Kang GURU Stories - Culture and ‘things’ Indonesian

Read this collection of English language stories from KGRE readers and listeners in Indonesia about culture and ‘things’ Indonesian. There is sure to be one to suit you — the clever English language student in Indonesia.

Send your stories or poems to Kang GURU and we will be happy to print them for you on this site for the world to read.

Two hundred words is enough, okay? To send your story by e-mail CLICK on the computers (right).

History of Rumah Gadang — Minang Palaces by Irwan in Batusangkar
Mappadendang — Harvest Party In Sidrap contributed by the MAKES Club in Makassar
Manna, An Unforgettable Small Town by John Sitorus
Motean Village by Karsiyah in Purwokerto — Central Java
Kampung Sawa in Northern Sumatra by Enik Sri Wahyuni in Bali
Mount Rinjani by Munawir Haris from Lombok
Getting High on Mount Kerinci by Joni Budianta from Jambi
Mount Semeru by Siti Rubingatun from Malang, East Java
Mount Bromo by Darju Prasetya from Tuban, East Java
Malam Satu Suro Climbing by Suryani from Solo
Mount Merbabu by Rini Handayani from Kupang
The Winged Messenger by Rachael Lovelock in Bali

History of Rumah Gadang

Rumah Gadang (Big House) is a traditional house of the Minang Kabau people. Most Minang Kabau people used to live in Rumah Gadang with their families. It was caused by the matrilineal pattern of the tribe line. It is the only matrilineal pattern in Indonesia. But nowadays Rumah Gadang rarely to be occupied. People tend to build modern house. It might be caused by the changing of the era.

Actually there is no valid information when this big house firstly built. But the Creator / Architect of the big house is Tantejo Gurhano. His burial is in Pariangan, Batusangkar; the original and the source of Minang Kabau culture. This village is considered the early village around Minang Kabau area.

In Pagarruyung (still in Batusangkar area) there is a very big house that we can call Pagarruyung Palace. This Palace is a symbol of the successful and the glory of pagarruyung kingdom in the 13th century. But the palace which we can visit now was rebuilt in 1976.

Usually Rumah Gadang has three small buildings in front of it. People call them ‘Rangkiang’. The name of each building are 1) Sitinjau Laut, 2) Sibayan-Bayan, and 3) Sitangka Lapa. Each building has different function but how ever the main function of it is to save the rice field. The philosophy of the Rangkiang is first: the rice saved in Sitinjau Laut is to serve the guests / visitors who come to the area. Second, to feed all family. The third, to eat in crisis.

People also use Rumah Gadang to conduct a meeting if a family or a tribe has problem to be solved, the family or the tribe leader will be invited to attend the meeting to make a decision or a good solution. It seems that the process of democracy has been running well in this area since years ago. Besides that Rumah Gadang is also used to conduct a wedding party or any ceremonial party. Then when one of the tribe leader dead, people will look for another person to be the leader by inviting many people to Rumah Gadang. The construction of Rumah Gadang is unique enough. No nail, and foundation is not kept into the earth. In other words, the foundation is built on the surface of the land after putting several stones on it. If the earthquake quake the big house, it will move slowely and flexible as it can. As one of the story shows that a big house felt down or destroyed by the earth quake. Most of the material was made of wood. So, the first enemy of Rumah Gadang is only fire.

Today we still be able to see and observe several Rumah Gadang around Minang Kabau area. But what we do expect every much is to preserve the old building. There are many stories about Rumah Gadang to write, it will be reported as complete as possible next time. I will send you any kinds of West Sumatra Culture later.

From Irwan, M.Pd
Language Counseling Service (UPB)
STAIN Prof. Dr. H. Mahmud Yunus Batusangkar
Jl. Sudirman No.137, Lima Kaum, Batusangkar
Sumatra Barat

‘Mappadendang’ — Harvest Party In Sidrap

Contributed by the MAKES Club in Makassar.

Sidrap is one of regencies in South Sulawesi. This regency is located about 300 kilometers from Makassar. Sidrap is known as one of the main paddy producers (lumbung padi) in South Sulawesi. It also has a reputation due to traditions. These traditions are based on tribe background. One of the traditions that is interesting in Sidrap regency is Mappadendang. Mappadendang is a party that is held by Sidrap people and is done by young girls after paddy harvest. It is also followed in several regencies in South Sulawesi that produce paddy. For example in Gowa regency. But this party first appeared in Sidrap regency. The biggest party is always with the Tolotang People, one of believers in Sidrap, in Buae village every year.

