If you have dreamt of a magical, fairy-tale Asia, where people still wear colorful sarongs, where the sweet smell of incense wafts by on every corner, where intricate carvings of stone adorn every house, where the sounds of traditional gamelan music echo from every temple, you must come to Ubud, Bali.We arrived at Ngurh Rai Denpasar Airport late in the evening. Customs was remarkably quick. We checked inside our bags before customs, so as not to befall the fate of Australian "Ganja Queen" Schappele Corby. At this airport five years ago, young miss Corby was caught with nine pounds of weed in her boogie board bag. She claims it was a set-up, but the Indonesian jury felt otherwise, and she will continue to sit in Denpasar prison, right down the road, for another fourteen years.
Outside, our driver from the Saren Indah hotel was waiting. It's always so nice to see a smiling face with your name printed on a sign, waiting for you in a foreign airport. I might start paying people to show up and meet me with a sign at every airport.
Congtit drove us past weaving motorbikes through the blackness of the unlit roads to Ubud. We arrived at the Saren Indah hotel to find an oasis of tranquility. Our smiling hostess greeted us with a cold fruity drink as we sat on ornate mahogany chairs by the lighted pool. Our spotlessly clean room was surrounded by rice paddies populated by an orchestra of croaking frogs by night, and a gaggle of honking ducks by day. No noise from the road or town could be heard except the distant clanging of gamelan at a dance performance.
We woke early to the ducks, and went for a run through Ubud. The Saren Indah borders the Sacred Monkey Forest on one side, and a calm road heading south with tall bamboo flags arching over, and the smoke of incense offerings filling the air. We said hello to a couple of monkeys before setting off on our run.
We were simultaneously awed by the numerous beautiful stone carvings, temples, incense offerings, and colorfully saronged Balinese; and dismayed by the hundreds of mopeds weaving between diesel-belching trucks on narrow winding roads with no shoulders and few sidewalks. We did not see another runner during our time in Ubud, and judging by the reactions we got, the Balinese don't see runners often either. Occasionally we were lucky enough to stumble upon a quiet road through a small village. There the many undernourished street dogs would bark at us threateningly, though never charging at us. Children would either stare, or practice their English shouting "Hello! Hello! Hello! Good Day!". Chickens ran out from under our feet, as we passed old farmers carrying a scythe in one hand and a bundle of rice in the other. Moped after moped whizzed by. Some carried entire families of four; Dad driving with junior at his feet, Mom riding side saddle on the backseat, holding the baby. Other carried goods to market, huge racks of live chickens, bundles of clothes, long shafts of bamboo. Mopeds outnumber cars twenty to one. The method of driving here is to overtake at any time you can reasonably expect not to be killed by oncoming traffic. It is perfectly acceptable for your car to straddle the centerline, forcing the oncoming moped to squeeze into a three-foot wide gap between your vehicle and a stone wall while traveling at 30mph. Miraculously we saw no accidents.
Our driver Congtit hand carved the below statue. It is a gift from him to his village, and sits in front of a huge banyan tree facing the village's main temple.
We had great, cheap meals every night in Ubud. We had much sushi and Bintang at this Japanese restaurant for less than twenty bucks
We purchased tickets to a Barong dance performance from these kids. It was a fabulous performance for only $8. The sound of the Gamelan combined with the dancers eerie hand and eye movements is hypnotic. We got front row seats. Unfortunately for the performers, a show that brought in 200 before the Bali Bombings, now brings in 25.
They even let tourists on stage for pictures after the show. This performance is by an all-female cast (most performances are by men), and is at the temple the abuts the soccer field in the center of Ubud. During our time in Indonesia we saw the Kecak-Fire Dance and the Ramayana Ballet at Prambanan, but this show was our favorite by far.
Several troops of kids parade through Ubud in costume playing drums and cymbals with a Barong monster. They ask for tips. Thirty cents is considered a good tip.
I videotaped this monkey trying to smash open a coconut. I had specifically avoided feeding the monkeys because they can indeed bite, and they can carry rabies. I wanted to watch them, but not touch them. If you click play on this video, you'll see that sometimes the monkeys are going to have their way with you, whether you have food or not.
The people of Ubud really do seem to be happy all day.
