Buddha in Ubud

Ubud is a town in Bali. Our guide book says it and Kuta are the duopoly of Bali. We wanted to go there to see some Balinese performances and to see what there is to see. So we hired a driver, Kedak, who also served as our guide.

What Kedak probably hadn't counted on was The Man's search for Buddha. Buddha statues. In bronze. To add to his growing collection of little Buddha statues. I too found Buddha, in my own way, especially after the amazing massage we had.

The Balinese are a gentle, respectful people. They believe in magic. Which partly explains why they continuously make offerings to their gods three times a day, and why every home has its own temple, every village its own village temple, and every town a public temple. As Kedak explained, every Balinese has at least three temples. I know, they are Hindu temples. But I saw Buddha in the Balinese's simple way of living and their practice of wanting to preserve their way of life.

Our first stop to Ubud was at a temple where a performance of Barong and Kris took place. For some reason, this dance can only be performed in the morning. If you allow for the unfamiliar, the music and dance were spectacular. Otherwise, they could be confusing and annoying the way Asian music an be. It was hard to follow the story on stage, but that's why they handed out a synopsis of the performance as you enter. Barong and Kris are the perpetual fight of good versus evil. Or as Kedak said, white magic versus dark magic.

The elaborate makeup and costumes are very oriental. The postures and poses very Indonesian. Incorporated in the Barong and Kris dance was a Legong dance. Two women move, using their bodies as well as their eyes, fingers, and toes to draw your attention to their poses. It was very much like Indian classical dance.

Our second stop was at a batik shop. The owners cleverly installed women on the veranda of their property, hand-painting colours on good quality cotton. Designer draw patterns on white cotton, then these women draw colour and wax on the patterns. The colouring and waxing are repeated for each colour used. In the end, you get the batik fabric so popular in Indonesia. But these are not mass-produced factory batik. They are handcrafted by artisans. The colours seep through both sides of the fabric and don't fade. A competent batik artisan produces about one metre of fabric a day.

You have to respect the slow, patient process of careful work to make beautiful fabric. The more of these fabric I see, the more I like them. I have an urge to buy rolls and rolls of batik. But they are not cheap. A factory-made sarong costs about $5 on the beach. These cost about $20. A table cloth costs $250.

Our next stop was a typical Balinese home. The owners opened it to the public for donations. The home was a spread of sleeping houses, garden, temple, well, and open viewing room for the dead. There are few of these homes left. Once, only the rich could afford a large compound like this. But now, the rich choose to live in high rise condos in Jakarta. These Balinese homes now belong to the lucky poor.

Next, we stopped at a Hindu temple built in 944. The temple is still in use. To go in, men and women must allow the temple staff to strap a blue sarong on you as a sign of respect to the culture and the gods.

Then we went to the Monkey Forest. It really was a monkey forest. Macaque monkeys were everywhere and they owned the forest. I sat down at one point and two baby monkeys climbed up my leg, refusing to let go of my pants. Maybe it was because my pants were yellow and they mistook them for giant bananas.

After lunch, we went to the Antonio Blanco Renaissance Museum. Antonio Blanco was a Spanish painter who went to Bali in the 1950's and married a Balinese dancer. Photographs of his grandchildren show they are stunningly beautiful Eurasians. The museum houses Blanco's paintings, a mix of European technique and style applied to Indonesian themes and motifs.

What an amazing way to visit paintings. On entering, a guard issued us tickets in a folder and places two fresh frangipani flowers on the folder. As we entered the garden, a women hit a wooden gong twice to announce our arrival. Once inside the garden, a server came with a tray to serve us a welcome drink of ice tea. The garden was beautiful, with parrots in trees and roosters on the lawn. And somewhere in the gallery, there is a photograph of Blanco with Michael Jackson. Blanco is the Salvador Dali of Bali.

After this, we went to a spa for a massage to soothe our tired muscles and pains sustained from two days of swimming and surfing. I liked that at reception, they offered us additional services. But when we said we only had two hours, they said a one-hour massage was enough because after the massage, we would go through the saunas and shower and the whole thing would already be one and a half hours. No rushing here. I can't imagine in Toronto they wouldn't try to sell you more services than you had time for. It's not their problem that you are short on time.

They were true to their word. We started off with a herbal tea, then a wonderful massage. After, we were put in a dry sauna, then into a steam bath, then into a cold whirl pool, where they served us ginger tea. Then we took a shower to rinse everything off. I felt all smooth and clean. As I packed my things to go, The Man said, "Can you slow down. You are a whirl wind of movements beside me." I said, "I feel energetic because I asked for the energizing massage oil. Which oil did you have?" He didn't know, and he was too mellow to care. By the time we left, we had been there for one hour and 45 minutes. All that for $15 per person.

Then we went to a kecak dance performance. The kecak is a religious dance that includes a real holy man. The lead female dancers have to be real virgins. The story and dancing is done to choral chanting - acapella - by a group of shirtless men with red flowers in their hair. I don't know if shadow puppets mimic the kecak dance movements or whether these dancers mimic shadow puppets, but they moved slowly, with intention. I would have believed they were beautiful puppets.

To end the night, we had dinner at a seafood grill. You choose your seafood and they grill it while you wait at your table right on the beach, with sand under your feet and waves crashing a few feet in front of you. It was an amazing place to end the evening.

Kedak coached us on etiquette and expectation each time we went to a new place. He said several times, the Balinese must respect their religion, their culture, and people. Sometimes you don't have time to do everything right, but that's okay. You just need to do what you can. So forgiving of yourself and generous toward others. Is that not the living Buddha way?