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Published: September 15th 2008
UFOs Demand Cows Take Them to Their Leader
For more photos, click here: [url=http://flickr.com/photos/alexarmitage/sets/] Flickr Photo Page [/url] Just north of Bali's Tanah Lot seaside temple, watching from hundreds of feet above, is a dragon.
The monster has a red and white tail that wraps and curls and strains in the wind, each section of its tail has a mind of its own. The head is gold-encrusted and flowing behind the head are strands of horsehair. It powers higher with each gust of wind, and dives with every lull. The tail follows with each movement of the head, delayed by the long distance from its snout to the tip.
There is a loud buzz in the air. Perhaps the dragon's breath.
As if it's tempting rivals, about a dozen other dragons dart up into the sky. Most don't make it on the first go. Some get a hundred feet in the air, and plummet to the earth. If they can get there in time, the dragon watchers race to save the dragonhead before it crashes to the ground. Most succeed in saving these ornate pieces of art.
Soon enough, the first dragon is joined by a half dozen others at Bali's annual Layang-Layang Kite Flying Festival. There are a few rounds of the contest, with the dragons the finale.
Other eye-shaped kites battle to get highest in one of the earlier rounds. Then your standard diamond-shaped kites race to be fastest and highest. But all of these are about the size of a small car. Except the dragons, which are larger, and longer -- and clearly much more difficult to fly.
In each round, the kites hum to life as they shoot skyward. The homemade kites are created from banana and palm and bamboo trees and leaves. A long and thin strand of bamboo acts as a reed, like those in a wind instrument, but this one is six feet long, creating a sound that can be heard hundreds of feet below. The sound picks up and gets louder as the gusts increase.
Each kite is manned by about two-dozen young men. Another half-dozen young kids try to lend a hand and try not to get trampled as teams of kite watchers race through the rice patties to keep their kites aloft. Thousands of families watch in the nearby rice fields and walk through the crowds selling, smaller versions of the kites, sodas and food.
Even some nearby cows muster the energy to glance up in the sky to see what is watching from above.
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Mark
non-member comment
catching up
Just read through all the entries. Your writing has gotten so much better over the years (mine hasn't). The GR20 bit is hysterical! Most important, where are the pictures of the hot french girls? The trip sounds fantastic so far. So jealous. Pear wanted us to meet up with you in December/January. It's a long shot, but would be great if we could do it. Lu and I are trying to go to Iceland in 2 weeks.