Cassie VALENTE Photography
asia honeymoon | INDONESIA
Michael and I recently returned from our honeymoon abroad, and I’m so excited to share some of my favorite images taken in Indonesia with you all!
We spent three incredible weeks traveling through Singapore, Indonesia, and Taiwan. Honestly speaking, my giant beast of a film camera (the Contax 645, which weighs nearly 5lbs with all the attachments on) wasn’t the friendliest travel buddy, so it only made limited outing appearances during our trip. In the future, I’ll definitely look into 35mm film options and save poor Michael the stress of carrying a camera bag for me through the Sumatran jungle!!
These first couple of images were taken at Bukit Lawang, which we traveled to in order to try our luck at seeing the local orangutan.
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- While I wasn’t able to bring my camera along for our all-day hike through the jungle (and to be honest.. I was struggling just trying to propel my body forward by hour four..), we saw 8+ orangutan in the wild, along with many other kinds of wildlife and flora! It was incredible to see the origin plants of many of our most recognized products, from coffee to chocolate and more.
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- We decided to dedicate a day and two flights to Yogyakarta, just to see Borobudur, the largest Buddhist structure on Earth. We got into our hostel at midnight and immediately booked a 5am private tour for the next morning! We were among the first people to be let onto the temple grounds that day, and the friendly reception team greeted us with hot tea and coffee. Watching the temple slowly emerge from the forest was an experience I don’t think I’ll easily forget!
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- There are over 2600 relief panels on the monument, depicting the story of Buddha’s life and teachings, and over 500 Buddha statues. The main dome at the centre of the top platform is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues sitting inside latticed bell-shaped “stupas”. Many of the Buddha statues are now headless, unfortunately, due to vandalism and theft.
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- Over in Ubud, we visited the Monkey Forest in the village of Padangtegal. True to its name, there were so many monkeys (and their babies!!!) around the temple sanctuary!
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- We stayed at the scenic Kamandalu Resort in Ubud and managed to get lost multiple times on the wandering paths. No complaints about that though!
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- Can you imagine the incredible destination wedding celebrations that must take place here?
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- Back in Bali, we spent several incredible days soaking in the sun and taking early morning walks on the beach. Michael insisted on having his pineapple Chubbies featured in a photo, so this was the compromise we ended on.
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- We met up with several of my family members at beautiful Haven Suites in Bali. This image is deceptively calm, as it shows the hotel pool right before over forty of my extended family members checked in for the reunion party! My camera quickly disappeared back inside my bag in favor for some offline time.
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- All in all, it was an unforgettable adventure. The number of photos on my cellphone far outweigh the ones I took on my actual camera, but I think that’s pretty accurate considering the ease of digital travel photography nowadays. Nevertheless, I’m so thankful I had the chance to snap a couple of film rolls while wandering through Asia and fully appreciate all the kind airport security officers that made my film travels possible. Thanks again for following along!
"And when you appear all the rivers sound in my body, bells shake the sky, and a hymn fills the world."
PABLO NERUDA
