Fun things to do in Ubud

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We have been in Ubud several times and each time attended a dance performance if possible. Most days of the week there is a performance in the evening, each day different and at a different venue. Tickets may be obtained at the venue, or from street sellers. As long as the latter offer you a ticket with program for the price printed on it, you can trust its veracity.
Always come early, to get a good seat for taking pictures. The rule is that one cannot come in after the program has started, but that rule is not enforced.

We saw the program “Legong and Barong Dance” by troupe “Sadha Budaya” in October 2009. At the time it was performed every Friday starting at 07:30pm. Admission Rp 80,000.

The main item of the program is a theatric performance in four acts, depicting a struggle between good and evil.
It is preceded by a musical prelude, the Legong Kraton dance, and the Barong dance and the Jauk mask dance.
Legong Kraton is a classical dance originally intended for the entertainment of the king. It is adapted from a story in which the arrogant king Lasem desires the unwilling princess Langke Sari.
The Barong is a friendly monster, which will also appear at the end of the Telek drama. Two men bring the monster to life, one for the head and one for the tail. In this dance Barong is accompanied by a monkey.
In the Jauk male dancers perform wearing devil masks.

For a synopsis and pictures of the drama, see travelogue Legong and Barong Dance

Venue: Ubud Palace courtyard, across the road from the market.

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Ubud is one of the most visited places not only in Bali but in all of Indonesia. It has everything that a tourist might seek in Bali except the beaches. It is rich in art and culture. There are museums and galleries that showcase skilfully crafted articles for the benefit of the tourists. There are dance performances everyday even in off-season in one venue or other by various groups and they are of exquisitely executed. There are a number of other activities that draw tourists to Ubud.

Like every town in Bali, Ubud is filled to the brim with temples. The principal ones are Goa Gajah, Yeh Pulu, Taman Saraswati and Desa, the last being the main place of worship for the locals. Unlike Prambanan near Jogja or Panataran near Blitar, the Hindu temples in Bali are not archaeological ruins but living places of worship and they are not only well decorated but are kept in top condition. I visited quite a few but I have chosen four of them to write about.

1. The temple that impressed me most in Ubud was Pura Taman Saraswati or the Lotus Temple, which is dedicated to Saraswati, the goddess of arts and learning. It is located just a few steps west of the Ubud Palace. On the eastern side of the entrance to the temple is Starbucks Coffee and on the western side is the Lotus Café. As you make an entrance in between the two coffeehouses you are presented with a beautiful sight of a lotus pond with a walkway that leads to the temple at the other end. The shrine in the centre of the temple is opened rarely and almost never for the visitors. Like most Balinese Hindu temples it has a dazzling door decorated with fine filigree work in gold and in vermilion red. Just below the stairs are platforms in three levels. These made an ideal stage for the performance of the Ramayana dance drama, which I went to see when I was in Ubud. It was presented at this temple on Wednesday nights by an all women’s group.

Earlier, in the afternoon, I sat in the porch at Starbucks beside the lotus pond with a mug full of coffee while I took down travel notes on my cell phone and then walked up to the temple and took some photos. I bought a ticket for the show and went out to have my supper. By the time I came back for the show I could not believe how the place had been transformed. There was a red carpet that covered the whole stage area. The footlights at the front edge of it were not turned on yet but the ones on the poles were shining bright on the site. On both sides were arranged the musical instruments on stands that were decorated with gilded floral ornamentation. There were about two score chairs that were placed on the lowest platform for the audience to sit. The musicians, all women, walked in and took their positions. They played the overture on their xylophones, cymbals and drums and the dance drama began.

2. The road that goes south from the Ubud Palace leads right into the Mandala Wisata Wanara Wana or Monkey Forest. (Wanara means monkey in Sanskrit and Wana means forest). The monkeys are holy since they are linked to Hanuman, the ape-like character in the Hindu epic, Ramayana. When the attendants bring them food the feeding frenzy begins and the cameras of the tourists begin to flick and flash. The monkeys are fun to watch and they get all the press but they are not the main feature of the forest. There are three temples in the forest. The main temple, called Pura Dalem Agung, is the most impressive. To enter it, you are required to don a sarong which is supplied by an attendant for as much as (or as little as) you want to pay in donation. The walled compound has the main shrine as well as many smaller shrines decorated with artwork. The principal shrine is up a flight of stairs and has a gilded door. It is guarded by demons and by a snake whose coils are spread all over the base of the stairs. The lesser shrine that you see in the photo is composed of the base on which stands the squarish structure with three levels, topped by the shrine itself which is decorated with golden filigree work on all sides. All around the three levels, there are sculptures of demonic figures who are supposed to be guarding the shrine.

The exterior wall of the compound of the temple is lined with sculpted relief work all around. Most of the panels show characters from the scriptures, especially Ramayana, illustrating specific situations in the epic. The more interesting tableaux are those that depict scenes of torture that the sinners would be subjected to in hell. In one you see a person (a woman as is evident from her long hair) impaled on a stick and held on top of the flames. Another woman is being scorched at the under part of her belly with a flaming brand, apparently for adultery or fornication. Such scenes of hell are fairly common in the iconography of Buddhist temples as well.

3. The temple that is one of the best decorated and most frequently visited, in spite of being far away from any tourist town, is the one that goes by the name of Tiratha Pura Empul. There are many ways of getting to the temple. The main road from Denpasar to Batur passes by the temple. From Ubud, you take the main street to the east until you come to Jl Raya Andong where you turn left. You continue on this road until you come to the village of Tampaksiring. The road to the temple turns right next to the police station. The tirtha is not far from the main road. Bemos (minibuses) are supposed to run up and down but getting information about them was not easy. The tourist services shops, instead of providing you with information about bemos, recommend their own tourist taxi services, which, in fact, are not too expensive if you are a party of three, four or five. Since I had already rented a motorbike, I did not have to waste any time making enquiries about alternative ways of getting to the temple. Motorbikes are actually the best mode if you are one or two.

