Kite and play

Almost always when you lookup here there are kites, all shapes and sizes and some monstrously huge you'd think they'd rival a Boeing 747. Literally visible and still looking large from 10 or more kilometers away. Kites aren't just for kids either, I've seen kites being driven down the road on top of dump-trucks, others being carried by 20 0r more men and taking up an entire lane of traffic while no one seems to mind. The kite is made from bamboo, dried and split into thin, flexible strands, they are tied together to form the frame. The skeleton is then skinned in plastic or thin fabric, probably nylon, depending on size.

Here are some kids getting a kite off the ground. The trade-winds here are pretty consistant, so once the kite is high enough to escape the turbulent effect of the landscape they stay serenely suspended as though fixed in place with a thumb tack.

Like everywhere, there's a little one that just wants to be a part of it...

...or in artist speak, here I'm capturing the enduring challenge of growing up, the young, emulating the slightly older, the slightly older fighting to take ownership over the forces of nature, and nature, the passively active canvas upon which we write our desires and test our strengths. Scenes such as this show our common humanity and the common desire to actualize our will.

Or its just some kids that want to get a kite up and have some fun. Regardless, I was rooting for them.

It takes two.

Three lasting traditions in Bali, the bicycle, the kite, and rice fields.