What's up? - kites, of course

What’s up?  Kites!

 Another week has passed, and I’ve been here 2 weeks already.  How time flies, and speaking of flying, I’d like to mention “kites”.  Many small novelty kites or replicas are produced for tourists, and children fly their small kites for fun, but I’m interested in the “real” kites.  Since I’ve been here my kite observations have been “up and down”, just like the kites.  Initially they were everywhere, and then one day last week many of the tethered kites came down when the winds changed (from mainly steady easterlies, to south-westerly and swinging around) and the weather looked a little wild – but it blew over and nothing came of it.  This morning I could see barely a dozen kites, and as the weather does not seem to have changed much in the past few days, I wondered why they had gone.   The skies certainly looked bare without them, but a few dozen were up in the air this afternoon.  At a distance they are hard to photograph as they are at the extreme range of my lens, and although from a distance they appear to be "fixed" in the sky, when observed through a telephoto lens they are swaying and tossing about all the time.

Kites soaring high above the new(ish) northern building
I think I need a bigger telephoto lens to capture them.
(Shhh! Don't tell my wife I said that!)

Some kites are flown manually, whilst others are launched on long lines and just stay up for days, for weeks, in the steady breezes which tend to be easterlies here in Dalung.  From the roof last weekend I started counting kites in the sector of the sky above the college’s northern building.  Big and small, near and far, there were over 100 in just that small sector of sky.  I  soon lost count – it was like trying to count the stars.

Not all kites stay up all the time, hovering above and around the perimeter of the fields, as a protective presence.  Some are launched for just a day’s flying for fun or in competition, and some come down at unexpected times.  If a line breaks, or the wind drops, the kite falls and rooftops, power lines, poles and trees contain the broken and weathered skeletons of kites up to a couple of metres long.  Several times last year I heard a loud clatters on the roof when kites came down during a storm or an unusual drop in the wind.


The most common shape for kites above the college grounds



I said “big” – but that is just by my own standards.  The “big” kites are real communal efforts.  The members of a “banjar” (a local village association) will build huge kites to fly in competition against those from other villages or suburbs.  The size is generally limited by available transport and the width of the roads and lanes leading to the flying grounds.  They may be 3 or 4 metres wide and several metres long, with tails many metres long.  A kite which won a competition at Sanur was reportedly about 200 metres long!  Traditional kites are typically shaped as a stylised fish, a bird, or “anything” (cars, motor cycles, animals, cartoon characters etc.  Traditional colours are red, white and black, or gold and yellow. 

Look - my window at the college!  The large kite is a couple of
hundred metres above (and beyond) the college buildings.

A kite soars above the roof of the new high school building.

The little kites are not much more than flimsy frames with a skin of recycled black plastic bags, but the big kites are complex things.  They are cleverly engineered and built by teams of many people.

 

As with many traditional activities, the origins are lost in time, but guide books tell us that the Hindu god Indra enjoyed flying kites when he took a break from the daily grind of supernatural activity.  He passed on this pastime to the local herdsmen who thus established the tradition.  Many Balinese activities are governed by the calendar (actually at least 3 calendars of varying cycles are used) and a local priest is consulted to determine the best day on which construction of a new kite should commence.  Traditionally most members of the Banjar would assist with construction, transport and launching of the kite and this was a source of pride and unity for the village.

 

Curved pieces of split bamboo are used to form the body of the kite.  The plastic or fabric skin is sewn onto the frame and long tails are attached, along with the stabilising lines.  Some kites have “hummers” attached and from far below you can hear them singing in the wind as they sway from side to side.   The completed kite is carried to the launch site in a long procession accompanied by priests and traditional bands.  I could here and just make out such a procession about 500 metres from the college last weekend.  In hilly locations the kite would be supported as the launchers ran with it down the sloping terraces to gain enough speed and lift to fly the kite.

Part of a convoy carrying kites to the launching field

Last Sunday on my way to church I saw convoys of trucks packed with men wearing “team shirts” holding the kites above them.  Motor cycles with similarly dressed men and boys escorted the trucks.  The photos are not as good as I would like as they were quickly snatched, sometimes from taxi.  The trucks appear without warning and often surrounded by traffic which gets in the way.  

Small vehicle carrying a modest kite to the launch field

Kites are dangerously carried on motor cycles – either by passenger, or even by the driver.  I saw a driver proceeding at a snail's pace (very rare for Bali!) because he and the passenger were holding a 2 metre tall kite upright and front-on to the direction of travel.  It was a dangerous way to travel.

A good gust and the kite gets away or the cycle falls over!

On Sunday afternoon I saw a group of boys carrying the kite along the laneway on the other side of the college fence.  As the gate was locked I scaled the fence (with some difficulty!) and followed them until I could get a photo – that’s why I try to always have a small camera with me, as I never know when something interesting will appear from nowhere.

Local boys with a small kite.  Many of this size kite are numbered,
presumably so the "pilot"(and judges during competitions) can
pick one kite from another of similar size, shape and colour.

Wikipedia has a small report on the Sanur Kite Festival (over before I arrived) and some links for wider reading.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bali_Kite_Festival

Apart from kite observations the key events this week were the commencement of the new academic year and the “Wisuda” ceremony at which certificate and diploma students received their awards.  The Wisuda deserves its own report and photo gallery (to come soon).

Paul in Bali

PS - English is so confusing!  (but then we know that already)

I plan to walk to the nearby swimming pool on Saturday.  As I don't have a beach towel I decided to ask housekeeping staff for "another towel".  They said they would attend to it right away, but later when I returned to my room there was still just the one bath towel.  So I politely asked again for "another towel" and was told "But Mr Paul, we gave you another towel".  

True, they had given me "another" (i.e. different) towel, but I had wanted "another" (extra) towel.  I'd let my guard slip and not anticipated that confusing use of the same word for a request that had differing interpretations.  My "oops"!