Photography

Bali — Calonarang & Ngaben

The Calonarang trance ceremony, depicting the demon queen Rangda's battle with the guardian spirit Barong — and Ngaben, the Hindu cremation ritual that releases the soul back to the sea.

"Dancers often enter trance states, wielding keris daggers in self-stabbing rituals believed to be genuine possession, heightening the spiritual intensity."

Java — Kuda Lumping

The trance horse-dance from Ponorogo, East Java — bamboo horses, gamelan, and performers who sometimes eat glass under a spiritual handler's guidance.

"Performances feature gamelan music, with dancers simulating horse riding and combat; some include trance states guided by a pawang, a spiritual handler."

Sunda Kelapa

The old pinisi schooners of Jakarta's harbor — all motorized now, sails kept mostly for fuel-saving and balance, but still masterpieces of maritime know-how.

Sri Lanka

The Buddha Tooth Relic celebration.

Aden, Yemen — 1996

A stop aboard the Heraclitus after an epic Red Sea crossing — bullet-scarred walls from the '94 civil war, and the Kat market at the center of daily life.

"The Kat market thrummed with vendors hawking fresh bundles alongside spices, fish and boat supplies — a fleeting sense of normalcy amid the post-conflict grit."

Further Stops — Melanesia, Maldives, Malta, Oman, Singapore, Egypt, Sulawesi, Cambodia, Mentawai, Merapas

Further stops across three decades of sailing and travel, each now a complete gallery of its own below — Thailand's full archive sits above with Bali.