Before holding Mappadendang party the society must chosse a good time to have the party. Most of them sometimes must see a good day by seeing the business side of it, money, the weather, etc. Seeing a good time is one of old traditions in many regencies in South Sulawesi. This belief is always done by the people that are located in villages. They believe that by seeing a good time means that there is an influence to all the business they will do. After seeing a good time they also must prepare many things needed on the day. The preparations consist of a rice-mortar (lesung), eight pounder for rice (alu) and the important one is that the people who conduct it must be able to play the pounders for rice and dance to follow the sound such as music that produce by grinding the rice-mortar with pounders. Actually the rice-mortar is a tool that is used to grind the paddy to rice before the grinding machine comes. The rice mortar is a medium for grinding the paddy by using pounders. This rice-mortar is in boat-shaped. The players of Mappadendang standing out around the rice-mortar by handling a ponder for rice each other. Girls grinding the pounders produce sounds such as music, while they make a dance with using the pounders. The players consist of eight ladies that stand out around the rice-mortar. And also it is interesting because all of the players wear a traditional dress which is called ‘Baju Bodo’.

When grinding begins all of the players know their position to each other and pounders for rice and rice-mortar will produce In position to grind the rice traditional music. It will be followed by the last player dancing or doing other activities such as rolling on the ground or jumping on the carpet. This part is the top of partying. The duration of this party depends on the people who conduct it. In Buae village the celebration is held for 3 days because it is combined with cradle of pounders to the rice-motar with big cradle.

Comment from KGRE:

This is a very interesting story and I hope that all Clubs find it interesting as well. KGRE will begin to use some of these stories on a new webpage soon called - 'Tradional Activities in Indonesia'. Please send more — tell us about your local traditions so that we can pass them onto others to read.

Manna, An Unforgettable Small Town

by John Sitorus

Manna is a small town located south of Bengkulu. It is a quiet town and of course there are never rush hours like in a big city. It is about three hours by public transportation from Bengkulu.

Manna City, as the capital of the South Bengkulu Regency lies between Bukit Barisan Hills and the Hindi Ocean. It is very quiet and it has fresh air and clean water that flows in the Manna River, the only source of clean water. Manna has a motto that is ‘Manna, The City of Memory’ which means that everyone who has ever stayed or visited it have never forgotten it. The people here are very friendly and they always do the work together. The houses are mostly painted in white and blue.

There is a traditional market for the local residents called ‘Ampera Market’. They can go shopping there for their daily needs. Both the friendly people and fresh air of the town make people and visitors like to stay longer. It is so peaceful.

Manna City, as one of the regencies in Bengkulu Province, is also well-known for a strange flower. It is strange because it is unusual — it's the biggest flower in the world. It is the rafflesia flower. Its size is 1.40m in diameter and it blooms only once a year. Rafflesia is derived from the name of a British Governor, Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles.

Nowadays we can find the rafflesia flower growing in Padang Guci village, about 35 kms in the southern of Manna City. The local government now has an effort to promote the strange flower as a tourism object through the Tourism Department.

Not so far from the city we can see a beautiful beach ‘Pasar Bawah Beach’ and many fishermen sailing by the sea make this city a good place to visit. Many local residents visit the beautiful beach especially on holidays. They enjoy the beauty of the beach and they often go there with their family. Unfortunately there are still a few tourists who visit this place. Come and see ‘Manna, the City of Memory’ which is always memorized and it's unforgettable like Manna bread from heaven.

Motean Village

by Karsiyah in Purwokerto — Central Java

Motean is the name of a small village to the west of Cilacap. It is located in the middle of a large estuary and is surrounded by mangrove forest. Motean takes 2 hours by boat from Cilacap transit port.

The majority of the population are poor and have a low standard of living. On average, most have only passed elementary school in the village and generally work as fishermen.

Fishing is the main productive activity of the people of Motean. Traditional boats and fishing methods are still employed on the mangrove. The field of fish is greatly influenced by the tides and season. In the west monsoon period for example, it is possible for the people of fish.

