Journeys Across Oceans: Ubud, Bali

Upon arrival in Bali, Indonesia, we immediately went to Ubud, the island's cultural hub. A famous place, but not overrated in my opinion. One of our favorite things to do here has been to see local dances. The first night we saw a performance which included Pendet Dance, Topeng Tua, Legong Lasem and Barong Waksira.

End of the performance

Our favorite dance is the Kecak or "Monkey Dance." It involves around 40 men chanting and moving in unison, often around a fire. Here it is usually paired with a fire trance afterwards, in which an older man goes into a trance and then walks in the coals from a fire.

Indonesia is a Muslim country, but Bali is the sole island which is Hindu. Religion is at the center of Balinese life. Each traditional family compound has a temple and offerings are put throughout the home daily.


Example of an offering put throughout the home

There are offerings even in the middle of the supermarket

On special days, larger offerings are given at the community temple.

Passing through Bali, there are innumerable temples.

The food in Bali is simply delicious. A favorite is "mie goreng" or fried noodles. The Balinese classic is "nasi campur" which has rice in the middle with side dishes of meat and/or vegetables.

Vegetarian Nasi Campur

We have also had some delicious breakfasts of fresh fruit and banana "jaffle," which is sort of like grilled sandwich with banana in the middle.

Bahasa Indonesia is the national language in Indonesia and every Indonesian can speak it. Balinese is the language of Bali. We first learned how to say "thank you" in Bahasa Indonesian, which is "makasi." But now we have that found that saying the Balinese word, "suksumong," gets a much better reaction. It is consistently met with a smile of surprise.

We went on a bicycle tour one day, which involved many cool stops but only a couple hours of bicycling, nearly all of which was downhill. No complaints though, especially with the heat of the tropics.

Our first stop was breakfast overlooking the largest lake in Bali, Lake Batur, and an active volcano of the same name.

Lake Batur

Mount Batur, which last erupted in the '70's, in black is lava

Next stop was a coffee and tea plantation where we got to sample many different kinds of coffee and tea.

Delicious. And available for purchase, of course

We also had a stop where we learned about the lifecycle of rice.

Stopped for the standard rice terrace shot in Tegallalang, our guide's home village.

Somehow another tourist's peace sign snuck in this photo

The ride was beautiful

Many rice paddies

Stopped to play with a spider

Before the guide convinced me to "put your face for the facebook!"

Stopped for a duck crossing

At the end of the tour, they dropped us off at Ubud's "Monkey Forest." Having been to a different monkey forest which was way overrated, I was hesitant. Once I saw the temple in the middle of it though, it was totally worth it. Plus the monkeys seemed to be living a relatively good life in this "sanctuary."