Since we knew there was no way we could get into the actual conference, we went sightseeing today, instead. Our agent, Wayan, is also a tour guide, and he drove us to central Bali to the town of Ubud, which is considered an artistic Mecca. As we headed north from the marina, we headed to the capital of Denpassar on a main highway. Our first stop was at a factory called Bali Bidadari Batik in the main town of Denpasar. There were several women sitting on the porch out front. Some were hand weaving fabric on a loom like we had seen in Boti. Some were sewing together clothing, flip flops and purses. Some were hand painting clothing. Others were doing a special hand-dyeing process called Batik where the artist drawing pictures in wax on the clothes, dips it in the dye, scrapes the wax, re-draws the design, then dips it in another color, etc. The garments and accessories they make are on sale inside, selling for what was probably a lot of money by Indonesian standards, but not expensive by American standards.

We were back on the main road only a couple of minutes before turning onto small, narrow roads as we headed up the mountains to Ubud. The buildings along the road quickly transformed themselves from a hodge podge of styles to beautiful, traditional Balinese architecture as we left South Bali. The buildings had pointed red tile roofs, many with ornate decorations at the top and corners that give the roofline a graceful, sleekly pointed effect. The buildings are square, usually with a large building and several small buildings on a plot. Many of the buildings have big porches or open walls on one side, and all the buildings tend to be completely covered in elaborate reliefs. Like on Timor and Flores, the roads are completely lined with buildings, with the occasional small farm plot between two buildings and with glimpses of farm land or forest behind some of the buildings.

Each neighborhood, or village, is known for a certain style of artisan work. So, as we drove along, for several blocks every single store would sell jewelry, then at a certain line it would change to every single store for several blocks selling statues, and so forth. We saw neighborhoods of woodworkers, furniture makers, canvas artists, and much more. Most of the work was just gorgeous. Most of it was Balinese style, but a lot of it is replicas of other art styles that get exported to the parts of the world they are popular in. Much of the work you readily recognize from stores at home, from high end retailers to five and dime (if you think about it, a good percentage of things we buy at home are made in Indonesia).

The next stop was at Mandala Wisata Wanara Wana, AKA the Monkey Forest Sanctuary, in Ubud. The entrance is right on the main road of town, and inside it is an oasis. As you walk in, you are surrounded by thick, lush jungle. It is situated on a hill with a stream flowing at the bottom, and the earth is terraced all the way down, with neatly kept, wide walkways throughout that lead to three Hindu temples located within the forest grounds. The jungle is attractively landscaped and there are impressive carvings throughout. Like the Hindu temple we had seen in Nadi, the temples each had a courtyard surrounded by several ornately decorated structures. Some of the structures are buildings with a specific use, and others are large altars protected by small roofs. In Nadi, the reliefs had all been brightly painted and the walls and ceilings had paintings of the gods in bright colors. Here in Bali, the colors on the carvings are either natural or reds and golds, and there are not paintings, just the reliefs and carvings.

There are monkeys absolutely everywhere. There are a slew of them hanging around the entrance, waiting for the tourists to walk in and hand them bananas to eat. They sit on the walkway looking at you with big eyes, sit in the foliage off to the side of the walkway, and sit in the trees. Something will grab their attention or scare them, and they will run, climb and/or jump here or there. They get quite close and seem to have no fear of people. If you get too close to their food, they hiss at you and bare their teeth. There were tons of little babies around, all sticking close to mama. We saw lots of babies attached to mama’s belly, feeding, with mama holding them close. When mama would get up to walk around, the baby would stay attached to the stomach, holding on for the ride. Many of the monkeys would groom one another. Sometimes some of the monkeys would have a conflict, with them screaming at each other and sometimes attacking one another in a quick scuffle. They were fun to watch and incredibly entertaining. We got some good video footage. At one point a man walked down the walkway, screaming food and dropping large quantities of leaves on the ground. Literally hundreds of monkeys from all over the park came running at the sound of his voice and happily sat in the walkway munching leaves. It was quite a sight, indeed!

To be continued”¦