Bali Independence Day Marching Marathon - Candidasa, Indonesia
Candidasa, Indonesia
Where I stayed
Puri Pandan Bungalows
As soon as I felt strong enough I hired a taxi to drive to the east coast village of Candidasa.
It is a small tourist town with lots of places to stay in along the edge of the sea.
I moved into a place called Puri Pandan and was very pleased with its very pretty bungalows and gardens with a short walk to the restaurant that looks out over the sea.
Being still quite weak the staff brought my meals to me for the first day.
The next day I heard load thumping music coming from the nearby main street. I walked out to look and saw these truck loads of young men shouting, waving flags and yelling.The Staff here told me they are on their way to the beginning of one of the Independence Day Marches.
The contrast between how Bali (Indonesia really) and Australia celebrate their Independence Day is amazing and enlightening.
Indonesia got its independence from The Netherlands on 17 - 8 - 1945.
Focus on that last bit of that date - 45.(read note at end of this blog)
Because I have just spent almost 2 hours from 6pm, standing on the roadside watching dozens of teams of teenage males march from a few ks from here - on their way to the region's capital - Amlapura.
It is ........ 45 kilometres away!
'Gerak Jalan' stands for 'Group walking ' and elementary to senior high schools take part.
Apparently there are marches of 17 ks, 8 ks and ... the big 45 ks.
I asked one of the crowd what time the teams we were watching would get to Amlapura and he said some time after midnight to 1 or 2 am!!
Aarrgghhh.
Can you imagine - no I'm sure you can't. Because you don't know the road they're marching along. It is windy, rutted, goes up very steep hills and down past rice terraces. A lot of it through dense tropical rainforests - no lighting and a very pale moon tonight.
To keep up their enthuiasm they have 'support teams' on trucks. These trucks have huge 'boom' sound systems blaring out the loudest thumping Indonesian pop music non-stop with gyrating young men dancing and shouting encouragement to their team. Some of them are wearing team uniforms so my guess is that they rotate with worn out marchers along the way.
The locals are all sitting on the footpaths yelling encouragement, talking, drinking fantas etc. - no alcohol to be seen.
Earlier last week all the primary schools competed in street marching competitions. I saw them do this last year. They march for miles - in the hot sun - dressed immaculately, sometimes with white gloves. There are awards for the best teams.
Every Balinese I've spoken to said they marched at school. I asked them if they liked it. They all said yes, of course, it was fun and to celebrate!
I can't imagine Australian kids doing it - or their parents letting them march for miles in the hot sun.
As well as the marching there are a few other 'different' activities for Independence Day celebrations.
In the schools there's a 'Krupuk Eating Contest'. This is where kids try to eat as many Krupuks (shrimp chips) as fast as possible. Why? Well it's supposed to be a reminder of the times of famine under foreign control.
Then there's 'Panjat Pinang' - the Climbing the Greasy Palm Tree competition. A very long Areca Palm trunk is stuck in the ground and prizes tied to the top around a wheel.
Young kids and young men try to climb up the pole and pull down one of the prizes. Apparently the trick is to climb up over 4 others and stand on the top shoulders to reach the prize.
There's quite a lot of decorating of streets and public places with huge red and white flags, local street cleaning and then on the final day - in Djarkata, a huge flag raising ceremony is filmed on TV featuring the top 'Marching teams"
Yeehh - Let's hear it for those marching teams.
One of the women standing near me tonight asked what Australians do to celebrate our Independence Day. I started to think - hmmm, the MCG Aussie Rules Football Game between Essendon and The Magpies? (or whoever it will be this year), New Australian Citizen Awards? hmmm, then I thought... errrh I don't think we have one. Like - we're not Independent, are we????
Are we??????
(note re that 45 km walk. I checked on my map and Amlapura is actually only 15 kms away - but in the minds of the locals this was the 45 k walk - I suppose because it FEELS like a 45 k walk)