Beautiful Bali: Parte the Thirde
Jul. 14th, 2008 03:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakFor the second part of our time in Bali, my father moved us to Jimbaran, a peninsula famous for its seaside resorts. We'll return to Udub tomorrow, though, in order to try and attend the royal cremation ceremony. If I get lost among the expected thousands, gentle readers, this is my last entry, so let's make it a pretty one. You know what that means. More photos!
En route from Udub to our new hotel in Jimbaran, we made several stops, among them the Elephant Cave & Temple. Which among other things sports what is supposed to be a shattered head of Buddha but looks more like some already shattered rocks someone afterwards sculpeted on somewhat, and a cave with a truly ancient Ganesha (= elephant-headed god, is called upon every time before one starts a story, so remember that, fanfic writers with Hindu ambitions) statue. Also, that not quite convincing shattered head is in a truly gorgeous valley.
The Tempel area from above.
Supposedly if you wash your hand and face in that water, you'll have eternal youth.
On to the Elephant Cave:
And the valley with shattered head:
Another stop gave us the opportunity to watch some artisans doing what Bali is famous for - wood carving.
Most elaborate result exhibited:
Then it was off to the sea, the sea, the wonderful sea. (Quote Mrs. Lovett unquote.) The landscape until then isn't half as gorgeous as the one shown to you earlier - no rice fields, no jungle, lots of dry land - but the coast itself never loses its charm, plus our hotel is great, and sports some fine restaurants.
One of the closer destinations you can reach from here is the temple of Ulawatu, famous for two things - monkeys, and the Cechak and Fire Dance performed there every evening between 6 and 7 pm.
On to the performance part, which was a mixture between chanting and miming, the miming part narrating excerpts of the Ramayana, one of the most popular epics of Hinduism. (While Indonesia is a Muslim country, Bali is mainly Hindu.)
First came these guys:
Then we got to the story. Enter Rama and Sita.
The villain of the piece, Rawhana, is intent on abducting Sita and has sent his sidekick disguised as a golden hind to distract Rama. Which works.
After his first abduction attempt failed, Rawhana disguises himself as a thirsty old man, Bhagawan, and thus tricks Sita into bringing him water, which is when he grabs her.
Rawhana triumphant:
Meanwhile, Rama meets the god of monkeys, Hanuman, who offers help to free Sita:
Hanuman is of course the star of the show, this being his temple:
But Sita and Rahwana's niece got nearly as many flashlights:
All the while, the fire dance group never stopped chanting and narrating. It was a fascinating experience.
En route from Udub to our new hotel in Jimbaran, we made several stops, among them the Elephant Cave & Temple. Which among other things sports what is supposed to be a shattered head of Buddha but looks more like some already shattered rocks someone afterwards sculpeted on somewhat, and a cave with a truly ancient Ganesha (= elephant-headed god, is called upon every time before one starts a story, so remember that, fanfic writers with Hindu ambitions) statue. Also, that not quite convincing shattered head is in a truly gorgeous valley.
The Tempel area from above.
Supposedly if you wash your hand and face in that water, you'll have eternal youth.
On to the Elephant Cave:
And the valley with shattered head:
Another stop gave us the opportunity to watch some artisans doing what Bali is famous for - wood carving.
Most elaborate result exhibited:
Then it was off to the sea, the sea, the wonderful sea. (Quote Mrs. Lovett unquote.) The landscape until then isn't half as gorgeous as the one shown to you earlier - no rice fields, no jungle, lots of dry land - but the coast itself never loses its charm, plus our hotel is great, and sports some fine restaurants.
One of the closer destinations you can reach from here is the temple of Ulawatu, famous for two things - monkeys, and the Cechak and Fire Dance performed there every evening between 6 and 7 pm.
On to the performance part, which was a mixture between chanting and miming, the miming part narrating excerpts of the Ramayana, one of the most popular epics of Hinduism. (While Indonesia is a Muslim country, Bali is mainly Hindu.)
First came these guys:
Then we got to the story. Enter Rama and Sita.
The villain of the piece, Rawhana, is intent on abducting Sita and has sent his sidekick disguised as a golden hind to distract Rama. Which works.
After his first abduction attempt failed, Rawhana disguises himself as a thirsty old man, Bhagawan, and thus tricks Sita into bringing him water, which is when he grabs her.
Rawhana triumphant:
Meanwhile, Rama meets the god of monkeys, Hanuman, who offers help to free Sita:
Hanuman is of course the star of the show, this being his temple:
But Sita and Rahwana's niece got nearly as many flashlights:
All the while, the fire dance group never stopped chanting and narrating. It was a fascinating experience.
