Ubud, Bali, September 4-7

Back to Bali!

After a long bus ride from Java to Denpasar, almost 12 hours, I arrived in Ubud around 6am with little sleep. Despite how early it was, Ubud quickly reminded me of how much I love Bali and how much I missed it since leaving in March (as I'm writing this entry a ceremony is passing by on the street). The streets were lined only with Indonesians so I thought this would be a nice few days without other tourists. However, later in the day I was to find out how wrong I was as the streets were lined with tourists everywhere! The first day here I slept for half the day (I hadn't really slept in two days with the early morning for Bromo and the overnight bus ride) and in the afternoon explored the streets. I also made my way to the Antonio Blanco museum, a Spanish Renaissance artist who lived in Ubud. The work was okay but the grounds of his studio were really nice. After an hour or so there, I made my way to Bu Oka for some delicious Babi Guling (Balinese for suckling pig) a delicious Ubud specialty.

From there I went to the tourist information center to buy a ticket to the night bamboo gamelan show. Ubud is the arts center of Bali so everyday there are performances going on. Ubud is also full of artist galleries, museums, and on every street corner various temples. Since I was pretty soar from the bus, I decided to get a massage for $5 which, admittedly felt really good. A few minutes before 7 I arrived at the Palace for the gamelan performance only to be told that I was an hour late. I looked at my clock and showed the man it was only 6:55 with him correcting me and saying it was actually 7:55. I was quick to learn there's an hour difference between Java and Bali and thus had been one hour behind everyone for the entire day! I was fortunate to catch another show that night "The Legong of Mahabrata Epic." The dancing was spectacular as was the music which I tended to focus more on. I was amazed how at some points during the show the man would have the woman sitting on his shoulders while both were dancing with perfect form and their backs straight as an arrow. It reminded me of how amazing the arts here in Bali are!! After the performance I made my way to one of the local bars to catch some live music and met 2 Germans and a Belgian.

Babi Guling!! So delicious

Best music in the world

After a pretty good night's sleep and some intense rain, I decided to rent a bicycle for the day (for $3). This was a great decision because it let me get out from the main touristy area and into the real heartland of Bali. Before getting too far out from the town, I stopped at the Neka Museum to see some modern Balinese and Indonesian art. From there I was back on the bike and over the rolling hills and through the countless rice paddies that dot this part of Bali. It was really spectacular as you're surrounded by lush, green rice fields and palm trees as far as the eye can see. The bike ride was about 4 hours including a stop at this tiny warung for some delicious gado-gado. I wound up sitting there for over an hour as I was the only one there and the scenery was breathtaking. I then headed back to Ubud to relax in the late afternoon and some delicious food next door. I wound up sharing a table with this French couple and a German girl who were really awesome and we plan to meet later tonight.

My favorite painting at Neka

Not a bad view from the bike

Temples everywhere...

Tuesday was my last full day in Ubud, and possibly Bali, so I decided to just walk around town to soak everything in. I made lots of stops at different galleries and just meandered, or as they say here, jalan jalan, along the rice paddies and palm trees. Coincidentally I met these three Canadian girls doing the same and we all decided to walk to this cafe located in the middle of the rice paddies that one of them had heard of. We wound up hanging out there for almost three hours talking amongst the beautiful view. I also had one of the best fruit shakes ever: banana, mango, orange!! Afterward I went to meet the French couple and German girl for dinner -- the previous night we had pre-ordered more Babi Guling for our last night in Ubud.

Tomorrow I am off to Flores for about two weeks to do some more scuba diving and see the Komodo Dragons. Flores is pretty remote, it's closest to East Timor, so The Jungle Book may be on hiatus for a few weeks, but we'll see.

Banana, orange, mango