Posted by Cygmund on Sunday, 7. February 1999 at 23:03 Bali Time:
In Reply to: BALI posted by LINDA on Sunday, 7. February 1999 at 01:20 Bali Time:
Cygmund's Bali Chapter 1: Playing with elephants
In Bali, they believe that a child is actually god in human shape. For nearly six months after birth, a child is not even allowed to come into contact with the ground. Gradually, as the milk teeth come and then go, the 'humanisation' happens. There is a ceremony in which the child is finally placed on the earth, god no more.
This explains why any child receives so much attention, and reverence and affection in Bali. My son's second birthday fell on January 18, and Shilpa and I have been using it as an occasion to touch down on some unseen part of the world. We couldn't have picked better than Bali, and in Bali we couldn't have picked better than Ubud. We stayed at the Hotel Bunga Permai (theothea@indo.net.id), just about 5 minutes outside Ubud. The Dutch owner Theo and his Surinamese wife Thea state plainly that they would rather host people who've come to see a Bali away from beer, beaches, suntans and discos. "We have nothing against that sort of holiday, but our place offers a greater sense of peace and nature." We paid a mere $40 a day for a sumptuous double room with hot water, a splendid view of Mt Agung, the sacred volcano of Bali, and a swimming pool. Breakfast and taxes were included in the $40.
On the very first day, we rented a Toyota wagon and drove down to the village of Tora, where a child can have a lot of fun with elephants. Balinese elephants are actually from Sumatra, and the safari park here is built around elephant rides through the Tora woodlands. The elephants are bathed twice a day, once at 9 am and then again at 4 pm. If you time your visit just right, you can pitch in with your kids and give a friendly elephant a good rubdown in the water. These days, there's also a frisky baby elephant there who just loves people a lot and is willing to play with visitors for hours --- as long as you keep putting a sugarcane snack into its trunk from time to time.
Tora was a good start to my son Chaitanya's birthday week. On the second day, we decided to take him to see 'Fire in the Mountain Run Run Run!' --- Mount Batur, with its thrilling lake and its art-lined approach.
Next Chapter: Fire in the Mountain