Beached
In my continuing mission to keep the hell away from authentic Balinese culture, I spent most of the day at Waterbom, a modern, high-tech water park in the middle of the busiest part of Bali. It could be anywhere in the world.
Even so, there was one thing that struck me. It occurred when I was recuperating on a lounge next to the children’s area after my sixteenth or seventeenth screaming plunge down a waterslide. As I lounged, I watched one of the male, 20-something lifeguards playing with the children. He had a three year old tourist boy in his arms and was tossing him into the air then catching him, both of them laughing delightedly.
Something seemed wrong about this scene. And it suddenly occurred to me… why wasn’t there a mother having hysterics somewhere nearby? Why weren’t there people calling for the police to arrest this obvious pervert who was actually touching another person’s child? Heck, where were the park’s OHS officers to discipline him for risky behaviour?
But there wasn’t any of that. There was just a guy making life more fun for the little kids under his supervision. Whether it’s the humidity or just the culture, people don’t get all precious and prissy about things here. Getting upset takes energy better directed to fanning oneself and sipping ice-filled drinks.
Lord Vader took the opportunity to catch some sun and work on his tan.
I'd already had enough sun at this point and was turning an unfortunate shade of pink, so I just snapped some photos of the oversaturated colours of Bali - the BLUE sky, the GREEN trees, and those ubiquitous RED beach umbrellas.
Even so, there was one thing that struck me. It occurred when I was recuperating on a lounge next to the children’s area after my sixteenth or seventeenth screaming plunge down a waterslide. As I lounged, I watched one of the male, 20-something lifeguards playing with the children. He had a three year old tourist boy in his arms and was tossing him into the air then catching him, both of them laughing delightedly.
Something seemed wrong about this scene. And it suddenly occurred to me… why wasn’t there a mother having hysterics somewhere nearby? Why weren’t there people calling for the police to arrest this obvious pervert who was actually touching another person’s child? Heck, where were the park’s OHS officers to discipline him for risky behaviour?
But there wasn’t any of that. There was just a guy making life more fun for the little kids under his supervision. Whether it’s the humidity or just the culture, people don’t get all precious and prissy about things here. Getting upset takes energy better directed to fanning oneself and sipping ice-filled drinks.
Lord Vader took the opportunity to catch some sun and work on his tan.
I'd already had enough sun at this point and was turning an unfortunate shade of pink, so I just snapped some photos of the oversaturated colours of Bali - the BLUE sky, the GREEN trees, and those ubiquitous RED beach umbrellas.
posted by Blandwagon at 11:10 PM
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