Litle know Ubud

Visitors who return to Ubud after some years' absence are astonished to find wide, paved roads, gutters on tiled sidewalks, architect-designed shops with plate-glass windows, halogen lighting and air-conditioning. The prices can be very modern as well, but the Ubud shopkeepers remain expert bargainers, retaining a sense of humour and the willingness to make a sale.

When Noel Coward was in Bali in the 1930s, he thought he had got it right with his doggerel verse. But he got it wrong. Its culture is what has kept Ubud as the top tourist destination in Bali. And Ubud is like a national museum, with artifacts, crafts and artistic objects from across the archipelago, from Aceh to Asmat.

It can be amusing to note the various fads and fashions that sweep the island from time to time. It can be banana trees, or gaily-colored fish as mobiles, dolphins, komodo dragons, or just plain penises. Within weeks all the shops are swamped with the flavor of the month, and then as suddenly they disappear.

The night life is largely devoted to "a dinner and a show". An early dinner and one of the twelve or fifteen performances of the staple Bali repertoire -- gamelan, legong, shadow puppet plays (wayang kulit), children's dramas, jew's harps concerts, women's gamelans (yes, it has happened!), but best of all are the amazing religious processions to and from the various temples.

Only in the daytime can one witness some of the awesome cremation ceremonies, when the giant bier edifices (bade) are carried through the streets on a bamboo base by hundreds of youths and men, navigating (or even cutting) the overhead wires, accompanied by wild porta-bale gamelans carried by what seems like the entire population.

Probably the best way to enjoy Ubud is to take a seat at one of the wayside warungs (coffee stalls) and just sit and view the passing parade, the never-ending flow in a village throbbing with life and vigor.

A good place to sit and watch is at the eye of the storm, in front of The Palace. On the opposite side of the street really, for there you can watch a lot of people making pigs of themselves. Literally! For here, and next to the big wantilan I think of as Ubud's Opera House, is a warung that serves steaming hot babi guling -- roast suckling pig — every day. There was a place in the middle of Gianyar that was island-famous, but today people come a long way to get the Ubud version.

While you are there, walk up that road a bit and you will find one of the finest art galleries in Ubud, that of the top photographer, Rio Helmi. It is not well-signposted, and is small and new and not yet in the guide books. But in it is recent work that is becoming collector's items. Helmi scans his photographs in extremely high resolution and then prints them, large size on high quality paper, and they are stunningly beautiful.

Murni's Warung is justly famous. It was the first warung in Ubud to cater for the tourist trade, and since then has maintained its standards and trade. Murni has an uncanny eye for beautiful and rare objects and she has established her own signature shop at the top of the hill from the Campuhan bridge (where her warung is located), and next door to the entrance of the Pura Desa(pura dalem). The shop, Kunang-Kunang, is a museum in itself, each object with a history and a provenance. Her textiles are first-rate, as are the old Javanese gold adornments, now rare indeed. Murni loves to travel, and has friends all over the world. Ask for her, but she may well be up the Nile, in Brazil, or at the opera in London.

In a village as musical as Ubud, it is not surprising that there are dozens of shops selling bamboo chimes of all sizes and tunings. I once rattled over 200 before I found the set that satisfied me. Since the International Conference and Festival of Bamboo held in Ubud in 1995, there has appeared an amazing collection of bamboo didjeridus. And not only bamboo but also wooden ones. The Balinese have even taught their local ants how to eat the insides of tree limbs to make them hollow enough to blow through.
And now drums -- all sorts and sizes -- have appeared. But there are two special music shops where you can buy an extraordinary array of musical instruments, one on either side of the Monkey Forest itself. One is on Monkey Forest Road, up from the main entrance to the Monkey Forest, and the other is through the Monkey Forest and along the road in Nyuh Kuning. Bamboo xylophones, gongs, deep and mysterious, double-hammered bronze ones that keep beating long after struck, flutes, and jew's harps.

And don't ignore the Bakso Boys. They trundle snack foods all day, and invariably are Javanese boys who make the most delicious creations. Martabak (from Java) is my favorite, but they also do all kinds of exotic dishes, as well as fish and meatball noodle soups. Stop and watch their infallible techniques in turning out a good martabak (if you order, and you should, forbid them to use msg or Aji-No-Moto). Their little barrows are remarkably clean and most of the food is cooked under intense heat, and then instantly eaten. In Ubud, bakso food seldom causes Bali Belly.
There was a time, in the early 1970s, when only the existing four hotels in Ubud served bread. There were no bakeries, and the bread came up from Denpasar. Large, sliced white bread with the crusts cut off. In those days, the Balinese didn't understand toast and how to make it and present it. Breakfast toast always arrived cold and limp, not even crusted.n In today's Ubud, one can find excellent French baguettes, bagels, cakes, buns, tarts, all from village bakeries, and most of them are of big city standard. Some restaurants even serve hot-toasted three-decker sandwiches! Today, there are more than one hundred restaurants in and around Ubud.