Hungry ATM but beautiful landscapes and people

We had planned to return to the ARMA museum the next morning to see the children's dance class, which was free to observe and apparently wonderful to experience. Unfortunately for us the dance class was cancelled due to school exams (the children were home studying!). Plan B- SHOP.

Kelly and I left the rest of the group who were off to explore the Bird Park. We headed to the newly-designated "Oh look!" street -- aptly named by Kelly in a fit of excitement on seeing new shopping opportunities driving by on the previous day. I spied an ATM and went through the process of withdrawing funds. But the machine got the better of me, and, not grabbing my card fast enough after completing the transaction, gobbled it up! As it was a Sunday and banks were closed, I was out of luck getting it back. Luckily for me the ATM machine didn't "eat" the money too so I had enough cash to last a few days. And more importantly, I was able to get the card back a few days later and all was good. But lesson learned - be quick because bank machines are hungry! Meanwhile I lost Kelly in the panic of the moment, so I ended up having lunch on my own and found a very nice spa and had a cheap massage and facial to de-stress.

Later that evening we experienced a Balinese"Kekuk" with a traditional fire dance. Performed at a temple, there is no orchestra but the dance is accompanied by rather unique sound effects from a chorus of about 30 men.

Kekac Dance

Again a rather complicated story is told, difficult to follow, but the combination of the chanting, sound effects and costumed dancers made it a fascinating and entertaining performance. The final segment was a young man dancing on and kicking around the burning remains of a huge pile of coconuts to the sounds of chanting. Very cool...and probably painful... While it may seem that Ubud consists solely of streets lined with endless shops and there is little to do but browse stores and spend money, in fact behind the shops the landscape opens up to rice fields, ravines and small villages of locals going about their daily business.

Egg art display on Campuhan Ridge Walk

The next day, Kelly and I decided to hook up with a mother and daughter from Nelson, BC who we had met a few days earlier. There was a two hour hike along a ridge and through rice fields and villages that was supposed to be a "must-do" activity. We took a taxi to the trail-head, easily found, and had a glorious walk through the fields and along a village road that had some artisan shops. We met and talked with local artists, purchased some unique paintings and had a tasty smoothie in a palapa with a magnificent view. It was a memorable experience.

Farmer on Campuhan Ridge Walk

Going from one extreme to the other, Kelly and I took a taxi to the Four Seasons Hotel later that afternoon as Kelly had heard that the sunset was spectacular from the bar. We were the only ones there for a while and we felt very privileged sipping expensive wine in a 5-star setting. To top it all off, we were able to watch a Balinese "Legong" dance from front row seats in the bar. Beautiful people in beautiful costumes moving in unique but beautiful ways. Worth the price of wine (thank you, Kelly!)