Ubud, Bali (23-25 Aug)

As said before I scheduled a shuttle at 7:00h to get me to Ubud. The driver (a heavily tattooed young guy) finally arrived shortly past 8:00h reasoning “I have to pray, is very important for Hindu”. Pissed off I got into an old mini van with no seatbelts. But driving around this beautiful landscape and with some good old Bob Marley from the speakers you cant keep up a bad mood and so I enjoyed the ride.

Area around Ahmed

The guy wanted to pick up some other customers but couldn’t find them. Eventually he resigned and told me we were going to Ubud non-stop now. After about an hour he received a phone call and told me he has to do something else but his uncle would drive me the rest of the way. We waited 5 minutes for his uncle to arrive and I got into an old bemo (public shuttle bus for the locals). The door wouldn’t close and the driver couldn’t speak any English. After about 10 minutes he realized he had forgotten something and we went all the way back to where he picked me off. There he lifted an old tyre into the bus and we tried again. After another half hour we stopped to pick up some elderly lady and dropped her shortly before the city.

Unfortunately he couldn’t/wouldn’t drive me to the city center and so I got out and looked for a cab. Non-stop my a**, mf. But that is apparently the way it works here.

I chose a bungalow-style accommodation with a very traditional entry.

entrance from the inside

Wayan (means first-born, so there are a lot of Wayans on Bali) welcomed me and we soon became friendly. He is 21yo, but looks like 16, works at the hotel and is responsible for breakfast, cleaning the rooms and booking tours. By the way he lives and talks I quickly realized he doesn’t have an easy live but he never complains and is always in a positive mood.  He was very excited when I showed him my pics of Down Under and so he always asked to look at the pictures I just made when I came into the hotel.

During my stay we sat for hours at my bungalow learning English vocabulary and grammar. He has been so terrible nice to me all these day and so, I figured, he would benefit way more from improving his English rather than if I had given him some money. Bali is completely depending on tourism and with good English you can always get a job here.

After a refreshing shower I made my way to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary (official name: Mandala Wisata Wenara Wana), a small park where about 300 Balinese macaques live in the wild. Cute little fellas which are not shy at all (what an understatement ;-))

grown-up male Balinese macaques

just cute

It is set in a beautiful surrounding with tropical forest and lots of Hindu temples. Once again no one was allowed to enter but by the way it looked eyeing over the wall I wouldn’t need to go in there.

I sense danger from above ;-)

Ubud is the cultural center of Bali with many craftsmen of all kinds. Music, painting, sculptures, dancing can be experienced in a myriad of types. And so I went for a Barong performance in the evening. Placed in a small temple-like surrounding just off the street, the performance was well choreographed with an awesome band hammering on their xylophones. The basic story: To brothers, both kings, please the gods by meditating/praying and are given immortality in return. With these new powers they decided to invade the paradise of the gods. The gods send a beautiful girl which both men fell for. The girl quickly departs leaving both kings fighting over her for eternity thus leaving the gods alone.

Gabor - the welcoming dance

v.l. Rangda and Barong representing the evil and the positive in the universe

The next day I visited the Museum Puri Lukisan exhibiting classic and contemporary paintings and sculptures. I was not allowed to take any pictures but managed to get one.

Having learnt a little bit of Hindu myth at the dancing I recognized many of the “creatures” depicted in these paintings. I am not a big arts fan but I liked it and it was an afternoon well spent.

After that I came by Ubud Water Palace and saw there would be a Legong performance this evening. Having had not any plans for this night I bought a ticket spontaneously.

On my way home I noticed a sign “Rice pad view” and thought I should take a look. It took me 20 minutes to get out of the city but the view was spectacular. Although those rice pads wont be the last for me to see in Asia, it was truly an amazing sight.

The Legong dance does not have a certain continuous story like the Barong. Its topics are a story about a bird, worshiping of the warrior, a princess who dresses like a man because her husband married another girl, a story about rabbits (performed by children) and an old man who has wants to have the strength of his youth but his body refuses.

Ubud Water Palace - the venue for the Legong Dance

f.r. rabbits kneeling and the warrior standing, b.r. bird, changing girl and old man

All performances were held by women even when depicting male characters. The band was at least twice as big as was the entire stage and the lighting. I liked this one better because of the staging and because there were more different looking actors and moves.

So if you ever come to Bali, attend one of these dance performances. Although I am not really into this stuff in general, I really had two great evenings.

My English deteriorates slowly but steadily here on Bali because you cant speak properly to the locals. In a sentence like “Yesterday I went to a Barong performance and really liked the setup and the choreography” there are apparently too many difficult words. Instead I need to say“ Yesterday I go to Barong dance. I like dancers and is good place”. Surely there are some folks with a more sophisticated level but I haven’t met many.

Last day in Ubud was for looking at temples, temples and more temples.

The tour started at 9:00h and we were 3 Germans and 3 French in a fairly new SUV with air con. I was picked up first and got to ride shotgun the entire tour while it was a bit crowded in the back seats.

Goa Gaja – Elephant Cave Temple

me at the elephant cave temple wearing a sarong

stairway to heaven?

Penjeng – Mount Temple features The Moon of Penjeng which is the world’s biggest kettle drum (height: 186.5 cm, diameter 110-160cm)

Moon of Penjeng, damaged during the last earthquake

Gunum Kawi – Rocky Temple

It is currently discussed whether Gunum Kawi should be listed as world heritage. They sure got my vote.

Gunum Kawi statues

Tampak Siring – Holy Spring Temple

Holy Spring

Temen – Coffee and Tea Plantation

Time for a little break. We walked thru an exhibition area showing coffee, vanilla, cinnamon and cacao plants. We arrived in a little restaurant where we were served Balinese Coffee (the beans have to go thru the digest organ of a small weasel-like mammal first), Cacao, ginger tea, ginseng tea and my favourite lemongrass tea. With a great view this is the kind of relaxing break I can get used to.

“Accidently” I took some cacao beans with me that I can now nibble on sitting on my porch. Also they are a great present and even locals are happy to get one.

Mount Batur

Batur means friend in Balinese but it wasn’t that friendly when the volcano last erupted in 1996. The street vendors also get much more persistent here because there are no hotels around and the only tourists come on these tours.

Mount Batur and Lake Batur

Kintamani – Ulun Danu Temple

The touts’ cheekiness and reaches its peak here and while I usually don’t get angry when somebody hassles me, we took the side exit in order not to walk into them again.

Kintamani

Pujung – Rice Terrace 

highlight of the tour, IMHO