Back to Ubud

I like Ubud. It only made sense to go back for the one day I thought I had between prior arrangements. What started out to be one day turned into three. I did my usual trekking about town, jalon-jalon, as the natives say. I was curious about the route I'd come in on and backtracked on foot. It was a lot less touristy there. There was a large statue at an intersection that I wanted to check out. I found that, found some great street food, also found a stash of huge ornate animals. Asking about the animals led me to stay an extra couple of days in order to see the cremation ceremony they were created for. Stay tuned for that on another post.

I hired a car on my second day to take me to the bat temple, Gua Lawah. I think the biggest reason this temple is such a tourist site is that part of it is in the opening of a cave and full of bats. They are hanging and flying everywhere. There is plenty of bat guano on the shrines in the entryway. Keeping them from getting buried has got to be almost a full time job.

Next we drove to a Tenganan, a walled village that is said to be inhabited by Bali Aga, meaning that they hold to their original traditions. I didn't get any real explanation so I can't swear by it. I was asked to donate at the gate though. There are no hotels or hostels there, but lots of little shops selling ikat, fabrics that are a higher dollar than I can deal with. Set up outside were sellers of wooden egg painters and a split bamboo that folds out to show beautifully intricate drawings, some calendars, others telling a story. I wanted to buy one but didn't have enough money. There were also a lot of fighting roosters under bamboo baskets as well as chickens and a few cattle. This is a lived-in town, not just a tourist destination. I understand that not just anyone can live there. I think there are some lineage requirements.

Pink and yellow fighting cocks.

On the way back to Ubud I noticed the rice fields flagged with laundry so my driver gave me a short lesson on the growing of rice. I will address that later.