Melissa's_Asian Studies 2018-2019

Marriage has many traditions that symbolize that culture. In Indonesia one famous marriage tradition is the requirement to plant a tree once you are engaged. In the village of Bohol if you are going to get married you must plant at least 5 teak seedling in critical lands. The value of planting and harvesting is important to its people which is why they decided to kill two birds with one stone; You can get married with your loved one and you will be helping the environment. The lands of Gunung Kidul are dry and arid which is why the need to have more green was a high priority. A second tradition that isn't normal is the parents on the bride have to go and personally ask for the grooms hand. Than after they can proceed with the wedding plans. That day the bride's parents take plates of food to the groom's family so they can taste the cooking of the family.

Bali is known to be a touristy place. They are also known for the amount of nature and exotic animals they have. In an article from The Independence News Report I found an article that states how dolphins are getting their teeth taken out so they won't bite tourist. This has resulted as leaving the animals traumatized. As well as making the dolphins perform and leap to the side of the pool; causing them to have stress in their internal organs and breathing problems. When I was in Bali I rode a camel and an elephant and I can't even imagine what those animals had to go through to learn to entertain humans. I do not believe in animal’s getting tortured or hit in order to learn something. These animals should be taken into consideration and not seen as objects for fun. Animals should also be respected, they have feelings too. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/dolphins-bali-tourism-indonesia-island-lombok-elephants-orangutans-a8362091.html

For this week's blog post I will be speaking about the Flea Market in Denpasar. We stopped at the flea market to shop, and they had a lot of beautiful things for sale. The flea Market was very similar to ours flea market, yet ours is more modern. In the San Jose Flea Market there are tables where you can rest and see the mariachi play. We also have jumpers and horses for the kids to ride; it is more alive. The Bali flea market in the other hand was more calm, people were not selling food. The stands consisted of clothes, handmade jewelry, toys, glasses and more. There were hardly any people and felt lonely.The location itself was not that big, it only had around 30 stands. I think this is just because there is a lot of street selling in all of Indonesia that a flea market is pointless because they sell the same stuff outside. As for the San Jose Flea Market it is very packed and more vibrant, you need to pay for parking and it feels more like a festival.