In Reply to: going to grand bali beach holtel posted by bettws on Tuesday, 11. October 2005 at 02:14 Bali Time:
In 1996, there was a great fire at the Bali Beach Hotel, and the main building burned from top to bottom, all ten stories, leaving only a burned-out shell. Absolutely everything burned except for room 327, which survived untouched, with no flame or smoke damages. It is in this room, the Balinese believe, that the Goddess of the South Sea, Loro Kidul, resides and so does Soekarno's spirit, the Nation's father. Soekarno never stayed there, but one of his trademark, a black peci hats and white trousers, lie on the bed in a room maintained in the vernacular of the 1940s. No one stays in Room 327, but it's cleaned daily. And every August 17, Indonesia's Independence Day, Balinese deliver red and white cakes, the colors of the national flag. The appeal is largely intangible. It's a window into Indonesian history and helps explain the question that occurs to many foreign visitor: how is this tiny Hindu island part of sprawling, mostly Muslim Indonesia?