Love as long as your Visa lasts, and beyond...
This month the Stranger looks at the Balinese tradition, now prevalent in the palaces, for taking european wives:
....... the Balinese culture is sustained - nay - the Balinese thrive on these palace mega-events where high style, logistic prowess and feudal fervor are doled out in equally generous portions ...............
Farewell my Lovely: an obituary.
Little Agung is dead, murdered in a village mêlée on Christmas Eve. The December pin-up boy who never made it to the end of his month, was to be married on January 1, now the date for his cremation.
Simple Pleasures: Head for the Hills.
What a relief to have Bali back to the gentle pace of yesteryear. No megaprojects pounding the earth, the world's tallest Garuda is on hold and the dredge at Turtle Island has been turned off.
Royal Cremation
for Jero Bongkasa, May 1997
The full-scale royal cremation of the Prince of Bongkasa, I Gusti Agung Gede
Oka, on the 18th of May, 1997, was a magnificent affair. Family in white, guests in black,
and battallions of war veterans in the peacock colours of their regiments.
Jero Dalem
Kepaon, June 1997
My balinese mum's trusted lady-in-waiting, admiredby all the village for never
having missed a day's temple duty in 60 years.
R.I.P for
K'tut Tantri, August 1997
Ketut Tantri, a Scottish-born American woman, and the author of Revolt in
Paradise, was Bali's most notorious Stranger.
Sakenan
Festival on Turtle Island in the Age of Development, September 1997
The Pura Sakenan temple festival has always been a main event on South
Bali's religious calender. For the pious it is an important pilgrimage : for teenagers it
is a dating place par excellence (above the din of screaming priests one could
always discern a gentle rub.....
Nothing
if Not Practical - Burning Bodies and Batteries in Space Age Bali
"El Nino, El Dorado and Elle Mac Pherson" &SHY may sum up the hysteria of
these uncertain times &SHY but the Balinese go on with their ceremonies and devotions
oblivious to rising collossii and camel parks.