Hungry Monkeys

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I spent my last night in Bali in the hill town of Ubud-about 2 hours north of Kuta. It was a nice change since being around so many tourists and endless tourist shops got to be overwhelming-like spending too many nights in Vegas. Just before Ubud there was a monkey sanctuary in the forest and I bought some bananas at the entrance to feed them as I walked. Or that was my plan anyway. A big monkey smelled my bananas instantly and came over so I gave him one which he quickly devoured and came back for more. I hurriedly threw him another and kept walking. Then another adult came over and started climbing my skirt to get at the bananas so I gave him one and the park guide told me I'd better give him the rest. At that point there was a small crowd gathering around me watching. I guess I was the only one dumb enough to buy the bananas or they'd gone through something similar already. I gave him the rest and tried to walk away but another fierce-looking monkey came at me and bared his teeth a little. Someone mentioned that my hands probably still smelled like bananas. I quickly turned and walked as fast as I could and luckily didn't have any more run-ins. Further down the path, we could observe some mothers with their babies-absolutely adorable! The mothers would swing their babies so they hung upside down and clung to their chests when the mothers were ready to travel.

I bought tickets to see a "Fire and Trance" show that night at a Hindu temple. Ubud is known for their traditional dance shows and many of the surrounding villages as well as neighborhood groups in Ubud organize and put on shows on a regular basis. The first hour was a segment of a Hindu epic about a prince and his beautiful wife who were cast out of the palace by his step-mother and into the forest. Then the evil spirit guy, who lusted after the beautiful wife, used magic to transform himself into a golden deer and an old priest to entice the wife away from the group and is captured. There were great battle scenes between the characters and the Monkey King who comes in later. The unique thing about this show was that the story was told by an 80-man choir who formed a circle around the area where the action took place and chanted throughout the story. It sounded really cool and definitely trance-like, especially this rhythm they kept repeating that sounded like a train: chugga chugga.

For the last part of the show the set a pile of coconut husks on fire in the middle of the temple and a man dressed as a horse came out and prances through the fire and glowing hot husks. Every time he'd come through, the husks and coals would spread out and a few times I nearly was burnt on my feet. At the end they had all of the characters come out so we could take pics and come close and examine the man's feet to see they really were black from the fire-no joke!

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Photos

Ubud
Look harmless enough

Ubud
Fire and trance dance

Ubud
Check out his feet

Ubud
morning offerings

Comments

[Alison Moore]

Ubud
Isn't Bali lovely? Reading through your blog is making me reminisce about being there last summer. The smell of incense, the offerings left on the street corners, the amazing Hindu temples everywhere, So amazingly peaceful.