Thank you to National Geographic for posting my article on the Royal Cremation in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia!
The article begins:
By Lisa Niver Rajna
To kick off our year-long trek through Southeast Asia, my husband and I spent two months exploring the Indonesian island of Bali with no set itinerary. While in the town of Ubud, home of the Balinese royal family, we saw that the Puri Agung Ubud were building a bade (cremation tower) and an enormous twenty-foot papier–mâché bull for a cremation ceremony for Prince Tjokorda Putra Dharma Yudha, so we decided to attend.
Johnny, a dive master and member of the local band, T-WRECK, told us we were lucky (b-ungtung in Balinese) to see such a large ceremony — or to see one at all. The last royal cremation occurred two years ago. Many of the locals we befriended in the diving meccas of Amed and Tulamben explained that they could not afford to attend but would have loved to join us on the big day.
Lisa Ellen Niver
Lisa Niver is an award-winning author, travel journalist and international speaker who has explored 102 countries on all seven continents. This University of Pennsylvania graduate sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Discover her articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as her site WeSaidGoTravel.
On her award-winning global podcast, Make Your Own Map, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded five Southern California Journalism Awards and four National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist thirty-five times.
Named a top travel influencer, Niver talks travel on broadcast television, her YouTube channel with over 2.5 million views, and in her award-winning memoir, Brave-ish: One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.
Hey Congratulations that’s great. Great article also, I can see why they printed it.
Thanks so much! I appreciate your support! Lisa
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I enjoyed the youtube of the ceremonial Roya Cremation in Bali
Beth, Thanks for reading and commenting! Hope life in LA is ALL good! Lisa
That is a great achievement. Congrats for being part of the National Geographic! That is what most journalist dream and you’ve reach it. Keep up the great work. I’ve read your article about the cremation in Bali, Indonesia and it is really interesting. It is really worth reading. I’ll be sharing this to my friends.
Mike