I arrived in Ubud this morning. Ubud is Bali's cultural center, and though just an hour down the road from noisy Kuta, it feels a world removed. It is serene and spiritual here.
After settling in, I went to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, just a short walk down the road from my homestay/guesthouse. There are a few temples here and like a gazillion monkeys. I tried to feed some of them bananas, which was fun. But then some of them got rowdy and chased after me and my bananas so I threw the bananas at the monkeys and ran. It was fun.
Later in the evening I watched the Kecak and Fire Dance. The owner of my guesthouse was performing tonight, so I went and watched his group. It is prominently featured in the movie Baraka, which you must see if you havent already. The coolest thing about the kecak is the chanting, but this computer is not cooperating with me in uploading my videos so you should google/youtube it and see for yourself.
I had mentioned briefly before the little flower boat incense things that are outside every doorstep here in Bali, one of those little touches that makes it feel so unique and magical. Well I stumbled upon a little boy making them today:
Everywhere I have traveled, there is great excitement and affection for President Obama, which reassures me that slowly but surely our standing in the world is being rebuilt. In my conversations, I often use it as a springboard to talk about America's diversity and how Obama's election signals the rise of a new generation - my generation - that is ever more multicultural and cosmopolitan. Maybe I overplay it a bit but I feel like it's my duty to share this with foreigners after the dark Bush era. In Indonesia, they are definitely more excited about Obama than anywhere else I've been - everybody here knows that he grew up in Jakarta and understands Indonesia and they have great affection for him. I found this painting in an art shop walking down the street today:
Alright that's it for now. I'm touring some temples around Ubud tomorrow and then at 2:00 AM I'm going to hike up to the top of Mt. Batur for the sunrise. Should be awesome.
Monkeys!! So cute!!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I was eventually expected a Baraka reference and a Barack reference, but not in the same post.
ReplyDeleteIt is much nicer traveling when people ask about Barack than when they asked about Bush. With Bush, I had to keep explaining that "Americans who travel aborad often didn't vote for Bush."
ReplyDelete