Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Beautiful Bali and 10-year-old Wizards


When I left the school to head out to Bali for a few days, I grabbed a book from the library for a little light reading in the airport and such. And thusly was trapped into the world of Harry Potter. So this trip wasn't my best effort at expanding my horizons and getting 'cultural experiences'. Instead, this occupied most of my time...


...sitting under an umbrella reading and talking to random people as they stroll by.






However, here's a quick scoop on the culture of the area:



Bali is an island in the southern part of Indonesia. (a group of islands between the Indian and Pacific Oceans)


I was a bit surprised to find out that Indonesia is the 4th most populated country in the world. (behind China, India, and the US) It's also primarily Muslim... making it the largest Muslim population in the world.

Bali, however, is a little different than the rest of the country. It's primarily Hindu with a handful of Muslims and Buddhists as well.







Indonesian money. (= about $0.60)


Airport courtyard-- the first thing I noticed after getting off the plane was the smell of some nice incense. They burn it everywhere all day...


like so-- in little trays made from banana leaves with flowers and food as an offering to the spirits.



People put them out in front of pretty much every little shop.

...even in the car.



not sure exactly who these guys are-- the cab driver said something about gods and the classic battle of good and evil.


And this guy is a Balinese hero who led them to fight off the Dutch when they were colonizing the area.



My faithful steed for 4 days.








The Balinese food sample platter-- good stuff. Thankfully they don't do much pork in Indonesia-- well done, Islam.








Local brew-- and no, I still don't want a Bintang T-shirt or beach towel.
"Tidak, terima kasih" ('no, thank you' in Indonesian)





Been a while since I've seen a Capri Sun -- or in this case, 'Capri-Sonne'

A few beach shots...









Entrance to Kuta Beach.





They actually do a good job of keeping the beach clean, plenty of trash cans and recycling bins around. Nice for a change...





The main attraction to Bali's beaches is surfing. The waves are perfect, it's shallow, comfortable water, etc. Thanks to my bum shoulder, though, I still can't paddle on a surf board. :( I tried again to no avail...

In the shade off the beach a bit is people offering surfing lessons, food, and random stuff every 3 feet.








The hawkers get quite old after a while when you're just trying to chill on the beach and relax. (And no, I STILL don't want a massage, sarong, cigarettes, fruit, or anything. I just wanna sit here and read my book.) This guy, however was so cool. "Ice cream?! Later? OK! -- but remember-- OOOOONLY Harrrrrry!"
In the evenings, pretty much everybody comes out to the beach to sit and watch the sunset, play guitar, surf, play volleyball, etc. After a day of intense tropical sun right on the equator, it's nice to sit out as it cools off.


The guy I was talking to here ('Rich') had an intersting story. His parents lost him in Bali when he was a young kid. He's 18 now and saving money to go back to Nigeria and find his family. Crazy... (if it's true)



I did take the liberty of playing the best golf course in Bali one day, but I had like 4 hours to kill to wait for the twilight rate, so I went and hung out at the beach by the 5-star resorts and such by the golf course. I was clearly out of place. :)








The beaches and water were cleaner here with nice, clear water. But with good reason...




They had about 20 workers out on the beach hand-picking up seaweed and stuff out of the water!
Wow...





Bali Country Club...




My caddy seriously looked just like Tiger Woods in the face-- strange.























Wasn't my best round of golf. Shot 100 with a handful of mulligans off the tee. Still fun, though, and after 6 months of not hitting a ball and playing with rental clubs, I could've done worse. (lipped out both of my only two birdie putts... grr...)

All-in-all, it was a nice, relaxing trip. But here, everybody tries to nickel and dime you to death. you have to aggressively bargain for everything. (for example: I bought a sarong for a gift-- the woman started me out at 700,000 Rupiak (about $80)... I paid 20,000 (about $2). ) So that gets quite old after a while.

So Bali's beautiful, but unless you really want to surf... the Thailand islands are better. :)

Peace and love to all,
Nathan Kimmons
Chiang Mai, Thailand
19 Nov, 2009
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Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Respect Your River

So here's the scoop on Loy Krathong (pronounced "Loy Kra-tong") :

Thailand has 2 big Buddhist festivals a year-- Loy Krathong and Songkran. Songkran is the city-wide water fight for a few days in the Spring. Details on that one to come in a few months. :)

--Side Note: Buddhist/Buddhism must be the most difficult word to spell in the English language. I live in a 99% Buddhist country and still have to google how to spell it every time.

But anyways...

Loy = "float" and a krathong is one of these...




It is basically a little raft traditionally made of banana leaves and decorated with flowers and incense. In recent years, some of the more environmentally-conscious people have switched to using styrofoam krathongs, though. The people I was with purchased krathongs made from bread so the fish could eat them.


The symbolism in this act is to let go of your anger, grudges, etc. and start over. Some will even cut their finger nails and hair and put it on the raft as well for a heavier, more real symbolism. (thanks to wiki for that bit...)
But from my talking to the locals, most just believe it brings good luck and shows respect to the river/river spirit. So of course I had to ask, "So... you show respect to the river once a year by filling it full of styrofoam, fireworks, and trash?" Sorry, I don't mean to be disrespectful to someone's culture, but the irony was unescapable.








Local businesses and government agencies build large 'krathong's that are shown and judged in a river parade... kinda like New Year's Floats... but literal.






The floats are not really the noticable event of Loy Krathong. For 3 days (up till the full moon) people light and release these 'fire balloons' or 'fire lanterns' into the air. Thousands upon thousands are released every hour. It's really quite beautiful. Here's a few shots of Chiang Mai with a sky full of these hand-made hot air balloons...

Note: This night was pretty cloudy, so all lights in the sky are these lanterns... not stars...







Some people even put fireworks on the lanterns-- extra propulsion? nah... just extra fire hazard.

Yea, we have Starbucks... like 5 of 'em actually.















Did I mention the stupid fireworks? So once a year in the city fireworks are legal. And these guys go crazy... throwing firecrackers on the roads and sidewalks. It's quite frightening really. Every year there's several injuries from misuse of fireworks. Make for cool pictures, though...




Nawarat Bridge... the biggest bridge over the river where everybody likes to congregate, light fireworks, etc. Madness.




Here's a little video that puts you right in the middle of it all...

As for News of Nathan, I'm headed to Bali (Indonesia) Wednesday morning for a few days of R&R. It's a tough life, but somebody's gotta do it. I can't believe I just ended this blog in such a cliche.

:)

~Nathan

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