August 30, 2005
Polo shirt and fun religions
Kuta is littered with Ralph Lauren Polo Shops. These clothes are manufactured in Indonesia and the Chinese owner distributes them for a fraction of the cost across Indonesia. The Polo rider logo has three legs instead of the original four and the cut is a bit different. Otherwise they are identical to the genuine ones. Welcome in the age of globalization and cheap textile production!
My Christian friend and a Hindu taxi driver compared during a trip the various religious festivities. They agreed that Hindus and Christians have fun religious festivities whereas Moslems only have boring and dreadful religious celebrations which often include fasting. Both of them did not like the Moslems for this reason. The Indonesian TV broadcasts during Moslem holidays religious program both my friend and the driver find boring.
September 1, 2005, 22. day - Kintamani Volcano and Ubud
An Indonesian friend of mine had a day off and so she took me to on a two hours drive to the foot of the volcano Kintamani. Normally tourists, like I did in May, visit just the hill-top overlooking the caldera of the volcano Kintamani and eat in the Chinese restaurant (do you hear the commission rupiahs ringing?). We instead drove over a tiny winding road to the village of Kintamani with its lovely hot springs. The hot spring resort overlooks the Badur lake and is situated at the foot of the mighty volcano. The hot springs were very, very tranquil and we enjoyed every second.
In the afternoon we drove back to Ubud, the artistic and cultural centre of Bali. On the way we stopped at the legendary Begawan Giri estate. This splendid resort is located beside the holly river Ayung (like the Four Seasons Sayan) and caters to the rich and famous with guests like Madonna, Sting and Paul Simon, who whose there just two weeks ago. Each suite has its own butler who makes sure you do not accidentally meet any other guest. Privacy is paramount. Well, best to check out the pics and get a feeling for this amazing resort.
Back in Ubud we visited the Monkey forest which gets its name, well, from the many monkeys living there. You can buy bananas at the entrance to feed the monkeys. My companion advised me strongly against it but I bought some anyhow. The monkeys are very aware of the treats tourists bring so they sometimes take the initiative and pick the bananas themselves right out of your pocket. A monkey thought that the tissues in my pocket look interesting so he jumped up my leg and grabbed in a second the tissues from my pocket. Another monkey even jumped on my friend’s back and she was fearful to get rid off the monkey on her back (hey, anyone getting the play of words?).
Indonesians every now and then struggle with the English language. So a money changer quickly becomes a “monkey changer” (hey, we were inclined to try to change the monkey I got off my friend’s back) or a Tourbilion watch becomes a “Troubling” watch.
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