Bali the best

[lumumba]

By JUDY on Mon Feb 09, 2009 3:15 am
Hey Jimbo:
Ain't it the truth how such innocent sounding words can be taken out of context.

A bit out of the context but not 100%

I guess the only way to improve grammar is not the use of any computer software but through English classes. After all the English language is a crazy language. Below is an article that you might find amusing, the title of the essay is ‘English is a crazy language’, author unknown.
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices?
Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down. In which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

 

[AjnaInWater]

I stayed there for two months, and every day was sweet; thank you for the British friends and the open hearted locals.

 

[jennmark]

I feel the same way as Jimbo in the OP. Our first trip was in 1996 - a chance win of an awesome prize that literally changed my life! I feel more at home in Bali than I do in NZ. I speak Bahasa rather well these days too, which really helps get things done faster and with an even bigger smile on everyone's faces. My little girl is severely disabled and doesn't do well in the NZ winter, so we come to Bali for a couple of months each year. It would be a lot more if I had my way! She's much happier here than in NZ - for 3 months we hadn't had smiles from her but that changed (again) when we arrived this time. Sadly, our 2 months is up next week, but we'll be back. No doubt about it.

 

[Markit]

Shhhhh Jennmark! Don't tell everyone but we agree.

I wake up every day here and feel like I'm living forever and that each day is near perfect and in the sublime assurance that they will stay that way.

Pity, we don't.

 

[tintin]

You got it right, Markit, well, almost right, because it cannot be explained.

 

[tintin]

Actually, here is a short essay that my wife wrote about Bali, which won her an international contest sponsored by Jack Daniels, of Bali Discovery Tours, in 2002, and which described some of her feelings about Bali.

Dream Holiday in Bali

Dreaming is peculiar. Thoughts twist and contort, while time recedes -- when we remember where we have been, our joys live again, and become as real to us as the moment in which we live. My dream holiday in Bali takes me back, encompasses all my senses, and enriches my spirit.

My eyes see the way the sky changes color just after dawn, and the sacred mountain reveals itself to the morning sun in the clearing mists, shy as a new lover. I watch with delight in the evening as the clouds catch fire as the sun, matahari, sets into the ocean beyond the fishing boats dotting the lagoon.

I see Ibu Agung Raka's glorious smile the day we arrive unannounced in Klungkung, now Amlapura, surprising her with our visit.

I hear the gamelan as the music floats across the rice fields from beyond the monkey forest. I hear, too, the tinkling bell in the priest's uplifted hand as he prays and calls down blessings on the worshippers in the temple.

My ears ring with the clamor of the village children as they run up the side of the road, laughing, shrieking, "Hallo! Hallo!" They wave their arms furiously as we zoom by on our dust-raising motorcycles.

I want to kiss the downy cheek of the boy who walks his mother's ducks out to the rice fields, singing softly to himself as he sways the yellow-ribboned staff which the ducks all obligingly follow.

In the evening, I smell wood fires, coconut, and spicy aromatic herbs; clove cigarettes mixed with flowers and sea breezes. There are the flowers everywhere, a riot and profusion of aromas and color, growing in every available inch of ground that does not already produce rice, vegetables, coconuts, dates, nutmeg, clove, bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, grapes, papayas, mangos, jackfruits, durians, or salaks.

I have in my mouth the taste of babi guling, lawar, and brem.

There is gold everywhere. The crashing waves on the golden beach at Kuta. The peaceful look on Jani's face as his golden carp swim in the lotus pond. There is the midnight sky, with the Southern Cross hovering above the horizon, the star clusters glinting green, silver, red, and gold, like jewels at the throats of the gods, in the very heart of the galaxy, shining down on the Island of the Gods.

 

[davita]

I'm not surprised your wife won a competition with her essay...simply beautiful...tears are running down my cheeks.
Congratulatons to her on having the talent to write about what she saw in such a poetic fashion.

 

[pollyanna]

TinTin, thanks for sharing your wife's work. That is a beautiful, evocative essay.

 

[Markit]

Tin could I put that up on a website? Will understand if you say no but I think it does Bali "justice" as so few words do.

 

[tintin]

Tin could I put that up on a website? Will understand if you say no but I think it does Bali "justice" as so few words do.

It would be OK with me, provided you give credit to the author, Marsha L. Browne, of course. However, this essay was published on Bali Update, back in 2002, and is copyrighted by Jack Daniels' Bali Discovery Tours. Jack's policy was that is was OK to publish anything from Bali Updates, provided due credit was given. To make sure the policy is still the same, you can contact him at Bali Hotels – Bali Travel – Bali Villas – | Bali Update – Bali News – Bali Advertise

 

[Markit]

How can he copyright something written by your wife? Did he buy the rights to it from your wife? I'm sure he didn't.

Her being the author would have the copyright and he would have his thumb to sit on I should think?

 

[tintin]

How can he copyright something written by your wife? Did he buy the rights to it from your wife? I'm sure he didn't.

Her being the author would have the copyright and he would have his thumb to sit on I should think?

You're correct. The suillus granulatus I picked in the woods Saturday did their "jobs" on me in the mushrooms omelet I made, as I thought it unnecessary to remove the skins on their caps. As a result, I had a little bit of a rough night. :miserable:

But I survived, also like Felix Baumgartner yesterday, and I asked Marsha at dinner tonight. She said that Jack Daniels had only the exclusivity to be the first to publish the article, but she, of course, retained the copyright on her article. So, go ahead and publish it on your Website, or wherever.

 

[Markit]

When living in Germany I always loved finding the Boletus, not so much eating - they make an OK soup but are better dried and then added to meals as a flavoring. Never had any adverse physical effects that I can remember though.

 

[tintin]

I had been told to remove the "skin" on the caps, if they were somewhat old, but never did it before, so why now? I hear the dry ones are even more flavorful than the fresh ones: I must try them sometime.

By the way, I never saw a mushroom in Bali, but like everywhere in the world, they must be there also, otherwise Bali would be more of a mess...Have you ever seen any kind of mushrooms in Bali?

Finally, where on the Web will you download Marsha's essay?

 

[Markit]

There are only 2 types of Mushroom here in Bali that I know of: the small, quite delicate ones that grow the day after the cow has done its business and are highly prized by those wanting an alternate view on reality. And some others that are available for picking here in spring (nowish) that are just good to eat. Will post a photo when I get some.

 

[Imul]

I am from Java originally but have been to Bali a few times. Whenever possible I always want to come here again and again. I guess at least two things that make Bali special to me. It is one of the safest place in Indonesia, much safer than where I am from and people of different cultural backgrounds, nationalities and professions are easy to meet.

Selamat siang
Imul

 

[thebookthief]

Hi - I'm new to this forum - just found it the other day. I come to Bali a lot and usually stay up in Ubud. I always enjoy watching the people at the market there first thing in the morning. I also love walking down towards Campuan - it's a nice walk first thing in the morning before it gets too hot.

Btw - how do you change your avatar on this thing? Thanks, Don. ( thebookthief) :lemo:

 

[mugwump]

I had been told to remove the "skin" on the caps, if they were somewhat old, but never did it before, so why now? I hear the dry ones are even more flavorful than the fresh ones: I must try them sometime.

By the way, I never saw a mushroom in Bali, but like everywhere in the world, they must be there also, otherwise Bali would be more of a mess...Have you ever seen any kind of mushrooms in Bali?When you were here it was before mushrooms. Mushrooms in Bali only appeared after Sukarno.