxi topped rather improbably by a <em>canang sari</em>. These simple baskets made of woven leaves are a ubiquitous daily offering made by Balinese Hindus.<br /></p>
<p>Offering shade and casting a marvelous transfused light, these palms bring additional calm to Bali's special vibe. Botany fans, is this <em>Cyrtostachys renda</em>?</p>