BALI DANCE

Ramayana is a venerable epic about a love triangle: Sita (syota ng bida) is Rama's (bida) wife, who was abducted by Ravana (kontrabida) and eventually rescued by her husband. 

Kecak is a music drama adaptation of Ramayana by Walter Spies who invented it in the 1930s for western tourist audiences.

In other words, kecak is a derivative for commercial purposes just like Nyoman Nuarta's 122-meter Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue, the tallest statue in Indonesia and the tallest Hindu god statue in the world, that was actually fabricated in Bandung before being assembled in Bali where it was unveiled by President Jokowi on September 2018.

On the other hand, traditional Balinese dance is ancient and religious, and has been inscribed as by UNESCO as an "intangible cultural heritage" in 2015.

It is as aunthentic as the superb Indonesian dinner at Kayumanis Resto in Jimbaran where it was performed for us, elevated but legitimate, unlike the post-kecak bland western menu of Jendela Bali Panoramic Restaurant. 

Both led to unexpected post-performance outcomes: a freak accident on our way back to the hotel that resulted in the tragic death of a motorbike rider vis-a-vis a night cap of Bali beer (Bintang + Bali Hai + Singaraja) after arriving at Four Points by Sheraton.

To summarize Wednesday and Thursday nights, kecap is a Monday lunch of rendang roll fusion while Bali dance is a dinner of local bakso. 

I waited for an hour at the airport pick up point but departure was a breeze, almost, as I went home on Friday night with a lugage of ASEAN Taxonomy, a lot of potential entry points, and two lines of positivity to a Sunday picnic of Kirin, Chivas Regal, singulaw and tokwa't baboy with old friends...   

TICKETS TO PARADISE

An omitted middle name blighted the flight booking to paradise and chased the Phantom Biker through 116.65 kilometers of the 78th Vuelta a Espana before crashing into the A&C meeting where the ACWC pledging session for Siem Reap was being deliberated by the proposed FFA panel discussions in Bali...  

...for the head doctor who concluded that Bulan's hair dye matched the colors of the karubi, harami and sukiyaki slices at Yakiniku, that the beer at PAGGS Premium Lounge is best paired with the SIDCOR Sunday Market's igado and sarabasab which is the perfect fasting snack before drawing blood from the Heart of Jesus...    

...that was analyzed to be contaminated with Thursday's beer and pritong hito, Friday's Scottish Rites brandy, and Saturday's consecration wine in Llanera where purple men were fed with adobong bayawak garnished with crispy sosohong and seasoned with bulalong ulo ng baka.   

7 DAYS AFTER BALI AND JAKARTA

cold pee,

Xanana spoke about a white dude hitting on a hot Asian lady who was having a lunch of beef rendang in the viewing tent.

short nights, 

satay dinners are alive in Mangkaluhur City and they smelled like the cheese and canned Bintang from Garuda Lounge. 

long ride,

Grab missed white guy in Bay 6 who took the bus and a pack of peanuts instead for a lunch of dog food in Tuguegarao.

lie low,

credit card bills paid with Mabuhay Miles so BPI can reschedule medical appointnents after Thursday's last PMU call.

work light,

ASEAN matters reimbursed through FFA with siomai, fried tilapia, wine and cake at a birthday dinner somewhere in Maligaya.

two rides,

two days in the trails after 15 days on the road as the trip to the East ended with a fishy sisig and 9 bottles of Red Horse beer.

   

THE STARS OF JAKARTA

Once upon a time, an emissary from the polity of Maynila sailed into the port of Sunda Kelapa to warn of Jayakarta's destruction and the establishment of the new city of Batavia, and prophecied that on 31 August 2023, his descendant will eat ice cream for breakfast in the modern city of Jakarta and pee buckets of Singaraja in his pants.

The Descendant did come on that date via Bali and was feted with a 5-starred sketch to capture his moderation of the toilet at Le Meridien that was eternally flushing with Smirnoff vodka from Laos in consequence of the just energy transition from lavish buffet meals to the daily dose of a chubby 3+1 beer promo.

But unlike the universe of Intramuros, Batavia's lone star is the old town square with its array of museums, rented red bikes, loud buskers, colorful human statues and dating teens who competed in moving cannon balls from the cobbled park to the old bridge with many names that smelled like an old train station.    

The Descendant left the bridge of Jakarta's fallen medical frontliners on Day 12 for the dimmer stars of Artotel Suites Mangkuluhur and the Blue Birds who don't have change for a 100,000 rupiah but can only drop him a block from the ASEAN Weekend Market's lone Flipino booth where he collected his badge and a free cup of chicken adobo flakes.

The same Blue Birds with unreadable QR codes brought The Descendant to the wrong Ritz-Carlton for the ASEAN Women CEO Forum where his badge was found to be corrupted, so he went back to the ASEAN People's Forum for a lunch of oxtail soup that was kept warm with the weak airconditioner of a waterless hotel room.

At the Sultan Hotel, batik competed with business suits in the freezing hall of the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit where The Descendant's badge was again reconfigured so he asked the military police to book him a Grab to the Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya and as it turned out, bakso  and chicken satay are not enough to keep him from a solidarity night with two bottles of cold Bintang at Boca Rica...