What did we do in Ubud?
Originally uploaded by roupiesontour
Saw the monkeys at the Monkey Forest. It is not so much a forest as a large area of trees. The highlight is that it is inhabited by a large troop of monkeys. It was great to see them with their young and playing, grooming each other. O was not too impressed when 2 jumped on her and started to bite her. They soon got off and luckily her skin was not broken, she was a bit shaken up. She was soon back to her oldself when she saw the tiny babies clinging to their Mum’s – they looked so cute. Josh reckoned they jumped on her as O had used Herbal Essences shampoo that morning and the monkeys could not resist the tropical smell.
Attended a silver jewellery class. You got to design and make your own ring, pendant or whatever you fancied. You were given a certain amount of silver in the price and if you wanted to add stones or extra silver you just paid at the end. I had not designed anything before which was probably a mistake as you have a blank at the beginning. You soon get into the hang of it with the brilliant instructor and we were banging, stamping, bending and watching the soldering. I really recommend it – we went with Studio Perak who also do fabulous jewellery too. Even Josh had a whale of a time and his ring was very creative and quite retro. I am pleased to say that the designer liked mine and said it was different, I think in a way he liked!
Saw a fire and Kecak dance. There were over 100 men singing in front of the fire – well more like chanting and also a man dressed as a horse walked over the fire. It was quite a sight and it lasted for over an hour – it was a shame as we were hoping to catch the puppet show at the Monkey Forest but it was not to be. Ubud is certainly the place to watch dancing as there are loads of performances. From about 5pm everyone is out in the streets selling tickets – from the very young to the very old. It takes a bit of patience to keep saying no politely.
Paid a visit to an old Balinese medicine man and palm reader. For those of you who have read Eat, Pray, Love – it was the same man. He’s 87 and totally respected by the locals – the guy who drove us there from our hotel was intrigued to find out how I knew about him. Ketut does readings from his house – the house in typical Balinese style is part of a few houses of the family in a small complex. You sit outside and then he starts. Ketut looks and talks like Yoda – he is a slight man with less wrinkles than you would imagine but very long haired eyebrows which work hard to distract you. He checks your ears to see if you are good and bad and also your pulse (presumably to see if you are a payment risk), back, knees, collar bone, nose and forehead. Apparently I have good ears, I asked what bad ears looked like but he just laughed. O came with me and found the whole thing very bizarre – she would not be persuaded to have a go though!
Bartered at the market. The stalls at Ubud market are really on top of each other and squashed into a small building. Each stall holder tries to drag you in “just looking” with the promise of “I give you good price”. Every tactic is used to try and get you to buy something and although it’s great to see the variety of things that are for sale, it’s very tiring.
Explored the rural areas of Bali. We had to hire a driver again to get out this far and seeing green again. We always took the back roads – lots of interesting potholes to navigate – then suddenly we were in amongst the fields. There were rice fields as far as the eye could see being farmed by local women in much the same way as they were 100 years ago. The rice is cut by hand and chafing with the old sieves. The driver told us that farming is now a real issue, the work is long and arduous and the younger generation have absolutely no interest in doing it. Many of the female workers we saw were very old.
I loved exploring Bali and seeing village life as you pass by. Women are usually gathered on the corner (if they are not working) gossiping with babies clinging to hips. I was also surprised by the work ethic here. When you come across piles of dirt/cement for building and bricks it’s not the men who shift it – it’s the women who do it on their heads or carting the heavy wheelbarrows around. I have seen men lay down tiles but it’s the women who prepare the grout, carry the materials and then watch as men do what I suppose they think is the masterful bit. When you think that it is the women who also look after the children do the cooking and cleaning it certainly is tough for women in Bali.
We spent the last 4 days back in the same hotel in Kuta. The staff were really pleased to see us and make you feel so special. We chilled out by the pool, caught up on a bit of shopping (Geneva shop on J. Legian was very god and very cheap) and tried to navigate the streets without being hassled. I want to get a tees shirt made up that says,
“No I don’t want latest Hollywood movies, I am not yet stressed enough to want a massage, I already have sunglasses and Roxy/Billabong teeshirts are not my thing, thank you but “very good price” will not make me come into your shop so please LEAVE ME ALONE!”
We had one day out at the water park – it was great fun with lots of slides, rubber tube rides and gentle water trails but God I was so tired when we had finished. The best bit……..going backwards down the covered windy slide in a double rubber ring with O. She said I kept laughing funny, apparently it was embarrassing!
Tags: SE Asia, Travel
roupiesontour
i feel that that was actually interesting. Good publish!¡