In Reply to: Ubud Hanging Gardens posted by Jess of Oz on Wednesday, 6. September 2006 at 20:18 Bali Time:
- colonialism I am told. There is another on at the Pacung Mountain Resort which is on the main road north on the other side of to the famous Pacung Indah and the 'Loo With a View'. Here it is called the 'Inclinator', and you can believe that it really does incline at a VERY steep angle.
When the Dutch were in control on Bali the wives and children of the officials would flee the heat and humidity of the lowlands and stay at various resorts in the mountains where it was much cooler. The one a Pacung is now electrified (don't go into the motor roonm if you have a weak heart or you're an electrician) but originally it was raised and lowered by water bufalows tramping back and forth across the valley with the end of a rope tied to their collars and the other end running thro' pullies up to the top dining room and then back to the carraige. The carraige was originally just an open platform with a dining chair or two for the ladies to sit on whilst holding their parasols in one hand and their terrified children with the other.
I can only conclude that the Dutch ladies of those days had plenty of guts. I go weak at the knees riding in it these days with the steel mesh cage all around.