Amongst the traditional people living around mangrove forest. In Motean, there is a large dependency upon the natural environment meaning that their social-cultural being primarily their livelihood is critically by this environment.

The social economic standing and culture of people surrounding mangrove regions are yet to fully support preservation management because of a still low level of knowledge, education, environmental consciousness and limitation on access to information.

Kampung Sawa in Northern Sumatra

by Enik Sri Wahyuni in Bali

Sometimes staying in a place ‘off the beaten track’ is wonderful. If you live in a busy place where each person thinks about himself, goes to work and comes home for sleeping only, where no people know their neighbours, so you will find something different, no noise, no crowds of people and no pollution are found. But a quiet and peaceful place with kind inhabitants mutually ‘Union is Strength’, live in neighbourhood helping each other. When one person doesn't have salt the others will give. They think that ‘Berat sama dipikul ringan sama dijinjing.’ So life is nice.

Kampung Sawa, desa Dolok Mainu, Serbelawan, Simalungun, Northern Sumatra is off the beaten track. It is surrounded by forest and agricultural field farm laying along the street and even along the road. If you are a girl trying to walk by yourself may you feel fearful of robbery or something else because it won't be easy to find people in the street. Thus anything could happen suddenly. Most of people in the village live in bamboo houses and few live in houses made of bricks. They spend half day in agricultural field farm as employers going to work in the early morning and come back in the afternoon. The rest day is for doing housework and having time with their family. They rarely go to the city or somewhere else. The fresh air, the lash of green trees and sandy street in the morning is a beautiful thing for them and a good scene for people to take a walk of to run slowly. This nature environment is like a dream showing you how to enjoy a beautiful life. The life which is out of the boring noise. Thus, you may visit it or visit another similar places sometimes.

Mount Rinjani

by Munawir Haris from Lombok

I have climbed Mount Rinjani many times. Mount Rinjani (3726m) is located in the Northern part of Lombok and is the second highest mountain in Indonesia. For the people of Lombok, both Sasak and Balinese, Rinjani is a holy place and they believe that the summit is the home of the God (Dewi Anjani). Climbing Mount Rinjani is an unforgettable experience because we can find a fantastic panorama of nature. There is large crater below it. The elevation of this place is 2000 metres above sea level. A new volcano called Mount Barujari appeared in the crater of the lake ‘Segara Anak’. It is an active volcano and there is hot spring that can cure diseases.

People enjoy fishing in ‘Segara Anak’. There are two ways to climb up the mountain — from Senaru in the north and from Sembalun in the east. It is 78 km from Mataram to Pesanggulan.

It is advisable to climb Mount Rinjani during the dry season, which is between April and October. There are some nice places for camping by the lake. That's all my information about Mount Rinjani.

Getting High on Mount Kerinci

by Joni Budianta from Jambi
Printed in the December 2002 KGRE magazine

I had never thought of climbing Mt Kerinci. I hesitated somehow when friends of mine asked me to join them in a one-night camping and mountaineering activity. Frankly I had never done this type of challenging activity before. I could not really refuse because I had a lot of spare time in my semester holidays. As far as I knew, Mt Kerinci was located in the south-western part of Jambi near the town of Singai Penuh, the capital of Kerinci Regency. Many of my classmates came from that region. With five other young fellows, two of whom were mountaineers, we began the adventure. It took us about eleven hours to get to Sungai Penuh by bus. We then went to a small restaurant where we had special Minangkabaunese food for breakfast.

At 9 am we left the town of Kayu Aro for an area closer to the mountain. Two hours later we came to a vast and wonderful tea plantation where we stopped to look at the giant mountain standing and waiting for us. While walking to the foot of the mountain we were accompanied by the blowing wind and the warm smiling faces of the local farmers. We finally came to what we called Pintu Rimbo, a kind of gate that marked the borderline between the farming area and the jungle.

We started to walk upwards through the bushes first and then into the real jungle. As we moved on we heard wild animal noises and saw monkeys jumping from one branch to another. Judging by the plants we were sure that we were in a rainforest area. It was getting dark when we arrived at Shelter One - the first out of three on the climb upwards. One of us collected small pieces of wood and we made a fire in order to warm us up a bit. After that we continued our journey to Shelter Two. Cold winds blew and drizzle fell causing the path to become slippery.

