Day 9 Ubud

This day has split into two parts in my mind - the good and the bad.  We spent the morning walking around Ubud town looking at the art and craft work which was never-ending.  It was a great day, the sun was shining, there were so many interesting sights and great photo opportunities but all that was about to change.  On the way back to our hotel, we passed a small store and popped in for some drinks and snacks.  I emerged extremely happy having found salt and vinegar crisps and cadburys milk chocolate.  So we headed home down the hill and through the monkey temple.

  The last time I visited the monkey temple was an experience as first I was sitting on the wall next to a monkey and then he was on my head and his little monkey hands were in my face and the fun stopped.  I asked my friends to help me but they were in hysterics and wanted to capture this 'magical moment'/ terrible ordeal on camera.  Then one of my friends did something heroic which I will never forget, he went to push the monkey and this is what happened -  

This game had long stopped being fun so by now I am shouting "get him off, get him off my f#&*ing head".  My friend acted quickly by taking off his t-shirt and effectively scaring the monkey off.  I have nothing else to say about this other than two years later I am walking home and hoping that we don't have to go through the monkey temple - of course it happens to be the ONLY way home so I make my way nervously through this path of monkey mayhem.

Everything was going fine until one monkey decided he was interested in what was in my bag.  Now some people might be thinking that if I was walking through the park merrily swinging my bag of treats that I was asking for what was about to happen.  I disaggree vehemently.  I was sneaking on the outskirts of the park trying to slip by unnoticed when a monkey came running from behind and grabbed my bag.  At first I wasn't going to let it go but Cassandra was shouting "Let him have it, it's not worth it" and so the moment became too much and I released the bag and as I did, I saw my dignity fly off into the jungle with it.  I made my way back confused and shocked with what had just happened.  I couldn't help but feel it was personal and whatsmore, I have always supported monkeys - eating cocopops as a child and drinking PG Tips more recently.
  I returned to the hotel a broken and damaged man, twice I had walked through that park - I had now been molested and robbed.  I curled up in the safety of my blanket and did a lot of soul searching, asking myself a lot of questions.  I still to this day don't think that the behaviour of those monkeys was moral or justified but the therapy is definitely helping and the nightmares are wearing off.



Eventually my pride came back to me and we decided to go and see traditional Balinese dancing that evening.  We opted for the 'Kecak Dance' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kecak which was quite incredible. 

There were around 80 men who entered the room and sat in a circle. 

 They then started chanting.

Next two young ladies started dancing.

There was a play and a storyline which was captivating up until a masked monkey came in. In nobody's world is a masked monkey ok or normal.

However things were about to get a whole lot more exciting as they brought out a pile of coconuts and preceded to set them on fire.

We were sitting pretty close and I was worried because my shoes were melting.

Then they brought this guy who was in a trance and suddenly we had ourselves a show.

He danced like only a bare-footed man could on hot coals

Day 2: Denpasar Rally

After a solid sleep, I woke to a steady hum outside the window.  When I went to inspect, I saw a stretch of road about  300 metres long packed with motorbikes and scooters jostling alongside each other.



Non-stop traffic, absolute chaos on the roads of Denpasar.

 I spent around 24 hours in Denpasar and the whole time I was there, the buzzing of motorbikes and whizzing of scooters never once threatened to let up.
  So walking along the street, felt like we were involved in 'The Denpasar Scooter Rally'.  It is also became clear that not many foreigners passed by the streets we walked, which was easily expressed in the surprised gaze of many of the locals. 

Turning off the main street, we explored with the enthusiasm of two travellers - delighted with the unfamiliarity of a very foreign country.

Denpasar: A typical shop/store

Denpasar Cinema (It's not a joke!!)

Walking further we stumbled upon a market selling local produce which also provided some respite from the sweltering heat.  We also found another friend who was only too happy to escort us around the market...

Our 'tour guide' : Like shopping with a gun to your head.

and take us to her sister's shop

Little need to buy dried fish, we live in Korea.

and her friends stall

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and then just assume that every time we stopped we got the hard sell.  This is my Aunt's/Brother's/Father's/Cousin's Store and their Fruit/Spices/Clothing/Jewelery is by far the best you will ever see or taste. 

Health and safety would have a field day here.

Fresh? Tuna

Market produce

Fruit and Veg

Whilst our 'guide' was friendly and amusing, it would have been far more fun if we weren't constantly being pressurised to buy something so we bought some rambutans to shut her up.

Service with a smile.

Rambutan

  They are very similar to a lychee  - really sweet and very tasty.

Our guide spoke good enough English to have a pretty interesting conversation and said that we could ask her any questions we had.  The only one that came to mind was how much was this little tour going to end up costing us (the answer came a little later = 15000IDR).

Back out onto the streets we walked a little further noticing that the traffic was slowing to a halt because of a ceremony.

Hindu Ceremony

We came across countless Hindu Ceremonies whilst in Bali.  They can happen for numerous different events and sometimes consist of hundreds of people.

Houses on the river.

Bathing

It'll Fit.

Time out

Forever blowing bubbles.

Siesta: Not dead, just sleeping.

While Denpasar is memorable for little other than it's constant flow of traffic, it was so much fun to explore more authentic areas. So after a day it was time to get packed up and move on.