URBAN life seems inseparable from hustles and bustles. It has limited space for family recreation and air pollution imbues the daily life of its dwellers. But behind it, municipal government has surely realized such a condition by providing some public spaces. Denpasar (Bali), for instance, has the Puputan Margarana Square at Renon.
As other public spaces outside there, the square located in front of the office of the Bali governor draws abundance of visitors from the morning till the afternoon. Many students of school nearby take sport exercise at the square. Besides, the public also take advantage of the jogging track surrounding the square flanked with lush shade trees.
So, what is the uniqueness? In the morning before the sun rises, try to enjoy jogging while it is still quiet and other city dwellers have not got up. Aside from inhaling fresh and cool air, we can also hear the singing of birds that are welcoming the day happily. While jogging, we can observe the cheerfulness of birds like spotted dove, yellow vented bulbul, ashy tailorbird and other smaller birds. On the palm trees, the munia or cereal-eater bird families look to jump out from their nest on the sheath as the sky in the east is getting brighter.
More than that, in the south of Bajra Sandi Monument grows a row of champak trees exuding its distinctive fragrance. Like getting the aromatherapy in beautiful garden, we can slow down our walk in order to enjoy it longer.
After this exoticism has gone by, we are then coolly (as in the morning) greeted by the presence of some rare plants such as java plum, morinda, otaheite gooseberry, pandanus, banyan tree and sawo kecik (Manilkara kauki).
Having enjoyed the charms, it seems unbelievable that we are amidst the lush tree garden downtown. It looks like in the countryside because we can still hear and see the birds moving and flying freely around us. So, other than getting health, we also get refreshed by the singing of birds and fragrance of champak.
