Ubud is the arts and crafts capital of Bali, a fact made obvious by the countless art and craft shops and endless traditional dance music shows. It’s also a favorite among arty farty and hippy drippy ex-pats and you can see them all wandering the clean and pretty streets, practicing yoga in their holistic spas or enjoying a relaxing brunch in an organic café.
Bali is a mainly Hindu island of Indonesia and we took advantage of the abundance of temples in the area. The shrines and statues are different to other religions we’ve encountered which John (Newman) enjoyed photographing even if he did have to wear a ‘skirt’ to go in!
We visited the largest art museum in the area, NEKA, which has an extensive collection of Balinese and Indonesian art. The traditional stuff is similar to art in most of Asia while the modern stuff is much more western in appearance and the ex-pat art was just too whacky for my taste.
A trip to the Monkey Forest was a highlight for us. It’s a sacred forest full of funerary temples and, you guessed it, monkeys! The temples were a bit disappointing because they were being restored but the naughty monkeys were very amusing particularly when jumping on people and stealing their ice lollies. I didn’t like it though when one looked like he was going to steal our water bottle but I was ready to bash him on the head with it as soon as he came near. My heart was racing!
The rest of our time we’ve spent on the veranda of our lovely little bungalow. It feels a bit like home and we don’t want to leave but Kuta (and surf lessons) are calling!
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