Ubud to Lovina

We left Ubud July 28th and took local transport to the north of the island to a town called Lovina.  We took a "Bemo" from Ubud - this is a small van with two narrow benches running down each side from front to back.  We had 5 legs on this journey which took about 4 hours, 4 by Bemo and one on a local bus.  Just checked on Google, our route was about 82 miles.  We had short stopovers, but considering the fact that we were usually going about 20 miles per hour, 30 max, it's not surprising it took so long. Three school girls got on at one point, they were in uniforms and going home for lunch.  One, a 15 year old, spoke English and asked us if we were going to visit her orphanage.

We really wanted to talk to the locals sharing our rides but language seemed to be a real barrier.  The people we've talked with who speak English all generally deal with tourists, it appears many Balinese do not speak much English. (And we don't speak Balinese or Bahasa Indonesian.)


The day before we left Ubud we visited the palace grounds and a wonderful museum.

Grounds of Museum Puri Lukisan

I really enjoyed the Balinese style paintings.  They seem to fill every inch of the canvas with detail.  Here is a favorite:

The Idiot Who Became King, 1932, Ida Magus Made Togo, based on Balinese folktale

Detail from above painting

This was a beautiful mask which I believe is used in Barong dances:

After a relaxing time at the museum we walked back to where we were staying.  It was late afternoon which apparently is rush hour.  The traffic was crazy!

Last night we attended a children's performance of music and dance. The children had been taking classes and this was a performance to show what they had learned.  Western tourists were invited to attend and there were about 10 of us.  It was delightful to watch, similar to everything we had seen at the dances in Ubud, but at a kid level.  One of the girls dancing invited each tourist guest to get up and dance with her.  Liz and I got up together and I got to practice some of the moves I had been watching so closely.  I threw in some finger twitching and got a cheer from the kids.  It's very interesting, the skilled dancers we saw in Ubud move their hands in a very particular way which involves a twitching of some of the fingers.  We could see that the girls were learning those same skills.

We have been seeing more cats in here Lovina.  Liz made a friend - a young kitten.  We were happy to hear from the woman selling things at her stall that she takes care of this kitty and has another one at home.

Liz and I both had a massage yesterday afternoon and had interesting conversation with the masseuse beforehand.  She is 53, married with three adult sons.  Some things we learned about Balinese culture from her and a few other conversations:  extended families live together with the wife going to live with her husband's family.  Marriages are not exactly arranged, but the child and parents will typically agree on the spouse-to-be.  Free education is available for 6 years of elementary school. (But I later heard from her daughter that there is a cost...) Junior high and high school can be quite expensive.  I don't know if children with disabilities are served at school, but tend to doubt it.  We've seen a couple young adults with deformed feet, one who is able to walk with difficulty, one in a wheelchair.  I'm quite sure both of these conditions would be corrected with surgery at a young age in the US.  Medical care seems to be very expensive for the average person.  Many people live in family compounds which are a walled in area with several buildings.  Every compound seems to include a family temple, even if it is as small as 8 feet by 8 feet.

Art is everywhere, sculptures at intersections and in the temples on buildings.

Next post - dolphin watching tour and visiting a ceremony at a Hindu temple.