Before I start with today, I can’t believe I forgot to mention yesterday that we were able to see four traditional Balinese dances by the local children the night of the 25th! There was a large tour group from France staying at our hotel and Sam and I think they might have been the reason for the performance because it was postponed until they were finished with their dinner.
One of the gentlemen who works at the hotel came out to let us know that the first two dances would be traditional Balinese dances, and the third would be one with contemporary choreography. The fourth dance, we were told, would be one of audience participating and the dancer would come to the audience and ask us to join her. I was pretty sure that Sam would fall victim during this dance because he was much younger than most of the men there and (in my opinion) he’s pretty cute. We were also informed that one of the gamelan (the main musical instrument of Balinese dancing) players was very well renown and had been teaching the instrument both in France and California.
The first three dances were wonderfully composed, and I was able to record them on our camera. Just after the third dance, many of the spectators got up from their chairs and moved to the back of the room or completely outside of the dance hall where they peered in through the windows. Sam and I were sad for the dancers at the poor spirit of the French tourist group, and we stuck it out in our front-row seats. I was now even more convinced that Sam would be called upon to join in the dancing, so I made sure to have the camera ready to record as the dance began.
The fourth dance was very lovely and much slower than the previous three dances. The poor girl dancing went to 3 Frenchmen who all rejected her before one of the boys playing music came to her rescue and danced a bit with her. When he was finished, she started making her way over to Sam and I… closer… closer… and suddenly I realized she was asking ME to dance with her. No, no, I thought, this is all wrong; you are supposed to be asking my boyfriend! But I couldn’t turn her down, I had to stand up for American tourists everywhere and put my best, albeit left foot forward. So I, Gianna, broke the ice and was the first tourist to join in the Balinese dancing. Of course Sam took the camera from me so that everything is documented and I am sure he’ll be sure that we show it off when we have the family here for graduation. I must say, in reviewing the footage after the fact, I am not the best dancer out there (there were several French participants who went after me) but I am not the worst either!
♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠
Today we traveled from Munduk to Ubud, the city in Eat, Pray, Love. By the way, I have to admit that my dear friend, Molly, lent me that book years ago when it first came out and I still haven't read it! In any case, Ubud is similar to Seminyak in that it is clearly a haven for tourists and there are shops lining the main roads. But it definitely doesn't feel quite as congested, and in that way I like it much better, even if we aren't on the beach anymore.
Our hotel is directly adjacent to the Ubud Water Palace where the Balinese dance troupes perform. The hotel and the palace are both lovely and believe me, the location really couldn't be better, but they practice the gamelan music at the palace in the afternoons. I am horrified to admit it, but the sound was almost like a carnival gone terribly wrong. Instead of being upbeat and carefree it was sinister and repetitive and we couldn't stand it! Hopefully tomorrow night when we watch the dancers it will be better because today's practice was giving Sam and I both headaches and we had to seek refuge in the streets by going shopping- friends, this was really a win-win situation for you. We walked all the way from our hotel to the Sacred Monkey Forest (where we plan to go tomorrow) where Sam witnessed a monkey launch itself onto a woman to steal a bag of food she was holding. I'm telling you guys, we are truly living a series on Animal Planet, this episode would have been called "When Monkeys Attack" and hopefully there will not be a repeat episode when we go back tomorrow.
This afternoon we also finally were able to find an ATM- hallelujah for being back in civilization! I should mention that the ATMs in Bali make me feel a bit like Clark Kent, they are in free-standing, air-conditioned, glass, telephone-booth-looking structures that have music playing. It's a relief to walk into one off the hot streets!
It's now raining for the first time since we came to Bali. Sam is inside reading his latest book, I swear he's been through 4-5 of them since we arrived as well as finishing The Count of Monte Cristo which he has apparently been struggling to finish for about a year now but he's been so busy studying that it's been difficult.
I think I may go rouse him so that we can brave the drizzle and find somewhere to eat dinner. Ubud has lots of great food and we are hoping to not only consume some babi guling (Balinese roasted pig) but Sam would also like to find out how they make it. Fingers crossed!
Yet again, the internet is not fast enough to load photos on the blog but facebook is having no problems, so here is the link to the updated Bali album for your viewing pleasure. I hope if nothing else it helps you escape reality for a few minutes. :-)
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