Shelter Two was then in front of us but we decided not to stop and we continued on. I was told that Shelter Three was still a long way off. As the path was getting more and more difficult, we had no other way to move forward than by holding the robust tree roots tightly. We could have slipped easily. By observing the trees I could also see that the higher we climbed the shorter the trees became. The trees I saw were quite strange. It seemed as though the trunks, branches and roots twisted wildly in and over everything in their path.

I could not imagine what was going to happen next. Overall, I had never been so impressed by a challenge as I was by this one. The rain became heavier so we hastened to set up camp and set about preparing our tent. The tent saved us from getting wet and the rain was pretty heavy that night. The next day we were awoken by the chirping birds and the morning light. We were soon on our way to Shelter Three. There we found beautiful flowers indigenous to the area but even more flabbergasting was the splendid landscape we could see. We could observe the Indian Ocean and the Sumatran coastline.

At midday we cheerfully came to the peak of the mountain and we saw the large crater. There was a white flag there to remind us of the dangers. The crater produced smoke which grew thicker and thicker over the top of the volcano. The smoke also spread an unfriendly odor around us.

We took our photos and then we began the rush down the mountain. Our challenge was nearly over. Interestingly our trip down was often interrupted by fog. Sometimes the fog kept us standing or sitting for many minutes until is vanished. It was often so thick we could not continue our journey. A sense of relief appeared on our faces when we returned to Shelter Three. We then ran down quickly like a group of soldiers at war. One of us slipped on the ground. Luckily the backpack he was wearing prevented him from injury. Dusk had already arrived when we passed by Pintu Rimbo and the vast tea plantations caught our eyes again. The moonlight and the twinkling lamps from houses were like magic really. We all had hopes that one day we would climb this mountain again.

Mount Bromo

by Darju Prasetya from Tuban, East Java

Climbing mountains is my hobby. I really love this hobby because we can enjoy the beautiful landscape created by God. We can also refresh our mind after we work all day in the city.

One of the most beautiful and magical mountains in East Java which I have visited is Mount Bromo. It is located in Probolinggo Regency not far from the Malang Regency. You know that this mountain is very interesting because you can see the beautiful sunrise and sunset from this mountain. You can take a magical picture from the sky above this mountain.

Beside that you can see the beautiful or large field or what the Bromo people call ‘Lautan Pasir’ or ‘The Desert Sea’. It is very beautiful if you see from the top of Mount Bromo.

On the top of Mount Bromo, there are also a ‘Kawah’ or ‘Crater’, where visitors can make their body warm in the cold conditions of this mountain. In this crater you can see some beautiful colors of fire and beautiful smoke going up to the sky.

To go to the top of the mountain you can ride a horse. You can rent a horse cheaply. And there are some guides who can help you to get some stories about Bromo and the people's lives who live there.

In the first of Suro Month, (the name of Javanese month), there is also a ceremony of ‘Kasodo’. This ceremony is very interesting to see because there are some unique cultures on this event. This ceremony is for ‘Dewa’ or God, which has blessed them (the people of Bromo) upon their welfare. You know that generally the people of Bromo follow Hinduism. According to the story, the Bromo people came from the Majapahit Kingdom, the biggest Kingdom in Nusantara. Please enjoy the unique culture and the beauty of Mount Bromo.

Malam Satu Suro Climbing

by Suryani from Solo

My name is Suryani and currently I am still studying at the Faculty of Letters, Sebelas Maret University, Solo. Here, I want to share my unforgettable story once I did climbing.

Frankly, there is no mountain I have conquered. But it was a half mountain climbing that had given me a wonderful and super-exciting experience.

It was in 1999 at the Islamic New Year Eve or in Javanese we call it Malam Satu Suro. Many Javanese people, especially the old ones, believe that it is one of the most special nights in a year so it should be spent a special way as well. However, they do it in various ways. Some keep awake for the whole night, some spend it by joining the traditional celebration at town, etc. Another activity commonly done is climbing ‘Mountain Lawu’, a mountain situated east of Solo.

It was about 4pm when my friends and I arrived at the Base Camp named ‘Cemara Kandang’. I was really surprised to see so many people at the place, not only youths but also people above forty. I did not know the exact numbers. But I thought it was hundreds.

