john.robert_mcpherson
20 Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC visiting Tirta Empul (Holy Spring) Temple, Tampaksiring, Bali, Indonesia. September 1977
20 Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC visiting Tirta Empul (Holy Spring) Temple, Tampaksiring, Bali, Indonesia. September 1977.
One of the piers in a temple wall had developed a bit of a lean. Not really a problem as some thoughtful person had found a piece of timber with which it could be propped up. The truly miraculous event was that Lloyd (the Log) Kenny had walked past it without accidently kicking it out and bringing the entire temple down around our ears. Big, tall Loggy (furthest along the row at the wall) had a talent for falls. When he fell, he fell like tall timber in the forest (hence the nickname). This often prompted the burly imp, Guri (Gookie) Lluka, to bellow "Timber!" when he sighted Lloyd for the first time each day.
One day in Denpasar Lloyd managed to tumble into a 2 m deep storm water drain and, having scrambled out, he then immediately tripped in a pothole and went sprawling onto a busy road. Motorcycles, free range pigs, pariah dogs, stray chickens and gobsmacked pedestrians went in all directions.
Lloyd's best tumble was at the cockfighting pit. The sport is unsavoury. I had no desire to watch two roosters with razor-sharp blades strapped to their legs fighting to the death and even less desire to wager on the outcome. Curiosity drew us in however and so not appreciating the 'sport' I thought I'd watch the crowd rather than the fighting. It was an experience in joyous disregard for life that failed to impress me.
The 'pit' was a small sandy arena surrounded by steeply sloping stepped walls. The crowd stands around on these steps, cheering on their bird. At the top of the pit were wooden benches. When all the room in the pit was taken people could pay to stand on the bench at the rim of the pit and peer over the surging crowd's heads. The man in charge of one bench had crammed about as many spectators onto his bench as it could take. Despite the critical bend in the middle of the plank he thought one more fare could be squeezed out of the bench. At this point he spied Lloyd.
Lloyd parted with a coin worth less than a farthing and stepped up onto the bench. With a mighty crack the plank snapped, spilling people back over a table crammed with snacks for sale, or cascading them forward into the crowd thronging the pit. People tumbled into each other in a knock on sequence that soon spilled down onto the sands of death. At this point with spectators landing about them the startled roosters lost interest in fighting and took off into the crowd, slashing about with their bladed legs. Pandemonium ensued, with people struggling about in the press trying to dodge the runaway roosters.
The man who owned the bench was outraged. He demanded reparations for the damage inflicted upon his asset or he would personally call President Suharto. Or so it seemed by his histrionics. Strategic withdrawal was called for before order could be restored and blame apportioned. We left in some haste having placed an appropriate amount of restitution in the man's hand.
20 Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC visiting Tirta Empul (Holy Spring) Temple, Tampaksiring, Bali, Indonesia. September 1977
20 Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC visiting Tirta Empul (Holy Spring) Temple, Tampaksiring, Bali, Indonesia. September 1977.
One of the piers in a temple wall had developed a bit of a lean. Not really a problem as some thoughtful person had found a piece of timber with which it could be propped up. The truly miraculous event was that Lloyd (the Log) Kenny had walked past it without accidently kicking it out and bringing the entire temple down around our ears. Big, tall Loggy (furthest along the row at the wall) had a talent for falls. When he fell, he fell like tall timber in the forest (hence the nickname). This often prompted the burly imp, Guri (Gookie) Lluka, to bellow "Timber!" when he sighted Lloyd for the first time each day.
One day in Denpasar Lloyd managed to tumble into a 2 m deep storm water drain and, having scrambled out, he then immediately tripped in a pothole and went sprawling onto a busy road. Motorcycles, free range pigs, pariah dogs, stray chickens and gobsmacked pedestrians went in all directions.
Lloyd's best tumble was at the cockfighting pit. The sport is unsavoury. I had no desire to watch two roosters with razor-sharp blades strapped to their legs fighting to the death and even less desire to wager on the outcome. Curiosity drew us in however and so not appreciating the 'sport' I thought I'd watch the crowd rather than the fighting. It was an experience in joyous disregard for life that failed to impress me.
The 'pit' was a small sandy arena surrounded by steeply sloping stepped walls. The crowd stands around on these steps, cheering on their bird. At the top of the pit were wooden benches. When all the room in the pit was taken people could pay to stand on the bench at the rim of the pit and peer over the surging crowd's heads. The man in charge of one bench had crammed about as many spectators onto his bench as it could take. Despite the critical bend in the middle of the plank he thought one more fare could be squeezed out of the bench. At this point he spied Lloyd.
Lloyd parted with a coin worth less than a farthing and stepped up onto the bench. With a mighty crack the plank snapped, spilling people back over a table crammed with snacks for sale, or cascading them forward into the crowd thronging the pit. People tumbled into each other in a knock on sequence that soon spilled down onto the sands of death. At this point with spectators landing about them the startled roosters lost interest in fighting and took off into the crowd, slashing about with their bladed legs. Pandemonium ensued, with people struggling about in the press trying to dodge the runaway roosters.
The man who owned the bench was outraged. He demanded reparations for the damage inflicted upon his asset or he would personally call President Suharto. Or so it seemed by his histrionics. Strategic withdrawal was called for before order could be restored and blame apportioned. We left in some haste having placed an appropriate amount of restitution in the man's hand.