Life is very full of coincidence as we all know, and this last month as I was in Sanur around the Bali Beach Hotel doing some media preparation for the Rusty Rumble in Da Jungle surf competition, a very interesting one happened to pop up.
It was while myself and Lorca Lueras were searching for a good high-ground vantage point for a few photos and some video footage when he remembered that on top floor of the Bali Beach Hotel was a conference room with windows that we could shoot from. So we entered the hotel and were proceeding up the first flight of stairs when Lorca suggested that we stop at the guest relations desk to ask if we could view Room 327, the private room dedicated to Indonesia's legendary Nyai Loro Kidul the Queen of the Southern Sea, and take some photos and video footage as part of the background for the contest.
It was a perfectly timed suggestion as I had heard a little about the legend of this Sea Goddess over the years, especially the part about never wearing green when surfing, but I had never visited this mysterious room. Neither had Lorca, strangely enough. Being a long time Sanur resident and the co-author (with his father Leonard) of the book Surfing Indonesia, he was very familiar with the legend and the hotel, but had never actually entered the room himself.
In 1991 there was a fire at the Bali Beach Hotel and the place was virtually gutted except for Room 327, which sustained only smoke damage, and little else. Well, you can see a singed patch on the carpet by the front door where the flames just crept under, but all else remains a monument preserved. A special priest is dedicated to this room, and offerings are made and placed in the room daily as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner is brought to the room without fail…each day, each month, each year.
I won't go into the actual legend of the Queen of the Southern Sea, as you can read about it in Surfing Indonesia or on the Internet among other places, but suffice it to say that she is a Javanese goddess that likes the color green, and legend has it that this beautiful but dangerous mythical figure has been known to take as lovers those venturing into the water wearing anything green!
This Queen of the Southern Sea is a Javanese legend, and though she has a dedicated room in the tallest hotel in Bali she also has a similar room in her native area of West Java. The Samudra Beach Hotel in Pelabuhan Ratu keeps room 308 furnished and decorated in green especially for her also. Apparently the first president of Indonesia, Sukarno, chose the location and had the idea for the hotel and the special guest's room.
And now for the coincidence. The first stop on the Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championship tour, the Rusty Rumble in Da Jungle was Sanur…right in front of the Balinese home of Nyai Loro Kidul at the Bali Beach Hotel. And where do you think is the second stop on the tour? The Billabong West Java Pro in Cimaja, West Java…just a few kilometers from the Samudra Beach Hotel!
Oh, and another bit of coincidence for you…. the winner of the Rusty Rumble in Da Jungle was Dede Suryana, who hails from Cimaja, West Java! And undoubtedly he wants to please all the mythical gods and goddesses of his hometown, especially Nyai Loro Kidul the Goddess of the Sea, he probably won't be wearing green in hopes to getting a date with her!
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