Basically, they came there with various purposes. Some, especially the old ones wanted to get the blessing of ‘the night’. Many youths did it for fun, and some did it for other purposes. I myself was part of medical team under the Voluntary Corps (Korp Sukarela), an activity unit in my university of which the activities are similar to Red Cross.

Unfortunately not so long after our arrival, rain fell. We had to cram in with others to find shelter due to the heavy rain. Since climbing was not allowed by the rescue team, we spent no less that 6 hours in extremely cold air until about 10pm when the rain was less heavy and we could finally start climbing.

For me, the journey was not easy at all because of the wet, slippery and keep ascending path. Moreover, flashlights were the only source of light we had. There were basically three posts before the top and our team would be in the 2nd.

About two and a half hours of tiring some hiking, we finally reached the 2nd post. Two friends of ours had been waiting there with a small First Aid Kit including sticks and rope to make the emergency ‘tandu’. HT (Handy Talkie) was the only communication tools enabling us to communicate with other teams.

At midnight we enjoyed the view at that place; campers, the exhausted climbers, and interestingly, a ‘warung’ (traditional food stall). On the one hand, I wondered how there could be a ‘warung’ at such a height. The owner must have worked hard to bring the fresh water, the cooking utensils, and the other stuff. On the other hand, it made us feel better for we did not need to worry about the food stock. There was ‘a service’, anyway!

Unfortunately rain started falling again and we crammed in our small tent. Suddenly a 17-year-old boy came and informed us that his girlfriend was in terrible condition at the path before the third post. He further explained that he was with 5 other teenagers, two of whom were girls. Worrying about the bad conditions, he decided to call for help to the previous post.

Then four members from our team rushed to the spot along with sticks and a sarong to make a ‘tandu’ in case the victim was too weak to walk. A sarong was preferred for there was not enough time to prepare the real ‘tandu’. It was true. About 45 minutes afterwards, they came back carrying the sick girl.

We quickly put her in the tent and gave necessary treatment. The symptoms showed that she underwent stomach cramp due to the extreme cold air. She was moaning from pain all the time. My friend and I tried to warm her with the small lamp we brought and gave her medicine. She finally got better and could sleep. Two other cases followed. One was with a broken leg and another was the same as before, stomach cramp. All those things had kept us awake until 9am the next day when the rain was still pouring down.

Despite the rain, the scenery was amazing. When I looked down, nothing but foggy white could be seen. The cool view along with the cold air made me as if I had been beyond the sky to see the cloud beneath.

One hour later the rain stopped. The second post started being busy by people coming down from the third post (only some from the top) and others who were trying to get the higher level.

Some people dropped in our camp to rest and ask for First Aid Kit. Besides that people also stopped to visit the ‘warung’. It was fun to meet people from many places. They were not only places in Central Java but also from East and West Java who specially came for ‘Malam Satu Suro’ at Mountain Lawu.

At midday, we decided to get down to the base camp. However, there was a girl with broken leg. What could we do? Once again, our ‘sarong tandu’ was the precious device used to bring her down.

Yeah, that's my climbing! No top was conquered!! It was not a big deal anyway. To me personally it is one of the most incredible experiences I'll always remember for the rest of my life.

Mount Semeru

by Siti Rubingatun from Malang, East Java

My name is Siti Rubingatun and I study at university in Malang, East Java. According to your task you (KGRE) ask about active volcanoes in my province. In East Java Mt. Semeru, Mt. Kelud, and Mt. Bromo are still active. But here I want to tell you about Mt. Semeru because I went to Mt. Semeru in 1999. Besides that I also climbed in Mt. Welirang, Mt. Kawi, and other mountains in East Java.

On Mt. Semeru there are four places that must be passed before reaching the top. The first place is Ranupane. Actually Ranupane is the name of a lake. It's place on the slope of Mt. Semeru. Usually it's a lake just for fishing by the visitors after going to the top of Mt. Semeru. The second place is Ranukumbolo. It's also the name of lake. Usually it is used to make camp by the climbers to get a rest before or after reaching the top of Mt. Semeru. The panorama of Ranukumbolo lake is very beautiful. The water is a green color. The weather in Ranukumbolo Lake is colder than other places on Mt. Semeru. The third place is Die River (Kali Mati). It is a river which has no water but it is a place where many high grasses now. The last place is Arcapada. Arcapada is the place which there are many stones so it hard to get past by climbers. The land of Arcapada often experiences eruptions so it is a very dangerous place for the climbers.

