Soaking up the Balinese Culture Again, Another Balinese Dance

Another night in Ubud, and after debating for a while, I decided to go and see another of the dance performances. I had heard that the Kecak (pronounced “Kechak”) was good and so I set out to find one. The best one in town was performed on a different night, but there was a women's group that was performing a Kecak dance that night. I located the venue and went in. For the first time since arriving in Bali, it was not raining in the evening, so the performance was held outside. This was also had a story, and the story was told on the ticket. Basically it told of a royal couple who were happy together. Then along came a god-type being who came between them. The woman of the couple was taken away after the man was distracted. A god tried to free the woman, but she wouldn't be touched by someone other than her lover. In the end the man returned and saved her and the couple was reunited. Then the god fought some monkey gods. Then a man showed his belief in the story by walking on burning coconuts. And he really did. It was quite entertaining, and I enjoyed it much better, probably because I had the story to follow, and it was outside so it wasn't so loud. Also there were about 40 women who were singing and chanting during the story-telling. And they chanted for the whole time. I found that quite impressive.

 

A Bike Ride Through the Ubud Countryside

I really enjoy getting out into an area to explore it and see it for what it really is. When I get somewhere I like to take walks to look around. This gets me familiar with where I am, so I am less likely to get lost, but I also get to look at where I am in a better way than if I am in a taxi or tour vehicle of some sort. One of the best ways to do this is to take a bicycle ride.

Ubud has many tour agencies that offer bike trips through the countryside. And they make it easy. They take you up to a high point of the terrain and all that is needed is to coast down most of the way back to Ubud. Sign me up!!!

The day got off to a rocky start. I had been told I would be picked up at 8:30. I was ready and waiting by 8:15. I waited. And I waited. And I waited some more. 8:30 came and went. As did 8:45, and 9:00. By 9:15, I was wondering what was what. I headed down the street to the office of the agency where I had booked the trip, but it wasn't open. Well, I had no other choice, but to head back to my guesthouse and give it a little longer before finding something else to do and dealing with it later. As I approached the guesthouse, there was a man looking about, and I knew that had I waited a few minutes more, I wouldn't now look as though I was the one holding the process up. It figures...

There were two other people on the trip. They were a married couple from Brazil. It was a bit odd to learn that, because the guy was an avid surfer, and the idea of a family man being a surfer seemed a bit weird. But I guess there is no reason why it shouldn't be.

We headed up toward the volcano where I had viewed sunrise the previous morning, but by a different route. We stopped part way up at a tourist farm for a while. We got to see guavas, and pineapples, the trees where cinnamon comes from, lemongrass, and various kinds of coffee. We even got to see a couple of caged civet cats, held in cages for the benefit of visiting tourists in order to show where a prized form of coffee comes from. One coffee tree makes some nice bean fruits. These cats come along and find the best fruits and eat them. They continue on their day (night, actually, as they are nocturnal). Eventually, nature takes its course and the civet cats leave the beans behind on the ground. In the morning, the farmer comes along and collects the “processed” beans. They are taken to the “factory” to be washed, dried, roasted and turned into coffee. This particular coffee is called Luwak Coffee and it is highly prized, and expensive. Personally, I think all coffee tastes like crap, but this coffee would make that a literal description. In any case, you would have to pay me to drink any coffee, so there is no way I will be trying Luwak coffee.

