Aug 24th: Ubud

My second day in Ubud (oo-bood).

Last night I walked around a bit more before heading home, so I could wake up early. I went to yoga at 7 am. Yoga Barn is down a side street. It's an open barn overlooking the rice paddies. I was the first one there (they said arrive 15 minutes early!). I thought this might be the venue where I'd see the Elizabeth Gilbert fanladies, but at first it was all dudes! Then some women joined but I was kind of impressed with the gender balance.

We had a local instructor. I haven't been to an actual yoga class in many years, only done it on my own with videos, so I was a bit nervous. It generally stuck to it's “basic” label. Until our teacher stood on her head. I thought that headstand pose was a joke from the deleted scene in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” but apparently it's a real thing. I could barely even do the modified, easy, grandmother version. Overall it was pretty good and I might try to go again while I'm in Ubud.

It was a rainy morning and I walked back to my bungalow, which is conveniently close to Yoga Barn. A friendly man from my compound brought me hot tea and I decided to order banana pancakes for breakfast. It's probably the best $1 US breakfast I'll have for a while: unlimited Balinese tea, fresh fruit, and hot banana pancakes. It began to pour so I sat on my balcony, ate breakfast, and finished my novel.

My next goal of the day was to eat at the famous Babi Guling Warung. Babi guling is suckling pig, and this place is supposed to have the best suckling pig in Bali. I walked up Monkey Forest Road and looked at the Royal Palace and the Water Palace, which are both near the babi guling place. The Balinese palace is surprisingly simple. The Water Palace has a beautiful lotus pond and a temple. I then went back to check on my pig, and they were unloading the porkers, still steaming, from the trucks.

I sat down and ordered the spesial, which has the best cuts of the pig. This is at 11 am by the way, and they had just opened. About $3.50 American for my pork, rice, and iced tea. The skin was perfectly crisp, and you wouldn't believe the meat is pork, it's so tender. This place is highly recommended by Lonely Planet so everyone is there, but the locals still have lunch there too so you know it's good. It was an experience I felt I had to have while in Bali, especially after watching the Anthony Bourdain Indonesia episode, in which you see how they cook the pig all day, hand-turning it to perfection.

After my early lunch, I decided to make my way back down to my bungalow and also toward the Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA). On the way I did some shopping. I got a massage at Fresh!, which advertises itself as a cute spa that uses organic and all-natural materials. I went with a head and shoulder massage, which was pretty nice.

My shopping was very organic, hand-made, and all-natural themed. I bought some handmade paper, and various soap products. Kou is a famous organic soap store, and I had to stop there. It's kind of addicting once you get started shopping. The shops in Ubud are really funky, cute, and boutique-y.

Then I walked down to ARMA. It's a lovely museum, very peaceful. Entrance fee also gets you a free coffee or tea at the lovely Kafe Arma. There are two buildings of art surrounded by gardens and rice paddies. There is everything from traditional to modern art, by both local artists and foreigners. It's the only museum that has the works of Walter Spies, which are really interesting. I recommend looking up the story of Agung Rai, the museum's founder, and Walter Spies, a German artist and musician.

I got my free Balinese kopi at the Kafe, which had a cinnamon stick as a stirrer. Mmm.

After that, I headed to a place down the street called Kafe that has free wi-fi to get a drink and get some internet time.

For dinner I went right down the street from my bungalow to the Dirty Duck Diner. Now I say diner, and you are probably not picturing a gorgeous patio overlooking rice fields and gardens and fountains and lotus ponds. But that's what it is. I got the specialty, crispy duck. Amazing. Half a duck cooked to a perfect crisp, with vegetables and rice. This was probably my most expensive meal so far but it was still under ten bucks American, including iced tea.

After that it was time to head to the palace for a traditional dance performance: Legong and Ramayana Ballet. I chose this partly because the palace is supposed to be a nice venue, and also because I'm interested in the Ramayana story. One of my favorite movies is still A Little Princess, and in it there's the story within a story of Rama.

I got there nerdily early with the grandparents, but I got a great seat in the front row so it was totally worth it. First there was a gamelan number, which was really cool to listen to. I want to learn more about gamelan music while I'm here. The ballet was mesmerizing. I got really into the plot actually and enjoyed it a lot. It's so different from anything I've ever seen. Well, maybe it's somewhat similar to Chinese opera with the masks and jerky movements and movements of the eyes. But it's still unique. This all in a lovely, outdoor venue. It was about an hour and a half so after the walk home I'm pretty tired.

Have I mentioned yet how many French people are here, by the way? I swear, there is no one in France at the moment because they are all in Bali. I've seen as many “Bali et Lombok” LPs as English ones.

I signed up at the Ubud Tourist Office for a tour tomorrow, so that will take up much of my day. I should get a lot of good pictures and cover a lot of sites that I wouldn't be able to do as easily on my own.