On the slopes of Mt. Semeru there is a society which is popular with the people of that society called ‘Tengger Tribe’. They always create traditional ceremonies on Mt. Semeru. They go to Mt. Semeru to give sacrifice for save their people from Mt. Semeru. Besides that the natural lovers also organize ceremonies every 17th August, Independence Day for Indonesia, on the top of Mt. Semeru. As we know, Mt. Semeru is the highest mountain in Java. Mt. Semeru is about 3,800 meters high. Because of that Mt. Semeru more popular with ‘Maha Meru’. The location of Mt. Semeru is in Probolinggo, East Java. On the top of Mt. Semeru there is crater which is still active. The crater of Mt. Semeru always blows big smoke every fifteen minutes.

Additional Information from KGRE

Semeru, the highest volcano on Java, and one of its most active, lies at the southern end of a volcanic massif extending north to the Tengger caldera. The steep-sided volcano, also referred to as Mahameru (Great Mountain), rises abruptly to 3,676m above coastal plains to the south. Gunung Semeru was constructed south of the overlapping Ajek-ajek and Jambangan calderas. A line of lake-filled maars was constructed along a N-S line cutting through the summit, and cinder cones and lava domes occupy the eastern and NE flanks. Summit topography is complicated by the shifting of craters from NW to SE.

Mount Merbabu

by Rini Handayani from Kupang

My name is Rini Handayani. This is my first letter but I interested to follow and join in your task. May I? I try to do my best and share my story about climbing a mountain / volcano. Before I graduated my school, I stayed in Salatiga but every weekend I come to my home in Semarang, Central Java. As we know, Java specially Central Java have so many mountains including volcanoes.

Actually I was never interested in climbing mountains till one day in 1997. Me and 2 of my friends were confused making plans for our holiday. As way out we decided to hike up Mount Merbabu and we would invite the other friends to join us if they were interested.

On the day 9 persons, 4 girls and 5 boys arrived in Kopeng. Suddenly my friend Huda said ‘Why we don't try climb that mountain?’ He meant Merbabu. I wasn't sure with that because we had no plan. Some of my friends agreed, so we prepared our needs fast like foods, lamps and matches. Then we began our hike. On the way we were singing, laughing, talking and walking without a guide except for Huda that counted on his memory … because he had climbed Merbabu once before.

Then, can you guess? Yes, the girls lost energy and couldn't get to the second post. We couldn't back off because night was coming. Finally one by one the guard posts we passed and I was really tired and cold too.

In the middle of the night we got the top. My God, the view so wonderful in the dark. The clouds looked like a carpet. Fortunately, the weather was so nice but cold, the stars and the moon so bright.

My tiredness was gone but it became peaceful, happy.

In the morning we saw the sunrise. That was so beautiful and amazing. How God created the world or universe. I wouldn't regret this, my first experience.

For me this journey was unforgettable. I met a boy, for the first time, and now he is my husband. We married in 1999. In 1998 I climbed second mount, Ungaran, still in Central Java.

After getting married I went to live in Kupang NTT. So far I know there is just one mountain near Kupang called Mutis in TTS (Timor Tengah Selatan). There's volcano called ILI APE in Kab. Lembata but not printed in the map. I don't know why. Who knows I haven't gone there yet but I saw it from far away when we going to Kedang. The top is always smoking.

OK, this is my story.

‘The Winged Messenger’ A story by Rachel Lovelock Printed in the Garuda In-Flight magazine March 2001

Garuda is much more than just the name of Indonesia's national airline. Garuda is the legendary bird from the misty down of time and Hindu mythology … and he has the power to change your life.

I first became aware of the winged messenger when I visited Bali in 1982. He is a prominent figure in the ancient Hindu culture, and his name is Garuda, which, in the Indonesian language, means eagle. Believed to represent the sun's rays, he is the devourer of serpents and the king of birds, books describe him as ‘mythological’ (legendary yes, fabulous yes, but this guy is no myth in my book!) Half human and half bird, he is the vehicle of the supreme god Vishnu, and the ‘go-between’ between the worlds. What a great name for an airline! I always used to think it was a special compliment to the tiny Hindu island of Bali that the Republic of Indonesia chose to name their national airline after this character. Actually the symbolism all goes back way before the invention of jet engines and international travel, back to the 16th century when Islam first arrived in Indonesia and adopted some of the traditional ornaments for its own use. Garuda is now the emblem of Indonesia and also the royal insignia in a number of other Southeast Asian countries.

