Funeral of the Century

— -- "Strange as it seems, it is in their cremation ceremonies that the Balinese have their greatest fun," ethnographer Miguel Covarrubias wrote in his book "Island of Bali," published in 1937.

And they certainly had a lot of fun Tuesday, in one of the biggest royal cremations on the island in recent years. Thousands gathered for the grand Hindu ceremony, unique to Bali, in which three members of the Ubud royal family were cremated along with 68 of their most prominent subjects.