Bali in a week. Part 2: Ubud and dancing

(Here's part one if you "missed" it)

I may have scared some of the locals with my guns. Or maybe just blinded them.

On Tuesday, we headed to Ubud. on our way there, or maybe after we got there (geographically, I was never completely sure where we were), we stopped to watch some sort of play/dance/tourist attraction. They provided us with a translation of what was supposedly going on, but it did little to help clarify things. Here's my understanding of what went down:

There once was a tiger. Let's call him DeMarcus, because who wouldn't want a tiger named DeMarcus? DeMarcus liked to dance, but he was also terribly afflicted by fleas. Lucky for him, he met a goofy monkey probably named Mr. Wellington, who liked to eat fleas. Mr. Wellington ate all of DeMarcus's fleas in exchange for DeMarcus not eating him. Quid pro quo. Then DeMarcus exited stage right to pursue a career as a dancer. Meanwhile an unnamed bad guy attacked Mr. Wellington. Mr. Wellington fought off the unnamed bad guy and cut off his nose. Seriously, that part totally happened, the monkey cut off some dude's nose. 

That was a seemingly long and unnecessary preamble to what then turned into a play about some lady (we'll call her Wonder Woman) who was un-killable and could make other people un-killable too. A bunch of bad guys, who were almost definitely Stormtroopers lead by Darth Vader tried to kill Wonder Woman and a bunch of her friends, but they couldn't. They stabbed Wonder Woman, slit her throat, and stabbed her some more but she wouldn't die.

Eventually Wonder Woman prevailed and slayed the bad guys. At some point DeMarcus and Mr. Wellington appeared again and everyone probably lived happily ever after.

The tiger, who I've named DeMarcus. Pretty elaborate costumes.

That might sound like a totally absurd analysis of the play, but if you watched it, it's absolutely a believable explanation for what happened. I mean, there weren't literally Stormtroopers, Wonder Woman, and Darth Vader but metaphorically speaking, that's literally what happened. It was endearingly silly, complete with bumbling comic relief and yet some hints of authenticity. They had music playing throughout the entire thing and incredibly elaborate costumes. Thoroughly entertaining.

Then we went shopping through some of the markets of Ubud. They had everything from penis shaped bottle openers to beautiful original artwork. They even had a Starbucks. Mandy and Josh got a few really awesome wood carvings made out of what we think was maybe mahogany. We had a running joke while we were there that anytime you asked someone what type of wood something was, they'd say "mahogany" and anytime you asked what type of fish something was, they'd say "mahi mahi". Unsure whether they were always telling the truth. Also, all the beer was Bin Tang. Bin Tang is everywhere in Bali and for $2-$4 a liter bottle, it was a screaming deal (unless you're on a secluded beach, then they'll gouge you for $10 a bottle). As someone who has won 576 free beer this year and attended WSU, I consider myself a connoisseur of both good beer and cheap beer. Bin Tang obviously falls into the latter category, but it's honestly some of the best cheap beer I've had. We drank a lot of it in Bali and I actually miss it a little.

One of the markets in Ubud.

When we were done shopping we drove to a restaurant that overlooked some rice terraces for lunch. It was beautiful. I have a really unfair view of what constitutes beautiful rice terraces thanks to our trip to Vietnam, but it was a great view. And the open air provided a much needed cross breeze.

After a full day, we headed back for a well-deserved happy hour by the pool. The only downside of having the super since private pool and patio overlooking the beach is that it probably tempted us away from getting an extra massage or two while we were there. 60 minute full body massages are about $20 in Bali. Jenny and I could both get an hour long massage and she could tack on a pedicure for less than just a single hour long massage would typically run you in the states. We didn't take advantage of that enough and I blame way-too-convenient private pool and beautiful beach front villa.

That night we had dinner at Le Zat, which was right next door to our villa. It was delicious and home to the best spring rolls in all of Bali. Lynn made a point of personally comparing the spring roles of every restaurant we went to and after careful deliberation, was able to confirm that Le Zat's are the best. I'm sure they'll be receiving their award in the mail any day. On Tuesdays, the restaurant has dancers perform traditional Balinese dances. These include some crazy hand movements that seem like you'd have to dislocate your fingers to be able to pull off. We had a preview of some similar moves during the performance we saw in Ubud, but for this one we were just feet from the stage and could appreciate it more up close.

One of the dancers as Le Zat.

After dinner we headed to bed. Snorkeling was planned for the morning and we needed a good night's sleep!

To be continued...