At the entrance you buy a ticket to enter. You can linger in the outer garden where there is a statue and a covered platform surrounded by a lotus pool or go past them inside the walled premises of the temple. The temple complex consists of many shrines. The central shrine is under a traditional thatched roof. It has many idols on all four sides of it but the shrine seems to be that of Ganesha, whose idols with elephant trunks are placed on a higher platform at the centre. There are several smaller shrines which are beautifully decorated with gold and vermillion. Each one of them glitters and invites you to take photos from every angle.

4. Just as you walk out of the temple, you see a pool with fountains spouting water into it. The water of the pool is drained into another pool which has schools of multi-coloured fish circling around. The main feature of the temple is not the temple itself but this sacred pool, which is the reason for the temple being where it is. Tirtha Empul means bubbling spring. The legend that is associated with the temple narrates how the pool of water was created by Lord Indra. There is a war between the evil king Mayadewana and the deity, Lord Indra, who is summoned by a priest to come down and help the people get rid of the tyranny. During the night Mayadewana enters the camp of his would-be destroyers treading on the sides of his feet so as to leave no footprints and creates a pool of poisoned water. (Tampak Siring means without imprints.) Next morning, the soldiers of Lord Indra drink the water and fall ill. Indra strikes the ground with his staff and creates a spring of fresh water which cures the illness of the soldiers. The spring is still flowing and its water runs into the Tirtha Empul. It is still believed to have healing properties. Pilgrims come from far and near to bathe in the pool to cleanse themselves. The pool and the temple were first built in 926 but like all living temples it is a work in progress.

5. A couple of kms. further on the same road that goes north to the Batur area from Denpasar there is another road that branches off to the right. It leads to an ancient monument called Ganung Kawi. From the parking area you head towards the booking window and buy an entrance ticket. The descent starts right there. As you climb down the stairs and find your way through the zigzag paths you will pass by rice fields on terraces cut out of the sides of hills surrounded by palms. The descent will bring you down to a stream that cascades through a stony bed. It is the Pekerisan River. When you reach the river you will see a clearing on the left bordered by a sheer cliff. On the face of the cliff you will notice tall niches, each one having a carved structure in it. They are high enough to need a climb of about a score of steps to reach their base. The structures resemble shrines (candi). They taper at the top just like the spires of temples. They are said to be built in the tenth century by King Udyana and his sons Airlangga and Anak Wungsu. The tombs on the far side of the river are supposed to be to the concubines of Anak Wungu. It is not certain which monument is to whom and what they are really for. They may be just commemorative or they may be funeral monuments to the various royal personages and their wives and concubines.

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We have been in Ubud several times and each time attended a dance performance if possible. Most days of the week there is a performance in the evening, each day different and at a different venue. Tickets may be obtained at the venue, or from street sellers. As long as the latter offer you a ticket with program for the price printed on it, you can trust its veracity.
Always come early, to get a good seat for taking pictures. The rule is that one cannot come in after the program has started, but that rule is not enforced.

We saw the program “Legong of Mahabrata Epic” by group “Sekaa Gong Jaya Swara” in July 2005. At the time it was performed every Sunday starting at 07:30pm. Admission was Rp 50,000.

As is the case with other performances, the program was a compilation of several different dances, with an instrumental prelude, interlude and postlude. The program title referred to the third dance, an episode of the Hindu epic Mahabarata.

For more photos and an overview of the program, see travelogue The Legong of Mahbrata Epic.

Venue: The Ubud Palace courtyard, across the road from the market. At the same place on Sunday afternoon children were having music lessons, which could be witnessed for free.

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We have been in Ubud several times and each time attended a dance performance if possible. Most days of the week there is a performance in the evening, each day different and at a different venue. Tickets may be obtained at the venue, or from street sellers. As long as the latter offer you a ticket with program for the price printed on it, you can trust its veracity.
Always come early, to get a good seat for taking pictures. The rule is that one cannot come in after the program has started, but that rule is not enforced.

We saw the program “Joged Dance” by group “Cepuk Wirasa” in January 2010. At the time it was performed every Monday starting at 07:30pm. Admission Rp 80,000.

Actually the program was a compilation of six different dances, the last one being the Joged. Joged is a flirtation dance, popular over most of Indonesia. Female dancers invite male spectators to join them. In Java and Lombok the profession of joged dancer is considered less honorable, the women expect to be handed money and we saw the men drinking beer to pluck up courage. In Ubud, however, the dance is stylish and chaste; just making fun with the clumsy foreigners joining in, both men and women.

At the end of the program the dancers posed for pictures together with spectators.
For more photos and an overview of the program, see travelogue A Joged Dance Performance.

Venue: Lotus Pond palace, also known as Pura Taman Saraswati or the Ubud Water Palace. It is located 100 m west of the market.

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Early morning while there is a little breeze and before it gets too hot is a perfect time to take a walk through the ricefields around Ubud. There are several walking tracks that do a loop back to Ubud or you can catch a 'taxi' to the distant point and walk back. Most accommodation will have easy to follow maps. Coupled with some terrific views - green like you've never seen - you may be lucky enough to meet local artists who have small studios along he path. Take some water and build up a healthy appetite for lunch at one of Ubud's many terrific restaurants.