Ubud::: Sacred Monkey Forest

In the middle of Ubud you can find the huge sacred monkey forest. It has over a hundred species of trees and hundreds of crazy little monkeys.

ouch!!! A momma and baby by the entry way.
you pick the bugs off my butt and ill do yours

me with my monkey beating stick
while we purposely didnt bring any food with us into the forest, there are many guides and workers who are always giving food to the monkeys to attracts them. by waving a banana near Joe he soon was attacked by hungry monkeys

the feeding areas are full of feisty little ones.....
and big old mean ones!

this is me not very happy after a monkey tried to rip off my dress, joe threatened him with a stick, and hundreds of monkeys started screeching at me & one another in a piercing battle scream.... luckily they didnt attack me (i didnt have food)
more picking and scratching


a crazy sculpture marking the entrance to the hindu cremation grounds and cematery
some of the amazing old growth trees
tree buddies

monkey business

a family photo
me on the serpentine bridge..while monkeys are hanging out and runnin by.

Ubud::: deli cats, mangy dogs, wild spaniards & shopping!!!!

Ubud is a wonderful little town (very seattle-esque) full of art galleries, crafts, mask makers, wonderful food, and tons of shopping!! we ended up spending a week here filling duffel bags full of unique crafts, cheap pearls, and a few tacky souveniers.

Joe had a lot of fun with the masks...and ended up buying this one!!

some geese out doing some shopping
our suckling pig feast


we saw this dog every day we were in ubud- and every day we were suprised to see that he had made it through the night.... definitely the saddest, mangiest dog I've ever seen.
we pondered buying it a t-bone and then putting it out of its misery....

ubud is full of artists of all mediums. it is also home to the eccentric Don Antonio Blanco- who was obsessed with the female form and also (strangely) michael jackson. he built his elaborate mansion and gold gilt frames here and they are now open to the public


he has quite the menagerie of birds in the front gardens

me hiding behind on of the giant dragons sliding down the entry stairs
some rooftop photos





a view of the original studio- which is still used by his son, now a famous artist himself

Traditional Balinese Dance::: Legong & Barong

Dance is very important to the Balinese culture as it is too many asian groups. Legong is one of the most popular traditional dances, mainly danced by women. The eyes, fingers, & hand movements are the most important elements as they are used to express much of the story being told.

We watched three stories/dances at the palace in Ubud. they were fanciful strories about kings, queens, monsters, gods, and of course love and rivalry.

These were very strange characters, seemingly playing the parts of the bad guys imps & village idiots-- they were seduced by the queens nymphs as seen below




The barong dance is a dance of animals. Traditionally two people dancing as this giant dog creature and another as a monkey. The two plays tricks on each other and the setting is very light hearted and playful

Tawur Kesanga & Nyepi:: (Hindu New Years) ogoh-ogohs & day of silence

Hari Raya Nyepi (nyepi day) is the hindu new years. It is on a 210 day cycle and happened to fall on March 19th this year. Nyepi day is a day of silence where no one is allowed to use leave their home, use electricity or other lamps, etc...if you are a tourist you are allowed a few more luxuries, but you still cannot leave the hotel (we made sure we had a nice pool and and were on right on the beach!!)

the day before nyepi is Tawur Kesanga, a cleansing & excorsing day. All the male teenagers in the village spend weeks creating giant paper mache monsters. On the day of kids parade them through the streets at sun down run wildly and doing crazy dances with them. Afterwards they burn them in giant bonfires.

all the little villages were decorated with all sorts of palm weavings & other crafts
some of the ogoh-ogohs





these boys were very,very proud of their sculpture (it was very good) and were extremely rowdy as well (many of the boys are drinking the local fire water, arak,---and some even took swigs which they lit on fire during the parade!!)



a young group of boys with an amature but admirable effort of ogoh-ogoh insisted that joe take the head (which they dont burn) home with him... unfortunately it didnt fit in his back pack.