After our little tour of the farm area, we were shown the coffee making process in their “factory.” It's not really a factory in any way connected to what you normally think of as a factory. There was a little fireplace where one man was roasting possibly a pound of beans in a little steel kettle-like container. Nearby there was a wooden mortar and pestle where someone else was pounding the beans into powder. The same would happen to the cinnamon, or the lemongrass, or any of the other products of the farm. After the factory, we sat and got to sample some of the products. Some were quite good. They even made cocoa, but it needed sugar to make it appetizing. I didn't know raw cocoa was so not nice tasting. I liked the lemongrass tea, with its cinnamon and nutmeg and cane sugar. And then we had the opportunity to buy some of the products. I haven't been buying much so far, mainly because if I buy anything, I then have to do something about it, but also I have done my fair share of getting woven things, silk things, and other such handicrafts. They all start to seem the same after a while, and it's hard to buy them. I also sometimes wonder who makes those sorts of things and how. Are they hand-made? Are they made locally or far away? Who gets the benefit of the sale of scarves and things like that? But these products I was sure of. They were made on that farm, by the people I met there and they were doing it to make a living. And the make nice little gifts, so I bought some lemongrass tea. And then spent a few minutes fending off the man who was helping as he was suggesting all the other stuff that I might want to buy. Sigh!! People are just never satisfied with any sale. Oh well.

As a side note, I am noticing a whole new kind of terminology that has come into being with the growth of “Eco-tourism.” As the troubles of the environment gain more press and people are urged to travel responsibly and do eco-tours, other tourism streams seem to want to jump on that bandwagon. So we are hearing lots about medical tourism (people who go to other countries to get surgery, often because it is cheaper in the other country. Or green tourism, or gallery tourism, or wine tourism. And here, at this farm, it was called agro-tourism. I wonder how many more x-tourism terms are going to be made before we get bored of it all.

After the farm we headed up to the top of the edge of the volcano where we stopped for breakfast (even though it was about 11:00 by this time) and got ready for our bike trip back to town. But the view of Mount Batur was quite nice. At least it was until the low clouds started drifting into the caldera. And the fog started to obscure the view. And just as we were finishing our breakfast, it started to rain. It went from just being cloudy to a full on torrential downpour in about three minutes, and we were left sitting there wondering if it would break or if we should just go. In my experience such sudden downpours often end just as quickly and in a short amount of time, so I figured waiting a few minutes would find the end of the rain. But no, it just kept pouring. We eventually decided that we would put on the rain gear and just start out. So we did.

Shortly after we got below the edge of the caldera on our way down to Ubud, the rain slowed and then quickly stopped. This was one of those rains that happens against a mountain. The moisture laden clouds hit the mountain and stop. The moisture laden air behind it piles into the stuff stuck against the mountain and it builds quickly until the air can't hold the moisture any longer. And it starts to rain. (However, I am more familiar with it in Canada in winter where moisture laden air ends up dropping lots of snow on one side of a mountain pass, while the other side can be pretty much bone dry.) We were soon taking off our rain coats and enjoying nice weather back to Ubud. We passed through towns on back roads. We saw community elementary schools and hospitals and local government offices. When we arrived at each town, we would see temples. Each town has at least three community temples, one each for three of the main aspects of Hindu deities. During special seasons, the whole town prepares offerings for use at the main temples, in addition to the offerings they prepare for their own homes. Each home also has a temple, but these can vary widely in size and elaborateness. Not surprisingly, this relates to the relative wealth of the owner of the property. Wealthier home-owners have bigger, more elaborate temples in their homes. But they are everywhere you look in each town.

The journey was really nice. We travelled through little communities and people waved and said hi all over. I imagine that they must see all kinds of people on pretty much a daily basis, but there was none of the hands out with things to buy, although we did pass many souvenir shops of various sorts on the way. Mainly we passed people engaged in the dailiness of life.

Then we passed down into the areas where rice-growing was viable. I guess there is a fairly narrow set of climatic conditions for growing rice. Higher up towards the ridge of the volcano's caldera, conditions weren't favourable, although there was still one rice field per community, for use by the community so they could prepare the offerings for their temples. But down towards Ubud, rice-growing was viable and the terraces began. We saw many of them all over and they were quite beautiful. We passed through countryside with rice terraces on either side of us. It was serene. And then we got closer to Ubud and reached a place called Tagallalang. This is tourist trap central. We arrived there and there were hordes of tourists, and the hawkers as well selling their tourist wares. It was busy, noisy, smelly, and generally horrid after such an idyllic passage through the countryside. The lone selling feature of the spot was the absolutely spectacular rice terraces right across from the road. The only minor obstacle to getting a good photo of them was the ridiculous man who picked up a bunch of bamboo and stood in the way of the photo-taker, presumably to give the photo more character and authenticity. No, get out of the way, you fool. And no, I am not going to give you a posing fee.

