November 22nd cont'd.....
Well just when you thought you were done with us for this day.....SURPRISE! We're back. LOL
Honestly I was going to wait until tomorrow morning to report out on tonight's adventures but...there is no way I could go to bed with this story roiling around in my head....I'd never get to sleep!
You know how Lynda pulled the adventure card earlier today? Well, if it's adventure she is supposed to have then that is what she will get....to the extreme!
It all started when we decided to go to a Balinese cultural performance tonight. I really wanted to see the Fire Dance. I've been talking about it and thinking about it ever since Bali was decided as the destination. So I asked Pasek, "how far is it to see this performance?" He said it was a bit too far to walk and so he would give us a ride for no charge. "Oh no", we exclaimed "we will pay you because we would have to pay a taxi". "No no no," said Pasek. "I will take you and I will get my friend to come too because there are two of you". "Are we going in your car?" I asked. "No, on my bike", replied Pasek.
Agggghhhhh was what my inside voice was saying but outside I just said, "Pasek, I have never been on one before and look at me, I think I am much bigger than you. It will be too difficult and maybe dangerous." "Oh no" reassured Pasek. "It will be okay", he added with a smile.
Through all of this Lynda had been pretty quiet. I was hoping she was quietly thinking about how she's supposed to engage in adventure today and run with this crazy scheme as it appeared we both had motorcycles waiting for us.
We walked down our back lane way and out to the alley where Pasek instructed me to, "hop on", which I did. Lynda followed Pasek's friend across the Monkey Forest road to where his bike was parked and did the same on his bike.
You gotta stop here for a minute to get the full picture in your mind. Here we are...two grannies....large size.....on the back of motorcycles where the drivers are no more than 1/2 our size and in Lynda's case definitely not half our ages either! Lynda was wearing a skirt and so had to hike it up to swing her leg over the bike and then keep it up as she straddled the back of that thing. At first I was holding onto Pasek so tightly I'm sure he must have been worried I might strangle him but by the time we'd made it safely through the first corner and past the first death trap I was settling in for the ride and almost enjoying it. I guess I haven't yet told you the best part. Monkey Forest road is a one way street but when it comes to bikes...there are no rules like that so yes you guessed it folks....we were driving the wrong way down a one way street the entire journey!!! We passed a monkey on the side of the road and as we did he was eying up my earrings so I braced myself in case he was bold enough to attack. (He didn't - whew!). We passed about a million people and at least half of them actually stopped to watch these two old women straddling the backs of those bikes heading the wrong way down hills and up hills and around corners and past oncoming traffic when there is barely enough room for one vehicle let alone a bike with my big knees and elbows sticking out from it!
In the end we were delivered safe and sound to our destination where we purchased two tickets for the hour long show for $15. Best $15 I've spent in a long while! What a show! There were more than 75 in the cast but they're not really the cast...they're just regular people who although they're doing this for the tourists they're also doing it for themselves as it is a part of their cultural practice.
The show opened with a massive candelabra in the centre of the floor. There was a stage at the back but the majority of the performance took place on the very large floor space that was in front of the stage. Remember how this is Lynda's day for adventure? Well, we decided to go for seats front row and centre of house so we'd have the best view....and we did! The temple where this is taking place has no walls...just a very high roof. We are seated on three sides of the floor area. There are about 30 people in the audience so fewer than 1/2 of what is in the cast.
Within minutes of the lights being dimmed, men began to stream out from three doors at the back of the stage. They were all dressed alike. Black and white check sarongs wrapped around their waist with a crimson sash tied at the waist. You may recall that the black and white symbolizes balance and the sash at their middle is meant to accent the separation of top from bottom. The men spill onto the floor area and take a seat on the floor sitting in three concentric circles around the burning candelabra. The men begin their chant and story telling and maintain that chant using their voices as the only instrument for the entire performance. The men sway along with their rounds of chanting and the mood is definitely conducive to moving in the direction of a trance-like state. Several of the men appear to enter into a trance. The men maintain this song for the full hour and that fact in itself is more than impressive. The rest of the performance consists of dancers in amazing costumes that range from beautiful princesses to demons and monkeys to birds. The Balinese dancers are beautiful! Their grace and ability to express with their body, face, and hands is second to none. Even their eye movement was synchronized and appeared to play a role in the story they were telling through their performance. In a nutshell, the storyline is that of Rama and Sita (a Hindu prince and his beautiful bride). Rama and Sita are walking in the forest with Rama's brother and Sita talks Rama into going off into the forest to get her a golden deer. In the end he finally agrees as long as his brother promises to stay to look after Sita which he does. Unfortunately, the evil demon who has been lusting after Sita tricks Rama's brother into leaving her alone in the woods at which time he comes and steals her away. Sita is able to resist the demons advances no matter what tricks he tries and eventually in the end, Rama and his friends, the monkey gods, defeat the demon and rescue Sita to return her to the arms of Rama.
So that's the storyline but honestly....it was captivating and beautifully done! I'm pretty sure it is called the Fire Dance because my eyes were on fire the entire time. I was afraid to blink for fear I'd miss something!
Are you thinking that it's over? If you are...you'd be wrong! Remember that Lynda is all about adventure today and so the fire dance part of this show is yet to take place. A man came out with a massive bag of coconut husks and then doused them in gasoline while another guy threw matches at the pile that was soon ablaze with flames shooting at least 10 feet high. Once the husks were well and truly burning, another man (who seemed to definitely be in a trance as he had his eyes closed the entire time) came out onto the floor (and remember....we are in the front row). This man was riding a kind of horse made of sticks and that had a full mane and tale of paper streamers. Every time he got close to the fire we were sure his horses mane and tale would catch on fire but they never did. What did happen though was that this guy started kicking that pile of burning husks (with his bare feet) and he kicked them and walked through them and kicked them and walked through them and then did it again. All of these kicked coconut husks were skimming across the floor right in the direction of the crazy "adventurous" folk who where sitting in the front row! And that was us! I didn't want to do a fire dance! I don't want to burn my feet or melt my flip flops! People all around us were kicking back the burning balls of fire and we just both held our breath and hoped that none of those balls would find their way to our bare feet! Once the man had destroyed the pile of burning husks we heaved a sigh of relief but it was only seconds later that we realized this was not yet finished. Men came out with pushers and pushed all those burning husks back into a pile at which time the crazy trance guy on the horse just did it all again. That process repeated at least three more times before the husks were pretty well completely burned and the man on the horse was done with his "fire walk".
I'm pretty sure we both held our breath for most of the last 15 minutes of that performance and neither of us had a word to say other than "Wow" after it was all finished.
What a show! Jeez....I wonder what card Lynda will pull tomorrow?
Now this truly is the end so....Till next time,
L & L
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