It was probably because I flew to Bali with Garuda Indonesia Airlines that my interest was first aroused all those years ago. I remember seeing wooden statues and stone carvings of the mystical Garuda perched on a pedestal, and later when I returned to England I wished that I had purchased some momento of him to take home with me.

It was some six years later when I was browsing through the ‘Oxfam’ Christmas gift catalogue, full of handicrafts from Bali, India, Thailand and South America, that I saw him again. He (almost) literally flew out of the page at me. Mail order Christmas gifts for my friends forgotten, I just knew that I had to have the little balsa wood carving of Garuda's head. It was only five pounds, but somehow it was so important to me, I would have paid a lot more.

Well, two weeks later he arrived — no, he didn't fly, he just landed on my porch, packed soundly in shredded paper and polystyrene chips in a large cardboard box delivered by Parcel Express. I hung him up in my hallway where there was an imposing archway, and I positioned him in the centre on the apex. With his long beak, prominent pink tongue and sharp teeth, big ears and bulging eyes, all my visitors noticed him as soon as they stepped into my house. ‘Arghhhhhhhh! What's that?’ People used to ask. ‘Oh that's Garuda.’ I would reply, ‘He's from Bali, he's a protector and he brings good-luck.’

Well, Garuda shared my home for ten years. After a particularly difficult period in my life, one of my friends commented: ‘Well, he didn't bring you much luck did he!’ At the time I did wonder, but now I believe he helped me through the hard times and gave me strength to prepare for what was coming next.

I believe Garuda had a plan for me. He didn't want me to stagnate in a small town in England. Instead, he wanted to take me back home to Bali with him, so that I would have the opportunity to embrace the very essence of some of the many alternatives that this life has to offer. It took the winged messenger ten years to deliver the message, to convince and prepare me, but after that it was easy. Perhaps I had better explain:

The set of circumstances leading up to my new life in Bali was strange. I had always wanted to live and work overseas, but the time had never been right, and then suddenly the time was just so very, very right, everything was pointing to, and leading me in a very precise direction. I knew I wanted to travel, but I had no plans to sell my house and then abruptly it seemed to be the only way forward. I had to sever my ties, no point in doing it half-heartedly, I had to be fully committed, but I still had no idea where I wanted to go. Yet, following a series of bizarre coincidences (except of course, we know that nothing is coincidence) — everything just very simply slotted into place. I received an unanticipated offer of a 'golden handshake' from my longstanding job. I sold my house, despite pessimistic predictions from the estate agents about its lack of marketability. I received a couple of unexpected telephone calls. I got swept up in a great wave of unyielding energy and I jumped at an unsubstantiated offer of work on a far away tropical island.

Everything literally fell into my lap and I found myself bound for Bali.

I had put all of my furniture, and Garuda into storage. So in the end he didn't come with me, he sent me on ahead of him, alone, and I flew not with Garuda Airlines but with another carrier. I left my mystical magical guardian in a storage warehouse, but I never forgot him. I was poignantly reminded of him nearly everyday in Bali, Garuda was all around me — the winged messenger. Of course, the ‘go-between’ between the worlds, suddenly it all became clear. In my case, the worlds were Bali and England — worlds apart. Garuda had come to England with a mission, to beckon me to Bali. Now that he had succeeded, he was just giving me time, he knew I'd collect or summon him when I was ready. Sure enough, a year later I returned to England in order to sell my furniture. Although my flimsy job offer hadn't proved to be very fruitful, I had no doubts that I wanted to stay and live in Bali. I carefully retrieved Garuda from his cardboard box in the warehouse and together we flew back to our island home — with Garuda Indonesia Airlines.

Inferior jobs gave way to something good, my life in Bali came together. My Protector now has pride of place in my Balinese house, all my friends notice him as soon as they walk in, but no one says ‘Arghhhhhh! What's that?’ His face is far too familiar here. He is very special to me, and a constant reminder of how the magical island of Bali came to be my home.

‘I am the legendary bird who lives forever. I fly higher than the eagle Rising higher and higher. I am Garuda — The Spirit of Indonesia’.