Tirta Gangga's Rice Paddies

Tirta Gangga's Rice Paddies
By:http://www.edwebproject.org/bali/gallery/tirtagangga.html

The village of Tirta Gangga in eastern Bali (see map) is home to some of the most beautiful rice paddies in Bali. We hired the owner of our hotel, the Puri Prima, to take us on a morning walk. For nearly four hours we visited cascading paddies, climbed hillsides crowded with crops and snaked through numerous villages.

	A view from our hotel to a valley of rice paddies.		Rice paddies are at their prettiest early in the morning.
	Andy follows Nyoman, our guide, along a stream.		A pair of girls fetching water from the stream.
	Sometimes the best way to follow a stream is to walk in it.		Susanne certainly doesn't mind getting her feet wet.
	A view of Mt. Agung, Bali's holiest volcano. Its 1963 eruption killed hundreds of villagers.		Andy tries to keep up with Nyoman.
	Let's hope it doesn't erupt again.
	Even Nyoman gets to pause by the volcano for a photo.		Andy examines a field of padi bali Bali's indigenous rice. Largely replaced by modern rice hybrids because of their shorter harvest cycles, padi bali is getting quite rare on the island.
	The padi bali is almost as tall as Susanne!		Closeup of a girl carrying a basket.
	A view of the rice paddies from a hill north of the village.		Closeup of the paddies.
	Coconut palms crowd out the view of the paddies in another direction.		Nyoman surveys the view.
	A villager stops to say hello along the roadside.		Heading down the hill, we reach another valley of rice paddies.
	Everywhere you go, Mt. Agung is looming in the distance.		A man replants young rice in a paddy.
	There's plenty of work to be done today.
	Palm trees stand guard over a rice paddy ready for harvest.		A family works the freshly harvested rice, separating it from the stalks.
			Along the roadside, women spread the rice husks to dry on a sheet.
	Susanne takes the lead.		Pausing for another photo along a hillside.
	Susanne and Nyoman looking over the valley, with Mt. Agung off to the northwest.		Back at our hotel, we spotted a parade going up the road. We grabbed our cameras and tried to catch up with them.
	The parade was for a new baby, and the entire village was gathering to celebrate.		A drummer leads a marching band.
	A gamelan musician carries a gong.
	Villagers carrying beautiful parasols.		Parasols come in red and yellow, along with silver, gold and other colors.
	It's a full moon in Tirta Ganga -- our bulan madu (honeymoon)!