Passing by Ubud

After experiencing the ancient beauty of Pura Besakih, we climbed back into the car just as the rain began to pour in earnest. Everyone but our driver was slightly wet to almost drenched—Yudhie and me after we gave up our umbrellas—and a little bit tired as well. We paused for a moment to have some snacks, and then weighing the possibilities against the weather and the time before nightfall, Ibu asked us if we would like to stop in Ubud before we turned the car around and headed home to Singaraja. It would take us yet further from home, but there was time, and we could at least see a little of the famous monkey forest, and also shop for some souvenirs at the pasar near one of the entrances.

The interior of Bali is a mountainous paradise, just as the guide books tell. We were only here for two days, nothing like long enough to make even a decent beginning of seeing the island. Though we flew in on the 27th and were leaving on the 31st, we still had to make a trip from Bali back to the island of Java sometime between those two dates. Today was day one, and so our itinerary would be Besakih and Ubud, but not spending too long at either. My New Year’s resolution? To return to Yndonesia, and Bali, in the coming year, and to stay longer. The enchantment of this place seems to stem from the fact that in spite of modern intrusions, the people here still live in the High Middle Ages. For me, that’s home.

It was still raining mildly when our driver found a place to park near one of the entrances to the Monkey Forest in Ubud. Ibu and Titi wanted to remain in the car, but encouraged Yudhie and I to go out and look around, perhaps buy some things we wanted at the pasar. The word pasar is the same as the English word ‘bazaar’ just pronounced and spelled differently. Every street, actually, anywhere you go in Bali, and even in Yndonesia, seemed to be a bazaar to me. People are selling everything everywhere, from small shops, to stalls, to baskets carried on their heads or backs. The whole country is an example of ‘free enterprise’ gone wild. I really liked it, though. It seems the most natural way to live, totally free.

Before Yudhie and I visited the bazaar, I went scouting around to see what was there, and also photographed some of the monuments and carvings right near where we were parked. The entrance was flanked by two Chinese ancients who seemed to be either guarding the sanctuary or welcoming you to it. There were a lot of stone monkeys carved on various walls and gateposts. I’d heard the phrase ‘stone monkey’ used to name a musical group in the late 1960’s, and when I saw the real thing, I remembered them and wondered if they took the name after visiting here. Of course, there’s also the story of Sun Wukong, a character in the Chinese novel Journey to the West, who was a stone monkey.

Since arriving in Yndonesia, I’d been looking for an opportunity to buy a sarong or two for myself. That is the piece of fabric that is traditionally worn by men and women. It is wrapped around your bottom half and after folding it back and forth a few times in front, it is tucked into the waist, or knotted, to keep it from falling off. It allows for a lot of freedom of movement, and in a hot climate feels less ‘crowded’ than wearing trousers. Except in businesses that are organized ‘Western style’ even the men will wear sarongs to work, with a standard top, a T-shirt, a regular shirt, and a jacket. They’re usually patterned, mostly by a process known as batik. I should’ve bought the blue and white one too, but I didn’t.

Instead, I bought a very colorful and complex patterned one, I suppose you could call it a ‘formal sarong’ whereas another one I saw was made of coarser material and was simply floral in white and shades of blue. I could’ve bought them both, but I didn’t. Yudhie bought a similar one but of more subtle design. I actually liked his better than mine, and as you can see, he’s a natural at wearing one, whereas on me, it looks ridiculous, just another bulé trying to ‘go native’… Well, actually I am going native, I’m just not quite comfortable with the way I look. You know, too tall, too white, too self-conscious. But I’ll get over it. We spent the evening visiting with Ibu, wearing our new sarongs. She was quite pleased that we did.

Here we are, dressed for the evening visit…

Next… Changes, changes