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Published: November 16th 2010
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On the 45min drive to Ubud I am hypnotised by the traffic. I have read about the traffic in Bali but I always thought they were exaggerating. They’re not. Motorbikes and scooters piled high with people and cargo weave in and out of cars, trucks, tuk-tuks (I think that’s what they’re called) and horse drawn carriages. Apparently they drive on the left, but only when strictly necessary. It’s absolutely insane. And quite amusing once you’ve swallowed your fear. Though crossing the road should really win you a medal. The taxi driver teaches me about Hindu temples - every house has one, then a bigger one for the village then an even bigger one for the area, then a huge one for the Island. Which I will go and see one day soon. There are statues to gods everywhere- the ones in the middle of roundabouts even I start praying too.
Ubud is considered to be the cultural hub of the island and as such is filled with art shops, temples and yoga centres. It is still touristy, but being away from the beach it is thankfully clear of semi naked drunken morons. It is still full of touts, though mainly
of the taxi type.
The hotels, however, are of a far far higher quality. I am sitting now in my rather beautiful room which has a huge double bed, a very clean loo, a shower (hallelujah!) and a large balcony overlooking Monkey Temple Road. The view from the bedroom is of temples rising out of the forest. All for about £8 a night! I agreed to stay for 3 nights and as soon as the man leaves I peel off my sweaty clothes and head for the shower. What I didn’t realise is that you can get up onto the balcony from outside and the hotel owner is coming up to bring me tea and get my passport number. He looked more embarrassed than I did and promptly ran away. Giving me a good hour to scrub all the grime off me and position myself (now fully clothed) on the carved wooden sofa thingy on the balcony before returning, still red faced about the whole matter.
Lots of people come up onto my balcony - there is no such thing as personal space in Asia, they just don’t seem to believe in it. They come up to show you paintings
they have done (very nice but I don’t really want to carry fine art around with me for the next 7months) or just to see if you’re ok (though I expect if the answer was no they’d fix it for you - for a price). The cousin of the owners wife comes to ask me what I’m doing that night, and as I have no plans give I am more told than asked that I will go to the temple tonight to see a Hindu dance ceremony.
The ‘Kechak and Fire Dance Trena Jenggala’ is fantastic. First about 100 men come out and circle a tree of candles, doing various chants and songs which serve as the music for the dancers. The dancers tell a story taken from the Ramayana epic, about the eternal conflict between good and evil - a story involving Sita and Rama and a deer which is actually an incarnation of Marica. Rama goes hunting, Sita is kidnapped by the evil Rahwana and Rama has to get her back with the help of Laksamana and the king of the monkeys. It’s all very spellbinding - the girls performing a hypnotic dance and the costumes are
just out of this world. Then there is a Sanghyang Dedari dance performed by member of the village to chase away evil spirits and then a Sanghyang Jaran dance where a man dances like a horse in the embers of a fire. Which was pretty spectacular to watch. The whole thing takes place in the temple and is lit by fire and candles - very atmospheric! Afterwards Semyan (I have probably spelt that completely wrong) takes me to a little restaurant for dinner and a bitang - which come to about £7 for two- and attempts to teach me Balinese. Sadly it becomes apparent that he is also under the assumption that all white girls travelling the world are really just looking for a fling - after a very very firm no from me on that front we go our separate ways. Which is a shame because he was being quite a good guide up until that point and it would have been nice to have someone to go exploring with but such is life. Though this assumption is becoming a little annoying. Maybe I should cut my hair into ‘Butch’ and start wearing camo pants…
Today was spent
examining the markets of Ubud and I invested in my first pair of flip flops - my toes still hate having things in between them but when in Rome. After a few hours the heat and the touts were too much for me - after approximately the 376th person asked me ‘you want transport?’ I felt like grabbing him by his shirt and screaming that as I hadn’t wanted a taxi from the man next to him, or the one next to him or so forth which he had clearly seen that I probably wouldn’t want a bloody taxi from him either. Instead I kept my smile fixed to ’no thank you’ and retreated to my balcony to finish my book (One Day by David Nicholls - highly recommend). I really hope I can harden up to the touts soon, otherwise the next 7 months may become too much to handle.
Tonight’s plans involve a nice cool shower and then finding some dinner. Ubud does seem to be filled with gorgeous looking restaurants and cafes so it shouldn’t be too hard to find anything. It is also, sadly, from my point of view, filled with couples - so it
Second dance
The lttle girls were so tiny! but they danced for ages - very impressive is not quite so easy to meet people. I can’t wait to meet up with Chalky in two weeks time - I’m thinking that the constant barrage of questions will be easier to cope with if you have someone to laugh about them with. Until then I’m thinking of heading out to the Gili Islands which are a bus and a ferry away and is apparently a popular spot for fellow travellers. Hopefully then I can find someone to venture back to the temples with, or at least come to terms with the heat. And, as they are traffic free, have a few days off being asked if I want a taxi!
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Jessica
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You are so independent........... I really am proud of you coping with all that. I am damn useless when faced without shower etc. It's soooooo nice have your blogs to read and keep in touch with. Good news, I passed my MRCS the other day. All done and dusted without any exams left to do for 4-5yrs. Am so very happy. Love you lots and lots Jess