Day 2 – Carnival of Sorts

Today the chickens ruled. Every single rooster in the vicinity and possibly the district of Ubud, must have conspired to crow in succession at the crack of dawn. The symphony of cocks must have reverberated every soul in Kunang Kunang and I wondered what happened to the ducks today. I had a bit of a sleep-in this morning before preparing myself for another scorching day of wandering. I finally got my Garmin Que to work, after getting the GPS Proxy to take over from the ever-monopolising Windows Mobile automated programmes. There is only so much I like about them……

I decided to walk to the palace today. Much ahead, my breakfast came in the form of a puffed-up, stuffed toasted sandwich and fruits, which I quite enjoyed. I set off in a different route, down the street from Hanoman, I veered off at Jalan Dewa Sita and was intrigued by more shops. A particular bead shop got my attention and I came off with a bag of beaded purses in psychedelic colours. I can almost see myself living here with all the intricacies of existence in the artsy little town the Balinese call Ubud.

Continuing ahead, I found the cafes that hosted most of the festival’s events and workshops but I opted for Juice Ja Cafe’s glass of lemongrass tea instead. It’s not a bolt from the blue that the Balinese likened me to a Japanese walking in their midst as they yelled, “Konnichiwa!” or “Konbanwa!” with some who would be bold enough to ask me, “Doko e ikimasu ka?” (Where are you going?) in which I would reply, “Nihonjin dewa arimasen, Maresiajin desu,” (I’m not Japanese but Malaysian). Hahaha! Throws them off if they were only managing a few lines to be friendly!!! My Japanese may be rusty after so long but I can still manage to converse if need be.

I found the palace and wondered if they would impose a dress code as the temples would but thankfully not. Again, a doggie chatted me up, took an interest to my camera bag this time before retreating to the recesses of the inner palace grounds of which the public was prohibited from entering.

My trusty tripod once again, proved to be quite entertaining as I took self-portraits in poses that amused the other tourists at large. A few of them offered to take the picture for me too! Hmm…..good pick up line, but I did not bite, especially when their other half stare them down as soon as they got to them. Hey lady, I’m not interested in your man and would you excuse me while I play princess in the palace??? The greatest challenge for me was not being alone in a foreign country nor the absence of help should I run into fixes like I always do, somehow, but in getting the shots right under the bright sunlight when your eyes deceive you in getting the correct exposure. I ended up doing several takes in different poses to get my touristy shots taken in Ubud Palace in the sight of curious tourists. Doing things let me have something to write about.

It was lunch time when I saw the Babi Guling signboard just outside and I had to try it. Walking in, I sat at a table on the floor like the rest and waited to be served. It was great. The orange juice was even better! While waiting, I watched the world go by. The place was frequented by mainly tourists and some locals. Served on a waxed sheet of paper in a basket, the Babi Guling was garnished with a special chilli sauce and a piece of sausage and fried condiment. It wasn’t really up to my expectations as I feel that our char siew was far better. Different, I would say. Taking Jalan Goutama back, I witnessed the community weaving the decorations out of palm tree fronds for the night of celebration ahead. The entire street was decked with hanging decorations. I headed back to have another afternoon in bed.

Taking Jalan Goutama back, I witnessed the community weaving the decorations out of palm tree fronds for the night of celebration ahead. The entire street was decked with hanging decorations. I headed back to have another afternoon in bed.

Waking up at six, I was all geared to go to the Street Carnival. Decided to have dinner at another warung called Dewa Warung and shared a table with a theatre costume designer from USA called Joyce. We talked about the productions that she had been doing and decided to walk the streets to see people in costumes walking on stilts, fire dancers and animated costume characters of Bali. An orchestra of traditional music with drums, gamelan, flutes and gong was part of the ensemble of the festivity. In wanting to catch the fire dancers, we trotted with everybody else in one direction.

We ended up in the field where a concert was being held, witnessed by thousands of people and kids launching a shorea-seed-like glowing object into the sky to send it spinning slowly to the ground. I thought, I had to get that! It’s only a device made of paper on bamboo splice with three little batteries, wire and an LED light, catapulted by a rubber band tied to a stick. Joyce wanted three for her grand children and after bargaining, we got it at 7000Rp each, down from 20,000Rp!!! There we were, right in the middle of the field with the Balinese kids, in darkness, launching stuff into the air just to see the blinking light come plummeting with the propellers in motion! The dame and the granny has deluded adulthood in fits of giggles when the contraption landed on the audience watching the concert! Heheheheh!

We had a couple of drinks at the Juice Ja Cafe again before setting off in different directions as we called it a night. Tomorrow, I will be heading for the lake up in the volcanoes……….