Arriving into Indo
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2007
1
56
82
Trip End
Jan 06, 2009
Ubud,
Bali,
Indonesia
Friday, June 6, 2008
After a coffee and a jaffle (Australian delicacy of two pieces of white bread with jam in the middle, or whatever else you might think of.. think of a moon pie) at our hotel for breakfast, or should I say in true Aussie style, brekky. Anyways, I digress, after breakfast we went to find the cheap option up to Ubud. On our way we were greeted by a small genial man who told us he wasn't selling us anything. He handed both of us a piece of cardboard with tear away edges. We tore them away, as you do, and it was revealed that I was a STAR WINNER!!!!! I could win either a thousand Aussie dollars, a computer, or 1 week stay at a 5 star hotel. We were not exactly sure what was happening but he ushered us into a taxi, much to our displeasure. On the way to "collect our prize" he coached us about the questions the people were going to ask us.
Junk Monkeys
We had to say that our holiday was less than 30 days, LIE #1, we were fully employed, LIE # 2, married, LIE #3, and well, I can't even remember what else. Not being quite too sure what this was about exactly, I got a little nervous and tried to just back out, but this guy pleaded with me, "From the bottom of his heart". So we went in and filled out the little information for the time share people, and prepared ourselves for our 90 minute presentation. When the woman came back in we were,luckily, the winners of the one week accommodation, and that we did not
have to sit through the presentation. Praise the Lord!! We were outta
there.
The taxi dropped us at the Centro, which we found out was a giant mall directly on the beach. This only made us hasten our exit from the pit of hell. Ignoring every hawker on the street with contempt from our bowels, we made a move for the shuttle bus we had almost gotten to before the little gnome took us for a ride. Booked our tickets, grabbed our bags from the hotel, and got back there in time to grab a bit of lunch. We then waited around for our bus, which came ten minutes late, as they usually do. We loaded up, and he drove about 75 meters down the road, attempted a right turn which was impeded by a parked scooter. Had to exit, move the scooter, still couldn't get through, and eventually was helped by other people on scooters who couldn't get by. Another 20 meters up that road we stopped and he informed us we would be taking a larger bus from HERE, and we proceeded to unload our bags, and then walk the same distance we had just driven, to another company, whom was selling tickets for fifty cents less than we paid.
Monkey Forest Temple
Apparantly, they would be taking us to Ubud. We arrived in Ubud with no further complications, and we were greeted by another smiling face asking us if we needed accomodation. To be honest, we were both done. Im sure I came off as quite rude, but he persevered, and led us to his homestay, which was half the price we paid in Kuta. What a breath of fresh air it was to step into this place. Through a gate adorned with Hindu carvings, we entered the family compound which had a huge garden with Hindu statues. Our room was a seperate building, with its own small porch, and private bathroom. Jiani, the guy who had found us at the shuttle bus drop off, turned out to be a really great chap, and took care of us the entire time we stayed with them, which was 2 nights. All this, for $7 a night. We took a small walk around town afterwards, and visited the Monkey Forest Temple. Truly, this is the Monkey forest. We entered and they asked if we wanted to buy bananas to feed them. We have come across the Macque before, and thought it wise to shy away. When we got into the temple they were everywhere. People were tossing them bananas, they were climbing up people to grab bananas, and there were just way too many of them for this small pocket of forest. They seemed happy though, not much to do but sit around and wait for bananas. The temple was amazing. The detail that goes into these Hindu holy places is just staggering. Not only is it in the walls, and edgeings, as well as the buildings, but in the doors, statues, and just about everywhere.
Relief Face
We visited a few different spots inside this compound, and were just floored.That night we went to see some really interesting Balinese dancing, which was performed at the temple across the way. The men entered en masse, chanting. They formed a circle, three fold, and began singing, chanting, and throwing their hands and arms around in unison, led by an elder. Then came in the female dancers to dance in the middle, and began the story. We couldn't quite follow, but it seemed to be about a boy who fell in love with a girl, and had to fight off an enemy, and the gods. People went to heaven on a birds back. Their was fighting, swords, a bo and arrow, and the costumes were out of this world. All the while the men in the circle chanting and singing the song, while the dancers did their work silently for the most part. The second dance was the fire dance, and they cleared the center, and lit a huge pile of coconut husks up with a lot of lighter fluid. Then came out a man in costume, with a wicker "horse". He "galloped" around the fire a few times, and then suddenly he approached the fire and kicked it right at the crowd with all his might until every last bit of it was scattered everywhere. He left two Japanese ladies beside themselves. And he did it barefoot! Then came out two boys with wooden push brooms, made the pile again, and the crazy horse man proceeded to do the same thing. They did this four or five times before a few of the guys tackled the "mounted man", and restrained him.
Temple Building
The only thing we could figure was that he was supposed to be possessed by an evil spirit or something. Shortly after they announced that was the end of the show. So we left and headed over to a restaurant. We were supposed to be eating cheaply, but somehow stumbled upon an "expensive" restaurant, and decided that this would be our one-year anniversary of being out of the USA present. We got a bottle of wine, steak, and pizza, delicacies that may sound simple, but when you have eaten nothing but rice for 2 months, you truly enjoy it. Not to mention getting a little high on wine. It had been a while. We wandered back home, pleased with ourselves.The next day we just rambled all about town, looking at art. Batik is the traditional art here, and is a process of dyeing cloth and using candle was to contain the dye. We did manage to find one working studio. We also found the Art Zoo, which is owned by this crazy American dude who moved here in the 70's, to paint naked boys, from what I can tell. We also visited the Museum of Women's Art, mostly western style painting, but all of local scenes. Really cool stuff. We really enjoyed just taking in the town. Checked out some hammocks, and the woven fabrics done here. As well as the wicker furniture which is really nice, though we have no home. Ubud is truly a tourist town but does not seem to carry the same horrific feel that Kuta does. It is much more relaxed it seems, even though you are still constantly being hawked down by everyone. Im not sure exactly what the difference is, maybe it was just the people we encountered. In any case, I really enjoyed the town