Finally we ended at a guest house set among some rice terraces just outside of the Ubud center. It was a great to finish the day's spectacle.

Soaking up the Balinese Culture, Balinese Dance

After a spectacular hike to watch the sunrise on Mount Batur, and then a nap, I decided that it would be good to see one of the Balinese Dances. Ubud has many spots where various dances are performed. There are different ones each night. This night, I was checking my email in Starbucks and the temple in the back of the Starbucks building was to be location of one of these performances. This was called the Chandra Wati: Ladies Orchestra and Dance Troupe. Hopefully it was going to be able to be held outside at the temple. Unfortunately, the rains started shortly before 7 and, with the performance scheduled for 7:30, it ended up that the show was performed indoors. Of course, I didn't know the difference. But the temple looked rather nice, lit up as such places tend to be in tourist areas. It probably would have been quite an attractive event at the temple.

I went into the building where the performance was going to be held and found a seat. There were instruments arranged throughout the room. I think they were made of bronze, but I don't really know for sure. There were also a few of the offerings that adorn all the temples in the area.

After a short while, the musicians came in and took their places and the music began. It was loud. There must have been 50 women playing various metal instruments, and most of those were played by banging something against them. I do find coordination of a large number of instruments to be amazing, but still, this was loud, being inside a building instead of outside at a temple.

The dancers came out and performed their dances. There seemed to be stories involved in each piece, but there were no synopses provided for them, so I don't know what the stories were. It was a nice performance though, and I am glad I went.

At the end all the dancers gathered on the stage and let people come up to get their photos taken with them.  I didn't go, but I took the chance to take a photo of them all in one place and standing still.

Ubud

Ubud is an interesting place. It's a fairly large area consisting of about 18 little villages that have collectively been designated as the community of Ubud. It's the art/culture capital of Bali. Here can be found all sorts of painting shops where you can find any kind of painting you like. I talked to one gallery proprietor, and he told me that he was a member of a group of about 20 artists that all put their work into that one gallery. I assume that they took turns manning the gallery, and then the rest would be off either painting or resting and gaining new insight.

Walking through town yields all kinds of interesting sights. Temples are everywhere. There are public temples. There are also temples that are in private residences. I was told by a guide on a bike tour that many people in the area are Hindu, and part of the Hindu practice is to maintain a temple in the private residence for religious observance. Every day an offering is made. Most days this is only pieces of banana leaf with a bit of rice on them. These are left in significant places in the home. At certain times of the year, though, the offerings get more elaborate, with flowers and more elaborate presentations that consist of little boxes woven of banana leaf. And a couple of times a year, there are really big observances. During these times, the people make large offerings to be taken to the main temples of the town. (Some of this is pictured in the entry for the bike ride through the Ubud area.)

In addition to the temples, there are the rice fields that are in the town area.

Craft shops abound. So do wood-carving shops and other souvenir places.

And some of the restaurants were interesting as well. I found a good Mexican restaurant, as well as one of the famous local spots, the Dirty Duck Diner. I was told that it was a good place to eat. I went there for dinner the first night I was in town. It was indeed good. I had the house speciality, not surprisingly, duck. It was marinated and cooked in Indonesian spices and then fried to finish it off. It was quite tasty. And somewhat expensive. So I only ate there the first night. The Dirty Duck is also among a bunch of rice fields. The come right up into the middle of the restaurant area. It creates a nice ambience.

Yes, Ubud is an interesting little town.